Top News
AI now designs antigens: A team from the University of Cambridge developed what they’re calling a “universal vaccine” after developing a “super-antigen” that could provide an “all-in-one” solution to future outbreaks. The team fed an AI model every known genetic sequence from a sub-genus of coronavirus known as “Sarbeco.” The model then developed an antigen with common features, that could — at least in theory — help block or even prevent infections from the entire viral group. So far, the results have only been tested on a relatively small group of volunteers at two UK medical facilities, but it appears to have triggered a positive immune response against both SARS and COVID. If AI helps to prevent a whole swath of dangerous illnesses, will everyday Americans start trusting it more? It’s at least a start!
Bots are more online than people: According to new data from Cloudflare, excitedly tweeted by CEO and co-founder Matthew Prince, “bots have now passed human traffic online for the first time in the Internet’s history.” That obviously includes old fashioned internet bots, like website crawlers and search indexers, but Cloudflare suggests this massive recent surge is all thanks to AI agents. That includes agents performing multi-step tasks on behalf of human users, but also bots scraping and indexing content for future AI training. Which, let’s be fair, is probably a decent-sized chunk of that total. As of now, CF estimates bot traffic is behind a whopping 57.5% of total internet activity, compared to 42.5% for us flesh bags.
Allen Control raises $200M Series B: The robotics defense tech company (HQ’d right here in Austin, Texas!) develops autonomous anti-drone weapons systems. (Or “robotic turrets,” as some headlines have put it.) Their flagship product to date is Bullfrog, an AI-powered weapons station that helps legacy firearms more precisely engage with targets, while also providing defense capabilities (like passive sensing that helps troops maintain covert positions). They’ve raised a $200M Series B at a $2.2 billion post money valuation, led by Disney vet Kevin Mayer’s Smash Capital.
TWiST 500
Who doesn’t love a good valuation update, right? They’re the bread and butter of daily tech news coverage. And for this Friday, we’ve got three TWiST 500 veterans getting major upgrades, at least on the books.
Supabase: The “Backend-as-a-Service” (BaaaaaaaS) platform provides a pre-fab backend stack for developers; real time data subscriptions, authentication, file storage, that kind of thing. It’s built atop Postgres, a trusted open-source relational database, so developers aren’t locked into any proprietary system, and can get their new apps and sites up and running far more quickly and efficiently. The secret to their recent growth? The rise of AI coding tools, like Replit, Bolt, and Lovable. Lots more people vibecoding lots more apps means lots more interest in all-in-one backend solutions. Accordingly, Supabase raised $500 million at a chunky $10.5 billion valuation this week.
Lovable: And speaking of Lovable, the Stockholm-based vibecode favorite is reportedly in talks to raise their new round at a $12 billion valuation, according to Forbes. That’s just about double the estimate from their last around, which was only back in December. Lovable famously claimed the title of ‘fastest growing startup ever’ back in 2025, and they’ve reportedly crossed $400 million in ARR in February of this year.
Revolut: The neo-bank recently gained regulatory approval in the UK, and has applied for a banking charter in the US. In the midst of all this big news, they’re now looking to sell some shares on the secondary market, at a value of $115 billion. The goal, according to Bloomberg, is getting some liquidity for early investors and employees. It’s been an ongoing strategy for the company as its valuation has skyrocketed; bringing in new investors via secondary transactions while allowing earlier entrants to start cashing out. CEO Nik Storonsky suggests they’re unlikely to IPO until 2028 at the earliest, so this may be the only hope for Revolut investors looking through the proverbial couch cushions for some spare change. – Lon
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This Week in Startups
E2296: Want to get to space? Several launch companies can help you. SpaceX, Rocket Lab, the Russians, the list goes on. But what about once you make it upstairs, then what? Impulse Space CEO and CTO Tom Mueller is building the next stage of our orbital economy. Meanwhile, venture capitalists are enamored with the idea of humanoid robots — robots share our shape, our work environment, and even our tools. But startups like Dusty Robotics are taking a different tack; instead of building human-shaped robots, it’s building more specialized ‘bots. Dusty’s CEO, Dr. Tessa Lau, joins Alex to go deep on purpose-built robots in today’s build-crazy market.
E2295: On a two-part TWiST, Alex chats with Cortical Labs founder Dr. Hon Weng Chong about how they’re using human neurons alongside silicon hardware to create “Synthetic Biological Intelligence.” Find out why neurons are more efficient than GPUs at reinforcement learning, and delve into some of the technological and ethical implications of this groundbreaking work. THEN, we welcome Pyka co-founder/CEO Michael Norcia to explore the various uses for his startups’ autonomous aircraft, and why he’s developing the tech all the way down in Brazil.
E2294: It’s an all Ask Jason TWiST special, in which JCal responds to the best user queries submitted in our new X super-fan group chats. (Want to join? Follow us on X and let us know why you belong in there in the DMs.) Discussions include how you should approach your seed round funnel, why investors are more open to hardware concepts than ever before, how to differentiate your startup when you’re competing with frontier labs, and the possibilities for “Founder Community College.” PLUS highlights from Lon’s extended trip to Italy and Greece!
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