How a headphone site operator built loyalty startup Lantern to solve his own problems; plus, Deel hits $17.3B valuation after raising $300M from big-name VCs

General Intuition lands $134M seed to teach agents spatial reasoning using video game clips, also, Electric aircraft startup Beta Technologies seeks to raise $825M in IPO

Liberate bags $50M at $300M valuation to bring AI deeper into insurance back offices; also, Eightfold raised $35M for an AI digital twin startup

Inaudible sound might be the next frontier in wildfire defense

FleetWorks raises $17M to match truckers with cargo faster

Sheryl Sandberg-backed Flint wants to use AI to build and update websites, and Coco Robotics taps UCLA professor to lead new physical AI research lab

India’s Airbound bags $8.65M to build rocket-like drones for one-cent deliveries

Kalshi hits $5B valuation days after rival Polymarket gets $2B NYSE backing at $8B; also,

Reflection AI raises $2B to be America’s open frontier AI lab, challenging DeepSeek

Novoloop’s upcycled plastic takes a step closer to production; and Knapsack picks up $10M to help bridge the gap between design and engineering teams

Base Power raises $1B to deploy home batteries everywhere

Trump’s DOE proposes cutting billions in grants for GM, Ford, and lots of startups

One startup’s paper-thin stainless steel could change how bridges are built

Alternative app store AltStore raises $6M, connects with the fediverse; also, ÄIO invented a method to make edible fat from ag waste like sawdust

A 19-year-old nabs backing from Google execs for his AI memory startup, Supermemory

Heidi Health raises $65M Series B; also, Sugar Free Capital raises $32M inaugural fund

Event startup Partiful wasn’t stripping GPS locations from user-uploaded photos; plus, If you’re not an AI startup, good luck raising money from VCs

A new search engine raises $1.1M to let obsessive fans dive down internet rabbit holes; also, New deep tech fund Wave Function Ventures raises $15 million

How startups could be affected by a prolonged government shutdown, plus Oneleet raises $33M to shake up the world of security compliance

Kevin Hart’s VC firm led $35M Series B for weight-loss app Simple, also, Electroflow promises to make LFP material for 40% less than Chinese producers