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This week was presupposed to be a brief one within the U.S., because it began with a vacation. However Inauguration Day saved some founders busy, and the next days introduced us greater than their justifiable share of startup information.
Most attention-grabbing startup tales from the week
This week reminded us that not all gross sales are created equal, and that it’s typically price wanting past the worth tag. Plus, there have been authorized troubles for an AI decacorn.
No divvy: Divvy Properties, a rent-to-own startup backed by a16z, is promoting to a division of Brookfield Properties for about $1 billion. Nevertheless, some shareholders could not see a dime from the sale.
Magnificence on the market: Client items large Hindustan Unilever agreed to purchase Peak XV-backed Indian skincare startup Minimalist for about $342 million — greater than the $300 million valuation it reportedly sought in a fundraising try final yr.
Massive markdown: AI-powered parking platform Metropolis acquired pc imaginative and prescient firm Oosto for a fraction of what the startup had raised to this point. Previously often called AnyVision, it had misplaced backers over its expertise being utilized in controversial surveillance functions.
Authorized conflict: Valued at $13.8 billion final yr, Scale AI is dealing with its third employee lawsuit of 2025, with contractors claiming they suffered psychological hurt from writing prompts about disturbing content material. A spokesperson for Scale AI mentioned it had “numerous safeguards in place.”
Most attention-grabbing VC and funding information this week
Collection B rounds introduced this week different tremendously in dimension, with a few of these exceeding different Collection C rounds. And for firms that don’t fairly really feel like going public but, there are nonetheless extra letters within the alphabet.
Pre-IPO letters: Information analytics platform Databricks closed a $10 billion Collection J fairness funding spherical at a $62 billion valuation, with an extra $5.25 billion in debt financing. Meta is backing the corporate as a strategic investor.
From cat to unicorn: Neko Well being, the Swedish body-scanning startup co-founded by Spotify’s Daniel Ek, and whose identify means “cat” in Japanese, raised a $260 million Collection B spherical of funding at $1.8 billion post-money.
Cash to maneuver: Lindus Well being, a startup backed by Peter Thiel and Creandum that’s presently transferring its HQ from the U.Okay. to the U.S., secured a $55 million Collection B spherical to “fix the broken clinical trial industry.”
Spending much less: AI-powered SaaS spend administration platform Vertice raised a $50 million Collection C spherical of funding led by Lakestar, at a valuation near $500 million, based on sources.
Indian robotics: Indian-based autonomous cell robots startup Ati Motors raised a $20 million Collection B to develop internationally. The U.S. already dominates Ati’s revenues, and the corporate hopes to additional profit from demand for robotics manufactured outdoors of China.
Crypto crypto crypto: Capitalizing on crypto’s comeback, AngelList and CoinList teamed as much as launch crypto particular function automobiles and crypto roll-up automobiles that may let crypto founders elevate capital utilizing crypto cash.
Final however not least
AI continues to be purple sizzling, however there are all the time subsectors that VCs are extra thinking about. To determine which kinds of AI startups they’d most prefer to again this yr, TechCrunch rounded up some findings from our latest survey of 20 enterprise VCs. Briefly: Suppose firms, not options.
