CoreWeave, a buzzy eight-year-old New Jersey startup backed by Nvidia that provides high-performance computing resources optimized for AI and machine learning workloads, is scaling back its IPO because of market turmoil and continued questions about the company's reliance on Microsoft. The company's public offering is seen as a key test of the public market's appetite for AI deals. Semafor has more here.

75+ high traction AI Fintech startups!

Grab our one-stop resource on leading startups disrupting traditional banking and finance. Get founders profiles, market segment, funding info, prominent categories, and much more. Download the list here.

By Sean O'Kane

President Trump is slapping 25% tariffs on all cars imported to the United States, including from our immediate North American neighbors. He’s also placed a 25% tariff on certain parts used to build cars. It’s a decision that will likely supercharge the cost of new and used cars, but it’s also a gift to Tesla, the company run by Elon Musk, his biggest financial supporter in the presidential election.

The new tariff regime comes at an auspicious time for Tesla. The company is dealing with the fallout of Musk’s promotion of far-right ideology and his involvement with the unpopular Department of Government Efficiency, which has sparked protests around the world. Tesla has recently relied on promotions and price cuts to boost sales, and yet it still sold fewer EVs in 2024 than it did in 2023 and is off to a rough start in 2025.

New tariffs could shift that calculus, at least in the U.S. Tesla builds all of its cars destined for the North American market in the U.S. at factories in Fremont, California, and Austin, Texas. That means none of the cars it sells in the U.S. will be subject to the 25% vehicle import tax.

Tesla does import around 20% to 30% of the components used to build those cars, so that will cause some headache. Musk admitted on X that Tesla is “NOT unscathed” by these tariffs and claimed they will have a “significant” impact. But the company’s long-standing effort to establish local supply chains near its factories is now being rewarded.

More here. 

GravitHy, a three-year-old startup based in Marseille, France, that aims to reduce emissions in the steel industry by producing low-carbon iron using hydrogen, raised a $64.8 million round. Investors included Japan Hydrogen Fund, Marcegaglia, Ecolab, Rio Tinto, and Siemens as well as previous investors Engie New Ventures and InnoEnergy. Silicon Canals has more here.

Monica, the two-year-old Chinese startup behind Manus, an autonomous AI agent that is designed to independently perform complex tasks without continuous human guidance, is reportedly in the market to raise an undisclosed amount at a $500+ million valuation, more than five times its previous valuation. The Information has the scoop here. 

Supira Medical, a 13-year-old company based in Los Gatos, CA, that is developing a small heart pump designed to support patients undergoing high-risk heart procedures or experiencing severe heart failure, raised a $120 million round co-led by Novo Holdings and QIA, with additional participation from Cormorant Asset Management, The Capital Partnership, 415 Capital, AMED Ventures, PA MedTech, and Unorthodox Ventures. MassDevice has more here.

Underdog, a five-year-old Brooklyn startup that offers sports betting and online fantasy sports games, raised $70 million of a planned $100+ million Series C round at a $1.225 billion pre-money valuation, triple the valuation of its 2021 Series B round. Spark Capital is the deal lead. Sportico has more here.

Abound, a six-year-old San Francisco and Indian startup that offers a mobile app enabling Indian expatriates in the U.S. to send money to India, earn rewards, and receive cash back on various services, raised a $14 million round led by NEAR Foundation, with Circle Ventures and Times Internet also opting in. TechCrunch has more here. 

Capital Markets Gateway, a ten-year-old New York company that offers a digital platform connecting investors and underwriters in the equity capital markets, raised a $30 million Series C round. StageDotO was the lead investor, with Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Fidelity Investments, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada, Shea Ventures, and UBS also participating. More here.

Certiverse, a two-year-old Chicago startup whose AI-powered platform is designed to enable organizations to develop and deliver certification exams more quickly and affordably than traditional methods, raised an $11 million Series A round led by Cherryrock Capital, with Chingona Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, and Zeal Capital Partners also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $16+ million. TechCrunch has more here. 

Contoro Robotics, a three-year-old Austin startup that develops AI-powered robots designed to autonomously unload non-palletized boxes from trailers and shipping containers, raised a $12 million Series A round. Doosan, Coupang, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, and IMM as well as previous investors SV Investment, KB Investment, Kakao Ventures, and Future Play invested in the deal. The company has raised a total of $22 million. FreightWaves has more here.

DeepIP, a one-year-old New York and Paris startup that has created an AI-powered assistant to help patent professionals draft and review patent applications more efficiently, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Resonance, with Headline, Serena Capital, and Balderton Capital also pitching in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Galatea Bio, a four-year-old Miami startup that operates a biobank and provides genetic testing services, focusing on improving diagnostic testing and accelerating drug discovery in diverse, underserved populations, raised a $25 million round. F-Prime Capital, Helios Digital Ventures, Digitalis Ventures, AME Cloud, CEI Ventures, Alexandria, Founders Collective, Stanford President's Fund, and HBM Genomics invested in the deal. More here.

