Attio (Enterprise AI Solutions): $52M

Assort Health (Healthcare & Life Sciences AI): $50M

Blue Water Autonomy (Robotics & Physical AI): $50M

FriendliAI, an AI inference platform startup, raised $20 million in a seed extension round led by Capstone Partners. The company, which recently moved its headquarters to Redwood City, California, aims to help enterprises run AI models faster and more cheaply, claiming its technology can deliver up to 90% GPU cost savings. Crunchbase News

Farang, a Stockholm-based AI research lab, raised €1.5 million in seed funding from investors including Voima Ventures and Amadeus APEX Technology Fund. The company is developing a new foundational architecture for LLMs that it claims requires significantly fewer computational resources and can outperform current models in specialized domains like programming and medicine. Tech.eu

Interhuman AI, a Danish startup building a "social intelligence layer" for AI systems, raised €2 million in a pre-seed round led by PSV Tech. The company combines computer vision, audio analysis, and behavioral science to help conversational AI understand and interpret non-verbal human cues like facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. Tech.eu

Vercel, a startup that helps companies develop web and AI applications, is raising hundreds of millions of dollars in a new round led by Accel, which will triple its valuation to about $9 billion. The company, whose annual recurring revenue surpassed $200 million in June, has seen major growth driven by the adoption of its AI model for web development. Bloomberg

Stealth AI startup Aurasell raised $30 million in a seed funding round led by Next47, with participation from Menlo Ventures and Unusual Ventures. The one-year-old company is emerging from stealth to build a platform that uses AI agents to automate sales workflows and streamline CRM tools like Salesforce. Business Insider Africa

Definite, an AI-native data platform, secured $10 million in a seed funding round led by Costanoa. The company's platform combines data lakes, data pipelines, and dashboards into a single AI-powered solution, aiming to reduce analytics time from months to minutes for enterprise clients. Pulse 2.0

Apate.ai, an Australian cyber-intelligence startup, raised $2.5 million in a seed round led by OIF Ventures. A spin-out from Macquarie University, the company deploys thousands of conversational AI bots that proactively engage scammers across voice and messaging platforms to prevent fraud. The SaaS News

Attio, a London-based startup, raised $52 million in a Series B round led by GV (Google Ventures). The company is building an AI-native CRM from the ground up to challenge legacy systems, offering intelligent workflows, agent collaboration, and predictive intelligence for go-to-market teams. Tech Funding News 

Auditoria.AI, a provider of AI-driven agentic automation for finance departments, secured $38 million in a Series B round from undisclosed investors. The capital will fuel the expansion of its platform, which includes a new "SmartResearch" agent for FP&A and integrations with Oracle Cloud ERP, Workday, and ServiceNow. StartupHub.ai

InstaLILY, a startup building industry-specific AI agents, secured $25 million in Series A funding from Insight Partners. The company’s "InstaWorkers" integrate with legacy enterprise software in sectors like manufacturing, insurance, and healthcare to automate complex, high-volume tasks previously requiring human experts. StartupHub.ai

Vox AI, a conversational AI startup, raised $8.7 million in seed funding led by Headline. The company's autonomous, multilingual voice platform is built specifically to automate drive-thru, mobile, and in-restaurant ordering for the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry. Tech.eu

Zenline AI, a Zurich-based retail tech startup, raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed round led by Seedcamp. The company is building AI agents to help European retailers optimize product assortments by combining margin data, market trends, and competitive signals to generate actionable, product-level recommendations. The SaaS News

Maisa AI, a year-old startup building a platform for accountable, enterprise-grade AI agents, raised a $25 million seed round led by Creandum. The company’s model-agnostic "Maisa Studio" allows users to deploy and train "digital workers" with natural language, aiming to fix the 95% failure rate of enterprise AI pilots. TechCrunch

Nauta, an AI-powered logistics orchestration platform, raised $7 million in seed funding led by Construct Capital. The company's platform serves as a "single source of truth" for importers, using agentic AI to automate routine workflows and provide greater control over cross-border shipments. PYMNTS

