💎 Insurtech GRACE Secures €5.9M to Protect Luxury Goods

Franco-Swiss fintech startup GRACE has raised €5.9 million in a Seed round to expand its AI-powered insurance platform for luxury items. The funding round was led by FinTech Collective and Speedinvest, with participation from Firstminute Capital, Purple, Kima Ventures, Bpifrance, a16z, and Sequoia through their Scout Program.

🚨 Luxury Theft on the Rise: The value of stolen luxury goods has surged 236% year-over-year, highlighting the need for better protection solutions.

🌟 Seamless Protection: GRACE provides automatic coverage against theft and loss from the moment of purchase, with claims resolved within days.

🫱 Strategic Partnerships: Collaborates with Chubb, a global insurance leader, and plans to cover 200,000 luxury items by 2025 through partnerships with major luxury brands.

📊 Data-Driven Insights: The platform also helps brands collect customer data, improving their understanding of buyer behavior.

With theft of luxury items on the rise, can GRACE redefine how high-value assets are protected?

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🤖 Chef Robotics Raises $20.6M to Automate Food Production

AI robotics startup Chef Robotics has secured $20.6 million in a Series A round led by Avataar Venture Partners. The funding will help the company scale its AI-powered food preparation robots, which are designed to operate in assembly lines alongside human workers.

🍴 Revolutionizing Food Production: Chef robots use spatial intelligence to handle diverse ingredients, making them more versatile than traditional factory machines.

💼 Key Clients: Includes Amy's Kitchen, Sunbasket, and Chef Bombay.

🚀 Major Backers: Construct Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Promus Ventures, and others participated, with Silicon Valley Bank providing an additional $22.5 million in equipment financing.

🌎 Real-World Impact: Deployed in North America, Chef robots have processed nearly 2,000 ingredients and produced over 44 million food servings.

With the food industry facing a labor shortage, Chef Robotics aims to bridge the gap with autonomous solutions that enhance productivity and reduce operational costs.

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🤖 ARX Robotics and Daimler Truck Collaborate on Next-Gen Military Vehicles

ARX Robotics has announced a strategic partnership with Daimler Truck to advance the development of autonomous military vehicles, combining AI-driven robotics with Daimler’s expertise in specialized defense trucks.

✨Next-Gen Military Tech: The collaboration focuses on integrating ARX’s AI and robotics systems into Daimler’s Unimog and Zetros series to enhance autonomous driving and teleoperation.

🚀 Multi-Domain Operations: The new vehicles will support coordinated missions with drones and other systems, thanks to ARX’s Mithra OS, enabling networking and real-time data processing.

💜 Enhanced Capabilities: Upgraded vehicles will feature autonomous navigation, object recognition, and real-time communication for safer and more efficient military operations.

ARX and Daimler aim to set a new standard for digital defense solutions, positioning Europe at the forefront of autonomous military technology.

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📱 Unravel Raises €6.3M to Transform Travel Discovery

London-based startup Unravel has secured €6.3 million in Series A funding to expand its AI-powered video commerce platform that turns creator-driven travel content into seamless booking experiences.

🚀 Key Backers: Led by Nauta Capital, with participation from Active Partners, Slingshot Ventures, and Olivier Bisserier (ex-CFO, Booking.com).

🌎 What They Do: Unravel partners with travel creators to curate authentic, high-quality video content and integrate it into banking, airline, and FinTech apps for easy booking.

📈 Impressive Metrics: Partnered platforms report a 4x increase in daily active users and a 10x increase in conversion rates.

⭕️ Expansion Plans: The fresh capital will enhance AI capabilities and support global growth, with a focus on Europe and the UK.

With its innovative approach, Unravel aims to become the "TikTok of Travel", making video-driven bookings a reality.

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🤖 You.com Raises $50M to Compete in the AI Assistant Market

Palo Alto-based startup You.com is raising $50 million in a Series B round, aiming to establish itself in the competitive AI assistants space. The funding round is led by Georgian, with support from existing investors.

✨Market Ambitions: You.com is pivoting from an AI-infused search engine to a comprehensive AI assistant focused on productivity and search.

📈Growth and Challenges: Despite a drop from 20 million peak visitors in February 2023 to 11 million in May, You.com has seen its annual recurring revenue grow fivefold since January.

