We are hosting our very first StrictlyVC evening in Athens just two weeks from tonight, May 8, and among our guests will be Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a graduate of Harvard and Stanford and part of a political dynasty in the country, who we're thrilled to be interviewing. It's going to be a fun-filled and informative night with investors and founders (and also, we're hoping, a little mastiha). Massive thanks to the global entrepreneurship organization Endeavor for its partnership in this special event. You can learn more and buy tickets here. Hope to see you there.:)
Top News
On the fourth day of the remedies portion of U.S. v. Google, a Yahoo executive testified that his company would be interested in buying Google's Chrome browser, even though he estimated that Chrome would likely cost tens of billions of dollars. The Verge has more here.
Ziff Davis, which publishes titles like PCMag and Mashable and is one of the largest digital publishers, has filed suit against OpenAI for "intentionally and relentlessly reproduced exact copies and created derivatives of Ziff Davis works." The New York Times has more here.
Bluesky went down tonight, even though it is a decentralized network. TechCrunch explains how.
Uber is teaming up with Volkswagen to launch a U.S. robotaxi service using self-driving, electric microbuses. TechCrunch has more here.
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OpenAI Wants Its "Open" AI Model to Call Models in the Cloud for Help
By Maxwell Zeff
For the first time in roughly five years, OpenAI is gearing up to release an AI system that’s truly “open,” meaning it’ll be available for download at no cost and not gated behind an API. TechCrunch reported on Wednesday that OpenAI is aiming for an early summer launch, and targeting performance superior to open models from Meta and DeepSeek.
Beyond its benchmark performance, OpenAI may have a key feature up its sleeve — one that could make its open “reasoning” model highly competitive, TechCrunch has learned.
Company leaders have been discussing plans to enable the open model to connect to OpenAI’s cloud-hosted models to better answer complex queries, two sources familiar with the matter tell TechCrunch. During a recent meeting with developers in the open source AI community, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described the capability as a “handoff,” according to one of the sources.
OpenAI did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
If the feature — as sources describe it — makes it into the open model, it will be able to make calls to the OpenAI API to access the company’s other, larger models for a substantial computational lift. It’s unclear if the open model will have the ability to access some of the many tools OpenAI’s models can use, like web search and image generation.
Massive Fundings
Electra, a five-year-old Boulder startup that is developing a new method to produce iron using renewable electricity instead of coal, raised a $186 million Series B round. Capricorn Investment Group and Temasek co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $214 million. Tech Funding News has more here.
Flow, a three-year-old startup founded by WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann that aims to transform the rental housing experience by integrating technology, fostering community, and promoting equity for renters, raised a $100+ million round at a $2.5 billion post-money valuation, more than double its previous valuation. Previous investor Andreessen Horowitz was reportedly one of the investors. "I’m sure this is a company that we could take public one day," Neumann told a video journalist with Bloomberg. More here.
Granite Bio, a four-year-old Swiss startup that is developing antibody drugs to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, raised a $70 million Series B round. Forbion and Sanofi Ventures were the co-leads. More here.
The Chinese startup behind Manus AI has secured a $75 million round of funding led by Benchmark to explore the use of AI agents to replace everyday tasks. Bloomberg, which has the scoop, says the deal quintupled the company's valuation to almost half a billion dollars. It further notes that like DeepSeek, Manus has sparked questions about the US lead in AI. More here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
AuthMind, a five-year-old Bethesda startup whose platform connects to existing identity systems and network infrastructure to uncover gaps such as shadow IT, misconfigurations, or policy violations that attackers could exploit, raised a $19.3 million seed round led by Cheyenne Ventures, with Black Opal Ventures, K2 Access Fund, the Jefferies Family Office, Silver Buckshot Ventures, and Blu Venture Investors as well as previous investors Ballistic Ventures and IBM also joining in. More here.
ChEmpower, a four-year-old company that's focused on improving the process of polishing semiconductor chips during manufacturing, raised an $18.7 million Series A round co-led by M Ventures and Rhapsody Venture Partners, with additional participation from previous investors Intel Capital, Pangaea Ventures, Foothill Ventures, In-Q-Tel, and TEL VC. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Grove Biopharma, a five-year-old Chicago startup that's developing small-molecule drugs designed to regulate key proteins involved in immune and metabolic functions, raised a $30 million Series A round. DCVC Bio was the lead investor, with additional participation from Eli Lilly and Company, InVivium Capital, Walder Ventures, Gradiant Corporation, Mansueto Investments, and Portal Innovations. More here.
Jericho Security, a New York startup that helps companies detect and prevent deepfake-based scams targeting employees, raised a $15 million Series A round led by previous investor Era Fund, with Lux Capital, Dash Fund, Gaingels, Distique Ventures, and Plug & Play Ventures also chiming in. VentureBeat has more here.
Hokodo, a seven-year-old London startup whose digital trade credit platform lets businesses offer instant payment terms to their buyers while Hokodo handles the credit checks, financing, and risk, raised an $11.4 million round co-led by Korelya Capital and Opera Tech Ventures, with Mundi Ventures and Notion Capital also investing. More here.
Okapi:Orbits, a seven-year-old German startup that builds software that helps satellite operators avoid collisions and manage space traffic, raised a $14.8 million seed round led by Ventech, with Matterwave Ventures and Amadeus APEX Technology Fund also participating. Space News has more here.
Overture Life, an eight-year-old Palo Alto startup that has built a robotic device that automates parts of the IVF process, such as handling and preparing eggs and embryos, raised a $20.6 million round from Overwater Ventures, GV, and Khosla Ventures. More here.
