AI Startups and Funding
New AI companies, venture financing, accelerator trends, founder strategy, category formation, and startup competition.
Northwood Raises $375 Million at a $2 Billion Valuation
Northwood has raised $375 million at a $2 billion valuation to expand the ground network that connects satellites, CEO Bridgit Mendler said in an interview with Bloomberg’s Ed Ludlow. Mendler argues that the ground segment remains fragmented across vendors, slowing the deployment of infrastructure as the space industry grows. Northwood is aiming to take on more of that work itself, from building antenna hardware to deploying sites and connecting them with software.
Europe’s AI Ambition Hinges on Building, Not Just Using, AI
At GTC Berlin, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang argued that Europe’s AI economy depends on producing AI, not simply adopting it. He cast the region’s engineering strengths and companies being built around AI from the outset as foundations for that effort, and pointed to 14 startup investments announced during a week of travel across Europe. His case was that AI could reshape existing industries while creating new ones.
Women Founders Receive 2% of Venture Capital as Investment Concentrates
At the WIN Summit, venture investors Anna Mason of Ingeborg Investments and Miriam Rivera of Ulu Ventures argued that the small share of venture capital going to women founders reflects how capital is allocated, not a shortage of viable ideas. They said the gap begins upstream, with limited investment in women-led funds, and extends to the kinds of businesses and needs investors recognize as markets. Their case for investing in women also rests on the economic consequences: who receives capital shapes who can build companies, create wealth and remain in the workforce.
Defense Demand Is Helping Finance America’s Industrial Rebuild
a16z investors Erin Price-Wright and Connor Love argue that defense demand can help finance factories, suppliers and other industrial capacity whose uses extend into commercial markets such as robotics and energy. They say adaptable production, closer collaboration with suppliers and private capital willing to fund companies before government contracts arrive are making it more feasible to rebuild that capacity. The case, they argue, depends not just on investment or technology, but on companies proving they can build—and on the country choosing to let projects proceed.
AI Compute Demand Is Pushing OpenAI Toward Google’s TPUs
John Coogan and Jordi Hays argue that growing AI compute demand is pushing companies to use a wider range of chips, cloud providers and data-center operators, even as Nvidia remains central. They cite reports that OpenAI plans to buy Google TPUs as evidence that compute needs can outweigh competitive history, while stressing that the market is still early and dependence on Nvidia remains substantial.
Google’s AI Advantage Depends on Coordinating Products, Compute, and Research
Google’s AI advantage may depend less on having frontier models than on making its products work as one, argues Margins’ Ranjan Roy, while Big Technology’s Alex Kantrowitz sees model capability as central to building a useful unified assistant. Their discussion also examines whether Google should direct scarce computing capacity to its fast-growing cloud business or AI research, as investors show signs of fatigue with AI fundraising. Cognition CISO Alex Stamos warns that the PHP vulnerability is part of a broader surge in cyberattacks, with forgotten systems and slow patching leaving organizations exposed.
Amanda Bradford Opened The League to 500 Users After 8,000 Registered
Amanda Bradford built The League’s launch months before the dating app was ready, using in-person events and a waitlist to assemble a founding community. In her account, opening to just 500 people made it easier to see whether the product worked before expanding; she later concluded that launching in too many cities added complexity without meaningful revenue. Her approach treats pre-launch activity as a way to build and learn from an initial marketplace, not just generate buzz.
Anthropic’s IPO Could Deliver Menlo Ventures’ Biggest Return
Menlo Ventures partner Matt Murphy says the firm’s investment in Anthropic is poised to deliver its largest return ever if the AI company goes public. Menlo has backed Anthropic in every round since 2023, and Murphy argues that its S-1 offers investors a rare chance to assess extraordinary growth directly. He also says the competitive test is shifting beyond model quality to include access to compute and how efficiently companies use it.
OpenAI Seeks $30 Billion at a $1.25 Trillion Valuation
OpenAI is seeking about $30 billion in new funding at a target valuation of $1.25 trillion, according to Bloomberg reporter Rebecca Torrence. The proposed raise is roughly the size previously reported, but the valuation target is $150 billion lower than an earlier figure, a change Torrence attributed to price sensitivity in broader markets. The financing has not been completed.
Many Anthropic Investors May Fall Outside the IPO’s 5% Ownership Disclosure
Bloomberg’s Natasha Mascarenhas says Anthropic’s expected public listing could put multibillion-dollar estimated values on the stakes held by venture firms, technology companies and other investors, but those figures are based on the company’s last private valuation and do not establish investors’ returns. She expects many of the investors Bloomberg examined to fall outside the S-1’s 5% ownership category, so their positions may not be visible in the filing as readers might expect.
Xona Raises $250 Million to Build a Commercial GPS Alternative
Xona says GPS’s limitations are becoming more consequential as autonomous vehicles, drones, robotics and other systems rely on precise location with less human oversight. CEO and co-founder Brian Manning argues that smaller, lower-cost satellites in a closer orbit can improve navigation while working with existing GPS devices through software updates. The company has raised $250 million at a $2.45 billion valuation to build and launch its network after receiving FCC approval to operate alongside GPS.
a16z Frontier Targets Founders Before New Technology Categories Exist
a16z is expanding its crypto fund into a16z Frontier, a mandate to back founders working in areas that have not yet become established investment categories. Chris Dixon, Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen argue that advances in AI could let small teams attempt more ambitious projects and create opportunities across fields that were once treated separately. The firm’s thesis, Horowitz says, is to ask not whether an idea is too ambitious, but whether it is ambitious enough.
