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$250M for Rent Rewards, Meta AI levels up in voice-tech, & Elon's SpaceX fuels xAI

$250M for Rent Rewards, Meta AI levels up in voice-tech, & Elon's SpaceX fuels xAI

Oh, and also — Apolink links up satellites, Valante is raising for LatAm’s growth engine, and TeraWatt’s next-gen EV batteries just leveled up with Khosla and Temasek.

Traded: Venture Capital
July 14, 2025

Your dose of daily dealflow, essential VC & tech trends to know. The biggest moves in venture, all in one place. Celebrating startups, founders, and funders.

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🧑‍🍳 Let’s get right into it…

Bilt, the NYC-based rent rewards juggernaut, just raised a commanding $250M, catapulting its valuation to $10.75B. With General Catalyst and GID leading, and United Wholesale Mortgage joining the cap table, Bilt is transforming rent payments into a financial asset class: rewards, credit building, and homeownership in one sleek app.

RealSense, spun out of Intel and backed by Intel Capital, raised $50M Series A to scale its depth perception tech for machines. From autonomous robots to smart manufacturing, the Palo Alto team is giving hardware a new way to see—and react—in real-time.

And AirMDR, a Menlo Park cybersecurity startup, locked in $26M across its Seed + extension to build an AI-native MDR platform. Led by Race Capital, they’re tackling endpoint threats with a lean, intelligent security engine purpose-built for the modern SOC.

🧠 Dopamine Dealflow

Bilt (New York, NY) – Raised $250M, valuing the rent payment platform at $10.75B, led by General Catalyst and GID, with United Wholesale Mortgage joining the cap table (@tradedvc)
TitanFile Receives Significant Growth Investment From SEVA
Spacelift (Redwood City, CA) – Raised $51M Series C, led by Five Elms Capital with Endeavor Catalyst and Inovo VC.
Agora (Santa Clara, CA) – Raised $50M Series A, led by Paradigm with Dragonfly to grow its programmable stablecoin ecosystem.
RealSense (Palo Alto, CA) – Raised $50M Series A, spun out from Intel and backed by Intel Capital to scale its depth perception tech for machines.
AirGarage (San Francisco, CA) – Raised $23M Series B, led by Headline Growth to modernize parking management.
Vellum (New York, NY) – Raised $20M Series A, led by Leaders Fund with backing from YC, Socii Capital, and Rebel Fund.
AirMDR (Menlo Park, CA) – Raised $26M total in Seed + extension, led by Race Capital for its AI-native cybersecurity platform.
HaloTech (Madrid, Spain) – Raised €10M from ESG-focused family offices and institutions for AI+IoT safety tech.
Arteria Technologies (Bengaluru, India) – Raised ₹100 crore (~$12M) Series B, led by ICICI Venture to expand AI-driven supply chain solutions.
XerpaAI (Singapore) – Raised $6M Seed, led by UFLY Capital for its AI growth platform for emerging tech startups.
Apolink (Palo Alto, CA) – Raised $4.3M Seed, Y Combinator + 468 Capital backed, building real-time connectivity for LEO satellites.
Helios (New York, NY) – Raised $4M Seed, led by Unusual Ventures to be the AI OS for public policy pros.
Live Story (Milan, Italy) – Raised €2.7M Seed, led by Vertis to transform digital experience management.
Opennote (San Francisco, CA) – Raised $850K, led by Afore Capital for its personalized AI edtech platform.
Inntelo AI (London, UK) – Raised £500K Pre-Seed, from Haatch, British Business Bank, and former Trip.com execs to enhance hospitality experiences with AI.
TeraWatt Technology (Fremont, CA) – Raised undisclosed in Series C first close, backed by Khosla Ventures and Temasek for next-gen batteries.
Pretzel Therapeutics (Cambridge, MA) – Raised undisclosed from The Mito Fund to build cellular energy therapeutics.
Bastazo (Bentonville, AR) – Raised undisclosed Seed, led by Cortado Ventures to defend critical infrastructure with AI.

💸 VC Funds Raised & Raising

IMM Credit & Solutions raised $730M for its first blind credit fund, marking a significant debut for IMM Holdings’ private credit unit in South Korea.
Evantic Capital, a new UK-based VC firm founded by ex-Sequoia partner Matt Miller, is launching with $400M under management.
UTEC (University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners) raised $326M for its sixth fund, continuing its STEM-focused investing strategy in Japan.
OnePrime Capital raised $305M for its third flagship fund, doubling down on tech-focused secondaries investing.
Investcorp facilitated the sale of Italian cybersecurity firm HWG Sababa to a Coller-backed continuation vehicle backed by a $280M fund.
Valante Capital is raising ~$125M toward its targeted $250M second Ascend Fund, expanding its Latin America-focused private equity strategy.
Propel Venture Partners raised $100M for its fifth fund, reaffirming its commitment to early-stage fintech bets.

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📰 Other News

Google drops $2.4B to snap up Windsurf talent
Varun Mohan (Windsurf CEO) and core R&D staff join Google in a massive acqui-hire. Windsurf keeps IP licensing rights. Previously in $3B talks with OpenAI—now pivoting?

🚀 SpaceX is writing a $2B check to xAI
Part of Elon’s $5B raise for the AI lab. xAI’s partnership with SpaceX is deepening fast—and they’re clearly betting big on vertical AI integration across the Muskiverse.

⚡ Lucid just broke the world record for EV range
The Air Grand Touring drove 768 miles on a single charge, crushing Mercedes' previous record. The EV arms race just hit another gear.

Ukraine war frontlines freeze—thanks to drones
Both sides now have 24/7 drone coverage over 750 miles. These cheap, lethal machines are reshaping modern warfare—and counter-tech is struggling to keep up.