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How Lucra Raised $20M as an eSports Play when Every VC only Wants AI
Lucra, a white‑label eSports gamification platform, raised $20 million from Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest. Founder Dylan Robbins secured the funding by openly discussing the startup’s non‑AI focus and early‑stage challenges. The company pivoted from a consumer‑direct model to a B2B loyalty solution for venues such as golf courses, arcades, and pickleball clubs within 45 days. ARK’s investment signals confidence that Lucra can avoid the pitfalls that hurt a previous Skillz‑like venture.
Forget the Feed: Status AI Raises $17M to Turn Social Media Into Interactive Entertainment
Status AI announced a $17 million seed and Series A round led by investors such as Abstract, General Catalyst, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator and LightShed Partners. The startup’s app transforms social media into an immersive, AI‑driven role‑play platform where users can adopt...
Stilta Raises $10.5M From A16z and YC to Help Companies Rediscover the Patents They Forgot They Had
Stilta, an AI-driven intellectual‑property platform, announced a $10.5 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Y Combinator and operators from OpenAI, Legora, and Lovable. The startup automates patent research, conflict analysis, and litigation‑grade reporting using a network of AI...
Anthropic Warns Investors Against Secondary Platforms Offering Access to Its Shares
Anthropic updated its website to warn investors that several private and secondary‑market platforms are not authorized to sell or transfer its stock. The company named eight firms—including Open Doors Partners, Unicorns Exchange, and Forge Global—as offering void transactions that will...
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, All Your M&A Questions Will Be Answered
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will host a Builders Stage panel that treats mergers and acquisitions as an early‑stage growth lever, especially for AI‑focused startups. The discussion features Aklil Ibssa of Coinbase, who has overseen more than 14 deals, Lindsey Mignano, a...
India’s Snabbit Seeks Fresh Funding at a $400M Valuation, Sources Say
Snabbit, the Bengaluru‑based instant house‑help platform, is close to closing a new funding round that could bring in $50‑$55 million and lift its valuation to roughly $400 million. The round is being led by Susquehanna Venture Capital and includes participation from Mirae...
Fusion Doesn’t Have a Normal Startup Timeline, and Investors Are Fine with That
Private capital in fusion jumped from $10 billion to $15 billion within months, signaling a shift from speculative research to a viable asset class. Investors now compare the fusion playbook to biotech and SpaceX, focusing on milestones like the Q‑value rather than...
Esther and Anne Wojcicki Back New Healthcare Accelerator, Fund
Mary Minno launched Treehub, a six‑month residency‑venture program, and the AI Health Fund, a $10 million early‑stage venture vehicle, to back AI‑driven healthcare startups. The fund, seeded with $1.5 million—including a $1 million check from Tim Draper—has already invested in 12 companies and...
Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch Signals IPO Readiness as AI Agents Fuel Revenue Surge
Vercel’s annual recurring revenue surged from $100 million at the start of 2024 to a $340 million run rate by February 2026, driven by a wave of AI‑generated apps. CEO Guillermo Rauch told investors the company operates like a public firm and is...
Collide Capital Raises $95M Fund to Back Fintech, Future-of-Work Startups
Collide Capital announced the close of its second fund, raising $95 million, a 44% increase over its inaugural $66 million Fund I. The firm, founded in 2021, plans to deploy the capital over the next 3.5 years, focusing on early‑stage fintech, supply‑chain...
VC Eclipse Has a New $1.3B to Back — and Build — ‘Physical AI’ Startups
Venture firm Eclipse Capital has raised $1.3 billion in new capital, divided into a $591 million early‑stage incubation fund and a growth‑focused pool, to back and build startups in the emerging ‘physical AI’ space. Its portfolio already includes electric‑boat maker Arc, battery‑recycling...
OpenAI Alums Have Been Quietly Investing From a New, Potentially $100M Fund
Zero Shot, a venture fund founded by former OpenAI engineers and prompt experts, closed its first $20 million on a $100 million target. The team—Evan Morikawa, Andrew Mayde, Shawn Jain, Kelly Kovacs and Brett Rounsaville—has already written checks to AI‑focused startups such...
Gateway Capital Announces First Close of $25M Fund II
Venture firm Gateway Capital Partners announced the first close of its targeted $25 million Fund II, though the exact amount closed was not disclosed. The new fund will deploy checks of $500,000 to $600,000 and aims to back at least 20 companies,...
Cognichip Wants AI to Design the Chips that Power AI, and Just Raised $60M to Try
Cognichip, a startup founded in 2024, announced a $60 million Series B round, bringing its total financing to $93 million. The company is developing a domain‑specific AI model to assist engineers in designing semiconductor chips, claiming it can slash development costs by more...
Toyota’s Woven Capital Appoints New CIO and COO in Push for Finding the ‘Future of Mobility’
Toyota’s venture arm Woven Capital appointed Michiko Kato as chief information officer and chief executive of Toyota Invention Partners, making her the first female CEO of a wholly‑owned Toyota subsidiary. At the same time, Mia Panzer was named chief operating officer,...