🤖 From Sci-Fi to Cap Tables: Humanoid Robotics Heats Up
What once seemed like science fiction is quickly turning into one of the most capitalized corners of robotics. Elon Musk’s public push around Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot has ignited investor frenzy—not just for Tesla, but for the entire humanoid robotics category.
In 2024 alone, leading U.S. players raised a combined $925 million:

• Figure AI: $675M at a $2.6B valuation (now reportedly raising at $39.5B).
• 1X Technologies: $100M.
• Agility Robotics: $150M at $1.7B.

Another beneficiary, Apptronik, partnered with Google DeepMind and raised a $415M Series A in March. Just days later, its CEO presented Apollo robots to U.S. lawmakers amid growing geopolitical urgency.

The context? China has declared humanoids a national priority, aiming for mass production in 2025 and domestic supply chain control by 2027—following its well-worn playbook from EVs and solar.

Analysts are taking notice. Morgan Stanley expects the humanoid robotics sector to hit $300M in revenue this year, scaling to $4.7 trillion globally by 2050, with over 1 billion units in use. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang calls it “the largest technology industry the world has ever seen.”

The emergence of humanoids, or “physical AI,” marks a new frontier for secondary investors: long-term revenue potential, deep sovereign interest, and early-stage winners already valued in the tens of billions.

🍎 Apple Eyes Perplexity as AI M&A Momentum Accelerates
If the last two weeks have shown anything, it's that Big Tech is ready to spend—and AI startups are increasingly open to exits. The M&A window is wide open as competitive pressure and investor demand heat up.
Now Apple is weighing its next move. Long criticized for trailing in the generative AI race, Apple has reportedly held internal talks about acquiring Perplexity AI, the buzzy AI search startup currently in late-stage discussions for a $14B valuation.

A deal would help Apple supercharge Siri and reduce its dependence on Google. With its $20 billion/year search deal with Google under antitrust scrutiny, Apple has strong incentives to build an in-house AI-powered search engine—and Perplexity offers both a consumer-facing product and elite AI talent.
An outright acquisition isn’t the only option. Apple has also explored a strategic partnership, potentially integrating Perplexity as an AI search option in Safari and as a core engine powering Siri’s next-gen voice capabilities.

👨‍💻 Coding Assistants Show Surprising Stickiness—Cursor Leads the Pack
New data from Indagari, based on credit card transactions from over 25 million U.S. consumers, reveals a compelling trend: AI coding assistants are proving stickier than many expected—often more so than general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude.

• Cursor, a fast-rising developer-focused assistant, boasts a 72% 6-month retention rate, outperforming Claude (59%) and closely rivaling ChatGPT (77%), which also offer coding features.
• Windsurf, the startup OpenAI recently agreed to acquire for $3 billion, is showing a 75% 4-month retention rate, indicating high early engagement from developers.
  These tools are winning loyalty among monthly subscribers—particularly those building software professionally. In contrast, non-technical coding tools like StackBlitz and Lovable show notably weaker retention, signaling that product-market fit is still a challenge outside developer circles.
  
  One emerging trend: over 20% of tracked coding tool users are paying for multiple assistants, suggesting they’re treating assistants as modular—picking different tools for specific workflows.
  Meanwhile, Cursor is gaining serious ground on GitHub Copilot, once the dominant player. If this usage data holds, Microsoft’s early-mover advantage may be eroding fast.
  

📈 X to Add Trading Features as Musk Pushes 'Everything App' Vision
Elon Musk’s X is preparing to roll out in-app investing and trading capabilities.
The move is part of Musk’s broader ambition to transform X into an “everything app”—combining social media, payments, and now financial services. While specific partners or asset classes haven’t been confirmed, the company is expected to enable users to trade stocks, crypto, and possibly other financial instruments directly within the app.

📊 New IPO Candidates: Monzo, Wealthfront, Lime Gear Up for Public Markets
The IPO pipeline for late 2025 is heating up, with several high-profile fintech and mobility names moving closer to public debuts:
Monzo, the UK-based neobank, filed confidential paperwork on May 10 for an IPO. While the listing exchange and ticker remain undisclosed, the company was most recently valued at $7.92 billion.

