MatX lands $500M-plus to build LLM-specific chips MatX, a startup founded by former Google chip engineers, has raised more than $500 million to develop silicon designed to compete with Nvidia in the fast-growing market for AI compute, according to Bloomberg.…

Story.com shifts focus from flashy demos to dependable workflows AI video outputs continue to improve month by month, fueled by rapid model releases and polished social media demos. But for consumer products that aim to keep users returning, output quality…

Why Instagram performance analytics matter Creators and businesses increasingly rely on Instagram analytics to understand what content works, who it reaches, and how effectively it converts attention into meaningful actions. Tracking performance metrics helps teams make data-driven decisions, refine creative…

AI is rewriting software engineering—skills, roles and expectations Software engineering is no longer a profession built on mastering a single language and its frameworks, according to Saleem Shaik, who says AI is forcing job descriptions to evolve “daily.” In a…

Braintrust lands $80M Series B to bring observability to production AI San Francisco-based Braintrust has raised $80 million in a Series B funding round led by ICONIQ, as the company targets one of the most pressing problems in enterprise AI:…

CoSupport AI targets the limits of scripted chatbots CoSupport AI has launched a unified AI customer support platform designed to automate end-to-end service workflows for companies in SaaS, ecommerce, fintech, and other digital services. The company is positioning the product…

Render lands $100M to simplify cloud deployment for AI apps Render, a developer-focused cloud platform positioning itself as a simpler alternative to hyperscalers for AI-native teams, has raised $100 million in an extension of its Series C round. The financing…

Premium tech can be cheaper—if it lasts Low-priced gadgets often feel like the safest choice: the upfront hit is smaller, and replacing a budget device seems manageable. But over time, frequent upgrades, performance compromises, and “fix-it” accessories can push total…

Gamers rethink where they buy digital games and top-ups A growing number of players are changing how they purchase digital games and credits, driven less by hype and more by frustration with checkout friction. From failed payments to slow delivery…

Micron bets big on AI-era memory Micron Technology, the largest US memory-chip maker, said it plans to invest $200 billion to expand production capacity as artificial intelligence drives what executives describe as the most severe memory supply crunch in more…

France’s AI mood swings from caution to deployment At the World AI Cannes Festival (WAICF) on January 12–13, European founders and operators described a clear turning point: AI is no longer a side project run by innovation teams, but increasingly…

Nscale lands €1.1 billion facility to expand AI compute London-based AI infrastructure provider Nscale has signed a €1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) Delayed Draw Term Loan to finance purchases of GPU infrastructure and speed up the rollout of large-scale compute clusters…

Anthropic confirms $30B raise at $380B valuation Anthropic said it has closed a $30 billion Series G funding round, valuing the enterprise AI company at a $380 billion post-money valuation. The announcement follows recent market reports suggesting the company was…

The Compression Company announces €2.8 million pre-seed UK- and US-based SpaceTech startup The Compression Company said it has raised a €2.8 million ($3.4 million) pre-seed round as it targets one of the satellite industry’s most persistent constraints: limited satellite bandwidth.…

Loovi secures €1 million for preventive health push Loovi, a Swedish HealthTech startup, has raised €1 million to support the launch of its digital platform focused on data-driven longevity and preventive health. The funding is intended to accelerate product rollout…

Stanhope AI lands $8M seed to push “Real World Model” for physical AI London-based deep-tech startup Stanhope AI has raised $8 million in seed funding to advance what it calls a “Real World Model”, a brain-inspired AI framework designed to…

Modal Labs in talks for new round as AI inference heats up San Francisco-based Modal Labs is reportedly in discussions with venture capital firms about a new financing round that would value the company at roughly $2.5 billion, according to…

Trener Robotics raises €26 million to scale robot “skills” platform Norway- and U.S.-based Trener Robotics (formerly T-ROBOTICS) has closed a €26 million ($32 million) Series A funding round to accelerate development and deployment of its industrial AI automation software. The…

Tenna Systems closes $13.5M seed to tackle electromagnetic threats Tenna Systems, a defence-focused spacetech startup, has raised $13.5 million in an oversubscribed seed round to accelerate software-driven “spectrum resilience” for military and commercial operators facing jamming, spoofing and signal interference.…

Supply chain planning software takes a bigger role in operations Companies across manufacturing, retail and logistics are increasingly relying on supply chain planning software to better align production, inventory and distribution as demand patterns shift and disruptions remain common. By…

Fractile to invest £100M in UK AI chip scale-up Fractile, a London-based chipmaker, plans to invest £100 million in the UK over the next three years to scale production of its artificial intelligence chips, according to the British government. The…

Backslash Security lands $19M Series A for AI coding protection Backslash Security, an Israel-founded cybersecurity startup focused on securing AI-assisted software development, has raised $19 million in Series A funding as enterprises accelerate the use of autonomous coding tools and…

Tomorrow.io lands $175M to scale satellite-powered weather intelligence Tomorrow.io, a Boston-based enterprise weather technology company, has raised $175 million in equity funding to expand its satellite network and speed up deployment of its AI-driven forecasting platform aimed at industries affected…