💡 Subnoscription Model: The platform charges $15 per month for premium features, including access to advanced AI models and productivity tools.

With competition from tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, You.com is betting on its unique assistant capabilities to capture a share of the growing AI market.

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🤖 CMR Surgical Accelerates Growth with Next-Gen Robotic Surgery

Cambridge-based CMR Surgical, a leader in surgical robotics, is pushing forward with its global expansion plans following a successful funding round of over €185 million, combining equity and debt capital.

💡Transforming Surgery: CMR’s Versius Surgical Robotic System is designed to make robotic-assisted surgery more accessible and affordable, offering modular, portable solutions for various medical procedures.

🚀 Key Innovations: The new funding will accelerate the commercial expansion of Versius, particularly in the U.S., and support the launch of the enhanced Versius Plus system.

🌎 Global Impact: Versius is the second most utilized soft tissue surgical robot worldwide, completing over 30,000 surgeries in 30+ countries, including colorectal, gynecology, and urology procedures.

💼 Strategic Backing: The round was led by Trinity Capital, with existing major investors participating. CMR plans to expand its clinical footprint with trials in pediatric and transoral robotic surgery.

CMR Surgical aims to revolutionize healthcare by making robotic-assisted surgery more efficient and accessible worldwide.

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🎮 Ultra Aims to Redefine Gaming in Europe with One-Stop Platform

Tallinn-based Ultra is on a mission to revolutionize the gaming industry with a one-stop destination for gamers, publishers, and developers. The company recently secured €10.8 million to expand its team, develop its platform, and set the stage for future growth.

🚀 Game-Changing Vision: Ultra aims to challenge the traditional gaming landscape by integrating distribution, player experience, and digital ownership into one cohesive platform.

🌎 European Tech Revival: Ultra sees an opportunity to bridge the gap in Europe’s gaming and digital assets sectors, aiming to lead the continent’s tech resurgence.

💡 Strategic Backing: The funding round was led by NOIA Capital, with new CEO Gus van Rijckevorsel spearheading the company’s bold vision to disrupt the stagnant gaming industry.

🔧 Next Steps: The fresh capital will be used to hire top talent, expand the Ultra platform, and prepare for a significant upcoming raise.

Ultra is setting out to become the go-to gaming hub in Europe, redefining how developers, publishers, and players connect.

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💼 Pennylane Transforms Accounting for Small Businesses

French fintech startup Pennylane is revolutionizing accounting with its all-in-one platform designed specifically for accountants and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The platform streamlines invoicing, expense tracking, cash flow management, and financial forecasting into one user-friendly system.

🚀 Localized Solution: Unlike global alternatives like QuickBooks, Pennylane is tailored to meet the needs of French accountants, offering a comprehensive tool that integrates seamlessly into their workflow.

🌎 European Expansion: After establishing a strong foothold in France with 4,500 accounting firms and 350,000 SMBs using the platform, Pennylane is gearing up to enter the German market this summer. The company aims to replicate its success by adapting to local accounting practices.

💡 AI-Driven Innovation: Pennylane is integrating AI to automate bookkeeping and support accountants with smarter financial insights. As Europe moves toward mandatory e-invoicing, Pennylane positions itself as the go-to tool for compliance and efficient financial management.

💰 Strategic Growth: With a focus on R&D rather than high customer acquisition costs, Pennylane is set to reach €100 million in annual recurring revenue by year-end. The recent €75 million funding round, co-led by Sequoia Capital and CapitalG, will support its expansion and product development.

By combining localized expertise with AI-driven efficiency, Pennylane is on a mission to modernize accounting for European SMBs.

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🎥 Moonvalley Aims to Revolutionize AI Video with Ethical Models

Los Angeles-based startup Moonvalley is positioning itself as a leader in ethical AI video generation. Unlike many competitors, Moonvalley is committed to using exclusively licensed content and protecting creators' rights.

🚀Ethical AI Video: Moonvalley’s generative video models are built on licensed data from content owners, with an option for creators to remove their content from the models. The startup also ensures that customers can delete their data anytime and provides an indemnity policy to safeguard users from copyright challenges.

💡Latest Model - Marey: Built in collaboration with AI animation studio Asteria, Marey offers advanced customization features like fine-grained camera and motion controls, generating HD clips up to 30 seconds long.

