How is it still just the middle of this week? (Is our current thought bubble.)

The Trump administration is planning to nominate Brian Quintenz, a16z Crypto's head of policy, to head up the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the VC industry is thrilled. TechCrunch has more here. 

In a court filing on Wednesday, a lawyer for Elon Musk said the billionaire will withdraw his $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI’s nonprofit if the ChatGPT maker’s board of directors “preserve the charity’s mission” and halt its conversion to a for-profit corporation. It also claims that Musk’s offer to buy OpenAI’s nonprofit is “serious,” and that the nonprofit “must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets.” TechCrunch has more here.

The crypto exchange Coinbase is looking to return to India, reports TechCrunch.

Getaround, the car-sharing operation that went public in 2022, abruptly shut down its U.S. operations. How abruptly? It urged customers to return car rentals by the end of Wednesday to avoid any coverage gaps. TechCrunch has the story here.

The ultimate investor networking calendar is back – and bigger! The 2025 Investor Conference Calendar features top 150 global events for Investors and Founders to connect. Get dates, locations, audience and registration links.

By Brian Heater

Apple is exploring both humanoid and non-humanoid robotic form factors, according to a new scoop from longtime Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The intel comes on the heels of a research paper from the iPhone maker that explores human interactions with “non-anthropomorphic” robots — specifically a Pixar-style lamp.

While Apple’s research paper highlights elements that could inform an eventual consumer robot, the work primarily shines a light on progress from a company still mired in the early research stages of a complex field. Kuo qualifies the work as “early proof-of-concept,” adding that the Apple Car project was effectively abandoned in a similarly early stage. Citing “current progress and typical development cycles,” Kuo projects 2028 as an optimistic timeline for mass production.

What makes robots unique compared to other early-stage Apple projects — such as a rumored foldable iPhone — is the level of transparency from the notoriously tight-lipped Apple. (This is the same company that, as part of a legal settlement, recently demanded a public apology from a former iOS engineer who leaked details about the Vision Pro.)

It’s unavoidable. Progress in robotics is supported by work from universities and research facilities, along with behind-the-scenes corporate projects. For the past several years, many robotics companies have faced difficulties hiring quickly enough to support release timelines that have accelerated in the age of generative AI. Publishing research for the public to read is a great resource for recruiting engineers.

More here.

Chestnut Carbon, a three-year-old New York startup that purchases underused farmland in the United States and transforms it into forests to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, raised a $160 million Series B round. Investors included previous investor Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as well as Cloverlay and DBL Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Klook, an 11-year-old Hong Kong company whose platform allows travelers to discover and book a variety of activities, attractions, and services in over 2,700 destinations worldwide, raised a $100 million led by Vitruvian Partners. Forbes has more here.

Mercury Technologies, an eight-year-old San Francisco startup that provides online banking services tailored for startups and small businesses, is reportedly talking to Sequoia Capital about an investment that would value the company at $3+ billion. Bloomberg has the scoop here. 

Tabby, a seven-year-old Riyadh startup that allows customers to split their purchases into four interest-free payments, both online and in-store, raised a $160 million Series E round at a $3.3 billion valuation. The deal was co-led by Blue Pool Capital and Hassana Investment Co., with additional participation from STV and Wellington Management. The company has raised $1+ billion in equity and debt. TechCrunch has more here.

Boostly, an eight-year-old startup based in Lehi, UT, that provides an automated text messaging platform that helps restaurants increase customer orders, gather reviews, and monitor performance, raised a $22 million round led by PeakSpan Capital, with previous investors Y Combinator, Trestle Partners, and Singularity Capital also participating. More here.

Comulate, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that automates accounting tasks for insurance brokers, such as processing carrier statements, reconciling accounts, and forecasting revenue, raised a $20 million Series B round co-led by BOND and Workday Ventures, with previous investors Spark Capital also investing. TechCrunch has more here.

ConverzAI, a six-year-old Seattle startup that provides AI-powered virtual recruiters that automate the hiring process by engaging with candidates through voice, text, and email to assess their suitability for job positions, raised a $16 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures, with Left Lane Capital and previous investors Foundation Capital and Afore Capital also pitching in. GeekWire has more here.

Fal, a four-year-old Oakland startup that provides AI tools to enable developers to create images, videos, and audio, raised a $49 million Series B round co-led by Notable Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, with Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, and First Round Capital also taking part. The company has raised a total of $72 million. Tech.eu has more here.

High Definition Vehicle Insurance, a seven-year-old Chicago startup that provides commercial trucking insurance that uses real-time data from trucks to assess safety and adjust premiums, raised a $40 million co-led by prior backers 8VC, Autotech Ventures, Munich Re Ventures, and Weatherford Capital. The company has raised a total of $87+ million. More here.