Aurelian, a Y Combinator alumnus, raised a $14 million Series A led by NEA. The startup is building an AI voice assistant that helps 911 call centers offload and triage non-emergency call volume, addressing chronic understaffing and high turnover rates in emergency dispatch services. TechCrunch

Artificial Societies, a London-based Y Combinator startup, secured $5.35 million in seed funding, including a $3.35 million round led by Point72 Ventures. The company has developed a platform that generates AI personas to help companies test how their product, marketing, and branding will be perceived by an "artificial society" of AI agents that mimic human influence. Business Insider Africa

Central, a Y Combinator-backed startup that provides an autonomous back-office platform within Slack, raised $8.6 million in a seed round led by First Round Capital. The company's "teammate" approach allows founders to automate payroll, benefits, compliance, and tax filings by messaging the system directly in Slack. Tech Funding News

Darwin AI, a Brazil-based provider of AI agents for sales, customer support, and post-sales processes, closed $4.5 million in an additional seed funding round led by Base10 Partners. The new capital brings the company's total funding to $7 million and will be used to accelerate growth in Latin America and develop AI workers for mid-market companies. FinSMEs

AI for Legal and Professional Services

Bench IQ, an AI-powered judicial intelligence platform, raised a $5.3 million seed round co-led by Battery Ventures and Inovia Capital. The company’s platform helps litigators understand how judges think and rule by analyzing judicial decision-making patterns, enabling law firms to tailor legal strategies more effectively. StartupHub.ai

Mantic, a London-based startup founded by a former Google DeepMind researcher, emerged from stealth with $4 million in pre-seed funding led by Episode 1. The company claims its AI-powered "judgmental forecasting" technology can predict complex world events, from supply chain disruptions to geopolitical shocks, for business and political leaders. Tech.eu

Barti Software, a company providing AI-powered electronic health records (EHR) and practice management software for eye care, raised $12 million in a Series A round led by Five Elms Capital. The funding will accelerate the development of new AI capabilities, including an AI Scribe, as the company expands into ophthalmology. PR Newswire

Assort Health, a startup using AI to automate patient communication for specialty healthcare practices, raised approximately $50 million in a Series B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners at a $750 million valuation. The company's AI voice agents handle high-volume tasks like scheduling and cancellations to free up front desk staff. TechCrunch

Sleep.ai, a startup with a sleep intelligence platform, raised $5.5 million in venture capital in a round led by Treasure Coast Ventures. The company uses its dataset of over 800 million hours of proprietary sleep data to provide personalized insights and science-backed guidance to healthcare providers, wellness companies, and consumers. SiliconANGLE

Sarborg, a technology-driven company, raised $10 million in seed funding led by Corvus Capital. The company uses proprietary AI agents and mathematical algorithms to optimize decision-making in the pharmaceutical space, focusing on drug repurposing, target identification, and clinical trial optimization. FinSMEs

ALIGNMT AI, a Boston-based healthcare AI governance startup, emerged from stealth with $6.5 million in seed funding from AIX Ventures and others. The company is building a compliance platform that continuously tracks AI performance, flags risks in real time, and automates reporting to help health systems safely deploy machine learning tools. TechStartups

Creem, an Estonia-based fintech building financial infrastructure for AI-focused startups, raised €1.8 million in pre-seed funding led by Practica Capital. The company provides software to help AI startups and distributed teams manage payments, compliance, tax obligations, and multi-party revenue distribution. The SaaS News

Kira, a global payment infrastructure platform, raised $6.7 million in a seed round led by Blockchange Ventures. The company builds financial infrastructure that combines stablecoins, AI-powered compliance, and plug-and-play APIs to allow companies to launch global fintech products for international payments and payroll. LatamList

Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based company building unmanned ships for the U.S. Navy, announced a $50 million Series A led by GV. The funding, which brings its total raised to $64 million, will be used to build and deploy its first long-range, full-sized autonomous ship next year to address maritime security and logistics. PR Newswire

Reframe Systems, an AI-driven homebuilding startup founded by former Amazon Robotics leaders, has secured $20 million in a Series A round co-led by Eclipse and VoLo Earth Ventures. The capital will be used to scale its microfactories, which leverage proprietary software and robotics to reduce home construction time and costs by 35%. StartupHub.ai

Palabra AI, a live speech translation startup, raised $8.4 million in a pre-seed round led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six (776). The company's technology delivers synchronous speech-to-speech translation with sub-800ms latency across more than 70 languages, targeting the live interpreting market for broadcast and events. Slator

AiGent, a pioneer in AI-based distributed power plant technology, raised $6 million in seed funding from investors ZIP and CIV. The company's platform aggregates and orchestrates a network of underutilized backup generators to enhance grid reliability, reduce operational costs, and create new revenue streams for asset owners. Pulse 2.0

Holiwise, a London-based AI-powered travel agency, raised €1.45 million in a pre-seed round backed by senior executives from firms including Bank of America, Google, and Goldman Sachs. The company is developing an AI travel agent that uses deep learning to plan and book personalized premium travel itineraries in seconds. Tech.eu

Toppi, an Amsterdam-based hospitality tech startup, secured nearly €1 million in its first investment round, led by X Investments. The company's AI-powered platform helps restaurants, cafes, and hotels manage their online visibility and convert online interest into guests. StartupHub.ai

Aurelian, a Y Combinator alumnus, raised a $14 million Series A led by NEA. The startup is building an AI voice assistant that helps 911 call centers offload and triage non-emergency call volume, addressing chronic understaffing and high turnover rates in emergency dispatch services. TechCrunch

Ordinal, an AI research assistant for local governments, secured a $1 million seed round led by Plains Ventures. The Arkansas-based startup's platform uses a secure retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) model to help city staff find answers from verified internal documents like codes, ordinances, and meeting minutes. ACCESS Newswire

Private equity firm Thoma Bravo announced a $2 billion cash acquisition of Verint Systems, a NASDAQ-listed provider of AI-powered customer experience software. Verint will be taken private and combined with Calabrio, another Thoma Bravo portfolio company, to create what executives describe as the industry’s most comprehensive AI-driven customer experience platform. CTOL Digital Solutions

Tempus AI acquired digital pathology developer Paige in a deal totaling $81.25 million, paid predominantly in Tempus stock. The acquisition combines Paige's AI-powered cancer diagnostics and its dataset of nearly 7 million digitized pathology slides with Tempus's ambitious plan to build the largest multi-modal foundation model for oncology research. Fierce Biotech

Numerai, a self-described AI hedge fund, secured up to $500 million in investment capital from JPMorgan Asset Management. The San Francisco-based firm, which says it has grown from managing $60 million to $450 million over the past three years, delivered a 25% net return in its global equity fund last year. The Block

First Lady Melania Trump will lead a new "Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge" to inspire K-12 students and teachers to embrace AI technology. The initiative, part of President Trump's executive order on "Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education For American Youth," aims to encourage the next generation to harness AI and help the U.S. retain its global leadership in the field. New York Post

The Trump administration's plan to charge a 15% commission on Nvidia's AI chip sales to China has not progressed beyond the early stages. While the White House has not indicated how it will codify the plan, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress stated the company will not pay the commission until it sees a "true regulatory document," and has excluded potential revenue from China in its forecasts. Bloomberg

Microsoft and OpenAI's negotiations over the corporate restructuring of the AI lab are likely to extend into next year. Key points of contention include Microsoft's exclusive rights to host OpenAI models on Azure and a so-called AGI clause that would allow OpenAI to cut Microsoft's access to its IP if it achieves artificial general intelligence. Financial Times

