Startups Weekly: Mercury more than doubled its valuation, and other news

Summary

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week reminded us that creative accounting doesn’t only happen in Hollywood. Some hopes were dashed, but startups are delivering on all sorts of promises, from nuclear reactors to small EVs. Most interesting startup stories from the week Image Credits:Courtesy of Hasan Sukkar The startup news this week was very much a mixed bag, with one public exit finalized and another delayed and a flurry of other developments, both promising and disappointing. Churn concerns: TechCrunch learned that several companies with logos on 11x’s website were not actual customers of the a16z- and Benchmark-backed startup. Sources also said used 11x used creative ways to calculate annual recurring revenue. Further delays: Cerebras Systems saw its IPO delayed again. The AI chipmaker filed to go public in 2024, but its national security review has been dragging on. Nuclear: Terrestrial Energy, a U.S. nuclear startup that develops small modular reactors, went public via SPAC and is expecting to net $280 million. Meanwhile, Bill Gates-backed Commonwealth Fusion Systems hit a key milestone to construct its demonstration reactor. Not enough: Vertical farming company Plenty filed for bankruptcy after raising nearly $1 billion in funding from investors, including SoftBank Investment Advisers, Walmart, Bezos Expeditions, and Jeff Bezos as an angel investor. Layoffs: Block, the fintech startup co-founded by Jack Dorsey, laid off 931 people, according to a leaked email. The company, which owns Cash App and Square, already conducted layoffs in 2024. Rumors: Nvidia is reportedly nearing a deal to acquire Lepton AI, a startup that rents out servers powered by its AI chips. And FuriosaAI, a South Korean startup that makes chips for AI applications, is said to have rejected an $800 million acquisition offer from Meta. Most interesting VC and funding ...