OpenAI May Be Looking to Team Up with Amazon

Top News

According to a report in The Information, OpenAI is in talks with Amazon about a potential $10+ billion Amazon investment that would include commitments from OpenAI to use Amazon’s AI chips and cloud infrastructure. TechCrunch has more here.

Speaking of OpenAI, the company has reportedly been talking to investors about raising from tens of billions of dollars to a whopping $100 billion at a $750 billion valuation. The Information has more here.

Oracle shares fell 5% after reports that Blue Owl Capital balked at financing a $10 billion Michigan data center for OpenAI, underscoring investor anxiety about Oracle’s swelling debt load and long-term lease commitments. CNBC has more here.

Warner Bros. Discovery urged shareholders to reject Paramount’s $77.9 billion hostile bid, arguing the offer’s funding is shaky and riskier than Netflix’s $72 billion deal for its studios and HBO Max. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

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Cisco Says Chinese Hackers Are Exploiting Its Customers With a New Zero-Day

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

On Wednesday, Cisco announced hackers are exploiting a critical vulnerability in some of its most popular products that allows the full takeover of affected devices. Worse, there are no patches available at this time.

In a security advisory, Cisco said it discovered a hacking campaign on December 10 targeting Cisco AsyncOS software, and in particular the physical and virtual appliances Cisco Secure Email Gateway, Cisco Secure Email, and Web Manager. The advisory said affected devices have a feature called “Spam Quarantine” enabled and are reachable from the internet. 

Cisco noted that this feature is not enabled by default and does not need to be exposed to the internet, which may be good news. Michael Taggart, a senior cybersecurity researcher at UCLA Health Sciences, told TechCrunch that “the requirement of an internet-facing management interface and certain features being enabled will limit the attack surface for this vulnerability.”

However, Kevin Beaumont, a security researcher who tracks hacking campaigns, told TechCrunch that this appears to be a particularly problematic hacking campaign since a lot of big organizations use the affected products, there are no patches available, and it’s unclear how long the hackers had backdoors in the affected systems. 

At this point Cisco is not saying how many customers are affected.

When reached by TechCrunch, Cisco spokesperson Meredith Corley did not answer a series of questions, and instead said that the company “is actively investigating the issue and developing a permanent remediation.”

Massive Fundings

Ambros Therapeutics, a two-year-old startup based in Irvine, CA, that is developing a non-opioid pain medication to treat complex regional pain syndrome, raised a $125 million Series A round co-led by RA Capital Management and Patient Square Capital, with Abiogen Pharma also participating. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Digantara, a five-year-old Bengaluru startup that develops space-based missile detection and surveillance technology, raised a $50 million Series B round. Investors included 360 ONE Asset and SBI Investment of Japan as well as prior backers Peak XV Partners and Kalaari Capital. The company has raised a total of $64.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

MoEngage, an 11-year-old Bengaluru and San Francisco company that provides customer engagement software for consumer brands, raised a $57 million Series F round at a $900 million+ post-money valuation. The company also sold $123 million in secondary shares and completed a $15 million employee tender offer. The deal was co-led by ChrysCapital and Dragon Funds, with Schroders Capital as well as previous investors TR Capital and B Capital also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.

Mythic, a 14-year-old Austin and Palo Alto company that develops analog AI processors, raised a $125 million round led by DCVC, with New Enterprise Associates, Atreides Management, SoftBank, Honda Motor, Lockheed Martin, Future Ventures, S3 Ventures, Linse Capital, One Madison Group, Catapult, and UDC also piling on. More here.

Nanit, a 10-year-old New York company that provides AI-powered baby monitoring and sleep analytics for early childhood development, raised a $50 million round led by Springcoast Partners, with Upfront Ventures and JVP also investing. CityBiz has more here.

Premialab, a 10-year-old Dubai startup that provides data and analytics for quantitative investing, raised a $220 million round co-led by KKR and previous investor Balderton. Wamda has more here.

Radiant Nuclear, a five-year-old startup based in El Segundo, CA, that develops portable nuclear microreactors, raised a $300+ million round at a $1.8+ billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Draper Associates and Boost VC, with Washington Harbour Partners, Friends & Family Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Align Ventures, DCVC, Founders Fund, ARK Venture Fund, and Chevron Technology Ventures also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

SkillCorner, a nine-year-old Paris startup that provides AI-driven sports tracking and performance data, raised a $60 million round led by Silversmith Capital Partners. More here.

Tebra, a five-year-old startup based in Newport Beach CA, that provides EHR and practice-management software, raised $250 million in equity and debt. The deal was led by previous investor Hildred, with prior backers Montreux Growth Partners, Toba Capital, Transformation Capital, and HLM Venture Partners also taking part. JP Morgan provided the debt. More here.

Trade Republic, an 11-year-old Berlin company that offers commission-free retail investing across stocks, ETFs, and bonds, completed a $1.4 billion secondary share sale that values the business at $14.7 billion. Investors included Founders Fund, Sequoia, Fidelity, Wellington, and GIC. Tech Funding News has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Allink Biotherapeutics, a three-year-old Shanghai startup that develops antibody-drug conjugates and multispecific antibody therapies for cancer and immunology, raised a $47 million Series A extension co-led by Legend Capital and Meituan Long-Z Investment. Tech in Asia has more here.

Ankar, a two-year-old London startup that provides AI-powered software for managing the full patent lifecycle, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Atomico, with Index Ventures, Norrsken VC, and Daphni also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $24 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Arcads.ai, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that generates AI-created marketing videos for social media, raised a $16 million seed round led by Eurazeo, with Alpha Intelligence Capital and Sequoia also stepping up. More here.

Codoxo, a nine-year-old startup based in Duluth, GA, that provides AI-powered healthcare payment integrity software, raised a $35 million Series C round led by CVS Health Ventures, with Echo Health Ventures, Sands Capital, 111 West Capital, Brewer Lane Ventures, Wipro Ventures, 450 Ventures, and QED Investors also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $75+ million. More here.

Drive Health, a four-year-old startup based in Gilbert, AZ, that develops agentic AI software to automate and audit clinical workflows for care teams, raised a $15 million round. Investors included Vitalis Ventures and Inside Capital Partners. More here.

Ember LifeSciences, a four-year-old Los Angeles startup that develops cold chain technology for transporting medicines and vaccines, raised a $16.5 million Series A round led by Sea Court Capital, with Cardinal Health and Carrier Ventures also chiming in. More here.

HEN Technologies, a six-year-old startup based in Hayward, CA, that builds AI-driven fire suppression and prediction software, raised a $20 million Series A round led by O’Neil Strategic Capital, with NSFO, Tanas Capital, and z21 Ventures also digging in. The company has raised a total of $30+ million. Fire & Safety Journal has more here.

Roamless, a three-year-old Istanbul startup that is building a global mobile operator app to provide cross-border connectivity without swapping SIMs, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Rasmal Ventures and including Shorooq, Revo Capital, Finberg, and JIMCO. The company uas raised a total of $18 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Thread Bank, a four-year-old Nashville startup that provides embedded and digital banking services, raised a $30.5 million round led by Portage Ventures, with Rockmont Partners also engaging. Retail Banker International has