💰Funding Boost: Moonvalley recently raised $43 million, adding to the previous $70 million seed round co-led by General Catalyst and Khosla Ventures. The funding will accelerate R&D and support the development of new AI video models.

Moonvalley is on a mission to transform media creation responsibly, setting itself apart with a commitment to ethical AI and robust creator protections.

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🎨 Krea: The One-Stop Platform for GenAI Creatives

San Francisco-based startup Krea aims to simplify generative AI for designers and visual creatives by offering a unified platform that integrates multiple AI models, making content creation smoother and more customizable.

🚀 Streamlined Creative Process: Krea’s platform allows users to input an idea, and the system automatically selects the most suitable AI models, offering easy customization to maintain creative vision.

🌟 Designed for Creators: Unlike typical AI tools that replace creative workflows, Krea enhances creativity by giving users control over their content, from image creation to video generation. The company plans to expand into audio and music tools soon.

💡Real-World Adoption: Krea is already being used by creatives at Perplexity AI, Loop Earplugs, Pixar, LEGO, and Samsung, showing strong traction among both individual users and small teams.

💰Funding Milestone: Krea recently raised $83 million to further develop its platform, backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Abstract Ventures.

Krea aims to revolutionize creative work by empowering designers with intuitive, AI-powered tools that keep creativity at the forefront.

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💳 Miss Moneypenny Technologies Transforms Digital Wallet Engagement

Berlin-based Miss Moneypenny Technologies is redefining how businesses interact with customers through its SaaS platform, Wallet Studio. The platform leverages Apple Wallet and Google Wallet to turn static wallet cards into dynamic, interactive customer engagement tools.

🚀Next-Gen Wallet Cards: Wallet Studio upgrades traditional wallet cards, enabling real-time communication, data collection, and personalized services. This approach bridges the gap between businesses and customers, enhancing digital interactions while cutting costs.

🌟 Proven Impact: Leading brands like HDI, SIXT, and Zurich Insurance are already using Wallet Studio to boost customer engagement, with interaction rates reportedly reaching 80%. The platform’s no-code, scalable solution is making customer connections more intuitive and efficient.

💰 Backed for Growth: The startup raised €7.3 million in a Seed round led by Earlybird, with b2venture also participating. The funds will support the expansion of Wallet Studio’s reach and capabilities.

Miss Moneypenny Technologies is positioning itself as a leader in revolutionizing digital wallet interactions, creating smarter and more connected customer experiences.

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🐺 Colossal Biosciences Brings Back Dire Wolves – A Step Towards De-Extinction?

Dallas-based biotech startup Colossal Biosciences has unveiled its latest breakthrough: the creation of dire wolves, iconic prehistoric predators thought to have gone extinct 12,000 years ago. Using CRISPR technology, Colossal engineered wolves genetically 99.5% similar to the dire wolf, featuring larger skulls and elongated muzzles.

🧪 Conservation Angle: While some scientists debate whether the recreated wolves are truly “de-extinct,” Colossal aims to use the same technology to save critically endangered red wolves, with four cloned red wolves already born.

🌎 Cultural Significance: Supported by Indigenous groups and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, the project blends conservation with cultural preservation, focusing on species with both ecological and symbolic value.

💰What’s Next: Beyond dire wolves, Colossal plans to spin off businesses in artificial womb technology and conservation partnerships, aiming to generate revenue through biodiversity credits.

Colossal Biosciences continues to challenge the limits of biotech, blending science and conservation in its quest to revive extinct species.

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🚗 Amazon’s Zoox Begins Robotaxi Testing in Los Angeles

Amazon’s autonomous vehicle unit, Zoox, has started deploying a small fleet of retrofitted test vehicles on the streets of Los Angeles, marking its entry into the city as it prepares to launch public rides later this year.

🌎 Expanding Footprint: Los Angeles becomes the sixth city where Zoox is collecting data, laying the groundwork for a future robotaxi service. The current fleet consists of manually driven Toyota Highlanders equipped with Zoox’s self-driving technology for mapping and data collection.

⭕️ Broader Testing: Zoox is also actively testing its autonomous vehicles in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Austin, Miami, Seattle, and Foster City. The company recently expanded the areas where its purpose-built robotaxi, which lacks a steering wheel or pedals, operates on public roads without a human driver.

