News linked to both this project and an event.
According to TechCrunch, New York AI detection startup Pangram announced the completion of a $9 million funding round, led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Haystack, ScOp, Script Capital, and Cadenza. Pangram simultaneously released the new generation AI text detection model Pangram 4 and AI image detection model Pangram Image, with text detection accuracy exceeding 99%, capable of identifying AI-assisted writing, mixed human-AI content, and text generated by AI humanization programs; the image detection model is currently in the research preview stage, based on pixel-level distribution analysis, capable of identifying cross-model AI-generated images, and can detect AI images appearing within real photos.
according to sources familiar with the matter, AI robotics startup Genesis AI is in talks with investors for a new funding round, planning to raise approximately $500 million, corresponding to a pre-money valuation of around $3 billion. Existing investor Premji Invest is in discussions to lead the round, while HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and Northzone Ventures are also discussing additional investments.In June this year, Genesis AI launched an AI industrial robot named Eno. The company stated that Eno is capable of reasoning "beyond predefined tasks" and adapting based on different outcomes. (Bloomberg)
: 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.
MoonPay announced the acquisition of Y Combinator-backed crypto deposit startup Glide via an all-stock transaction, with the specific deal size undisclosed. Founded in 2023, Glide primarily provides crypto asset deposit solutions across tokens, wallets, exchanges, and bank cards, supporting over 100 tokens and 30 blockchain networks, with an annualized trading volume exceeding $100 million.
According to Bloomberg, humanoid robot startup Walden Robotics, spun off from Toyota's robot research lab, announced the completion of approximately $300 million in seed funding, reaching a valuation of $1.1 billion, and officially emerging from stealth mode. This round was co-led by Deviation Capital and Toyota Motor Corporation, with Toyota's strategic investment and early venture capital arm also participating. Nvidia, Boeing, AE Ventures, Samsung Ventures, and CoreWeave Ventures participated as investors. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Walden Robotics was founded in January this year. It independently develops hardware, software, and AI models, focusing on building general-purpose humanoid robots capable of continuous learning and evolution in real-world environments, currently primarily deployed in the manufacturing and logistics sectors. The company has launched multiple commercialization projects, including a pilot program at a Toyota factory in North America, where robots work alongside human teams to complete 8-hour shifts daily, handling repetitive tasks such as parts loading and unloading, machine cleaning, and equipment preparation. Morgan Stanley predicts that the global humanoid robot market size is expected to surpass $5 trillion by 2050.
According to CoinPost, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivered a video address at the opening ceremony of WebX 2026, reaffirming the government's policy to promote the social implementation of Web3. Prime Minister Takaichi introduced the "Startup Comprehensive Support Package" launched in May 2025, a plan further strengthened based on the "Five-Year Plan for Startup Cultivation," aiming to expand funding supply from the government and financial institutions to startups and accelerate their scaled development. Prime Minister Takaichi stated that WebX, as Asia's largest-scale Web3 summit gathering approximately 15,000 people globally, is an important platform for all parties to equally discuss the future of society and industry and promote business cooperation. She expects synergies between government policies and the WebX platform to drive the continuous development of Japan's innovation ecosystem.
Citadel Securities has filed a lawsuit in London, seeking over £6 million (approximately $7.9 million) from Leonard Lancia, its former European Head of Derivatives Systematic Market Making and co-founder of high-frequency crypto trading firm Portofino Technologies.Citadel Securities alleges that Leonard Lancia and his colleagues began planning their startup while still employed, and has won damages and legal cost support in related labor arbitration. Additionally, Citadel Securities filed a lawsuit against Portofino Technologies in the US in 2023, accusing it of stealing trade secrets. Leonard Lancia and Portofino Technologies have denied all allegations. The High Court in London rejected Leonard Lancia's request to lift the asset freezing order last Friday. (Bloomberg)
Odaily reports: Blockchain data infrastructure startup Cambrian has secured $6 million in seed funding, co-led by Franklin Templeton and Polychain Capital, with participation from Flow Traders, Selini Capital, Paper Ventures, Nomad Capital, and others.As previously reported by Odaily, Cambrian also received a $5.9 million pre-seed investment led by the a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator, bringing its total funding to $11.9 million.Founded in 2024, Cambrian currently offers APIs for institutions and AI agents, providing real-time and historical on-chain data covering yield, risk, lending rates, trading activity, liquidity positions, and market sentiment, helping users allocate capital on-chain. The company plans to expand its existing APIs into a verifiable blockchain data oracle network, serving institutional financial clients, AI agent builders, and protocols that require reliable data to control capital flows. Unlike traditional oracles that primarily provide price data, Cambrian aims to aggregate data from lending protocols, DEX liquidity, social sentiment, developer activity, and historical market data.According to Cambrian, its platform has processed millions of API calls, currently indexes approximately $4.5 billion in TVL across four major lending protocols, tracks 1,789 vaults managed by 895 curators, and monitors over 320,000 DEX liquidity pools on Base and Solana. The company also plans to expand trading data support by integrating Hyperliquid and richer perpetual contract data.
