High Profile Startup Delve Faces Fraud Accusations

Top News

Delve, a Y Combinator-backed compliance startup accused of fabricating certifications for its customers, has disabled the “book a demo” feature on its website. The controversy, detailed last week in a Substack post by an anonymous whistleblower known as "DeepDelver," has also apparently led Insight Partners to scrub an article explaining its $32 million investment in the startup. TechCrunch has the story here.

An exploit kit known as DarkSword that can hack iPhones running older iOS versions has been publicly leaked on GitHub, making it trivial for attackers to deploy spyware capable of extracting messages, contacts, and other sensitive data from hundreds of millions of unpatched devices. TechCrunch has more here.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators plans to introduce a bill banning CFTC-regulated prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket from offering sports and casino-style contracts, escalating a broader fight over whether the platforms are federally regulated derivatives or state-controlled gambling. TechCrunch has more here.

OpenAI is offering private equity firms a 17.5% return via a joint venture structure and early model access if they deploy customized AI tools across their portfolio companies, as it competes with Anthropic for enterprise distribution ahead of a potential IPO. Reuters has more here.

Emil Michael, Now a Senior Pentagon Official, Says He’ll Never Forgive Uber Investors Who Ousted Him and Kalanick

Image Credits: Win McNamee / Getty Images

By Connie Loizos

Emil Michael, who serves as a senior technology official at the Department of Defense, is back in the spotlight over the government’s ongoing battle with Anthropic, and a newly released podcast interview offers one of the most detailed looks yet into his thinking on that dispute — as well as an unguarded settling of old scores from his Uber days.

The interview, released Monday and conducted last month by Joubin Mirzadegan, a partner at Kleiner Perkins who leads the venture firm’s portfolio operating team, covered a range of topics including policy and personal history — and was recorded before the DoD’s feud with Anthropic had fully come to a head. But it is Michael’s remarks about his departure from Uber — and his barely concealed bitterness about it — that grabbed our attention first.

When Mirzadegan asked him point-blank whether he had been shown the door alongside Travis Kalanick, Michael answered with a single word: “Effectively.”

Michael resigned eight days before Kalanick did, as part of the fallout from a workplace investigation triggered by allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination at the company. He was not named in those allegations, but the inquiry — led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder — concluded he should be removed. Kalanick followed, pushed out in what The New York Times described as a shareholder revolt by some of the company’s most prominent investors, including Benchmark.

When Mirzadegan asked whether he was still “salty” about it, Michael didn’t equivocate. “I’ll never forget that, nor forgive,” he said.

The ouster grates on both Michael and Kalanick not only because of the personal damage to their reputations but because they believed — and still believe — that autonomous driving was Uber’s future, and that the investors who forced them out killed it.

During the interview, Michael argued the decision was driven by a desire to protect near-term returns rather than build something lasting.

Massive Fundings

Dash0, a three-year-old New York startup that provides observability software to monitor systems and detect performance issues, raised a $110 million round at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Balderton Capital, with DTCP and prior backers Accel, Cherry Ventures, and Dig Ventures also investing. Bloomberg has more here.

Gimlet Labs, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that runs AI inference workloads across multiple types of chips simultaneously, raised an $80 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures, with Eclipse Ventures, Prosperity7, and Triatomic as well as previous investor Factory also engaging. The company has raised a total of $92 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Halter, a 10-year-old Auckland company that produces AI-powered collars that create virtual fences and monitor cattle location and health through a mobile app, is reportedly in the process of raising an undisclosed amount at a $2 billion valuation, with Founders Fund as the purported lead. Bloomberg has more here.

Kandou AI, a 15-year-old Swiss company that makes connectivity chips to link GPUs in AI data centers, raised a $225 million round. Investors included Maverick Silicon, SoftBank Group, Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems, and Alchip. Bloomberg has more here.

Zipline, a 12-year-old South San Francisco company that operates autonomous drone delivery systems for the on-demand delivery of medical supplies, food, and retail items, raised a $200 million Series H round at a $7.6 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Fidelity, with Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, Tiger Global, and Paradigm also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Avtal, a four-year-old Austin startup that has built a white-labeled platform that collection agencies use to communicate with consumers and collect payments through text, email, and the web, raised a $24 million Series A round led by S3 Ventures, with NJP Ventures also participating. Built in Austin has more here.

Doctronic, a two-year-old New York startup that enables consumers to receive medical guidance and connect with licensed physicians through an AI-powered consultation platform, raised a $40 million Series B round co-led by Abstract and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with previous investors Seven Stars, Union Square Ventures, Tusk Ventures, and Mantis also taking part. The company has raised a total of $65 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Lace, a three-year-old Norwegian startup that uses helium atom beam lithography to enable smaller chip designs, raised a $40 million Series A round led by Atomico, with M12, Linse Capital, the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation, and Nysnø also participating. Reuters has more here.

Littlebird, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that captures on-screen activity as text to let users search and query their digital activity, raised an $11 million seed round led by Lotus Studio and including Lenny Rachitsky, Scott Belsky, Gokul Rajaram, Justin Rosenstein, Shawn Wang, and Russ Heddleston. TechCrunch has more here.

Swish, an 18-month-old Bengaluru startup that operates a network of kitchens and delivery infrastructure for rapid food delivery, raised a $38 million Series B round at a $139 million post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Hara Global and Bain Capital Ventures, with Accel, Stride Ventures, and Alteria Capital also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $54 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Smaller Fundings

Egide, a one-year-old French startup that is developing interceptor drones designed to destroy hostile unmanned aerial vehicles, raised a $9.3 million seed round co-led by Expeditions, Eurazeo, and Heartcore Capital, with additional support from Galion.exe and Kima Ventures. The Next Web has more here.

Ezra, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose voice AI interviewing platform enables recruiting teams to screen candidates through structured voice conversations, raised a $3.2 million seed round co-led by Penny Jar Capital and LMNT Ventures, with Andreessen Horowitz and Telegraph Hill Capital also contributing. More here.

HappyPay, a five-year-old Cape Town startup that offers buy now, pay later services that let consumers split purchases into interest-free installments at checkout, raised a $5 million seed round led by Partech, with Futuregrowth Asset Management, The University Technology Fund, and Summit.Deals as well as previous investors 4Di Capital, E4EAfrica, Equitable Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, Enso Equity, and Felix Strategic Investments also piling on. More here.

Newly, a three-year-old Stockholm startup that enables users to build and launch native iOS and Android apps without code using an AI-driven platform, raised a $2 million round. PSV Tech was the deal lead, with Karaoke Club, Wave Ventures, Inception Fund, Foundry Ventures, and Tiny Supercomputer Investment Company also investing. More here.

Novaworks, a one-year-old startup based in Los Altos, CA, that aims to embed AI into HR workflows to help companies coordinate and manage employees, contractors, and agents across enterprise systems, raised an $8 million seed round led by Stalwart Ventures, with ServiceNow Ventures and Bell Ventures also opting in. More here.

New Funds

5c(c) Capital, a new venture firm founded by two early Kalshi employees that plans to invest in prediction market startups, is raising up to $35 million with backing from inves