The first eye chip to restore vision? 👁️ Last week saw notable startup funding rounds across neurotechnology, manufacturing, and AI infrastructure. Arda, founded by former OpenAI research chief Bob McGrew, is reportedly raising $70 million at a $700 million valuation to build AI systems for factory automation. The company uses video-driven models to interpret activity on factory floors, helping coordinate machines, robots, and workers in real time, with the goal of creating an operating system for manufacturing. Meanwhile, Science Corporation, founded by Max Hodak, co-founder of Neuralink, raised a $230 million series C to advance brain-computer interfaces, including retinal implants designed to restore vision for patients with severe vision loss. Finally, Together AI, founded by Vipul Ved Prakash, Ce Zhang, Percy Liang, and Chris Ré, is reportedly in talks to raise $1 billion at a $7.5 billion valuation to continue building out their AI-optimized cloud infrastructure. The platfor...