May 8th Newsletter

Author

Da Yu
May 08, 2026

As of close on May 7, 2026

Markets enter the week with investors weighing resilient labor data against renewed trade pressure and a widening wave of corporate restructuring. March job openings held at 6.9 million, while hires rose by 655,000, and ADP reported April private payrolls up 109,000, ahead of expectations, reinforcing the case for a cautious Fed pause rather than near-term rate cuts. At the same time, President Trump’s threatened 25% tariffs on EU autos revived concerns for global manufacturers and German supply chains. In tech and fintech, Kalshi raised $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation as annualized volume hit $178 billion, revenue topped $1.5 billion, and institutional trading rose 800%. Meanwhile, restructuring pressures continued across the sector, with PayPal planning to cut roughly 20% of staff as part of a $1.5 billion savings push and Coinbase set to reduce headcount by about 14% amid weaker crypto volumes and greater use of AI workflows. Consumer headlines were no less disruptive, with Spirit Airlines shutting down and GameStop making an unsolicited $56 billion bid for eBay.

We’ve published our Monthly AI Deck for April 2026. Check it out here.

Top 5 AI Highlights

[1] 🤝 Anthropic’s SpaceX compute deal unlocks 300 megawatts and 220,000 Nvidia GPUs, doubling Claude Code limits, lifting peak caps, raising Opus API limits, and bolstering regulated enterprise expansion. More from Anthropic.

[2] 💰 Anthropic’s reported $200 billion Google cloud commitment anchors the AI infrastructure boom, potentially representing 40% of Alphabet’s backlog while deepening dependence on cash-burning startups.  The Information.

[3] 🏢 OpenAI raised over $4 billion for The Deployment Company, a PE-backed venture targeting enterprise AI adoption, signaling deeper commercialization and investor confidence. Separately, Anthropic also announced a $1.5B JV with Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, Goldman Sachs, and other key partners to sell AI tools to private-equity-backed companies. More details from Bloomberg and WSJ.

[4] 🏭 SpaceX may invest up to $119 billion in a Texas Terafab chip plant, signaling deeper AI compute vertical integration with xAI, Tesla, and Intel. See more on TechCrunch.

[5] 🧩 Cerebras seeks a $26.6B IPO valuation, aiming to raise $3.5B as AI infrastructure demand surges, testing public investor appetite for Nvidia rivals. Details on Reuters.

✨Open Source AI Development

[1] 💰 DeepSeek is seeking about $7.3 billion at a $50 billion plus valuation, with backing from China’s national AI fund, a roughly $2.9 billion personal check from DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, rumored participation from Tencent and Alibaba, and funding aimed at employee shares to retain talent as rivals poach key researchers amid intensifying AI competition. More from The Information.

[2] 🚀 Moonshot AI raised $2B at a $20B valuation, led by Meituan’s Long Z, as Kimi demand lifts ARR above $200M and Chinese open weight models attract investors. See more on TechCrunch.

[3] 🧠 Ai2 released MolmoAct 2, an open robotics model with faster inference, 720 hours of bimanual data, and stronger real-world benchmark performance. Details on Allen AI.

[4] 🧩 Hugging Face launched a Reachy Mini App Store with 200-plus free apps, letting 10,000 robot owners build behaviors via AI agents without robotics expertise. More from Venture Beat. 

[5] Kaltura has open-sourced AI agent skills so coding agents can build secure, rich-media apps with avatars, webinars, captions, analytics, and embeddable widgets. See more on Yahoo Finance.

Founder’s Corner

Graduation rate from Seed to Series A

Source: X

What We Read This Week

  • Pentagon struck deals with seven tech firms to run AI on classified systems, boosting battlefield decisions while intensifying concerns over oversight, privacy, civilian harm, and Anthropic’s exclusion. (AP News)

  • Nvidia and Corning will build three US optical tech plants, creating 3,000 jobs, expanding capacity 10-fold, and accelerating AI data center shifts from copper to fiber. (CNBC)

  • Harvard study finds OpenAI’s o1 outperformed doctors in ER triage diagnosis, 67% versus 50-55%, highlighting AI’s potential as a clinical second opinion. (The Guardian) 

  • Meta acquired humanoid robotics startup Assured Robot Intelligence, adding its team to optimize AI models for robotics applications and deepen Meta’s push into embodied AI. (TechCrunch)

  • Meta will use AI to analyze photos, videos, text, and interactions for under-13 users, removing suspected underage accounts amid mounting child safety scrutiny. (TechCrunch)

