Chris Metinko / Axios: Defakto, which lets enterprises secure automated interactions between internal systems and AI agents or other non-human actors, raised a $30.75M Series B
Chris Metinko / Axios: Austin-based Roller, a provider of venue management software, raised $50M led by Insight Partners, taking its total funding to over $100M — Roller, a venue management platform developer, raised a $50 million round led by Insight Partners, co-founder and CEO Luke Finn tells Axios Pro.
Chris Metinko / Axios: UnifyApps, which lets companies build AI chatbots by connecting SaaS apps and data, raised a $50M Series B led by WestBridge, after a $20M Series A in 2024 — UnifyApps, which lets enterprises connect disparate systems of record to help their AI initiatives, raised a $50 million Series B led …
Ina Fried / Axios: Internal memo and a source: Meta is cutting ~600 jobs out of several thousand within its Superintelligence Lab, including in its FAIR unit, to cut bureaucracy — Meta is cutting several hundred roles from its AI unit even as it continues to hire for its newer TBD Lab, Axios has learned.
Ashley Gold / Axios: OpenAI says GPT‑5 instant and GPT‑5 thinking cut political bias by 30% from earlier models, and show greater robustness to charged prompts — OpenAI's GPT-5 model exhibits lower levels of political bias than any previous models, according to new research from the company shared with Axios.
Chris Metinko / Axios: New York-based Modal Labs, which offers a serverless cloud platform to build AI apps and run AI inference, raised $87M led by Lux Capital at a $1.1B valuation
Chris Metinko / Axios: Education software company EdSights, which uses SMS texting and AI to reach students and identify those at risk of dropping out, raised $80M from JMI Equity
Ben Berkowitz / Axios: Trump says Microsoft should fire its global affairs head Lisa Monaco over her work in the Biden administration, calling her a “menace to US National Security” — President Trump late Friday demanded Microsoft fire its head of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, over her work in the Biden administration.
Lucinda Shen / Axios: WeTravel, whose travel payments software is used by group travel operators, raised a $92M Series C at a ~$450M valuation, up from ~$100M in 2022 — WeTravel, a travel payments software company, raised $92 million in Series C funding, CEO Ted Clements tells Axios.
Ashley Gold / Axios: Meta launches the American Technology Excellence Project, a super PAC to fight AI policy bills at the state level; it previously launched a California PAC — Meta launched a new super PAC on Tuesday to help fight off what it sees as onerous AI and tech policy bills across the country, per an announcement shared exclusively with Axios.
Claire Rychlewski / Axios: Pharmacy benefit management startup Capital Rx raised $400M, including a $252M Series F; it has raised $607M+ to date and was valued at $3.25B pre-Series F
Ina Fried / Axios: Google DeepMind updates its Frontier Safety Framework to account for new risks, including the potential for models to resist shutdown or modification by humans — Google DeepMind said Monday it has updated a key AI safety document to account for new threats — including the risk …
Axios: White House says TikTok's new US entity would lease a copy of ByteDance's algorithm, which Oracle would retrain; US users wouldn't need to re-download the app — TikTok's new U.S. entity would lease its algorithm from Chinese owner ByteDance under the terms of a proposed deal between the U.S. and China …
Maria Curi / Axios: Scale AI signed a $100M ceiling contract with the DOD to provide end-to-end services, including its data engine for data preparation and AI model testing — Data labeling company Scale AI will make its platform available to the Defense Department in a $100 million ceiling contract shared first with Axios.
Megan Morrone / Axios: OpenAI says it is developing a “different ChatGPT experience” for teens and plans to use age-prediction tech to bar kids under 18 from the standard version — OpenAI is developing a “different ChatGPT experience” for teens and plans to use age-prediction technology …
Alex Isenstadt / Axios: The Winklevoss twins have become major GOP donors; a source says they've donated $32M+ since 2017, including $21M to a new pro-Trump and pro-crypto super PAC — There's a new megadonor force in Republican politics: the crypto-mogul Winklevoss twins. … - “Who are the donors going to be for the next 20 to 30 years?
Kerry Flynn / Axios: ProRata.ai, which lets publishers embed custom AI search on their websites with a 50/50 revenue split, raised a $40M Series B, taking its total raised to $75M+ — - Existing investors Mayfield Fund, MVP Ventures, Revolution Ventures, SBI Investment, BOLD Capital, XPV-Exponential Ventures and Idealab Studio also participated.
