Ex-Anthropic researchers raise $200M for self-improving AI
Ex-Anthropic researchers raise $200M for self-improving AI

Mirendil, founded by two researchers who left Anthropic after barely a year, has raised $200m at a $1bn valuation. The pitch: sell the self-improving AI that the big labs build for themselves and guard from everyone else. The biggest AI labs share one …

Patronus AI raises $50M to stress-test AI agents
Patronus AI raises $50M to stress-test AI agents

Patronus AI has raised $50m to build simulated worlds where AI agents can be tested before they touch a real system. The pitch borrows from Waymo: train in a replica before you trust the road. AI agents are meant to do real work now. They book trips, w…

Sail raises $80M to make AI agents cheaper to run
Sail raises $80M to make AI agents cheaper to run

Sail Research has raised $80m to make AI agents cheaper to run. The startup, founded by ex-Apple and ex-NVIDIA engineers, says it can serve the tokens agents burn through at up to 10 times lower cost. AI agents are hungry. Leave one running for hours a…

Coval raises $28M to stress-test AI voice agents
Coval raises $28M to stress-test AI voice agents

Coval has raised $28m to test AI voice agents before they reach real callers. Its founder built the same kind of safety checks for Waymo’s self-driving cars, and thinks voice needs them just as badly. An AI voice agent can sound flawless in a demo and …

Taktile raises $110M to automate banking’s riskiest calls
Taktile raises $110M to automate banking’s riskiest calls

Taktile has raised $110m in a Series C led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives. The startup wants banks and insurers to hand their riskiest decisions to AI agents, the calls that cost millions when they go wrong. Banks and insurers spend billions on people t…

OpenAI, Anthropic and Amazon are funding RAISE US
OpenAI, Anthropic and Amazon are funding RAISE US

OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon and Microsoft are bankrolling a new nonprofit to retrain American workers for the AI economy. RAISE US, led by Gina Raimondo, has already raised more than $500m. The biggest names in AI agree on at least one thing. The technol…

Adobe is buying Topaz Labs, the AI video enhancer
Adobe is buying Topaz Labs, the AI video enhancer

Adobe is buying Topaz Labs, the Emmy-winning maker of AI image and video enhancement tools. The deal hands Adobe upscaling, restoration and on-device AI as creators blend captured and generated footage. Adobe has agreed to buy Topaz Labs, an AI company…

Scaled Cognition raises $100M to build AI that won’t hallucinate
Scaled Cognition raises $100M to build AI that won’t hallucinate

Scaled Cognition has raised $100M led by Khosla Ventures to build AI that does not hallucinate. The startup says its model will not give a wrong answer, a bold claim in a field built on probability. Scaled Cognition, a Mountain View AI lab, has raised …

Airwallex raises $320M at an $11bn valuation
Airwallex raises $320M at an $11bn valuation

Airwallex has raised $320M at an $11bn valuation, up from $8bn in December. The payments company is now pivoting to “autonomous finance” and AI agents that transact on your behalf. Airwallex, the global payments platform, has raised $320m in a Series H…

Alan raises €480M led by Prosus at a €5.5bn valuation
Alan raises €480M led by Prosus at a €5.5bn valuation

French insurtech Alan has raised €480M led by Prosus at a €5.5bn valuation, just months after its last round. The Paris company is betting that AI-driven prevention can reshape health insurance. Alan, the French health insurance company, has raised €48…