TL;DR

Cohere raises $500M at $6.8B; Coinbase acquires Deribit for $2.9B; Klarna revives NY IPO.

Highlights

• Cohere raises $500M led by Radical and Inovia at a $6.8B valuation; revenue doubles to $100M, targeting enterprise AI security.1
• Coinbase acquires Deribit for $2.9B, adding the world’s largest crypto-options platform to its offering.2
• Klarna Q2 revenue up 20–25% YoY to $823M; net loss widens to $53M; New York IPO plans revived.3
• Porsche SE and Deutsche Telekom launch €500M defense/space/cyber VC fund, shifting strategy amid auto sector headwinds.4
• Google takes 8% stake in TeraWulf as part of a $3.7B AI data center hosting deal; TeraWulf pivots from crypto mining to AI infrastructure.5
• Ex-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal raises $30M seed for Parallel, an AI-native web startup, led by Khosla Ventures.6
• xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin exits to launch an AI safety-focused venture fund.7
• CoreWeave drops 10% as post-IPO lockup expires, with selling pressure spreading to other recent AI listings.8
• DeepSeek delays next-gen R2 AI model due to Huawei chip training failures, highlighting ongoing China-US chip gap.9
• Tensor unveils first consumer Level-4 autonomous EV, targeting 2026 launch; Vinfast to manufacture.10
• Nvidia and NSF commit $152M to Allen Institute for open-source AI models for scientific research.11
• Amazon , Microsoft , Meta , and Alphabet face $3T+ AI data center capex through 2028; VCs and PE expected to help fill funding gap.12
• SEC Chair to provide details on “Project Crypto,” signaling regulatory clarity for digital asset startups.13
• Trump administration considers taking a stake in Intel to support U.S. chip manufacturing expansion.14
• OpenAI restores GPT-4o after GPT-5 backlash; commits to clearer product roadmap and explores new revenue streams.15

Commentary

AI infrastructure and enterprise software continue to attract outsized capital, as seen in Cohere’s $500M round at a $6.8B valuation1 and TeraWulf ’s $3.7B AI hosting agreement with Google 5. These deals highlight sustained demand for secure, scalable AI solutions and the ongoing shift of former crypto infrastructure providers toward AI workloads. Nvidia and NSF’s $152M commitment to open-source scientific AI models further underscores the strategic value of foundational model development and open research.11

On the application and fintech front, Klarna’s revived IPO plans—despite widening losses—signal that public markets remain an option for scaled fintechs with strong user growth and product diversification.3 Parallel’s $30M seed round6 and Tensor’s direct-to-consumer Level-4 EV launch10 reflect continued investor appetite for AI-native infrastructure and autonomy, though both face long technical and regulatory timelines.

Crypto and digital asset regulation are in flux: Coinbase ’s $2.9B Deribit acquisition consolidates its derivatives business ahead of expected SEC regulatory clarity213, potentially boosting institutional participation and deal activity in compliant crypto startups. Meanwhile, the SEC’s upcoming “Project Crypto” details13 and the Trump administration’s potential stake in Intel point to a more interventionist regulatory and industrial policy environment, particularly in semiconductors and defense.14

Volatility in recently listed AI infrastructure names (CoreWeave)8 and technical setbacks in China (DeepSeek)9 serve as reminders of execution risk and the ongoing hardware gap between U.S. and Chinese AI ecosystems. Porsche SE ’s €500M defense/space/cyber fund4 and xAI’s founder departures highlight new capital flows and talent churn in strategic sectors.

VCs should focus on AI infrastructure, regulatory-driven fintech/crypto, and deeptech with clear technical differentiation, while monitoring execution risk and shifting exit windows.