Hey readers

Welcome back to your regular tech digest, a quick snapshot of the most recent tech news worth paying attention to.

This week was a massive one for tech: Higgsfield raised $400M at a $5.4B valuation, Etched raised $700M at a ~$21B valuation, and Wispr Flow raised $280M at a $2B valuation as AI infrastructure and applications continue to attract enormous amounts of capital. Groq raised $350M at a $3.5B valuation as it pivots toward a neocloud model, while Rillet became a unicorn after raising $100M at a $1B valuation. Meanwhile, Stripe acquired OpenRouter for $7.5B, and SpaceX completed its acquisition of Cursor.

We also explore the rise of AI microdramas (including creating our own) and how AI is creating new entertainment formats.

This edition covers:

🗝️ Trend of the week: The Rise of AI Microdramas
💰 Top startup news & funding rounds (sourced using Harmonic)
🤝 Acquisitions
👀 New VC funds launched
🎤 Must-watch interviews from our podcast show

and much more.

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🗝️ Trend of the week: The Rise of AI Microdramas

The media landscape is changing, and so are the formats we love to consume: podcasts, documentaries, newsletters, clips, and now, AI microdramas.

As content moves between the timely and the timeless, we believe there’s a new middle ground: culturally relevant entertainment — stories rooted in the moment, but built around ideas and emotions that endure.

We’re experimenting with this new format by bringing to life the moments that shaped some of the world’s most iconic companies: the decisions, setbacks, near-misses, and breakthroughs that almost ended them or catapulted them to success, through microdramas.

We’re starting with Nike’s founding story: Just Do It.

The video is made in collaboration with our awesome partners at Plot Party, your go-to platform for creating AI microdramas.

The story feels especially culturally relevant right now. We’re living through an incredible moment where anything feels possible.

You no longer have to be an Oscar-winning movie director to make a film. A great idea can come from anywhere — and AI is making it easier than ever to bring those ideas to life.

💰 Top startup news & funding rounds

Moderna and Merck said their personalized cancer vaccine, called Intismeran, worked successfully in a large Phase 3 clinical trial. Their share price shortly after surged from ~$63 to $174.

Wispr Flow raised $280M Series B led by Menlo Ventures at a $2B valuation, the AI voice-to-text platform nearly tripled its valuation from $700M, now used at 10,000+ enterprises.
Higgsfield raised a $400M Series B led by DST Global at a $5.4B valuation, the AI video and image creation platform quadrupled its valuation in eight months as annualized revenue surged from $20M to $700M, now serving 30M+ users and 390 Fortune 500 companies.
Starcloud raised a $250M Series A extension led by Manhattan West at a $2.3B valuation, the orbital data center startup brought in NVIDIA and Cisco as new investors, building on having flown the first H100 GPU to orbit last November.
Muon Space closed a $250M Series C led by Eclipse Capital with Google and Salesforce Ventures participating, the satellite constellation manufacturer has a 100% mission success record across 11 satellites and is scaling to 500 satellites/year production capacity.
Rillet raised a $100M Series C led by ICONIQ at a $1B valuation, the AI-native ERP hit unicorn status on its third raise in 14 months, with 600+ customers.
Blank Street raised $75M from General Atlantic at a ~$650M valuation, the matcha-and-coffee chain is funding its west coast push into Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Malibu as it crosses 100 stores across the US and UK.
Twin1 AI emerged from stealth with a $20M seed led by Bessemer with Tribeca Venture Partners and Aramco Ventures, building AI-powered digital twins for knowledge workers.
FSH Technologies raised a $20M Series A led by Lachy Groom, the govtech startup is replacing legacy systems for cities and school districts, competing directly with Accenture.
Aligned Marketplace raised $16M to cut employer healthcare costs through independent primary care networks.
Callosum raised a $100M seed led by Atomico, the UK AI startup backed by the Sovereign AI Fund is rethinking how models and chips work together for inference efficiency.
Etched raised $700M led by Jane Street at a ~$21B valuation, with Sequoia, a16z, Kleiner Perkins, Tiger Global, and Blackstone participating, the AI inference chip startup has raised $1.9B total building purpose-built transformer silicon to challenge Nvidia.
Neko Health opened its first US clinic in SoHo, NYC, not a new round this week, but a milestone for Daniel Ek’s body-scanning startup following its $700M Series C in July backed by Zuckerberg, Lightspeed, and others.

Data sourced using Harmonic.

🤝 Acquisitions

Stripe acquired AI gateway startup OpenRouter for $7.5B.
SpaceX officially closed its $60B acquisition of Cursor.

👀 New VC funds launched

Makers Fund raised $250M Fund IV for startups building the next generation of interactive entertainment.
Boston VC firm Floating Point raised $125M for its third fund.
Revolut founder’s VC firm, QuantumLight raised $500M for its AI-driven venture strategy.
Reach Capital raised $265M Fund V to back AI founders building to ‘expand human potential.’

🎤 Must-watch interviews from our podcast show: The European Tech Ecosystem Is Catching Up

Saul Klein, co-founder and Managing Partner of Phoenix Court, joins the podcast to make the case that the UK is quietly the third biggest innovation economy in the world after the US and China, why capital has become a commodity, and what real venture value-add looks like when every fund says “we have money.”

Saul also walks through building LoveFilm as a scrappy answer to Netflix, joining Skype during its 400,000-users-a-day growth spurt, and how he thinks about venture stewardship.

Previous episodes include

$2 Billion Founder: The Secret to Building a High-Growth Startup in 24 Months | Tanay Kothari.
Canva Co-Founder: AI Is Useless Without This 1 Skill | Cam Adams.
Hollywood is Secretly Replacing Films With AI | Justine Moore.
Why most people are underusing AI and why the winners won’t just be OpenAI and Anthropic | Reid Hoffman.
Base44 Founder: The Strategy Behind Building a Million Dollar Company Solo | Maor Shlomo (Base44) & Mark Tluszcz (Wix).

Watch and subscribe now!

See all previous episodes here 👉

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This Week In Startups