  • McKinsey will deploy AI agents to match consultants to client teams globally by summer, aiming for efficiency, better staffing, and lower review workloads, while raising questions about support role disruption. (Bloomberg)

  • CoreWeave executives sold over $1 billion in stock in 2026, raising governance concerns as AI infrastructure leaders receive huge equity pay despite profit uncertainty. (Business Insider)

  • Apple explored Intel and Samsung for US device chips, a supply chain hedge beyond TSMC as AI demand strains capacity 🔧 (Reuters)

  • Roche will buy PathAI for up to $1.05B, paying $750M upfront, to scale AI pathology workflows globally and strengthen diagnostics, drug target discovery, and clinical development tools. (WSJ)

  • Amazon is opening its global logistics network to outside businesses through ASCS, targeting DHL, UPS, and FedEx while serving major brands across freight, fulfillment, and parcel delivery. (The Verge)

  • RedAccess found 5,000 exposed AI-built apps across Lovable, Replit, Base44, and Netlify, with about 2,000 leaking sensitive data, highlighting enterprise security risks. (Wired)

  • Long Lake will take Amex GBT private for $6.3 billion, paying $9.50 per share, a 60% premium, with committed support from 69% of holders. (Quartz)

  • Disney shares rose 7% after first earnings under new CEO Josh D’Amaro, with $25.17B Q2 revenue beating estimates as streaming and parks offset TV weakness. (CNBC)

  • IAC shuttered Ask.com on May 1, 2026, ending its 30-year search business as the company narrows its focus and thanks its loyal users. (Ask)

AI Fundraising News (May 1 — May 7)

  • Altara: AI physical sciences data company, raised a $7M seed

  • Astrocade: AI game creation platform company, raised a $56M Series A

  • Avoca: AI physical services call automation company, raised $125M+ across seed, Series A, and Series B

  • Blitzy: AI autonomous code generation company, raised $200M

  • Codewords: AI workflow automation agents company, raised a $9M seed round

  • CopilotKit: AI agent development tools company, raised a $27M Series A

  • Core Automation: AI model-building company, raised $100M

  • Corgi: AI startup insurance automation company, raised a $160M Series B

  • Corvera: AI supply chain automation company, raised a $4.2M seed

  • Davis: AI architectural design company, raised a $5.5M pre-seed

  • DeepInfra: AI model infrastructure company, raised a $107M Series B

  • Degen: AI image remixing app company, raised a $15M seed

  • District: AI online marketplace platform company, raised a $14.7M seed

  • Elastics: AI prediction markets trading company, raised a $2M pre-seed

  • ElevenLabs: AI voice generation company, raised a $550M+ Series D

  • Enter: AI legal workflow automation company, raised $100M

  • Enzo Health: AI home health automation company, raised a $20M Series A

  • Ethos: AI hiring automation company, raised a $22.75M Series A

  • Featherless.ai: AI open-source model hosting company, raised a $20M Series A round

  • Illoca: AI architecture design engine company, raised a $13M seed

  • Jurisphere: AI legal workflow platform company, raised a $2.2M seed

  • Lithosquare: AI mineral exploration company, raised a $25M seed

  • Modicus Prime: AI pharma compliance company, raised $8M

  • Moonshot AI: AI open-weight LLM company, raised $2B

  • Moritz: AI legal services company, raised $9M

  • Nace.AI: AI enterprise workflow automation company, raised a $21.5M seed

  • Nova Intelligence: AI SAP code modernization company, raised a $31.5M Series A round

  • OpsMill: AI infrastructure data automation company, raised a $14M Series A

  • Panthalassa: AI data center infrastructure company, raised a $140M Series B

  • PathAI: AI pathology image analysis company, to be acquired for $750M

  • Pit: AI internal workflow automation company, raised $16M

  • QuTwo: AI research lab company, raised a $25M angel round

  • RadixArk: AI inference efficiency company, raised a $100M seed

  • Ramp: AI finance automation company, raised $750M

  • Reserv: AI insurance claims processing company, raised a $125M Series C

  • SageOx: AI team alignment company, raised a $15M seed round

  • Sierra: AI enterprise customer service agents company, raised a $950M Series E

  • Spring Labs: AI compliance automation company, raised a $5M seed

  • Subquadratic: AI long-context model company, raised a $29M seed

  • Suno: AI music generation company, raised a $250M+ Series D

  • Tessera Labs: AI enterprise IT migration company, raised a $60M Series A round

  • Village: AI pediatric care coordination company, raised a $9.5M seed

  • XBOW: AI security testing platform company, raised a $35M Series C

  • ZyG: AI e-commerce product scaling company, raised a $60M Series A