SpaceX Has Been Talking to Mistral and Cursor About Teaming Up

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SpaceX revealed a tie-up with Cursor yesterday, and now comes news that xAI has also explored bringing in Mistral as a third partner to help it close the gap with rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI. Business Insider has more here.

Google has struck a multibillion-dollar cloud deal with Thinking Machines Lab, the secretive, roughly one-year-old company founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, as it races to lock in fast-growing frontier labs and their massive compute needs. TechCrunch has more here.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Makes Its First Lead Investment in Startup Lucra — and It Isn’t AI

Image Credits: ARK Invest

By Julie Bort

ARK Invest Venture Fund has made its first-ever lead investment in an early-stage startup called Lucra, firm founder Cathie Wood told TechCrunch.

“We feel pretty excited about it,” Wood (pictured above) said in the recent interview regarding the investment in the startup.

Lucra developed a software platform that reimagines corporate loyalty programs into interactive, esports-like events such as tournaments where customers can play each other, even betting or winning cash or company giveaways. The startup said its customers include Five Iron Golf, Chess Kings, and Dave & Buster’s.

Lucra announced on Wednesday that it raised a $20 million Series B, led by the ARK fund, with participation from Alumni Ventures, Astralis Capital, Harlo Equity Partners, Simplex Ventures, SeventySix Capital, and WTI.

There are a few reasons why the famed financial company has never led a startup deal before. For one, the ARK Invest Venture Fund is not a typical VC fund. It’s an SEC-regulated interval fund (also known as a closed-end mutual fund), meaning anyone can invest in it, for as little as $500. However, it is not traded on a public exchange, so investors cannot sell shares at will. They can sell limited shares on specific dates, quarterly.

Wood also noted that the person running the fund, director of research Nick Grous, “is a tough sell,” leaving startups with the difficult task of getting him excited enough to advocate to lead a deal.

What’s even wilder is that ARK was particularly gun-shy about this sort of business because it got burned after investing in a somewhat similar company a few years ago.

Massive Fundings

AcuityMD, a seven-year-old Boston startup that helps medical device companies understand how their products are used, which doctors use them, and how they perform in the market, raised an $80 million Series C round at a $955 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by StepStone Group, with Benchmark Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Iconiq, and Atreides Management also participating. The company has raised a total of $160+ million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

DeepSeek, a three-year-old Chinese startup that develops open-source AI models and chatbots, is reportedly in talks to raise a round that could value it at more than $20 billion, with Tencent and Alibaba considering investing. The Information has more here.

Ray Therapeutics, a five-year-old Berkeley startup that is developing optogenetic therapies that use light-sensitive proteins to restore vision in patients with retinal diseases, raised a $125 million Series B round led by Janus Henderson Investors, with Adage Capital Management, Franklin Templeton, Invus, Marshall Wace, 4BIO Capital, Deerfield Management, MRL Ventures Fund, Norwest, Novo Holdings, and Platanus also piling on. More here.

Serif Biomedicines, a five-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that is working on DNA-based therapies that enable cells to produce therapeutic proteins without permanently altering their genes, raised a $50 million round. Flagship Pioneering was the deal lead. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Sooth Labs, a newly founded Pittsburgh startup that builds AI models to predict the likelihood of geopolitical and market events, is reportedly raising a $50 million round at a roughly $335 million post-money valuation. The purported deal lead is Felicis Ventures, with Yann LeCun and Jeff Dean also participating. Bloomberg has more here.

Vast Data, a 10-year-old New York company that provides software for managing large-scale data systems used in AI applications, raised a $1 billion Series F round at a $30 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Drive Capital and Access Industries, with Nvidia, Fidelity, and NEA also participating. CNBC has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Collov Labs, a five-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that interprets photos and live video to let software agents understand what’s happening and take actions on a user’s behalf, raised a $23 million Series A round. Investors included Mindworks Capital, Taihill Ventures, and Brightway Future Capital. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Monk, a two-year-old New York startup that handles invoicing, collections, and payment reconciliation for B2B companies, raised a $25 million Series A round co-led by Footwork and Acrew Capital, with previous investor BTV also contributing. The company has raised a total of $29 million. More here.

SCATR, a four-year-old Cleveland startup that provides software to protect data while it moves across networks, raised a $12.6 million Series A round led by First In. More here.

Shade, a four-year-old New York startup that provides a cloud storage platform that lets teams search and edit video files using natural language queries, raised a $14 million round co-led by Khosla Ventures, Construct Capital, and Bling Capital, with General Catalyst, SignalFire, and Contrary also opting in. The company has raised a total of $20 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Tava Health, a seven-year-old Salt Lake City startup that connects patients, therapists, employers, and health plans to deliver and manage mental health care, raised a $40 million Series C round led by Centana Growth Partners, with Catalyst Investors, Blue Heron Ventures, Peterson Ventures, and Springtide Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $73 million. More here.

Smaller Fundings

10x Science, a six-month-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to analyze experimental data to identify and characterize proteins for drug development, raised a $4.8 million seed round led by Initialized Capital, with Y Combinator, Civilization Ventures, and Founder Factor also pitching in. More here.

A&K Robotics, an 11-year-old Vancouver company that builds self-driving vehicles that carry passengers through airport terminals, raised a $5.9 million Series A round co-led by BDC Capital and Vantage Futures and including RiSC Capital, Grep VC, and Nimbus Synergies. AI Insider has more here.

AuX Labs, a four-year-old Toronto startup that produces dairy proteins like casein using fermentation to make animal-free cheese, raised a $4 million round co-led by NYA Ventures and Nàdarra Ventures, with Bluestein Ventures, Builders VC, Congruent Ventures, and Verdex Capital also investing. TechCrunch has more here.

BetHog, a two-year-old startup based in Belize that operates a crypto casino and sportsbook with AI-powered live dealers, raised a $10 million Series A round co-led by Will Ventures and RockawayX, with PCV, 6MV, Bullpen Capital, and Advancit Capital also participating. More here.

Bubble Robotics, a one-year-old Zurich startup that deploys autonomous underwater robots that carry out inspections and monitoring tasks at sea, raised a $5 million pre-seed round. Episode 1 Ventures, Asterion Ventures, and Norrsken Evolve co-led the deal. Tech Funding News has more here.

Calibre, a one-year-old London startup that aims to use diagnostics, clinical care, and data analysis to guide people on improving their health, raised a $3.3 million pre-seed round led by Amino Collective, with Daybreak Ventures and Cocoa Ventures also stepping up. Tech Funding News has more here.

Dojo AI, a one-year-old Lisbon startup that analyzes marketing data and runs campaigns across channels to improve performance, raised a $6 million seed round at a $30 million valuation. Armilar was the deal lead, with Heartfelt VC also joining in. EU-Startups has more here.

Qualitate, a two-year-old New York startup that conducts large-scale expert interviews and turns them into structured insights for investment and strategy decisions, raised a $7 million seed round co-led by IA Ventures and Crew Capital. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Seapoint, a one-year-old Dublin and London startup that manages financial operations for startups by integrating banking, invoicing, and accounting workflows, raised an $8.8 million seed round led by 13Books, with Ventures Together and Portfolio Ventures also investing. The Next Web has more here.

New Funds

Mighty Capital, an eight-year-old San Francisco VC firm focused on early-stage B2B tech, raised a $91 million third fund, triple the size of its predecessor, as it touts a track record that includes six IPOs over eight years.