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StrictlyVC San Francisco brings leaders from TDK Ventures, Replit, and more together on April 30. Space is limited. Register here for your pass.
Fundraising
OpenAI, not yet public, raises $3B from retail investors in monster $122B fund raise
OpenAI’s latest funding round, led by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank, values the AI lab at $852 billion as it nears an IPO.
Whoop’s valuation just tripled to $10 billion
The fitness tracking startup just closed a $575 million Series G with Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James among its investors. The obvious question looming over a round of this size at this valuation: Is an IPO coming?
Granola raises $125M, hits $1.5B valuation as it expands from meeting notetaker to enterprise AI app
Granola’s valuation jumped from $250 million to $1.5 billion with this round, and it has added more support for AI agents after users previously complained.
Arinna raises $4M seed round to solve the space power problem
Arinna builds solar cells specifically for spacecraft and has developed an ultrathin new material that it expects to be far more flexible and more efficient than current technology.
Cauldron Ferm has turned microbes into nonstop assembly lines
The Australian startup says it has solved one of the biggest challenges facing synthetic biology companies, which it counts as customers.
Mirage raises $75M to continue building models for its AI video editing app Captions
Mirage, the maker of video editing app Captions, has raised $75 million in growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (CVF).
Littlebird raises $11M for its AI-assisted ‘recall’ tool that reads your computer screen
Littlebird is building an AI that reads your screen in real time to capture context, answer questions, and automate tasks, without relying on screenshots.
TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 nominations are still open
Nominate your startup, or one you know, for TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 before May 27. Chance to win $100,000 equity-free funding and VC access.
Anori, Alphabet’s new X spinout, is tackling one of the world’s most expensive bureaucratic nightmares
Anori aims to shrink down the pre-development process by getting all parties, including the city, on to a unified platform from the start so that compliance conflicts are surfaced in weeks instead of months or years.