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Welcome to another edition of 🔍 Startup Researcher - North America, your essential digest delivering the latest news and premium insights on startups and venture capital across the region 🌎️
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📰 Important News
- TikTok has agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a joint venture controlled by American investors including Oracle and Silver Lake.
- OpenAI released a new version of ChatGPT Images powered by its flagship GPT Image 1.5 model, delivering 4x faster generation.
- E-bike maker Rad Power Bikes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while seeking a sale within 45 to 60 days after funding collapsed.
- Google is suing SerpApi alleging it used fake search requests to bypass protections, scrape copyrighted search results, and sell them to third parties.
- Mercury submitted an application for an OCC national bank charter and FDIC insurance to become a regulated software-led bank serving 200,000 customers.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- Databricks announced a Series L funding round of over $4 billion, achieving a $134 billion valuation after surpassing a $4.8 billion revenue run-rate.
- Cyera reportedly raised $400 million in a funding round led by Blackstone, a move that would soar its valuation to $9 billion.
- Radiant Nuclear secured over $300 million in a new funding round led by Draper Associates and Boost VC to scale commercialization efforts.
- Private practice platform Tebra raised $250 million in funding led by Hildred to accelerate AI development across its solutions for independent providers.
- Imprint closed a $150 million Series D round to transform co-brand cards into a comprehensive loyalty platform.
💰️ Notable Exits
- Coursera and Udemy are merging to create a technology platform aiming to empower the global workforce with the necessary skills for the AI era.
- Boatsetter and Getmyboat merged to form a global boating marketplace across 50 countries with over $500 million in bookings.
- Quantum Computing Inc. announced an agreement to acquire Luminar Semiconductor for $110 million in cash.
- Zendesk acquired Unleash, an AI-powered enterprise search platform, to enhance its employee service business.
- Nvidia acquired SchedMD to keep the scheduler open-source and deepen control of AI supercomputing infrastructure.
🏦 About Investors
- Lightspeed Venture Partners announced a record $9 billion fundraise, its largest in history, enabling the firm to continue making massive investments.
- Austin-based VC S3 Ventures marked its 20th anniversary by announcing a $250 million Fund VIII, lifting AUM above $1 billion.
- Viola Ventures raised $250 million for two new funds, one to increase stakes in existing companies and another to back early-stage startups.
- FemHealth Ventures closed an oversubscribed $65 million Fund II lifting AUM to $100 million, after top-decile Fund I performance.
- Amiral Ventures secured a $29 million first close toward a $54.5 million fund backed by Investissement Québec and Desjardins.
🚀Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
Databricks
Founded in 2013 in San Francisco by the creators of Apache Spark, Databricks began as an open-source analytics vision and has evolved into a full-stack Data Intelligence Platform powering enterprise AI. Today, the company serves more than 20,000 organizations worldwide, including over 60% of the Fortune 500, with a $4.8 billion revenue run-rate and sustained positive free cash flow. Databricks offers data engineering, warehousing, analytics, and AI application development through products like Lakebase, Databricks Apps, and Agent Bricks. Led by co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi, the company is raising over $4 billion in a Series L at a $134 billion valuation, led by Insight Partners and Fidelity. Its mission is clear: help enterprises build trusted, intelligent applications on their own data at scale.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Founded in 2000 in Menlo Park, Lightspeed Venture Partners has grown into one of the world’s most influential multi-stage VC firms, managing over $40 billion in assets. The firm invests from seed to growth across enterprise, consumer, fintech, health, frontier tech, and AI, with global reach across the U.S., Europe, India, and Asia. In December 2025, Lightspeed closed more than $9 billion across six funds, reinforcing its bespoke fund architecture and deep AI conviction, with over 165 AI-native companies backed. Its portfolio includes Rubrik, Netskope, Navan, Databricks, Anthropic, and Mistral, with multiple recent IPOs. Led by founders and partners Ravi Mhatre and Bejul Somaia, Lightspeed positions itself as a long-term partner to category-defining founders shaping the global intelligence economy.
🤑 Opportunity Radar
Call for Applications: The Startup Innovation Challenge 2026
Applications are now open for the Startup Innovation Challenge 2026 by Energie AG Oberösterreich, a global opportunity for startups building solutions in energy, AI, and sustainability. Apply by 4 January 2026 to compete for up to $50,000 in PoC funding, hands-on collaboration with an energy utility, and access to technical experts and real-world data; collaboration is primarily remote, with optional engagement in Austria. The program targets early- to growth-stage startups and professional teams ready to pilot validated solutions, with Pitch Day scheduled for March 2026. Apply now to partner with an established energy group and accelerate your path to enterprise deployment.
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