Anthropic Refuses to Bow to Pentagon Pressure

Top News

Anthropic is refusing a Pentagon demand to grant unrestricted military access to its AI model, even after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to label it a supply chain risk or invoke the Defense Production Act to compel compliance. TechCrunch has more here.

Meta agreed to buy 6 gigawatts of AI computing power from AMD in a deal worth more than $100 billion, receiving warrants that could give it up to 10% of AMD as the chip maker pushes custom GPUs to challenge Nvidia. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Software stocks rebounded after Anthropic unveiled enterprise integrations with Slack, Intuit, Docusign, LegalZoom, FactSet, and Gmail, easing fears that AI tools would displace incumbents and sending Salesforce up 4%. CNBC has more here.

A federal judge dismissed xAI's lawsuit against OpenAI today, ruling that allegations of poaching and trade secret theft didn't hold up — that employees leaving for a competitor, or even taking work chats with them, doesn't amount to wrongdoing by OpenAI itself. Reuters has more here.

Self-Driving Tech Startup Wayve Raises $1.2B From Nvidia, Uber, and Three Automakers

Image Credits:Wayve

By Kirsten Korosec

Wayve’s self-driving tech has attracted a diverse set of investors in the company’s latest $1.2 billion funding round, including three automakers, top venture and institutional firms, and returning backers Microsoft, Nvidia, and Uber. The total raise could reach $1.5 billion thanks to another $300 million from Uber contingent on deploying robotaxis, beginning in London.

Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of the U.K. startup, which is now valued at $8.6 billion. The funding round illustrates the eagerness among Big Tech, legacy automakers, and the investor community to profit from the burgeoning automated driving industry.

Wayve provides what founder and CEO Alex Kendall calls the “contrarian” option in automated driving — contrarian both in its approach to tech and its business model, he told TechCrunch in an interview Tuesday.

“I think the technology chessboard is set around where different companies have invested on the technology strategy, and now the commercial chessboard is being arranged,” Kendall said. “We took a very contrarian view on the technology side. We were the first to build end-to-end deep learning for autonomous driving, and we pioneered this approach. Now, when it comes to this phase of moving into commercialization, we’re also taking a contrarian business model approach.”

Wayve, which launched in 2017, uses a self-learning approach to its software. The company developed a software layer using an end-to-end neural network that doesn’t require high-definition maps and only uses data to teach the vehicle how to drive.

This data-driven learning approach underpins two products: an “eyes on” assisted-driving system and an “eyes off” fully automated-driving system that could be applied to robotaxis or consumer vehicles that can handle all of the driving in certain environments.

Massive Fundings

Anthropic, the five-year-old San Francisco startup behind the foundational model Claude, is reportedly organizing a $5 billion to $6 billion secondary sale for employees at a $350 billion valuation. Bloomberg has the scoop here.

Axelera AI, a five-year-old startup based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, that designs AI acceleration chips for edge computing and data center applications, raised a $250 million round led by Innovation Industries, with BlackRock, SiteGround Capital, Bitfury, CDP Venture Capital, European Investment Council Fund, Federal Holding, Investment Company of Belgium, Invest-NL, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Verve Investments also piling on. The company has raised a total of $450+ million in equity, grants, and venture debt. Data Centre Dynamics has more here.

Basis, a three-year-old New York startup that provides AI agents for accounting workflows, raised a $100 million Series B round at a $1.15 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Accel and Google Ventures. PYMNTS has more here.

MatX, a four-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, that designs chips optimized for large language models, raised a $500 million round co-led by Jane Street and Situational Awareness, with Marvell Technology, NFDG, Spark Capital, and Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Profound, an 18-month-old New York startup that helps brands measure and influence how they appear in AI search and recommendation systems, raised a $96 million Series C round at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with previous investors Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Saga VC, South Park Commons, and Evantic reupping. The company has raised a total of $155+ million. More here.

SambaNova Systems, a nine-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, that makes AI chips for data centers, raised a $350 million Series E round co-led by Vista Equity Partners and Cambium Capital, with Battery Ventures and Mayfield Capital as well as previous investor Intel Capital also chiming in. Bloomberg has more here.

