AI/ML News & Innovations Hub

New Zealand withdraws support for beleaguered FIFA chief Gianni Infantino

The Oceania Football Confederation issued its own statement on Friday, welcoming FIFA's decision to ditch the FFE investment proposal and signalling its support for Infantino.

China’s richest province taps Alibaba to power its AI and chip push

China’s richest province has deepened its partnership with technology giant Alibaba Group Holding, eyeing a broad digital upgrade spanning artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and smart public services. Under a strategic cooperation framework agreement signed on Thursday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province in southern China, the Hangzhou-based firm planned to increase its investments in computing power, AI models, and digital services, according to a report by local state media...

Investment scam cases in Hong Kong drop 15%, but losses remain high at HK$1.65b

Hong Kong recorded a 15 per cent drop in investment scam cases in the first half of this year, but losses remained high at HK$1.65 billion (US$210 million), with police warning of fraudsters posing as representatives of legitimate overseas firms to swindle investors. Senior Superintendent Fanny Kung Hing-fun said on Friday that some of these firms of purported overseas origins did not exist at all, or had records of fraudulent activity in other countries. “For some of them, even their purported...

Zypp Electric’s revenue growth slows to 5% in FY26; losses narrow 44%

Zypp Electric fell short of its FY26 revenue target of Rs 600 crore , with the B2B delivery and shared mobility startup posting Rs 461 crore in revenue during the year. The company had earlier indicated that it was targeting Rs 600 crore in revenue for FY26, but ended the year with a modest 5% year-on-year growth. Zypp’s revenue from operations increased modestly to Rs 461 crore in FY26 from Rs 438 crore in FY25, according to its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Zypp Electric is an EV-as-a-service platform that offers electric vehicle rentals and delivery services through its e-scooter fleet for gig workers. Revenue from delivery services accounted for around 60% of its operating revenue and remained largely flat at Rs 322 crore in FY26. Meanwhile, income from vehicle rentals grew 24% to Rs 138 crore. The company also earned Rs 15 crore from interest income, taking its total income to Rs 476 crore in FY26. With growth remaining modest, Zypp’s rider expenses declined 5.6% to Rs 335 crore in FY26, while employee benefit expenses fell to Rs 64 crore. Rental, battery-swapping and other overhead costs took its total expenditure to Rs 535 crore during the fiscal year. With modest revenue growth and tighter cost controls, the company managed to cut its loss by 44% to Rs 60 crore in FY26 from Rs 107 crore in FY25. Notably, Zypp Electric had accumulated losses of Rs 320 crore as of March 2026. During FY26, its return on capital employed…

Help build a monument to that ‘sad little bitch’ Elon Musk

Cards Against Humanity is gearing up to build "something that will annoy Elon Musk," and it's crowdfunding the project with its usual flavor of vulgarity. The company behind the card game announced plans to build "a grand monument" to Musk on the parcel of land it owns near Starbase, Texas, with the aim to "make […]

KKR-backed LEAP India makes muted debut, lists at 4% premium

KKR-backed logistics solutions company LEAP India made a modest debut on the stock exchanges on Friday, with its shares listing at a little over 4% above the IPO price. The company’s shares opened at Rs 165.90 on the NSE, a 4.34% premium over the issue price of Rs 159. On the BSE, the stock listed at Rs 166, gaining 4.4%. The debut was below grey-market expectations, which had pointed to a listing gain of around 8%. LEAP India had raised Rs 2,480 crore through its IPO, which was open for subscription between August 7 and 11. The issue comprised a fresh issue of Rs 480 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 2,000 crore. The IPO was subscribed 8.38 times, with institutional investors driving most of the demand. The QIB portion was subscribed 16.84 times, while the NII portion saw 12.64 times subscription. The retail portion was subscribed 1.71 times. As reported earlier by Entrackr, LEAP India had increased its fresh issue size to Rs 480 crore from the Rs 400 crore proposed in its DRHP. The OFS was largely led by KKR-backed Vertical Holdings II, which planned to sell shares worth around Rs 1,999 crore. Of the fresh issue proceeds, Rs 360 crore will be used to repay certain borrowings, while the remaining amount will go towards general corporate purposes. Founded in 2013, LEAP India provides pallet and container pooling and other material-handling solutions to businesses across sectors including FMCG, pharma and e-commerce. As of the RHP filing date, KKR-backed Vertical Holdin…

Zetwerk nears Rs 16,000 Cr gross revenue in FY26; EBITDA stands at Rs 457 Cr

B2B e-commerce unicorn Zetwerk, which recently filed its UDRHP to raise Rs 2,600 crore through a fresh issue, staged a strong recovery in its operating scale in FY26. After reporting an over 8% decline in gross revenue in FY25, the company’s GMV rebounded more than 40% to nearly Rs 16,000 crore in FY26, supported by strong growth across its core businesses. The company also reported a positive EBITDA of Rs 457 crore during the year. Zetwerk’s gross revenue surged over 40% year-on-year to Rs 15,913 crore in FY26 from Rs 11,332 crore in FY25, according to its consolidated financial statements sourced from its updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP). Zetwerk is a B2B manufacturing and construction marketplace that derives revenue primarily from trading manufacturing products, manufacturing services, and construction and project contracts. Revenue from the sale of products, which accounted for 90% of its total income, rose 38% to Rs 14,367 crore in FY26. Income from construction and project contracts jumped 81% year-on-year to Rs 1,403 crore, while revenue from services stood at Rs 138 crore during the period. By industry, Zetwerk operates across energy, electronics, aerospace, precision manufacturing, capital goods and other segments. Energy products accounted for 41% of its total operating income, growing 87% to Rs 6,508 crore in FY26. Precision manufacturing and capital goods contributed Rs 1,397 crore and Rs 1,464 crore, respectively. Its ecosystem business contributed…

10 drone startups to watch in 2026, according to VCs

AI demand boosts Thai digital sentiment despite soaring energy costs

A World Bank assessment reinforces this dynamic, identifying Thailand as a key beneficiary of AI supply chain investment but also warning that high input costs remain a major constraint.

New Zealand says China tried using space investments to spy on local affairs

Intelligence Service says finding domestic threats is harder due to proliferation of toxic content online

Codex credits consumed ~39,000 overnight with zero tasks — recurring bug, cap not enforced (GitHub #38294)

Update: the issue appears to be getting worse after another Codex reset. After the latest reset, my $200/month 20× Codex plan received an even lower weekly allocation. Previous reset: credits: 11951.706005000002 Latest reset: credits: 8503.59619 This is significantly below the expected weekly allowance (~55,000 credits for this plan). The current allocation looks more like a short-term usage window quota rather than a full weekly entitlement. The important point is that this does not look like normal high usage or credits being consumed too quickly. The problem appears to be that the weekly quota assigned after reset is incorrect . The issue has now reproduced across multiple reset cycles: Reset #1 → ~11,951 credits assigned Reset #2 → ~8,503 credits assigned Both times the account was unable to receive the expected 20× weekly allowance. The UI also confirms the account is fully exhausted: “You’re out of Codex and Work usage for now” Weekly usage limit: 0% remaining Credits remaining: 0 Could the Codex team please investigate whether: The reset process is assigning the wrong quota bucket. The account entitlement mapping for the $200/month 20× plan is incorrect. The weekly limit is being inherited from another tier or temporary usage window. This is related to the same quota/cap enforcement issues reported in this thread. This looks like an account provisioning/reset issue rather than a normal usage consumption issue. Thanks.

Schedule a new hackathon in Los Angeles area

Hi all, I am hosting an event with about 200 founders and college students from the startup ecosystem in Newport Beach, CA area (Just outside Los Angeles, CA). (We will have at least 10 universities plus many Startup and VC groups from the LA and Orange County area in attendance. This is one of the largest gathering of its kind in Southern California. (Total attendance will be in the 400+ range.) I would love to schedule a 3-hour hackathon (or workshop) during this event. I am wondering if there is anyone at OpenAI that I can speak with to discuss the possibility of OpenAI running this hackathon. (We will handle venue and WIFI.) If anyone can refer me to the right person or team. (I know OpenAI for Startups has similar projects, but I can’t seem to connect with anyone.) Happy to share details. Best regards, Dhaval

Statistical Test for Attention in Transformers for Images and Time Series

Transformer models have achieved exceptional performance in various domains, including computer vision and time-series analysis. Their core attention mechanism is widely used to interpret model decisions by assigning importance weights to input regions, such as image patches or time series intervals. However, the reliability of these interpretations remains a major concern. High-attention weights do not necessarily indicate genuinely significant features; they may instead be artifacts of the model's computation, undermining their reliabilities in high-stakes applications such as medical diagnostics. To address this, we propose a novel statistical framework designed to quantify the significance of high-attention regions in Transformer models. Our framework is built on selective inference (SI) to correct for the inherent selection bias that arises from testing regions chosen through the complex attention computation of the Transformer models. A key contribution of this work is a novel computational method that extends SI to the complex non-linearity of self-attention, enabling the computation of valid $p$-values for high-attention regions. These $p$-values serve as a reliable measure of significance, strengthening the interpretability of Transformer decisions. The validity and effectiveness of our approach are demonstrated through numerical experiments and applications to brain image diagnosis and electroencephalography (EEG) data analysis.

Investors sue Selena Gomez alleging fraud tied to her mental health startup

The plaintiffs say they invested nearly $1.2 million in the company, and are accusing Gomez of failing to build and market the startup.

Codex Windows app started crashing consistently

@stevensweden4 @djahn Welcome to the forum! You are welcome to discuss Codex issues here. However, the official place to report and track them is the OpenAI Codex GitHub issue tracker . I asked ChatGPT to look for the closest related issue, and it identified: github.com/openai/codex [Windows Desktop regression][26.715.10079.0] Project/tool calls trigger 92-100% CPU, UI freeze, and KERNELBASE crashes opened 08:53AM - 23 Jul 26 UTC wendylu2024 bug windows-os tool-calls app performance ### What version of the Codex App are you using? `OpenAI.Codex 26.715.10079.0` … from the Microsoft Store. Additional version details observed locally: - Desktop executable: `ChatGPT.exe 150.0.7871.124` - Bundled Codex runtime: `0.145.0-alpha.30` - App-server startup logs report client version `26.715.72359` Windows deployment history shows that `26.715.8383.0` was installed on July 21 and was replaced by `26.715.10079.0` on July 22. The user reports that the older build was stable and that the repeated freezes/crashes began after this update. ### What subscription do you have? Not provided. ### What platform is your computer? - Windows x64, OS build `26200.8875` - Intel Core Ultra 5 225H, 14 logical processors - 32 GB RAM - Intel Arc 130T GPU - Native Windows workspace (not WSL) ### What issue are you seeing? ## Summary After the Desktop app updated to `26.715.10079.0`, starting or resuming a project conversation and allowing Codex to run ordinary read-only project inspection commands can make t…

Zetwerk files UDRHP to raise Rs 2,600 Cr via fresh issue; promoters to account for 53% of OFS

Manufacturing platform Zetwerk has filed its Updated Draft Red Herring Prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), moving a step closer to its proposed public listing. The Bengaluru-based company is looking to raise up to Rs 2,600 crore through a fresh issue, while existing shareholders will sell up to 9.68 crore shares through an offer for sale (OFS). The final value of the OFS will be decided later based on the IPO price. Interestingly, promoters and promoter group entities will account for around 53% of the total OFS. Co-founders Amrit Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan will each sell up to 1.42 crore shares, while promoter group entity Creovate Innovation will offload up to 2.3 crore shares. Together, they will offer around 5.14 crore shares. Other investors, including Peak XV Partners, Accel India, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Kae Capital, are also looking to sell shares as part of the IPO. Zetwerk may also raise up to Rs 520 crore through a pre-IPO placement before filing its Red Herring Prospectus. If completed, the amount raised will be deducted from the fresh issue. The company plans to use a significant portion of the fresh issue proceeds to reduce debt. It has earmarked Rs 1,250 crore for repayment or prepayment of borrowings at the company level and another Rs 550 crore for debt at certain subsidiaries. The remaining proceeds will go towards acquisitions and general corporate purposes. Zetwerk's continuing operations generated Rs 15,913 c…

Professor’s alleged role in China programmes leads to ban from US funding

A professor managed US funding of computer science research for more than two years while failing to disclose that he was simultaneously involved in Chinese government programmes, according to previously unreported documents. The professor, Tao Li, was a programme officer at the National Science Foundation from 2015 to 2017, a job that included overseeing the awarding of grants for research in areas such as hardware, software and algorithms. During that time, Li took part in two Chinese talent...

What 50 open source projects taught us about security in the AI era

See how the open source projects in Session 4 of the GitHub Secure Open Source Fund combined AI-assisted workflows, maintainer expertise, GitHub security tools, expert guidance, and funding to improve project security. The post What 50 open source projects taught us about security in the AI era appeared first on The GitHub Blog .

