Word on the street: While the rest of us were sleeping, Zurich-based Rivia just secured €13 million to bring agentic AI to the messy world of clinical trials. You didn't hear it from me, but this startup is building AI agents that don't just store trial data — they actively surface insights, flag anomalies, and coordinate operations in real-time. After a €3M seed last June, Rivia is now going after the fragmented data nightmare that makes biotech executives cry into their espresso. FDA and EMA compliance included, naturally. Sources say the regulatory moat here is basically a fortress. [Read more]

Sources say: California-based R1 Therapeutics just closed an oversubscribed $77.5 million Series A co-led by Abingworth, F-Prime, and DaVita Venture Group. Their drug AP306 claims to be the only agent that blocks the "active" transport of phosphate in chronic kidney disease patients — because apparently existing therapies are too passive for Sand Hill Road's taste. Phase 2b trials start later this year. You didn't hear it from me, but Chugai developed the original compound and Alebund Pharma handed R1 the worldwide sublicense. That's what I call a pedigree. [Read more]

Spotted: Mestag Therapeutics raised $40 million from some VERY fancy investors — we're talking Johnson & Johnson, Forbion, and Google Ventures. The money will fund their Phase 1 STARLYS study of a bispecific antibody for solid tumors, starting mid-2026. Word on the street is that having J&J and GV in the same cap table is basically the biotech equivalent of being seen at the Met Gala with Anna Wintour AND Rihanna. The validation is real, darlings. [Read more]

Sources say: Tracebit just bagged $20 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark to scale its cloud deception security platform. The company plants millions of "canaries" — decoy files, credentials, and endpoints — across cloud environments to catch intruders in the act. You didn't hear it from me, but this is basically setting a trap for hackers with fake treasure. Eighteen months after their $5M seed, Tracebit is proving that fake data is sometimes more valuable than real data. Enterprise security teams are apparently "warming to deception." How... theatrical. [Read more]

Spotted in Stuttgart: ISPTech raised €5.5 million in seed funding led by Join Capital to build propulsion systems for agile in-orbit maneuvering. Their HyNOx and HIP_11 technologies promise non-toxic, multimode propulsion — because apparently traditional rocket fuel is too basic for 2026. You didn't hear it from me, but this German Aerospace Center spin-off is preparing customer missions including a smallsat launch THIS YEAR. While everyone else is building satellites that just sit there, ISPTech is making them dance. First launch scheduled for 2026. Mark your calendars. [Read more]

Word on the street: Paris-based Blify secured $2.1 million in pre-seed funding for its AI-native Learning Operating System. The twist? Training happens INSIDE Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, and email — the apps employees already use. You didn't hear it from me, but this is what happens when HR tech realizes nobody wants to log into another LMS dashboard. If learning happens where work happens, maybe employees will actually learn something? Revolutionary concept. [Read more]

Spotted in Berlin: Upvest raised $125 million (€90M equity + $35M debt) at a €640 million valuation led by Sapphire Ventures and Tencent. The company powers investing infrastructure for Revolut, N26, and Santander's Openbank — processing over 100 million investment orders last year. You didn't hear it from me, but they're rolling out "AI-supported investment engines" for autonomous, hyper-personalized advisory services. When Tencent AND Sapphire show up to your round, you're officially playing in the big leagues. [Read more]

Garry Tan (@garrytan) — President & CEO at Y Combinator — dropped some founder wisdom on product-market fit: "Sometimes startups feel like: Make people want something that they should want. Sometimes you convince people, and you get product-market-fit. Sometimes the people convince you, and you pivot. There are many paths."

Garry Tan (@garrytan) — on the future of AI-assisted coding: "I am coding a lot, GStack is helping me do it... Is 16k LOC/day sustainable for me? We're going to find out if I can manage to get to L8 software factory. I have not done it yet. But you can tell the models are about to get much much better. L8 is barely possible today, and I think I'm close. But everyone will be there soon."

Garry Tan (@garrytan) — on his latest YC founder meeting: "You can build an agent but it is blind without data. The founders of @RunCaptainRAG applied their NLP research in their startup to create automated file search. Really accurate results within Garry's List. Here they are at the YC MV office doing a Collison install with me."

Jason Lemkin (@jasonlk) — SaaStr founder and VC voice — on the AI transformation in customer success: "CS and CX are being reinvented. The teams using AI agents for onboarding, QBR prep, and churn prediction are crushing their retention numbers. Come see how at SaaStr AI 2026. May 12-14. SF Bay."

Jason Lemkin (@jasonlk) — on agentic commerce: "Agentic commerce is already rewriting how sales, support, marketing works in eCommerce as it is. Right now AI agents aren't shopping for people per se, but AI Agents are leading the interactions with customers and merging all customer interactions from a disparate group of apps and chats into a single AI Agents interface. It's a big deal."

Sam Altman (@sama) — OpenAI CEO — on the Jony Ive hardware collaboration: "We are not shutting it down, quite the opposite! I think you will love what the team is building." (In response to critics questioning OpenAI's $6.5B hardware investment)

Jason Lemkin (@jasonlk) — on debt and profitability: "Debt without profits can easily become a death spiral." Short. Brutal. Probably true.

Mastercard's $1.8B Stablecoin Shopping Spree: Spotted: Mastercard just agreed to acquire BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure startup, for up to $1.8 billion. This comes just four months after BVNK's $2B deal with Coinbase fell through. The purchase includes $300M in contingent payments. When Mastercard starts buying crypto infrastructure for billions, you know the institutional FOMO is real. [Read more]

SoCal Defense Startups Get Their Funding Back: Word on the street: Congress just passed legislation restoring federal funding to Southern California's defense tech startups, ending a months-long dispute. The extended SBIR programs will distribute funding to startups like Anduril Industries and K2 Space. In 2024 alone, 71 California companies received $173M from SpaceWERX. The new compromise includes no lifetime caps but limits how many times companies can apply annually. Defense tech is officially back in vogue, darlings. [Read more]

Advanced Navigation Raises $110M Series C: Sources say: Advanced Navigation just raised $110 million in Series C funding led by Airtree Ventures to meet skyrocketing demand for alternative PNT (Positioning, Navigation, Timing) technologies. With existing backers like KKR, In-Q-Tel, and Main Sequence, this Australian company is becoming a key player in the global autonomy race. When defense and autonomy are both hot, you get $110M rounds. Simple math. [Read more]