Ashley Gold / Axios: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Code.org, IBM, OpenAI, and other companies pledged new commitments for AI in education as part of Melania Trump's White House event — Teaching students AI literacy from an early age is key to American success, First Lady Melania Trump said at a White House event …
Megan Morrone / Axios: OpenAI details its plan to add guardrails for teens and people in emotional distress in the next 120 days, including routing conversations to GPT-5-thinking — ChatGPT guardrails for teens and people in emotional distress will roll out by the end of the year, OpenAI promised Tuesday.
Dan Primack / Axios: FieldAI, which is developing robot “brains”, raised $405M at a $2B post-money valuation from Nvidia and others; FieldAI raised an initial $91M in late 2024 — FieldAI, a California-based developer of “brains” for robots, raised $405 million in venture capital funding at a $2 billion post-money valuation.
Ina Fried / Axios: An interview with Sam Altman on spending billions on AI infrastructure, wanting Chrome if it's really for sale, AI models saturating the chat use case, and more — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is still talking like the future belongs to him, a week after the rollout of the company's latest model raised …
Erin Brodwin / Axios: Arintra, whose AI medical coding system translates clinical documentation into insurance codes for healthcare providers, raised a $21M Series A led by Peak XV
Sara Fischer / Axios: Patreon CEO Jack Conte says the platform paid out $10B+ to creators since its 2013 founding, creators now get $2B+ annually, and there are 25M+ paid memberships — Creators on Patreon have received more than $10 billion in payouts from fans since the company was founded in 2013, CEO and co-founder Jack Conte tells Axios.
Mike Allen / Axios: Sources: the US intelligence community persuaded the DOJ that allowing the HPE-Juniper merger was essential to US national security and competing with Huawei — - The official said blocking the deal would have “hindered American companies and empowered” Chinese competitors.
Sara Fischer / Axios: Meta will end political, election, or social issue ads in the EU from October, like Google, with both citing incoming regulation — Meta on Friday said starting in October it will no longer accept political, election or social issue ads in the European Union, in response to new regulation …
Chris Metinko / Axios: Dallas-based iCounter, which uses AI to combat cyber risks, launches out of stealth from Apollo Information Systems with a $30M Series A led by SYN Ventures
Ryan Lawler / Axios: North Carolina-based Eton Solutions, which offers wealth management ERP tools for single- and multifamily offices, raised a $58M Series C led by Navis Capital
Ryan Lawler / Axios: Austin-based CertifID, which develops tech to prevent wire fraud in real estate transactions, raised a $47.5M Series C led by Centana Growth Partners
Eleanor Hawkins / Axios: Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigns after a video of him cuddling with chief people officer Kristin Cabot at a Coldplay concert went viral — Astronomer CEO Andy Byron has resigned from the company after a video of him canoodling with chief people officer Kristin Cabot at a Coldplay concert went viral.
Ben Geman / Axios: Emerald AI, whose software lets AI data centers flexibly adjust power consumption, raised a $24.5M seed led by Radical Ventures, with NVentures participating — AI giant Nvidia and boldface names in tech and finance are backing a new startup that aims to transform data centers into flexible grid assets instead of liabilities.
Dan Primack / Axios: PitchBook: AI startups received 53% of all global VC dollars invested in H1 2025, rising to 64% in the US, and accounted for 29% of all global startups funded — Artificial intelligence is eating venture capital. Or at least its dollars. … - That percentage jumps to 64% in the U.S.
Avery Lotz / Axios: Trump says “We might have to put DOGE on Elon”, “DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon”, and “We'll have to take a look” at deporting Musk — President Trump said Tuesday that DOGE could investigate Elon Musk, the latest indicator …
Kerry Flynn / Axios: Tinder is mandating new users in California verify their profiles using facial recognition technology starting June 30 in a bid to reduce impersonation — Tinder is mandating new users in California verify their profiles using facial recognition technology starting Monday, executives exclusively tell Axios.
Ashley Gold / Axios: The White House announces an AI Education Pledge with commitments from 60+ companies to provide AI education materials to K-12 students over the next four years
Ryan Lawler / Axios: Niural, whose AI agents help companies automate payroll, benefits, vendor payments, and compliance, raised a $31M Series A led by Marathon Management Partners — Niural, a global payroll and finance operations startup, has raised $31 million in Series A funding, CEO Nami Baral tells Axios exclusively.