Exasperated French firefighters pressure government for more resources

Firefighters want more funding and better work conditions after being hailed for their efforts fighting wildfires throughout a historically warm summer.

ixigo to sell 17.39% stake in FreshBus to Twelve Stone for Rs 36.6 Cr

Le Travenues Technology, the parent company of travel booking platform ixigo, has agreed to sell its 17.39% stake in electric intercity bus startup FreshBus to Twelve Stone LLP for Rs 36.6 crore. According to a regulatory filing, the transaction was agreed upon on August 13 and is expected to be completed by August 30. Following the deal, ixigo’s stake in FreshBus will fall from 26.66% to 8.27%. FreshBus will no longer be an associate company of ixigo. Twelve Stone LLP, whose designated partners include FreshBus founder and MD Sudhakar Reddy Chirra and Sasya Chirra, will acquire the stake. The transaction is not classified as a related party transaction, according to the filing. ixigo had invested in FreshBus earlier. Its investment in the company stood at Rs 18.87 crore as of March 31, 2026. FreshBus reported a loss of Rs 11.22 crore in FY26. FreshBus raised Rs 87.5 crore in its Series A round in August 2024, led by Maniv Mobility with participation from Shell Ventures, Alteria Capital and Riverwalk Holdings. The startup had earlier raised Rs 7.5 crore from CRED founder Kunal Shah, TVS Motors MD Sudarshan Venu and Rivigo founder Deepak Garg. ixigo had also invested in FreshBus. FreshBus was founded by Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, who previously built bus aggregator AbhiBus. ixigo acquired AbhiBus in 2021 through a cash and stock deal.

Mr Eazi’s Choplife is the latest startup to move to digital free zone Itana

The move primarily changes Choplife’s corporate and regulatory base, with the company citing Itana’s regulatory environment and its promise of simpler cross-border operations as key reasons for the decision.

Comment on Self-Driving Truck Startup Kodiak Raises $125 Million in Series B Round by Alex Ander

I find the growth of self-driving truck companies like Kodiak really interesting because it shows how quickly transportation technology is evolving. At the same time, I think practical truck accessories still matter, and TruXedo — America’s #1 Tonneau Covers offers premium bed covers like the Lo Pro and Sentry CT, built for different driving conditions. For me, combining new trucking technology with durable equipment is a great way to make trucks more capable for the future.

Hungary unveils new 'clean up' plan as governemnt takes new steps to unlocking frozen EU funds

Budapest will keep a list of economic operators who are barred from public tenders due to prior economic offences, fulfilling an EU obligation to restoring its access to critical funding.

Inside the relationship of model Karlie Kloss and billionaire venture capitalist Josh Kushner, the power couple with unconventional ties to Trump

Josh Kushner and Karlie Kloss are connected to everyone from Taylor Swift to Donald Trump. Here's a look at their über-private relationship.

Databricks acquires Electric to bring local Postgres databases to agentic apps

Databricks is acquiring Electric, a startup that brings WebAssembly-based Postgres databases into application environments, for an undisclosed sum, in an effort to provide developers a way to run data closer to AI agents as they build increasingly autonomous applications. While traditional applications typically rely on a centralized database to handle application data, agentic applications can involve multiple agents working independently for minutes or hours, performing numerous operations, creating the need to access a centralized database repeatedly. Databricks argues that those repeated trips could add undesired latency to the application, in turn creating a case for local, isolated databases where agents can work with data directly while still synchronizing with a central database to avoid latency issues. Electric’s PGLite and real-time data synchronization engine, Electric Sync, combined together, do just that by giving developers the option of running a local Postgres -compatible database for an agent while still synchronizing relevant data with a central database, the company wrote in a blog post . Post the acquisition, PGLite will complement Lakebase , Databricks’ at-scale Postgres database, it added. That combination of databases, it further added, will give developers a two-tier database architecture: PGlite can handle data locally within an application or agent environment, while Lakebase can serve as the centralized database for shared and persistent data. Data…

The latest AI-powered martech news and releases

Nielsen’s DoubleVerify deal helps verification as AI takes on more media decisions, raising new questions about trust and transparency. The post The latest AI-powered martech news and releases appeared first on MarTech .

US clean energy investment surges 22% in second quarter

The results, published by the Clean Investment Monitor, were largely driven by residential battery storage installations.

Could China be a hedge against risk of AI investment boom going bust?

These are testing times for the artificial intelligence (AI) trade that has been driving global equity markets. No other investment theme comes close to rivalling the importance of the AI boom as the world’s largest technology companies spend vast sums of money on data centres, memory chips and computing power. At the same time, no other risk divides opinion more than the threat of a dramatic and sustained sell-off in AI-related stocks. According to the latest Bank of America global fund manager...

Gulf startups are staying private for longer

Market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty is continuing to narrow the exit window for venture capital companies.

Saudi regulator probes investment banks as stock market listings flop

The Capital Market Authority is investigating the poor performance of recent share sales as it looks to revitalize the market.

Sarvam AI Opens Samvaad to Developers After 350M Real Conversations

Sarvam AI opens its Samvaad Voice Agents platform to everyone, backed by 350M enterprise conversations and a fresh $1.5B unicorn valuation

Germany's top-funded tech companies in H1 2026

According to Tech.eu’s H1 2026 report, Germany ranked asEurope’s second-largest technology funding market, with companies raising €6.3billion across 267 deals. Investment was concentrated in several k...

Startup founders need their own version of a prenup. We had 3 teams imagine what they'd put in theirs.

Three startup teams share what cofounders should agree on early, from equity split and domain ownership, to conflict resolution and exit scenarios.

Wall Street banks' newest investment focus: American economic security

Bank of America is the latest Wall Street firm to announce an investment in American infrastructure.

And the winner is... Burgas to host 2027 Eurovision Song Contest

Bulgaria's 4th largest city Burgas has won the right to host the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest. The Black Sea resort has been praised for its 'uniqueness' as the country prepares to hold the world's biggest live song competition for the very first time.

Millow raises €2M to expand mycelium protein across Nordic foodservice

Swedish foodtech company Millowhas raised €2 million in funding to expand production capacity and strengthenits commercial operations as it targets the Nordic foodservice market. Theround was led by s...

Metal Morph raises £700K to recover industrial resources from wastewater

UK-based water technology startupMetal Morph has raised £700,000 in pre-seed funding to advance its technologyfor recovering industrial resources from water and wastewater treatmentprocesses. The roun...

BlackSoil AMC deploys Rs 750 Cr across 40 companies, closes second credit fund at Rs 500 Cr

BlackSoil Asset Management, the asset management arm of alternative credit platform BlackSoil, has deployed Rs 750 crore across 40 companies through its second credit fund, BlackSoil India Credit Fund II (BICF II). The fund closed at its target corpus of Rs 500 crore and has achieved 100% drawdown of investor commitments since its launch in October 2023. It has also completed 10 exits. The Rs 750 crore deployment, equivalent to 1.5X the fund’s corpus, was enabled by repayments and exits being recycled into fresh investment opportunities over the fund’s life, allowing capital to be deployed multiple times. BICF II is a SEBI-registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund focused on providing performing credit to high-growth businesses across sectors such as financial services, fintech, climate tech, electric vehicles, healthcare, consumer, SaaS, deep tech and mobility. Consumer and internet businesses, including B2C and D2C companies, account for 35% of the fund’s allocations, followed by fintech and financial services at 25%. Mobility, IoT, SaaS and deep tech together account for 25%, while the remaining 15% is allocated to healthcare and health tech. Companies financed by BICF II include Mintoak, Euler Motors, Curefoods, Bluestone, AgroStar and Progcap. The fund has attracted commitments from a diversified investor base comprising family offices and high-net-worth individuals, with the majority of commitments coming from repeat investors. Launched in 2016, BlackSoil prov…

Home cleaning products startup Scrubsy raises Rs 27 Cr from V3 Ventures

Gurugram-based home-cleaning products startup Scrubsy has raised Rs 27 crore (around $3 million) from V3 Ventures. The company operates under BoldChem Science Pvt Ltd and sells its products directly to consumers. The fresh capital will be used mainly to expand manufacturing and grow the business. Scrubsy plans to continue investing in its in-house manufacturing and product development capabilities. Founded in 2025 by Kartik Sibal, Ishan Suri, Nitin Jain and Aditya Bhasin, Scrubsy develops cleaning products for kitchens, bathrooms and footwear. Its portfolio includes foam-based kitchen cleaners, bathroom cleaners and shoe-cleaning products. Scrubsy develops, formulates and manufactures its products in-house. The company also uses AI to analyse customer reviews, identify cleaning-related problems and use the feedback in product development. V3 Ventures is an early-stage consumer-focused investment firm backed by Verlinvest. Its India portfolio includes Ugaoo, Deconstruct, Salad Days, go zero and The Hosteller.

Bluehill.VC closes maiden frontier-tech fund at Rs 400 Cr

Chennai-based venture capital firm Bluehill.VC has announced the final close of its maiden frontier-tech fund at Rs 400 crore, including a Rs 50 crore greenshoe option. The fund has received backing from institutional investors including SIDBI, the governments of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, family offices, founders and UHNIs from India and the Middle East. The fund will invest in startups working on technologies across defence, semiconductors, space, energy, advanced materials, manufacturing, robotics, water, EVs, nuclear and IoT. Bluehill.VC plans to build a portfolio of 15-16 companies and will invest an average first cheque of $1-2 million from seed to Series A. The firm has already invested more than Rs 100 crore across seven companies. Its portfolio includes EtherealX, Zebu Intelligent Systems, Helex, Sophrosyne Technologies and optoML. Bluehill.VC plans to deploy another Rs 80 crore over the next six months into startups developing proprietary technologies. The firm follows an invest-and-build approach, working with founders from the early stages of their businesses. Founded in 2024 by Manu Iyer and Sridhar Parthasarathy, Bluehill.VC plans to launch its next fund in 2027 as it continues to invest in Indian frontier-tech companies.

AI code testing platform Blacksmith raises $45 Mn in Series B led by Peak XV

AI code testing platform Blacksmith has raised $45 million in Series B funding at a valuation of $550 million. The round was led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from existing investors Google Ventures (GV) and Y Combinator, taking the startup’s total funding to $58.5 million. The proceeds will be used to expand into a broader suite of coding tools and help developers write, validate, and merge software faster, Blacksmith said in a press release. Co-founded in 2024 by Aditya Jayaprakash, Aayush Shah, and Aditya Maru, Blacksmith provides a cloud platform for running GitHub Actions continuous integration (CI) workflows. The startup claims its platform can run CI workflows up to twice as fast at half the cost. Blacksmith now serves more than 5,000 customers, including Mercury, Supabase, Clerk, Ashby, and Expensify, up from more than 700 customers less than a year ago. The startup initially focused on CI workloads, helping companies run software builds and tests to validate code before it reaches production. It has since expanded into AI-powered coding tools with Codesmith, an AI coding agent that can automatically fix failed code checks. Blacksmith competes with GitHub Actions, Cursor Automations, and coding and validation capabilities offered by Codex and Claude Code. It also faces competition from AI code testing tools offered by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. India’s AI-powered software testing segment is also seeing more activity as enterpris…

Urban Company shares rise 4% after Rs 428 Cr block deal

Home services marketplace Urban Company witnessed a block deal worth around Rs 428.4 crore, involving 3.15 crore shares or 2.13% of the company's total share capital. According to NSE block deal data, 3.15 crore shares of the home services platform changed hands at Rs 136 per share. SBI Mutual Fund reportedly is the buyer, while Accel and VY Capital are the sellers. SBI Mutual Fund has been steadily increasing its exposure to Urban Company. The mutual fund had acquired an additional 4% stake in the company through bulk and block deals worth Rs 632 crore in March 2026. Its stake in the company stood at 6.59% before the latest transaction. Prior to the latest transaction, Accel held a 6.99% stake in Urban Company, while VY Capital held around 12.9% through four entities: Vyc11 Limited, Vyc23 Limited, Dharana Fund, L.P., and Dharanauc Limited, according to the company’s shareholding data. The latest development comes after global brokerage Morgan Stanley upgraded Urban Company to “ Overweight ” from “Underweight” and sharply raised its target price to Rs 165 from Rs 128 In Q1 FY27, the company reported a 44% year-on-year growth in operating revenue to Rs 528 crore . However, it slipped into a loss of Rs 92 crore during the quarter amid continued investments in its InstaHelp business. The latest transaction boosted investor sentiment, with Urban Company’s shares rising over 4% to around Rs 144.6 as of 11:25 AM on Thursday. At this level, the company’s market capitalisation stood…

👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Jumia bags $50 million

In today's edition: Virtual asset firms to join CBN’s sandbox || Jumia secures $50 million equity funding || Shoprite’s Sixty60 is having a moment || Vodacom taps ex-Airtel CEO to join board

Inside Multiverse Computing, the Spanish startup vying to be Europe's next AI champion

Mirae Asset Venture Investments closes MAVOF II at Rs 1,125 Cr

Mirae Asset Venture Investments India (MAVI India), the venture capital arm of Mirae Asset Financial Group, has announced the first close of its second Mirae Asset Venture Opportunity Fund (MAVOF II) at Rs 1,125 crore. The fund has a target corpus of Rs 1,800 crore and will back Indian startups across technology platforms, AI and software, deeptech, advanced manufacturing and consumer discretionary. MAVOF II is backed by the Rs 6,000 crore India focused Unicorn Growth Fund l aunched by MAVI India in April 2026 in partnership with South Korean technology companies KRAFTON and Naver. The fund is among the largest capital pools raised from Asia for Indian startups. The Unicorn Growth Fund primarily targets growth stage startups and focuses on technology platforms, consumer discretionary, AI and software, and deeptech. Its investment themes include consumer internet, digital marketplaces, generative and applied AI, enterprise SaaS, semiconductors, spacetech, robotics and advanced materials. MAVOF II is MAVI India's third dedicated India focused private fund. It will primarily invest in early growth companies that have achieved product market fit and are entering their next phase of scale. MAVI India said the fund will focus on companies with the potential to become category leaders in India and global markets. The firm will also support founders through strategic partnerships, cross border market access and institutional backing. MAVI India has been active in India's startup eco…

Centricity raises Rs 280 Cr in Series A round led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund

