💥 Meta Buys 49% of Scale AI for $14B—One of the Largest Secondary Liquidity Events in VC History
In a bold and unconventional move, Meta has acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI for approximately $14 billion, delivering a $12.8 billion cash dividend to Scale shareholders. The deal—part liquidity event, part talent acquisition—marks one of the largest secondary payouts ever in a venture-backed company.

At the heart of the transaction: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s push to close the AI gap. The deal brings Scale founder Alexandr Wang to Meta, where he’s expected to take on a senior AI role. In return, Wang receives over $1 billion, much of it vesting over five years.

Despite Scale falling short of revenue targets—missing its $1B forecast and facing criticism over data quality—Meta paid a premium price, just above Scale’s previous valuation. The deal signals that strategic buyers remain hungry for AI infrastructure, even when fundamentals are mixed.

But not all outcomes are created equal. While shareholders received a significant dividend, Meta secured a full liquidation preference until 2027, meaning it will get repaid in full before any other investor sees proceeds in a sale. Preferred shares also convert to common, diluting protections for late-stage holders.

The implications for the secondary market are significant:

• Massive liquidity in a private deal: $12.8B in cash returned via dividend, not an acquisition.
• Governance trade-offs: Meta gets influence over exits/fundraising but no full voting control.
• Founder transition risk: Wang leaves operational leadership but retains board seat and super-voting power.
• Customer churn: Companies like Google are reportedly moving away post-deal due to Meta's involvement. Still, OpenAI’s chief financial officer said that the ChatGPT maker, a rival to both Meta and Google, plans to continue its work with Scale.

🤖 Meta Buys Into AI Funds to Acquihire Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross
Just days after its record-setting $14.3B investment in Scale AI, Meta is doubling down on its AI ambitions—with another strategic move that blends venture investing, talent acquisition, and competitive positioning.
Meta is reportedly finalizing a deal to hire Nat Friedman (former GitHub CEO and noted AI investor) and Daniel Gross (Safe Superintelligence cofounder), both of whom run an influential early-stage AI fund. To secure the hires, Meta is partly buying out their venture fund, with sources suggesting the transaction may exceed $1 billion.
What makes this unique? By investing in the fund, Meta will gain indirect exposure to some of the hottest AI startups in the market—SSI, ElevenLabs, Pika, and Perplexity—though without information rights, preserving founder confidentiality (for now).

🛡️ OpenAI Lands $200M Pentagon Contract in First Defense Deal
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded OpenAI a $200 million contract to develop AI solutions for “national security challenges” across both battlefield and enterprise applications. This marks OpenAI’s first formal defense contract—a major step in the company's deepening alignment with U.S. government initiatives.
While the DoD hasn’t disclosed specifics around the “warfighting” aspects, OpenAI clarified that its work will focus on cybersecurity and digital infrastructure for service members, not weapons systems—consistent with its current use policies.
The deal follows OpenAI’s quiet policy shift in early 2024, when it removed its previous ban on military applications. Since then, OpenAI has announced a partnership with Anduril to co-develop AI for anti-drone defense and has seen senior leadership—like CPO Kevin Weil—begin advising the U.S. Army on tech modernization efforts.

xAI Burning $1B/Month, Seeks $9.3B in Fresh Capital
Elon Musk’s xAI is reportedly burning through $1 billion per month as it races to build competitive AI models, according to Bloomberg. The company is now looking to raise $9.3 billion in debt and equity, with plans to deploy more than half of that capital within the next three months. Despite the aggressive spend, xAI has told investors to expect only $500 million in revenue for 2025—underscoring the company’s moonshot strategy and widening burn-to-revenue gap.

💳 Stripe Acquires Privy to Deepen Web3 Push
Stripe is acquiring Privy, a crypto wallet infrastructure startup, in a move to expand its Web3 capabilities and streamline blockchain integration for mainstream digital products.
Privy builds embedded wallets that allow users to interact with crypto apps without needing external wallet sign-ups—a key step in making Web3 more accessible to everyday users.

This marks Stripe’s second crypto acquisition in 2025, following its February deal with Bridge, aimed at scaling digital dollar infrastructure for global businesses. The Privy acquisition reinforces Stripe’s reentry into the crypto space after a six-year hiatus and follows its recent initiative to develop a USD stablecoin product targeted at markets outside the U.S., UK, and Europe.
Stripe is clearly positioning itself as a major player in blockchain-enabled payments—with product, talent, and infrastructure bets stacking up fast.

