Happy Monday!

Here are a few great things to read/watch this week:

👨‍👦‍👦 Unit 8200 is the Silicon Valley’s Hot Talent Pipeline - This Israeli Army Unit has become an incubator for cybersecurity startups defending the world’s biggest companies against hackers. There are at least five tech companies started by Unit 8200 alumni that are publicly traded in the U.S.

• Palo Alto Networks—$116.0 billion

• Check Point Software Technologies—$21.3 billion

• CyberArk Software—$12.4 billion

• Wix.com—$9.1 billion

• Radware—$900 million

Read more on WSJ

💰 Are NFTs Securities? - OpenSea has received a Wells notice from the SEC threatening to sue because they believe NFTs on our platform are securities. Read more on X

🖥️ Keep the Code Behind AI Open - Ion Stoica & Martin Casado said this not the first time America’s tech industry and its standard-setters and regulators have had to think about open-source software and open standards with respect to national security. Similar discussions took place around operating systems, the internet and cryptography. In each case, the overwhelming consensus was that the right way forward was openness.

A second reason is the widely accepted view that open-source makes systems safer. More users—from government, industry and academia, as well as hobbyists—means more people analyzing code, stress-testing it in production and fixing any problems they identify. Read more on the Economist

🇺🇸 Tech for America: What’s Ahead for Government Tech - I am co-hosting with Hanwha Life on September 12th in San Francisco featuring Bruce Andrews - Chief Government Affairs Officer at Intel Corporation, Thomas Osborne, MD - Chief Medical Officer | Microsoft Federal Civilian, David Smith - Founder and CEO at MLtwist and Carolyn McGourty Supple - Head of Public Affairs and Customer Engagement at Google Public Sector. Register here to join us!

💪 OpenAI, Adobe, and Microsoft have Expressed Support for California's AB 3211 - this bill requires watermarks in the metadata of AI-generated photos, videos and audio clips. Lots of AI companies already do this, but most people don’t read metadata. AB 3211 also requires large online platforms, like Instagram or X, to label AI-generated content in a way average viewers can understand. OpenAI, Adobe and Microsoft are part of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, which helped create C2PA metadata — a widely used standard for marking AI-generated content. Read more on Techcrunch

👮 Telegram Founder Pavel Durov's Arrest or Alleged Failure to Moderate Illegal Content has unexpectedly boosted the app's downloads and rankings. The app has climbed to top positions in various App Store categories, particularly in France, with global iOS downloads increasing by 4%. The cryptology charge also raised eyebrows at U.S. tech companies. Telegram is also often described as an encrypted messaging app, it tackling encryption differently than WhatsApp, Signal and others. So if Mr. Durov’s indictment turned Telegram into a public exemplar of the technology, some Silicon Valley companies believe that could damage the credibility of encrypted messaging apps. Read more on the NY Times

This week a total of 14 startups raised $369.4M in funding, 3 M&As:

• $286.7M goes to 8 Enterprise startups

• $2.5M goes to 1 HR startup

• $15.5M goes to 2 Crypto startups

• $11.2M goes to 1 Gaming startup

• $13.5M goes to 1 Construction startup

• $40M goes to 1 BioTech startup

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Edith
X, LinkedIn

Funding (300 miles radius from Silicon Valley)

Enterprise

• Codeium (Github competitor) raised $150M Series C led by General Catalyst

• Butlr (Physicla AI platform) raised $38M Series B led by Foundry Group

• nOps (AWS cloud management and cost optimization platform) raised $30M Series A led by Headlight Partners

• Opus Clip (AI video repurposing tool) raised $30M Series A led by Millennium New Horizons

• Pylon (B2B customer service platform) raised $17M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz

• Bland AI (conversational AI platform) raised $16M Series A led by Scale Venture Partners

• Inventive AI (RFP workflow management) raised $4M Seed led by Sierra Ventures

• Just Words (automated personalized messaging solution) raised $1.7M Seed led by Peak XV Partners, Y Combinator

HR

• Fleet (commuter benefits management platform) raised $2.5M Seed led by Congruent Ventures

Crypto

• Solayer (Solana restaking protocol) raised $12M Seed led by Hack VC, Polychain

• Echelon (decentralized lending protocol) raised $3.5M Seed led by Amber Group

Gaming

• Gameplay Galaxy (Web3 esports ecosystem) raised $11.2M Seed led by Blockchain Capital, Merit Circle

Construction

• Planera (construction scheduling and planning solution) raised $13.5M Series A led by Sierra Ventures

BioTech

• Noetik (precision cancer therapies) raised $40M Series A led by Polaris Partners

IPO & M&A (300 miles radius from Silicon Valley)  

• Cisco acquired Robust Intelligence (AI security solution)

• Swiftly acquired Hopthru (transit data platform)

• Meta Platforms acquired Sage Geosystems (geothermal energy)