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ChatGPT Loses Its Apple Exclusive

Apple is opening up its platform to a wide range of AI chatbots, Anthropic wins a round in its fight against the Pentagon, and parrot haircuts

Alex Gove & Connie Loizos
March 26, 2026

Top News

Apple plans to end ChatGPT’s exclusive role inside Siri in iOS 27 by letting users route queries to rival AI assistants like Gemini and Claude, opening the iPhone to more chatbot competition and more subscription revenue for Apple. Bloomberg has more here.

Anthropic won a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon’s designation of Claude as a “supply chain risk,” with a federal judge saying the government likely crossed into illegal retaliation after contract talks collapsed. TechCrunch has more here.

OpenAI has indefinitely shelved plans for a ChatGPT “erotic mode” amid internal and external backlash. TechCrunch has more here.

Fannie Mae is reportedly set to accept crypto-backed mortgages, a first that would let some homebuyers use holdings like bitcoin as part of the underwriting process and push digital assets deeper into mainstream consumer finance. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Silicon Valley’s Two Biggest Dramas Have Intersected: LiteLLM and Delve

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

By Julie Bort

This is one of those Silicon Valley real-life episodes that seem pulled from the HBO satire show. This week, some really atrocious malware was discovered in an open source project developed by Y Combinator graduate LiteLLM.

LiteLLM gives developers easy access to hundreds of AI models and provides features like spend management. It’s a breakout hit, downloaded as often as 3.4 million times per day, according to Snyk, one of the many security researchers monitoring the incident. The project had 40K stars on GitHub and thousands of forks (those who used it as a base to alter and make it their own).

The malware was discovered, documented, and disclosed by research scientist Callum McMahon of FutureSearch, a company offering AI agents for web research. The malware slipped in through a “dependency,” meaning other open source software that LiteLLM relied upon. It then stole the log-in credentials of everything it touched. With those credentials, the malware gained access to more open source packages and accounts to harvest more credentials, and so on.

The malware caused McMahon’s machine to shut down after he downloaded LiteLLM. That event prompted him to investigate and discover it. Ironically, a bug in the malware caused his machine to blow up. Because that bit of nasty code was so sloppily designed, he (as well as famed AI researcher Andrej Karpathy) concluded it must have been vibe coded.

The LiteLLM developers have been working nonstop this week to rectify the situation, and the good news is that it was caught relatively fast, likely within hours.

There’s another part to this saga that folks on X can’t stop talking about. LiteLLM, as of March 25 when we looked, still proudly displays on its website that it has passed two major security compliance certifications, SOC2 and ISO 27001.

But it used a startup called Delve for those certifications.

Massive Fundings

Cents, a seven-year-old New York startup that runs a business management platform for laundromats and dry cleaners, raised a $110 million Series C round led by Sumeru Equity Partners, with previous investor Camber Creek also contributing. More here.

eMed, a six-year-old Miami startup that provides GLP-1 weight-loss programs for employers, raised a $200 million Series A round at a $2+ billion valuation. The deal was led by AON Corporation, with Chief Wellness Officer Tom Brady, Jeff Aronin, Ara Cohen, Antonio Gracias, Joe Lonsdale, R.J. Melman, Tom Ricketts, and CEO Linda Yaccarino also taking part. More here.

Gilgamesh Pharma, a seven-year-old New York startup that is developing new chemical therapies for psychiatric and neurological disorders, raised a $60 million Series A round led by Satori Neuro, with previous investor Prime Movers Lab also chiming in. More here.

Isara, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to coordinate large groups of agents to communicate and solve complex problems, raised a $94 million round at a $650 million valuation. Investors included OpenAI, Michael Ovitz, and Stanley Druckenmiller as well as previous lead investor Amity Ventures. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

PDW Holdings, a five-year-old startup based in Huntsville, AL, that manufactures modular military drones and mission software for defense, government, and law enforcement customers, raised a $110 million Series B round led by Ondas, with Hood River, Cedar Pine, Hanwha Asset Management, and Booz Allen Hamilton also pitching in. More here.

Pinnacle Medicines, a two-year-old startup based in Doylestown, PA, that uses AI and physics-based simulations to design and optimize oral peptide therapeutics, raised an $89 million Series B round co-led by LAV and Foresite Capital, with Quan Capital, Hankang Capital, RA Capital Management, and Logos Capital as well as previous investor OrbiMed also investing. The company has raised a total of $134 million. More here.

