VC React E66: OpenAI's $122B Round, Tabby’s $55M Profit, Anthropic Leak, Yupp, Whoop, & More!
VC React Podcast - MENA:
Every week, we bring you insights and reactions from top VCs, LPs, and Angel Investors, reacting to the latest news on MENA startups, funds, and investment rounds.
Hosts:
Ahmad Takatkah, VCpreneur.
Sign up to VCpreneur Newsletter on https://www.vcpreneur.com/Jamie Lane, FWDstart.
Sign up to FWDstart Newsletter on https://www.fwdstart.me/
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This Week On The VC React Podcast:
News of the week brought to you by FWDstart:
OpenAI Is Becoming Its Own Asset Class: OpenAI reportedly raised $122 billion overall, including $3 billion from retail investors. The round includes names like SoftBank, MGX, TPG, T. Rowe Price, Amazon, Nvidia, and Microsoft. The retail-investor access angle around this makes the whole thing feel even more like public-market behavior happening inside private markets.
AI Seed Is Starting to Look Expensive: TechCrunch is reporting that AI seed startups are now often raising around $10 million at roughly $40 million to $45 million post-money valuations. That is a very different seed market from what founders would have seen even a couple of years ago.
The Safety Lab Had an Ops Problem: Axios reported that Anthropic accidentally included an internal debugging file in a Claude Code release, exposing nearly 500,000 lines of source code and revealing unreleased features and roadmap details. Anthropic said no customer data or credentials were exposed.
Yupp Shut Down Anyway: TechCrunch reported that Yupp, the crowdsourced AI model-comparison startup, is shutting down less than a year after launch. The company had raised $33 million from high-profile investors including Chris Dixon.
Bezos Is Betting on Industrial AI: Jeff Bezos is in early talks to raise a $100 billion manufacturing fund focused on sectors like chipmaking, defense, aerospace, and automotive, and Gulf sovereign wealth funds are part of the pitch.
Whoop Is Bigger Than a Wearables Story: Whoop has raised $575 million at a $10.1 billion valuation, with QIA, Mubadala, and 2PointZero participating. The company said it was cash-flow positive in 2025, had reached a $1.1 billion bookings run rate, and now has more than 2.5 million members globally.
Tabby Just Made MENA Fintech More Real: FWDstart reported that Tabby’s SAMA-licensed Saudi financing subsidiary reported $55 million in net profit on $378 million in revenue for 2025 in its first independently audited annual statements.
