Startups Weekly: Tech and the law

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here.

Before this newsletter takes a break for the Fourth of July next week, here are the startup stories and funding rounds that caught our eye over the last few days, which have been quite busy.

Most interesting startup stories from the week

This week brought us lawsuit updates, M&As, and a combination of both.

AI agents: Data cybersecurity company Rubrik acquired Predibase to accelerate the adoption of AI agents by its users. The startup, which helps companies fine-tune AI models, had raised some $28 million in venture capital. Deal amount wasn’t disclosed but was reportedly sizable.

Sailing: German startup Kadmos, which had raised $38 million in external capital for its salary payment platform for seafaring workers, got acquired by NYK Line as part of the Japanese shipping firm’s efforts to expand its fintech services.

Red herring? Embattled AI music startup Suno announced the acquisition of WavTool, a browser-based AI digital audio workstation, in a deal that actually happened a few months ago but that it chose to disclose on the heels of yet another copyright lawsuit.

Unstable ground: Getty Images dropped its primary lawsuit against Stability AI, the startup behind AI image generator Stable Diffusion, but other lawsuits continue, both in the U.S. and in the U.K. 

Weathering the storm: Despite headwinds, Bill Gates-backed startup Airloom Energy is pressing on and started building its first wind power plant in Wyoming.

Most interesting VC and funding news this week

Another week, another $300 million round — sometimes at wildly different valuations, even for the same company. Meanwhile, the small deals keep things interesting, too.

Same amount, new valuation: Harvey AI raised a $300 million Series E co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Coatue. This comes only four months after Sequoia led a $300 million Series D at a $3 billion valuation into the AI-enabled legal tech startup, which is now valued at $5 billion.

AI scribe: Abridge, an AI startup automating medical notes, secured a $300 million Series E led by a16z at a $5.3 billion valuation.

Crypto predictions: Blockchain-based prediction market platform Kalshi raised a $185 million round at a $2 billion post-money valuation, while rival Polymarket is reportedly working on closing a $200 million round at a pre-money valuation around $1 billion.

Money in the bank: Finom, a challenger bank that targets SMBs across Europe, raised some $133 million in a Series C round of funding that comes in addition to the $105 million in growth funding it secured from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund a few weeks ago.

Flying high: Indian drone startup Raphe mPhibr raised $100 million in an all-equity Series B round led by General Catalyst. Its customers include the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as armed police forces.

Easy dictation: AI-powered dictation app Wispr Flow locked in $30 million in a Series A that brought its total funding to $56 million. The company also released an iOS app earlier this month.

Upcycled: Novoloop, a startup that upcycles waste plastic, raised a $21 million Series B to finalize the design and begin the construction of its first commercial-scale plant.

Data processing for AI: Eventual, a startup inspired by a data-processing problem its founders encountered at Lyft, raised two rounds of funding totaling $27.5 million within eight months.

AI voices: Synthflow AI, a Berlin-based no-code platform that lets enterprises build and deploy customized white-label voice AI customer service agents, raised a $20 million Series A led by Accel.

As the name suggests: Better Auth, the third Ethiopian startup to graduate from YC, raised $5 million in seed funding. Its open source framework promises to simplify how developers manage user authentication and has quickly become popular.

Eternal light: Space startup Lux Aeterna came out of stealth with $4 million in pre-seed funding and the ambition to launch a reusable satellite in 2027.

Last but not least

After a two-year break from public life, seasoned early-stage investor, entrepreneur, and author Brad Feld is back with his ninth book, “Give First.” TechCrunch interviewed him about it and more.