🪙 Shopify Rolls Out Stablecoin Payments in Biggest Crypto Push Yet
Shopify is making its boldest move into crypto to date, announcing plans to enable stablecoin payments for all merchants on its platform later this year. The rollout begins in late June, with select users in the U.S. able to accept USDC, the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle—fresh off one of 2025’s most-watched IPOs.
The feature will gradually expand to merchants across the U.S. and Europe, before going platform-wide. Shopify partnered with Coinbase to build a payment protocol on the Base blockchain, designed to support chargebacks, refunds, and other core retail needs. Stripe, a longtime payments partner, is also involved—helping integrate stablecoins directly into Shopify’s checkout stack.
With this move, Shopify joins a growing list of Big Tech firms exploring blockchain-based payments as a faster, cheaper, and more programmable alternative to traditional rails.

📊 Canva Acquires MagicBrief to Expand Into Ad Analytics
Design giant Canva, now valued at $32 billion, is making its 12th acquisition—this time stepping into the ad analytics space. The company announced it’s acquiring MagicBrief, a startup that helps brands track ad performance, spending, and competitor engagement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
With over 240 million users, Canva continues to push beyond design tools, competing with Adobe Creative Cloud while rapidly expanding its AI capabilities across design, code, and automation. The MagicBrief acquisition signals Canva’s intent to deepen its role in marketing, offering users insights alongside creative tools.

📱 Klarna to Enter Mobile Market, Following Revolut and N26
Swedish fintech giant Klarna is set to launch its own mobile services, joining the ranks of Revolut and N26 in blending fintech with telecom. The move comes as Klarna looks to diversify revenue beyond “buy now, pay later” and strengthen user engagement ahead of a potential IPO.
With over 150 million users, Klarna’s mobile push aligns with its broader strategy to become a full-stack financial and commerce platform, following recent expansions into AI-powered shopping tools and advertising.

🤖 Revolut Unveils AI Financial Assistant Amid Product Expansion
UK-based Revolut will soon launch an AI-driven financial assistant, offering real-time insights and personalized money management. This follows recent product rollouts, including mobile plans, wealth services, and travel insurance, as Revolut inches closer to a UK banking license.
Serving over 40 million users, Revolut’s AI assistant reinforces its super-app ambitions and deepens its competitive edge in the evolving fintech landscape.

🚀 Navan Files Confidentially for IPO, Aiming for $8–12 B Valuation
Navan (formerly TripActions) has filed confidential IPO paperwork, with sources indicating a target public debut as early as Q4 2025—possibly sooner depending on market conditions.
In its last fiscal year ending January, Navan generated approximately $540 million in revenue, marking over 33% year-over-year growth. According to past Business Insider reporting, Navan expects to close 2025 with $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and “40% YoY EBITDA growth”.
Analysts project an IPO valuation between $8 billion and $12 billion, making it one of the most substantial pure-play travel-tech listings.

💰 Fundraising & Valuation Watch: AI, SaaS, Infra, and CPG
OpenAI is actively seeking new backers—including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and India’s Reliance Industries—as part of its ambitious $40 billion fundraising effort, aimed at fueling its compute, research, and global expansion.

Ramp, the corporate card and expense management startup, is in talks to raise $200 million at a valuation of approximately $16 billion, up from $5.8B in 2023. Ramp has seen rapid growth, hitting $700 million in annualized revenue by January—more than doubling in under six months.

Vast Data, a storage platform powering AI workloads, is seeking capital at a rumored $25 billion valuation, as infrastructure investments heat up in the AI arms race.

Intercom is reportedly selling over $100 million in secondary shares, with pricing valuing the customer support software company at $2 billion+.

Kore.ai, focused on enterprise conversational AI, is fundraising at a valuation between $2.5B and $4B.

Gecko Robotics closed a Series D round at a $1.25B valuation, reflecting investor interest in industrial automation and infrastructure resilience.

Juniper Square, which builds AI tools for VC and PE fund management, raised $130 million at a $1.1B valuation to scale its capital management software.

Helsing, a defense AI company, raised $682 million in late-stage funding, solidifying its position as one of Europe’s most heavily backed AI defense startups.

Liquid Death, the edgy canned water brand, is looking to raise up to $20 million to expand production. The company expects $340 million in revenue this year (+40% YoY) and aims to hit EBITDA profitability.

Coralogix, which uses AI for observability and log management, raised $115 million at a valuation exceeding $1 billion, joining the AI-native DevOps unicorn club.