Enterprise Weekly #549: OpenClaw's Rise, OpenAI's Response, and More
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Things move fast in the AI world.
Just three weeks ago, we wrote about the rise of OpenClaw (formerly known as both Clawdbot and Moltbot), which had then cemented its place as the fastest growing GitHub repo. It’s explosive traction was thanks to being an agent that truly delivered on agentic promises: calling tools with full system access, building memory that persisted, and having a natural language interface accessible via any messaging app. It was a true AI-native personal assistant.
Both the large labs, OpenAI and Anthropic, surely took notice - and expressed it in different ways. Given that Clawdbot was originally named after the monster users see when reloading Claude Code, Claude responded by asking them to change their name. That prompted the shift to Moltbot (given that “molt” is what lobsters do to grow), which soon became OpenClaw. OpenAI, on the other hand, announced this week their “acquisition” of OpenClaw. Meaning: they hired Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, to drive the next generation of personal agents at OpenAI, while OpenClaw will remain an open source project supported by OpenAI.
A few big takeaways from all of this:
M&A from the Labs: the large foundation model labs have gotten big enough to the point that they don’t need to be reliant on building everything themselves anymore. They have the ability, with brand reputation and capital, to buy technologies in areas where they weren’t to build the viral product. Should we expect more lab M&A in 2026?
The Risks Still Remain: a number of people in the ecosystem have heard of OpenClaw but haven’t yet tried it due to the security risks. This behavior was expressed even by those at the AI frontier - for example, Harrison Chase didn’t allow his team at LangChain to use OpenClaw. It will be fascinating to see how OpenAI enables the same functionality to be consumed in a safer way.
♠️ NYC Tech Poker Night with Work-Bench and Courier Health (Feb 24th): Work-Bench and Courier Health are hosting a fun, poker night for NYC founders and operators. This will be an intimate 30-person event. Sign up to play here!
📚 Read more news:
TechCrunch: Google’s new Gemini Pro model has record benchmark scores — again
VentureBeat: The ‘last-mile’ data problem is stalling enterprise agentic AI — ‘golden pipelines’ aim to fix it
CNBC: More than 50% of enterprise software could switch to AI, Mistral CEO says
Reuters: Figma jumps as AI push boosts software design spending
🧵 Read more threads:
Jessica Lin: The Importance of Creativity for Founders
Jon Lehr: Founder Grit Index
Kelley Mak: Co-Hosting Dinners with Our Portfolio
DryRun Security: Welcoming Andrew Peterson to the DryRun Security Board
Jason Lemkin: SaaS Markets Have Crashed in 2026. But Is Private Credit the Even Bigger Risk?
Company: Courier Health
Role: Recruiter
Technology: Patient Engagement Platform
Funding: $20.5M from Work-Bench and Norwest Venture Partners
🌟 Company of the Week 🌟
Toyo raises $4.3M led by Frontline Ventures and Inovia Capital
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • London, UK
Founders: Damien Tanner, Stuart Bowness, Aidan Hornsby
Cydelphi raises $3M led by Glasswing Ventures
Risk / Security • Seed • Lake Forest, CA
Autosana raises $3.2M led by YC and Pioneer Fund
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Venture • San Francisco, CA
Adronite raises $5M led by Gatemore Capital Management
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series A • Seattle, WA
Rapidata raises $8.5M led by Canaan Partners and IA Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • Zurich, Switzerland
Lightworks raises $12M led by Round13 Capital
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Venture • Toronto, Canada
Aliro raises $15M led by Gutbrain Ventures
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Venture • Boston, MA
Kana raises $15M led by Mayfield
Sales / Marketing • Seed • San Francisco, CA
SurrealDB raises $23M led by Chalfen Ventures and Begin Capital
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • London, UK
Avantos raises $25M led by Bessemer Venture Partners
Collaboration / Productivity • Series A • New York, NY
Kombo raises $25M led by Volition Capital
HR Tech • Series A • New York, NY
VulnCheck raises $25M led by Sorenson Capital
Risk / Security • Series B • Lexington, MA
Selector Software raises $32M led by AVP
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Venture • Santa Clara, CA
Venice raises $33M led by IVP
Risk / Security • Series A • New York, NY
Cogent Security raises $42M led by Bain Capital Ventures
Risk / Security • Series A • San Francisco, CA
Braintrust raises $80M led by Iconiq
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series B • San Francisco, CA
Render raises $100M led by 01A, Addition, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Others
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series C Extension • San Francisco, CA
Temporal raises $300M led by A16z
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series D • Bellevue, WA
Ineffable Intelligence raises $1B led by Sequoia Capital
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Venture • London, UK
xAI raises $3B led by HUMAIN
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series E • San Francisco, CA
Palo Alto Networks acquires Koi Security for ~$400M
Risk / Security • Acquisition • Tel Aviv, Israel
Booz Allen Hamilton acquires Defy Security for an Undisclosed Amount
Risk / Security • Acquisition • Canonsburg, PA
Mistral AI acquires Koyeb for an Undisclosed Amount
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Acquisition • Paris, France
SUSE acquires Losant for an Undisclosed Amount
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Acquisition • Cincinnati, OH