Ashley Gold / Axios: A group of 17 GOP governors write to Senate majority leader and House speaker urging for the state AI bill moratorium to be removed from the reconciliation bill — A group of 17 Republican governors wrote to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday calling …
Megan Morrone / Axios: Anthropic releases preliminary results showing users who discuss emotional issues with Claude tend to grow more positive as conversations progress — People who talk to Anthropic's Claude chatbot about emotional issues tend to grow more positive as the conversation unfolds …
Chris Metinko / Axios: Slide, which develops data backup and disaster recovery tech for managed service providers serving SMBs, raised a $25M Series A led by Base10 Partners — Slide, a data disaster recovery platform, locked up a $25 million Series A round led by Base10 Partners, cofounder and CEO Michael Fass tells Axios Pro.
Chris Metinko / Axios: Onebrief, which makes military workflow software, raised a $20M Series C extension led by Battery Ventures at a $1.1B valuation, taking the round total to $70M — Onebrief, a maker of military workflow software, raised $20 million in new funding led by Battery Ventures at a $1.1 billion valuation …
Chris Metinko / Axios: Uncountable, which makes AI tools to let R&D teams accelerate development cycles, raised a $27M Series A led by Sageview, bringing its total funding to $32.5M — Uncountable, a digital platform for industrial research and development, raised a $27 million Series A led by Sageview Capital …
Christine Wang / Axios: Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince says Google's ratio of pages crawled per visitor sent to a publisher fell from 2:1 10 years ago to 18:1; for OpenAI, it's 1,500:1 — Publishers face an existential threat in the AI era and need to take action to make sure they are fairly compensated for their content …
Ryan Lawler / Axios: Milan-based Jet HR, which provides all-in-one payroll and HR services to SMBs, raised €25M led by Base10 Partners, bringing its total funding to about €42M — Jet HR, a Milan-based platform serving small and midsized enterprises, raised €25 million in funding led by Base10 Partners …
Ryan Lawler / Axios: Miami-based Payabli, which provides software companies with an embedded payments platform, raised a $28M Series B led by Fika Ventures and QED Investors — Payabli, a Miami-based embedded payments platform, has raised $28 million in Series B funding led by existing investors Fika Ventures and QED Investors …
Colin Campbell / Axios: Miami-based Pelico, which offers a supply chain orchestration platform, raised a $40M Series B led by General Catalyst, bringing its total funding to $72M — Supply chain orchestration platform Pelico raised $40 million in strategic financing led by General Catalyst, co-founder Tarik Benabdallah tells Axios Pro.
Erin Brodwin / Axios: Commure, which provides ambient AI, revenue cycle management, and workflow automation tools for healthcare providers, raised $200M from General Catalyst — Health care AI infrastructure startup Commure raised $200 million in growth financing from General Catalyst's “customer value fund,” …
Chris Metinko / Axios: Luxembourg-based Tadaweb, which analyzes open-source intelligence, raised $20M led by Arsenal Growth and Forgepoint Capital, taking its total funding to $40M — Tadaweb, an operating system that collects and analyzes public data, raised $20 million, led by Arsenal Growth and Forgepoint Capital …
Chris Metinko / Axios: Boston-based Maven, which builds autonomous AI agents for enterprises' customer support, raised a $50M Series B led by Dell, taking its total funding to $78M — Maven AGI, which builds enterprise AI agents for customer support, raised a $50 million Series B led by Dell Technologies Capital …
Erin Brodwin / Axios: NYC-based Zorro, whose AI-powered software helps clients' workers navigate health insurance and benefits options, raised a $20M Series A led by Entrée Capital — Health benefits provider Zorro raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Entrée Capital, CEO Guy Ezekiel tells Axios exclusively.
Chris Metinko / Axios: New York City-based Abacum, which offers AI-powered financial planning and analysis tools to companies, raised a $60B Series B led by Scale Venture Partners — Abacum, business financial planning startup, landed a $60 million Series B round led by Scale Venture Partners, co-founder and CEO Julio Martínez tells Axios Pro.
Axios: Austin-based Autonomize AI, which develops AI agents for automating administrative workflows in healthcare and life sciences, raised a $28M Series A — Autonomize AI, a provider of AI agents to health systems and plans, raised $28 million in Series A funding, CEO Ganesh Padmanabhan tells Axios exclusively.