Disney Takes a $1B Stake in OpenAI

Top News

Disney has agreed to invest $1 billion in OpenAI and grant the AI company rights to more than 200 characters for use in ChatGPT and Sora. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

OpenAI today released GPT 5.2, an aggressive bid to regain momentum in its rivalry with Google by pushing deeper into high value reasoning and enterprise workloads even as its escalating compute spend raises new questions about the sustainability of that strategy. TechCrunch has more here.

President Trump signed an executive order that empowers federal officials to override dozens of state AI laws, signaling a major win for tech companies seeking a unified national framework and raising the stakes for an imminent legal fight with the states. The New York Times has more here.

Stanford’s Star Reporter Takes on Silicon Valley’s ‘Money-Soaked’ Startup Culture

Image Credits: Theo Baker

By Connie Loizos

Theo Baker is truly an outlier.

While journalism as a major has seen shrinking enrollment for years and is even being dropped by some schools entirely, Baker, a senior at Stanford University, has doubled down on old-school investigative reporting, and it is paying off spectacularly.

Baker first made headlines as a college freshman when his reporting for The Stanford Daily led to the resignation of Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. After uncovering allegations of research misconduct spanning two decades, Baker — just one month into college — found himself “receiving anonymous letters, conducting stakeouts, and tracking down confidential sources,” according to his publisher. Meanwhile, high-powered lawyers tried to discredit his work. By year’s end, Tessier-Lavigne had resigned, and Baker became the youngest-ever recipient of the George Polk Award, one of journalism’s most prestigious honors.

Shortly after, Warner Bros and famed producer Amy Pascal won a competitive auction for the film rights to his story.

But if that scandal put Baker on the map, his upcoming book may cement his reputation as the rare young journalist willing to challenge Silicon Valley’s startup machine.

Massive Fundings

D3 Bio, a six-year-old Shanghai startup that develops targeted oncology therapies for KRAS G12C-mutant cancers, raised a $108 million Series B round. Investors included IDG Capital and SongQing Capital as well as prior backers WuXi AppTec, Temasek, HSG, MPCi, and Medicxi also participating. More here.

Harness, a nine-year-old San Francisco startup that automates testing, security checks, and deployment work, raised a $240 million Series E round at a $5.5 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Goldman Sachs, with additional participation from IVP, Menlo Ventures, and Unusual Ventures. The company has raised a total of $570 million. TechCrunch has more here.

K2 Space, a three-year-old startup based in Torrance, CA, that builds large high-power satellites designed to operate across low, medium, and geostationary orbits, raised a $250 million Series C round at a $3 billion valuation. Redpoint led the investment, with T. Rowe Price, Hedosophia, Altimeter, Lightspeed, and Alpine Space Ventures also joining in. SpaceNews has more here.

Medra, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that is developing an autonomous robotics system to facilitate lab experiments, raised a $52 million Series A round led by Human Capital, with Lux Capital, Neo, NFDG, Catalio Capital Management, Menlo Ventures, 776, and Fusion Fund also taking part. More here.

OnCorps AI, a fifteen-year-old Boston company that provides an agentic AI platform for fund operations, raised a $55 million round led by Long Ridge Equity Partners. More here.

Port, a four-year-old Tel Aviv startup that offers an internal developer-tool portal and agent orchestration layer, raised a $100 million Series C round at an $800 million post-money valuation. General Atlantic was the deal lead, with Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Team8 also participating. The company has raised a total of $158 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Prolynx, a 17-year-old company based in Emeryville, CA, that develops longer-acting incretin and non-incretin obesity drugs, raised a $70 million Series A round co-led by 5AM Ventures, OrbiMed, and Monograph Capital. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Runware, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that provides a dev tool platform that generates images, videos, and audio in real-time, raised a $50 million Series A round led by Dawn Capital, with Comcast Ventures, Speedinvest, Insight Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Allonnia, a six-year-old Boston startup that develops technologies that develops technologies that remove contaminants and improve mineral recovery, raised a $20+ million Series A extension round co-led by Viking Global Investors, Bison Ventures, General Atlantic, BHP Ventures, and Pivotal Capital Partners. The company has raised a total of $100+ million. More here.

Bobyard, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an AI platform that helps contractors perform construction takeoffs and estimates, raised a $35 million Series A round led by 8VC, with Pear VC, Primary Venture Partners, Tishman Speyer, RXR, Caffeinated Capital, and Merrick Ventures also investing. More here.

Hello Vet, a three-year-old London startup that operates veterinary clinics that let owners stay with their pets during treatment, raised a $20 million Series A round. Investors included Addition and Future Positive. The company has raised a total of $28.2 million. EU-Startups has more here.

LI.FI, a startup that enables developers to build on-chain swaps and cross-chain bridging, raised a $29 million Series A extension round co-led by Multicoin Capital and CoinFund. The company has raised a total of $51.7 million. NFTgators has more here.

Matta, a four-year-old London startup that uses AI and computer vision to help factories monitor and optimize production in real-time, raised a $14 million seed round led by Lakestar and including Giant Ventures, RedSeed VC, InMotion Ventures, 1st Kind, Unruly Capital, and Boost VC. Tech.eu has more here.

Parallel, a five-year-old New York startup that provides virtual special education and teletherapy services to K-12 schools, raised a $20 million Series B round led by Valspring Capital, with previous investor Rethink Impact also participating. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Qargo, a six-year-old London startup that helps transport companies manage and automate their daily operations, raised a $33 million Series B round led by Sofina and including Balderton Capital. The company has raised a total of $54 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

RelationalAI, an eight-year-old Berkeley startup that provides a decision intelligence system for enterprise data, raised a $22.5 million round co-led by Snowflake Ventures and AT&T Ventures. More here.

SuperCircle, an eight-year-old New York startup that offers a textile recycling platform that helps retailers manage and reuse discarded apparel, raised a $24+ million Series A round led by Foundry Group, with BBG Ventures, Renewal Funds, and Elemental Impact also engaging. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Surf, a a one-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an AI research platform for digital assets, raised a $15 million round led by Pantera Capital, with Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group also pitching in. CoinDesk has more here.

Valinor, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that develops machine learning models to help drug developers identify patients more likely to respond to new therapies, raised a $13 million seed round. CRV, Harpoon Ventures, Amino Collective, and Pelion Venture Partners invested in the deal. More here.

Yonda Tax, a four-year-old London startup that automates global tax compliance for companies expanding internationally, raised a $14.7 million round led by Kennet Partners, with NYO Capital and Portfolio Ventures also joining in. EU-Startups has more here.

Smaller Fundings

A&B Smart Materials, a startup based in Oxford, UK, that develops sustainable, biodegradable superabsorbent polymers for hygiene and agricultural applications, raised a $2 million pre-seed round. Investors included Caesar, Living Hope VC, Archipelago Ventures, Triple Impact Ventures, Cranfield University Seed Fund, Oxford Seed Fund, Cambridge Capital Group, and Oxford Innovation Finance as well as prior backer Sake Bosch. More here.