News linked to this event type.
Infinity, an AI inference infrastructure startup, has announced the completion of a $15 million funding round, valuing the company at $100 million. Investors in this round include Touring Capital, Principal VC, as well as researchers from organizations such as OpenAI and Anthropic. The company is developing a universal reasoning library that enables different AI chips to automatically reproduce cutting-edge AI research outcomes, and enhances hardware performance through software optimization. (TechCrunch)
TownSquare, an institutional yield and cross-chain lending brokerage service infrastructure, announced the official launch of its ICO public sale. This public sale is technically supported by the Echo Sonar platform from the Coinbase ecosystem. The valuation is divided into two tiers: a $150 million valuation based on a 6-month lock-up, and a $200 million valuation with no lock-up and full release at TGE, with a fundraising cap of $1 million. Currently, 30 minutes into the public sale, over $200,000 has been raised. According to data, most users chose the second tier with the $200 million valuation. This public sale is the first project based on the Monad ecosystem on Sonar, supporting USDC and USDT0 tokens on Monad. Previously, TownSquare completed a total of 3 rounds of financing totaling $16.25 million, with participation from World Liberty Financial, Auros Ventures, Amber Group, Animoca Ventures, OKX Ventures, as well as angel investors and institutions from ecosystems such as Monad, a16z, etc. It is projected that the previous valuation is comparable to this ICO valuation. TownSquare Sonar Public Sale Registration: townsq.xyz/sale
: Economist and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff stated that as Chinese AI model competitors accelerate their rise, the AI bubble is further deflating. The Kimi K3 launched by Moonshot AI is intensifying low-cost AI competition in China, putting pressure on the valuations of US AI-related companies. The current market "is not a bubble in AI technology itself, but a bubble in AI stocks," and he believes this bubble may have already started to burst.Peter Schiff mentioned that AI-related stocks are showing weakness, with $SPCX currently trading below $121, approximately 11% lower than its IPO price and over 46% down from its all-time high. As low-cost AI models continue to emerge, the market's previously high growth expectations for AI companies may face reassessment, and investors need to be wary of valuation correction risks for AI-themed stocks. However, Peter Schiff also emphasized that AI technology itself is not a bubble; what is truly being impacted is the capital market valuation frenzy centered around the AI theme.
Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology, the three major memory chip companies, have all seen their stock prices decline this month, presenting an opportunity for investors to reposition themselves in the rapidly growing storage chip industry.Market concerns are rising that the current memory chip boom driven by AI demand may slow down in the coming years, potentially repeating the "expansion – oversupply – downturn" cycle commonly seen in this cyclical industry.Analysts point out that investors looking to enter the memory chip sector at this stage need to believe in the sustainability of AI-driven storage demand growth and be able to withstand the risks associated with industry cyclical fluctuations.In terms of investment strategy, one approach is to focus on companies with the lowest valuations. Samsung, currently trading at a relatively low valuation among the three major memory chip firms, could be a choice for some investors seeking exposure to the growth opportunities in the storage chip industry. (The Information)
According to the official press release, AI security company Neo officially announced today the completion of $100 million in financing, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Craft Ventures and Merlin Ventures. Neo was co-founded by former executives from SentinelOne, Wiz, and Palo Alto Networks, positioned as an "Intelligent Software Control Company", aiming to provide enterprises with a real-time control layer, helping SecOps teams conduct comprehensive inventory, risk assessment, behavior attribution, and policy enforcement on AI agents, AI applications, browser extensions, MCP servers, and traditional software. According to Gartner's forecast, only 5% of enterprise applications will have agent capabilities in 2025, while by the end of 2026 this proportion will rise to 40%.
