Weekly startups: Brighter look, but don't get taken away

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The launch news for this week is very routine – good: There is no engaging drama apart from the small issues between Y Combinator and Google. Progress and business as steady as usual.

The most interesting entrepreneurial story of the week

With IPO plans, acquisitions and new releases, this week provides a real reason for optimism and bullishness. But, don't be taken away: we're not ready to use Theranos 2.0.

Interesting files: Digital consumer bank Chime publicly filed for an IPO this week. Among other figures, paperwork shows it paid about $33 million to Dallas Mavericks as part of its marketing efforts.

Neon lights:Databricks plans to spend about $1 billion to acquire Neon, a startup that builds an open source alternative to AWS Aurora Postgres, hoping their merger will allow customers to deploy AI agents more efficiently (whatever it is).

Catch the worm: Savings and investment startup Acorns has acquired the family’s investment giveaway platform in undisclosed quantities. Early Bird will be closed, and its co-founders will help build Acorns, the startup’s Smart Money app.

Bridge blanks: Autounify, the latest startup comes from Porsche’s partnership with Venture Studio Up. LABS wants to be the grid for automotive retail and, together with APIs, bridges the communication gap between dealers and service stores, on the other hand, manufacturers and software vendors.

Friends or enemies: Google launches its AI Futures Fund, a new initiative aimed at investing in AI startups using DeepMind tools. Also this week, Y Combinator released a brief accusation of Google of being a “monopoly” who “stunted” the U.S. startup ecosystem.

Dual use: British startup Vertical Aerospace is manufacturing a hybrid electric EVTOL aircraft that will leverage its position as the sole European player in the field, a growing number of domestic defense solutions.

Are you kidding? Billy Evans, a partner at Elizabeth Holmes, reportedly tried to raise $50 million for a stadium similar to Theranos, to raise funds for a new blood test startup.

The most interesting VC and funding news of the week

AI is once again a recurring theme among startups that announced the round this week, but these companies focus on a wide range of departments and issues. In addition, there are new funds for FinTech and New York startups.

Granted: The Insurtech startup awarded $120 million Series D, which includes $75 million in primary investment to launch new products and underwriting capabilities.

power: Las Vegas-based Tensorwave raised $100 million in funding, led by Magnetar and AMD Ventures, relying primarily on AMD hardware’s data center infrastructure.

Step forward: Sprinter Health, a company that provides home preventive health care services such as blood draw, raised a $55 million Series B led by General Catalyst.

Pan African: Egyptian startup Nawy, Africa’s largest Proptech platform, received $52 million Series A led by Parttech Africa and received $23 million in debt financing to support its MENA expansion, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as its next market.

Breakfast Club: The fast-growing AI Unknown Platform Granola raised $43 million in Series B at a valuation of $250 million and launched a collaborative feature for the team.

Fusion in bottles: The University of Wisconsin’s spin-off real estate brokerage fusion fusion received $36 million in fresh funding, which it plans to complete the design of its Anvil Prototype reactor.

Talking baby: Hedra, a company that helped artists participate in AI-generated Talking Babies podcast trends and locked $32 million from the A16Z.

fashionable:Doji is a startup looking to make virtual outfits fun and social with a $14 million seed round led by Thrive Capital to improve its AI avatar.

Bigger Apple: The workbench of a New York-centric venture capital firm raised $160 million for its fourth fund, which will support seed-stage founders to build enterprise software.

Deeper: Mercury co-founder and CEO Immad Akhund has launched $26 million more meaningfully as an angel investor to support early-stage startups more meaningfully. The fintech company was worth $3.5 billion for the last time in March’s funding round.

last but not least

CIA officials turned to investor Eric Slesinger, who may be the only U.S. venture capital firm to invest in European defense technology. In the latest episode of the recent Strict Download Podcast, he told TechCrunch about this arguably prescient move that led him to find 201 businesses.