Shield AI, an 11-year-old San Diego company that develops autonomous software and drones for military applications, raised a $2 billion round at a post-money valuation of approximately $12.7 billion. (The round will be officially closed once Shield’s acquisition of Aechelon is finalized. See Exits below.) The deal was led by Advent International, with JPMorgan Chase’s Security and Resiliency Initiative, Blackstone, and Snowpoint Ventures also participating. The New York Times has more here.

Terrestrial Bio, a 15-year-old Boston company that is developing a microarray patch platform for delivering a range of therapies, raised a $50 million Series C round led by RA Capital, with Engine Ventures, GHIC, and Siteground also engaging. More here.

Vultr, a 12-year-old company based in West Palm Beach, FL, that operates a cloud infrastructure platform for deploying compute, storage, networking, and AI workloads, is reportedly in the market to raise at least $1 billion. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

Xona, a seven-year-old startup based in Burlingame, CA, that is building a satellite navigation network as an alternative or backup to GPS, raised a $170 million Series C round led by Mohari Ventures Natural Capital, with additional support from Craft Ventures, ICONIQ, Woven Capital, NGP Capital, Samsung Next, and Hexagon. SpaceNews has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Adonis, a four-year-old New York startup whose AI platform is designed to detect revenue cycle issues, recommend actions, and autonomously resolve claims for healthcare providers, raised a $40 million Series C round led by Quadrille Capital, with previous investors General Catalyst and Bling Capital also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $95+ million. PYMNTS has more here.

Clasp, a three-year-old New York startup that offers loan repayment and retention-based recruiting programs for healthcare employers, raised a $20 million Series B round co-led by Crosslink Capital and Digitalis Ventures, with previous investors Juvo and Strada Education also participating. The company has raised a total of $50 million. Fierce Healthcare has more here.

Deccan AI, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that supplies post-training data, evaluation, and reinforcement learning workflows for AI models, raised a $25 million Series A round led by A91 Partners, with Susquehanna International Group and Prosus Ventures also investing. TechCrunch has more here.

Entrix, a five-year-old Munich startup that provides AI-driven trading and optimization for battery storage assets, raised a $49.6 million round co-led by Junction Growth Investors and Korys and including BNP Paribas, Allianz, AENU, Enpal, Abacon, and Arvantis Group. EU-Startups has more here.

Mevo, a nine-year-old São Paulo startup that provides e-prescribing software and related patient services, raised an $18 million round led by Prosus, with previous investors Matrix, Jefferson River, and Floating Point also anteing up. More here.

Miraterra, a four-year-old Vancouver startup that develops soil measurement tools that use AI, genomics, and spectroscopy to analyze biological and chemical soil data, raised an $11.6 million round led by At One Ventures, with Farm Credit Canada, S2G Investments, the Sitka Foundation, and iSelect also contributing. More here.

Scalvy, a four-year-old Austin startup that provides modular power distribution units that deliver and manage electricity across data center racks, raised a $13.9 million Series A round co-led by Silicon Badia and an unnamed strategic investor, with Azolla Ventures, Climate Capital, and Skyriver Ventures also taking part. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

Steno, an eight-year-old Los Angeles startup that provides court reporting and litigation support services, raised a $49 million Series C round led by Savano Capital Partners, with previous investors First Round Capital and The Legal Tech Fund also joining in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Subbyx, a three-year-old Milan startup that offers a subscription platform for consumer electronics and home appliances, raised a $34.6 million Series A round led by Systemiq Capital, with Azimut Holding, C4Ventures, and EVLI Growth Partners also joining in. The company has raised a total of $57.6 million. FinTech Futures has more here.

Thesis Care, a two-year-old New York startup that uses AI agents and clinicians to handle clinical operations and care management workflows, raised a $45 million Series A round led by Oak HC/FT, with CRV and Black Opal Ventures also digging in. The company has raised a total of $60 million. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Conntour, a one-year-old Miami startup that leverages AI to let users search, monitor, and analyze security camera footage with natural language queries, raised a $7 million seed round. Investors included General Catalyst, Y Combinator, SV Angel, and Liquid 2 Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Grand, a one-year-old Dublin startup that helps businesses assess the reliability and credit risk of their trading partners, raised a $5 million pre-seed round led by 20VC, with NAP and Firedrop also participating. FinTech Global has more here.

Krane, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that aims to use AI to automate materials procurement, supplier coordination, and delivery tracking for construction projects, raised a $9 million seed round co-led by Glasswing Ventures and Link Ventures, with Tunitas Ventures, RoseCliff, and New-Normal Ventures also participating. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Mandel AI, a three-year-old San Francisco and Bulgarian startup that uses AI agents to read supplier emails, extract data, and automate procurement workflows for manufacturers, raised a $3.9 million seed round. Investors included Y Combinator, Category Ventures, Ritual Capital, and e2vc. EU-Startups has more here.

