News Summary

This week’s Startups Weekly highlights include a lawsuit involving HR tech startup Rippling, where an employee was accused of corporate espionage for rival Deel. Qualcomm acquired VinAI’s generative AI division, founded by former DeepMind scientist Hung Bui. Epic Games purchased Loci, an AI platform for tagging 3D assets. In funding news, Isomorphic Labs, an AI drug-discovery platform, raised $600 million, while Plaid secured $575 million at a $6.1 billion valuation. Temporal raised $146 million to further its workflow execution platform. Retym, an AI chipmaker, raised $75 million, and Aetherflux attracted $50 million to develop space-based solar power stations. Roam, assisting with assumable mortgages, closed an $11.5 million Series A. Construct Capital launched a $300 million fund for startups in manufacturing and defense tech.