How Did AI Snag 51% Of VC Dollars? 🤖📈💰

TL;DR

• SoftBank bets $4B on DigitalBridge AI infrastructure
• Meta buys Manus, adding $100M ARR AI agent
• New rounds for Scribe, Lemon Slice, Dazzle AI
• AI now over half of 2025 venture funding

HEADLINES

Meta Platforms buys Manus in multi-billion agentic acquisition 🤝🔗

SoftBank Group acquires DigitalBridge in $4B AI infra push 🏗️🔗

Scribe raises $75M to scale workflow-recording AI 📝🔗

Lemon Slice unveils avatars, lands $10.5M seed 🧑‍🎨🔗

Dazzle AI secures $8M for consumer AI apps ✨🔗

Applied Digital spins out GPU cloud into ChronoScale 🖥️🔗

FROM THE BIG PLAYERS

Matrix Partners invested $10.5M in Lemon Slice 🎥🔗

Forerunner Ventures invested $8M in Dazzle AI 💡🔗

Investors invested $75M in Scribe at $1.3B valuation 📊🔗

RAISES

Scribe raised $75M in a Series B from workflow-focused AI investors 💼🔗

Lemon Slice raised $10.5M in a seed round led by Matrix Partners 🧑‍🎨🔗

Dazzle AI raised $8M in a seed round from Forerunner and others ✨🔗

CoX Space raised $854K via crowdfunding for its AI ring controller 💍🔗

NEW LAUNCHES

Lemon Slice launched Lemon Slice-2 real-time interactive avatar model 🚀🔗

Interview Kickstart launched Agentic AI Course for engineers 2026 🎓🔗

Google rolled out Gemini 3 Flash as default assistant ⚡🔗

Google Labs introduced Disco GenTabs AI-powered browsing experience 🧪🔗

TRY THESE TOOLS

Gemini App offers Gemini 3 Flash ultra-fast AI assistant 📱🔗

Lemon Slice-2 API powers live conversational AI avatars 🧑‍💻🔗

Scribe Capture auto-documents workflows into reusable SOP playbooks 🧾🔗

METRICS

AI startups captured 51% of all 2025 venture funding 📊🔗

US AI ecosystem drew 85% of global AI funding 🇺🇸🔗

Gartner sees 2026 IT spend hitting $176B, up 10.6% 📈🔗

Scribe funding set its valuation at $1.3B 🏷️🔗

Applied Digital Cloud generated $75.2M in twelve-month GPU revenue 🖥️🔗

BENCHMARKS

Global venture funding hit $95.6B in Q3 2025 🌎🔗

Indian AI ecosystem counts 1,400 startups, 451 funded with $4.9B 🇮🇳🔗

Asia-Pacific agentic AI reached $3B revenue, topping North America 📘🔗

IT spending growth accelerates from 8.7% to 10.6% on AI 💽🔗

INFRA & COSTS

SoftBank–DigitalBridge $4B deal expands global AI data centers 🏗️🔗

Applied Digital spinning ChronoScale to focus on GPU cloud 🖥️🔗

Japan METI budget lifts chips and AI spend to ¥1.23T 💴🔗

DigitalBridge manages $108B in digital infrastructure assets 🌐🔗

VALUATIONS

Scribe funding pegs workflow AI platform at $1.3B 🏷️🔗

Glean targets 10x India growth off $7.2B valuation 🔍🔗

Meta–Manus deal ranks as Meta’s third-largest acquisition 🤖🔗

Indian AI startups doubled 2025 funding versus prior year 🇮🇳🔗

POLICY

Japan Medical Safety Organisation to use AI on all accidental death reports ⚕️🔗

Supreme Court of India judge urges AI adoption in judiciary ⚖️🔗

Global regulators scrutinise trillion-dollar AI infra commitments 🛡️🔗

China guidelines push AI Plus to upgrade traditional industries 📜🔗

SOVEREIGN

Japan METI allocates ¥387.3B to domestic foundation AI 🏛️🔗

Japan government earmarks ¥150B more for Rapidus chips 💾🔗

India AI Impact Summit to host 100+ CEOs, 15 heads of state 🌐🔗

Nippon Export and Investment Insurance backed by ¥1.78T bonds for US AI projects 💹🔗

SECTORS

Manufacturing deployed AI to cut jacket prototyping time 73% 🏭🔗

Retail fashion uses AI try-ons, digital hosts to boost sales 👗🔗

Healthcare regulation applies AI to analyse hospital death investigations 🏥🔗

Enterprise search scales as Glean targets 10x India revenue 🔍🔗

Legal services urged to integrate AI for faster case resolution 📚🔗

COMMUNITY MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Marissa Mayer shipped Dazzle AI with $8M seed backing 🌟🔗