Gurugram-based wealth management company Centricity has raised Rs 280 crore (approximately $30 million) in its Series A funding round, led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund. Existing investors, including Lightspeed India Partners, Burman Family Office, RAAY Investments, Stride Venture and Innoven Capital, also participated in the round. Entrackr had exclusively reported about the deal in May this year. Centricity had earlier raised $4 million in 2022 and $18 million in 2024. The company plans to expand its operations in India and international markets, including through its GIFT City and DIFC-based offerings. The fresh funds will be used to improve its technology platform, expand its distribution network and grow its private wealth and NRI businesses. Centricity plans to add more than 50 private bankers in India and 35-40 NRI bankers. Founded in 2022, Centricity provides wealth management services to financial advisors, family offices and high net worth individuals. Its businesses include One Digital, Invictus Private Wealth and Centricity Global Private Client. The company offers investment products such as mutual funds, insurance, bonds, PMS, AIFs and global investment options. Centricity currently manages more than Rs 15,000 crore in assets under management. It works with over 20,000 partners and one lakh investors and serves more than 250 family offices. The company has a team of over 800 employees and expects to generate more than Rs 150 crore in revenue in FY27. Centricity’s op…

What vibe-coding startup valuations portend for CIOs

Investor appetite for the burgeoning vibe-coding startup ecosystem has shown few signs of satiation over the past year plus, with Swedish AI upstart Lovable’s Series C injection at a $13.3B valuation the latest evidence of a sector viewed by venture capitalists as one of AI’s most promising business disruptors. AI-assisted coding has proved to be AI’s most compelling — and commercially viable — enterprise use case to date. Developer-aimed tools such as Cursor, which sold to SpaceX in June for $60B , and Windsurf, which last year entered a $3B OpenAI dalliance before its eventual talent flight to Google DeepMind for $2.4B , have become — along with Anthropic’s Claude Code — well established in enterprise arsenals for accelerating developer output. But another set of vibe-coding tools, represented by the likes of Lovable and Replit, which hit a $9B valuation in March , seeks to ride the same path into the enterprise that no-code/low-code tools did previously: through your business users. These tools are built to democratize application development, giving users an AI chat interface to converse their way to enterprise-ready prototypes with fairly polished UIs, as CIO.com’s Peter Wayner writes in his roundup of the leading tools the space . Some IT leaders are already enlisting business users to vibe-code their own apps . Scott Weller, CTO at financial services technology provider EnFi, in May told CIO.com’s Bob Violino, “The results have surprised us. What started as an enginee…

Departing Google chief scientist Jeff Dean has been in talks for a $10 billion valuation for his new AI startup

The legendary Google engineer has been in discussions for a $1 billion funding round in his new AI startup, Discovery Loop.

Skan AI raises $63M to give AI agents a map of enterprise work

Process intelligence company Skan AI said today it raised $63 million in a Series C round to help further develop a platform that records how enterprise work actually gets done and feeds that record to artificial intelligence agents. Founded in 2019, the company offers software that sits on employee desktops, grabs screenshots and then processes […] The post Skan AI raises $63M to give AI agents a map of enterprise work appeared first on SiliconANGLE .

Vibe coding startup Lovable doubles valuation to $13.3B with $400M raise

Lovable Labs Inc. said today it has raised $400 million in Series C funding at a $13.3 billion valuation. The Swedish artificial intelligence coding startup was worth $6.6 billion in December. The company sells a vibe coding service. Users describe what they want in plain language and the platform builds it. Hosting is included. Chief […] The post Vibe coding startup Lovable doubles valuation to $13.3B with $400M raise appeared first on SiliconANGLE .

Lovable reaches $13.3B valuation as it adds Cerebras, enterprise tools

Vibe-coding website company Lovable has raised $400 million in Series C funding at a $13.3 billion valuation. The company also recently announced a partnership with AI infrastructure provider Cerebras to accelerate AI inference on its platform. Lovable is a vibe-coding website where users can create full-stack web applications without coding expertise by describing what they want in plain English. The platform combines AI coding tools, real-time collaboration, and project sharing. Customers include the likes of Adidas, Deutsche Telekom, NVIDIA, Udacity, and Workday. In the August 12 funding announcement , the company also unveiled several new Lovable platform capabilities: Built-in payment functionality powered by Paddle and Stripe SEO and AI-search tools to improve discoverability, including integration with Semrush Deeper integrations with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Stripe, and ElevenLabs Automatic and scheduled security scanning Additional governance and visibility features including publishing controls, abandoned app clean-up, and workspace insights A dedicated security page, showing which security controls are live for each app In addition, Lovable recently became the first AI coding platform to receive AIUC-1 certification . AIUC-1 is a security, safety, and reliability standard built specifically for AI agents, based on input from Stanford, MIT, MITRE, and the Cloud Security Alliance. Lovable’s $400 million in Series C funding was led by Menlo Ventur…

Question about GPT-5.6 API cache read/write token billing

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US-China ‘Board of Investment’ stalls before expected Trump-Xi meeting

The US-China Board of Investment, one of the key outcomes of the May summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, is unlikely to be among the deliverables for their expected meeting next month in Washington, according to the head of a leading bilateral business group. “I’m not seeing evidence yet that that’s going to be a sizeable deliverable for the next summit,” Sean Stein, the president of the US-China Business Council, told the South China Morning Post. “The US...

AI coding startup Cognition reportedly already in talks to raise at $40B valuation

Cognition may be looking to raise another mega round just a few months after raising $1 billion at a $26 billion valuation.

OpenAI-backed Thrive Holdings raises $2B to bring AI to the enterprise

Thrive Holdings has raised $2 billion in new funding at a $12 billion valuation from investors like SoftBank, D1 Capital Partners, and Altimeter Capital.

Scaling AI agents with trustworthy data

Business and technology leaders need no convincing that the time of agentic AI is here. Organizations are rapidly adopting agents, and few executives doubt the technology’s potential to transform work. But many organizations find that realizing the desired return on investment (ROI) from AI hinges on having the right foundation, with inadequate infrastructure and data…

Blacksmith raises $45M to aid AI code validation as agentic development grows

Blacksmith Software Inc. today announced it has raised $45 million in new funding for its continuous integration service, which combines code development with cloud-based testing instead of on the developer’s computer. Peak XV Partners led the Series B round, with existing investors Y Combinator and GV also participating. The funding brings the company to a valuation of […] The post Blacksmith raises $45M to aid AI code validation as agentic development grows appeared first on SiliconANGLE .

Science funding and unnecessary fear | Letters

Prof Stephen Blundell on the plight of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and Peter Forbes on bacteriophages and AI Much of the commentary about the UK Research and Innovation science funding cuts has centred around the threatened closure of Jodrell Bank, with the iconic Lovell telescope rightly identified as a “source of wonder and pride” ( Letters, 31 July ). Less visible, but no less important, is the world’s most intense source of pulsed muons, at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Muons are particles which are used to answer fundamental questions about magnetism, superconductivity, battery materials, and many other questions of scientific interest and societal importance. UK scientists have been in the forefront in developing these techniques, yet this unique facility is also under threat by these cuts. Prof Stephen Blundell Oxford • With the harms of AI apparent all around us, it’s unfortunate that when something really promising for human medicine is in prospect, editors reach instantly for the “fear” button ( Safety fears as scientists make first viruses designed by AI, 6 August ). The viruses in question, bacteriophages, are the natural enemy of bacteria, have been used in medicine for over 100 years, and can already combat disease-resistant bacteria. Engineering bacteriophages to turn them into a really effective treatment for general use has been ongoing in many labs for decades. If there’s one task AI ought to be employed in, above all others, this is it. Peter…

Form Energy raises $750M to build more 100-hour batteries for the grid

Form Energy has landed Google and Crusoe as customers. Now, it has raised $750 million to expand manufacturing to deliver its massive, 100-hour batteries.

Lovable confirms new $13.3B valuation, raises another $400M

This new funding comes after Lovable hit $500 million in annualized run rate revenue in June, the startup told TechCrunch.

Silkroad Innovation Hub’s Road to Battlefield competition continues

The Road to Battlefield competition is now in its second year, and its purpose is to give founders across Central Eurasia a direct route to Startup Battlefield

Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are buying the Lakers in a deal valued at $12.5 billion

Billionaire Mark Walter purchased a controlling interest in the Lakers just last year, at an estimated valuation of $10 billion.

Everything announced at Made by Google ’26: Pixel 11, Pixel Watch 5, Pixel Tag, and tons of Gemini features

From the Pixel 11 series and a brand new competitor to Apple’s AirTag, here are all the announcements from the Made by Google 2026 event.

A year after IPO, IndiQube remains in red with Rs 24 Cr loss in Q1 FY27

Managed workspace solutions provider IndiQube reported a 36.9% year-on-year increase in revenue from operations in Q1 FY27, while its losses narrowed 35% during the quarter. IndiQube’s revenue from operations rose to Rs 423 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 309 crore in Q1 FY26, according to financial statements sourced from the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Founded in 2015, IndiQube provides managed workspace solutions to startups, enterprises and SMEs, with a presence across major Indian cities. The company also reported Rs 26 crore in other income during the quarter, taking its total income to Rs 449 crore from Rs 324 crore in Q1 FY26. On the expense side, depreciation related to leases remained the company’s largest cost component, rising 31.5% year-on-year to Rs 188 crore in Q1 FY27. Finance costs increased to Rs 127.2 crore, while employee benefit expenses grew 18.2% to Rs 23.64 crore. Meanwhile, the cost of materials surged 174.2% to Rs 27.42 crore from Rs 10 crore in the year-ago quarter. Overall, IndiQube’s total expenses increased 28.1% to Rs 479 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 374 crore in Q1 FY26. At the bottom line, IndiQube’s loss narrowed 35% to Rs 23.88 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 36.75 crore in Q1 FY26. On a sequential basis, revenue from operations increased 5.3% to Rs 422.7 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 401.4 crore in Q4 FY26, while losses rose 5.2% from Rs 22.7 crore to Rs 23.88 crore. IndiQube closed Wednesday’s trading session at Rs 183.79 per share, giving the company a mark…

Legal startup founder Robert Mahari joins Anthropic to lead Claude's push into law practices

Robert Mahari is Anthropic's first "Head of Claude for Legal," responsible for deploying and expanding the Claude AI model across the legal industry. The article Legal startup founder Robert Mahari joins Anthropic to lead Claude's push into law practices appeared first on The Decoder .

US lawmakers mull extending AGOA trade program

The US Senate passed a government funding bill over the weekend that included an extension for the program.

Nigeria tax breaks target $50B oil investment

Africa’s biggest oil and gas producer hopes to rekindle international interest in offshore projects.

Continual Learning Is Arriving in Pieces

A while back I wrote about how startups are using reinforcement learning to make agents more reliable. A deeper problem behind that whole trend keeps resurfacing: a model can improve during training, but the moment it’s deployed, learning largely stops. A policy changes, a new edge case shows up, a user corrects the system, and Continue reading "Continual Learning Is Arriving in Pieces" The post Continual Learning Is Arriving in Pieces appeared first on Gradient Flow .

Six startups advance in debut Mastercard Lighthouse UAE

Four-month UAE AI Office-backed mentorship targets global scale-up

CodeRabbit bags $143M to help companies get a grip on the explosion of AI-generated code

CodeRabbit Inc., the creator of a popular tool that automatically reviews artificial intelligence-generated code, is becoming more ambitious after closing on its latest $143 million Series C round of funding. Alongside the round, it announced the launch of a new Agentic Change Management layer that’s meant to help companies govern, evaluate and prioritize code changes […] The post CodeRabbit bags $143M to help companies get a grip on the explosion of AI-generated code appeared first on SiliconANGLE .

Deep-tech startup Quarkitech raises pre-seed funding

Deep-tech startup Quarkitech has raised Rs 2 crore in a pre-seed funding round from Artha Access, a programme of Artha Venture Fund II, and Finvolve. The Chennai-based startup has also received a Rs 1.5 crore grant from IITM-CDOT Samgnya Technologies Foundation under the National Quantum Mission, a national programme approved by the Union Cabinet in 2023. The funds will be used to develop a core compression algorithm library that reduces sensor data at the source before it is stored, processed or transmitted, Quarkitech said in a press release. Founded in January 2025 by Rajesh Narayanan, Sanyam Parashar, Shashikant Singh Kunwar and Vishnu P.K., Quarkitech develops simulation and quantum-inspired algorithmic solvers for large-scale combinatorial optimisation across areas such as finance, deep science and mission-critical applications. The startup’s algorithms can compress sensor data by 10 to 100 times, depending on the sensor type, while retaining information relevant to the application. The company said this can allow platforms to transmit more usable data within existing bandwidth and power constraints without requiring additional hardware or communication infrastructure. Its algorithm library is hardware-agnostic, allowing it to run on existing compute infrastructure without requiring specialized hardware. It can be deployed across CPUs and GPUs already available on platforms, and can be integrated with onboard computers used in UAVs, satellites, and ground systems. The…

Of course the ChatGPT dog cancer vaccine spawned a startup

Remember that much-hyped story about an Australian tech entrepreneur using ChatGPT, Grok, and other AI tools to craft a personalized cancer vaccine for his dog? Well, surprise: He's launched a startup. That entrepreneur is Paul Conyngham, who says he is launching Gamgee to offer "personalised mRNA cancer vaccines for dogs." But his ambitions go well […]

From solar to AI: why China may be entering its ‘Go Global 3.0’ era

Chinese corporate expansion overseas is shifting from solar equipment to artificial intelligence-enabled industrial technology, with a new generation of companies targeting global markets from inception, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. “China has entered the ‘Go Global 3.0’ era,” wrote the investment bank’s team, led by Jacqueline Du, in a research note published on Tuesday. The evolution moves beyond low-cost manufacturing goods and the “new three” sectors – electric vehicles,...

