🕶️ Bezos, Blakely & Bessent Bike into billionaire bootcamp

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Six bullets of updates

1. 🌐 Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger launches Flourishing AI, a tool to benchmark AI’s alignment with human values—backed by a Harvard study.

2. 📉 Medium turns profitable by slashing $2.6M in monthly losses through layoffs, renegotiated loans, and lean ops.

3. 🤖 Elon Musk’s xAI launches Grok 4 alongside a bold $300/month plan and scores 44.4% on Humanity’s Last Exam.

4. 🧠 AI coding tools may not boost productivity as expected—one study showed developers completed tasks 19% slower.

5. 🏦 Goldman Sachs is testing AI agent Devin across its 12,000-strong dev team in hopes of boosting productivity.

6. ₿ Bitcoin hits an all-time high at $118,900, up from $49K last August, fueled by institutional interest.

7. ⚡ The UK's AI ambitions could raise energy use 25x by 2040, threatening climate goals, warns a Cambridge report.

8. 📸 RealSense spins out from Intel after raising $50M to grow its 3D imaging business and serve 3,000+ clients.

9. 💼 Recruit lays off 1,300 staff at Indeed and Glassdoor, despite claims that AI is helping someone land a job every 2.2 seconds.

10. 🕵️ UK authorities arrest four hackers—including a 17-year-old—linked to retail breaches at Marks & Spencer and more.

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Bezos, Blakely & Bessent Bike into billionaire bootcamp

Billionaires and tech/media power players have gathered at the exclusive Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, a week-long “summer camp” for elite dealmakers. Attendees include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, OpenAI’s Sam Altman (whose $410 sunglasses drew headlines), Apple CEO Tim Cook, Ivanka Trump, Snap’s Evan Spiegel, and Disney’s Bob Iger, among others. The invite-only retreat, held at the Sun Valley Resort, features informal networking, high-level talks (including with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent), and plenty of luxury—from megayachts to designer shades—while insiders speculate on potential business deals behind the scenes.

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These companies just raised money

1. The UK invests €163M in Eutelsat to power a €1.5B European Starlink rival, aiming for space autonomy by 2030.

2. Varda Space secures $187M to revolutionize pharmaceutical production in space, harnessing microgravity for biotech innovation.

3. Sarah Smith announces a $16M Fund I, focused on backing solo GPs, with AI as a key enabler. She's already backed 17 startups.

4. LGND raises $9M to simplify geospatial data workflows, targeting AI-driven efficiencies in a $400B market.

5. Apolink, led by a 19-year-old founder, lands $4.3M to deliver 24/7 LEO satellite connectivity through a planned 32-satellite constellation.

6. Helios raises $4M to build an AI operating system for public policy, positioning itself as a challenger to platforms like Palantir.

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Nvidia’s China chip dances around U.S. rules

Nvidia is reportedly preparing to launch a China-specific AI chip as early as September, navigating around U.S. export restrictions by modifying its Blackwell RTX Pro 6000 processor. The chip, stripped of high-bandwidth memory and NVLink to comply with regulations, represents Nvidia’s latest effort to retain a foothold in the Chinese datacenter market—currently dominated by local competitors like Huawei. Despite CEO Jensen Huang’s recent claim that China is no longer part of Nvidia’s financial forecasts, this move hints at a potential pivot. While Nvidia declined to officially comment, a spokesperson emphasized the importance of ensuring U.S.-built AI infrastructure remains competitive in powering China’s massive developer ecosystem.

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. Startupbootcamp | Energy & Sustainability | Deadline: Aug 10 | South Africa

2. Startupbootcamp | Health & LifeScience | Deadline: Aug 10 | Netherlands

3. Antler Canada | Deadline: Sept 29 | Canada

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