November 7th Newsletter

Author

Da Yu
November 07, 2025

❄️ Now Accepting Intern Applications for Winter 2025!
Stepmark Partners is excited to welcome a new cohort of Fall Analysts beginning on November 17th. If you're passionate about the intersection of AI and deal-making, we invite you to apply. To learn more, please email [email protected].

As of close on November 6, 2025

Signals of economic cooling are intensifying as U.S. job openings hit their lowest level since early 2021, wage growth slows to 2.5%, though October payrolls showed a modest rebound, led by large firms. In tech, Google Cloud surged 34% to $15B in Q3 revenue, tying YouTube as Alphabet’s second-biggest earner, while Google secured DOJ approval for its $32B acquisition of cybersecurity startup Wiz. Palantir is rewriting the hiring playbook with a fellowship for 22 high school grads focused on leadership and Western civilization. Meanwhile, Waymo is scaling robotaxi services to three new cities (Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Diego), targeting 1M weekly rides by 2026. On the consumer front, Denny’s is going private after closing 180 stores, and Yum! may divest Pizza Hut. Wrapping up, over 75% of Tesla shareholders approved Elon Musk’s near-$1 trillion pay package.

Monthly AI Financing Report: See the October update here.

Source: X

Top 5 AI Highlights

[1] 📊 OpenAI signs $38B, 7-year deal with Amazon for cloud computing, gaining access to AWS’s Nvidia chips. The pact boosts Amazon’s AI cloud push, competing with Microsoft, Google, and Oracle. More from WSJ.

[2] 🤝 Apple plans to pay ~$1B annually to use Google’s 1.2T-parameter Gemini AI model to overhaul Siri by spring 2026, as it races to catch up in generative AI capabilities. More from MSN.

[3] 💼 Microsoft deepened its AI infrastructure push with two major deals: a $9.7B partnership with IREN for Nvidia chips and Dell hardware at a 750MW Texas site, and a multibillion-dollar Lambda collaboration expanding Nvidia-powered capacity and building a Kansas City AI factory by 2026. More from MSN and CNBC.

[4] ⚖️ Perplexity AI’s $400M agreement to integrate its search engine into Snapchat by 2026 contributed to Snap’s 16% after-hours stock surge. Separately, it is engaged in a legal dispute with Amazon regarding its Comet AI browser. More from Bloomberg and CNBC.

[5] 🤝 Anthropic partners with Cognizant, making it one of its top 3 enterprise clients; Claude AI to be deployed to 350,000 employees, boosting Anthropic’s enterprise footprint and Cognizant’s AI capabilities. More from WSJ. 

Founder’s Corner

What gets talked about with seed-stage startups is nothing like the whole market

Source: X

What We Read This Week

  • Watch: Satya Nadella and Sam Altman on BG2Pod (YouTube)

  • Watch: XPENG’s Second-Gen IRON Robot with Lifelike Motions and AI Chips (YouTube)

  • Sequoia Capital appoints Alfred Lin and Pat Grady as co-stewards, succeeding Roelof Botha after a $50B LP return tenure. (TechCrunch)

  • Kimberly-Clark to acquire Tylenol-maker Kenvue for $40B, despite legal risks and political scrutiny; deal targets $1.4B revenue uplift, pushing it past Unilever in health & wellness market share. (Bloomberg)

  • M&A deals surge past $3.8T YTD, led by Kimberly-Clark’s $40B Kenvue buy and Starbucks’ $4B China stake sale; 2025 on track for best deal year. (Yahoo Finance)

  • Amazon accelerates “Amazonification” of Whole Foods, integrating ShopBots, mainstream brands, and layoffs; aims to boost its <4% grocery market share, risking brand dilution while chasing broader food spending. (WSJ)

  • U.S. to invest $80B in Westinghouse nuclear plants, potentially becoming an 8% shareholder if IPO targets are hit by 2029. Plan backs AP1000 reactor rollout to meet rising power demand. (CNBC)

AI Fundraising news (Oct 30 — Nov 6)

  • Allie AI: Manufacturing intelligence for food and beverage factories, raised a $5.2M Seed

  • Augmented Intelligence: Neuro-symbolic AI model developer, raised a $20M Bridge SAFE

  • Beacon Software: Acquires and transforms niche software with AI, raised a $250M Series B

  • Cactus: AI copilot automating workflows for home service businesses, raised a $7M Seed

  • CommanderAI: AI-driven sales prospecting for waste management, raised a $5M Seed

  • Daylight: AI-native cybersecurity threat detection platform, raised a $33M Series A

  • DeepJudge: AI-powered legal search platform for law firms, raised a $41.2M Series A

  • Fit Collective: AI fashion-tech startup solving sizing issues, raised a $3.8M Preseed

  • Flint: AI tutors platform for schools, raised a $15M Series A

  • Giga: Voice-based AI agents for customer support, raised a $61M Series A

  • GitLaw: AI-driven legal contract management platform, raised a $3M Preseed

  • Hippocratic AI: A healthcare AI agent platform, raised a $126M Series C

  • Hullbot: Autonomous underwater hull-cleaning robots, raised a $10.4M Series A

  • Inception: Diffusion-based AI models for code and text, raised a $50M Seed

  • Kabilio: Accounting and tax automation startup, raised a $4.3M Preseed

  • Metropolis: AI-powered computer vision parking operations platform, raised a $500M Series D

  • Mimic Robotics: AI for adaptive human-like robotic hands, raised a $16M Seed

  • Mind Robotics: industrial AI and robotics for manufacturing, raised a $115M Seed

  • Mindsmith: AI platform for creating e-learning content, raised a $4.1M Seed

  • MoEngage: AI-driven marketing personalization platform, raised a $100M Series F

  • Octonomy: Agentic enterprise workflow automation developer, raised a $20M Seed

  • Parable: AI analytics for enterprise software time tracking, raised a $16.5M Seed

  • Popai Health: AI medical scribe platform, raised an $11M (round not specified)

  • Procurement Sciences: AI platform for government contract bidding, raised a $30M Series B

  • RAAAM: On-chip memory developer for AI processors, raised a $17.5M Series A

  • Reevo: Unified AI tool for product launches, raised $80M (Seed and Series A)

  • Ruli.ai: AI-powered legal intelligence for in-house teams, raised a $6M Seed

  • Source.ag: AI software for controlled-environment agriculture, raised a $17.5M Series B

  • Tala Health: Agentic platform for healthcare automation, raised a $100M Seed

  • Teleskope: Smaller LLMs for security applications, raised a $25M Series A

  • Video Rebirth: AI video generation model developer, raised a $50M Seed

  • Wabi: “YouTube for apps” enabling AI-created mini apps, raised a $20M Preseed