AI agents hacked government portals, broke into Hugging Face and tried to cover their tracks this year. A VC's guide to the startups building the brakes for rogue AI, why Israel's Irregular sits at the centre of the story, and why self-improving agents make the problem harder.
Courage at 30,000 feet, $13.2B raised by Israeli startups in nine months, and a week of agent security rounds, a 10-month exit to Nebius, and a new defence-tech fund.
Capital is concentrating in fewer deals. Higher valuations tell us what successful fundraises look like, but founders also need to understand the evidence, dilution and runway required to get there.
Choosing the right AI model matters. But when competitors can access the same technology, a repeatable way to reach customers and earn their trust can become the more durable advantage.
This week’s #FIRGUN celebrates Israeli tech funding, new venture and secondary funds, and a new route for private capital into defence technology, alongside a packed week of global AI releases.
A new generation of frontier AI labs has raised approximately $11.6 billion across ten mega-rounds. Some have released usable models, products and APIs. Others remain bets on elite teams and unproven research theses. Here is what each neo-lab has actually shipped.
Jev does not generate text. It turns unstructured state into typed, probabilistic decisions in milliseconds and at a fraction of the cost of frontier LLMs. Here is why TypeSafe’s first “System One” model could become a new decision layer for AI agents, automation and data analysis.
This week's Firgun roundup: Buildots becomes Israel's newest unicorn with a $130M raise, Remagine portfolio company Keewano emerges from stealth with $12M for KeewanoDB, and OpenAI's acquisition of GLASS Imaging shows model providers are now shopping for hardware, not just talent.
The model providers powering AI startups are increasingly competing for their customers. From Claude for Financial Services to ChatGPT for small businesses, the move into applications is testing the defensibility of vertical and agentic AI. For founders, the question is what customers will keep paying for when competitors, internal teams and infrastructure providers can deliver the same core capabilities.
Making AI more capable does not automatically make it more trustworthy. As investment and geopolitical competition accelerate development, can safety keep pace? From alignment challenges to proposals for a FINRA-style watchdog, this post explores who should hold AI accountable and how startups can help deliver its benefits while reducing the risks.
A Rosh Hashanah edition of #FIRGUN celebrating Israeli startup funding and exits, alongside new AI models, mega-rounds and major acquisitions around the world. We also mark 25 years since September 11, holding remembrance alongside hope for a sweeter, more peaceful year.
AI assistants are competing to manage our inboxes, coordinate our teams and complete work on our behalf. From Instinct and Town to OpenClaw and Israel’s NanoClaw, the race raises a critical question: who can turn dependable delegation into a defensible business?
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