Edition 48

Welcome back to The Dealflow by Founders Capital - your inside track on the private markets. Each week, we cut through the noise to bring you the latest industry trends - along with our take.

Key News & Trends

Anthropic Takes the Pentagon to Court

Anthropic is challenging the U.S. Department of Defense in court after being labelled a “supply-chain risk”, a designation that restricts defence contractors from using its AI models. The dispute stems from Anthropic’s refusal to remove safeguards preventing its systems from being used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. Read more here

Crypto Steps Onto the Fed’s Payment Rails

Kraken has become the first crypto company granted access to the Federal Reserve’s core payment infrastructure, giving its banking arm a “master account” that allows transactions on the same rails used by traditional banks. The approval enables faster settlement for institutional clients and professional traders, marking a significant step towards integrating digital asset firms into the US financial system. Read more here

Open Model Challenger Courts $20B Valuation

Reflection AI, a start-up founded by former DeepMind researchers, is reportedly in funding talks that could value the company at more than $20 billion, more than doubling its valuation from late 2025. Backed by Nvidia and venture investors including Disruptive, the group is developing open AI models designed to rival Chinese systems such as DeepSeek. The effort is attracting political support in Washington as the US seeks to build alternatives to foreign AI platforms. Read more here

AI Power Grab Forces Big Tech Off the Grid

Major technology firms have pledged to generate their own electricity for new AI data centres after political pressure over rising energy bills linked to hyperscale computing infrastructure. The “Ratepayer Protection Pledge”, unveiled during a White House meeting with President Donald Trump, commits companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and OpenAI to finance their own power generation and grid upgrades. Read more here

Founders’ Take

Crypto Moves Inside the System

Reports that Kraken has secured a Federal Reserve master account are significant - though not quite in the way the headline suggests.

The account is held by Kraken Financial, the company’s Wyoming-chartered digital asset bank, rather than the exchange itself. Access to a master account at the Federal Reserve allows the institution to settle payments directly on the Fed’s infrastructure, removing intermediaries traditionally required for dollar transfers.

In practical terms, this reduces friction around fiat settlement and custody for crypto-native institutions operating within the banking framework.

The broader signal, however, is structural. For years the debate centred on whether crypto would replace the banking system or ultimately be absorbed by it. Developments like this increasingly point to the latter: regulated crypto institutions gradually integrating into the existing financial architecture rather than operating outside it.

Banking groups have raised concerns that crypto-native institutions may not operate under the same capital, liquidity, and supervisory standards as federally regulated banks; a valid concern.

Nevertheless, the direction of travel is clear. Digital asset infrastructure is beginning to integrate with the core rails of the financial system - a level of institutional convergence that, until recently, many believed would never materialise.

Top Venture Deals

Science Corp: $230M Series C (Lightspeed, Khosla Ventures)

• Brain-computer interface startup Science Corp., founded by Neuralink co-founder Max Hodak, has raised $230M in a Series C round valuing the company at around $1.5B. The funding will support commercialisation of its PRIMA retinal implant, designed to restore functional vision to patients with severe degenerative eye diseases. Early trials suggest many participants regained the ability to read letters and words, positioning the company among the leading contenders in neurotechnology. Read more here

Anduril: Multibillion Funding Round Targeting $60B Valuation (Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz)

• Defence technology company Anduril is reportedly raising a multibillion dollar funding round that could value the business at around $60B, roughly doubling its $30B valuation from mid-2025. The round is expected to be led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, with Lux Capital and Founders Fund also participating. The raise reflects accelerating investor interest in defence technology as governments increase spending on autonomous systems, surveillance infrastructure and AI-enabled military platforms. Read more here

Lio: $30M Series A (Andreessen Horowitz)

• Enterprise AI startup Lio has raised $30M in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, bringing total capital raised to ~$33M. The company is developing AI agents that automate corporate procurement workflows, handling supplier evaluation, compliance checks and purchasing decisions across enterprise systems. By replacing manual processes that often slow procurement teams, Lio aims to transform a traditionally administrative function into a more strategic lever for enterprise performance. Read more here

Upcoming Public Offerings

OpenAI

• OpenAI has reportedly appointed Cooley and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz to begin preparations for a potential IPO, signalling the early stages of a public market debut. With a valuation already approaching $730B following its latest funding round, a listing could become one of the largest technology IPOs ever. Read more here

Whoop

• Fitness technology company Whoop has launched a hiring drive for more than 600 employees, expanding its workforce by as much as 75 per cent as it prepares for a potential IPO. The Boston-based company, known for its subscription-based health monitoring wearables, has raised more than $400M in venture capital and was last valued at $3.6B. Read more here

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