April 4th Newsletter

Author

Da Yu
April 04, 2025

As of close on April 3, 2025

Markets were crushed on Thursday, the single worst day since 2020, after Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all imports and aggressive reciprocal tariffs Wednesday afternoon, in what he called “Liberation Day.” The S&P 500 fell 4.8%, and the Nasdaq fell 6%, erasing $3.1 trillion in market value. Goldman Sachs has raised its recession odds to 35%, given aggressive government cuts in addition to escalating tariffs. Also, Trump has told aides Musk will soon exit his White House role following rising concerns over his impact. In Tech, Intel and TSMC agree on a joint venture, and with the April 5 TikTok deadline approaching, VC giant a16z is reportedly in talks to be part of Oracle's bid for TikTok. Amazon also made its last-minute bid for TikTok on Wednesday. Soon thereafter, Trump proposed the creation of a new entity ‘TikTok America’, with ByteDance keeping a 19.9% stake, which would dodge the U.S. divestment law threshold. Additionally, US Dollar Coin cryptocurrency (USDC) creator Circle, filed for an IPO after $1.68B in revenue in 2024. Lastly, the Nintendo Switch 2 is set to release on June 5th at $449.99

Source: X

Monthly AI Financing Report: Since January, we started sharing a monthly report of the top AI financing activity gathered from public and proprietary sources. See the latest release of the March update here.

Top 5 AI Highlights

[1] 💰OpenAI has completed a historic $40 billion funding round, valuing the company at a $300 billion post-money valuation. The immediate funding will be $10 billion, followed by the remaining $30 billion at the end of 2025, under the condition that OpenAI restructures into a for-profit entity. Also, around $18 billion is earmarked for the Stargate initiative with Oracle. In addition, OpenAI is planning to release an open-weight model -meaning its trained parameters will be publicly available in the coming weeks. Also, they now boast 20 million paid subscribers, a 30% increase from the end of 2024. With monthly recurring revenue generating at least $415 million, OpenAI expects revenue to triple to $12.7 billion in 2025. More from CNBC, TC, and Reuters.

[2] 💊Apple is accelerating its AI ambitions in healthcare with “Project Mulberry,” a cornerstone of its upcoming Health app overhaul. The new AI agent, trained using data from in-house and external physicians, will act like a virtual doctor—offering advice based on user data. Features include lifestyle recommendations, food tracking, and exercise feedback using device cameras. Apple is producing custom video content to support the service and may brand it “Health+.” The launch is expected with iOS 19.4. More from Bloomberg.

[3] ⌛Alexa+, Amazon’s upgraded voice assistant, began rolling out on March 31, but many promised features were missing at launch. Some voice-activated features have been delayed due to AI performance issues and integration challenges. Still, Alexa+ introduced Nova Act, a generalist AI agent that can control a web browser to perform tasks like booking reservations or placing orders. Nova Act joins the growing field of agentic AI, competing with OpenAI’s Operator and Anthropic’s Computer Use. The rollout underscores the broader challenges big tech faces in developing AI—Amazon’s slow progress mirrors Apple’s decision to delay its Siri AI overhaul until 2026, which may be delayed to 2027. More from TC and Mashable.

[4] 🎓Anthropic has launched Claude for Education, directly challenging OpenAI’s ChatGPT Edu, with features like “Learning Mode” to foster critical thinking and step-by-step guidance for students. It includes enterprise-grade privacy and campus-level tools, with launches at Northeastern, LSE, and Champlain College. By partnering with Canvas and Internet2, Anthropic is embedding itself in academic systems currently used by students. With Perplexity offering its pro version free to select universities, and OpenAI offering its plus version free to all college students in the US and Canada (through May), competition in the education sector is increasing. More from Anthropic and TC.

[5] 🧪OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 passed a modernized Turing test, being mistaken for a human 73% of the time when using a crafted persona. A Turing test is a benchmark for evaluating a machine's ability to exhibit human-like intelligence and conversation abilities. In this preprint study by Cameron R. Jones, and Benjamin K. Bergen, GPT-4.5 outperformed both Meta’s LLaMA and GPT-4o. While not definitive proof of machine intelligence, the findings will potentially influence AGI research by refining benchmarks for human-like reasoning and interaction. Read more from Futurism and the study itself.