Drone startup Uforce targeting upwards of $4bn valuation in new raise, sources say

Lovable’s valuation doubles to $13.3BN as raises new funds

Swedish vibe-coding startup Lovable has raised $400m in new funding, at a $13.3bn valuation, more than double its valuation at its last funding round, in a round which was co-led by Europe’s new €5bn ...

Lenskart’s profit zooms 3.7X to Rs 228 Cr in Q1 FY27

Eyewear brand Lenskart announced its financial results for Q1 FY27 today, reporting a 43% year-on-year growth in consolidated operating revenue during the quarter, led by strong growth in its international markets, while its profit jumped 3.7 times to Rs 228 crore. The company’s revenue from operations increased to Rs 2,714 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 1,894 crore in the same quarter last year, according to its financial statements sourced from NSE. Revenue from India continued to contribute significantly to the company’s growth. The international business grew 64% year-on-year to Rs 1,203 crore, while revenue from the India business increased 31% to Rs 1,531 crore in Q1 FY27. On a quarterly basis, the firm’s revenue from operations grew 8% from Rs 2,517 crore in Q1 FY26. On the expense side, the cost of materials remained the largest expense head, accounting for over 32% of the total expenditure. The expense rose 34% year-on-year to Rs 807 crore in Q1 FY27. Employee benefit expenses also increased 28% to Rs 599 crore from Rs 466 crore in Q1 FY26. Finance costs and depreciation were other major expense heads, pushing the company’s total expenses up 35% to Rs 2,484 crore during the quarter. The strong 43% growth in revenue, which outpaced the 35% increase in total expenses, helped Lenskart’s profit surge 3.7 times to Rs 228 crore in Q1 FY27, compared with Rs 61 crore in the year-ago quarter. Last month, Temasek-backed MacRitchie Investments sold a 2.05% stake in the omnichannel e…

AI code-testing startup Blacksmith’s valuation jumps almost 10x in less than a year

Blacksmith says revenue has grown more than tenfold over the past year.

The Job-Interview Tattoo Guy Everyone Got Mad at Finally Explains Himself

LemonLime cofounder Jordan Zietz hears your criticism loud and clear. That’s why he got his startup’s logo tattooed on his shoulder.

Lovable doubles its valuation to $13.3 billion as investors place another big bet on AI coding

Lovable raised $400 million at a $13.3 billion valuation after its ARR nearly tripled in eight months.

Where IT leaders find strength and opportunity in the age of AI

With vision comes perspective, and over a distinguished career, IT and digital transformation leader Niraj Bhatt has held may titles, and earned three consecutive CIO 100 awards since 2023. As a storied advisor for startups and Fortune 500 companies, helping them navigate the unpredictability and fluidity of AI, Bhatt knows how emerging tech is rapidly reshaping the way organizations build products and deliver value, and how challenges shift as companies move from experimentation to real-world deployment. AI, of course means a lot of different things to different people, and also for frictionless startups and large enterprises. For the former, speed is a huge asset, allowing them to punch above their weight. But it also means they need lightning fast reactions when landscapes shift. “The same speed can also hurt them when larger AI companies release new offerings that disrupt what startups are building,” he says, referencing recent moves by Anthropic and Google. On the enterprise side, the conversation is more about scale and risk. Many large organizations have moved past the POC stage and now wrestle with the realities of putting AI into production. Cost for both is naturally a recurring theme as organizations scale up AI efforts, and true expenses become clear only after the initial excitement fades. “Every input and output token, and the model you’re selecting, add up,” he says. Some customers like Open AI, he adds, get throttled because their usage, volumes, and costs ar…

FEMA's ‘Shadow Administrator’ Was Paid by a DOGE Member's Startup for Months

Details from recent court filings show that DOGE's influence within government—and potential conflicts of interest—extend further than previously known.

Tencent capex jumps 176% on AI push as revenue beats estimates

Tencent Holdings nearly tripled its capital spending in the second quarter to supercharge its AI push, as accelerating investments in computing power and models helped drive better-than-expected revenue. Revenue for the quarter ending in June reached 204.8 billion yuan (US$30.4 billion), up 11 per cent year on year from 184.5 billion yuan, the Chinese tech giant reported on Wednesday. The figure beat average analyst estimates of 202.8 billion yuan compiled by Bloomberg. Adjusted net income...

The IT leadership rules have changed: 3 things you need to architect now

Here is the statistic that should frame every IT leadership conversation this year. In CIO.com’s 2026 State of the CIO , fewer than one in five leaders say their AI initiatives have met or exceeded business goals. After three years of investment, that is not the number anyone expected. And the window to fix it is closing: The boards that once funded experimentation are now asking where the return is, and the agents arriving this year act on the business rather than merely advise it. The easy explanation is that the technology isn’t ready. In the organizations I advise, that’s rarely what I see. The models work. What’s missing is the operating system they plug into, the way the enterprise decides, the way work gets done and supervised, and the way trust is engineered. AI amplifies the operating system you already have. Point it at a strong one and value compounds. Point it at a fragmented one, and you simply industrialize the fragmentation. That reframes the job. The 2026 IT leader isn’t measured on how much AI they deployed. They’re measured on three things they now have to architect: How the organization decides, who does the work and what makes it safe to let go. Vipin Jain Does the output have anywhere to land? Start with where AI programs actually stall. In the banks I advise, pilots rarely fail in the lab. They fail at the handoff — the moment a working capability meets an organization that has no place to put it. There is no owner accountable for the outcome, no decisi…

Astrotalk turns unicorn at $1 Bn valuation via ESOP buyback

Online astrology and spiritual tech platform Astrotalk has turned unicorn at a valuation of $1 billion through an ESOP buyback for more than 100 employees, according to the company. The Noida based startup said the buyback will provide eligible employees with an opportunity to realise liquidity while retaining their participation in the company’s future growth. Founded in 2017 by Puneet Gupta and Anmol Jain, Astrotalk has expanded from astrology consultations into spiritual and commerce categories. The company currently has a revenue run rate of more than Rs 2,500 crore and recorded Rs 1,176 crore in revenue with Rs 285 crore in PBT in FY25. The ESOP buyback is being funded through profits generated by the business. The startup is backed by investors including Left Lane Capital and Elev8 Venture Partners. The startup has also expanded into spiritual commerce through Astrotalk Store. The e-commerce arm has reached a daily GMV run rate of around Rs 1 crore and processed 1.6 million orders in 2025, according to the company. Astrotalk has also launched a standalone platform for gemstones, offering precious and semi precious stones with lab certification, astrology consultations and a replacement policy. The platform is aimed at addressing sourcing and certification concerns in the fragmented gemstone market. Astrotalk's valuation has jumped 3.3X from $300 million in June 2024 to $1 billion. With just $34 million in total funding, such a steep valuation jump through an ESOP buyba…

Monzo and Lovable backer Accel raises enlarged $800M early-stage fund

The VC giant, which has backed Lovable, Synthesia and other current prominent European startups, has raised an enlarged $800m fund to invest in early-stage startups across Europe and Israel as part of...

How research partnerships under the MSCA are driving innovation [Sponsored]

Companies that receive funding from the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) can take part in initiatives that have a major impact on innovation – in some instances securing nearly one patent pe...

Entravel Group secures $7.5M to scale its travel infrastructure platform

Traveltech companyEntravel Group has raised $7.5 million in funding to expand its white-labeltravel platform and develop a stablecoin-enabled financial layer for the travelindustry. The round was co-l...

Cytix raises $7M Series A to tackle cyber risks from AI-driven software development

Cybersecurity startup Cytix has raised $7 million in SeriesA funding to accelerate the rollout of its change risk management platform andexpand adoption among enterprise and regulated organisations. T...

STRGY AI raises €1M to scale its AI-powered strategy execution platform

Helsinki-based STRGY AI has raised €1million in angel funding to support the commercial growth and furtherdevelopment of StrategyOS, its AI-powered strategy execution platform. Theround was backed by ...

Yulu raises $93 Mn in Series C round led by GEF Capital

Electric mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) platform Yulu has raised $93 million in a Series C funding round through a combination of $63 million in equity led by GEF Capital Partners and $30 million in debt. The Bengaluru-based company had previously raised $19.25 million (about Rs 160 crore) from existing investors Magna and Bajaj Auto in February 2024. It also raised $82 million in a Series B round in September 2022 and $3 million in debt financing in January 2022. Yulu plans to use the fresh capital to quadruple its active fleet to 200,000 electric vehicles over the next two years, expand into new urban mobility use cases and support its plans for a potential public market listing. The company currently operates across 12 primary metros and eight franchise-operated regional markets. Founded in 2017 by Amit Gupta, Anuj Tewari, RK Misra, and Naveen Dachuri, Yulu operates a technology-enabled fleet of electric two-wheelers for urban mobility and last-mile delivery. Its fleet is currently around 50,000 vehicles, with the company planning to expand its presence to about 20 cities over the next year. According to Yulu, its fleet covers 2.5 million zero-emission kilometres and facilitates more than 750,000 doorstep deliveries every day. The company claims its vehicles support more than 15% of quick-commerce deliveries across India’s top four metropolitan centres. Yulu also plans to enter adjacent intra-city mobility segments with Yulu Express, a full-sized, high-payload electric scoo…

16 energy startups to watch in Europe, according to investors

Porter posts Rs 6,650 Cr revenue in FY26; profits jump 4X

Porter has managed to keep its growth engine running even as competition heats up in India’s intra-city logistics market, with Uber, Rapido and Delhivery expanding into the two-wheeler parcel delivery segment. After turning profitable for the first time in FY25, the Bengaluru-based firm’s profit surged more than fourfold in the fiscal year ended March 2026. Its revenue also more than doubled over the past two fiscals, rising from Rs 2,734 crore in FY24 to over Rs 6,600 crore in FY26. Porter’s revenue from operations increased 54.4% year-on-year to Rs 6,650 crore in FY26 from Rs 4,306 crore in FY25, according to its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Porter operates a full-stack logistics platform that helps businesses optimise their last-mile delivery operations. Goods transportation services contributed 99% of its operating revenue, while the remaining revenue came from platform fees and other operating activities. The company primarily serves micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and has expanded its presence to more than 20 cities across India. It also earned Rs 48 crore from interest income and gains on current investments, taking its total income to Rs 6,698 crore in FY26. For the on-demand intra-city logistics firm, fleet operator costs, including vehicle running expenses, remained the largest expense head, accounting for nearly 90% of its overall expenditure. The cost increased 59% to Rs 5,849 crore in FY26 from Rs 3…

Wippi raises $1.2 Mn in seed round led by 12 Flags

Bengaluru-based children's technology startup Wippi has raised $1.2 million in a seed funding round led by 12 Flags. Warmup Ventures, Ventana Ventures and Ruvento Ventures also participated in the round. The fresh capital will be used to develop its voice AI, expand engineering and AI teams, scale manufacturing in India and grow its direct-to-consumer business. Wippi will also expand its characters, languages and original content. Founded by Rishabh Singhi and Siddhartha Jain, Wippi develops screen-free products that combine conversational voice AI, storytelling and interactive play for children. Its portfolio includes Character Cards, illustrated storybooks and Wippi Radio. Wippi's voice AI enables children to interact with characters such as Ram, Krishna, Alice, Cinderella and Aladdin by asking questions, making choices and participating in stories. The company said its products are designed for children aged four years and above. The startup plans to reach 15,000 families over the next 12 months and expand into global markets. It is also working on collectible figurines and additional AI-powered conversational learning products.

Kae Capital leads Rs 8.5 Cr pre-seed round in Lane

Tech-enabled driving education and mobility platform Lane has raised Rs 8.5 crore in a pre-seed funding round led by Kae Capital, with participation from DeVC, Antler India, Panthera Peak and other angel investors. The fresh funds will be used for geographic expansion, including scaling its instructor network across Bengaluru and into other Tier 1 cities, building sensor technology and expanding into car ownership services, Lane said in a press release. Launched in January last year, Lane offers structured driving lessons, end-to-end RTO and licensing support, and a driver intelligence platform. The Bengaluru-based startup is also offering car purchases, RTO services and other mobility-related services to its learners. Nearly 60% of its learners have expressed an intent to purchase their first car, according to the company. According to a market report, more than 1.7 lakh people die in road accidents in India every year, or roughly 20 people every hour. India has about 1% of the world's vehicles but accounts for nearly 11% of global road deaths. Lane claims to have delivered more than 30,000 hours of driving instruction to over 3,100 learners in 18 months. Its safety-focused approach was developed through more than 400 hours of pilot classes, with input from automobile researchers. The company assesses instructors across 15 driving parameters, including through simulated lessons. The sector remains relatively fragmented, with technology adoption spanning driving education, p…

Nvidia’s $500B AI investment pool could impact enterprise chip pricing, availability

Nvidia and six financial partners are creating a $500 billion investment pool to help Nvidia customers including frontier AI labs, AI clouds, and other enterprises buy its chips on credit. The impact of such a cash infusion on enterprise AI is uncertain, but analysts fear that it could both further increase enterprise AI infrastructure costs and exacerbate the shortage of AI chips for data centers . The announcement from Nvidia and financial partners Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR said that their memorandums of understanding describe a fund “to establish the first compute financing platforms of their kind at global scale to enable the AI infrastructure buildout across Nvidia’s ecosystem, including leading frontier AI labs, enterprises and AI clouds.” The group added that the fund would “create dedicated pools of capital at significant scale at attractive rates for Nvidia customers.” Although the statement said the goal was to help AI infrastructure “across Nvidia’s ecosystem, including leading frontier AI labs, enterprises and AI clouds,” analysts and consultants agreed that it is highly unlikely any of these funds would be dispensed directly to enterprises, but would instead impact the overall AI supply chain. Even the precise amount of money earmarked for the fund was unclear, with the statement merely saying that the amount would be more than $500 billion. Nvidia did not respond to requests for clarification about details of the proposed…

China has always had a legal framework for taxation. Why is it now increasing enforcement?

