This week in the world of startups, it's been a story of beginnings and endings. From new AI startups emerging from stealth mode to the acquisition of Humane, a hardware startup behind the flawed AI Pin, and the demise of former Silicon Valley darling Nikola Corp., it's been a week of contrasts.

On the birth side of things, Thinking Machines Lab, a new AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, came out of stealth mode, although the amount of funding it raised from VCs remains undisclosed. Meanwhile, Ilya Sutskever's startup Safe Superintelligence (SSI) is reportedly raising around $1 billion. In another notable development, San Francisco-based startup Future Family launched a new IVF insurance product in the United States that could refund prospective parents if treatment doesn't succeed after two rounds.

On the other hand, Humane, the hardware startup behind the flawed AI Pin, announced that most of its assets have been acquired by HP for $116 million. This marks the end of an era for the startup, which had struggled to gain traction with its AI-powered pin. In another high-profile exit, former Silicon Valley darling Nikola Corp. filed for bankruptcy this week, failing to find a buyer or secure additional funds to maintain operations.

Despite the ups and downs, unicorn rounds are alive and well. Austin-based defense startup Saronic raised a $600 million Series C to build an autonomous ship factory, quadrupling its valuation to $4 billion from its last round. AI coding startup Codeium is also in talks to raise a new round led by Kleiner Perkins at a $2.85 billion valuation, just six months after raising a $150 million Series C at a $1.25 billion post-money valuation.

Hightouch, a startup co-founded by a former engineering manager at Segment that provides AI-powered marketing tools, closed an $80 million Series C round at a $1.2 billion valuation. Augury, whose AI-based hardware detects malfunctions in factory machines, secured $75 million in equity funding as part of a Series F round that it is still closing, valuing the startup at over $1 billion.

Other notable funding rounds include Varo, which closed on $29 million out of the $55 million Series G it has been hoping to raise, and Sanas, which leveraged AI to change call center workers' accents in real time, closing a $65 million funding round, valuing the company at over $500 million. Legal AI is also heating up, with AI-powered legal tech startup Luminance raising $75 million in a Series C funding round.

Amid uncertainty on funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Altitude Lab's Pre-seed Venture Fund will consider investing $100,000 to $250,000 in biotech startups that were qualified for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the NIH. This new fund is a welcome development for biotech startups, which have been facing funding uncertainty.

In a final note, Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, spoke on the Invest Like the Best podcast, discussing his goal of building the firm into an enduring company. With $45 billion in assets under management, Andreessen Horowitz is a major player in the startup ecosystem, and its continued growth and influence will be closely watched.