Startups Weekly: Drama or game-changer? You decide

Welcome to the weekly roundup of startup news, where we bring you the latest updates and stories from the world of startups. This week, while there wasn’t much news about mergers and IPOs, there was still plenty of drama unfolding and startups securing funding.

One of the most intriguing startup stories this week involved legal startup developments. From trivial to significant matters, legal startups were making waves.

For instance, startups like “Truely” emerged to combat the use of the viral AI cheating app Cluely. Cluely reassured the market of its preparedness to outsmart detection with hardware products. Meanwhile, fashion startup CaaStle faced legal challenges following allegations of financial misconduct by its founder.

In the robotics sector, Figure AI deployed cease-and-desist letters to brokers operating secondary marketplaces to halt the marketing of the company’s stock. Additionally, Imaguru, Belarus’ pioneer startup hub, faced a shift as its founders found themselves in exile. Nevertheless, they remained committed to their mission, operating hubs in Warsaw and Madrid with support from European institutions.

In ongoing legal battles, Deel accepted service of legal papers in a lawsuit filed by Rippling over alleged spying. On another front, a London-based investor urged a U.S. bankruptcy judge to block the sale of EV startup Canoo’s assets to its CEO, citing a flawed process.

Moving on to VC funding news, startups that secured funding vowed to make a positive impact if they reached their financial targets. Cast AI, a startup dedicated to optimizing workloads for AI and automated tasks, closed a $108 million Series C round to fuel its research and expansion efforts.

Similarly, Lightrun, an Israeli startup specializing in AI-enabled observability platforms for debugging code, successfully raised a $70 million Series B round co-led by Accel and Insight Partners. In the legal tech space, Supio secured a $60 million funding round spearheaded by Sa, with a focus on automating data collection and analysis for legal teams.

Overall, this week showcased a mix of legal battles, funding achievements, and the resilience of startups in the face of challenges. It remains to be seen how these developments will shape the startup landscape in the coming weeks.