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Paramount+ Retires UFC PPV, Siri Goes AI Agent Mode, & Meta's $29B AI Infrastructure Deal

Paramount+ Retires UFC PPV, Siri Goes AI Agent Mode, & Meta's $29B AI Infrastructure Deal

Meta's $29B AI infrastructure deal, $140M in Series D funding, $2B fintech debt raise, here's your snapshot of the biggest tech and venture transactions shaping the market today:

Traded: Venture Capital
August 11, 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.

Presented by Arc

🧑‍🍳 Let’s get right into it…

Paramount+ Retires UFC Pay-Per-View — Streaming giant moves UFC fights behind subscriptions, betting big on fan growth and engagement.
Siri Upgrades to Agent Mode — Apple’s voice assistant evolves to handle complex tasks proactively, signaling a new era of AI-driven personal assistants.
$29B AI Infrastructure Power Move — Pimco’s $26B debt and Blue Owl’s $3B equity fuel Meta’s massive leap in the AI arms race.
$140M Series D Healthtech Surge — Elevage Medical and Ally Bridge lead funding to accelerate innovation in medical devices.
$2B Debt Financing Boosts Fintech Growth — Morgan Stanley and partners back IntraFi’s expansion with a major debt facility.

🧠 Dopamine Dealflow

💰 Massive Rounds (€50M+ / $50M+)

Meta (Menlo Park, CA) – $29B AI infrastructure deal, one of the largest in history.
Paramount Global (New York, NY) – $7.7B acquisition of UFC media rights, solidifying its sports entertainment portfolio.
Ford (Dearborn, MI) – $5B investment to scale next-gen EV production, battery tech, and manufacturing.
Strand Therapeutics (Cambridge, MA) – $153M Series B led by Kinnevik, with participation from new & existing investors, to advance its programmable mRNA therapeutic pipeline.
Aira (Stockholm, Sweden) – €150M to accelerate Europe’s transition from gas to clean heating.
Apreo Health (Redwood City, CA) – $130M Series B led by Bain Capital Life Sciences and Norwest, joined by F-Prime, Intuitive Ventures, Lightstone Ventures & Santé Ventures, to fund BREATHE-3 trial & commercialization of its airway scaffold device.
Truemeds (Mumbai, India) – $85M ($65M primary + $20M secondary) led by Accel, with Peak XV Partners, WestBridge Capital & InfoEdge Ventures, helping patients switch to affordable generic drug substitutes.
Uzum (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) — $65.5M Series A, co-led by Tencent and VR Capital, valuing the superapp at $1.5B.
Vulcan Elements (Durham, NC) — $65M Series A led by Altimeter Capital with One Investment Management to supercharge on-shored rare-earth magnet manufacturing.
BinSentry (Kitchener, Canada) – $50M to digitize agricultural storage and logistics

📈 Mid-Sized Rounds ($40M–$49M)

No deals in this range today.

🌱Early-Stage & Emerging (<$30M)

SNIPR Biome (Copenhagen, Denmark) – €35M Series B from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, SPRIN-D, Lundbeckfonden BioCapital, North-East Family Office & Wellington Partners, for CRISPR-based microbial therapies.
August Health (San Francisco, CA) – $29M Series B led by Base10 Partners, with General Catalyst, Matrix Partners & others, modernizing senior living EHR platforms.
Celera Semiconductor (San Jose, CA) – $20M Series A from Maverick Silicon to scale its Nestos analog IC automation platform.
Maxwell Biosciences (Austin, TX) – $20M from undisclosed investors to advance immune-inspired small molecules for global health.
Savor (Los Angeles, CA) — $17.8M Series A to scale its premium beverage brand blending wellness and flavor innovation.
Perle (San Francisco, CA) — $9M Seed to launch Perle Labs, blending Web3 + human-in-the-loop AI training.
Novig (New York, NY) – $18M Series A for sports prediction markets, led by Lux Capital.
Chowdeck (Lagos, Nigeria) – $9M Series A led by Novastar Ventures, with YC, AAIC, Rebel Fund & others, to expand quick commerce in Nigeria & Ghana.
OpenArt (San Francisco, CA) – $5M from Basis Set Ventures & DCM Ventures for its viral “brainrot” AI video creation tool.
Cellbox Labs (Riga, Latvia) – €3.3M non-dilutive funding (incl. EU IPCEI state aid) to scale organ-on-chip tech replacing animal testing.
Cuttable (South Yarra, Australia) – A$4.5M seed extension led by Square Peg to grow its AI-driven performance ad platform.
EDGX (Ghent, Belgium) – €2.3M seed co-led by imec.istart future fund & Flanders Future Tech Fund for AI-powered satellite edge computing.
paddy (Bielefeld, Germany) – €1M pre-seed led by HTGF to ease teacher workloads via AI.
Tami Software (Austin, TX) – $400K pre-seed from undisclosed backers for AI-powered instructor-led training modernization.

🤝 Strategic & Growth Investments

PreFix (Austin, TX) – Multi-million-dollar growth financing from Decathlon Capital to lower homeownership costs.
RBL (Boston, MA) – Investment from Modi Ventures to launch and scale medical technology startups.
NVIDIA (Santa Clara, CA) & AMD (Santa Clara, CA) – U.S. chip supply deal to boost AI hardware manufacturing. Amount undisclosed.
Confido (New York, NY) – $20M across Series A and Seed to expand AI-powered retail analytics and trade promotion management, led by Footwork and Watchfire Ventures with Y Combinator, BFG Partners, The Fintech Fund, Barrel Ventures, and angels.

💸 VC Funds Raised & Raising

Pension Insurance Corporation acquired Rolls-Royce’s UK pension pot for $5.8B, strengthening its position in specialist pension risk transfers.
Accel-KKR raised a $1.9B continuation fund for HR software firm Isolved, led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
A secondaries JV between WM Partners and Alternative Investment Capital raised $200M to pursue secondary market opportunities in Japan.
Orbital Materials raised $200M at a $1B valuation for an AI-powered materials science startup, backed by a16z and founded by ex-OpenAI execs.
Frictionless Capital is raising $60M for its third fund, focused on fintech and SaaS bets in emerging markets.
Expanse Ventures raised $18M for its debut VC fund, targeting early-stage plays in cybersecurity, AI, and critical infrastructure.

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📚 Read of the Day

Just Say It: Siri Will Do It

Siri to Operate Apps Hands-Free
Apple is testing a more advanced version of Siri that can carry out actions inside apps using only voice commands. The upgrade builds on Apple’s App Intents framework, allowing users to complete multi-step tasks—like finding a photo, editing it, and sending it—without ever touching the screen.

Broad App Support in Testing
Trials already include a wide range of popular apps, from Uber and AllTrails to YouTube, Amazon, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The goal is for Siri to integrate deeply into daily app use, making voice control a seamless part of the iOS experience.

Targeted Release Timeline
Apple first teased this enhanced Siri in 2024, but it hasn’t yet launched. Current plans aim for a spring 2026 release, pending successful testing.

Why It Matters
This evolution of Siri could redefine how users interact with their devices—offering greater accessibility, convenience, and productivity through true hands-free control.

Read The Whole Story Here