Rama, a six-month-old San Francisco startup that aims to help companies source electronic components for hardware manufacturing, raised a $3 million seed round led by Wischoff Ventures, with Stage2, Liquid2, Rebellion, Entrepreneurs First, Jude Gomila, and Michael Wolfe also participating. More here.

SOUS, a four-year-old Amsterdam startup that is building a platform to help restaurants predict demand, plan menus, price dishes, and manage inventory, raised a $4.6 million seed round led by Seed + Speed Ventures, with PeakBridge, āltitude, and Gekko Capital also chiming in. The Next Web has more here.

Talino, a seven-year-old Los Angeles startup that offers API-based financial infrastructure connecting U.S. and emerging market payment systems, raised a $7.5 million Series A round led by Chemonics International, with Mount Sinai Capital and Gulf Blvd also participating. More here.

Theia Insights, a four-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that monitors regulatory filings, earnings transcripts, press releases, and financials to continuously map companies’ exposure to sectors and themes, raised an $8 million Series A round led by MiddleGame Ventures, with Further Ventures and Unusual Ventures also investing. UKTN has more here.

Trayd, a five-year-old New York startup that automates payroll, HR, compliance, and labor cost tracking for specialty trade contractors, raised a $10 million Series A round led by White Star Capital, with RXR as well as previous investors Suffolk Technologies and Y Combinator also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $17 million. More here.

Triangle Health, a one-year-old Los Angeles startup that provides an AI platform to help patients research diagnoses and identify treatment options with physician oversight, raised a $4 million pre-seed round led by Signal Noise Ratio, with Hannah Grey VC and Antler Criticality Fund also participating. Endpoints News has more here.

New Funds

Thrive Holdings, an offshoot of Thrive Capital that backs efforts to use AI in traditional services industries, has locked down $1 billion in commitments for its next fund and is in talks to raise at least $1 billion more. Bloomberg has the scoop here.

Exits

Defense tech startup Shield AI is acquiring Aechelon Technology, a 27-year-old South San Francisco defense software company that builds high-fidelity simulation and synthetic reality tools used to train pilots and test aircraft and autonomous systems before live flight, as part of a broader $2 billion financing. More here.

Going Public

Anthropic executives have discussed an IPO as soon as Q4, with bankers pitching the deal expecting the company could raise more than $60 billion in what would be one of the biggest AI public offerings yet. The Information has more here.

SpaceX is considering giving retail investors up to 30% of its IPO allocation, a sharp break from Wall Street convention that would let Elon Musk lean harder on his fan base to support one of the biggest listings in years. Reuters has more here.

People

Venture capitalist David Sacks is stepping down from his role as the White House AI and crypto czar after hitting the 130-day limit for special government employees, though he says he’ll stay involved through the President’s science and technology advisory council. TechCrunch takes a look at what’s happening here.

Layoffs

X has reportedly cut its chief marketing officer and more than 20 nontechnical staffers as it pushes remaining employees to focus on revenue and tries to tighten operations ahead of SpaceX’s expected IPO. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Post-Its

— (@)

Essential Reads

Back-to-back jury losses against Meta in New Mexico and Los Angeles are giving plaintiffs a new path around Section 230 by treating social media’s addictive design – not just user-posted content – as the legal problem, potentially opening the door to years of copycat litigation. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Anduril Industries is racing to prove it can mass-produce missiles, drones, and submarines like a defense-tech SpaceX, but Wired reports that safety lapses, factory delays, management churn, and missed deadlines are getting in the way. More here.

OpenAI’s ads pilot has already crossed $100 million in annualized revenue less than two months after launch. CNBC has more here.

A federal judge dismissed X’s antitrust lawsuit accusing major advertisers of an illegal boycott, ruling the company failed to show coordinated action or harm under U.S. law. Reuters has more here.

Detours

The New York Times digs into the so-called “Gen Z pout,” the latest maybe-real, maybe-made-up microtrend built around young people posing with pursed lips and maximum studied detachment.

A TV series on JFK Jr. has led to a run on copies of Kennedy’s long-defunct magazine, George.

Brain Rot

Retail Therapy

Image Credits: Hermès

Hermès has launched a $5,150 leather-wrapped MagSafe charging set with a matching case, pushing further into tech accessories with a high-end take on everyday charging gear.

A startup called Lunatrain is offering private-jet-style rail charters on Amtrak routes between the Bay Area and Los Angeles or Denver, betting there’s real demand for luxury slow travel at prices up to $18,500 for a party of six.

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