Anthropic strikes while the iron is hot, Masa Son goes gaga for AI, and more bad Cruise news

Anthropic, one of the main rivals of OpenAI, is in talks with investors to raise at least $2 billion in new funding, following a commitment from Amazon last week to invest $1.25 billion in the company, according to The Information. According to the outlet, Anthropic has told investors that Google, which bought a roughly 10% stake in the startup in 2022, is expected to invest in the round; the outlet further reports that the two-year-old startup wants a valuation between $20 billion to $30 billion -- so at least five times the $4 billion valuation investors assigned the company when it raised a round in March of this year.

Věra Jourová, one of two commissioners overseeing the enactment of the EU’s AI law, has warned her colleagues not to be paranoid about AI. "We should not mark as high risk things which do not seem to be high risk at the moment," she told the Financial Times.

Meanwhile, SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son reportedly just told a crowd gathered for the company's annual SoftBank World event that AI will be 10 times more powerful than all of human intelligence by 2030. “Take advantage of it or be left behind,” Son told those gathered. Nonbelievers are “the hallucinators,” he said, per the WSJ.

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Anduril Industries, the defense technology startup founded by serial entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, is reportedly in talks to raise $400 million to $500 million in funding from investors in a deal that could take the form of a convertible note, according to Bloomberg, which says the six-year-old outfit is seeking a valuation of roughly $10 billion. More here.

Electric Hydrogen, a three-year-old startup based in Natick, Ma., that is developing electrolyzer technologies to enable clean hydrogen to replace fossil fuels, raised a $380 million Series C round at a $1 billion valuation. The deal was led by Fortescue, Fifth Wall, and Energy Impact Partners, with BP Ventures, Oman Investment Authority, Temasek, Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund, and the United Airlines Sustainable Flight Fund also contributing. The company has raised over $600 million. Reuters and TechCrunch have more here and here.

Stampli, an eight-year-old startup based in Tel Aviv and Mountain View, Ca., that uses AI to automate accounts payable processes for its clients, raised a $61 million Series D round led by Blackstone, with previous investors Insight Partners, SignalFire, and Bloomberg Beta also contributing. The company has raised a total of $148 million. CTech has more here.

Amperon, a six-year-old Houston startup that provides analytics to help clients optimize their energy use and minimize their carbon footprint, raised a $20 million Series B round led by Energize Capital, with D.E. Shaw, Veriten, Ørsted, and previous investor HSBC Asset Management also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $30 million. More here.

Automata, an eight-year-old London startup that has developed hardware and software to run lab workflows from the cloud, raised a $40 million round led by Dimension, with Octopus Ventures, Hummingbird, Isomer Capital, Possible Ventures, Aldea Ventures, and A.P. Moller Holding also taking part. The company has raised a total of $97 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Frec, a two-year-old San Francisco startup whose direct-indexing platform helps high-net-worth individuals to invest across different asset classes without the need for a financial advisor, raised $26.4 million in seed and Series A funding. Greylock was the lead, while Social Leverage also anted up. VentureBeat has more here.

Kafene, a four-year-old New York startup that provides point-of-sale financing for purchases of furniture, appliances, electronics, tires, and other goods, raised a $12.6 million Series B extension round, increasing the total size of the round to $30.8 million. Third Prime was the deal lead. More here.

Pulumi, a six-year-old Seattle startup whose tools make it easier for teams to use code to provision and manage cloud infrastructure, raised a $41 million Series C round led by Madrona, with additional participation from NEA, Tola Capital, and Strike Capital. The company has raised a total of $99 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Reserv, a startup based in Weston, Ct., that says it uses AI to help insurance agents and insurance companies with claims processing, raised a $20 million Series A round. Altai Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures co-led the transaction. More here.

