Rare-Earth Magnet Startup, Backed by Donald Trump Jr.'s Fund, to Challenge China

Welcome back!

Here’s your must-read news this morning:

• U.S. rare-earth startup raises $65 million 

• Musk threatens legal actions against Apple 

• EU media surveillance concerns

I’ve got all the details for you, so let’s dive in.

— Josh

MARKETS

💰 Donald Trump Jr.’s Investment Firm Backs U.S. Rare-Earth Startup to Reduce Reliance on China

The Scoop: Vulcan Elements, a North Carolina startup, secured $65 million in funding to boost U.S. production of rare-earth magnets, critical for drones, electric vehicles, and defense tech, aiming to reduce reliance on China’s near-monopoly.

The Details:

• The funding round, led by Altimeter Capital, valued Vulcan at $250 million; 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. is a venture partner, also participated.

• Founded in 2023 by ex-Navy officer John Maslin, Vulcan opened a pilot facility in Durham, N.C., producing magnets for military and commercial clients using only U.S. and allied materials.

• China controls roughly 90% of global rare-earth magnet supply, with recent export restrictions tightening access for Western firms.

• The funds will support a large-scale facility to produce hundreds of metric tons annually within years, scaling to thousands by decade’s end.

What’s Next: Vulcan’s expansion could bolster U.S. supply chains for critical tech, aligning with Pentagon efforts to counter China’s dominance through investments like its stake in MP Materials. Meanwhile, China’s restrictions on critical mineral exports are causing significant production delays and price spikes for Western defense manufacturers.

Markets Roundup

🏦 Economy & Policy

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Today’s Consumer Price Index report is expected to show a marginal uptick in inflation to 2.8% annually in July from 2.7% in June, according to Bloomberg data. (YF)

• Trump signed an executive order extending the U.S.-China tariff truce by 90 days. (CNBC)

• Trump nominated E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (X)

• Federal Reserve Vice Chairs Michelle Bowman and Philip Jefferson, along with Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, are under consideration to succeed Chair Jerome Powell. (BBG)

📈 Stock Market

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Barrick Mining reported Q2 2025 earnings, with net earnings per share soaring 124% to $0.47 and free cash flow rising 107% to $770 million, though revenue of $3.68 billion missed analyst expectations. (KIT)

• Swiss sportswear brand On reported a 32% surge in Q2 sales, prompting an upward revision of its full-year revenue forecast to 2.91 billion Swiss francs ($3.58 billion). (CNBC)

• Nuclear startup Oklo posted a Q2 loss of 18 cents per share, driven by $28 million in operating expenses, while holding $226.8 million in cash. (BZ)

• Peter Thiel-backed crypto platform Bullish has boosted its IPO ambitions, aiming to raise up to $990 million. (CNBC)

🏢 Industry

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: An explosion at a U.S. Steel plant in Pennsylvania killed two workers and injured ten others. (AP)

• GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke will step down to launch an unnamed startup. (AX)

• Trump met with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, praising Tan’s “amazing story” just days after demanding his resignation. (CNBC)

• Delivery drones are expanding to more U.S. neighborhoods as companies like Amazon and Walmart overcome early regulatory and operational hurdles. (BAR)

💵 Energy & Commodities

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian conceded that rebuilding Iran’s nuclear facilities is futile without diplomatic talks with Washington. (RFE)

• Michigan State University researchers completed construction of a gamma-ray detector, aimed at revolutionizing nuclear physics with unprecedented precision in studying atomic nuclei. (IE)

• Trump clarified that gold imports will be exempt from U.S. tariffs. (MIN)

• Eco Wave Power’s pioneering U.S. wave energy pilot at the Port of Los Angeles is now fully installed, set to debut in September 2025. (OSE)

🌕 Crypto

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon may plead guilty Tuesday morning in a U.S. fraud case tied to the $40 billion collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin. (CD)

• Stripe is quietly developing Tempo, a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain focused on payments, in partnership with Paradigm. (FOR)

• Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded a milestone $1 billion in daily net inflows on Monday. (TB)

• Paxos, the crypto company behind PayPal's stablecoin, applied for a U.S. trust bank license. (RTS)
  

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TECH

💻 Elon Musk Vows ‘Immediate’ Legal Action Against Apple for Alleged Antitrust Breaches

The Scoop: Elon Musk has threatened legal action against Apple, alleging antitrust violations due to the App Store’s ranking practices favoring OpenAI’s ChatGPT over xAI’s Grok AI chatbot. Musk said Apple’s bias prevents other AI apps from reaching the top spot.

The Details:

• Musk accused Apple of manipulating App Store rankings, citing Grok’s No. 5 position while ChatGPT holds No. 1 and is the only AI chatbot in Apple’s “Must-Have Apps” section.

• Musk criticized Apple’s integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its devices, previously calling it a “security violation” and threatening to ban Apple products from his companies.

• OpenAI recently launched its advanced GPT-5 model, following xAI’s release of Grok 4 last month.

