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LiveKit raises $100 million: The SF startup built an open source framework and dev platform for crafting, testing, and ultimately deploying AI agents for a variety of tasks, including text-to-voice, text-to-video, and real-world “Physical AI” applications like robotics. It’s already in use by over 200,000 developers, and their network powers applications for OpenAI, xAI, Salesforce, Spotify, and other heavy hitters. Building on that impressive traction, LiveKit raised an extra $100 million in Series C funding at a $1 billion valuation this week, which they plan to use on — what else? — additional compute, storage, and infrastructure.
Gemini adds SAT practice tests: Looks like AI may be coming for yet another job category: SAT tutors! Google’s Gemini announced a new initiative to help students prep for standardized tests, starting with free SAT practice exams. Just type “I want to take a practice SAT test” into Gemini and the AI does the rest, providing a complimentary practice exam, then helping to analyze the results, including explanations for questions that the test-taker missed and recommendations for areas requiring additional focus and training. And, relax, Google’s not just making this up themselves; they worked with The Princeton Review and other SAT experts to ensure that the answers are vetted and the practice tests resemble the infamous exam to which high school seniors are subjected each spring.
Yelp acquires Hatch: The Information reports that iconic crowd-sourced review app Yelp plans to pick up the lead management and communication platform Hatch in a $270 million cash deal (plus $30 million allotted for employee retention over the next 2-3 years). Once the transaction closes (likely next month), Hatch will continue to operate independently as a Yelp subsidiary. Hatch’s technology helps small businesses and service providers to automate and streamline their customer acquisition pipeline, including through ad and media-buying networks. The product has been partly integrated into Yelp’s workflow since November 2025. It will now become a core component of Yelp’s overall strategy, using AI to help grow and support featured local businesses.

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Newsletter platform Substack announced a somewhat counter-intuitive initiative this week: Substack TV. A new Apple TV and Google TV app, released in beta, gives Stack-heads access to livestreams and video posts from some of the platform’s most popular authors and creators.

That includes YouTube-style recommended videos, along with a “For You” feed that scrolls like TikTok. More features are in the works, such as audio-only feeds and blog post “read-alouds,” in-app subscription upgrades, and “Creator” pages where users can scan through their favorite contributor’s work. (For now, access is based on your main Substack subscription tier.)

Substack added video posts way back in 2022, and they’ve been allowing creators to livestream and monetize their videos since early 2025, as part of an overall push to expand into more kinds of media than just newsletters. Nonetheless, TechCrunch notes that they’re getting some pushback from die-hard users, who are concerned Substack will try to become the next YouTube rather than celebrating and elevating the written word. (It’s 2026! There’s no money in that!)

In other news, European T500 favorites Mistral are in the news again after CEO and co-founder Arthur Mensch made some spicy comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Mensch told Bloomberg TV that he feels China is essentially neck-and-neck on AI innovation with the West, and to say they’re lagging far behind is a “fairy tale.” It’s not meant as a withering criticism, but a call to arms, as Mensch argues that European and US AI companies must not rely exclusively on open-source Chinese models.

Mensch also talked his own book a bit during the segment, predicting that the French AI concern will surpass 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in global revenue this year. – Lon

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This Week in Startups

E2238: We’ve got two awesome TWiST 500 interviews coming your way in this brand-new TWiST. First, Alex sits down with Keller Cliffton of drone delivery startup Zipline to discuss their new $600 million raise (at a tasty $7.6B valuation), and how they’ve managed to scale up to over 2 million deliveries so quickly. THEN, Anastasis Germanidis of Runway gives us insight into World Models, and why they will likely power the next generation of Physical AI applications. Finally, we’ve got Jason’s thoughts on when it’s time to pivot vs. when founders should give up on their project entirely and move on.

E2237: It’s another amazing episode of TWiST Tokyo, this time featuring local VC Shinichi “Shin” Takamiya from Globis Capital. He talks to Jason about the reality on the ground for Japanese investors, and how the culture is shifting from recent grads wanting to work for the largest and most established blue chip corporations to a more startup and innovation-forward focus. PLUS find out why Jason prefers training recent grads to become VCs rather than hiring for experience, AND Shin’s ultimate guide to eating out in Tokyo.

E2236: On a can’t miss edition of TWiST Tokyo, Jason sits down with long-time friend of the pod and iconic angel investor Thomas McInerney. Together, they discuss his long list of legendary investments, from Notion to SpaceX to Uber to Anthopic, and get deep on the strategy and philosophy behind them. Find out how the angel investing landscape has shifted, why founders need to stay both humble and smart, why it’s important for investors to maintain optimism, and much more.

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