Top Stories | SpaceXAI and Cursor launched Grok Bot in beta, giving subscribers autonomous agents with dedicated computers that can operate existing apps, remember preferences, and complete workflows. — 9to5Mac IBM and Together AI signed a $240M deal to deploy Nvidia infrastructure on IBM Cloud by early 2027, creating a large-scale cluster for serving open-source AI models to enterprises. — Investing.com Google promoted Koray Kavukcuoglu to CEO of DeepMind, replacing Demis Hassabis. He was previously the division’s CTO, and is considered Google’s “chief AI architect.” — CNBC The CFTC ordered Kalshi to keep serving New Yorkers despite the state’s shutdown lawsuit, escalating a federal-state fight over whether prediction markets are regulated exchanges or unlicensed gambling businesses. — Bloomberg OpenAI launched a preview ChatGPT desktop app for Linux, bringing ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex to every major desktop operating system. — TechCrunch
| Top Funding Announcements | Lovable — The vibecoding platform raised $400M at a $13.3B valuation, co-led by Menlo Ventures and Scaleup Europe Fund. — The Wall Street Journal Cognition AI — The coding-agent startup is reportedly in talks to raise $1B at a $40B valuation. The round’s lead investor and use of funds remain undisclosed. — Bloomberg Blacksmith — The AI code-testing startup raised a $45M Series B led by Peak XV Partners to expand software for testing and validating rapidly generated code. — TechCrunch Skan AI — The enterprise workflow intelligence startup raised a $63M Series C co-led by Cathay Innovation and Dell Technologies Capital to launch products that map and automate how employees actually work. — VentureBeat Accel — The global venture firm raised $3.5B across four funds to back early-stage AI, deep-tech, and other startups in the US, Europe, Israel, and India. — Bloomberg
| A message from Lightfield | Name one person who's ever enjoyed updating a CRM. Exactly. Lightfield's AI agent does it for you — it even prospects and books your meetings. Used by thousands of startups. Free at lightfield.app. | |
"Once again they are judge, jury, and prosecutor," wrote legendary VC @BillGurley on Anthropic's new invisible text watermark, arguing the term "watermark" originally meant something visible to all, while this one "is only identifiable by Anthropic." His conclusion: "Lots of reasons to not use their products.” "Moonbase Alpha will be so cool," said @ElonMusk, replying to a thread on a SpaceX-Tesla lunar base. His hope: "we want to make it so that anyone can go to the Moon if they want." "The market is reducing itself to: Technology people who know how this stuff works. Vs. Everyone else who has no idea and so gets short because it violates their non-technology priors" — @Chamath, reacting to CoreWeave disclosing an A100 contract that runs through 2029, on a chip that launched in 2020.
| This Week in Startups |  | Zuck’s AI manifesto is a data center PR masterclass | E2323 |
|
| Timestamps: 0:00 Why Zuck thinks the future is open source 1:41 Meta's roadmap: personal assistants and beyond 26:58 How to win the data center argument 38:39 X intros Original Content Rewards 51:13 The CLARITY Act faces new setbacks 1:00:01 AI agents are taking students' tests for them 1:08:52 LAUNCH is hiring! |
|
| TWiST Partner Offers | Squarespace - Turn your idea into a beautiful website! Go to http://www.squarespace.com/twist for a free trial. When you’re ready to launch, use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Agree.com - stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!
| Today’s Fascinating Fact from Harmonic | Cognition made the newsletter today, with potentially $1B in new funding at a reported $40 billion valuation. That’s on top of $1.9 billion raised across five rounds in a little over two years. Prior to the latest round of fundraising, the company was valued at $26 billion, a 74x jump from the first round. Cognition famously acquired Windsurf after an OpenAI takeover deal collapsed, in a complex multi-part “reverse acqui-hire” that also involved Google DeepMind. | Try it yourself at harmonic.ai | Subscribe to Us On Your Favorite Podcast Platforms | | | SF Live-Work Space Now Available | Need a flexible living and working environment in San Francisco? This thoughtfully designed loft-style residence at 787 Bryant St., the heart of the vibrant SOMA district and the city’s creative hub, is now available for rent or purchase. Check the listing for more details. | The TWiST500 newsletter is the new, updated, and improved TWiST Ticker. | | |
|
