Elon Musk tweeted today that "xAI has acquired X in an all-stock transaction. The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt)." TechCrunch has more here. 

SoftBank is reportedly leading a $40 billion investment in OpenAI at a valuation of approximately $300 billion, but the deal has one important catch: if OpenAI isn't able to convert into an independent, for-profit company by the end of the year, it could lose out on half of the money. The Wall Street Journal has the scoop here. 

Business Insider is reporting that Scale AI, a nine-year-old startup backed by Nvidia that provides data labeling for machine learning models, is pursuing a tender offer at a valuation as high as $25 billion, almost double the valuation it secured last year. More here. 

The FDIC added its voice to a chorus of U.S. government regulators in saying that banks need not seek prior approval for crypto-related activities so long as they manage risk appropriately. PYMNTS has more here. 

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Prolific fintech investor and QED Investors co-founder Frank Rotman said Friday that he will transition to a partner emeritus role by year’s end to focus on founding his own startups.

But those startups won’t necessarily be financial technology companies. In a post on X, Rotman — who helped start QED in 2007 — declared that “the first business” that he plans “on getting out of the ground is in the music industry.”

He wrote: “It’s easy to call me crazy for all the obvious reasons, but it’s worth reserving judgment until you learn more about the business that’s evolved in my head and sat on the shelf for years. It will be fun to build and could actually make a huge difference to an industry that none of us could imagine living without.”

Rotman started Alexandria, Virginia-based QED, which today has $4 billion in assets under management, nearly two decades ago with Nigel Morris and Caribou Honig. He led the firm’s investment in Credit Karma and played a role in QED’s investments in unicorns such as GreenSky, Flywire, and SoFi. (In fact, QED was the first institutional money into Credit Karma.) Other companies that the firm has backed include Creditas, Nubank, AvidXchange, and Bitso.

More here. 

Marvel Fusion, a six-year-old Munich startup that uses high-intensity lasers to trigger fusion reactions with the goal of creating a sustainable power source, raised a $54 million round. Investors included EQT Ventures, Siemens Energy Ventures, and the European Innovation Council Fund. Sifted has more here.

Allen Control Systems, a three-year-old Austin startup that develops autonomous robotic weapon stations designed to detect and neutralize drone threats for military and defense organizations, raised a $30 million Series A round led by Craft Ventures, with previous investors Inspired Capital and Rally Ventures also participating. More here.

GridPoint, a 22-year-old company based in Reston, VA, whose tech helps commercial buildings use energy more efficiently by monitoring and controlling systems like heating, cooling, and lighting, raised a $45 million round led by Marunouchi Innovation Partners, with additional participation from Goldman Sachs, I Squared Capital, Shell Ventures, TOMS Capital, Fortress Investment Group, Olympia Group, and QVT Financial. ESG Today has more here.

Layer Health, a two-year-old startup based in Brookline, MA, that uses AI to analyze unstructured data in patient charts, assisting healthcare providers and researchers in tasks like quality reporting and clinical studies, raised a $21 million Series A round led by Define Ventures, with Flare Capital Partners, GV, and MultiCare Capital Partners also taking part. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Playback, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that enables sports fans and creators to watch live games together, offering interactive features like real-time commentary and chat, raised a total of $22 million through a seed and Series A round. Investors included Khosla Ventures, Seven Seven Six, and NBA Investments. Sports Business Journal has more here.

Solace, a three-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that connects Medicare patients with experienced healthcare advocates such as former doctors and nurses who assist with tasks like scheduling appointments and managing insurance issues, is in the market to raise $40 million Series B round at a $300 million+ valuation. Menlo Ventures is the reported deal lead. Business Insider has more here.

Yutori, a San Francisco startup founded this year that is developing AI-powered personal assistants designed to autonomously perform everyday digital tasks, such as scheduling, online ordering, and travel planning, raised a $15 million seed round led by Radical Ventures, with Felicis, "AI godmother" Fei-Fei Li, and Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean also contributing. Reuters has more here.

All Gravy, a five-year-old Copenhagen startup whose AI-powered employee app is designed to enhance the work experience for frontline workers in industries like hospitality and retail, raised a $2.9 million seed round. Scale Capital and Moonfire Ventures were the co-leads. Tech Funding News has more here.

BuildVision, a two-year-old startup based in Charleston, SC, whose platform is designed to automate the sourcing, procurement, and financing of building systems, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Norwest Venture Partners, with previous investor Crosslink Capital also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $13.8 million. More here.

Chord Commerce, a four-year-old New York startup that provides an AI-powered platform to help companies conduct real-time market research without using personal data, and automate marketing actions, raised a $5.5 million round led by M13, with Act One Ventures and GR0 Capital also stepping up. More here.

Ethos, a London startup founded this year that uses AI to match people with expert roles, advisory gigs, speaking opportunities, and jobs, raised a $3.3 million round led by General Catalyst, with 8VC, Conviction, Common Magic, and Interface Capital also anteing up. Tech.eu has more here.