Lanch, a three-year-old Berlin startup that collaborates with social media influencers to create food brands that are promoted online and delivered to customers, raised a $27.1 million Series A round. Felix and HV Capital were the co-leads. TechCrunch has more here.

Latent Labs, a two-year-old London and San Francisco startup that develops generative AI models intended to capture the fundamentals of biology and enable partners to create new antibodies, optimize existing enzymes, and advance genetic engineering, raised $40 million Series A round co-led by Radical Ventures and Sofinnova Partners, with Flying Fish, Isomer, 8VC, Kindred Capital, and Pillar VC also taking part. The company has raised a total of $50 million. TechCrunch has more here. 

Lingopal.ai, a two-year-old New York that offers an AI-powered platform that translates live audio and captions into over 120 languages in real-time, aiming to preserve the speaker's tone and handle slang and industry-specific terms, raised a $14 million Series A round. DCM Ventures led the transaction, with Scrum Ventures and Marquee Ventures also anteing up. More here.

Lucidity, a four-year-old New York startup that automatically adjusts cloud storage sizes in real-time to match data needs, raised a $21 million Series A round led by WestBridge Capital and including previous investor Alpha Wave Global. The company has raised a total of $31 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Mast Reforestation, an 11-year-old Seattle company that helps landowners restore forests destroyed by wildfires by providing services such as seed collection, seedling cultivation, and tree planting, raised a $25 million round co-led by Pulse Fund and previous investor Social Capital, with Seven Seven Six, Elemental Impact, Spero Ventures, Thistledown Capital, Resilience Reserve, Gaingels, Climate Avengers, Climate Capital, Techstars, Drone.vc, Asymmetry Ventures, and Massive Capital Partners also piling on. TechCrunch has more here.

Moderne, a five-year-old Miami startup that helps businesses automatically update and improve their software code across multiple projects, raised a $30 million Series B round led by Acrew Capital, with Morgan Stanley, Amex Ventures and TIAA Ventures as well as previous investors Allstate, Intel Capital, Mango Capital, and True Ventures also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

ScorePlay, a four-year-old New York startup that helps sports organizations manage and distribute their media content, such as photos and videos, raised a $13 million Series A round led by 20VC, with Seven Seven Six and NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo also writing checks. CNBC has more here.

Suger, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that enables software companies to quickly list, sell, and manage their products on cloud marketplaces like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Threshold Ventures, with previous investors Craft Ventures, Intel Capital, and Y Combinator also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Coral, a Montréal startup that provides support for women experiencing perimenopause and menopause, including comprehensive health assessments, individualized care plans, and guidance from a team of medical professionals and health coaches, raised a $2.9 million seed round led by Brightspark, with Diagram and The51 also participating. Femtech Insider has more here.

Diag-Nose.io, a five-year-old Melbourne and Menlo Park, CA startup that is developing diagnostic tools to improve the treatment of chronic respiratory diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, raised a $2 million seed round. Breakthrough Victoria was the deal lead, with support from Radar Ventures. More here.

Edacious, a three-year-old startup based in Marlborough, MA, that offers a platform that measures and analyzes the nutrient content of whole foods, including vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, raised an $8.1 million seed round. Patagonia's Tin Shed Ventures led the investment, with the Nest Family Office, Trailhead Capital, Grantham Environmental Trust's Neglected Climate Opportunities, iSelect Capital, First Thirty, and Pelican Ag also investing. More here.

Era, a three-year-old New York startup that uses AI to help individuals manage their money by automating tasks like budgeting, saving, and investing, raised a $6.2 million seed round co-led by MaC Venture Capital, Third Kind Venture Capital, and Protagonist and including Clocktower Ventures, K5 Ventures, and Northzone. More here.

Gaia Dynamics, a Palo Alto startup founded this year that helps customs brokers, consultants, and brands accurately classify products and calculate tariffs by matching product descriptions to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, raised a $1.5 million pre-seed round. AI Fund and Zenda VC co-led the deal. More here.

Index, a two-year-old Australian startup that offers a planning tool for product managers and software engineering teams, raised a $2.2 million seed round. Bain Capital Ventures and Blackbird Ventures co-led the deal, with BOND and Y Combinator also taking part. More here.

Integral, a one-year-old Berlin startup that provides a digital platform to help German SMBs manage accounting, taxation, and payroll matters, raised a $6.3 million round co-led by General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures, with Puzzle Ventures also participating. Silicon Canals has more here.

MarketLeap, a three-year-old Luxembourg startup that helps direct-to-consumer SMBs manage e-commerce logistics, marketing, compliance, and fulfillment, raised an $8 million Series A round led by Smedvig Ventures, with Expon Capital and Motier Ventures also joining in. Tech.eu has more here.

