The Rundown: Edition 31 – Synthesia’s $4bn valuation, AI slop, and driverless cars
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National Wealth Fund doubles down on clean energy
The UK’s National Wealth Fund has announced plans to double its rate of investment, injecting an additional £5 billion a year into clean energy and growth projects. The fund said the investment should create or support 200,000 additional jobs. Times
EU launches probe into xAI over Grok deepfakes
Following a mounting public outcry over the use of X’s Grok chatbot to generate and share sexualised images of women and children, the EU has become the latest regulator to announce a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s xAI. FT
Meta trials premium subscriptions
Meta, the parent company of social media apps Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, has announced plans to charge customers for access to expanded AI services and ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram. BBC
UK government invests £36m in Cambridge supercomputer
In a bid to boost the availability of AI development tools for researchers and startups, the UK government has announced a new £36 million investment in the DAWN supercomputer facility at the University of Cambridge. UKTN
Synthesia hits $4bn valuation after Series E
Synthesia, a text-to-video creator, has announced a $200 million funding round led by Google Ventures, with further investment from Evantic, Hedosophia, NVentures, Accel, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, PSP Growth, Air Street Capital, and MMC Ventures. The business is now valued at $4 billion. Times
Softbank considers $30bn OpenAI investment
Softbank is in discussions to invest up to $30 billion into OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. The Japanese investment firm is one of OpenAI’s biggest shareholders and would form part of a funding round that could reach $50 billion, the report claims. Bloomberg
Digital healthcare platform Evaro raises $25m Series A
Evaro, an NHS-licensed digital healthcare provider based in Norwich, has announced a funding round led by AlbionVC, with support from Simplyhealth Ventures, Exceptional Ventures, Cornerstone VC, and BBI. UKTN
Proptech Orbital closes $60m Series B
Orbital, an AI platform for real estate law, has announced its Series B round, which was led by Brighton Park Capital, with further investments from REV, The LegalTech Fund, Moderne Ventures, and Grosvenor Group. Tech.EU
Let’s chop the AI slop
There has been a sharp increase in British firms hiring storytellers to tell a simple, coherent brand message. This is likely linked to the proliferation of AI, as great storytelling requires “human creativity and ingenuity”, according to Cathal Morrow, a recruiter at HeadlineWriters. Times
Time to go driverless
Waymo, the US driverless car firm, plans to roll out its robotaxi service in London this September, following a pilot launch in April. Lilian Greenwood, Local Transport Minister, believes this will make roads safer because “automated vehicles don’t get tired, don’t get distracted and don’t drive under the influence”. BBC
Europe nears mainland satellite launch
Volodymyr Levykin, CEO and Founder of Skyrora, explains why the continent needs a standardised approach to operations, government engagement, investment levels, and regulation to boost its launch capabilities. SpaceNews
Edtech deals double to €1.6bn in 2025
Total investment into learning & work tech companies doubled to €1.6bn last year, according to the ‘European Learning & Work Funding Report’ from VC firm Brighteye. It found that 80% of deals were made in five countries: the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The report concluded that edtech is now intersecting with corporate and workplace learning, talent mobility, and productivity tools. BrightEye
No more AI Google Search
After UK antitrust regulators proposed new rules for Google Search, the tech giant will let websites “specifically opt out of Search generative AI features”. However, Google warned that imposing strict new controls to protect and support web content in the AI era could break its search engine. Business Insider
Are you in the early stages of your career, or are you further along and making serious retirement plans? Wherever you are in this journey called life, the world’s richest person has said it’s all a bit pointless. Elon Musk believes that retirement savings could become “irrelevant” as emerging technologies promise an abundance of resources, eliminating the need for personal savings and nest eggs. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei shares a similar view and penned this in a 2024 essay. This might be made easier by the fact that the UK Government is set to scrap the option to save for retirement in its replacement for the Lifetime ISA. Who needs guaranteed money in their old age anyway? Perhaps we should all just spend our time volunteering and giving back.
Social media bans are all the rage. While Australian teens are fishing more rather than scrolling, the UK is still deciding whether to implement a social media ban for under 16s. PM Keir Starmer is believed to be waiting until the impact of Australia’s ban, introduced in December 2025, has been evaluated, although Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch has pressed him to “just get on with it”. France is set to implement the ban later this year, and the Indian state of Goa is also weighing up the decision. Despite these conversations about the safety and security of social media, tech giants plan to argue that there is “no scientific proof that social media causes addiction and that the lawsuits violate online speech protections” in an upcoming case.
In other news, US President Donald Trump is driving a data centre boom across Europe. There is growing recognition that technologies are tools for geopolitical leverage rather than just neutral services. Perhaps that is one reason why the UK should build its own data centres, especially if Trump’s plans to build a data centre in Greenland come to fruition.