The creators of the open‑source inference engine vLLM have launched a venture‑backed startup called Inferact, raising $150 million in seed funding at an $800 million valuation. The round was co‑led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Inferact aims to bring the high‑performance vLLM technology, originally incubated at the UC Berkeley lab of Databricks co‑founder Ion Stoica, to enterprise customers. Early adopters include Amazon’s cloud services and a major shopping app, signaling strong market interest as AI inference moves to the forefront of commercial deployment. Leia mais →

Silicon Valley is spending tens of millions of dollars on the 2026 midterm elections through a network of AI‑focused super PACs. The largest, Leading the Future, is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI president Greg Brockman and is running ads against candidates who support state‑level AI regulation. Meta has launched two super PACs to back pro‑AI candidates, while a bipartisan group called Public First is raising money to promote AI safety safeguards. The clash highlights a growing battle over how artificial intelligence will be regulated in the United States. Leia mais →

Cursor, the AI coding assistant, announced it has acquired Graphite, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to review and debug code. While the deal terms were not disclosed, reports indicate Cursor paid well above Graphite's last $290 million valuation. The acquisition adds Graphite's "stacked pull request" technology to Cursor's Bugbot product, aiming to streamline the transition from AI‑generated code to production. The move reflects a broader trend of AI tools targeting the code‑review market, with competitors like CodeRabbit and Greptile also raising sizable funding. Shared investors such as Accel and Andreessen Horowitz link the two companies, and the deal follows Cursor’s recent spree of acquisitions, including Growth by Design and talent from Koala. Leia mais →

Naveen Rao, former head of AI at Databricks, has closed a $475 million seed financing for his new venture Unconventional AI, valuing the company at $4.5 billion. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Ventures, with Lux Capital and DCVC also participating. Rao’s aim is to build an energy‑efficient computer for artificial intelligence, a goal he describes as “as efficient as biology.” The funding represents the first installment toward a potential $1 billion total raise. Rao’s prior successes include MosaicML, acquired by Databricks for $1.3 billion, and Nervana Systems, acquired by Intel for more than $400 million. Leia mais →

President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he will issue an executive order this week to create a single set of federal rules for artificial intelligence, aiming to stop companies from facing a patchwork of state laws. The move comes as states push their own AI measures, including bans on non‑consensual sexual imagery and limits on insurance use of AI. Tech firms such as Google, Meta, OpenAI and Andreessen Horowitz have urged national standards, while 35 states and the District of Columbia warned Congress against blocking state AI laws. Critics argue that only Congress can preempt state authority. Leia mais →

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang cautioned that China can construct AI data centers and even hospitals far faster than the United States, citing the country's expansive energy resources and swift construction capabilities. At the same time, a report from OpenRouter and Andreessen Horowitz shows Chinese open‑source large language models now account for roughly 30% of global AI token usage, up from just over 1% a year earlier. While Huang affirmed Nvidia’s chip technology remains ahead of China, the rapid growth of Chinese AI models and the nation’s infrastructure advantages highlight an intensifying competitive landscape. Leia mais →

Harvey, a legal artificial‑intelligence startup founded in 2022, announced the close of a new funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz that lifts its valuation to $8 billion. The round raised $160 million, adding to earlier $300 million raises that valued the company at $5 billion and $3 billion in the preceding months. Investors now include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, EQT, WndrCo, Kleiner Perkins, Sarah Guo’s Conviction, and Elad Gil. Harvey serves roughly 50 of the top AmLaw 100 firms and corporate legal teams, and it recently reported surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Leia mais →

A political action committee backed by Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI president Greg Brockman has singled out New York Assembly member Alex Bores as its first target. The PAC, called Leading the Future, was formed with a commitment of more than $100 million to support policymakers who favor a light‑touch approach to AI regulation. Bores, the chief sponsor of New York’s bipartisan RAISE Act, says the group’s tactics are a direct response to his efforts to require large AI labs to adopt safety plans and disclose critical incidents. The clash highlights growing tensions between Silicon Valley and state legislators seeking stronger AI safeguards. Leia mais →

Gamma, the AI‑powered platform that creates presentations, websites and social media posts, announced a $68 million Series B round that lifts its valuation to $2.1 billion. Led by Andreessen Horowitz, the round also includes participation from Accel, Uncork Capital and other existing investors. Co‑founder and CEO Grant Lee said the company has reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue on a profitable basis and now serves roughly 70 million users. The funding will support further product development and global expansion. Leia mais →

Codi, the Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup founded by Christelle Rohaut and Dave Schuman, has introduced what it calls the first AI‑driven platform to fully automate office management. Building on its original marketplace for flexible office space, the new SaaS product uses a trained AI to coordinate vendors, handle pantry restocking, cleaning and other logistical tasks, aiming to cut administrative costs and free staff to focus on culture and growth. The beta, released in May, quickly attracted dozens of new customers, including TaskRabbit and Northbeam, and the company says it reached $100,000 in ARR within five weeks. Leia mais →

