Quill, a San Francisco, CA-based privacy-focused desktop application that transcribes, summarizes, and generates actionable notes from meetings directly on devices, raised $6.5M in Seed funding.

​The round was led by Basis Set Ventures, with participation from 500 Global, Naval Ravikant, Morado Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts.

Led by Michael Daugherty, Yacob Berhane, and Nick Adams, Quill gives users complete control over where their data lives, how AI inference runs, and how their workflows evolve over time. It provides Quilliam, a sovereign Chief of AI Staff agent for modern professionals. The solutions can connect to other tools via Model Context Protocol (MCP), including Notion, Linear, Affinity, Obsidian, Airtable, Manus, and Gamma.

Quilliam uses context from meetings and user history to proactively suggest and execute workflows:

• After a product meeting, Quilliam can create or modify tickets in Linear, update documentation in Notion, and draft stakeholder updates.
• Before a client call, Quilliam surfaces relevant history and prepares briefing materials.
• Over time, Quilliam will help to customize Quill with automations, templates, and other improvements.

source[FinSMES]

Wallie The Sensei Drops “No Quitter” Featuring K Camp
Rising West Coast force Wallie The Sensei, one of the standout voices emerging from Cactus Jack, returns with his latest single, “No Quitter,” featuring Atlanta hitmaker K Camp.
“No Quitter” is a motivational anthem built on resilience, hunger, and elevated ambition. The track blends Wallie’s signature melodic flow and reflective storytelling with K Camp’s smooth, seasoned delivery—creating a cross-regional collaboration that feels both authentic and undeniable.
Driven by polished production and infectious cadence, “No Quitter” captures the grind behind the glow. Wallie delivers verses rooted in perseverance and growth, while K Camp reinforces the message with a hook that sticks long after the beat fades. Together, they craft a record that speaks to anyone chasing more and refusing to fold under pressure.
With momentum continuing to build around Wallie The Sensei, “No Quitter” solidifies his position as one of the most dynamic voices representing the new generation under the Cactus Jack umbrella.
The single is now available on all major streaming platforms.

Photo from TechCrunch

​Smart Bricks, a San Francisco, CA-based AI startup building agentic AI infrastructure for real-estate investing, raised $5M in Pre-Seed funding.
​The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

Bakers included Techstars, 500 Global, Cornerstone VC, South Loop Ventures, Harvard Business School Alumni Angels, Cento Ventures, alongside angel investors from OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, Airbnb, and Blackstone.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts.

Led by CEO and Founder Mohamed Mohamed, Smart Bricks designs and deploys autonomous reasoning systems that allow capital to identify, evaluate, and execute real-estate investments end-to-end, compressing a process that traditionally takes three to six months into minutes.

sources[FinsMes]

Oxide Computer Company, the on-prem cloud computing company, today announced it has raised its $200 million Series C led by Thomas Tull's US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), with participation from existing investors including Eclipse, Riot Ventures, Jane Street, and more.

Oxide designs and manufactures the Oxide Cloud Computer, a rack-scale integrated system, with purpose-built hardware and open-source software, that delivers a modern cloud experience on-premises. For enterprises historically forced to cobble together their own on-premises systems, the Oxide Cloud Computer provides the self-service, API-driven experience previously available only from hyperscale cloud providers, with better performance, sovereignty, and economics.

"We built Oxide to fundamentally rethink how on-prem infrastructure is delivered, bringing organizations the simplicity and automation of cloud computing with the highest levels of security," said Steve Tuck, CEO and co-founder of Oxide. "This investment ensures our ability to serve customers for the long term, so they can confidently plan and execute projects measured in decades."

On-premises infrastructure customers count on the longevity of their providers, and Oxide's latest funding round provides clear validation of the company's long-term vision. By doubling total funding for the second time, Oxide has secured the capital and the strategic support to invest in its product roadmap, expand manufacturing, and provide best-in-class customer support for enterprises worldwide for years to come.

"Infrastructure demands long-term partners," said Bryan Cantrill, CTO and co-founder of Oxide. "Oxide took a first-principles approach to the neglected world of on-premises compute. That path was arduous, but the benefits are now clear: a secure, reliable platform designed to endure and scale — offering the modernity of cloud computing in the on-prem data center."

"Thomas Tull's strategic vision for sovereign compute infrastructure aligns with Oxide's accelerating momentum," said Gaetano Crupi, Managing Director at USIT. "Given the pace of customer adoption and Oxide's execution since our Series B investment, we recognized a compelling opportunity to increase our commitment to support their growth. We're backing a platform that redefines how compute is built and operated, ensuring the U.S. is equipped with best-in-class, secure digital infrastructure as the cloud becomes increasingly central to economic and national competitiveness."

"Oxide delivers the simplicity of the cloud on-premises, with superior performance, reliability, and cost efficiency. Through a single, vertically integrated, rack-scale system, Oxide brings hyperscaler-grade cloud capabilities directly into the data center," said Seth Winterroth, partner at Eclipse. "As the global market searches for every possible advantage in compute and power efficiency, Oxide stands apart with a solution that has no real competition. This kind of platform shift defines categories, and Oxide is leading the way."

To learn more about Oxide and its products, visit https://oxide.computer.

To apply to join Oxide, visit https://oxide.computer/careers 

About Oxide
Oxide Computer Company designs and delivers unified hardware and open-source software to deliver hyperscaler-class efficiency, performance, and ease of use on-premises, enhancing security, latency, and control. Founded in 2019 and based in Emeryville, California, Oxide is backed by leading investors and trusted by enterprise customers across industries.

source[PRNewswire]