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Harvey just hit $11B , roughly 3.5x in twelve months; while OpenAI quietly killed Sora and finished training something called Spud.
One startup is printing valuation milestones like discovery memos; the other just learned that world-class generative tech doesn't offset the liability of owning the feed. Somewhere in between, Claude learned to use your mouse, Meta shelved an $80B headset dream, and micro dramas are quietly printing billions one vertical scroll at a time.
Thursday's looking operationally dense.
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Six bullets of updates
🖱️ Claude now automates desktop tasks like clicking, scrolling, and app management, even while you’re away.
🛰️ The $185B Golden Dome missile shield gets a tech boost as Anduril and Palantir build out the software backbone for next-gen defense.
👓 After sinking $80B into development, Meta is shelving its VR-heavy project, as most users prefer metaverse worlds that don’t require headsets.
🛂 Chinese authorities move to restrict Manus leaders’ travel after Meta’s $70M AI acquisition, citing national security concerns .
🚀 Meta sets sights on boosting entrepreneurs, aiming to help tens of millions adopt new AI tools and grow on its platforms.
🎬 “Micro dramas” are raking in billions as viewers binge bite-sized, addictive scripted shows built for vertical scrolling.
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AI Startup Harvey Achieves $11B Valuation With Major VC Backing
Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash
The “AI funding reset” keeps skipping litigation. Legal tech startup Harvey just confirmed the $11B round, pulling in $200M co-led by GIC and Sequoia, after reports of the raise surfaced last month.
Valuation is up ~3.5x in a year: $3B (Feb ’25) → $5B (Jun) → $8B (Dec) → $11B now.
Sequoia has now co-led three rounds since Series A, with Andreessen, Kleiner, Coatue, Elad Gil and others repeatedly stacking into the same cap table. That’s not just conviction in “AI for lawyers”; it’s a coordinated bet that Harvey becomes the operating layer for legal workflows, not just a point tool.
The use of new capital to scale agents across firms is the tell: investors are underwriting durable distribution and data moats, not model IP.
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Inside Amazon's $890 Billion Returns Mafia
A strange retail phenomenon is spreading across Latin America: bin stores filled with Amazon returns.
In Costa Rica alone, hundreds of these “outlets” have appeared, selling mystery pallets of returned e-commerce items for pennies on the dollar. On the surface it looks like harmless thrifting. But behind the scenes, a much darker story may be unfolding.
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OpenAI Discontinues Sora and Launches Spud AI Model Amid Changes
OpenAI just killed the creepiest consumer product it ever shipped and, in the same breath, finished training a new model called Spud. That’s not whiplash; it’s a strategy reset.
Sora, the TikTok-style video app, is being shut down after a six‑month sprint as a creepiest deepfake playground that never found durable, non‑toxic engagement. Despite millions of downloads and a planned Disney licensing deal, moderation failures, celebrity and civil-rights deepfakes, and modest revenue made the risk/reward math untenable.
In parallel, OpenAI finished Spud and is shuffling org charts around models and platform rather than running an AI-native social network; a pivot flagged in early internal-change reporting and shutdown coverage pieces.
For founders, the lesson is blunt: world-class generative tech doesn’t offset the liability of owning the feed.
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Startup Events and Deadlines
Startup Funding Rounds in the AI Era l March 31 l Webinar
How to Pitch an AI Company to Investors | April 07 l Webinar