Experial, a three-year-old German startup that develops AI-powered digital twins that simulate consumer behavior, enabling companies to conduct real-time market analyses and gather customer insights without relying on personal data, raised a $2.2 million pre-seed round. Capnamic Ventures was the deal lead. Tech Funding News has more here.

Intelliseq, an 11-year-old Polish company whose platform is used by medical laboratories and research institutions to automate the analysis and interpretation of genetic data from next-generation sequencing, raised a $4.9 million round. Vinci HiTech was the deal lead, with Unfold.vc also throwing in. Tech.eu has more here.

Marit Health, a San Francisco startup founded this year that offers an anonymous, community-driven platform where physicians and advanced practice providers can share salary information in order to make medical compensation more transparent, raised a $3.2 million seed round led by Define Ventures. More here.

Taxo, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that is working on an AI-powered platform to automate administrative tasks in healthcare, such as prior authorizations and medical billing, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Y Combinator, General Catalyst, and Character. TechCrunch has more here.

Warlock Labs, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that builds tools that help crypto platforms recover money they usually lose during blockchain transactions, raised an $8 million seed round led by Polychain Capital, with Greenfield Capital, Reciprocal Ventures, Symbolic Capital, Ambush Capital, and TRGC also investing. CoinDesk has more here.

WunderGraph, a five-year-old Miami and German startup that has built an open-source platform designed to help companies manage and integrate their GraphQL APIs more effectively, raised a $7.5 million Series A round led by Karma Ventures and including eBay Ventures and Aspenwood Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Softmax, a San Francisco startup founded this year by entrepreneur Emmett Shear that is focused on developing "organic alignment" strategies to harmonize the objectives of humans and artificial intelligences, raised an undisclosed amount from Andreessen Horowitz, Lionheart Ventures, and Plural. Core Memory has more here. 

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Willow, an 11-year-old San Francisco company that created an in-bra, wearable breast pump, has acquired the assets of Elvie, a 12-year-old London company that developed products like silent, wireless breast pumps and a smart Kegel trainer aimed at improving women's health and wellness. Terms were not disclosed. Elvie had raised more than $186 million from investors like Octopus Ventures, BlackRock, and Blume Equity. TechCrunch has more here. 

Braze (Nasdaq: BRZE), a New York-based customer engagement platform, says it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OfferFit, a four-year-old, Boston-based AI decisioning company, for $325 million. OfferFit looks to have raised at least $50 million in funding from investors across its Series A and B rounds, including Canvas Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Burst Capital. More here.

CoreWeave, an eight-year-old New Jersey startup backed by Nvidia that provides infrastructure-as-a-service tailored for industries like AI, priced at $40 a share, substantially below its expected range of $47 to $55. CNBC has more here. 

Charlie Javice, a Forbes "30 Under 30" entrepreneur who founded Frank, a startup that helped students access financial aid, was convicted today of defrauding JPMorgan, which bought the company in September of 2021 for $175 million. (Javice claimed Frank had four million customers when in reality the number was approximately 300,000.) The Wall Street Journal has more here. 

In related news, lawyers for Charlie Javice are asking the court to forego requiring Javice to wear an ankle monitor before her July 26th sentencing because she now makes her living as a pilates instructor. Business Insider has more here. 

President Donald Trump has pardoned Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola, which manufactured hydrogen trucks. Nikola briefly surpassed Ford's market value before a short seller claimed that Milton had misrepresented the company's technology. In 2022 Milton was convicted of one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. TechCrunch has more here. 

YouTuber MrBeast has co-written a thriller with James Patterson, author of the Alex Cross series, and reports are that bidding for the book has reached eight figures. The book's logline is, "Players fight to survive deadly tests held in dangerous locations around the world, as they battle to become 'The One.'" Deadline has more here. 

Wired is reporting that DOGE intends to migrate the Social Security code base off of COBOL in a matter of months, not the years that the agency previously estimated this kind of migration would require. "If you weren't worried about a whole bunch of people not getting benefits or getting the wrong benefits, or getting the wrong entitlements, or having to wait ages, then sure go ahead," one consultant sniped. More here. 

OpenAI has "evolved" and is now cool about creating images depicting public figures, hateful symbols, and racial features. TechCrunch has more here.   

Wired does a deep dive into Anthropic's origin story and interviews the brother-sister combo that left OpenAI to start a company rooted in effective altruism. More here. 

Reddit's share price is down more than 50% from a February high thanks in part to a change in Google's search algorithm. Bloomberg has more here.

A couple of true Conan O'Brien fans threw a Conan O'Brien-themed birthday party for their one-year-old son, Conan, that featured a Late Night desk where the suited toddler could hold court.

A 110,000-acre New Mexico ranch that is more than three times the size of San Francisco has hit the market for $68.5 million.