Hakimo, a five-year-old Menlo Park startup that uses artificial intelligence to monitor existing security systems like cameras and badge readers, raised a $10.5 million Series A round co-led by Vertex Ventures and Zigg Capital and including RXR Arden Digital Ventures as well as previous investors Defy.vc and Gokul Rajaram. The company has raised a total of $20.5 million. More here.

Jolly, a three-year-old New York startup that enables businesses to create customized reward programs to enhance employee satisfaction and productivity, raised a $16.5 million Series A round led by ex-Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn, with Bullpen Capital, Dorm Room Fund, and Eigen Ventures also contributing. More here.

Manna Air Delivery, a seven-year-old Dublin startup that uses drones to deliver food, groceries, and essential items directly to customers' homes, raised a $30 million round co-led by Molten Ventures and Tapestry VC, with Coca-Cola HBC, Dynamo VC, and Radius Capital also taking part. RTE has more here.

Mendel, a four-year-old Mexico City startup that extracts information from unstructured clinical documents like doctors’ notes, pathology reports, and lab results and turns it into structured data that researchers and pharmaceutical companies can use, raised a $35 million Series B round led by Base10 Partners, with PayPal Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst as well as previous investors Infinity Ventures, Industry Ventures, and Hi.vc also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $60 million in equity and $50 million in debt. TechCrunch has more here. 

Straiker, a one-year-old startup based in Sunnyvale, CA, whose products provide automated risk assessments and real-time threat blocking in order to prevent data leakage and unauthorized access, raised a $21 million round. Lightspeed Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures were the co-leads. SecurityWeek has more here.

XGS Energy, a 17-year-old Palo Alto and Houston company that develops technology to generate clean, continuous power by harnessing heat from underground rocks without relying on water or specific geological conditions, raised a $13 million round. Investors included Aligned Climate Capital, ClearSky, ClimateIC, and WovenEarth Ventures as well as prior backers Constellation Technology Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, and Valo Ventures. More here.

DeCharge, a two-year-old Indian startup that is building a network of electric vehicle chargers to provide fast and accessible charging for EVs, autonomous fleets, and robots, raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Lemniscap, with Colosseum, Daedalus Angels, EV3 Labs, Echo Fundraiser Chainyoda Jedis, and Levitate Labs also investing. Decrypt has more here.

Hook, a two-year-old New York startup that provides an AI-powered app enabling users to create and share remixes and mashups of popular songs, raised a $3 million from Khosla Ventures, Kygo's Palm Tree Crew, and The Raine Group as well as previous investors Imaginary Ventures, Point72 Ventures, KSHMR, and Waverley Capital. The company has raised a total of $6 million. Music Ally has more here.

Join Affinity to dive into how, at a time when traditional due diligence approaches are being tested, Vanessa Larco is taking a different approach. Previously a Partner at NEA, Larco is on the cusp of launching a new fund and rethinking how investors assess the deals in their pipeline. Join Affinity on April 3 to hear a new perspective on due diligence in early-stage investing.

Maven 11, a 10-year-old crypto VC firm based in Amsterdam, has raised its third fund in the amount of $107 million. The firm's CIO and managing partner told The Block that capital providers have been "more sensitive towards VC funding due to the general market conditions." More here. 

The Information is reporting that Nvidia is thisclose to acquiring Lepton AI, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that provides cloud infrastructure designed specifically to run large-scale AI models efficiently, for a price rumored to be several hundred million dollars. The company raised an $11 million seed round from CRV and Fusion Fund about two years ago. SiliconANGLE has more here. 

Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen told The Wall Street Journal that the tech-focused freight forwarder is weighing two options: going public or pursuing a secondary tender offering and remaining private. More here. [Editor's note: We will be sure to ask Petersen about this at our event next week in San Francisco.]

Roy Lee, a Columbia University sophomore majoring in computer science, has been suspended by Columbia for using an AI tool he created to solve technical coding questions posed in internship interviews and posting the interviews online. NBC News has more here.

According to figures from Cox Automotive, the number of U.S. auto listings for used Teslas has increased 33% this year, 22% higher than the EV category as a whole. Business Insider has more here. 

The biggest beneficiary of the Trump administration's Signal scandal may be Signal itself, which saw U.S. downloads soar 45% on March 24th and 28% worldwide. TechCrunch has more here. 

Anthropic has released research exposing how AI models "think" and (yes) sometimes lie. VentureBeat has more here. 

Open source developers have started fighting back against AI crawlers in ingenuous, often humorous ways. TechCrunch has more here.

Why we should do things that make us miserable.

How to stop saying "um."

And the award for this week's worst company name goes to ...

A device that can flatten out your warped vinyl collection.

Ice cream that will take you back ... way back.