Google Invests $40B in Anthropic

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Google plans to invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic – including an initial $10 billion at a $350 billion valuation and up to $30 billion more tied to performance – while also supplying massive computing capacity to power the startup’s AI models. TechCrunch has more here.

Maine Governor Janet Mills vetoed a closely watched bill that would have paused new data centers in the state until 2027 and marked the nation’s first such ban. The New York Times has more here.

Steve Ballmer Blasts Founder He Backed Who Pleaded Guilty to Fraud: “I Was Duped and Feel Silly”

Image Credits: Kim Kulish / Corbis / Getty Images

By Julie Bort

Silicon Valley tends to tolerate a certain amount of founder exaggeration when pitching investors, often dismissing it as part of selling a vision. But some choices cross the line and can lead to jail time for founders and scandal for their investors.

A case in point is Joseph Sanberg, whose once high-flying fintech startup Aspiration Partners was backed by a roster of tech celebrities, including former Microsoft CEO and current Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. In August 2025, Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and defrauding multiple investors and lenders, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Ahead of sentencing, which is scheduled for Monday, victims were invited to describe their experience with Sanberg to the judge. Ballmer did so, and publicly. Ballmer’s lawyers said in the letter that he has lost money, been vilified, and that the NBA is investigating allegations stemming from the association.

Sanberg co-founded green fintech startup Aspiration Partners, which offered what it called sustainable banking services like credit cards and investment products that avoided fossil fuels. The startup promised to “automatically plant trees with every card purchase.” In 2021, it announced plans to go public via a SPAC merger at a value of $2.3 billion, though that transaction never took place.

The DOJ alleged that Aspiration booked and recognized revenue from entities held by Sanberg, who made the company appear as if it had a steady stream of customers and revenue that it didn’t actually have. The agency further alleged he defrauded investors by showing them a fabricated letter from Aspiration’s audit committee that said the company had $250 million in available cash and equivalents when it had less than $1 million. The DOJ alleged that Sanberg, along with a board member who also pleaded guilty, falsified financial records to obtain $145 million in loans.

When Ballmer shared his letter on X, asking the judge to consider the harm done to him in sentencing, he wrote, “I was duped and feel silly about that. Everyone who believed in Aspiration, including employees, customers and investors, was also duped. Everyone is still tallying the losses.”

Massive Fundings

Cognition AI, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that automates software engineering tasks including code generation, debugging, testing, and deployment through an autonomous AI engineer, is reportedly in the market to raise a round at a $25 billion valuation. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Human Intelligence, a Palo Alto startup recently founded by Stanford University professor James Zou that aims to build AI models for physiology research, is in the market to raise about $100 million at a roughly $1 billion valuation. Bloomberg has more here.

Verda, a six-year-old Helsinki startup that provides AI cloud infrastructure for developers and enterprises, raised a $117.2 million round led by Lifeline Ventures, with byFounders, Tesi, and Varma also joining in. The company has raised a total of $199.3 million. Sifted has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Band, a one-year-old Israeli startup that is building a real-time communication and coordination platform for AI agents to collaborate with each other and with humans across enterprise systems, raised a $17 million seed round. Investors included Sierra Ventures, Hertz Ventures, and Team8. CTech has more here.

ComfyUI, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an open-source platform for creators to build and run AI workflows across images, video, 3D, and audio, raised a $30 million round at a $500 million valuation. The deal was led by Craft, with participation from Pace Capital, Chemistry, and TruArrow. The company has raised a total of $48 million. More here.

Decade Energy, a seven-year-old Paris startup that designs, finances, and operates integrated energy systems including battery storage and EV charging to support the electrification of delivery and transport vehicle fleets, raised a $25.8 million round co-led by Eiffel Investment Group and SET Ventures, with Ananda Impact Ventures and Contrarian Ventures also pitching in. ESG Today has more here.