✨ Safety Focus: The deployment follows a recent voluntary software recall on 258 vehicles due to issues with unexpected hard braking, highlighting Zoox’s cautious approach to autonomous testing.

Zoox aims to compete with Waymo, which already offers paid robotaxi rides in Los Angeles, by advancing its own autonomous ride-hailing service through data-driven improvements and strategic city expansions.

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✨ Nuro Shifts Gears from Delivery Robots to Licensing Self-Driving Tech

Autonomous vehicle startup Nuro is pivoting away from its original delivery robot model to focus on licensing its self-driving technology to automotive OEMs, ride-hailing platforms, and commercial fleets.

🐍 Strategic Pivot: Once known for its compact, goods-only delivery robots, Nuro is now concentrating on autonomy software development as a scalable business model after halting manufacturing and undergoing multiple layoffs.

🧠 AI at the Core: Nuro is betting on AI-driven autonomy to extend its runway and commercialize its Level 4 driverless capabilities, already tested in California and Texas.

🫱 New Focus, Old Backers: The company just raised $106M in a Series E round, led by long-time institutional investors including T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Tiger Global, and Greylock.

While the new valuation sits lower than its 2021 peak, Nuro’s pivot positions it as a key player in the autonomy-as-a-service space—competing directly with startups like Wayve.

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🚨 Brinc Drones Brings Police Response Into the Sky

Seattle-based startup Brinc, founded by 25-year-old Blake Resnick, is redefining emergency response with drones designed for law enforcement and public safety use.

🚁 Emergency-Ready Drones: Brinc builds tactical drones capable of reaching emergency zones faster than patrol cars - equipped to break windows, deliver medical supplies, and provide real-time situational awareness.

⚙️ Deep Integration: A new strategic alliance with Motorola Solutions will embed Brinc drones into 911 call centers, allowing AI-approved dispatch of drones for select emergency calls.

🇺🇸 Made in the USA: As regulations tighten on Chinese drone manufacturers, Brinc joins a growing group of U.S. players like Skydio and Flock Safety offering domestically built alternatives.

💰Backed to Scale: With $75M in fresh funding led by Index Ventures and support from Motorola Solutions and Sam Altman, Brinc plans to expand both its product line and deployment footprint across police and public safety agencies.

Brinc is carving out a unique niche in the aerial response ecosystem—combining AI, autonomy, and urgent response capabilities in a maturing and competitive market.

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📞 Series Wants to Rethink Professional Networking with AI

Founded by Yale students Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow, Series is building an AI-powered social network that matches users via text to help them find cofounders, investors, or mentors—without the noise of likes and followers.

🧠 How It Works: Users chat with an AI “Friend” over iMessage or SMS about who they’re looking to meet. If both sides agree, the AI introduces them in a group text, simulating a warm intro.

✨ Gen Z First: Originally launched for student entrepreneurs, Series is now live at 500+ universities and plans to expand beyond campuses into wider professional circles.

💼 Business Model: Series is developing premium tiers for enterprise users, offering additional AI agents and customization.

💰Funding: The startup just raised $3.1M in pre-seed funding, led by Anne Lee Skates (ex-a16z), with support from Pear VC, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and Tim Draper’s fund.

Series is tapping into Gen Z’s appetite for authentic connections—replacing feeds and follows with personalized AI-driven introductions.

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💡NEye Systems Is Bringing Optical Chips to the AI Data Center Era

Berkeley-based NEye Systems is tackling one of the biggest bottlenecks in AI infrastructure — energy-hungry data transfers — with a radically new approach: programmable optical switches that use light instead of electricity.

🚀 The Tech: NEye is building photonic chips that let data centers rewire how AI processors communicate — dynamically, efficiently, and at scale.

🔋 Why It Matters: AI workloads are growing fast, but traditional interconnects are hitting limits on power efficiency and network scaling. NEye’s silicon-based optical circuits aim to fix both.

⚙️ Built for Hyperscalers: With working prototypes in hand and production samples coming in 2026, NEye is targeting hyperscale AI operators who want Google-grade performance — without building chips in-house.

🔗 Backed by Giants: With CapitalG, Microsoft M12, Nvidia, and Micron on board, NEye is poised to reshape how AI infrastructure is built — from energy-hungry racks to light-speed photonics.

As demand for compute skyrockets, NEye is betting that optical switching becomes a foundational layer for next-gen AI supercomputers.