WtEnergy secures €10M to scale waste-to-syngas plants WtEnergy, a Barcelona-based climate tech company focused on industrial decarbonisation, has raised €10 million to accelerate deployment of its gasification systems for Europe’s energy-intensive sectors, including cement, ceramics, chemicals and paper. The round…

Accrual launches with $75M to modernize accounting workflows San Francisco-based startup Accrual has raised $75 million to build an AI-native platform designed to automate tax preparation and review—two of the most time-consuming, document-heavy processes inside accounting firms. The funding round…

Chiral lands $12M seed to push nanomaterials into chip fabs Swiss deeptech startup Chiral, a spinout of ETH Zurich and Empa, has raised $12 million in seed funding to commercialize a robotic platform aimed at wafer-scale integration of nanomaterials such…

Qutwo debuts with plan to bring “quantum-like” computing to today’s hardware Peter Sarlin, the founder of Europe’s former largest AI model lab Silo AI, has launched a new venture called Qutwo aimed at narrowing the gap between today’s classical computing…

Enterprises bet on AI agents—and many didn’t get what they paid for Enterprises across Europe and beyond have spent heavily on AI agents—software designed to autonomously complete tasks, coordinate workflows, and interact with internal systems. Yet despite the investment, many…

Bedrock Robotics lands $270M to bring autonomy to construction fleets Bedrock Robotics, a company focused on retrofitting heavy construction machinery for autonomous operation, has raised $270 million in a Series B funding round aimed at scaling deployments across US construction…

Video content emerges as a key tool for emotional engagement Video has become one of the most effective formats for brands looking to create an emotional connection with audiences. As attention spans shrink and digital platforms prioritize rich media, marketers…

Duna secures €30 million Series A to build “global trust” Amsterdam-based identity FinTech Duna announced today that it has raised a €30 million Series A funding round, as the company looks to expand its platform aimed at helping businesses establish…

Europe’s “second-tier” cities are building more AI startups—on far less money Europe’s AI startup geography is changing. While traditional magnets such as London, Paris and Berlin continue to attract the largest funding rounds, a growing share of new AI company…

Resolve AI raises $125M Series A, reaches $1B valuation San Francisco-based Resolve AI has raised $125 million in a Series A financing round, lifting the company’s valuation to $1 billion and making it one of the latest AI-focused unicorns targeting…

AI becomes table stakes as funding hits record levels After a year in which AI startups attracted nearly half of global venture capital, the phrase “we use AI” is rapidly losing its power as a differentiator. In 2025, AI companies…

Kembara raises €750M to tackle Europe’s deeptech scale-up gap Kembara, a newly formed European deeptech investment firm, has raised €750 million toward a planned €1 billion growth fund, positioning it as the largest deep-tech-focused growth vehicle in Europe. The fund…

Snowflake signs $200 million partnership with OpenAI Snowflake has entered a multi-year, $200 million partnership with OpenAI to bring OpenAI’s AI models directly into Snowflake’s data cloud, a move the companies say will accelerate how large organisations build and deploy…

Unified virtual credits are becoming a new default in gaming Online gaming’s rapid growth is driving new payment experiences designed to match the speed and convenience players expect. One of the clearest shifts is the rise of unified virtual credit…

Manufacturers turn to Salesforce to unify fragmented customer data Manufacturing sales and operations teams often operate in a constant balancing act: critical information is scattered across an ERP that only a few specialists can navigate, legacy quoting tools built for…

London startup Refute lands £5M to counter disinformation campaigns Refute, a London-based cybersecurity startup focused on identifying and disrupting online disinformation operations, has raised £5 million in seed funding as demand grows for tools that can keep pace with bot…

Apple confirms acquisition of Israel’s Q.ai Apple has acquired Israeli artificial intelligence startup Q.ai, the company confirmed Thursday, in a deal sources estimate at $1.5 billion to $2 billion. The purchase price was not officially disclosed. Q.ai has operated largely…

Perplexity inks reported $750M cloud pact with Microsoft Perplexity, the AI-powered search startup backed by NVIDIA, has signed a cloud services agreement worth about $750 million with Microsoft, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. The deal is expected to run…

LinkedIn remains the B2B growth engine—yet scaling it is getting harder For many B2B companies, LinkedIn has become the default channel for outbound prospecting, relationship building, and pipeline creation. The platform’s massive professional graph—often cited at more than a billion…

RobCo lands $100M to scale “Physical AI” robots for factories RobCo, a Munich-based industrial robotics company, has raised $100 million in a Series C funding round to expand deployments of its autonomous robotics platform and accelerate growth in the United…

Outtake lands $40M Series B to tackle surging identity abuse New York-based cybersecurity startup Outtake has raised $40 million in Series B funding as enterprises grapple with a sharp rise in identity-based attacks across digital channels. The round was led…

