Tokenization Is Coming — But the Right Structure Matters

Robinhood just launched tokenized stock tokens in Europe—covering 200+ U.S. stocks, ETFs, and even private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX.
OpenAI quickly pushed back. In a public statement, the company clarified that these tokens do not grant equity, nor are they endorsed by OpenAI. Instead, Robinhood is offering indirect exposure through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) it controls—a workaround that raised eyebrows in both legal and investor circles.

As Alan Vaksman, managing partner of Launchbay Capital put it on LinkedIn:
“Private assets will be tokenized—but it needs to be done right. Selling individual private company shares to retail via ‘tokens’? That’s not the answer. Neither the companies nor the SEC will let that scale. What will scale is tokenized funds and growth portfolios—curated, diversified, and regulated.”

That’s exactly why Launchbay is taking a structured, compliant approach.
Just two days ago, we announced the launch of our tokenized portfolios—giving investors access to digital tokens tied to high-growth private companies and thematic baskets across AI, space, fintech, defense, and more. Each token is backed by SPV infrastructure and a warehouse-supported liquidity facility—removing friction, lowering thresholds, and eliminating multi-counterparty risk.

Our pilot goes live this September across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

🎨 Figma Files for IPO, Eyes $1.5B Raise

Figma has officially filed to go public. If all goes smoothly, retail investors could see shares hit the market in about five weeks.
According to Renaissance Capital, the design software firm is aiming to raise up to $1.5 billion. That would put it neck-and-neck with CoreWeave, currently the largest tech IPO of 2025.

The numbers are strong:
Figma grew revenue 48% in 2024, hitting $749 million, outpacing its 46% growth in 2023. Its net revenue retention jumped to 134%, up from 122% the year prior—clear evidence of expanding product usage and sticky customers.

But the company reported a $877 million operating loss, largely driven by $950 million in stock-based compensation tied to a May 2024 tender offer at a $12.5 billion valuation. Excluding that, Figma would have generated about $70 million in operating income last year.

Figma’s scale and international footprint stand out. As of Q1 2025:

• 13 million monthly active users, 85% outside the U.S.
• 53% of revenue came from international markets
• Customers paying $10K+ ARR jumped from 8,000 to 11,107
• Customers at $100K+ ARR rose from 701 to 1,031

One risk flagged in the filing: rising costs tied to generative AI development, especially inference and model training, may pressure margins over time.

Still, this is a blockbuster moment for venture backers:

• Index Ventures: 65.9M Class A shares
• Greylock: 61.5M
• Kleiner Perkins: 55.1M
• Sequoia: 34.2M

🪙 Ripple Moves to Secure National Charter for Stablecoin Custody

Ripple has applied for a national trust charter from the U.S. OCC, following Circle and Fidelity Digital Assets. The move would let Ripple self-custody the cash and Treasuries backing its RLUSD stablecoin—a key step ahead of incoming stablecoin regulation.

Its subsidiary, Standard Custody & Trust, has also applied for a Federal Reserve master account. If approved, Ripple could hold reserves directly with the Fed and settle RLUSD transactions 24/7, without relying on traditional banks.

✉️ Grammarly Buys Superhuman to Build an AI-Powered Work Suite

Grammarly is acquiring Superhuman, the premium AI email client last valued at $825 million, as part of its push to evolve from a writing assistant into a full AI productivity platform.

Why is a grammar tool buying an email startup? Because Grammarly has a broader ambition: to build an agentic AI system that follows users across their workflows—from documents to email and beyond. This acquisition comes on the heels of Grammarly’s purchase of Coda, a collaborative docs and spreadsheets app, announced in December.

The strategy is clear: own the places where work happens (email, docs, calendars) and layer in AI that enhances productivity. Superhuman, known for blazing-fast email search via natural language prompts, fills a critical gap—one that Microsoft Outlook and Gmail still struggle to solve.

Grammarly says its combined suite will soon offer AI agents, smart email search, and collaboration tools. Expect it to position as a premium alternative to Google and Microsoft productivity stacks, starting at $25/month per user.
What looked like an AI-threatened utility is becoming a full-stack, AI-native productivity suite.

🔋 Redwood Materials Enters AI Data Center Race

Battery recycling startup Redwood Materials is pivoting into the AI infrastructure game, launching a new business repurposing used EV batteries to power data centers.

Its first site—near Reno, Nevada—uses 800 repurposed batteries and was developed in partnership with Crusoe, the startup also building a data center for OpenAI in Texas. The facility runs on solar by day and batteries by night, housing 2,000 older-generation Nvidia chips rented out to cloud customers.

It’s part of a broader trend: Elon Musk’s xAI is already powering its Memphis data center with Tesla Megapacks. Redwood says it's now in talks with major cloud providers to scale this model.

⚖️ Clio Acquires vLex in $1B Deal to Power Legal AI

Clio, the law firm management platform, has agreed to acquire vLex, a 26-year-old legal data intelligence company, in a $1 billion cash-and-stock deal.

The acquisition follows Clio’s $900 million raise last year, which nearly doubled its valuation from $1.6B to $3B. Clio also announced it has now surpassed $300 million in ARR.

vLex owns one of the most valuable legal data sets in the world—rivaling LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters. That data is increasingly critical for training next-gen legal AI models.

Notably, Harvey, the AI-native legal startup, tried to acquire vLex last year but failed to close the deal. Harvey has since partnered with LexisNexis to access legal data—setting up a competitive AI arms race in legal tech.

New funding rounds

xAI, Elon Musk’s AI startup, has raised $10 billion in combined equity and debt funding.
The round includes $5 billion in equity and $5 billion in debt, a structure Morgan Stanley says “substantially expands the available capital pool while lowering the overall cost of capital.”
The debt portion includes:

• $3B in bonds yielding 12.5%
• A $1B fixed-rate loan at 12.5%
• A $1B term loan priced at 7.25% over benchmark, issued at a 4% discount

Surge AI, a rival to Scale AI in the data labeling space, has hired banks including J.P. Morgan to manage a secondary sale of up to $1 billion in shares, targeting a valuation north of $15 billion.

Cato Networks, the cybersecurity firm co-founded by Check Point legend Shlomo Kramer, has secured $359 million in a Series G round, bringing its total funding past $1 billion and valuing the company at approximately $4.8 billion.
Despite the capital infusion, CEO Kramer says Cato isn’t rushing to IPO—it recently pushed one back—but is using this moment to reward employees and strengthen its balance sheet in a volatile macro climate.

Lovable, one of Europe’s fastest-growing AI startups and a breakout star in the "vibe coding" scene, is reportedly raising over $150 million at a valuation nearing $2 billion.
In May, CEO Anton Osika shared that Lovable hit $50 million in ARR in just six months