AI VC

A new “unicorn at birth” has entered the AI race. Unconventional AI, a two-month-old startup founded by former Databricks AI chief Naveen Rao, has raised $475M at a $4.5B valuation in a seed round. Backed by a16z, Lightspeed, Lux, DCVC, and Jeff Bezos, the company is targeting one of AI’s hardest problems: building a more energy-efficient computer for next-generation AI workloads as power and compute constraints intensify.

Cisco has invested in World Labs, the spatial-intelligence startup founded by Dr. Fei-Fei Li, underscoring a major shift in AI: from language-based models to systems that understand and operate within 3D environments. World Labs’ Large World Models aim to move AI from “understanding words to understanding worlds.” As spatial and multimodal intelligence emerges, it may define AI’s next decade far more than text-only LLMs.

Thinking Machines Labs is reportedly seeking a $50B valuation, just months after raising at a $12B mark. But with co-founder departures and a first product—Tinker—that feels incremental rather than transformative, the jump raises questions. As we’ve covered before, the company still looks more like a research lab than a revenue engine. The widening gap between ambition and output makes this valuation hard to justify.

Meta is cutting around 600 roles from its Superintelligence Labs, impacting FAIR and other AI units in what appears to be a major strategic reset. The move follows a $27B financing deal with Blue Owl Capital and comes just days after Meta hired Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines Labs. The layoffs suggest Meta is consolidating its AI ambitions — possibly shutting down entire R&D teams to refocus on next-generation foundation models.

Global venture capital reached $120.7 billion in Q3 2025, the fourth straight quarter of growth, according to KPMG’s Venture Pulse Report. AI dominated funding flows, with Anthropic ($13B), xAI ($10B), and Mistral ($1.5B) among the largest rounds. From the U.S. to Europe and Canada, investors are pouring record sums into both model builders and applied AI startups—cementing AI as the gravity well of global VC.

Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines Labs, has left to join Meta, marking another twist in the ongoing AI talent wars. Just months ago, reports suggested Tulloch turned down a $1.5B compensation package from Meta — one of the largest in tech history. His departure follows Thinking Machines’ record-breaking seed round and the launch of its first product, a model-tuning toolkit that some market observers viewed as underwhelming.

Tipalti has secured $200M in growth financing, following its acquisition of AI-native treasury startup Statement and amid strong ARR and payment volume growth. Alongside the raise, Tipalti unveiled a roster of AI agents — from instant reporting to automated onboarding — signaling that the next phase of finance automation will be driven by intelligent, context-aware tools as it seeks to build moats against AI-powered ERPs.

The AI sector has entered an era of unprecedented valuations — with Thinking Machines raising the largest seed round in history and nearly half of all venture capital now flowing into AI. As M.G. Siegler noted on spyglass, OpenAI leads with a $500B secondary valuation, while Anthropic, xAI, and others are pushing past the $100B mark. But as the race tilts from technology to market share and data access, smaller players remain crucial, driving innovation and attracting the att

Tokyo-based semiconductor startup EdgeCortix has raised nearly $100M to accelerate its edge AI chips. While cloud computing has dominated AI, edge systems process data locally — crucial for autonomous vehicles, defense, and emergency response where speed, security, and resilience matter. Still, edge AI has limits: it can’t match cloud-scale compute and often needs connectivity for complex tasks. TheMarketAI.com Take: The future of AI will be hybrid — cloud for scale, edge for

Casap has raised $25M Series A to bring AI automation to one of the most outdated and costly corners of financial services: payment disputes. With a platform that promises to cut fraud losses and streamline chargebacks, Casap is gaining traction among credit unions and fintechs. But as AI begins making real financial decisions, questions remain about whether these tools are ready to operate without human oversight.

Thinking Machines Labs just revealed they’re building a “multimodal AI” system designed to work with language, visuals, and sound — aiming for what they call “collaborative general intelligence.” Backed by a staggering $2 billion seed round led by a16z and filled with ex-OpenAI talent, the young startup is quickly becoming one of the most closely watched players in the next wave of frontier AI.

Global VC funding hit $91 billion in Q2, with nearly half flowing into AI—a clear sign that the AI boom is driving unprecedented investment momentum - based on Fortune and Crunchbase

Thinking Machines is likely building it's own ChatGPT style model given the background of most of its team (shown here). That could position them as an attractive acquisition target from the mega tech corps who are struggling to keep up with Google, Microsoft and OpenAI.