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Energy VC Crosses $10B, Helsing's $1.8B Defense Round & Google DeepMind's Leadership Crisis
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
Venture capital surpasses $10B in energy infrastructure bets as Base Power, Commonwealth Fusion, and Proxima Fusion anchor a structural shift — while Helsing closes Europe's biggest July deal at $1.8B and Google DeepMind faces a simultaneous leadership and model-delay crisis. Six stories covering the most consequential capital moves for founders and investors right now.
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
Venture capital has crossed a threshold in energy infrastructure. In the past several weeks alone, Base Power closed a one billion dollar Series D, Commonwealth Fusion Systems added another one billion in equity, and Proxima Fusion pulled in nearly five hundred million euros.
Base Power's valuation reached thirteen billion dollars on the back of that one billion dollar round. The backers include JPMorgan Chase, Ribbit Capital, and Addition.
Energy isn't the only infrastructure category pulling serious capital. Defense technology has reached parity.
Away from infrastructure, the most significant internal story right now is at Google DeepMind. Demis Hassabis is stepping back from the CEO role to chairman.
On the fintech side, Erebor, the Palmer Luckey-backed bank targeting AI, defense, and crypto firms, is in advanced talks for a one point five billion dollar raise at an eight billion dollar valuation. The deposit base has quadrupled to four billion dollars.
Elsewhere, Whatnot closed a five hundred and forty-five million dollar Series G at a twenty billion dollar valuation. First-half GMV hit eight billion dollars, nearly doubling full-year twenty twenty-five sales.
The watchpoints from here are narrow. Does Google release Gemini three point five Pro before Anthropic's next model ships, or does the gap widen further?
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