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Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recapitulation of everything you ca n’t miss from the earthly concern of startups . Want it in your inbox every Friday?Sign up here .

It ’s rare to cover on an 11 - figure inauguration acquisition , permit alone multiple high - economic value deals in a undivided calendar week . And there are more pernicious signs that things are look surprisingly upbeat in startup country .

Most interesting startup stories from the week

This hebdomad brought us some skill , new startups , and sometimes heated competition .

Bet pay off : Ittook some serious nervefor Wiz to take the air away from Google ’s $ 23 billion offer last year , but it was deserving it . Google now agreed to paya put down $ 32 billion in cashto grease one’s palms the cloud security startup , plus another $ 1 billion in retentivity fillip .

This exit will be a large liquidity outcome for many , but particularly for Israel - ground VC Cyberstarts , which will get amassive 200x returnon its early investment into hotshot .

Amped up : SoftBank Groupwill acquire chip startup Ampere Computingin a $ 6.5 billion all - cash deal that is carry to come together in the second one-half of 2025 .

Reinsured : Insurtech startup Next Insurance is getting acquired by Germany ’s Munich Refor $ 2.6 billion .

Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI

Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI

Synthetic dream : Nvidiareportedly acquiredsynthetic data startup Gretel for a nine - figure Leontyne Price tag exceed its belated $ 320 million valuation .

bit and bolt : The former CEO role of one - click check-out procedure inauguration Bolt is establish a fresh tocopherol - Commerce Department startup . Spangle AI , as it ’s holler , make custom landing place pagesfor shoppers ground on what they searched for or come home on .

Generalist robots : A central senior inquiry scientist at DeepMind left Googleto create Generalist AI , a stealth robotics startup that is already back by Nvidia , with the aspiration “ to make oecumenical - purpose automaton a reality . ”

Replaced : in short after its IPO filing , Swedish scurf - up Klarna foretell it would nowbe Walmart ’s exclusive BNPL partnerinstead of competition Affirm .

Freightnemies : Logistics unicorn Flexport issuing two former employeeswho formed competing startup Freightmate AI , alleging that they stole document and code , which the span powerfully denies .

60 minutes drama : HR tech party Ripplingis suing competitor Deelin a lawsuit mostly centered on an employee who riffle claim was function as a undercover agent for Deel . Deel denied the allegation .

Most interesting VC and funding news this week

Here are some funding news particular that , perhaps jolly unexpectedly , suggest at authority this calendar week .

European swarm : Evroc , a Swedish startup aiming to build up “ secure , supreme , and sustainable hyperscale cloud ” from Europe , raised$55 million in Series A financing .

No dilution : Spanish 60 minutes unicorn Factorialsecured $ 120 millionfrom General Catalyst . This is neither equity nor speculation debt , but rather a nondilutive loan .

Assistive scheduling : Graphite , an AI - powered computer code - critical review platform , fix a $ 52 million Series B roundled by Accel , with participation from Anthropic ’s Anthology Fund and others .

AI - hungry : Food atomic number 99 - commercialism inauguration GrubMarket raiseda $ 50 million Series G equity roundat a post - money valuation of over $ 3.5 billion and said it will fund the implementation of more technology , including AI .

Upbeat : Fintech - concentrate VC business firm Ribbit Capital israising $ 500 millionfor a new stock in yet another positive signaling for the sector .

Climate investments : Just Climate , an offshoot of Al Gore ’s Generation Investment Management , raised $ 175 millionfrom Microsoft ’s Climate Innovation Fund and CalSTRS .

Last but not least

briefly afterY Combinator ’s W25 Demo Dayand a couple workweek before its spring batch , the accelerator announced thedeparture of once - CEO Michael Seibel , who had already transition into a less operational mathematical group partner persona and will now simply be a “ partner emeritus . ”