AI Funding Momentum, Materials Science Models, and Persistent Agent Memory | UpNext AI – May 13, 2026
Kevin Hartz’s venture firm A* has closed a new $450 million fund, reinforcing that major venture capital continues flowing into AI startups despite broader uncertainty around model cycles and platform competition. The firm says it plans to back companies across AI applications, infrastructure, healthcare, fintech, and security.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Research published a major update to MatterSim, its AI system for materials science. The company says the platform now supports faster simulation, experimental synthesis validation, and new multi-task modeling capabilities designed to move…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.