🧑‍🚀 Top 3 Deals You Can’t Miss

1️⃣ Vercel – $300M Series F at $9.3B valuation, co-led by Accel and GIC.

2️⃣ Rebellions – $250M Series C at $1.4B valuation, scaling AI inference chips.

3️⃣ Eve – $103M Series B at $1B+ valuation, building legal AI for plaintiffs’ law firms.

🧠 Dopamine Dealflow

🌳 Series B+ & Growth

• Vercel (San Francisco, CA) – $300M Series F at $9.3B valuation; AI-native apps platform; co-led by Accel & GIC.

• Rebellions (Seoul, South Korea) – $250M Series C at $1.4B valuation; AI chip startup backed by Arm & Samsung.

• Crystalys Therapeutics (San Diego, CA) – $205M Series A; clinical-stage biopharma.

• Star Therapeutics (San Francisco, CA) – $125M Series D; antibody therapies.

• Assort Health (San Francisco, CA) – $76M Series B; AI-powered patient experience platform.

• Eve (San Francisco, CA) – $103M Series B at $1B+ valuation; legal AI for law firms.

• Axiom Math (San Francisco, CA) – $64M Seed; building self-improving superintelligence.

• Scorability (Austin, TX) – $40M; college athletic recruiting platform.

• RunBuggy (Phoenix, AZ) – $37M Series B; auto logistics platform.

• Simple (Boston, MA) – $35M Series B; weight-loss app, led by Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Ventures.

🚀 Series A

• Visana Health – $24M Series A; virtual-first women’s health.

• SureCo – $23M Series A; health insurance ICHRA platform.

• Commcrete – $21M Series A; tactical satellite comms.

• AdPipe – $12M Series A; AI-powered video platform.

• Tie (fka Revenue Roll) – $10M Series A; AI e-commerce identity.

• Supernova – $9.2M Series A; product design + code collab.

• Notable – $6M Series A; home sale prep financing.

• Summer Robotics – Undisclosed Series A; machine vision for robotics.

• InOrbit.AI – Series A; robot orchestration software.

🌱 Seed & Early Rounds

• MAI – $25M Seed; AI-driven performance marketing.

• Gelt – $13M Series A (Seed-to-A crossover); AI-native tax firm.

• Datawizz – $12.5M Seed; specialized language models (SLMs).

• Mesta – $5.5M Seed; cross-border payments.

• Longeye – $5M Seed; AI for law enforcement.

• Tato – $5M Seed; AI-native project platform.

• DataJoint – $4.9M Seed; computational DB + AI.

• Athernal Bio – £3.5M (~$4.3M) Seed; blood cancer immunotherapies.

• Clarifeye – €4M (~$4.3M) Pre-Seed; expert AI agents.

• StackGuardian – $10M total (Seed + extension); secure infra delivery.

• Hupside – $1.7M Pre-Seed; originality intelligence.

🤝 Strategic, M&A & Undisclosed

• Gusto – $600M acquisition of Guideline; will divest rival-linked customers.

• Rival – $2.8M raise + acquisition of Shake; Gen Z games platform.

• Carya – Acquired Dagosoft GmbH (Germany).

• EP Wealth Advisors – Minority stake from Ares Management.

• Eazewell – stealth co-founded by NBA star Russell Westbrook.

📈 IPOs / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Zijin Gold International – $3.2B IPO in Hong Kong; shares surged 68% at debut.

• LG Electronics India – Seeking $1.9B IPO at $8.7B valuation.

• Fermi – $682.5M IPO; data center REIT.

• Neptune – $368M IPO at $2.8B valuation; flood insurer.

• Canara HSBC Life Insurance – Seeking $300M IPO in India.

• Banco de Fomento Angola – $240M IPO.

• Phoenix Education Partners – Seeking $140M IPO at $1.17B valuation.

💸 VC Funds Raised & Raising

• Cyberstarts – $380M Opportunity Fund II; cybersecurity.

• Hamilton Lane – Launched evergreen Global VC & Growth Fund.

• Recast Capital – 3rd Recast Accelerate cohort for women/nonbinary VCs.

• Copec WIND Ventures – Named LatAm’s top CVC for 2nd year.

Founders: Want to be featured on @tradedvc? → traded.co/submit/vc

📚 Read of the Day

OpenAI Launches Sora App to Rival TikTok

Generative AI meets short-form video as OpenAI expands beyond models into consumer apps.

Opening:
OpenAI has unveiled Sora, a short-form video app designed to compete directly with TikTok. The app launches alongside the new Sora 2 generative model, bringing AI-powered video creation and editing tools into the hands of consumers. With TikTok’s future in the U.S. uncertain, OpenAI is betting that AI-native entertainment could capture a massive global audience.

The Product Pitch

Sora combines familiar swipe-based video feeds with AI-first editing and content creation, allowing users to generate, remix, and collaborate on videos instantly. It’s designed as both a creative tool and a social discovery platform.

The Strategy

For OpenAI, Sora marks a shift from pure infrastructure to owning a consumer-facing platform. This creates a new distribution channel for its models while competing for user attention in one of the most lucrative formats online: short-form video.

The Backstory

OpenAI has steadily expanded from GPT into creative domains like video, culminating in Sora. Launching an app signals a bid to capture consumer data, engagement, and direct monetization, rather than leaving that value to partners.

Why It Matters

• Investors see OpenAI testing whether AI-native apps can compete with Big Tech incumbents.

• For founders, the launch signals that even foundational model players will move downstream — meaning startups will need sharper differentiation or niche focus in AI video.

• TikTok, Meta, and YouTube now face direct competition from OpenAI itself.

👉 Read The Whole Story Here

📰 News You Don’t Want To Miss

🤖 California passes SB 53 to cement global AI leadership

📦 Amazon reveals new Alexa, Echo, and AI-powered devices

🎥 OpenAI launches Sora app, its TikTok competitor

🤖 DoorDash unveils Dot, its food delivery robot