Periodic Labs, founded by former OpenAI researcher Liam Fedus and former Google Brain scientist Ekin Dogus Cubuk, emerged from stealth with a $300 million seed round led by Felicis and backed by a roster of top investors. The company aims to fuse large‑language models, advanced simulations, and robotic labs to accelerate discovery of new materials, initially focusing on superconductors. With a multidisciplinary team drawn from AI and physics, the startup is already generating experimental data and testing predictions, positioning itself at the forefront of AI‑powered scientific research. Leia mais →

Andreessen Horowitz, in partnership with Mercury, released its first AI Spending Report, analyzing transaction data to identify the top AI-native application layer companies that startups are purchasing. The study shows a diverse range of AI products in use, with major labs like OpenAI and Anthropic leading the spend, and a surge in “human augmentor” or copilot tools that boost workforce productivity. While startups continue to experiment with various solutions, the report signals a gradual shift toward more integrated, end‑to‑end AI agents as the technology matures. Leia mais →

California’s newly signed AI safety and transparency bill, SB 53, requires large AI labs to disclose safety protocols and adhere to them, aiming to prevent misuse such as cyber‑attacks or bio‑weapon creation. Encode AI’s Adam Billen says the legislation shows policymakers can protect innovation while ensuring safety, noting that many companies already perform model testing and release model cards. While some industry leaders worry about competitive pressure to relax standards, the bill’s enforcement by the Office of Emergency Services seeks to keep safeguards in place. The law has drawn mixed reactions from Silicon Valley, but proponents view it as a model of democratic collaboration. Leia mais →

French AI startup Mistral AI is finalizing a €2 billion investment that places the company at a post‑money valuation of $14 billion. The two‑year‑old OpenAI rival, founded by former DeepMind and Meta researchers, builds open‑source language models and the Le Chat chatbot for European users. While the firm declined to comment, the round marks its first major raise since a June 2024 financing that valued it at €5.8 billion. Mistral has previously secured over €1 billion from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst, amid a surge in European AI funding. Leia mais →

Replit announced a $250 million financing round that lifts its valuation to $3 billion. The round was led by Prysm Capital with participation from Amex Ventures and Google’s AI Futures Fund, while earlier backers such as Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, and Coatue also took part. The company reports an annualized revenue surge from $2.8 million to $150 million in less than a year, surpassing the $100 million ARR reported in June. Replit’s deep ties to Google Cloud and its recent inclusion on Microsoft Azure highlight its expanding platform ecosystem. Leia mais →

The California state senate gave final approval to SB 53, a major AI safety bill that imposes new transparency requirements on large AI labs, establishes whistleblower protections, and creates a public cloud to expand compute access. The legislation now moves to Governor Gavin Newsom for signing or veto. While some tech firms and venture groups have opposed the bill, others like Anthropic support it as a solid governance blueprint. The bill differentiates reporting obligations based on a $500 million revenue threshold, and has drawn criticism from industry leaders who warn of constitutional and commerce concerns. Leia mais →

French AI startup Mistral AI is finalizing a €2 billion investment that places the company at a post‑money valuation of $14 billion. The two‑year‑old OpenAI rival, founded by former DeepMind and Meta researchers, builds open‑source language models and the Le Chat chatbot for European users. While the firm declined to comment, the round marks its first major raise since a June 2024 financing that valued it at €5.8 billion. Mistral has previously secured over €1 billion from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst, amid a surge in European AI funding. Leia mais →

French AI startup Mistral AI is finalizing a €2 billion investment that places the company at a post‑money valuation of $14 billion. The two‑year‑old OpenAI rival, founded by former DeepMind and Meta researchers, builds open‑source language models and the Le Chat chatbot for European users. While the firm declined to comment, the round marks its first major raise since a June 2024 financing that valued it at €5.8 billion. Mistral has previously secured over €1 billion from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst, amid a surge in European AI funding. Leia mais →

Replit announced a $250 million financing round that lifts its valuation to $3 billion. The round was led by Prysm Capital with participation from Amex Ventures and Google’s AI Futures Fund, while earlier backers such as Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, and Coatue also took part. The company reports an annualized revenue surge from $2.8 million to $150 million in less than a year, surpassing the $100 million ARR reported in June. Replit’s deep ties to Google Cloud and its recent inclusion on Microsoft Azure highlight its expanding platform ecosystem. Leia mais →

Replit announced a $250 million financing round that lifts its valuation to $3 billion. The round was led by Prysm Capital with participation from Amex Ventures and Google’s AI Futures Fund, while earlier backers such as Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, and Coatue also took part. The company reports an annualized revenue surge from $2.8 million to $150 million in less than a year, surpassing the $100 million ARR reported in June. Replit’s deep ties to Google Cloud and its recent inclusion on Microsoft Azure highlight its expanding platform ecosystem. Leia mais →