Wealthfront, a digital wealth management platform, had confidentially submitted a draft form S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company was last valued at $2 billion in a secondary buyback and is financially healthy—generating $290 million in revenue and over $100 million in free cash flow.

Lime, the scooter rental firm, has hired underwriters for an upcoming IPO. The company posted positive free cash flow for a second consecutive year in 2024, and while no valuation target has been revealed, sources say it will be “significantly higher” than its 2020 Uber-led round—though that leaves a wide range open.

🎨 Canva Plots $37B Secondary
Canva is preparing a major secondary share sale as it continues to delay its much-anticipated IPO. The Australian design platform is in talks to allow current and former employees to sell $400–$500 million worth of shares, in a deal that would value the company at $37 billion.
The company is in strong financial shape—profitable for eight consecutive years, with over $1 billion in cash and more than $3 billion in annualized revenue, according to a person familiar with the business.
Meanwhile, rival Figma is quietly moving toward the public markets. The Adobe acquisition target turned independent again filed confidentially for an IPO with the SEC in April. The competition between Canva and Figma, long defined by consumer vs. enterprise focus, may soon be tested on public-market terms.

🛡️ AI & Fintech M&A: Snyk Buys Invariant Labs, Xero Acquires Melio for $2.5B
Snyk, the developer-first cybersecurity company, has acquired Invariant Labs, a Swiss AI security research startup founded in 2024. Invariant builds tools to ensure AI agents are both secure and reliable—an increasingly hot segment as autonomous agents gain traction.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Xero is making a bold push into the U.S. by acquiring Melio, a New York-based B2B payments platform, for $2.5 billion. Melio, which serves small and midsize businesses, generated $153 million in revenue over the past year and was last privately valued at $2 billion—down from a $4 billion peak in 2021.
The deal includes a mix of cash and stock and gives Xero a stronger foothold in the U.S. fintech space, while providing liquidity for Melio backerst.

🧠Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Raises $2B at $10B Valuation
In one of the most secretive and striking seed rounds of the year, Thinking Machines Lab (TML)—the stealth AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati—has quietly closed a $2 billion seed round, valuing the six-month-old company at $10 billion.

TML is reportedly building custom AI models designed to optimize for specific key performance indicators (KPIs), such as revenue growth or customer retention—tailored per industry. The pitch? That businesses will pay a premium for models fine-tuned to drive real financial outcomes in sectors like finance, retail, or customer service.

Murati has said TML will leverage open-source models and apply techniques like model merging—stitching together layers from different AIs to accelerate development. TML is currently training its models on Nvidia hardware hosted on Google Cloud, a setup that mirrors Google’s backing of other AI unicorns like Anthropic, SSI, and Character.ai.
While still in stealth, TML is already drawing comparisons to enterprise-focused AI consultancies like Scale AI and Turing, signaling strong investor interest in customizable AI as a service.

⚖️ Harvey AI Raises $300M at $5B Valuation, Doubles Down on Legal AI
Legal automation startup Harvey AI has raised another $300 million, boosting its valuation to $5 billion—just four months after closing a Series D at $3 billion, led by Sequoia.
Unlike many lean AI startups, Harvey is aggressively scaling: the 3-year-old company now employs 340 people and plans to double headcount with this new funding.
Growth has been strong. Harvey hit a $75 million run-rate in April, up from $50 million earlier this year—signaling strong demand for AI tools purpose-built for the legal sector.

🚀 Notable Funding Rounds & Emerging Unicorns
Unitree Robotics (China)
Series C closed at ~$2 billion valuation, reinforcing its status as a leader in quadruped and humanoid robotics.

Commure (US healthcare AI)
$200 million growth round to expand its AI-powered RCM (Revenue Cycle Management) and clinical workflow platform.

PhysicsX (UK industrial AI)
Raised $135 million, valuing the company at just under $1 billion.

Kalshi (NY prediction market)
$185 million Series C at a $2 billion post-money valuation. Federally regulated platform, targeting broader broker integrations

Clay (US sales automation)
Series C at ~$3 billion valuation, coming just weeks after a $1.5B employee tender round.

Decagon (conversational AI for enterprise)
$131 million Series C at $1.5 billion valuation.

Polymarket (crypto prediction market)
$200 million Series C in progress, expected to value the platform at $1 billion+; rivals Kalshi with strong market traction.