Latest Startups & Entrepreneurship News
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health, targeting massive health-information demand
OpenAI unveiled **ChatGPT Health**, a dedicated health-focused experience inside ChatGPT designed for safer, more structured medical queries from consumers. The company says about **230 million users ask health questions each week**, underscoring both the scale of demand and the opportunity for healthtech startups building on or around the platform.
Lux Capital raises record $1.5B fund, boosting deep tech and frontier startups
VC firm **Lux Capital** closed **$1.5 billion** for its largest fund to date, reinforcing investor appetite for deep tech, defense, AI, and hard-science startups. Lux has backed companies like **Anduril, Applied Intuition, and Runway**, and the new capital signals continued support for capital-intensive frontier innovation despite broader macro uncertainty.
Discord reportedly targets March IPO, testing public markets for late-stage startups
Gaming and community platform **Discord** has confidentially filed for an IPO and is aiming for a **public listing around March**, according to reports. A successful offering would be one of the first major consumer-tech IPOs of the year and a key test of investor appetite for growth-stage startup listings after a muted IPO cycle.
Eācommerce startup Swap raises $100M just six months after prior round
Shopify rival **Swap Commerce** raised **$100 million** only six months after closing a **$40 million** round, with backing from **DST Global and Iconiq**. The rapid follow-on financing underscores investor conviction in alternative eācommerce infrastructure platforms and intense competition in online store tooling.
Mobileye to acquire humanoid robot startup Mentee Robotics for $900M
Autonomous driving company **Mobileye** agreed to acquire **Mentee Robotics**, a humanoid robot startup co-founded by Mobileye president Amnon Shashua, in a deal worth about **$900 million**. The acquisition highlights growing convergence between robotics and autonomous systems and provides a major exit for a frontier hardware startup.
LMArena raises $150M to build open platform for testing AI models
San Franciscoābased **LMArena**, which develops an open platform to **compare and test new AI models**, has raised **$150 million** in funding. The round was led by **Felicis** and **UC Investments**, with participation from **Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins** and others, reflecting sustained investor focus on AI infrastructure and evaluation tooling.
North American startup funding jumped 46% in 2025, led by AI megadeals
Investors poured about **$280 billion** into U.S. and Canadian startups in 2025, a **46% year-over-year increase**, according to Crunchbase data. The rebound was driven by large rounds in **AI, climate, and productivity software**, suggesting a more favorable funding environment for startups than in 2023ā2024.
Gen Z AI founders compress ātime-to-unicornā to under 5 years
A new report highlighted by Fortune finds AI startups now reach **$1 billion valuations in an average of 4.7 years**, versus roughly seven years historically. VC firm Antler points to **Gen Z founders** and highly scalable AI tools as key drivers, citing Swedish startup **Lovable**, which reportedly hit unicorn status in just eight months.
Global grants and competitions open over $1.1B for impact and deep-tech startups
A January funding landscape report lists **over $1.1 billion** in global opportunities for startups across **18 sectors and 100 countries**, including equity-free grants and blended finance. Notable programs include **S$1M grants** for urban climate deep-tech solutions in Asia, up to **$70,000 clean-energy funding in India**, and EU **equity-free support for women-led deep tech startups** with up to ā¬55,000 each.
Hyundai Motor Groupās ZER01NE showcases 10 startups at CES, deepening corporateāstartup collaboration
Hyundaiās open innovation platform **ZER01NE**, together with **Hyundai CRADLE**, is presenting **10 AI, energy, robotics, and quantum startups** at CES 2026. Since 2018, ZER01NE has spun off **40 internal startups** and invested in **109 external startups** with **150 collaborative projects**, signaling growing corporate engagement with early-stage ventures.
NYC startup Semafor raises $30M as digital media ventures stay investable
Digital news startup **Semafor** closed a **$30 million** venture round led by **PSP Capital Partners**, bringing its total reported equity funding to **$74 million**. The raise shows that investors still back differentiated media and information startups, especially those targeting global, subscription and advertising-driven models.
Seed funding flows to AI health and crypto-gaming startups in New York
NYC-based **Oasys Health**, an AI-powered EHR and practice management platform for mental health providers, raised **$4 million seed** (part of **$4.6 million** total) from investors including Pathlight Ventures. Meanwhile **BetHog**, a crypto casino and sportsbook, secured **$10.4 million** in funding, underscoring continued investor interest in regulated digital gambling and Web3 plays.