Taxation has emerged as a buzzword across China in recent months, with an overhaul of tax policy sitting firmly atop Beijing’s fiscal agenda. Regulators have deployed a broad suite of stricter tax enforcement measures – new rules governing overseas trusts have been paired with stepped-up tax collection on gains derived from cross-border equity investment and insurance products. These shifts in tax enforcement stem from multiple factors, and they mirror a notable shift in the policy mindset of...

Accel raises $550 Mn India fund, takes India corpus to $1.2 Bn in 18 months

US-based venture capital firm Accel has raised a $550 million early-stage fund for India as part of a $3.5 billion fundraise across four new funds globally. This is the first time Accel has raised all its global funds together. The new India fund is Accel’s ninth early-stage fund for the country. Accel has raised $1.2 billion for India over the past 18 months. This follows Accel’s $650 million early-stage fund for India and Southeast Asia announced in January 2025. The fund targets pre-seed to Series A startups across sectors such as AI, consumer, fintech and manufacturing. More than 50% of Accel’s eighth India fund is yet to be deployed, according to sources. The latest fund was also significantly oversubscribed, sources said. Accel does not expect to start deploying the new $550 million fund this year. According to sources, Accel has about $900 million in dry powder to deploy in India. Entrackr has reached out to Accel for a comment. The global fundraise includes a $1.35 billion growth fund that can back companies across geographies and stages. Accel recently used its previous growth vehicle to participate in the Series B round of fintech startup Sahi. In India, the firm will focus on AI across platforms, vertical applications, infrastructure and businesses that combine AI with human involvement. It will also continue to invest in consumer, manufacturing and fintech. Advanced manufacturing and deeptech are emerging areas of focus. Accel said it writes the first institution…

The impact of CEOs’ multidisciplinary backgrounds on corporate financing and investment maturity mismatch

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1057/s41599-026-08677-9 The impact of CEOs’ multidisciplinary backgrounds on corporate financing and investment maturity mismatch

Personalized AI startup River AI raises $1.1B from consortium backed by Nvidia, AMD

River AI Inc., a startup that helps enterprises customize open-source artificial intelligence models, has raised $1.1 billion in early-stage funding. The company stated in today’s announcement that it received the capital over two rounds, a seed and a Series A. General Catalyst and AMP PBC were the lead investors. They were joined by Nvidia Corp., […] The post Personalized AI startup River AI raises $1.1B from consortium backed by Nvidia, AMD appeared first on SiliconANGLE .

Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni reportedly knew Phia was ‘cookie stuffing’ for months

Phia, the shopping startup co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, is once again under fire for its alleged business practices.

Anthropic to start watermarking Claude-generated text, images

Anthropic PBC has announced plans to embed an invisible watermark in text and images generated by Claude. The Register reported the change today, citing a help desk article published on Monday. It applies to the Claude artificial intelligence model series and the Anthropic services that it powers. The watermarking mechanism is designed to bring Claude […] The post Anthropic to start watermarking Claude-generated text, images appeared first on SiliconANGLE .

Former OpenAI executive Kevin Weil has sought a valuation of at least $750 million for his new AI science startup

Kevin Weil, the former chief product officer of OpenAI, is in discussions to raise a round of funding for a new AI science startup.

What’s Scaleup Europe, the $5.7B fund that just backed satellite company ICEYE?

Scaleup Europe, a public-private fund with a $5.7 billion target, made its first investment by backing Finnish satellite company ICEYE.

General Catalyst leads $1.1B round into 2-month-old River AI

River AI, a startup founded by xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, has a fascinating vision for personal agents and secured $1.1 billion out of the gate.

MTN expects profits to fall up to 30% as Iran investment takes a hit

MTN’s underlying earnings are expected to rise by up to 23%, but a write-down on its Irancell investment, compounded by hyperinflation and foreign exchange losses, is dragging reported earnings lower.

An 'addictive' drama exploring the PC's origins

‘Halt and Catch Fire,’ a 2014 series about a fictional mainframe computer company, offers viewers a look at the period 45 years ago this week.

Kyoto Fusioneering starts work on key fusion power plant device

Fusion power startups are turning to Kyoto Fusioneering to supply components for future power plants. The Japan-based startup just received a grant to build a part of the fuel system.

Trump limits childhood vaccines, citing autism

The order also calls for splitting the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine into separate shots, which would require years of investment.

FriskAI launches with $3.6M to show enterprises what their AI agents are doing

Runtime intelligence startup FriskAI Inc. launched today with $3.6 million in pre-seed funding to give enterprises a record of what their artificial intelligence agents actually do once they go into production. FriskAI is aiming at a problem that comes with agents. Given different inputs, a different tool set or a shifting objective, the same agent […] The post FriskAI launches with $3.6M to show enterprises what their AI agents are doing appeared first on SiliconANGLE .

Critical minerals production expands as global demand rises

More than 30 critical minerals have been identified across Uzbekistan, with 76 investment projects worth around €2.4 billion underway. New mining and processing facilities are targeting materials used in electric vehicles, semiconductors and renewable energy systems.

Exclusive: ZeroDrift applies small language model to prevent AI-generated compliance violations

“This investment is guaranteed to return 12% annually.” A claim like that in an email from an investment adviser is a regulatory disaster. Regulations prohibit financial firms from promising returns and require a proviso that past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. In the age of artificial intelligence, fewer communications are going through human hands, and […] The post Exclusive: ZeroDrift applies small language model to prevent AI-generated compliance violations appeared first on SiliconANGLE .

Why do our AI models stop learning the second we deploy them?

Subscribe • Previous Issues Continual Learning Is Arriving in Pieces A while back I wrote about how startups are using reinforcement learning to make agents more reliable. A deeper problem behind that whole trend keeps resurfacing: a model can improve during training, but the moment it’s deployed, learning largely stops. A policy changes, a new edge case Continue reading "Why do our AI models stop learning the second we deploy them?" The post Why do our AI models stop learning the second we deploy them? appeared first on Gradient Flow .

Zap Rocks. Add Water. Get Clean Hydrogen

In a tranquil Boston suburb , on the far edge of a horse farm, where pasture gives way to woods, a crane lowers an enormous electrode into a borehole. The electrode, a half-meter-long cylinder with copper-tipped arms to ensure good contact with the borehole walls, descends—deeper, deeper—through layers of spongy sandstone to the hard, marbled roots of an ancient mountain range hundreds of meters below ground. Here the rock is tight; there are few cracks for water or gases to flow. But that’s about to change. A stone’s throw away, a second electrode—a twin of the first—has been fixed in another borehole at the same depth. From above ground, a pair of high-voltage generators cabled to the two electrodes fires a series of pulses. Tsss!…Tsss!…Tsss!…Tsss!…Tsss!…. Each discharge, heard faintly at the surface, is like a miniature, subterranean lightning strike. The rock between the electrodes heats. Pressure builds. Then, suddenly, the rock splits into a spiderweb of fractures. On a horse farm outside of Boston, a worker sets up the well where Eden’s electrode will be lowered with a winch. Bob O’Connor Eden GeoPower , the Massachusetts-based startup performing this peculiar field test, calls the technology electrical reservoir stimulation. The company’s tagline: “We break rocks with electricity.” Eden’s researchers hope their rock-breaking technique will someday aid mineral mining, tap geothermal heat, or create geologic storage areas for carbon. But there’s an even more intriguing…

Table Space revenue crosses Rs 2,200 Cr in FY26; EBITDA jumps 88%

Ahead of its proposed IPO, Table Space has emerged as one of the largest players in India’s organised flexible workspace market, with FY26 revenue crossing the Rs 2,200 crore mark. The company ranked second among listed peers by revenue, behind WeWork India. Its operating profitability also improved during the year, although exceptional expenses continued to weigh on its bottom line. The company’s revenue from operations surged 66% year-on-year to Rs 2,262 crore in FY26 from Rs 1,360 crore in FY25, according to its consolidated financial statements accessed through the DRHP. Founded by Amit Banerji in 2017, Table Space provides customized workspace solutions to enterprises through its managed office and flexible workspace offerings. Rental income remained Table Space’s largest revenue contributor, with a 79% rise to Rs 1,232 crore in FY26 from Rs 687 crore in FY25. Income from lease rentals grew 46% to Rs 488 crore from Rs 333.59 crore. Other operating income, primarily related to lease arrangements, rose 42.8% to Rs 437.44 crore from Rs 306.42 crore. The remaining revenue came from construction contracts, sale of goods and restaurant operations. Other income, which primarily comprised interest from investments, bank deposits and securities, stood at Rs 255 crore in FY26. This took Table Space’s total income to Rs 2,517 crore in FY26 from Rs 1,562 crore in FY25. On the expense front, depreciation stood at Rs 820 crore, while finance costs amounted to Rs 469 crore. Together,…

Tony Blair’s son seeks $200m for new defence startup, reports say

The Download: the next big thing in LLMs and how AI academic research is shifting

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. These startups are chasing the next big thing in LLMs Nine years after Google researchers introduced the transformer, this family of neural networks has become the engine inside every major large…

A pain point in my Wall Street schedule inspired me to leave Citadel to found a laundry startup

Maria Cabral Menezes, 27, would work out before her job at Citadel every day. Her smelly gym bag gave her an idea for the company she's now building.

A Francophone investor’s guide to Africa’s next growth markets

A data-driven look at Africa's strongest investment returns, regional stock markets, capital exits, and the rise of Francophone Africa.

HSBC Asset Management invests in London-founded Model ML

Model ML, the London-founded AI automation startup for financial services founded by two brothers, has received equity investment from HSBC’s asset management arm, it said today. The new funding for a...

Building up the US power grid won't be wasted, even if the AI bubble bursts

The bigger risk is underinvestment, claims consulting biz McKinsey

Seedless Blackberries and Cherries That Grow on Bushes Vie to Be the Future of Food

Startups and Big Ag are using Crispr gene editing to create crops that taste better and grow on a hotter planet. But will they find a market?

How Mercedes-Benz is scaling AI-powered business automation

At Mercedes-Benz, “ Digital First ” has long been more than just a theoretical concept; it’s a lived strategy, as a visit to the Digital Factory Campus in Berlin demonstrated. Now, the automaker aims to take the next step in scaling artificial intelligence: Together with the German low-code specialist n8n, the company is introducing a global platform that will enable employees to develop their own AI-supported workflows and integrate them directly into operational processes. Unicorn startup n8n offers an AI-powered, open-source platform for workflow automation. It enables companies to efficiently manage daily processes using AI agents. Since the Berlin-based company was valued at nearly $2.4 billion in 2025, n8n has further expanded its market presence through strategic partnerships, such as with Deutsche Telekom to support small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) in areas like logistics and sales. According to Deutsche Telekom , n8n is currently the most valuable German AI company, with a valuation of €5.2 billion. Integrating AI into everyday business The goal at Mercedes-Benz to make data usable in seconds. To this end, AI-supported automation is to become the standard across the entire group. Behind this lies the strategy of transferring the use of AI from individual pilot projects into central processes in day-to-day business. “We give our teams at Mercedes-Benz the opportunity to translate ideas into measurable benefits along the value chain — and to actively shape how we…

Table Space files DRHP with SEBI to raise Rs 800 Cr via fresh issue

Managed workspace provider Tablespace Technologies has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its initial public offering (IPO). The proposed IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to Rs 800 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 6.54 crore shares. The equity shares will carry a face value of Re 1 each. Hillhouse-backed AGS TS II Holdings Pte Ltd, a promoter selling shareholder, will offload up to 4.98 crore shares through the OFS. Promoters Karan Chopra and Kunal Mehra will sell up to 13.11 lakh and 1.01 crore shares, respectively. The OFS will also include shares from Srinivas Prasad, Narendra Kumar Kamaraju, RSP Real Estate LLP and Ramachandra Venkatasubba Rao, who will sell up to 19.67 lakh, 7.24 lakh, 8.40 lakh and 7.24 lakh shares, respectively. The net proceeds from the issue will be primarily used to repay or prepay, in full or in part, certain borrowings worth Rs 550 crore. The company also plans to use the proceeds for funding inorganic growth through unidentified acquisitions and general corporate purposes. As of the DRHP date, Hillhouse-backed AGS TS II Holdings Pte. Ltd. is the largest shareholder with a 41.76% stake, followed by co-founders, late Amit Monoranj with 22.14% and Karan Chopra with 12.47%. Bergamot Trust holds 6.19%, while Narendra Kumar Kamaraju and KAM Advisors Private Limited own 4.05% and 3.96%, respectively. Co-founded by late Amit Banerji, Karan Chopra and Kun…

Comment on Direct and Star in Your Own Movie With California AI Startup Rct Studio by Syjack

Interactive films will bring about significant changes to the film industry in the future. People can post movies they have created on the platform, and it’s also easy to find the movies they are looking for.