• Musk is also suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging they deviated from OpenAI’s original mission to develop AI “for the benefit of humanity broadly.”

What’s Next: xAI may file a lawsuit against Apple, escalating Musk’s feud with OpenAI and potentially impacting App Store policies. This follows recent antitrust scrutiny on Apple, including a Justice Department lawsuit and a court ruling against Apple’s in-app payment commission practices.

Tech Roundup

🧠 AI

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: OpenAI reinstated its GPT-4o model after user complaints that the new GPT-5 felt “dumber.” (ENG)

• Trump signaled openness to allowing Nvidia to sell a scaled-down version of its advanced Blackwell AI chips to China. (FT)

• Penn State researchers developed an AI-powered radar system that can eavesdrop on phone calls from 10 feet away by decoding earpiece vibrations. (IE)

• A 24-year-old woman from Chicago is facing ridicule after announcing her “engagement” to AI chatbot Kasper following a five-month so-called virtual romance. (NYP)

• Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University demonstrated that AI can detect early signs of throat cancer from analyzing voice recordings. (MX)

🤖 Hardware & Robotics

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Nvidia’s new Cosmos Reason, a 7-billion-parameter vision language model, enables robots to make human-like decisions by analyzing surroundings. (CW)

• General Motors is relaunching its autonomous driving program, recruiting former Cruise employees to develop a consumer-focused driverless car. (BBG)

• Ocado’s AI-powered robotic picking system, used by Kroger, automates grocery fulfillment with robotic arms that boost efficiency in warehouses. (TV)

• A fully robotic restaurant, utilizing Unitree’s G1 humanoid robots for cooking and serving, opened in China’s Qianjiang Century City technology hub. (IWT)

🚀 Defense & Space

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: The U.S. military is closely monitoring an unprecedented deployment of five Chinese icebreakers near Alaska. (TWZ)

• ULA’s Vulcan rocket will launch its first national security mission today, aimed at shaping GPS modernization. (SN)

• The U.S. Army is testing low-cost FPV drones as part of a transformation initiative, aiming to enhance battlefield lethality with affordable, soldier-deployable systems. (DIE)

• The U.S. Navy showcased advanced 3D printing capabilities during Exercise Trident Warrior, demonstrating the ability to produce critical parts at sea and enhancing battlefield logistics. (DP)

💰 Venture Capital

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Seoul-based Datum AI raised $15.5 million in Series A funding, from investors including Salesforce Ventures, to expand its LLM evaluation platform. (TC)

• Startup 3D AI Chips raised $8.8 million in a pre-Series A round led by Antler to advance its 3D chiplet designs to enhance performance in compact devices. (SUD)

• Slow Ventures invested $2 million from its $60 million Creator Fund into Jonathan Katz-Moses, a popular woodworking content creator with his own line of woodworking tools. (TIA)

• Spike AI, a startup building the first autonomous marketing intelligence system, secured $1.9 million in pre-seed funding led by Sorin Investments. (ISN)

• Rainmaker founder Augustus Doricko is joining Discipulus Ventures as a venture partner. (X)

FREEDOM

📢 EU’s Media Freedom Act: Speech Safeguard or Surveillance Tool Against Journalists?

The Scoop: The European Union’s “European Media Freedom Act,” effective as of last week, promises to protect journalists but includes provisions allowing arrests, surveillance, and sanctions under vague “general interest” pretexts, raising concerns about press freedom, according to Reclaim The Net.

The Details:

• The act permits governments to use surveillance technologies on journalists for crimes with three-year sentences, including loosely defined offenses like “racism and xenophobia.”

• The act mandates media ownership registries and targets “disinformation,” accusing some outlets of market manipulation.

• A new European Media Services Board, overseen by the European Commission, will coordinate national regulators, despite claims of independence.

• The law promotes “trustworthy media” and state broadcasters while encouraging annual EU-led meetings with tech firms and NGOs to monitor disinformation.

What’s Next: While framed as a defense of press freedom, the act’s loopholes could enable state control over media, potentially stifling dissenting voices. Its implementation may spark legal challenges and debates over balancing security with journalistic independence.

Freedom Roundup

🏛️ Policy & Culture

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Harvard University is nearing a $500 million settlement with the Trump administration to resolve a dispute over discriminatory actions and failure to address campus antisemitism. (NYT)

• Millions of dollars in Biden-era EPA’s “climate justice” grants were canceled by DOGE. (DS)

• The Wikimedia Foundation’s legal challenge to the UK’s Online Safety Act was rejected by a High Court ruling. (EN)

• UK Labour’s proposed Islamophobia definition, intended to curb anti-Muslim hatred, risks stifling free speech by censoring critical portrayals of Islam. (TEL)

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DISCLAIMER: The CAPITAL newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The CAPITAL newsletter and its owner and operator, Josh Caplan, are not liable for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on this information. The CAPITAL newsletter is solely owned and independently operated by Josh Caplan, separate from any employer affiliations.