Founder’s Corner

Seed Valuation Soars, Later Stage Still Recovering

Source: X

What We Read and Watched This Week

  • Intel and TSMC reached a preliminary agreement to form a joint venture, with TSMC taking a 20% stake in exchange for chipmaking expertise. (The Information)

  • Mark Zuckerberg lobbied President Trump to settle the FTC antitrust case and avoid a breakup of Meta. (WSJ)

  • Keith, O’Brien, an Ex-Rippling employee admitted to spying for Deel and was told to destroy his phone after it was demanded to be turned in by a court order. (X)

  • The Wall Street Journal revealed the secrets, misfires, and internal power struggles behind Sam Altman’s dramatic firing from OpenAI. (WSJ)

  • Spotify unveils AI tools and programmatic exchange, pitching itself as a high-engagement, brand-safe alternative to social media advertising. (Adweek)

  • Amazon’s Project Kuiper to launch 27 satellites, entering satellite broadband race against SpaceX’s Starlink with global internet ambitions. (Amazon)

  • Watch: Aditya Bhave, a BofA senior U.S. economist, discusses expectations for upcoming jobs reports and how they will offer clues to the direction of the economy. (WSJ)

  • Hershey acquired LesserEvil, an organic popcorn brand, in a $750 million deal to expand better-for-you snacks amid rising cocoa costs and portfolio shifts. (WSJ)

AI M&A and Fundraising news (Mar 28 — Apr 3)

  • Actively AI: Custom reasoning models for sales teams, raised a $17.5M Series A.

  • Adaptive Security: AI-generated social engineering training platform, raised a $43M Series A.

  • Ambient.ai: AI-powered physical security platform, raised a $74M Series C.

  • Cambrian: Enables AI agents to use blockchain data, raised a $5.9M Seed.

  • Chef Robotics: AI-powered robots for food assembly, raised a $20.6M Series A.

  • EVident Battery: AI-powered EV battery health inspection, raised a $3.2M Seed.

  • Further AI: AI for insurance underwriting, claims & compliance, raised a $5M Seed.

  • Isomorphic Labs: Google DeepMind spinoff and AI drug discovery and development, raised $600M.

  • LightSource: AI procurement platform for complex sourcing, raised a $33M Series A.

  • Linguana: Content localization for video creators, raised a $8.5M Seed.

  • LTV.ai: AI-driven personalized retail messaging, raised a $5.2M Series A.

  • Navina: AI copilot platform for clinicians, raised a $55M Series C.

  • Nexthop.ai: AI infrastructure for custom networking systems, raised a $85M Series A.

  • Notable Systems: AI for processing medical and financial documents, raised a $12M Series B.

  • OpenAI: LLM developer and AI research firm, raised $40B.

  • Opsera: DevOps orchestration platform for software delivery, raised a $20M Series B.

  • Parasail: AI deployment network with on-demand GPUs, raised a $10M Seed.

  • Qneiform: AI talent data consolidation platform, raised a $3.2M Seed.

  • RapidClaims: AI-powered revenue cycle management for healthcare, raised a $8M Series A.

  • ReliaQuest: AI cybersecurity automation platform, raised $500M.

  • Retym: AI data center chip startup, raised a $75M Series D.

  • Ribbon: AI platform for candidate voice interviews, raised a $8M Seed.

  • Ropes: AI to evaluate engineering talent for recruitment, raised a $3.1M Seed.

  • Runway: AI image-to-text video generation, raised a $308M Series D.

  • SchoolAI: AI-powered classroom assistants and student tutors, raised a $25M Series A.

  • Sohar Health: AI for real-time insurance verification, raised a $3.8M Seed.

  • Sourcetable: AI-powered natural language spreadsheet, raised a $4.3M Seed.

  • Straiker: AI-native risk assessment software for security, raised a $21M Series A.

  • Sturdy: AI to analyze customer conversations to identify risks, raised a $6M Seed.

  • Tomorro: AI-powered contract management platform, raised $27M.

  • Unframe: Outcome-based AI solutions for businesses, raised a $50M.

  • Vallor: AI-powered contract management for procurement, raised a $4M Seed.

  • Voc.ai: AI e-commerce platform with GPT-based support, raised a $13.79M Series A.

  • Voize: Voice-input AI documentation for caregivers, raised a $9M Seed.

  • Wrtn: LLM aggregation platform, raised a $56M Series B.