Glue is holding it together

Glue sticks around for Series A: The startup — a workplace collaboration tool which once pitched itself as an AI-powered Slack rival — was co-founded by investor, White House Crypto & AI Czar, and JCal Bestie David Sacks. They’ve semi-pivoted recently, with a diminished focus on inter-office communication in favor of agentic AI tools that take actions across other third-party apps. The company closed a $20 million Series A round this week, led by Abstract Ventures and including Sacks’ own VC shingle, Craft.

OpenAI updates? In the Ticker?! Shocking, but true. The TWiST 500 kingpins announced a new partnership with retail giant Walmart, allowing users to browse and even purchase products directly through ChatGPT. The feature — which will integrate a “Buy” button directly into the chatbot’s responses for certain items, such as clothing, physical media, and pre-packaged foods — launches sometime in the fall, taking us yet one step closer to the inevitability of ads in our AI outputs. Also on Tuesday, OpenAI chief Sam Altman announced on X that GPT-5 will get an (opt-in) personality upgrade now that the company has “mitigate[d] the serious mental health issues” that plagued its 4o release. Altman also revealed that, starting in December, verified adult ChatGPT users will have the option to sext with the chatbot, and instruct it to pen “erotica.”

Dexory raises cash for smart warehouses: The UK-based startup (see, there are some!) uses a coordinated set of robots, digital twins, and AI to make warehouse operations autonomous. Their key challenge is not making robots that can carry the boxes, but accurately capturing real-time data about the warehouse’s stock and inventory. This week, they announced a $100 million Series C equity raise, along with $65 million in debt, bringing the grand total to $165 million in new funding. Dexory has already landed a few significant accounts — their tech is in use today by some big name logistics, manufacturing, and pharmaceutical firms — and the company even has a US headquarters now in Nashville.

Handshake: The career platform for recent college grads is already a major player in the professional-facing social media platform scene, with over 20 million users spread across over 1,600 schools and participation from 100% of the Fortune 100. (That’s all of them!) But it’s 2025 and no company, even one this established and successful, is safe from AI disruption. The startup is going all in on AI, laying off about 15% of its human workforce and reorienting the business around agentic tools for both job seekers and recruiters, making each process faster, less labor-intensive, and more efficient.

Navan: Something of a Gusto for business travel, Navan makes tools for employers whose staff is constantly on the go, automating invoices, expensing, booking flights, and so forth. Though the US government is technically shut down at the moment, Navan nonetheless filed updated IPO docs with the SEC this week, with a plan to go public and sell 30 million shares at $24-$26, on top of 7 million investor shares. At the high end, this works out to around a $960 million raise at a $6.45 billion valuation. Once things are up and running again, the SEC will review the filings and Navan can (hopefully!) kick off their roadshow.

Oura: The Finnish “smart ring” makers have been buzzy lately, getting a splashy profile in the New York Times, releasing an upgraded model with a snazzy ceramic finish, and ranking on several publications’ “Best Inventions of 2025” lists. Now they’ve announced $900 million in fresh funding, in a round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company. Oura reports that they’re valued at around $11 billion, more than double their previous valuation last December. So far, the company has sold approximately 5.5 million smart rings; they estimate sales will cross $1 billion some time this year.

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