A new report from the Stanford Digital Economy Lab reveals that AI is harming the labor market for young, early-career workers. The study, which draws on payroll data from ADP, finds that employment for 22- to 25-year-olds in professions most exposed to AI automation, like software engineering and customer service, has declined by 16% since late 2022. TIME

A CB Insights "State of AI Q2'25 Report" shows that global AI funding reached $47.3 billion in the second quarter, bringing the 2025 total to $116.1 billion, already surpassing the full-year total for 2024. M&A activity in AI also hit a record high of 177 deals, nearly double the quarterly average since 2020. CB Insights

An a16z report on the "Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps" reveals a stabilizing ecosystem, with Google making significant gains with four new products on the list. The report notes that Google's general LLM assistant, Gemini, is now in second place behind ChatGPT, capturing approximately 12% of its web traffic, while xAI's Grok is also rapidly gaining on mobile. Andreessen Horowitz

A new MIT study from the "State of AI in Business 2025" reveals that 95% of enterprise GenAI pilots fail because companies are avoiding necessary "friction." The research indicates that successful AI integrations embrace resistance and redesign workflows, while failed pilots stall because the underlying tools cannot retain feedback, adapt to context, or improve over time. Forbes

A Wall Street Journal report highlights a surge in demand and compensation for "AI native" talent straight out of college. Base salaries for non-managerial AI workers with zero to three years of experience grew 12% from 2024 to 2025, with companies like Databricks and Scale AI offering base salaries around $200,000 and overall compensation packages that can exceed $1M. The Wall Street Journal

A new corporate venture capital (CVC) survey from law firm Morgan Lewis for Q2 2025 shows that while market conditions remain challenging, valuations are on the rise. Of the financing transactions reviewed, 71% were up-rounds. The report also notes a reversion to senior liquidation preferences, suggesting a rebalancing of negotiating leverage in favor of investors. Morgan Lewis

A report from a16z on the "Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps" reveals a stabilizing ecosystem, with Google making significant gains with four new products on the list. The report notes that Google's general LLM assistant, Gemini, is now in second place behind ChatGPT, capturing approximately 12% of its web traffic, while xAI's Grok is also rapidly gaining on mobile. Andreessen Horowitz

An analysis of recent SEC filings reveals that billionaire hedge fund managers have been increasing their stakes in prominent AI-related stocks. Philippe Laffont's Coatue Management increased its Nvidia stake by 34%, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square took a new $1.28 billion stake in Amazon, and Stanley Druckenmiller's Duquesne Family Office boosted its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor by 28%. The Motley Fool

Concerns over an AI bubble are intensifying amid a recent pullback in US tech stocks and warnings from industry leaders. A report from Business Insider outlines three key drivers of anxiety: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s warning that investors are "overexcited," a recent MIT study showing 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail to deliver ROI, and Meta's recent hiring freeze and restructuring of its AI division. Business Insider Africa

An op-ed in The Guardian explores growing fears of an imminent AI-driven stock market crash, citing a recent dip in US tech stocks and warnings from figures like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about "insane" valuations. The piece notes that a recent MIT report found 95% of generative AI investments have yet to see financial returns, fueling comparisons to the dot-com bubble. The Guardian

A market analysis highlights five AI stocks positioned for long-term growth: Nvidia, AMD, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta. The report details how each company is leveraging AI, from Nvidia and AMD as infrastructure winners to Microsoft and Alphabet through their cloud divisions, and Meta through its AI-driven recommendation algorithms and advertising tools. The Motley Fool

Lovable, the Swedish AI-powered website and app builder, has reached $130 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) with just 60 employees, nine months after launching. Meanwhile, London-based AI video generation unicorn Synthesia announced it crossed the $100 million ARR mark in April with just under 550 employees. Trending Topics

John Doran, a general partner at TCV who led the growth equity firm's European investments, has relocated from London to San Francisco to help head up the fund's Bay Area headquarters. The move signals a strategic shift for the $22 billion fund as it navigates increased competition in AI and seeks to identify the next generation of "magical companies." Forbes

