Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here .\n\nYou’d think WWDC would cause a lull in startup news. But not in June, when everyone is eager to announce their latest deals — or even to go public.\n\nThis week brought us many reminders that no startup journey is linear — but the next billion-dollar idea may only be one click away.\n\nGong chime : Neobank Chime went public this week in one of this year’s most anticipated IPOs. But the company nearly died in 2016 — until a providential check.\n\nOh no, baby, no: Genetics testing startup Nucleus Genomics raised criticism for its new product, Nucleus Embryo , which could let future parents pick or discard embryos based on controversial factors.\n\nPersonal CRM : WordPress.com owner Automattic acquired Clay , a startup that had raised over $9 million in venture capital for its relationship management app, which will continue to be supported. (Trivia alert: TechCrunch has been writing about Automattic for 20 years now.)\n\nICYMI : Brad Menezes, CEO of enterprise vibe-coding startup Superblocks, has a tip for prospective founders hoping to find a billion-dollar idea: Look at the system prompts used by existing AI unicorns .\n\nBehind this week’s top deals, including some particularly large ones, you will find oversubscribed rounds and VC inbound, but also hard-earned funding and bold life decisions.\n\nSlim and fat : Multiverse Computing, a Spanish startup reducing the size of LLMs, raised an unusually large Series B of €189 million (about $215 million). The company claims its “slim” models can lower AI costs and run on all sorts of devices.\n\nUpward : Enterprise AI company Glean raised a $150 million Series F led by Wellington Management at a $7.2 billion valuation, up from $4.6 billion in September 2024.\n\nBoiling hot : Fervo Energy landed $206 million in a mix of debt and equity from backers, including Bill Gat