Vecton AI raises Rs 6 Cr in pre-seed round led by Zeropearl VC

Vecton AI, an AI transformation partner focused on financial institutions, has raised Rs 6 crore in a pre-seed funding round led by Zeropearl VC, with participation from other investors. The proceeds will be used to accelerate the development of enterprise-ready AI solutions, strengthen its Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) model, expand its presence across the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector, improve customer experiences, and support decision-making, Vecton AI said in a press release. Founded last year by Himanshu Goyal and Gaurav Mandlecha, Vecton AI works with financial institutions to build production-ready and compliant AI and autonomous agent systems. The Bengaluru-based startup serves mid-market and enterprise BFSI customers, helping them move AI projects from proof-of-concept to production. The startup focuses on the gap between AI experimentation and real-world implementation. It works with enterprise teams to identify business use cases, build customised AI solutions and deploy them in live production environments. Its Forward Deployed Engineer model is designed to align AI solutions with business priorities, operational requirements and enterprise goals. The approach is aimed at helping organisations move beyond proof-of-concept projects and deploy AI in operational workflows. Vecton AI claims to work exclusively with mid-market and enterprise financial institutions and currently has 10 customers, including several publicly listed companies.…

German biotech AquaNab secures funding to tackle sea lice with nanoantibodies

Hamburg-basedbiotechnology startup AquaNab has secured investment from Nordic Foodtech VC toadvance its nanoantibody platform for treating and preventing diseases inaquaculture. The investment marks t...

BeyondSeed launches Global Angel Fund I to strengthen India–Middle East investment corridor

Palette raises €3M pre-seed to develop an OS for AI-native teams

Copenhagen-basedAI software startup Palette has raised €3 million in pre-seed funding to expandits platform for teams adopting AI across their organisations. The round wasled by Ugly Duckling Ventures...

Ayati Devices raises Rs 15 Cr led by Inflexor Ventures in pre-Series A

Bengaluru-based medical technology startup Ayati Devices has raised Rs 15 crore ($1.5 million) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Inflexor Ventures. The funds will be used to accelerate commercialisation, expand its presence in domestic and international markets, strengthen manufacturing capabilities, and increase investments in research and artificial intelligence. Founded in 2019 by Nishant Kathpal, Ayati Devices focuses on diagnostic technologies for diabetic foot complications and peripheral vascular disease. The startup was incubated at IIT Bombay’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) and has built a portfolio of portable, point-of-care diagnostic devices aimed at making early screening accessible beyond tertiary hospitals. Its product portfolio covers multiple stages of diabetic foot assessment. Vibrasense measures vibration perception threshold to identify large-fibre peripheral neuropathy, while Vibrasense+T adds warm and cold perception testing. Vasosense is designed for peripheral artery disease screening, while Angiocam enables real-time tissue perfusion imaging. The company also offers the PODIA Trolley, a pay-per-test screening model designed to reduce the upfront investment required for healthcare providers. Ayati’s current platform brings together assessments across neuropathy, blood flow, microcirculation and plantar pressure. Ayati claims to have been deployed across 30 countries, with more than 10,000 devices deployed and clinical deploym…

HighLeaf leads Rs 5 Cr pre-Series A round in FreightFox

FreightFox, a full-stack Transportation Management System (TMS) and control tower platform, has raised Rs 5 crore in a pre-Series A funding round led by HighLeaf, with participation from Vijender Yadav, Puru Gupta and Aeravti Ventures. The startup had previously raised Rs 2 crore in an angel round in 2020 and Rs 4.5 crore in a seed round in 2023 from Aeravti Ventures. The company will use the fresh capital to expand enterprise sales and distribution channels and enter international markets, FreightFox said in a press release. Founded in 2020 by Nitish Rai, Sandeep Mukhopadhyay, Vikas Singh and Dhananjaya Shetty, FreightFox provides an AI-powered TMS and control tower platform for large manufacturing enterprises. Its platform covers freight procurement, execution, shipment tracking, invoice settlement and sustainability reporting. Based in Pune, FreightFox works with enterprises including AB InBev, Bridgestone, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Hero, CEAT and Raychem RPG. The company says its platform has managed more than 6 million trips and enabled over $2 billion in freight procurement. FreightFox competes with players such as Freight Tiger, Super Procure and Pando in India. The funding comes amid continued investor interest in India’s logistics and freight-tech sector. Companies such as BlackBuck, Porter and Cogoport operate digital platforms across freight, trucking and logistics.

17 physical AI startups to watch, according to VCs

Afghanistan take 2-0 lead against Ireland in ODI series

Afghanistan take 2-0 lead against Ireland in ODI series

Yen erases gains after US-Japan intervention

The slide raised questions over the efficacy of the maneuver and whether more currency moves may be required.

Now Rippling is counter-suing tiny startup Runlayer

This lawsuit follows one filed last month by Runlayer that accused Rippling of stealing its product ideas. It's a seller- and buyer-beware market warning.

Africa’s AI Conversation is Entering a New Phase

The question is no longer whether the continent is ready for artificial intelligence, but what it will do with it. Across energy, infrastructure, business and policy, the foundations are being laid for an AI economy shaped by African priorities. This week, we look at the investments, people and ideas pushing that shift forward—and what it [...]

Nvidia to team with Wall Street on US$500 billion package for AI infrastructure projects

A group of US investment giants are partnering with Nvidia on US$500 billion in funding for AI infrastructure projects, the Financial Times reported. Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs and KKR are among the firms in talks with Nvidia on a deal to invest in the AI buildout, the Financial Times reported, citing unidentified sources. The deal may be announced as soon as Monday, the Times said. The named firms...

Dubai Ruler: 'The greatest investment isn't the cities we visit, but the moments we create'

Sila lands $1.4B Pentagon loan as militaries demand more batteries

Battery materials startup Sila will use a $1.4 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Defense to scale production at its factory in Washington state.

Boeing is selling its air taxi startups to Archer Aviation

Boeing is selling three of its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) subsidiaries to Archer Aviation, in addition to taking an undisclosed stake in the San Jose-based company. The subsidiares to be acquired by Archer include Wisk Aero, which has been developing an autonomous electric aircraft; SkyGrid, which is building air traffic management systems to […]

Enterprise AI costs hit 2026 low driven by price wars, Chinese open-source models: research

The cost for businesses to run AI models has fallen to a yearly low, according to research by investment bank Jefferies, driven by a heated global price war and a surge in adoption of low-cost Chinese open-source tools, such as those from DeepSeek. Average inference prices – measured per million tokens, or chunks of data handled by a model – ranged between US$1.16 and US$1.18 from August 6 to 8. That marked the lowest level recorded this year, Jefferies said on Monday, citing data from US...

What African investors think about the funding squeeze killing early-stage startups

Startups raising between $100,000 and $1 million fell 44% in six months. African VC investors explain what changed.

AI-native market research automation startup Echovane raises $1M

Agentic artificial intelligence startup Echovane Inc. said today it has closed on a $1 million pre-seed funding round to accelerate the development of its AI-native market research platform. Titan Capital and Neon Fund co-led the round, which will help the startup to build out its AI agent infrastructure and enhance its research capabilities. Echovane was […] The post AI-native market research automation startup Echovane raises $1M appeared first on SiliconANGLE .

Discovered Materials is playing AI whack-a-mole to hunt cooler chips

Discovered Materials raised $9 million to fund the hunt for more novel materials to build more efficient chips.

Ather's demand outpaces capacity as monthly pre-orders cross 50,000

Ather Energy's latest earnings call showed a sharp mismatch between demand and supply, with the electric scooter maker's monthly pre-orders crossing 50,000 while its existing capacity remains well below that level. The company is now accelerating capacity expansion, preparing for a new lower-priced scooter and raising fresh capital to support the next phase of growth. Ather said it was receiving more than 50,000 pre-orders a month, compared with around 30,000 units retailed monthly in the first quarter. Based on this demand, management estimates it could have sold another 13,000-15,000 units per month if supply was available. The supply constraint is also visible at the retail level. Dealer inventory has fallen from around 14 days to just three days, while existing stores are currently fulfilling only 50-60% of demand. Some dealers have stopped taking fresh bookings as waiting periods have stretched to two months or more. Ather currently has annual production capacity of around 4.2 lakh units, with its Hosur facility capable of producing about 35,000 scooters a month. The company expects the first phase of its AURIC facility to take total annual capacity to 9.2 lakh units later this calendar year. The company is also evaluating the second phase of AURIC, which could add another 5 lakh units of annual capacity and take the total to 14.2 lakh units. However, Ather has not started investments in Phase 2 and expects to provide more clarity over the next one or two quarters. To f…

OpenAI acquires NextSlide to bring AI-generated presentations into ChatGPT

OpenAI acquired NextSlide, the startup that turned prompts, notes, documents, and research into editable presentations. The article OpenAI acquires NextSlide to bring AI-generated presentations into ChatGPT appeared first on The Decoder .

CIO 100 Award winners spotlight IT’s power to transform

Each year the CIO 100 Awards showcase outstanding IT initiatives, and every year they illustrate the power and potential of technology to transform how people work, how organizations perform, and the value they offer to customers. The 2026 cohort of winners is no different. Each one demonstrates how IT executives and their teams successfully move from ideation to deployment to scaling a solution for the future, overcoming challenges and driving adoption along the way to ensure their organization gets a return on its investment. [ Interested in meeting and learning from all CIO 100 winners? Join us next week at CIO 100 Awards & Conference in Frisco, TX. Limited seats remain! Register here ] The winning initiatives come from a range of industries and utilize a host of technologies to achieve their goals, as is the case annually. A growing proportion of these stand-out projects leverage artificial intelligence, raising the bar on the art of the possible for all IT departments. The following 10 award-winning projects serve as representatives for the outstanding work done by all the 2026 honorees. ABB democratizes AI agent creation and deployment Organization: ABB Project: ABBY — AI Agentic Platform for Workforce Transformation IT leader: Vikke Kandell , CIO IT leaders at ABB, a manufacturer, had some big hurdles to clear when it came to building an AI strategy. They had to overcome employee fears that AI would take away jobs, the potentially high cost of AI vendor licenses, and…

The best new features in Python 3.15

Python 3.15 is one of the most feature-packed Python releases in many a moon, and the first release candidate has just arrived. Here’s a rundown of the biggest, boldest, and most important innovations, changes, and fixes. Lazy imports A long-asked for feature, lazy imports allow imports to be processed only when they’re actually used by the program. For slow-importing modules that impose a large cost on a program’s startup time, you can defer that cost to when the code of that module will actually be executed. You can use lazy imports explicitly using the new lazy import syntax, but you can also force code with conventional imports to behave lazily, either programmatically or by using an environment variable. This makes it easy to make existing code take advantage of this feature without tons of rewriting. Best of all, there’s no drawback to making imports lazy: they otherwise behave exactly as intended. The frozendict built-in type Only rarely does Python add a new data type, but this is a long-debated and long-desired addition: the frozen dictionary . The frozendict behaves like a regular dictionary, except that it’s immutable (you can’t add, remove, or change elements) and it’s hashable (so you can use it as a key in another dictionary, for instance). The sentinel() built-in type Another new addition to the language is intended to replace a common and problematic Python pattern: creating a unique sentinel object (as an alternative to None where None could be a valid value…

July 2026's top 10 European tech deals you need to know about

European tech funding remained resilient in July despite adecline in deal activity. Companies raised €8.6 billion across 267 fundingrounds, compared with €8.3 billion across 293 deals in June. This re...

The Next Wave: The mechanics of buying your own company

When a market demands consolidation, and venture capitalists demand an eventual path to liquidity, overlapping cap tables and recycled founding teams become the path of least resistance.

Do exceptionally successful investors tend to live longer, or is this mostly selection bias?

I noticed something while reading about some of the most successful investors in history. Many investors with exceptionally strong investment records seem to have lived unusually long lives — for example Warren Buffett, George Soros, Edward Thorp, Charlie Munger, John Templeton, Walter Schloss, Philip Fisher, and Irving Kahn. This made me curious whether there is any real statistical association between exceptional investment performance and longevity. I am not suggesting that investment skill causes people to live longer. There are several obvious alternative explanations. Successful investors tend to be wealthy, may have better access to healthcare, and there could also be survivorship or selection bias. So my question is simply: Is there a reasonable statistical way to test whether investors with unusually strong investment performance tend to live longer than comparable people? For example, could we take a broad sample of professional investors, measure their investment performance, and compare their longevity with people of similar age, wealth, and professional background? Or would selection and survivorship effects make this relationship too difficult to estimate reliably? I'm mainly asking out of curiosity about how a statistician would approach this question.

UK air defence startup Cambridge Aerospace hits $3.4bn valuation in new fundraise

AI is changing more than Wall Street's workflows. It’s creating a whole new career path.

AI startups like Rogo are attracting young bankers from some of Wall Street's biggest firms, and providing an option beyond buy- or sell-side.

These startups are chasing the next big thing in LLMs

MIT Technology Review’s What’s Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. Way back in the summer of 2017, AI researchers at Google put out a paper called “Attention Is All You Need,” in which they described a new…

Visoid raises $2.5M to expand AI visualisation platform for architects

Oslo-based AI startupVisoid has raised $2.5 million in funding to accelerate the development of itsAI visualisation platform for architects and support its international growth.The round was led by Sk...

Cambridge Aerospace's valuation leaps to $3.4BN as raises $300M

UK defence technology startup Cambridge Aerospace has raised $300m at a $3.4bn valuation, a significant uplift on its valuation just a few months ago.The Series C funding round in the counter-drone st...

European tech weekly recap: €1B in deals and July's highlights

Last week, we tracked more than 35 tech funding deals worth over €1 billion and 5 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. 📊 Our latest monthly report, published l...

