Hinge Health and MNTN Eye the Public Market
Both Hinge Health and MNTN have recently completed successful initial public offerings (IPOs).

Hinge Health, a digital physical therapy startup, went public on the New York Stock Exchange, pricing its shares at $32 each. The IPO raised approximately $437 million, with $273 million going to the company and $164 million to selling shareholders. Shares closed at $37.56 on the first day, marking a 17.4% increase.

MNTN, an advertising technology firm specializing in connected TV marketing, also debuted on the NYSE with shares priced at $16. The IPO raised $187.2 million through the sale of 11.7 million shares. On its first trading day, MNTN's stock surged 65%, closing above $26 and valuing the company at approximately $1.62 billion.

Google and OpenAI Unveil Advanced AI Coding Agents
At the recent Google I/O 2025 conference, Google introduced "Agent Mode" within its Gemini app, marking a significant advancement in AI capabilities. This feature allows users to delegate complex tasks and planning to Gemini, moving beyond traditional reactive AI functionalities. Agent Mode is part of Google's broader initiative to integrate agentic AI functionalities across its platforms, including Chrome and Search. These enhancements aim to empower Gemini to handle tasks autonomously, such as organizing schedules and executing multi-step actions, signifying a shift towards more proactive and intelligent AI assistance in daily life.

In parallel, OpenAI has launched a revamped version of its Codex AI, a cloud-based software engineering agent designed to perform complex programming tasks from natural language commands. This new iteration of Codex operates entirely in the cloud, allowing it to autonomously read, write, and run code within a secure sandbox environment. It can handle multiple tasks simultaneously, such as writing features, fixing bugs, and proposing pull requests for review, all preloaded with the user's repository.

OpenAI to Acquire Jony Ive’s AI Device Startup for $6.5 Billion
Competition in the AI consumer hardware space is heating up fast. While Google has already launched its smart glasses, OpenAI is quietly preparing its own innovative device.
OpenAI is acquiring io, an AI hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in a deal valued at nearly $6.5 billion. The startup’s 55 employees will join OpenAI, with Ive leading creative and design efforts—though he won’t become an OpenAI employee directly. Instead, his design firm, LoveFrom, will remain independent while continuing to collaborate closely with OpenAI. This acquisition clearly signals OpenAI’s ambition to break into the consumer hardware market with AI-first products.

Details about the new devices remain scarce. Previous reports hint at concepts like a screenless “phone” or AI-powered home gadgets. According to The Wall Street Journal, Altman told OpenAI staff that the first product could launch as early as late next year.

In the fast-moving AI landscape, 18 months can feel like an eternity. By the time OpenAI’s device hits the market, consumers may already be interacting with AI assistants on phones, wearables, or smart glasses as naturally as they browse social media today.

While experts debate what form these devices will ultimately take and how they’ll look, for now, we only have ChatGPT’s version of the future of creation. :)

Crusoe Expands Abilene Data Center Project with $11.6B Funding Boost
Crusoe, the company building OpenAI’s data center in Abilene, Texas, has expanded its joint venture with asset manager Blue Owl Capital, securing an additional $11.6 billion to fund the remainder of the project.
This follows a previously announced $3.4 billion partnership between the two firms, which backed the first phase of the Abilene campus—home to two data centers where Oracle is leasing 100,000 Nvidia chips to OpenAI. That initial phase included over $2 billion in construction debt raised from J.P. Morgan.
With this new funding, Crusoe plans to scale the campus to support 400,000 chips for Oracle and OpenAI. Construction on the second phase began in March, according to the company.

The Modern Data Stack Enters Its M&A Phase
Matthew Lynley from Supervised shares an important observation: after years of speculation, he’s finally seeing real signs that the long-anticipated consolidation of the modern data stack is underway.
“The looming consolidation of the modern data stack has been a constant theme for the better half of a decade…But in the last few months, the largest players in the industry have indeed finally started picking off smaller companies that made sense within a company, and not necessarily a full-fledged public company. We’re starting to see signs of it in both the modern data stack and the machine learning ops stack, which you could even argue are kind of interchangeable by now.
…
The bigger question I have is whether this is going to be a thinning out leads to significant outcomes for firms and companies, or whether we’re talking about dollar-in-dollar-out acquisitions.”

This question is particularly relevant for secondary investors.
In the secondary market, many companies in the modern data and MLOps ecosystem are trading at significant discounts relative to their last primary valuations. Some examples include:

However, recent primary rounds and acquisitions—such as those involving Weights & Biases, Hightouch, and Redpanda—were completed at a premium to prior rounds, suggesting strong buyer conviction and renewed momentum in parts of the stack.
For secondary investors, this presents a compelling opportunity: discounted entry into companies in a sector undergoing consolidation, where strategic M&A is beginning to establish new benchmarks for valuation and potential upside.

Private Share Sales Outpace IPOs as Liquidity Shifts to Secondary Market
According to The Information, startup employees and early investors sold billions of dollars’ worth of shares in private secondary transactions last year—exceeding the capital raised through tech IPOs. With public listings still limited, that pattern is expected to continue in 2025.

Over the past decade, tech IPOs have averaged $21 billion in annual proceeds, based on Morgan Stanley data. In comparison, private companies facilitated $9 billion in secondary share sales last year via platforms like Nasdaq Private Market and Carta. Notably, this figure excludes large internal secondary events at companies like Stripe and SpaceX, which would push the total significantly higher.
Despite this momentum, it remains unlikely that secondary sales alone will consistently match IPO volumes, which often include new shares to fund company operations in addition to sales from existing holders.
So far in 2025, startups including Anthropic, Mercury, and Figma have already facilitated or executed over $2 billion in secondary transactions. In contrast, just three U.S. tech companies have gone public this year, raising a combined $3.6 billion.

Funding News Roundup
Harvey, a legal AI startup, is reportedly in talks to raise over $250 million in funding at a $5 billion valuation.

Stord, a logistics startup, has secured $80 million in equity funding at a $1.5 billion valuation, alongside $120 million in debt financing.
In the quantum computing space, Nvidia is in advanced discussions to invest in PsiQuantum, which is currently raising at least $750 million in its latest funding round. This move signals a strategic shift for Nvidia, reflecting increased interest and commitment to the quantum computing sector.

Cyera, a cybersecurity startup, raised $500 million of venture funding, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $5.5 billion.

Abridge, a company specializing in AI software that transcribes physicians’ conversations with patients, is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars at an estimated $5 billion valuation. This potential raise would nearly double Abridge’s valuation from just three months ago, underscoring rapid investor enthusiasm in AI healthcare tools.

Cart.com, a Houston-based unified commerce solutions provider, has raised an additional $50 million, bringing its total funding to $475 million and achieving a $1.6 billion valuation.

Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform, has completed a $300 million Series F funding round, elevating its valuation to $6.2 billion. The company plans to use the capital to expand its global infrastructure into new markets such as Japan, Korea, the UAE, and Latin America, and to continue refining and scaling its software. In March 2025, Airwallex achieved $720 million in annualized revenue, a 90% year-over-year increase, and surpassed $130 billion in global annualized payments volume. The company expects to hit $1 billion in annual run rate revenue in 2025.