Sierra, an AI startup founded by the chairman of OpenAI, has raised $950 million in funding, valuing the company at $15.8 billion.
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Mowito, a physics-based AI startup, has raised $3 million in funding to train factory robots through demonstrations rather than code.
PANews reported on July 8 that, according to the Economic Times, physics AI startup Mowito has completed a $3 million Pre-Seed funding round, led by Version One Ventures, with participation from All In Capital, Unisol, and iSeed. AI researcher Soumith Chintala and founders of Foundry Robotics, Better Capital, and other companies participated as angel investors.
AI-powered legal services company Norm has raised $120 million in funding, led by Khosla Ventures.
PANews reported on July 7th that, according to Bloomberg, AI legal startup Norm has completed a new funding round of $120 million, valuing the company at approximately $1.2 billion post-money. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Blackstone, Bain Capital Ventures, Coatue Management, and others, bringing its total funding to over $260 million. Founded in 2023, Norm differs from traditional software vendors by operating its own Norm Law firm, providing clients directly with legal services delivered by lawyers and AI engineers, charging based on results rather than hourly rates. The company is also developing "AI-driven regulatory AI" compliance agents for regulated industries such as finance and healthcare, and plans to use the new funding to expand its engineering and legal teams and strengthen its systems.
M1X, a platform for tokenizing sovereign debt, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding, led by Paradigm.
ChainCatcher reports that M1X Global, a startup specializing in tokenized sovereign debt, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding, led by Paradigm with participation from Breed VC and others. M1X Global previously partnered with the Republic of the Marshall Islands to assist in the issuance of the on-chain sovereign debt instrument USDM1. This product is a USD-denominated, 1:1 backed by US Treasury bonds, and natively issued by the sovereign nation on a public blockchain. USDM1 was initially issued on Stellar and is currently also available on Canton and Solana. Jordan Goldman, President and COO of M1X, stated that sovereign debt is one of the largest asset classes globally, but prior to USDM1, it did not exist in a native on-chain form. The company aims to establish USDM1 as on-chain sovereign collateral and expand its use in regulated financial markets. The initial application scenario for USDM1 is the disbursement of domestic government aid. Marshall Islands citizens can receive funds through the Lomalo wallet, enabling payments to be completed within seconds without relying on traditional correspondent banking networks. M1X also stated that the recent integration with Bank of Guam, an insurance bank under the U.S. FDIC, further connects USDM1 to regulated banking infrastructure.
Google and RWE back Proxima Fusion in a €411 million funding round
Munich-based magnetic confinement fusion startup Proxima Fusion announced on Tuesday that it has raised €411 million ($469.69 million) in a funding round from investors including Alphabet's Google and German utility RWE. The company stated that the round was led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with RWE and Google participating as strategic investors. The company added that this funding round values Proxima Fusion at €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion). (Sina Finance)
AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic are offering startups large amounts of free computing power in an effort to seize market share.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on July 7th, as reported by Mars Finance, AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic are offering substantial free computing power and discounts to startups to compete for enterprise customers. The report states that Silicon Valley startup founders are receiving computing credits, token usage limits, and auction-style discounts from AI model companies. Some early-stage companies have received over $3 million in cloud computing and token credits, approaching the median of seed funding in the US according to PitchBook. AI companies hope to acquire customers in the early stages of startups, making their tools an integral part of their business as these companies grow. Cursor offered a 75% discount until July 5th; Google Cloud offered up to $500,000 in cloud computing credits to some startups, along with early access to the Gemini model and, in some cases, support from DeepMind engineers. Microsoft and Amazon Web Services also offer special privileges to startups. OpenAI and Anthropic have recently been particularly focused on Y Combinator startups. In May, Sam Altman announced that OpenAI would offer $2 million in tokens to each startup participating in its accelerator program in exchange for equity. Around the same time, Anthropic increased its free token allocation to Y Combinator startups from $30,000 to $500,000, without requiring equity. OpenAI subsequently adjusted its offer, providing startups with $500,000 in free tokens, without requiring equity, and offering the option to exchange equity for an additional $1.5 million in tokens. These offers reflect the fierce competition among model providers for future large clients. Y Combinator runs four cohorts annually, with recent cohorts featuring approximately 200 companies each, meaning that OpenAI and Anthropic could potentially offer a combined $800 million in AI tokens over the next year. Christopher Acker, co-founder of SuperPenguin, stated, "The AI world is being driven by OpenAI and Anthropic because they are giving startups money to pay for usage costs."
AI investment research platform LinqAlpha has raised $22 million in Series A funding, led by AVP and others.
PANews reported on July 5th that, according to Chosun, New York-based AI investment research platform LinqAlpha announced the completion of a $22 million Series A funding round. The round was led by AVP, Atinum Investment, and GFT Ventures, with participation from several financial and venture capital firms from Asia, Europe, and the United States, including Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Hana Ventures, and Shinhan Venture Investment. This brings its total funding to $28.6 million. The company provides institutional investors with an AI market intelligence platform that uses dedicated AI agents to help investment teams process complex market information. The new funding will be used to strengthen market data integration and expand applications in equity, macro, credit, and multi-asset investment strategies.