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🤖 Jobandtalent Bets on AI Agents to Redefine Temp Work

Madrid-based Jobandtalent is doubling down on AI to reshape how temp work gets done. Known for matching workers with short-term roles in logistics, warehousing, and e-commerce, the platform is now building a fleet of AI agents to automate recruiting, shift planning, and attendance tracking.

🧠 AI-First Workforce: Jobandtalent is rolling out virtual agents — trained on millions of job shifts — to act as recruiters, account managers, and even attendance coaches across text, voice, and video.

👩‍💼 Meet Clara: Its first AI recruiter has already conducted 180K+ interviews and helped make over 7,000 hires in just a few months.

🇺🇸 U.S. Momentum: Now live in 10 countries, Jobandtalent is seeing its strongest growth in the U.S., with Q4 revenue up 27% YoY.

📉 Valuation Dip: The company raised €92M in a Series F at a €1.3B valuation — down from its €2.1B high in 2021 — but the focus is on expansion and product, not optics.

Jobandtalent is aiming to automate the backbone of temp staffing — without stripping away worker protections.

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🐾 Untamed Aims to Redefine Cat Food with Human-Grade Nutrition

London-based Untamed is shaking up the pet food market with its direct-to-consumer cat food brand focused on “pantry fresh” meals made with human-grade ingredients. Now feeding 80,000 cats across the UK each month, the company is on a mission to bring an ancestrally inspired diet to felines across Europe.

🍗 Whole Meat Only: Untamed meals are high in protein and mimic what cats would eat in the wild — strictly carnivorous, just like their ancestors.

📦 DTC Model: Delivered via subnoscription, the brand has shipped over 50 million meals since launch.

🌎 Big Market, Bigger Appetite: With over 12.5M cats in the UK alone and a €11.6B cat food market across the EU, Untamed is positioning itself at the premium end of a growing category.

💰 Backed by Food Vets: The startup just raised €11.6M from Coefficient Capital, Five Seasons Ventures, and Redrice to fuel expansion and scale operations.

Untamed isn’t just another pet food brand — it’s building a category around cat-first nutrition, rooted in nature and backed by science.

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🧠 Writer Launches ‘AI HQ’ to Power Agentic Workflows for the Enterprise

Enterprise AI startup Writer has unveiled AI HQ, a new platform designed to bring real-world results to generative AI by deploying autonomous agents that execute complex workflows across business systems.

💼 What It Does: AI HQ enables companies to build, deploy, and govern AI agents that handle tasks across tools like Salesforce, Workfront, and Snowflake. These agents can reason, take action, and evolve over time—offering more than just chatbot capabilities.

⚙️ Core Stack:
– Agent Builder for custom workflows
– Writer Home with 100+ pre-built agents
– Observability Suite to monitor agent behavior at scale

📈 Enterprise Uptake: Early adopters like Commvault and Marriott are integrating Writer’s agents into real ops—from marketing workflows to fund report generation.

🧪 Next-Gen AI: Writer is developing self-evolving models that learn from mistakes without retraining - currently in pilot, with full rollout expected later this year.

💰 Backed by top-tier investors (Salesforce Ventures, IBM, Adobe), Writer hit a $1.9B valuation after a $200M Series C and boasts a 160% net revenue retention rate.

As enterprises chase AI-native transformation, Writer is positioning itself not as a vendor, but as a partner—building the next foundation layer of enterprise software.

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🤖 OpenAI to Retire GPT-4 from ChatGPT, Replaced by GPT-4o

OpenAI will phase out GPT-4 from ChatGPT by April 30, replacing it fully with GPT-4o, the model currently used as default in the platform.

📌 Why it matters: GPT-4o reportedly outperforms GPT-4 across writing, coding, STEM, and conversational capabilities. It marks another leap in OpenAI’s model evolution, with better instruction-following and problem-solving performance.

🧪 API Access Stays: GPT-4 will still be available via OpenAI’s API, but not within ChatGPT itself.

🚨 What’s Next: Reverse-engineered findings suggest OpenAI may soon introduce a new model family including GPT-4.1 variants and updated “o” series models focused on reasoning, such as o3 and o4-mini.

OpenAI’s shift signals a firm move toward faster, more efficient models—while legal questions around GPT-4’s training data remain unresolved.

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