Eric Schmidt’s Reported 1% Anthropic Stake Could Be Worth $200 Million
Bloomberg News reporter Natasha Mascarenhas says former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s reported 1% stake in Anthropic is unusually large for an individual investor. Bloomberg anchor Ed Ludlow estimated that the stake could be worth as much as $200 million if Anthropic were valued at $20 billion; that is a conditional estimate, not a realized return.
Modal Has Run More Than 3 Billion Sandboxes for AI Agents
Modal CEO Erik Bernhardsson argues that the new capabilities of AI models require new infrastructure, including inference, training and sandboxes that let agents execute code in isolation. He describes those tools as building blocks for AI applications; Modal says it has run more than 3 billion customer sandboxes. The company has raised $750 million at a $15.75 billion post-money valuation to grow faster, launch products and add capacity.
Hipcamp Turned a Shortage of Campsites Into a Private-Land Marketplace
Hipcamp founder Alyssa Ravasio argues that the company’s business model emerged when a campsite directory exposed a deeper problem: too few places to camp. Rather than simply make existing sites easier to book, Hipcamp began helping private landowners host campers, adding supply while giving owners a way to earn income from their land. In a conversation with Masters of Scale host Jeff Berman, Ravasio describes how customer complaints and early host demand helped establish that model—and why protecting her health became part of sustaining the company.
SpaceX’s IPO Shows Public Markets Can Absorb Megadeals
Bank of America’s JD Moriarty argues that public markets can absorb large technology IPOs from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, pointing to investor demand for SpaceX as evidence. He says abundant private capital and investors’ familiarity with these companies have changed the traditional IPO playbook, but cautions that their scale makes them poor proxies for the wider market, where activity remains concentrated in a few large deals.
Methylone’s Promise Met the High Cost of FDA Development
Kevin Ryan says he moved from funding Yale psychedelic research to building a company around methylone because developing a drug through FDA approval could cost $200 million to $250 million—too much for philanthropy alone. In a discussion with Tim Ferriss, he describes the company’s rationale and the financial limits that forced it to begin with one indication. Despite the title’s $700 million figure, the discussion does not explain a sale or provide transaction details.
Fortem Raises $50 Million to Double Manufacturing and Bookings
Fortem Technologies has raised $50 million in a Series B round that includes Lockheed Martin, as the counter-drone company plans to double manufacturing and bookings this year. CEO Jon Gruen said the partnership has moved beyond venture investment to finding projects where Fortem’s technology can be deployed. He also argued that lessons from operating in active conflict zones are shaping products designed to keep pace with evolving drone threats.
Cambridge Proposal Calls for Comparable AI R&D Metrics and Crisis Plans
Government contact with AI lab leaders is increasing as Cambridge researchers call for comparable measures of AI’s role in research and development and plans for severe failures. TBPN hosts John Coogan and Jordi Hays also raise a specific market risk: if widely used agents make similar financial decisions at the same time, they could contribute to a bank run or flash crash. Coogan cautions that adoption and trust will take time.
AI’s Rapid Progress Is Making Corporate Dominance Harder to Predict
In a conversation with Shane Parrish, Pershing Square founder Bill Ackman argues that rapid advances in AI make it harder to know whether today’s dominant companies will remain durable: some, he says, may disappear. The investment case he lays out is to scrutinize a business’s long-term resilience, management and capacity to generate cash, while waiting for a price that offers an attractive return. He also describes how a change in Netflix’s plans broke Pershing Square’s investment thesis—and why evidence of stronger execution later led the firm to buy the stock again.
Cambridge AI Safety Proposal Calls for Shared RSI Measures and Crisis Planning
TBPN’s John Coogan described a University of Cambridge proposal for AI safety as a shift from general calls for cooperation to two practical steps: standardize measures of AI’s contribution to research and development, and prepare government responses to failures such as cyberattacks or disruptions to critical infrastructure. The proposal, as Coogan presented it, identifies what governments should assess and plan for, rather than supplying finished response plans. That case comes amid growing public attention to AI risk and closer engagement between technology leaders and Washington.
Crusoe Raises $3.9 Billion to Expand Its AI Infrastructure Stack
Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller says the company’s $3.9 billion funding round will support an AI infrastructure business that spans long-term data-center contracts, managed GPU clusters and on-demand AI services. He argues that the sector’s growing local opposition reflects a “marketing issue,” contending that purpose-built facilities can limit water use while generating substantial tax revenue for host communities.
Hard-Tech Startups Rise as AI Lowers the Cost of Building
Y Combinator partners Garry Tan, Jared Friedman, Diana Hu and Harj Taggar argue that AI is reducing the software labor needed to build both physical and digital businesses, helping drive a rise in hard-tech startups and faster early revenue among YC companies. They say the opportunity is shifting toward companies that build physical capacity, own specialized data or take full responsibility for customer workflows—not software that merely records or assists work. AI also makes it easier for founders to start alone, they contend, while increasing the premium on judgment about what to build.
Startups Fear Frontier AI Rules Written by Big Labs
AI founders fear that calls by Anthropic and OpenAI to pace frontier-model development could let the largest labs write safety standards that smaller rivals must finance and follow, Bloomberg’s Natasha Mascarenhas reports. Early talks among OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind on common standards have sharpened the concern, while exposing a divide over whether safety coordination can proceed under existing antitrust law or needs government protection, according to Bloomberg’s Maggie Eastland.