🧑‍🚀 Top 3 Deals You Can’t Miss

1️⃣ Nvidia × xAI – a $20B partnership to fund Musk’s chip-heavy AI infrastructure and supercomputing ambitions.

2️⃣ SoftBank – $5.4B acquisition of ABB’s robotics unit, boosting its automation and industrial AI portfolio.

3️⃣ Base Power – $1B Series C led by Addition, scaling distributed energy storage and manufacturing capacity.

🧠 Dopamine Dealflow

🌳 Series B+ & Growth

• Base Power, an Austin, TX–based distributed battery network developer, raised $1B in Series C funding. Addition led the round to support a new energy storage factory build.

• Arthrosi Therapeutics, a San Diego, CA–based biopharma developing a URAT1 inhibitor gout treatment, raised $153M in Series E funding. Prime Eight Capital led, joined by other investors.

• Affinia Therapeutics, a Waltham, MA–based gene therapy company targeting heart and neurological diseases, raised $40M in Series C funding. NEA led, joined by Eli Lilly.

• DavidAI, an Israel-based generative AI company building a personal AI assistant for enterprise use, raised $50M in Series B funding. The round was led by General Catalyst with participation from Insight Partners and others.

• Splash Sports, a Denver, CO–based skill-based social sports gaming platform, raised $14.5M in Series B funding. Dream Ventures led, joined by EP Golf Ventures, Velvet Sea Ventures, and others.

• BlastPoint, a Pittsburgh, PA–based AI-driven customer intelligence platform, raised $10.6M in Growth funding. MissionOG led, joined by Curql Fund, Michigan Capital Network, and others.

🚀 Series A

• AeroRx Therapeutics, a La Jolla, CA–based developer of nebulized combo therapies for chronic respiratory diseases like COPD, raised $21M in Series A funding. Avalon BioVentures led the round.

• Anthea, a Bermuda-based insurtech providing crypto-based life insurance and blockchain payment integration, raised $22M in Series A funding. Yunfeng Financial led.

• AiPrise, a San Francisco, CA–based global compliance OS for KYC/KYB/fraud detection across 150+ countries, raised $12.5M in Series A funding. Headline led, joined by Y Combinator, SixThirty, and Correlation Ventures.

• Charles, a London, UK–based platform focused on conversational commerce and WhatsApp-based sales, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Accel, with participation from HV Capital and Project A.

• Qapita, a Singapore-based equity management and private markets platform, raised $26.5M in Series A funding backed by Charles Schwab, East Ventures, and MassMutual Ventures.

🌱 Seed & Early Rounds

• Appy AI, a New York–based AI platform automating customer service interactions, raised $5M in Seed funding. Investors included LDV Capital, Gradient Ventures, and First Round Capital.

• Reo.Dev, a San Francisco, CA–based AI-native GTM platform turning developer signals into intent data, raised $4M in Seed funding. Heavybit led, joined by India Quotient and Foster Ventures.

• Enurgen, an Ottawa, Canada–based solar performance modeling software startup, raised $4.1M in Seed funding. BDC, Brightspark, Diagram, and MaRS IAF participated.

• Neuronoff, a Cleveland, OH–based medtech developing an injectable neuromodulation (Injectrode) platform, raised $4.5M in funding to advance minimally invasive treatments for chronic conditions.

🤝 Strategic, M&A & Undisclosed

• Nvidia will reportedly finance Musk’s xAI chip expansion as part of a $20B partnership deal, supporting next-gen AI compute infrastructure.

• SoftBank plans to acquire ABB’s industrial robotic arm business for $5.4B in a deal expected to close in 2026.

• Stoke Space, a Kent, WA–based space startup developing the Nova reusable rocket, is reportedly seeking $500M at a $2B valuation to accelerate vehicle production.

• Veritas Prime, an Orlando, FL–based SAP and BPaaS technology provider, received a $31.5M strategic investment from a private equity firm focused on business process automation.

• Invigilator, a South Africa–based remote assessment platform for educational institutions, raised $11M led by Kaltroco.

• ClickHouse, a San Francisco, CA–based open-source analytics company, extended its Series C with new participation from Citi Ventures and Insight Partners.

• Glue, a San Francisco, CA–based AI-powered team collaboration startup, raised $20M in new funding from Abstract Ventures, Chapter One, Goldcrest, and Craft Ventures.

• HiOctave, a San Francisco, CA–based AI company enabling SMB customer automation and personalization, raised $15M led by Khosla Ventures, with Anthropy Fund and Menlo Ventures participating.

• QuoteWell, an Austin, TX–based tech-driven wholesale insurance brokerage, raised an additional $12M led by NEA, with Brand Foundry, ClockTower, and others joining.

• ImmunoVec, a Los Angeles, CA–based biotech, secured up to $40.7M from ARPA-H to develop in vivo cell therapies for autoimmune diseases using nanoparticle technology.

💸 VC Funds Raised & Raising

• AI2 Incubator, a Seattle-based AI startup accelerator, launched an $80M venture fund to double its investment activity and support early-stage generative AI startups.

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📚 Read of the Day

Musk’s xAI to Raise $20B from NVIDIA and Others in Chip Financing

The world’s leading AI chipmaker is deepening its ties with Musk’s xAI as the race for compute dominance heats up.

What Happened:
Nvidia will reportedly finance Elon Musk’s xAI chip expansion as part of a $20 billion partnership, solidifying one of the most significant alliances in the AI hardware space to date. The deal supports Musk’s plan to build out large-scale compute infrastructure powering his xAI models and Grok chatbot.

The Strategy:
For Nvidia, the move strengthens its grip on the AI supply chain — not just as a chip supplier, but as a financial and strategic enabler of large-scale model training. For Musk, it provides the compute capacity needed to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind.

Powered By…
xAI’s training runs are reportedly centered on Nvidia’s H200 and Blackwell GPUs, some of the world’s most powerful chips for large-model inference. The financing arrangement helps offset the extreme capex requirements of Musk’s supercomputing buildout.

Why It Matters:
This partnership signals a new phase in AI infrastructure: capital-backed compute alliances. Nvidia is not just selling chips — it’s underwriting the AI ecosystem itself, cementing its position as both supplier and financier of the next AI frontier.

👉 Read The Whole Story Here

📰 News You Don’t Want To Miss

💊 Amazon rolls out pharmacy kiosks — Launching in Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh, the move deepens its push into retail healthcare.

👟 Google expands virtual try-on to shoes — The AI-powered shopping tool goes global, adding footwear to its apparel try-on lineup.

⚙️ Nvidia to fund Musk’s xAI chip buildout — A $20B partnership to scale frontier AI compute infrastructure.

🤖 SoftBank acquires ABB’s robotics arm for $5.4B — The deal boosts SoftBank’s automation portfolio ahead of a 2026 close.

📡 AST SpaceMobile signs Verizon deal — Strengthens its position in the satellite-to-smartphone race against SpaceX and T-Mobile.