Spain's Titan OS raises $46 million; Ted Schlein’s Ballistic Ventures seeks $490M for new funds; plus, AI inference startup Fal doubled its valuation

0:01This is TechCrunch.

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0:50So you can focus on other important things, like savoring that last bit of pumpkin pie. From early startups to Fortune 500 companies, thousands are turning to Framer to build a website they'll love. Learn how you can get more out of your site from a Framer specialist or get started building for free today at framer.com slash tcstartups for 30 % off a Framer Pro annual plan. That's framer.com slash tcstartups for 30 % off. Rules and restrictions may apply. Barcelona-based smart TV operating system maker TitanOS has raised$46 million in new funding, consisting of both equity and debt. That's according to a company announcement on Wednesday.

1:34The money comes from debt facilities provided by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, along with existing investors like Highland Europe and Mangrove Capital Partners. The startup, which secured$58 million last year, has now raised$110 million in total. The company said that it could have chosen not to raise money and grow slowly, but it wants to be more ambitious to create more partnerships and expand into more geographies. Titan OS's promise to TV makers is that it offers better value from their unit sales by loading an operating system where they can generate money through partnerships with fast channels.

2:16That stands for free ad-supported television and ads on different screens. The company now serves 30 million users, up from 18 million last year. This includes being a sales partner for TiVo in some regions, along with Tubi in the UK. Compared with last year, the startup has also added Sharp, AOC, Vestel, and Skyworth as partners. Its partnership with Philips has been a success, as the Dutch electronics maker has switched to Titan OS and ditched Google TV for its latest 2026 models. The extended coverage means that it has a bigger advertiser footprint and better audience engagement metrics to offer to marketers.

3:01In the last year, the company has increased its headcount to 250 people and also opened an office in London to concentrate on advertising. It already has offices in Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Taipei. With the new money coming in, the company wants to focus on a few areas. First is content discovery. It still takes everyone a long time to find something to watch. For that, it is using interface tweaks and AI to boost discovery alongside partnering with more content providers like Fast Channels. The company also emphasized that it is using AI to improve its ad recommendation and segmentation. While the company is dominant in Europe, it thinks that there are only a few manufacturers creating their own operating systems.

3:49More set makers would like to adopt its operating system, just like Philips did. The company also said that with increasing costs of hardware due to AI, manufacturers are thinking about long-term revenue generation opportunities as gadget sales slow down.

4:10ballistic ventures is a cyber security focused venture capital firm co-founded by former kleiner perkins partner ted schlein and it's seeking to raise 490 million dollars across two new funds the san francisco-based vc firm filed with the u.s securities and exchange Commission this week to raise$360 million for its third flagship fund, matching the size of its previous fund raised back in 2024, and another$130 million for a separate vehicle called Ballistic Ventures Fund B. Neither fund had recorded any sales at the time of filing. The fundraising plans come as the growing use of artificial intelligence has raised concerns about more sophisticated cyberattacks.

5:00The rise of AI agents has also created new opportunities for cybersecurity startups and the venture capital firms backing them. Founded in late 2021, Ballistic Ventures founding team includes Schlein, former AT &T cybersecurity president Barmak Mefta, and Roger Thornton, who co-founded security companies Fortify Software and AlienVault. The firm has backed companies, including Talon Cybersecurity, acquired by Palo Alto Networks, and Pangaea, bought by CrowdStrike, alongside startups such as Armadon, GetReal, Nudge Security, and Illigo Security. Ballistics' ties to storied venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, where Schlein spent more than two decades, helped set it apart from rivals, a cybersecurity investor at another VC firm told TechCrunch.

5:54Its investment strategy, however, is similar to those of other cybersecurity-focused investors, including ForgePoint Capital and 1011 Ventures. In 2022, Ballistic announced its$300 million debut fund and raised another$360 million for its second flagship fund two years later. It also raised about$130 million for a separate vehicle called Ballistic Ventures Fund A. The new Fund B is targeting a similar amount. U.S. cybersecurity startups raised$11.5 million last year, the highest since 2022. That's according to a recent report by JPMorgan Chase. AI-enabled companies accounted for about 72 % of U.S.

6:42cybersecurity venture deals through May of this year, compared with 36 % back in 2019. Separately, Microsoft, in its annual Digital Defense Report released last month, warned that hackers are increasingly using AI for activities ranging from phishing and social engineering to malware development. But technology is allowing attackers to operate faster and at greater scale, even as many of their underlying techniques remain unchanged.

7:15FAO, a San Francisco-based startup that hosts and runs AI video, image, and audio models, has raised$1.3 billion in its latest funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from NVIDIA, SoundVentures, and T. Rowe Price. The deal values FAO at$16 billion, double its$8 billion valuation back in April. The startup announced its Series E and F rounds at the same time, noting that a combined$1.65 billion was raised across both. The latest round, the Series F, comes amid soaring demand for inference services, the process of running an AI model that's already been trained to generate outputs, particularly from customers relying on open-source models.

8:07FAL surpassed$800 million in annualized revenue earlier this year. Companies providing inference services, including Base 10, Fireworks AI, and Modal, have also been growing rapidly and raising large funding rounds at higher valuations. But their gross margins remain thin because of the high cost of buying or leasing compute. That's according to several people familiar with inference companies' financials. That's all for now. For the latest in startup tech news, go to techcrunch.com.

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