: As concerns over risks related to artificial intelligence intensify, bearish bets against the US stock market are climbing to record highs, reflecting investor skepticism about the sustainability of the current rally.Data shows that short interest in S&P 500 index components as a percentage of free float has approached 3.79%, the highest level since S3 Partners began tracking it in 2010. Meanwhile, the short interest ratio for Russell 3000 index components recently rose to 6.3%, also a new record.Previously, the S&P 500 has gained about 18% since late March, propelling the market higher. However, some investors are beginning to worry about the sustainability of the AI-driven tech rally and the risk of a correction amid high valuations.Analysts point out that the significant increase in short positions not only reflects investor concerns about AI bubble risks, earnings expectations, and market concentration but could also serve as a key signal of heightened market volatility.However, historical data shows that high short interest levels do not necessarily indicate an imminent market decline. If corporate earnings continue to improve or AI investments deliver better-than-expected returns, short covering could in turn drive stocks even higher. (Bloomberg)
Elon Musk has completed the acquisition of APR Energy, a mobile power generation company, with the overall transaction valued at least $1 billion. Documents show that Duos Technologies sold its 5% non-voting stake in New APR Energy, realizing a net gain of $50.4 million, which implies an enterprise value exceeding $1 billion. Headquartered in Florida, USA, APR Energy specializes in modular gas and diesel mobile generator sets, with a total installed capacity exceeding 1 GW. Individual projects can be deployed in as fast as 15 to 30 days, providing temporary and backup power for data centers.Industry analysts suggest that this acquisition aims to support the expansion of xAI's computing cluster and reduce reliance on the public grid. However, the fossil fuel-based power generation model will also bring trade-offs in terms of carbon emissions, compliance, and long-term operational costs. (Techrepublic)
Odaily AI security startup Neo announced the completion of a $100 million funding round, led by venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Craft Ventures and Merlin Ventures. It is reported that the company positions itself as an "Agentic Software Control" company, dedicated to building a real-time control layer for enterprises to help security operations teams (SecOps) manage and protect the rapidly proliferating intelligence capabilities of AI Agents, AI applications, browsers, identity systems, and traditional software. The new funds will be used to expand engineering and marketing teams and accelerate enterprise customer acquisition. (Globenewswire)
according to the latest report data from TokenInsight, the TradFi perpetual contract market continued its rapid growth trend in Q2 2026, with the competitive landscape further concentrating. Binance ranked first with a trading volume of approximately $380 billion, holding a market share of about 59.96%; Bitget ranked second with approximately 11.01%, and OKX ranked third with approximately 10.97%. The two platforms each had a quarterly trading volume of around $69 billion, forming the core tier of the market alongside Binance.From the perspective of platform penetration rates, the proportion of TradFi perpetual contracts in the derivatives business of different exchanges still shows significant variation. Among them, Binance leads with a penetration rate of 8.65%, closely followed by Bitget at 8.61%, indicating that top-tier platforms are accelerating the integration of traditional financial assets into the crypto derivatives market.
According to Bloomberg, UK startup CuspAI, founded just two years ago, has raised nearly $500 million, with its core bet being the use of artificial intelligence to improve semiconductor production processes. On Monday, CuspAI announced the establishment of the "AI Materials Foundry," an alliance that brings together more than 48 tech companies, industrial companies, and research institutions, with members including NVIDIA, Meta, and Hyundai Motor Group.
: Data and AI enterprise Databricks has announced it is advancing a strategic investment round at a valuation of $188 billion, led by Coatue, with both new and existing investors expected to participate. The company has signed the relevant term sheet and anticipates completing the investment process this summer.Databricks stated that the proceeds from the financing will be primarily used to strengthen its AI strategy and continue advancing core products and technologies such as Unity AI Gateway, Genie, and Lakebase. The company also plans to allocate a portion of the funds towards AI-related mergers and acquisitions, as well as R&D capability enhancement.
Virtuals 表示，本周 Robinhood Chain 上的代理经济继续加速，代理交易量突破 1.5 亿美元，建设者募资总额超过 230 万美元，累计上线代理数量超过 4500 个。官方称，Robinhood Chain 上首个 1 亿美元代理交易量用了两周，而从 1 亿美元增至 1.5 亿美元仅用了 3 天。
Trasia Labs has announced the completion of a $1.75 million seed funding round, with Multicoin Capital as the sole institutional investor. The project is a perpetual contract trading platform natively built on Hyperliquid, primarily targeting the Asian market. It is currently connected to the native perpetual market on Hyperliquid in a non-custodial manner, with plans to later launch its own perpetual contracts based on the HIP-3 protocol.