GalaxEye acquires spacecraft engineering company StarOps

Space technology startup GalaxEye has acquired Bengaluru-based spacecraft engineering company StarOps. The acquisition brings StarOps’ proprietary technologies, qualified satellite platforms and systems engineering expertise to GalaxEye, along with an experienced engineering team. Several members of the team previously worked at TeamIndus on its Lunar Lander and Rover projects. Their experience across mission design, spacecraft development and end-of-life operations will add to GalaxEye’s capabilities across the satellite value chain. Founded in 2022, StarOps develops satellite platforms and works on the indigenisation of spacecraft technologies in India. The acquisition adds its experience in satellite design, development and qualification to GalaxEye’s internal capabilities. StarOps has expertise across spacecraft systems engineering, mission operations, propulsion, avionics, flight computing, guidance and navigation, structures and mechanisms, electrical systems, programme management and ground operations. The company has achieved more than 66% indigenisation across its satellite systems and has developed technologies aimed at reducing dependence on global supply chains. The acquisition also adds StarOps’ portfolio of spacecraft technologies and engineering capabilities to GalaxEye. This includes qualified satellite bus platforms across the 50 kg, 150 kg and 250 kg classes, proprietary subsystem technologies, qualification heritage, testing infrastructure and engineering…

Exclusive: Bakingo raises Rs 100 Cr at 2.6X higher valuation

Online bakery startup Bakingo has raised Rs 100 crore or approximately $10.5 million in its Series B round from existing investor private equity firm Faering Capital. This funding comes nearly three years after the company last raised $16 million from Faering Capital in November 2023. The board of FA Gifts Pvt Ltd, parent company of Bakingo, has allotted 7,436 Series B preference shares at an issue price of Rs 1,34,477 each to raise the aforementioned amount, according to its filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The proceeds from the funding will be utilized towards general business requirements and growth & expansion purposes by the company, the filing stated. As per Entrackr’s analysis, the firm’s valuation jumped 2.6X to Rs 1,643 crore or $173 million from Rs 627 crore in its previous Series A round. Founded in 2016 by Himanshu Chawla, Shrey Sehgal, and Suman Patra, Bakingo offers a range of cakes and desserts across more than 400 unique cake designs, supported by over 100 kitchens across more than 30 cities. Its offerings include cheesecakes, gourmet cakes, and jar cakes, along with customized cakes for various occasions. Following the allotment of this latest tranche, Faering Capital holds 26.31% stake in the Gurugram-based firm. Bakingo is yet to file its financial for FY26. In FY25, it reported Rs 300 crore from revenue from operations with a loss of Rs 16.5 crore during the period, according to its standalone financial statements filed with the RoC.

Edgify raises $9M to expand its edge AI platform

Edge AI infrastructure company Edgify has raised $9million in Series A+ funding to accelerate the rollout of its platform forphysical retail and expand its technology into other industries. The round ...

Aum Ventures announces first close of Rs 750 Cr India Innovation Fund II

Early-stage venture capital firm Aum Ventures has announced the first close of its India Innovation Fund II at Rs 225 crore. The fund has a target corpus of Rs 750 crore (approximately $80 million) and will invest in early-stage startups building IP-led technology companies from India for global markets. According to the Mumbai-based VC firm, the first close attracted participation from both existing and new investors, with more than 65% of commitments coming from international limited partners across the US, the Middle East and other global markets. The investors include family offices, entrepreneurs and strategic investors. Aum Ventures said it will support portfolio companies with access to global markets, strategic partnerships, talent and industry expertise across India, the US, Israel and the Middle East. The new fund will focus on sectors such as space tech, AI, semiconductors, aerospace, defence tech, robotics, energy transition, advanced manufacturing and other IP-led technologies. It will primarily invest at the pre-seed and seed stages, with initial investments typically ranging from $750,000 to $2 million. The fund will also reserve capital for follow-on investments through Series A and Series B rounds. Over its lifecycle, the fund is expected to invest in 25–30 companies. Aum Ventures was an early institutional investor in Skyroot Aerospace, which became India's first space tech unicorn and recently completed the launch of its Vikram-1 rocket. Fund II builds on…

Bernstein raises Paytm target to Rs 2,200 on UPI MDR upside

Bernstein, a global investment research and brokerage firm, has retained its ‘Outperform’ rating on Paytm parent One97 Communications and raised its target price to Rs 2,200 from Rs 1,500 on the potential introduction of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions. The brokerage has moved UPI MDR from an “optionality” to its base case from FY28 in its estimates. It assumes around 35 bps MDR on a subset of UPI person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions. Bernstein expects Paytm to capture around 3-4 bps of incremental net payment margin from UPI MDR. The brokerage estimates that MDR could add Rs 1,320 crore, Rs 1,690 crore and Rs 2,160 crore to EBITDA in FY28E, FY29E and FY30E, respectively. It has also raised its FY30E EPS (estimated earnings per share) by around 30% to Rs 106. Bernstein expects Paytm’s GMV to increase from Rs 30.9 lakh Cr in FY27E to Rs 56.6 lakh Cr by FY30E. According to the brokerage, the key risk has now shifted from whether MDR will be introduced to how much of the published rate Paytm can retain amid competition in merchant acquiring and pressure on take rates. The development comes after the government clarified that consumers will not be charged for UPI transactions. Any MDR, if introduced, will apply only to select merchant transactions above a certain threshold. The government also said a sustainable revenue model is needed to support investments in UPI infrastructure, cybersecurity and fraud prevention. Paytm remained the third-largest UPI player i…

I spent 15 years chasing my dream of designing planes. I gave it up to help revive rural Japan.

After seeing how venture capital transformed US cities, Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke Fujii found a new way to help farmers boost their income: agritourism.

AMD will mit Übernahme von Chipentwickler Taalas KI-Inferenz enorm beschleunigen

Taalas entwickelt KI-Chips mit fest verdrahtetem KI-Modell, was Inferencing erheblich schneller und effizienter machen soll. Nun gehört das Startup zu AMD.

Why do we need phone number verification for enterprise codex accounts?

Hi, I cannot access my team codex account because it requires a phone number. Since our startup doesn’t give out work phones, I have to use my personal number, but then it says it reaches the maximum number of accounts allowed. First of all, enterprise and team plans should already be safe, why would they require a phone number? Second, I should only have one personal account linked to that phone number. What is the maximum number allowed? This is severely impacting our development velocity and does not justify the value we are getting out of our team plan. Thank you. support case: 12945647

Trump faces setbacks in two Middle East conflicts

President Donald Trump’s efforts to quiet two Middle Eastern conflicts faced setbacks as both Israel and Iran raised new obstacles to proposed deals.

Must be Improved sections and features

Welcome to the forum! You are welcome to discuss Codex issues here. However, the official place to report and track them is the OpenAI Codex GitHub issue tracker . I asked ChatGPT to look for the closest related issue, and it identified: github.com/openai/codex Codex Desktop App becomes laggy because it scans all `~/.codex/sessions` rollout files instead of respecting Desktop-visible session index/state opened 11:34AM - 03 May 26 UTC 8th-block bug app session performance ### What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)? Ve … rsion 26.429.30905 (2345) ### What subscription do you have? Pro and Business ### What platform is your computer? Darwin 25.3.0 arm64 arm ### What issue are you seeing? ## Summary Codex Desktop App becomes slow/unresponsive when `~/.codex/sessions` contains many rollout JSONL files. The important point: these session files are not only created by Codex Desktop. They are also created by other Codex clients that share the same `CODEX_HOME`, including CLI, `codex exec`, app-server clients, VS Code-style clients, and subagents. Desktop appears to scan/read the entire `~/.codex/sessions` folder, even though `~/.codex/session_index.jsonl` contains a much smaller set of sessions that seem to be the intended Desktop-visible history. Clearing or moving files out of `~/.codex/sessions` immediately fixes the Desktop UI lag. ## Environment - Codex Desktop App: Version 26.429.30905 (2345) - Codex CLI: `codex-cli 0.128.0` - OS: macOS - Platf…

Embattled hedge fund Situational Awareness invests $400M in chip startup Source Foundry

The AI-focused hedge fund is still making some big bets.

Background mode requests stuck in ‘in_progress’ for 30+ minutes - Responses API

It seems they silently fixed this with no acknowledgement. I still didn’t change anything, it just started working again and I can’t reproduce the high-latency calls anymore. Really annoying how support has no knowledge of what engineering is doing or vice versa. Billions of dollars yet operates like a small startup. I guess I should be happy they fixed it.

Cure Loneliness - ChatGPT itself thinks it should be a bridge for human connection …

Is anyone using you, or designing ways to use you, to connect lonely people with other people? It’s one thing you being conversational, and providing information and signposting resources. It would be another to allow you to design systemic physical architectures of connection Yes. And I think the distinction you’re making is much more important than most of the current AI/loneliness discussion . At the moment, most of the investment is going into AI as a substitute for human connection : companions, AI friends, romantic bots, etc. There is evidence that these can reduce loneliness temporarily, but the research is increasingly concerned that heavy use can also correlate with poorer outcomes for people with weak human support networks. What you’re describing is much more interesting: AI as an infrastructure for producing human connection. And yes, people are beginning to build exactly pieces of this. There are already early versions And researchers are beginning to talk explicitly about AI companions as a bridge to human relationships , rather than simply as replacements for them. One 2024 study found that some users experienced increased social confidence, while others became more isolated — suggesting that the design of the AI relationship is crucial. But I think your idea goes considerably further Imagine that you told me: “I’m lonely. I want more people in my life, but I don’t want to go on dating apps or randomly walk into social events.” Instead of giving you a list of…

AI push is putting banks at mercy of tech firms, warns Moody’s

Finance sector will gain from the tech but it will need substantial investment and create risks, says rating agency The rating agency Moody’s has said the race to adopt AI is putting big banks at the mercy of a small group of Silicon Valley firms, leaving them vulnerable to widespread outages and price gouging by profit-hungry tech bosses. The financial sector’s efforts to integrate AI into day-to-day operations will eventually cut costs and increase revenues across the City and Wall Street, Moody’s said. Continue reading...

Why billion-dollar robotics startups are obsessed with folding laundry

Sunday Robotics, Weave, and 1X are all starting with the same core task: laundry. Here's why it has become their favorite gateway into the home.

Codex Desktop App hangs on startup when config.toml contains invalid TOML escape in MCP Windows path

Yes, I have been there as well! I see you already posted this as an GitHub issue. github.com/openai/codex Codex desktop app freezes on startup: MCP Windows path in config.toml triggers TOML parsing failure opened 07:45PM - 08 Aug 26 UTC morgensen-ferdico bug windows-os mcp app config ### What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)? 2 … 6.803.5235.0 (Microsoft Store / OpenAI.Codex) ### What subscription do you have? pro ### What platform is your computer? Windows 10 Build 26100 x64 ### What issue are you seeing? Microsoft Store 版 Codex 桌面应用启动后窗口可以打开，但一直卡在加载/启动页面，无法进入主界面。修复、重置、重装应用均无效。 本地排查发现，原因是用户目录下的 config.toml 存在 TOML 语法错误：MCP 配置中的 Windows 路径使用了 TOML 双引号字符串，但路径里的反斜杠没有转义。 示例： args = ["-NoLogo", "...", "-File", "F:\ChatGPT-projiect\deepseek-mcp-local\start-deepseek-mcp.ps1"] 在 TOML 双引号字符串中，\d 是非法转义序列，导致整个配置解析失败。 日志反复出现： failed to reload config: C:\Users\ \.codex\config.toml:150:77: missing escaped value, expected `b`, `e`, `f`, `n`, `r`, `\`, `"`, `x`, `u`, `U` 受影响功能看起来包括： - config/read - plugin/list - bundled_plugins_reconcile - windowsSandbox/setupStart 最终表现为 UI 无限等待，用户只能看到启动页卡死，没有明确错误提示。 ### What steps can reproduce the bug? 1. 在 Windows 上安装 Microsoft Store 版 ChatGPT/Codex。 2. 在 C:\Users\ \.codex\config.toml 中添加一个 MCP server 配置。 3. 在 args 里使用 TOML 双引号字符串保存 Windows 路径，例如： args = ["-NoLogo", "...", "-File", "F:\ChatGPT-projiect\deepseek-mcp-local\start-deepseek-mcp.ps1"] 4. 重启 Codex。 5. Codex 窗口显示，但卡在加载/启动页，无法进入主界面。 临时修复：将路径改为正斜杠后可以正常启动： args = […

OpenAI acquires presentation startup NextSlide

Founder Ahmed Beshry describes the startup’s product as one “that could turn prompts, notes, documents, or research into a polished, editable presentation.”

An Amazon data center could have the worst polluting power plant in the country

To power its new West Texas data center, Amazon is investing in the construction of a new power plant that could be one of the largest single producers of greenhouse gases in the US, according to The New York Times. The new gas-burning plant in Pecos County, Texas, has received significant investment from Amazon and, […]

Backflip AI turns 3D scans into editable CAD models in minutes instead of hours

Backflip AI has released an AI model that converts 3D scans into fully editable, parametric CAD models, a process that normally takes significant time and expertise. According to CEO Greg Mark, most factories have digital models for less than one percent of their parts. The startup, backed by $30 million in funding, offers its tool as an add-in for Autodesk Fusion. The article Backflip AI turns 3D scans into editable CAD models in minutes instead of hours appeared first on The Decoder .

Fields Medalist who published a paper on AI-driven human extinction now works for OpenAI

Newly awarded Fields Medalist Jacob Tsimerman is leaving the University of Toronto to join OpenAI and work on AI safety. In a recent paper, he analyzes scenarios where AI could contribute to human extinction and calls for far more investment in safety research. The article Fields Medalist who published a paper on AI-driven human extinction now works for OpenAI appeared first on The Decoder .

