TL;DR

Clay raises $100M at $3.1B; OpenAI releases open-weight LLMs; Palantir hits $400B after $1B quarter.

Highlights

• Clay, a New York-based AI sales platform, raised $100M Series C led by CapitalG at a $3.1B valuation, projecting $100M in 2025 revenue 1.
• Dubai fintech Alaan secured $48M Series A led by Peak XV; the company is profitable and expanding in Saudi Arabia 2.
• Reflection AI, founded by ex-DeepMind researchers, is finalizing a $1B+ round to build open-source LLMs, as tech giants’ 2025 AI spend hits $155B 313.
• OpenAI released two open-weight LLMs (gpt-oss-120b, gpt-oss-20b) under Apache 2.0, enabling commercial use and intensifying open-source competition 7.
• Palantir surpassed a $400B market cap after its first $1B revenue quarter, raising guidance and seeing strong analyst upgrades 6.
• US GSA approved OpenAI, Google , and Anthropic for civilian federal AI contracts, streamlining government procurement 8.
• Google DeepMind launched Genie 3, a real-time 3D world model for synthetic AI training data, released as a restricted preview 9.
• CoreWeave ’s $9B all-stock bid for Core Scientific faces investor pushback after a 30% drop in CoreWeave’s share price 5.
• AI-driven M&A reached $2.6T YTD, up 28% YoY, with fewer but larger deals and record venture rounds 13.
• ElevenLabs launched “Eleven Music,” an AI tool for on-demand, fully licensed music, targeting commercial creators 10.
• Phantom acquired SolSniper, integrating advanced Solana trading tools as part of a broader DeFi consolidation trend 15.
• Cloudflare removed Perplexity AI from its verified bots list over stealth crawling allegations, raising data compliance concerns 12.
• Cognition, after acquiring Windsurf, offered nine-month salary buyouts to ~200 staff and imposed 80+ hour workweeks for those staying 11.
• Skyrora became the first UK company to secure a space launch license, but is seeking overseas sites for its 2026 debut 14.

Commentary

AI continues to drive both venture and M&A activity, with capital concentrating in fewer, larger rounds and infrastructure plays 13. Clay’s valuation jump and strong projected revenue highlight investor demand for AI-native enterprise platforms 1, while Reflection AI’s $1B+ round and OpenAI’s open-weight LLM releases signal ongoing appetite for foundational model development and open-source alternatives 37. The release of open-weight models under permissive licenses will likely lower barriers for new entrants and accelerate competition, especially as cloud providers race to offer differentiated AI infrastructure 7.

On the enterprise and public sector side, Palantir ’s record quarter and the GSA’s approval of OpenAI, Google , and Anthropic for federal contracts indicate sustained demand for AI solutions and a growing public-sector market 68. This creates new exit and partnership opportunities for growth-stage startups with regulatory or government focus. Meanwhile, M&A activity remains robust, but the CoreWeave /Core Scientific standoff shows that valuation volatility and deal structure risks are front of mind, especially as share-based transactions face market headwinds 5.

Regionally, Alaan’s large, profitable Series A and Skyrora’s regulatory milestone point to maturing ecosystems in the Middle East and UK, with local champions emerging in fintech and deep tech 214. Phantom’s acquisition of SolSniper and ElevenLabs’ launch of a fully licensed AI music tool reflect ongoing consolidation and product expansion in both DeFi and AI content creation, with compliance and IP risk management increasingly important differentiators 1015.

Operational risks remain a concern: Cognition’s post-acquisition restructuring of Windsurf underscores integration and culture challenges in fast-moving AI startups 11, while Cloudflare ’s move against Perplexity AI highlights growing scrutiny on data acquisition practices 12. VCs should monitor regulatory developments, open-source AI releases, and the structure of large M&A deals for signals on deal flow and exit timing 713.