Netflix Makes an $82.7B Play for Warner Bros.

Top News

Netflix’s $82.7 billion deal to buy Warner Bros. signals a radical reshaping of old Hollywood, as the streaming leader consolidates prized franchises and triggers heavy regulatory scrutiny while rivals face mounting pressure to scale. The Hollywood Reporter has more here.

SpaceX is pursuing an $800 billion valuation through a secondary sale as investors bet on its dominance in launch and broadband markets, its growing government ties, and a potential blockbuster 2026 IPO. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

The European Union’s decision today to fine X €120 million for deceptive design, opaque ads, and blocking researcher access is a pittance to Musk but a clear sign that Europe is willing to challenge the Trump administration over tech governance. The New York Times has more here.

After Neuralink, Max Hodak Is Building Something Even Wilder

Image Credits: Science Corp.

By Connie Loizos

Six years ago at a StrictlyVC event in San Francisco, I asked Sam Altman how OpenAI, with its complicated corporate structure, would make money. He said that someday, he’d ask the AI. When everyone snickered, he added, “You can laugh. It’s all right. But it really is what I actually believe.”

He wasn’t kidding.

Sitting again in front of an audience, this time across from Max Hodak, the co-founder and CEO of Science Corp., I can’t help but remember that moment with Altman. Pale-complexioned Hodak, wearing jeans and a black zip-up sweatshirt, looks more like he’d fit in at a mosh pit than pitching a company valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. But he’s got a sly sense of humor that keeps the room engaged.

Hodak started programming when he was six, and as an undergraduate at Duke, he worked his way into the lab of Miguel Nicolelis, a pioneering neuroscientist who has since become publicly critical of commercial brain-computer interface ventures. In 2016, Hodak co-founded Neuralink with Elon Musk, serving as its president and essentially running day-to-day operations until 2021.

When I ask what he learned working alongside Musk, Hodak describes a specific pattern. “We got into lots of situations together where something would happen. In my mind, I’d have two diametrically opposed possible solutions, and I would bring them to him, and I’d be like, ‘Is it A or B?’ And he’d look at it and be like, ‘It’s definitely B,’ and the problem would never come back.”

Eventually, Hodak took what he’d learned and roped in three former Neuralink colleagues to launch Science Corp. about four years ago. Like Altman, Hodak describes his team’s improbable goal so placidly that I find myself believing the limits of cognition truly are about to be overcome sooner than most of us realize. And that he’ll be among those who make it happen.

Massive Fundings

Aaru, a two-year-old New York startup that claims to provide near-instant customer research by using AI to simulate user behavior, raised a $50+ million Series A round at a $1 billion “headline” valuation. Redpoint Ventures was the deal lead, with previous investors A*, Abstract Ventures, General Catalyst, Accenture Ventures, and Z Fellows also engaging. TechCrunch has more here.

Digital Asset, a 12-year-old New York company that develops the Canton Network for institutional blockchain infrastructure, raised a $50 million round. Investors included BNY, iCapital, Nasdaq, and S&P Global. Cointelegraph has more here.

Castelion, a four-year-old startup based in Torrance, CA, that builds hypersonic weapons designed for industrial-scale production, raised a $350 million Series B round co-led by Altimeter Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Lavrock Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, First In, Space VC, Cantos, BlueYard, Avenir, Champion Hill, and Interlagos also investing. More here.

Iceye, a 12-year-old company based in Espoo, Finland, that builds synthetic aperture radar satellites that capture high-resolution images through smoke, clouds, and darkness for defense customers, raised a $174.7 million round and sold $58.2 million in secondary shares at a $2.8 billion valuation. The deal was led by General Catalyst, with AP Møller Holding, and Bpifrance also participating. Bloomberg has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Laigo Bio, a three-year-old Dutch startup that develops therapies that degrade disease-driving membrane proteins to treat autoimmune and oncology conditions, raised a $13.4 million seed round co-led by Kurma Partners and Curie Capital, with Argobio Studio, Angelini Ventures, Eurazeo, the Oncode Bridge Fund, ROM Utrecht Region, and Cancer Research Horizons also piling on. EU-Startups has more here.

Multifactor, a San Francisco startup founded this year that aims to enable post-quantum secure, shareable access to online accounts for humans and AI agents, raised a $15 million seed round led by Nexus Venture Partners, with Y Combinator, Taurus Ventures, Honeystone Ventures, Flex Capital, Pioneer Fund, Ritual Capital, Liquid2 Ventures, and Gokul Rajaram also piling on. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Govstream.ai, a one-year-old Seattle startup that builds AI-native permitting tools for local governments, raised a $3.6 million seed round led by 47th Street Partners and including Nellore Capital and Ascend. More here.

Guide Labs, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that builds interpretable AI models and foundation systems that humans can debug and audit, raised a $9 million seed round led by Initialized Capital, with Tectonic Ventures, Y Combinator, Lombardstreet Ventures, E14 Fund, and Pioneer Fund pitching in. More here.

Helmet Security, a startup founded this year based in Washington, DC, that secures connections between AI agents and software and data, raised a $9 million round co-led by SYN Ventures and WhiteRabbit Ventures. SecurityWeek has more here.

Hypercritical, a three-year-old London startup that uses formal logic to generate verifiable control software for safety- and mission-critical systems, raised a $2.7 million pre-seed round. Join Capital was the deal lead, with Octopus Ventures, Tiny Supercomputer Investment Company, and Plug and Play also taking part. Startupmag has more here.

Ply, a three-year-old New York startup that provides inventory and purchasing software for trade contractors, raised an $8.5 million round led by Ferguson Ventures, with Primary and SignalFire also taking part. CityBiz has more here.

PvX, a two-year-old Singapore startup that provides cohort financing and market intelligence for consumer applications, raised a $4.7 million seed extension round led by Z Venture Capital, with Drive by DraftKings and previous investors General Catalyst, Play Ventures, and Storyhouse Ventures also chipping in. It also lined up $250+ million in committed user acquisition financing. More here.

Radical Health, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to personalize cancer care, raised a $5 million pre-seed round led by Khosla Ventures. Fortune has more here.

Exits

Limitless, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that makes an AI-powered wearable pendant for recording conversations and generating summaries, is being acquired by Meta. Terms were not disclosed. CNBC has more here.

People

The constantly shape-shifting Marc Benioff is considering renaming Salesforce to Agentforce, a move that reflects how prominently AI agents now feature in the company’s strategy. Business Insider has more here.

Post-Its

Data

Data Source: Cloudflare

Google’s outsize lead in web visibility, shown in new Cloudflare data revealing it sees over triple the pages rivals can access, highlights how its privileged reach shapes the competitive landscape for AI and search. Wired has more here.

Essential Reads

As mentioned, Netflix’s potential acquisition of Warner Bros. faces a gauntlet of Trump-era politics, DOJ antitrust scrutiny, EU review, and potential state AG challenges. Deadline breaks it down here.

Speaking of the Netflix-Warner deal, The New York Times points out that it represents a monumental shift in strategy for the streamer. More here.

Detours

The artist Beeple explains his thinking behind the $100,000 robot dogs with tech billionaire heads that have become the talk of Art Basel Miami Beach this week.

Wallpaper so convincing, you’ll get caught touching the walls.

RIP Frank Gehry.

Brain Rot