PvX Partners, a two-year-old Singapore startup that combines financing, user acquisition analytics, and product insights to help consumer apps fund and scale growth, raised a $10.5 million Series A round co-led by T-Accelerate Capital, Z Venture Capital, and Drive by DraftKings, with previous investors Play Ventures and General Catalyst also chipping in. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Astor, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that connects to users’ brokerage accounts to analyze portfolios and deliver personalized investment recommendations through conversational AI, raised a $5 million seed round led by Monashees, with Y Combinator, Goodwater Capital, Gilgamesh Ventures, 468 Capital, Valutia, and Sunshine Lake also participating. More here.

Brev, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that tracks company performance against goals by using AI agents to monitor meetings, update objectives, and flag risks, raised a $3.3 million pre-seed round led by Resolute Ventures, with ShuckerVC, Duro VC, Gaingels, and FOG Ventures also taking part. GeekWire has more here.

Cloneable, a four-year-old startup based in Raleigh, NC, that captures expert knowledge from workers and converts it into AI agents that automate complex industrial and infrastructure workflows, raised a $4.6 million seed round led by Congruent Ventures, with First In, Overline, Bull City Venture Partners, and St. Elmo Venture Capital also contributing. More here.

Fasal Bio, an eight-year-old Zagreb startup that develops renewable composite materials that replace fossil-based plastics and work with existing manufacturing processes, raised an $8.2 million round led by BlackPeak Capital. The Recursive has more here.

Ferrosa Therapeutics, a startup founded this year based in Basel, Switzerland, that develops bispecific antibody therapies that restore iron balance and red blood cell production to treat anemia of inflammation, raised a $3.5 million seed round. Forty51 Ventures was the deal lead. More here.

Series, a one-year-old New York startup that offers an AI-powered social networking app that runs through iMessage, raised a $5.1 million pre-seed round. Investors included Iqram Magdon-Ismail, Pear VC, Steve Huffman, and Edward Tian. TechCrunch has more here.

Swoop, an eight-month-old Nigerian startup that operates a consumer super app that is starting with food delivery and intends to expand into broader on-demand services, raised a $7.3 million round. Investors included Long Journey, Variant, Version One, Dune Ventures, Soma Capital, Zero Knowledge Ventures, Walter Kortschak, and Base Capital. TechCabal has more here.

TheStorage, a three-year-old startup based in Tampere, Finland, that stores renewable energy as heat using sand-based systems and delivers it on demand for industrial processes, raised a $4.2 million seed round led by Voima Ventures, with Momentum as well as previous investors Superhero Capital and 2C Ventures also engaging. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Thoughtly, a three-year-old New York startup that embeds AI agents into CRM systems to automate customer outreach, qualify leads, and manage conversations across voice, SMS, and email, raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Armory Square Ventures, with NVP Capital, Converge, and K5 Global Tokyo Black as well as previous investors Afore Capital and Greycroft and also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $8+ million. More here.

Vrey, a two-year-old Berlin startup that enables landlords to supply solar power to tenants in multi-family buildings by measuring usage and managing billing while handling regulatory requirements, raised a $3.9 million seed round led by Rubio Impact Ventures, with High-Tech Gründerfonds and Kopa Ventures also anteing up. More here.

Zig.ai, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that embeds AI agents into revenue workflows to capture sales interactions and turn them into actionable insights while charging based on outcomes, raised a $3 million seed round led by Super{Set}. More here.

Exits

Cohere, a seven-year-old Toronto-based startup that builds enterprise-focused large language models and AI tools, plans to acquire Aleph Alpha, a seven-year-old company based in Heidelberg, Germany, that develops AI models for governments and regulated industries, as part of a push into Europe backed by a $600 million investment from Schwarz Group. CNBC has more here.

Going Public

X-energy raised $1 billion in an upsized IPO priced above its expected range as rising electricity demand from data centers fuels interest in its small modular nuclear reactors. TechCrunch has