Stitch, a four-year-old Cape Town startup that provides payment services primarily for enterprise businesses in South Africa, raised a $25 million Series A extension round, increasing the total size of the round to $46 million. The deal was led by Ribbit Capital and included previous investors PayPal Ventures, CRE Ventures, and The Raba Partnership. The company has raised a total of $52 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Creednz, a three-year-old Israeli startup whose platform protects corporate finance departments against payment fraud, raised a $7 million round led by Blumberg Capital, with Elron Ventures and Moneta VC also pitching in. CTech has more here.

Induced AI, a months-old, Mumbai-based AI-based native browser robotic process automation platform that says it lets users combine browsing and web tools to automate enterprise workflows of all kinds, has raised $2.3 million in seed funding. Sam Altman, Peak XV, and Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman’s AI Grant are among backers of the startup, whose two founders are teenagers. TechCrunch has the story here.

Muir AI, a one-year-old Seattle startup that is using AI to reduce emissions within its clients' supply chains, raised a $3.25 million seed round led by Base10 Partners, with previous investors Madrona Venture Labs and Soma Capital also investing. TechCrunch has more here.

Qobra, a three-year-old Paris startup whose platform helps businesses manage sales compensation, raised a $10.5 million Series A funding round led by Singular, with additional funds provided by Revenue Syndicate and previous investor Breega. TechCrunch has more here.

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Skype founder Niklas Zennström's Atomico has raised $1.1 billion across its new venture and growth funds, just short of its $1.35 billion goal. The firm, whose hits include Klarna, now boasts $5 billion under management. 

Greylock Partners yesterday unveiled a $1 billion early-stage fund — its 17th — and Greylock Edge, a three-month program to "support founders developing ideas into companies with early revenue and product market fit." TechCrunch has more here.

Krafton India has launched a gaming incubator in the South Asian nation as it seeks to expand the local ecosystem and support the domestic talent looking to enter the fast-growing gaming market. Called Krafton India Gaming Incubator, the program aims to support six to 10 teams annually, with the total duration ranging from six months to a year. Selected participants will get guidance, mentorship, access to Krafton’s resources and financial support, typically between $50,000 and $150,000, depending on their needs, the company said today. TechCrunch has more here.

Intel is planning on spinning off Altera, its programmable chip unit, and taking the new company public.

Meta VP of Content Partnerships and former news anchor Campbell Brown is stepping down, Axios reports, signaling Meta's diminishing interest in news content. 

Parag Agrawal, Twitter's former CEO, and Vijaya Gadde, its former top lawyer, have won their lawsuit to force Twitter/X to pay their legal expenses related to their time at the company. 

Tom Hanks is up in arms about an ad that features an unauthorized AI likeness of him. “Beware!!” he posted on Instagram. “There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it.”

According to reports, Grimes has sued Elon Musk for access to their three children after previously tweeting to Musk's biographer, “tell Elon to let me see my son or plz respond to my lawyer.”

"Why Caroline Ellison Should Have a Sexual Relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried," by Sam Bankman-Fried.

As companies with hybrid work forces reduce square footage, universities are buying up buildings at bargain prices.

According to an FTC lawsuit, Amazon used a secret set of algorithms called "Project Nessie" to manipulate competitors' prices in order to maximize its own profits. “The FTC’s allegations grossly mischaracterize this tool,” an Amazon spokesman retorted.

Chinese brightest minds are leaving their own country, but they are not headed to the U.S. Why?

A new study confirms that AI watermarks don't work.

A Cruise robo-taxi ran over a San Francisco woman last night after she was knocked into its path by a hit-and-run driver.

Check out the trailer for Sofia Coppola's latest, Priscilla, about Priscilla Presley's tumultuous relationship with The King of Rock and Roll.

White Cube, a legendary contemporary art gallery in London, is launching a New York outpost with an inaugural exhibition entitled "Chopped & Screwed."

Borgo Santandrea Hotel.

A temperature-controlled tumbler that you can control with an app. 

Anxiety-themed sweatshirts.