According to The Wall Street Journal, following Moonshot AI's release of the low-cost, high-performance large model Kimi K3, Wall Street has once again seen concerns about a "DeepSeek-style shock," with the AI chip sector facing selling pressure. Morgan Stanley stated that the market may experience AI industry turbulence similar to that triggered by DeepSeek in early 2025, where the rise of low-cost, high-performance AI models could challenge top U.S. model developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic, while simultaneously weakening demand for the large-scale compute infrastructure underpinning the U.S. AI investment boom.
According to Bloomberg, AI company Moonshot AI has reportedly informed investors that the company plans to go public within six months at the earliest. Sources revealed that Moonshot AI has officially distributed shareholder resolution documents to investors, seeking shareholder support for its listing in Hong Kong. Initiating this notification process means that the company could complete the IPO within the next six months at the earliest. Moonshot AI is currently completing a round of financing, and the company's valuation could exceed $30 billion post-financing. They stated that the company believes now is the right time to go public because its Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR, a key metric measuring future sales capability) reached $300 million in June.
Citrini analyst Jukan posted an analysis pointing out that the recent decline in memory chip stocks, besides being affected by leveraged fund liquidations, may also indicate the market is pricing in pressure from future supply expansion in advance. Even if the global memory shortage continues until 2027, most research institutions and industry observers still expect supply-demand tightness to begin easing in 2028. As memory manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix announce large-scale fab expansion plans, the market may have already started to reflect in advance the impact of new capacity release after 2028. There is a common rule in the traditional memory industry: memory stock prices usually reflect memory price peaks about two quarters in advance, but in the new AI-driven cycle, the market might price in future supply-demand changes even earlier, such as three or even four quarters in advance. The AI era may bring new changes; the logic of "price cuts leading to revenue decline" in traditional memory cycles may not fully apply to the AI infrastructure market. Jukan stated that the key difference lies in the fact that in the AI era, "demand growth driven by price declines" may buffer the impact of the memory price cycle downturn. If this logic holds, future earnings volatility for memory companies may be lower than in past cycles, and may also support higher valuation levels.
According to the Financial Times, investors are increasingly betting on a decline in SpaceX's stock price, with the stock price falling below the offering price for the first time just weeks after its listing. The report states that SpaceX's initial valuation incorporated high expectations for future growth, such as Starlink satellite internet expansion, commercialization of space business, and AI-related potential. Although previously favored by the market due to its rocket business, satellite internet, and artificial intelligence positioning, attracting significant capital attention during the early listing period, the retreat in stock price has led some traders to begin betting on further declines through short selling or other bearish strategies. Currently, SpaceX has not yet responded to this market trading situation.
: Abdul Rafay Gadit, co-founder of Zignaly and Layer 1 network Zigchain, stated that traditional wealth management relies on slow, expensive, and isolated settlement layers. Asset liquidation or investor verification can take days and requires repetitive manual compliance checks. He pointed out that a dedicated Layer 1 blockchain can embed eligibility requirements, geographical restrictions, and transfer rules directly into the asset, allowing execution, ownership, settlement, and reconciliation to exist in the same verifiable state. Zignaly has now expanded to over 500,000 users, with trading volume exceeding $10 billion. Abdul Rafay Gadit stated that the key to RWA tokenization is not minting tokens, but rather the underlying structures such as legal ownership, custody, valuation, redemption, and qualified holders.
According to DigitalToday, South Korea's KB Financial Group announced the establishment of a digital asset strategic investment fund with a scale of 100 billion won (approximately 71 million USD), aiming to seek investment opportunities in the fields of digital assets and artificial intelligence and accelerate digital financial transformation. The fund manager is KB Investment, and key investment areas include: technologies related to the digital asset market, foundational models and application services supporting AI transformation, and startups in the artificial intelligence infrastructure field such as data inference and analysis.
: AI reasoning cloud startup General Compute has obtained a $400 million loan from Upper90. This deal is the world’s first financing project to use dedicated inference chips as collateral. The company has built a proprietary AI reasoning cloud platform based on SambaNova’s self-developed ASIC chips, primarily targeting Agent-type AI computing workloads. Compared to traditional GPU clouds, it offers faster token processing speeds and lower operational latency. The hardware requires no water cooling and can be directly deployed in traditional data centers and idle cryptocurrency mining facilities.