Scamnetic, a one-year-old startup based in Tampa, FL, that detects and blocks online scams targeting consumers and businesses, raised a $13 million Series A round led by Roo Capital, with 1st and Main Growth Partners, SaaS Ventures, and Riptide Ventures also contributing. The company has raised a total of $16 million. More here.
Symbiotic, a two-year-old Berlin startup that is building infrastructure to allow users to “restake” crypto tokens across different blockchain applications to boost security and rewards, raised a $29 million Series A round. Pantera Capital led the investment, with Coinbase Ventures also taking part. CoinDesk has more here.
Synthetic Design Lab, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that is developing a new class of antibody-drug conjugates to treat cancer, raised a $20 million seed round. Investors included Playground Global and Godfrey Capital. More here.
Smaller Fundings
Acoru, a two-year-old Madrid startup that helps banks and fintech companies detect and stop online financial scams by monitoring user behavior in real-time, raised a $4.5 million seed round. Adara Ventures and Athos Capital co-led the deal. Tech Funding News has more here.
Adaptive, a San Francisco startup that is developing an interface that lets users automate tasks and build software by describing what they want in plain English, without needing to write code, raised a $7 million seed round led by Pebblebed, with Conviction Partners, Anti Fund, and Radical Ventures also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.
Amplifier Security, a two-year-old Atlanta startup that helps companies protect employee accounts by automatically detecting risky behavior and guiding users to fix security issues themselves, raised a $5.6 million seed round. TechOperators was the deal lead, with Cota Capital and WestWave Capital also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $9 million. More here.
Durin, a one-year-old startup based in El Segundo, CA, that is developing autonomous drilling systems—both hardware and software—to help mining companies explore for critical minerals faster and with fewer people on site, raised a $3.5 million pre-seed round. 8090 Industries led the investment, with 1517, Andreessen Horowitz, Bedrock, Champion Hill, Contrary, Day One Ventures, and Lux Capital also opting in. TechCrunch has more here.
HelloSky, a five-year-old San Diego startup whose software companies hire executives by automating tasks like sourcing, screening, and communicating with candidates, raised a $5.5 million seed round. Caldwell Partners, Karmel Capital, True Capital Partners, and Hunt Scanlon Ventures invested in the deal. More here.
Isembard, a one-year-old London startup that has developed an AI-powered precision machine tool to help companies in critical industries like aerospace and energy produce parts locally instead of relying on overseas supply chains, raised a $9.3 million seed round led by Notion Capital and including 201 Ventures, Basis Capital, Forward Fund, Material Ventures, Neverlift Ventures, and NP-Hard Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
MagicBlock, a three-year-old startup that builds infrastructure to enable real-time, decentralized applications on the Solana blockchain, raised a $7.5 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Maven11, Delphi Ventures, Robot Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Equilibrium, and Pivot Global also pitching in. More here.
Ovo Labs, a UK and German startup founded this year that is developing a treatment designed to extend the fertility window for women by preserving egg quality as they age, raised a $5.3 million round. Creator Fund and LocalGlobe were the co-leads, with Blue Wire Capital, Ahren Innovation Capital, and Antonio Pellicer also chipping in. Tech Funding News has more here.
Poppins, a six-year-old Paris startup that has developed an app that uses speech recognition and gamified exercises to help children with dyslexia, raised a $5.7 million round led by Racine², with Bpifrance, Eurazeo, Kurma Partners, BNP Paribas Développement, and Verve Ventures also investing. Tech Funding News has more here.
Spur, a one-year-old New York startup that uses AI agents to emulate real users navigating websites and web apps, helping engineering teams automatically test and improve their software, raised a $4.5 million round. First Round Capital, Pear VC, Neo, Conviction, Liquid2Ventures, and Predictive Venture Partners invested in the deal. More here.
Sponsored By ...
Seurat, a nine-year-old Boston area startup, plans to reshore metal manufacturing and redefine the $3T metal parts market. Its print factories will deliver industrial-grade additive manufacturing at volume, cost, and speed metrics that rival casting, forging, and machining. Investors looking to bet on green digital manufacturing at scale should read more here.
New Funds
CIV, a two-year-old venture firm based in Venice, CA, that targets investments in startups focused on critical infrastructure, raised a $210+ million debut fund. More here.
Layoffs
Meta is laying off over 100 employees in its Reality Labs division, which makes the company’s Quest mixed reality headsets and software. TechCrunch has more here.
People
The Wall Street Journal looks into a coterie of Elon Musk's friends who sell access to stakes in his private companies. More here.
A guy named Kyle Fish is actually paid good money by Anthropic to make sure the company's LLM models are being treated humanely. The New York Times has more here.
Essential Reads
The Federal Reserve is withdrawing supervisory letters urging banks to show caution when engaging in cryptocurrency and related activities. Reuters has more here.
Forbes is calling BS on Florida startup Infinite Reality's claims that it raised $3 billion from just one investor. More here.
The New York Times digs into how authorities tracked down cybercriminals who stole over $250 million in crypto. More here.
Detours
Penn Station may not be a great train station, but dancers love it.
Think you're a big tipper? Take The Wall Street Journal's quiz and see how you match up.
Once you see this, you will never be able to unsee it. [audio up]
Retail Therapy
Slate Auto, the EV startup backed by Jeff Bezos that TechCrunch blew the covers off weeks ago, today launched its first vehicle, a two-door, two-seat electric pickup that can be customized with over 100 accessories; it can even be converted from a two-door pickup to a five-seat SUV. The base price is just $20,000. More here.
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