Word on the street: While Europe panics about foreign critical raw materials, a Würzburg-based DeepTech startup decided to mine the garbage instead. WeSort.AI just secured €10 million to scale its AI-based technology that recovers critical raw materials from recycling plants. Sources say this is what happens when geopolitical supply chain anxiety meets German engineering precision. You didn't hear it from me, but trash is the new gold — literally. [Read more]

Sources say: Boston-based AgZen just closed a $10 million Series B led by DCVC Bio (with Material Impact and Astanor Ventures joining the party) for its "feedback-optimized" precision spraying tech. Their RealCoverage unit uses cameras and AI to tell farmers exactly how to optimize their sprayers — from nozzle selection to boom height. DCVC Bio called out "quantifiable ROI" as the reason they wrote the check. Apparently, saving farmers money on chemicals while boosting yields is... revolutionary? Who knew! [Read more]

Spotted in Seattle: Certiv emerged from stealth with $4.2 million in pre-seed funding to build endpoint security for AI agents. Led by serial entrepreneur Jason Needham (whose previous startups were snapped up by Apple and VMware), the company's tech sits on employee machines and acts as a gatekeeper between AI agents and company systems. With Kevin Mandia raising $190M for AI agent security last week and Onyx Security grabbing $35M, this space is officially hot. You didn't hear it from me, but the AI agents are coming — and someone needs to keep them in line. Investors include Aviso Ventures, Founders' Co-op, and Fortson. [Read more]

Word on the street: Pittsburgh-based Eileen (no, not the fashion brand) secured $1 million in pre-seed funding led by Top Shelf Ventures for its AI-driven retail execution platform. The startup helps brands bridge the gap between store floor insights and action — using prescriptive analytics to tell retailers what they should do next. In a world where every brand wants to be "data-driven," Eileen is selling the roadmap. [Read more]

Sources say: UK-based Chorus Intelligence, which provides digital intelligence and investigative software for law enforcement, raised £15 million from Maven Capital Partners. The Virginia Beach office (yes, they have US operations too) is apparently used by law enforcement agencies to piece together digital evidence. In an era of cyber-everything, digital forensics is having a moment — and Chorus is cashing in. [Read more]

Spotted in South Korea: CAMP, a Seoul-based startup offering laser-based engineering and manufacturing solutions for aerospace and defense, closed a seed round from Series Ventures. The company combines Laser Beam Welding (LBW) technology with robotic automation — and they're reportedly pursuing South Korea's first globally recognized LBW process certification. With defense tech heating up globally, CAMP is positioning itself for entry into the international commercial aviation market. You didn't hear it from me, but laser welding is the new black. [Read more]

Garry Tan (@garrytan) — President & CEO at Y Combinator — dropped some founder wisdom: "If I can do 16k LOC per day across 3 different projects (including one open source one you can see yourself) then I think almost any technical CEO CTO pair at YC will. That's the bar now."

Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) — Co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz — kept it characteristically pithy: "There is no substitute for the person who Knows What To Do." Short. Sweet. Vintage a16z hiring philosophy.

Keith Rabois (@rabois) — General Partner at Khosla Ventures — on management: "obviously. a manager's role is to produce output." Brutal. Efficient. Very Keith.

Garry Tan (@garrytan) — with a proverb that feels very VC-applicable: "Enjoy the golden eggs. Don't eat the golden goose." Translation: extract value sustainably, or kill the thing that creates it. Your board will thank you.

Sahil Lavingia (@shl) — Founder of Gumroad, now working with the IRS — on founder transitions: "It's true that as gumroad CEO I didn't care that much about security - the new CEO does though, and you'll see this get fixed quickly." Honest. Refreshing. And a reminder that founder priorities evolve — or get handed off to people who care about different things.

Meta's $27 Billion Shopping Spree: Spotted: Meta just inked a five-year, $27 billion deal with Nebius for GPU-as-a-Service. We're talking $12 billion in dedicated processing capacity using Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform. When the big clouds are planning to spend nearly $700 billion on capex in 2026, you know compute is the new couture. [Read more]

OpenAI's PE Play: Word on the street: OpenAI is in advanced talks to form a $10 billion joint venture with private equity heavyweights TPG, Brookfield, and Bain Capital. The venture would focus on bolstering adoption of OpenAI's software. When the AI darling of Silicon Valley starts courting PE, you know the game is changing. [Read more]