At least three AI researchers have resigned from Meta's new superintelligence lab just two months after its launch, with two returning to OpenAI. The departures signal a potentially rocky start for the high-profile initiative, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched with a recruiting blitz that included nine-figure pay packages to lure top talent. WIRED

At least three AI researchers have resigned from Meta's new superintelligence lab just two months after its launch, with two returning to OpenAI. The departures signal a potentially rocky start for the high-profile initiative, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched with a recruiting blitz that included nine-figure pay packages to lure top talent. WIRED

Taz Patel, head of advertising and shopping at AI search startup Perplexity, has departed the company after nine months. His exit comes as the company's push into advertising has reportedly generated only modest revenue, and as it faces mounting legal battles over copyright infringement from publishers like The New York Times. ADWEEK

Elon Musk's xAI filed a federal lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, accusing them of illegally conspiring to "lock up markets" and thwart competition in the AI industry. The complaint alleges that an exclusive deal between Apple and OpenAI has suppressed xAI’s products, including its Grok chatbot, on the Apple App Store. CNN Business

OpenAI issued a warning against "unauthorized opportunities" to gain exposure to its equity through special purpose vehicles (SPVs). In a blog post, the company cautioned that it may not recognize sales made through SPVs attempting to circumvent its transfer restrictions, rendering such investments without "economic value." The move follows similar restrictions reportedly imposed by Anthropic. TechCrunch

A "vibe shift" is underway in Silicon Valley as AI leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, are backing away from bold pronouncements about achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The retreat from AGI hype follows the underwhelming launch of GPT-5 and growing concerns that inflated expectations could not be met, signaling a broader move toward pragmatism and building more near-term, useful technology. Fortune

Credit investors are pouring billions into AI infrastructure, mirroring the equity market's frenzy and fueling fears of a bubble. Private credit funding for AI is estimated to be running at around $50B per quarter, with major deals supporting data center build-outs for companies like Vantage Data Centers and Meta. Bloomberg

Apple has held internal discussions about acquiring French AI startup Mistral as well as AI-powered search engine Perplexity. The talks, which have not been previously reported, signal a shift from Apple's historically conservative M&A strategy as CEO Tim Cook has stated the company is open to larger, AI-related acquisitions to accelerate its product roadmap. Reuters

Anthropic has settled a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of fiction and nonfiction authors over the use of their books as training material for its large language models. The settlement, announced in a court filing, comes after a lower court had granted a partial victory to Anthropic on the grounds of fair use. TechCrunch

The family of a 16-year-old who died by suicide is suing OpenAI, alleging that he was subjected to "months of encouragement" from ChatGPT. Following the lawsuit, OpenAI announced it would add "stronger guardrails" for users under 18 and introduce parental controls, admitting its systems could "fall short." The Guardian

A new threat intelligence report from Anthropic details how bad actors are misusing its AI model, Claude, for malicious purposes. The report highlights a sophisticated cybercrime tactic dubbed "vibe-hacking," where an individual actor used Anthropic's coding agent to execute a complex extortion attack against 17 organizations in one month. The Verge

Researchers and academics are raising alarms about the rise of AI "deadbots", AI avatars of deceased individuals, and their potential for commercial exploitation. The digital afterlife industry is projected to reach nearly $80 billion over the next decade, but the use of these avatars for advertising raises significant legal, ethical, and moral questions. NPR

Elon Musk's xAI filed a federal lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, accusing them of illegally conspiring to "lock up markets" and thwart competition in the AI industry. The complaint alleges that an exclusive deal between Apple and OpenAI has suppressed xAI’s products, including its Grok chatbot, on the Apple App Store. Reuters

Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is leading a secret project to build a new, standalone AI-powered matchmaking app. The app aims to create "the world's smartest and most emotionally intelligent matchmaker" by using a large language model informed by the science of attachment theory to understand users and select better matches for them. The Wall Street Journal