News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Business Insider, Waymo founder Sebastian Thrun announced the founding of new robotics startup Dulo at the San Francisco robotics conference Actuate; the company is currently still in stealth mode. According to a webpage hosted by Stanford University, Dulo is dedicated to building a "foundation model for hardware design," with the goal of achieving "hyper-fast manufacturing." The team includes core talent from Waymo, Google Brain, and the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL). Thrun did not disclose funding details, product details, or launch timeline. Notably, in the first quarter of 2026, financing in the physical AI sector reached a record $16.3 billion.
Odaily News – Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings disclosed in its latest quarterly SEC filing that it has pledged 18,750 BTC as collateral for two Bitcoin-backed loans, totaling $750 million in principal.Among these, financing provided by Coinbase Credit includes a refinancing of the original $150 million credit facility plus an additional $300 million in new funds; Two Prime Lending separately provided a $300 million loan. Both loans have been fully drawn, with a combined financing cost of approximately 7.56%, primarily maturing in August 2028.The pledged 18,750 BTC were valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time of the transaction. If a decline in Bitcoin's price pushes the collateral ratio below the agreed level, MARA could face margin call requirements; otherwise, the related BTC may be subject to liquidation risk.The new funds will mainly be used for general corporate purposes and to support MARA's acquisition of Long Ridge Energy & Power. The transaction has an enterprise value of approximately $1.5 billion. Long Ridge owns a natural gas power plant in Ohio, USA, with an expected installed capacity of 505 MW, along with over 1,600 acres of industrial land. MARA plans to further develop the site into a base for Bitcoin mining, AI, and high-performance computing infrastructure. (Crowdfund Insider)
Odaily News: AI software development startup Lovable has announced the completion of a $400 million Series C funding round, led by Menlo Ventures, with Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT, co-leading. The company's valuation now stands at $13.3 billion, doubling from the $6.6 billion valuation at its December funding round. Lovable co-founder and CEO Anton Osika stated that the company's annual recurring revenue has nearly tripled since December. In March, Lovable disclosed that its annual recurring revenue had reached $400 million, up from $300 million a month earlier and $200 million at the end of 2025. Lovable helps users build software through natural language prompts. The company says that since its launch in November 2024, over 60 million projects have been created on the platform. (Business Insider)
"1011 Insider Whale" representative Garrett Jin released a weekly analysis stating that while he previously suggested gradually positioning in memory chips and buying on dips, the market did not experience the expected pullback. He has sold half of his previous rebound positions during the surge, not because the investment logic has changed, but due to concerns regarding the capital structure driving the rise, stating, "This looks more like a short squeeze than a final confirmation of fundamentals by the market." Rapid capital covering short positions can create short-term gains for memory chip stocks like SK Hynix, but cannot sustain the trend alone. Risks associated with Korean leveraged ETFs have not been fully released, but the decline in asset size is mainly due to NAV shrinkage rather than investor exit. Currently, cumulative net subscriptions for related financial products remain at historic highs and have not turned negative. Garrett Jin emphasized that the decline in Korean leveraged ETF size does not indicate market bearishness on memory demand. SK Hynix's 2026 capacity is already sold out, and Micron's orders are covered until 2028, with demand remaining strong through the second half of 2027. However, the memory industry is essentially still cyclical. Stock prices have already surged by hundreds of percentage points in advance, and cyclical stocks are typically difficult to sustain long-term growth driven solely by valuation expansion. The current market is entering a new phase of the AI capital expenditure cycle, shifting from "rewarding investment" to "evaluating investment returns." Regarding Bitcoin, Garrett Jin stated it continues to meet the bottoming conditions established since the July lows, and he currently maintains the position view established near $60,000.