Slate Medicines, a recently founded startup based in Raleigh, NC, that is developing a PACAP-targeting migraine therapy licensed from China, raised a $130 million Series A round co-led by RA Capital Management, Forbion, and Foresite Capital. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Stripe, a 15-year-old Dublin-based payments company that processes digital transactions for start-ups and tech giants, sold an undisclosed amount of employee equity at a $159 billion valuation, a 73% increase over the valuation it commanded just twelve months ago. Investors included Thrive Capital, Coatue, and Andreessen Horowitz. The Financial Times has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Frankenburg Technologies, a two-year-old startup based in Tallinn, Estonia, that is developing AI-driven short-range anti-drone missile systems designed for mass production, raised a $35.4 million Series A round. Plural was the lead investor, with SmartCap also joining in. The company has raised a total of $47.2 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Handl Health, a four-year-old Los Angeles startup that helps brokers, carriers, and administrators create and manage flexible employer-sponsored insurance plans using cost, quality, and utilization data, raised a $14.2 million Series A round led by Arthur Ventures, with Syndra Capital Partners as well as previous investors Mucker Capital, Riverfront Ventures, Digital Health Venture Partners, and Boutique Venture Partners also pitching in. More here.

Hypercore, a six-year-old Tel Aviv startup that operates a loan management platform that uses AI agents to automate origination, servicing, and monitoring for private credit funds, raised a $13.5 million Series A round led by Insight Partners. CTech has more here.

Letter AI, a Chicago startup that provides a sales enablement platform that uses AI to deliver personalized, deal-specific guidance and coaching for revenue teams, raised a $40 million Series B round just four months after its previous raise. The deal was led by Battery Ventures, with Y Combinator, Lightbank, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, and Stage 2 Capital also joining in. More here.

Nimble, a five-year-old New York startup whose AI-powered web search platform is designed to deliver real-time, structured data for enterprises, raised a $47 million Series B round led by Norwest, with Databricks as well as previous investors Target Global, Square Peg, Hetz Ventures, Slow Ventures, R-Squared Ventures, J-Ventures, and InvestInData also digging in. The company has raised a total of $75 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Slang AI, a seven-year-old New York startup that handles inbound calls and messages for restaurants and hospitality businesses using AI-powered interaction automation, raised a $28 million Series B round led by U.S. Venture Partners and including Thayer Investment Partners as well as previous investors Homebrew, Stage 2 Capital, Active Capital, Wing VC, Collide Capital, and Underscore VC. It also raised $8 million in debt. More here.

Subject, a five-year-old Beverly Hills startup that uses AI tools to support educators and expand accredited K-12 curriculum offerings for school districts, raised a $28 million round led by Vistara Growth, with NextEquity Partners, Green Street Impact Partners, and Outcomes Collective also investing. More here.

Turbine, an 11-year-old London and Budapest company that employs AI models to simulate biological experiments for drug discovery and translational research, raised a $25 million Series B round led by Interactive Venture Partners, with Beiersdorf, MSD Global Health Innovation, Accel, and Mercia also anteing up. More here.

VoiceLine, a six-year-old Munich startup that enables frontline enterprise teams to capture spoken information and automate workflow updates using voice AI agents, raised an $11.8 million Series A round co-led by Alstin Capital and Peak, with Scalehouse Capital and Venture Stars also opting in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Xflow, a five-year-old Bengaluru startup that provides cross-border payment infrastructure for businesses, raised a $16.6 million Series A round at an $85 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by General Catalyst, with PayPal Ventures as well as previous investors Square Peg, Stripe, Lightspeed, and Moore Capital also engaging. The company has raised a total of $32+ million. TechCrunch has more here.

Smaller Fundings

7Rivers, a three-year-old startup based in Milwaukee, WI, that helps enterprises modernize their data systems and implement AI tools using Snowflake, raised a $5 million Series A round led by Inoca Capital Partners. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Comeryx Insurance, a one-year-old Denver startup that operates a digital managing general agent that automates underwriting and policy issuance for small business artisan contractors in the excess and surplus insurance market, raised a $7.5 million seed round. Altai Ventures was the deal lead, with American Family Ventures, Intact Ventures, Boulder Ventures, Arch Capital Group, and Echelon also participating. Pulse 2.0 has more here.