Mattoboard, a four-year-old Las Vegas startup that offers a web-based platform for interior designers and architects to create realistic 3D mood boards, raised a $2 million round led by Acrobator Ventures, with Blue Field Capital, SoundBoard, Home Depot Ventures, and Masco also investing. The company raised a total of $3 million. More here.

Oso Semiconductor, a three-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, that develops energy-efficient, high-performance microchips for wireless applications such as satellite communications, 5G networks, and radar systems, raised a $5.2 million round led by Engine Ventures, with additional participation from Entrada Ventures, Berkeley SkyDeck, and J-Ventures. More here.

PHȲND, a one-year-old startup based in Stamford, CT, that offers a free cloud gaming platform accessible on smart TVs and other devices, raised a $10 million seed round led by Wellington Management, with Bessemer Venture Partners and Connecticut Innovations Fund also opting in. More here.

Pinkfish AI, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose platform is designed to allow businesses to automate tasks by simply describing them in natural language, raised a $7.6 million pre-seed round led by Norwest Venture Partners, with Storm Ventures also chiming in. TechCrunch has more here.

Taager, a six-year-old Riyadh startup that enables individuals to start and grow online businesses by providing access to products, storage, shipping, and customer collection services, raised a $6.8 million pre-Series B round led by Norrsken22, with Endeavor Catalyst and Beltone VC as well as previous investors 4DX Ventures, RAED Ventures, BECO Capital, and Breyer Capital also piling on. Wamda has more here.

Join Techstars and Affinity for a discussion on private capital predictions for 2025. Are investors turning up the notch on deal sourcing? How are firms using AI to tackle data complexities? What can investors do to stand out amidst greater competition? Get answers to these questions and more when you join the webinar on February 13.

Cathie Woods' Ark Investment Management is teaming up with two Tampa VCs to raise a $50 million fund with a hard cap of $100 million. The fund, which is called the ARK Digital Asset Innovation Fund, will focus on early-stage investments in local startups and members of the Ark Innovation Center. The Tampa Bay Business Journal has more here. 

Ulu Ventures, a 17-year-old Palo Alto venture firm that seeks to back diverse tech founders, has raised its fourth fund in the amount of $208 million. The firm has $400+ million under management. The Wall Street Journal has more here. 

Slow Ventures, the 14-year-old, San Francisco-based early stage venture firm, just announced a $60 million+ "creator fund" whose limited partners include the University of Michigan, MIT, and Rutgers. The idea is to fund the next wave of entrepreneurs based on the belief that individuals now matter more than institutions. More here.  

If SailPoint -- a 20-year-old company owned by Thomas Bravo that provides identity and access management software for businesses -- is any measure of the public market's appetite for cybersecurity IPOs, then VCs who invest in the space should be ecstatic. The deal is currently 20x oversubscribed, according to Bloomberg, which has more here. 

Google CEO Sundar Pichai thinks "practically useful" quantum computers are right around the corner. "The quantum moment reminds me of where AI was in the 2010s," he told attendees at a Dubai conference. Bloomberg has more here. 

Anthropic’s co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei called this week's AI Action Summit a “missed opportunity” given the rapid pace at which AI is advancing. TechCrunch talked with him about it. 

Convicted Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes tells People magazine that even from prison, she is is still working on “research and inventions” in the healthcare space. TechCrunch has more here. 

On a Kleiner Perkins podcast, former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick lambasted his old rival, former Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello. "We would have paid for Riccitiello to stay a CEO forever," Kotick said. "We thought he was the worst CEO in video games.” VentureBeat has more here 

BuzzFeed is laying off 5% of its headcount. (Thanks, AI.) Last year, it said it would shrink its workforce by about 16%. It also said in December it would sell First We Feast (the food culture site that produces “Hot Ones") for $82.5 million.The Wall Street Journal has more here. 

Foreign Policy observes that DOGE is facilitating the most consequential security breach in U.S. history. Writes renowned security technologist Bruce Schneier, "It’s as if someone found a way to rob Fort Knox by simply declaring that the new official policy is to fire all the guards and allow unescorted visits to the vault." More here. 

In what seems like a response to increased competition, OpenAI is killing off a release and trying to simplify its product offerings. TechCrunch has more here.

Protein is having a moment as General Mills launches a new high-protein version of Cheerios and consumers opt to consume all sorts of nasty things like chicken-breast smoothies in their quest to bulk up. (If there is a teenage boy in your life, this should be old news.)

The trailer for Friendship, a dark comedy starring Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson about a bromance gone wrong, is out. 

Inconvenient versions of everyday objects.

Seven unforgettable dogs at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Thanks to Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl appearance, flared jeans are now officially back in style. (But also, act fast; they won't be flare forever.)