Odaily Odaily News: AI personal assistant startup Pally has announced the completion of a $5.2 million funding round, led by Cyber Fund and Y Combinator, with participation from Pioneer Fund, Founders Inc, 468 Capital, and angel investors. The company is valued at $30 million and primarily provides AI personal assistant services through an SMS interface. Pally was launched in 2025, with its latest version released in June, and can sync with platforms such as Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Granola, and Notion. After user authorization, Pally can book flights, manage inboxes, reply to messages, and reserve restaurant tables. Pally uses Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's ChatGPT, as well as open-source models such as Kimi K3 and GLM 5.2. Co-founder Haz Hubble stated that the company will not sell user data or use related data to train models. (Business Insider)
Odaily News: In the insider trading case involving US stock options of Futu Holdings and UP Fintech (Tiger Brokers), two defendants had previously appeared—one individual and one investment institution. Now, a third defendant has surfaced in an attempt to unfreeze assets. According to a declaration submitted to a US court on July 23, the third defendant is identified as Yang Jingyao, whose Chinese name is Yang Jingyao, and who has been a Hong Kong resident since 2020. Yang Jingyao claims, "My personal assets far exceed my personal debts," and "I have no outstanding debts in arrears." According to public documents from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the single largest shareholder of Hong Kong-listed company Grand Power Logistics Group Inc. and the offeror in a previous mandatory general offer is also named "Yang Jingyao."Hong Kong Stock Exchange filings show that Yang Jingyao of Grand Power Logistics is currently 32 years old, and his mother is a wealthy individual from mainland China. Yang Jingyao is described as a businessman and private investor who has long invested in listed securities, information technology companies, startups, and other financial assets through brokers as well as wholly-owned private investment companies established in Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands. However, there is currently no public evidence linking the securities accounts or funds involved in the US court's restraining order to the lapse of the Grand Power Logistics offer. (Caixin)
: Anthropic's secondary market valuation has surged to $1.2 trillion, representing an increase of approximately 550% compared to the same period last year. "Anthropic is the most sought-after company in the history of the venture capital secondary market," said Javier Avalos, CEO of secondary trading platform Caplight; on the platform, Anthropic shares are trading at a valuation of $1.2 trillion. Glenn Anderson, CEO of Rainmaker Securities, a commercial bank focusing on private securities trading, also stated that he has observed transactions at a $1.2 trillion valuation, but due to a scarcity of sellers, such deals remain extremely rare. Less than three months ago, reports indicated that Anthropic's valuation had reached $1 trillion, surpassing OpenAI for the first time. OpenAI's valuation has been significantly higher than Anthropic's in recent years, but it is currently valued at just $908 billion on the Caplight platform. According to Avalos, Anthropic's $1.2 trillion valuation represents a year-over-year increase of 550%. In its Series H funding round announced in May, the company was valued at $965 billion. (Business Insider)
According to CoinDesk, MemeCore ecosystem token M experienced a sharp decline, with its market capitalization dropping nearly $3 billion in a single day. As of now, the project has not issued a public statement regarding the token’s crash, sparking dissatisfaction within the community.
According to Business Insider, Michael Burry—renowned for shorting the U.S. housing bubble—has recently expressed skepticism about the high valuations of SpaceX and Anthropic.
Odaily News “1011 Insider Whale” agent Garrett Jin pointed out in his latest market commentary that, against the backdrop of the Middle East conflict, the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively “blockaded” for three months. However, the market has already become “desensitized” to this geopolitical risk, and the AI narrative is reshaping traditional risk pricing logic. As a result, AI is significantly weakening the market's sensitivity to oil prices and geopolitical shocks. Since the emergence of ceasefire signals, U.S. stocks have “decoupled” from energy shocks, with gains in chip and tech stocks offsetting the impact from the energy sector, leading the market to gradually overlook the Strait of Hormuz risk. Nevertheless, he cautioned that the AI sector faces short-term risks of overvaluation and crowded trades, and a pullback could occur at any time.In the energy market, the earlier assessment that the Strait of Hormuz risk had not been fully priced in has proven correct. Oil prices had risen due to supply shock expectations, but peaked and then declined following the release of strategic reserves and the U.S. intervention as a “supplier of last resort.” A successful exit was achieved on April 29-30. He believes the current risk-reward ratio for oil prices is no longer attractive.On the macro and equity market front, U.S. households' holdings of stocks as a percentage of financial assets have reached approximately 47%, surpassing the level seen during the internet bubble era. This means a market downturn would, in turn, constrain policy. The VIX volatility index triggered different policy shift thresholds around 30 and 50, reflecting a “risk-off driven policy” characteristic.In the gold market, the recent pullback in gold is not due to the fading of a war premium but rather changes in long-term structural demand. Since 2022, central banks globally have been purchasing gold at an average annual rate of over a thousand tons, primarily for de-dollarization and hedging against sanctions risks. He defines gold as “an ultimate exit tool outside the dollar system” rather than a mere safe-haven asset.In the crypto market, the liquidity inflection point occurred last October, with funds flowing more toward AI assets, leading to a periodic drain from the crypto market. However, he believes the market is currently in a cyclical bear phase. Rebound rallies exist, but they do not equate to the start of a new bull run. The market must wait for liquidity to restart in a new cycle. The AI era is emerging as the dominant capital narrative. Even if a bubble exists, the structural opportunities it brings represent “a rare window of opportunity for ordinary investors.” Nevertheless, market cycle discipline should not be overlooked.
Odaily News Anthropic has recently received investment intentions from multiple venture capital institutions, with some offers valuing the company as high as $800 billion, significantly above its current valuation level.Previously, Anthropic completed a funding round in February of this year with a valuation of approximately $380 billion; meanwhile, secondary market data from Caplight indicates its valuation has risen to around $688 billion. Data shows the company's annualized revenue has grown to approximately $30 billion, a substantial increase from the end of last year.Market participants stated that with the rapid development of AI models and related products, investor attention on Anthropic continues to rise, and the company is also seen as a potential IPO candidate. (Business Insider)