According to Tech Funding News, AMD CEO Lisa Su announced at London Tech Week that the company will invest up to £2 billion in UK AI infrastructure over the next five years, covering national supercomputing infrastructure development and university research collaborations. Meanwhile, AMD is partnering with Oriole Networks—a startup spun out from University College London (UCL)—to deploy the world’s first large-scale, all-photonic network AI system under the UK government’s £50 million ARIA Inference Scaling Lab initiative. This system integrates Oriole’s PRISM photonic networking platform with AMD Instinct GPUs and EPYC CPUs; by completely eliminating electronic switches from the network core, it reduces core network energy consumption by 81% and cuts GPU idle time from 60% to under 1%.
Helion, a nuclear fusion energy startup backed by OpenAI founder Sam Altman, has announced the completion of a $465 million funding round, led by Thrive Capital. The post-investment valuation has reached $15.5 billion, nearly three times its previous valuation of $543 million. It is reported that the company is dedicated to developing nuclear fusion technology to power data centers and other customers. However, it has yet to prove the feasibility of its technology in actual electricity production. Investors remain highly confident in its potential, and this round of funding will be used to accelerate technology development and commercial advancement. (The Information)
Odaily Startup Incubator Y Combinator will hold its first-ever interview session specifically for fintech and crypto startups in New York City, aiming to support more companies in this sector. The interviews will be held offline on May 21st. Selected startups will join the Summer 2026 batch and receive a standard investment of $500,000. Chosen projects can opt to receive funding in the form of USDC stablecoins. To date, Y Combinator has invested in over 150 crypto and fintech companies, including Coinbase, OpenSea, and Kalshi.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Parallel Web Systems—an AI startup founded by former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal—has raised $100 million in its Series B funding round, led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Index Ventures, and Khosla Ventures. The company’s valuation has risen to $2 billion, bringing its total funding to $230 million. Parallel focuses on building web search infrastructure for AI agents, supporting in-depth research use cases such as investment research, insurance claims processing, and government contract analysis. Over 100,000 developers are already using its platform, with customers including legal AI company Harvey. Proceeds from this round will be used to expand the sales team and strengthen R&D efforts.
According to Sarah Wolf’s own post on X, her nearly five-year tenure at Coinbase is coming to an end. She joined Coinbase in 2023 as its first Builder Marketer and co-founded Base with Jesse Pollak, driving its growth into a leading global blockchain ecosystem with a builder community spanning over 52 countries. During her time at Coinbase, she led several landmark initiatives, including Onchain Summer—a collaboration with Adidas and Coca-Cola—integrating USDC payments into Shopify, and launching BaseCamp, the flagship builder summit. After leaving Coinbase, Sarah Wolf will join Anthropic as Head of Startup Marketing, focusing on supporting the startup ecosystem building around Claude. She has invited founders and builders currently developing with Claude to reach out to her.
On-chain lending platform Votre has raised $3.75 million in seed funding, led by a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator, with participation from MaC Venture Capital, Druid Ventures, and angel investors from Goldman Sachs, Harvard University, and OrangeDAO. Founded in 2025, Votre operates a non-custodial crypto lending platform on Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 network, enabling users to borrow USD—settled the same day—using Bitcoin as collateral, with loan sizes ranging from approximately $25,000 to $5 million. The funds will be used to scale technical infrastructure, increase platform capacity, enhance liquidity management tools, and strengthen risk and compliance systems.