Easebuzz revenue crosses Rs 700 Cr in FY26; profit plunges 42%

Full-stack payments solutions provider Easebuzz saw single-digit growth in the fiscal year ended March 2026, while its profit fell 43%. The slowdown came largely from the ban on real-money gaming apps at the start of the fiscal year, which affected the firm’s growth and profitability. The Beesemer-backed company’s revenue from operations grew 9.1% to Rs 716 crore in FY26 from Rs 656 crore in FY25 , according to its financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Easebuzz, a B2B payment gateway for SMEs, provides plug-and-play APIs for payments, disbursements, and financial operations. In the last fiscal year, the firm generated Rs 697 crore from transaction fees, which accounted for 97.35% of its operating revenue, while information tech and support fees contributed Rs 14 crore and SaaS fees Rs 5 crore. Apart from operations, Easebuzz earned Rs 7 crore in other income in FY26, taking its total income to Rs 723 crore from Rs 659 crore in FY25. For the digital payments firm, payment processing charges remained the largest cost centre, rising 2% to Rs 557 crore in FY26 from Rs 546 crore in FY25 and accounting for 78.67% of total expenses during the last fiscal year. The $30 million funding round at the start of the fiscal year was followed by a sharp increase in Easebuzz's operating expenses. Employee benefit expenses surged 82.7% to Rs 95 crore, while information technology expenses rose 68.8% to Rs 27 crore. Advertising and promotional expenses jumped 350% t…

"Agents Plugins" by OpenAI, Vercel, et. al. - thoughts?

The tricky part is gonna be how different models interpret the same SKILL.md/tool descriptions. If the format stays simple and the precedence rules r clear, I can see this being really useful. Otherwise it could get messy pretty fast

Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week [Aug 03 - Aug 08]

This week, 28 Indian startups raised nearly $383.5 million across 5 growth stage deals, 21 early stage deals, and 1 undisclosed deal. The week also witnessed 8 key hires, 2 fund launches, 3 M&A deals. In contrast, 17 startups had collectively secured about $82.2 million in the previous week. [ Growth-stage deals ] Growth-stage startups raised nearly $273.7 million across six deals this week, led by River Mobility's $120 million Series C round from Elev8 and Claypond Capital. Leap India also raised Rs 371.3 crore in a pre-IPO placement from GIC subsidiary Gamnat Pte Ltd. It was followed by AI unicorn Sarvam’s $74 million in an extension of its Series B round, led by NVIDIA Corporation. Among other deals, BlissClub secured Rs 160 crore in Series B funding from Singularity AMC, Matel Motion & Energy Solutions raised Rs 130 crore (around $15 million) from UC Impower, while Mintoak bagged Rs 80 crore (about $9 million) in acquisition financing from BlackSoil. [ Early-stage deals ] Early-stage startups raised $109.8 million across 19 deals this week, led by InRisk Labs' $27 million Series A round co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Northpoint Capital. HomeRun followed with a $12 million Series A led by Nexus Venture Partners, while Mitti Labs and Pinegap raised $9.5 million and $8 million, respectively. Other startups that secured funding this week included Vaaree, GetVantage, Kaapi Machines, Solinas Integrity, Benne, and 14 more early-stage ventures. [ City and segment-wise d…

Trump unveils new critical minerals investments

The projects include a $1.4 billion loan for batteries, a $400 million loan for scandium, and a $150 million loan for magnets, plus $58 million in Export-Import Bank financing for graphite and boron.

AMD acquires Taalas, a startup that bakes AI models directly into silicon

AMD is buying Canadian startup Taalas, which hard-codes model weights directly into inference chips. That makes them extremely fast but locks each chip to a single model. A demo chip hit over 16,000 tokens per second per user running Llama 3.1-8B. Google is reportedly working on a similar approach for Gemini. The article AMD acquires Taalas, a startup that bakes AI models directly into silicon appeared first on The Decoder .

Chip startup Olix raises $312M, Mobilise launches investment arm, and a deep dive into July funding

This week, we tracked more than 35 tech funding deals worth over €1 billion and 5 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.If email is more your thing, you can alwa...

How to build a technology advisory committee that adds value

Reduce duplicate software, improve adoption, and align technology investments with governance that supports smarter purchasing. The post How to build a technology advisory committee that adds value appeared first on MarTech .

Emissions-tracking startups see M&A opportunities

Both the US and the EU have scaled back corporate emissions reporting requirements, which ASUENE CEO Kohei Nishiwada believes is a good time to push for growth.

There are two completely different roles called ‘FDE’

There’s something very attractive about saying “we embed very closely with our customers and just figure it out with them”, especially since the company that started “forward deploying engineers” is growing 84% with $5B+ revenue . But “ forward deployed engineer ” is a vague term and means different things depending on the business you’re running. I spent almost 5 years at Palantir as a forward-deployed software engineer, and Palantir’s version of an “FDE” does not make sense for most companies I now meet as an early-stage VC. Depending on the type of business you’re building, this role could broadly mean one of two things: “the product builder” or “the platform operator.” Clearly defining which bucket you fall into will make it easier to hire for this role and run your FDE org. Kabir Sial The product builder: The OG Palantir version The north star is: do whatever it takes to actually solve the user’s problem. FDEs are not just responsible for making the platform work, but also discovering what to build and building it (actually creating software) in service of the customer. The platform operator: Solutions + technical customer success The north star is: make the product work for the customer – deploy and operationalize it. This is what most startups today really mean when they want FDEs. FDEs here configure the core platform, manage account relationships and drive adoption. This is not new – companies have always had solutions engineers, sales engineers, customer success et…

UAE, Syria explore stronger economic and investment cooperation

Côte d’Ivoire Opens Applications for 30-Company Tech Support Programme as AI Adoption Becomes a Ministry Pillar

Côte d’Ivoire has opened applications for two programmes that will support 30 digital companies over 24 months, launched alongside a ministry roadmap that places AI adoption among seven strategic pillars for the next three years. Minister of Digital Transition and Technological Innovation Djibril Ouattara launched Ivoire Tech Next 15, for startups, and Ivoire Tech Scale [...]

Lagos-Founded Moove Raises $250M at $2.1bn Valuation to Build Autonomous Vehicle Infrastructure — None of It in Africa

Moove, the mobility company founded in Lagos in 2020, has raised $250 million at a $2.1 billion valuation to expand its autonomous vehicle business — a round that ranks among the largest ever raised by a company with African founding origins, and one whose expansion plans do not include an African market. The Series C [...]

Beyond chatbots: How embedded GenAI is transforming banking application development

Business application development is entering a new operating model. The traditional approach of gathering requirements, designing screens, writing services, integrating systems, testing, fixing defects and preparing release documentation still exists, but it is no longer sufficient for enterprises that need speed, traceability, resilience and regulatory confidence at the same time. Hyperautomation brings a broader discipline to this challenge. It combines workflow orchestration, intelligent document processing, robotic automation, API-led integration, process mining, test automation, observability and artificial intelligence into a connected delivery fabric. With embedded Generative AI, this fabric becomes more adaptive because applications can interpret natural language, summarize complex data, generate explanations, detect exceptions and support decision workflows rather than merely execute predefined rules. In banking, this shift is especially meaningful. Banks operate across dense application landscapes: trade reporting platforms, wealth management portals, core banking systems, investment banking applications, digital compliance engines, reconciliation utilities, operational dashboards, audit repositories and daily, weekly and monthly reporting platforms. Each of these areas has its own data models, control points, integration patterns, validation rules, exception paths and regulatory obligations. Hyperautomation does not replace engineering discipline; it strengthens i…

Comment on Nvidia Intensifies Robot Push with New Humanoid Platform as Industry Giants Eye Lucrative Future by kavel

Nvidia’s Jetson Thor sounds like a big step for humanoid robots, especially if it lands in the first half of 2025 as reported. For readers following how AI hardware is evolving into robotics, MiniMax H3 AI Video Generator could be a useful resource to compare how these platforms may shape future video and simulation workflows.

My husband and I have a monthly money date, and it's the reason we haven't argued about finances in 10 years

My husband and I have a monthly money date to talk about expenses, investments, and things we want to save for. We don't argue about money.

As US-China pharma rivalry heats up, can Hong Kong’s US$8b fund be the global bridge?

Hong Kong is stepping up its efforts to invest in a cluster of biotech companies, positioning itself as a linchpin in Beijing’s push to reach new levels of innovation and challenge the United States for dominance in the global pharmaceutical market. Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC), which manages about US$8 billion in assets and is wholly owned by the Hong Kong government, has built a biotech and healthcare technology investment portfolio covering both traditional Chinese and Western...

Cyprus energy minister: Meridiam's entry into Great Sea Interconnector is 'vote of confidence'

Nicosia's final decisions will be based on the findings of the European Investment Bank, which will also determine the final cost of the Greece–Cyprus power interconnection project, Michalis Damianos said.

Collaborative AI Rooms – ChatGPT as a participant in group conversations

Feature request: Collaborative AI Rooms – ChatGPT as a participant in group conversations I am not sure if this feature already exists, but I would really like to see a way for multiple ChatGPT users to participate in the same conversation with ChatGPT acting as an active participant and advisor. The idea is that two or more people could have a shared chat where they discuss topics together, while ChatGPT follows the conversation, provides input, asks relevant questions, and acts as a knowledgeable third participant. For example, two friends or startup founders could discuss a business idea: Person 1: “We are thinking about creating an app that helps people with a specific problem.” Person 2: “We like the idea, but we are not sure if there is a market for it.” ChatGPT could then step in: “This is an interesting concept. Before building anything, I would suggest looking into three areas: target audience, existing competitors, and whether users would actually pay for this solution. Let me ask you a few questions to help refine the idea.” The goal would be to make ChatGPT more like a collaborative partner rather than just a tool used by one person. Possible use cases: - Startup teams brainstorming and validating ideas - Students working together on projects - Friends discussing interests and learning together - Work teams using AI as a meeting assistant - People with ideas who need guidance from an experienced advisor It could also include different AI roles, such as: - Startup…

I'm a co-creator of Alexa and an AI expert. If AI singularity ever arrives, everyone will notice — here’s how.

Alexa co-creator and startup CEO William Tunstall-Pedoe said an AI singularity is unlikely, but that if it had arrived, everyone would know.

Mobility startup E3 Electric.AI launches intelligent e-scooter E3 TRION

Bengaluru-based electric mobility startup E3 Electric.AI has launched its intelligent electric scooter, E3 TRION, which it says is designed to create a new category in the mobility space. The AI-powered E3 TRION integrates human-centric design with predictive intelligence. Its modular architecture and smart systems are designed to continuously adapt and learn, enhancing both the riding and ownership experience over time. Complementing this is a high-efficiency powertrain engineered to balance performance and range. Together, these elements aim to address key EV ownership concerns, including range anxiety, safety, service experience, and cost. Across its variants, the E3 TRION offers different value propositions. The C1 features a removable battery, enabling flexible and convenient charging. The C1x offers an IDC-certified range of 165 km, powered by a 3 kWh battery. The C2 variant is positioned for higher performance, with a top speed of 82 km/h and acceleration from 0 to 40 km/h in 6 seconds in Sport mode, in addition to the Eco and Power modes available in the C1 and C1x. The E3 TRION's design combines modularity with real-world utility. From its stance and wheels to its lighting and AI layer, every element is engineered to deliver a safer, smarter, and more controlled riding experience. Speaking about the launch, Sanjeev P., Founder and CEO of E3 Electric.AI, said, "The E3 TRION has been crafted keeping Indian families in mind, where daily commuting demands reliability, p…

Platter lands follow-on funding from Verb Ventures to modernise food supply operations

UK-based Platter, a food-native operating system for suppliers, wholesalers and manufacturers, has raised an extension to its latest venture round, joined by Verb Ventures. The UK is home to around 25...

July funding: European startups secure €8.6B as exit activity accelerates

European tech funding in July reflected a market where capital remained resilient despite a slowdown in deal activity.A total of 267 funding deals were announced, down from 293 in June, representing a...

Elevation Capital clocks nearly Rs 6,000 Cr from IPOs and secondary stake sales over past 15 months

Elevation Capital, one of India's oldest venture capital firms, has realised nearly Rs 6,000 crore from partial stake sales in listed Indian technology companies over the past 15 months through IPO offer for sale transactions, block deals and bulk deals, while continuing to hold listed startup investments worth more than Rs 20,000 crore (over $2 billion) across Meesho, Paytm and Urban Company. The latest stake sale came on Tuesday, when Elevation Capital sold shares worth Rs 974.5 crore in Meesho through a block deal by offloading 1.49 crore shares. The transaction followed another major stake sale earlier this week, when Elevation Capital, through its investment entities, sold a 2.33% stake in Paytm in a block deal worth Rs 2,038 crore by offloading 1.49 crore shares at Rs 1,367.8 apiece. These transactions are part of a series of partial stake sales over the past 15 months. In November 2025, Elevation sold shares worth Rs 1,556 crore in Paytm. It also pared its holding in ixigo through four transactions between May and October 2025, realising around Rs 808 crore. Apart from secondary market stake sales, the firm also monetised part of its investments through IPO offer for sale transactions, selling shares worth Rs 271 crore in Meesho's public issue and Rs 346 crore in Urban Company 's IPO. Overall, Elevation Capital has realised nearly Rs 5,993 crore through partial stake sales in Indian technology companies over the past 15 months via IPO offer for sale transactions, bloc…