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Welcome to Startups Weekly — a weekly roundup of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want this in your inbox every Friday? Register here.
This week was supposed to be a short week as it started with a holiday in the US. But the day of the inauguration occupied some foundersand the days that followed brought us more than our fair share of startup news.
The most interesting startup stories of the week
This week reminded us that not all sales are created equal and that it’s often worth looking beyond the price tag. Moreover, there were legal problems for AI decacorn.
There is no separation: Divvy Homes, a rental startup backed by a16z, For sale to a division of Brookfield Properties for about $1 billion. But some shareholders may not see a penny from sales.
Beauty is for sale: Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever agreed Get Minimalist, an Indian skincare startup backed by Peak XV for about $342 million — more than the $300 million it sought in last year’s fundraising effort.
Great markup: Metropolis, an AI-powered parking platform acquired computer vision company Oosto for a fraction of what the startup has raised to date. The company, formerly known as AnyVision, has lost backers over technology used in controversial surveillance programs.
Legal conflict: Faced with Scale AI, which was valued at $13.8 billion last year third employee claim 2025, contractors claim psychological harm from posting notices about disturbing content. A spokesperson for Scale AI said it had “numerous safeguards”.
This week’s most interesting VC and finance news
Series B rounds announced this week varied widely in size, with some of them outpacing other Series C rounds. There are still more letters in the alphabet for companies that don’t want to go public yet.
Pre-IPO letters: Databricks data analytics platform Closes $10 billion Series J equity financing round Valued at $62 billion, with an additional $5.25 billion in debt financing. Meta supports the company as a strategic investor.
From cats to unicorns: Neko Health, a Swedish body-scanning startup founded by Spotify’s Daniel Ek, whose name means “cat” in Japanese, has grown. $260 million in Series B funding $1.8 billion after money.
Money to move: Lindus Health, backed by Peter Thiel and Creandum, is currently relocating its headquarters from the UK to the US. $55 million Series B to “fix a broken clinical trial industry.”
Spend less: Vertice, an AI-powered SaaS spend management platform It raised a $50 million Series C round of funding It is led by Lakestar at a valuation close to $500 million, according to sources.
Indian robotics: India-based autonomous mobile robots startup Ati Motors raised $20 million Series B grow internationally. The US already dominates Ati’s revenue, and the company hopes to further benefit from demand for robotics manufactured outside of China.
Crypto cryptocurrency: AngelList and CoinList have merged, leveraging the return of cryptocurrency launch crypto-specific tools and crypto-tools this will allow cryptocurrency developers to raise capital using crypto coins.
Last but not least
AI is still hot, but there are always sub-sectors that VCs are more interested in. To figure out which one the types of AI startups they want to support the most this year, TechCrunch summarized some of the results of our recent survey of 20 enterprise VCs. In short: think companies, not features.