Turning a face toward a phone camera or photographing an ID has become routine in digital onboarding, from banking apps to travel services. Behind that familiar flow sits electronic identity verification, or eIDV, a set of technologies designed to authenticate…

seed+speed Ventures triples Fund III to €90M amid demand for practical AI seed+speed Ventures, a Berlin-based early-stage investor, has closed its third fund at €90 million, tripling its initial target of €30 million after demand from backers exceeded expectations. The…

Europe’s AI agent startups accelerate as market forecasts surge Europe’s ecosystem of AI agent startups is emerging as one of the fastest-moving segments of the continent’s broader artificial intelligence boom, driven by companies building intelligent automation, productivity tools and domain-specific…

Waabi lands $1B to accelerate “Physical AI” autonomy Toronto-based autonomous driving company Waabi has raised a record $1 billion in new funding, combining a $750 million Series C round with additional milestone-based capital linked to Uber. The financing was led…

IonQ strikes $1.8B acquisition of SkyWater Technology IonQ, a Maryland-based quantum computing company, has agreed to acquire Minnesota semiconductor foundry SkyWater Technology in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at about $1.8 billion. The companies say the combination will create the “first…

Ricursive Intelligence becomes an AI chip-design unicorn after $300M Series A California-based Ricursive Intelligence has raised $300 million in a Series A financing round at a $4 billion valuation, vaulting the newly launched company into unicorn territory and marking one…

From 36 subscribers to a profitable sale When Andrev (Andy) Austin launched the Growth Catalyst Club newsletter in 2023, the early numbers looked like countless other new email publications: a small list, limited reach, and an uphill fight for attention…

Budget calculators move from “nice to have” to daily utility A familiar scenario is pushing more consumers toward budgeting tools: a bill arrives earlier than expected, a subscription renews quietly in the background, or a due date slips by during…

Evaro lands $25M Series A to bring regulated NHS care into consumer apps UK healthtech Evaro has raised $25 million in a Series A round to expand its healthcare-as-a-service platform, which enables consumer brands to embed regulated clinical services—such as…

NVIDIA deepens CoreWeave partnership with $2B equity investment NVIDIA has expanded its partnership with AI cloud provider CoreWeave, committing $2 billion through the purchase of CoreWeave Class A common stock at $87.20 per share. The move comes as demand for…

A familiar rhythm, quietly replaced There was a time when weekend mornings arrived with a distinctive cadence: a slow start, a sense of permission, and a small set of rituals that felt personal rather than scheduled. People drifted from “test…

Rainbow Weather lands $5.5M seed to push hyperlocal forecasting Warsaw-based Rainbow Weather has raised a $5.5 million seed round to expand its hyperlocal weather forecasting product, with backing from Yuri Gurski, co-founder of women’s health app Flo Health. The startup…

Upwind raises $250M to expand real-time cloud security Upwind, a US-based cloud security startup focused on runtime visibility and real-time risk detection, has raised $250 million in a Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The financing brings…

AI-driven discovery is forcing a structural change in startup PR For much of the past decade, startup public relations was judged by an easily understood scoreboard: a marquee article, a respected publication, a brief surge in traffic, and a handful…

Orbital lands $60M Series B to overhaul real estate legal workflows Orbital, a legaltech startup building artificial intelligence specifically for real estate law, has raised $60 million in a Series B funding round led by Brighton Park Capital. The company…

Europe’s agentic AI moment comes with a safety test Agentic AI—a fast-emerging class of artificial intelligence systems that can pursue goals, make decisions and execute multi-step actions across tools and data sources—has moved from research buzzword to boardroom priority. A…

RadixArk emerges from UC Berkeley’s SGLang project The open-source AI performance tool SGLang has officially spun out into a standalone company called RadixArk, reaching an estimated valuation of about $400 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The move…

Inferact lands $150M seed round led by a16z and Lightspeed Inferact, a new AI infrastructure company founded by researchers and open-source developers behind the widely used vLLM project, has raised $150 million in seed funding at an $800 million valuation.…

Cast AI crosses $1B valuation, adding Lithuania’s fifth unicorn Cast AI, a Vilnius-rooted cloud infrastructure startup known for cutting enterprise cloud costs, has crossed the $1 billion valuation threshold, becoming Lithuania’s fifth unicorn. The milestone follows months of growing attention…

Optalysys secures €26.4 million to commercialise photonic encryption hardware Optalysys, a Leeds-based photonic computing company developing hardware to process data while it remains encrypted, has raised €26.4 million (£23 million) in a Series A extension round. The funding will be…

Asymmetric Security lands $4.2M pre-seed to compress incident response timelines Asymmetric Security, a London- and San Francisco-based cyber forensics startup, has raised $4.2 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round as it targets one of the most persistent pain points in…

Enterprise AI is splitting into consumer and corporate lanes The rapid rise of generative AI has produced clear winners in public awareness, with ChatGPT becoming the best-known assistant for everyday tasks such as writing, brainstorming, and coding help. But inside…

Ethernovia closes $90M Series B to advance automotive Ethernet chips Ethernovia, a semiconductor startup building high-performance Ethernet networking chips for machines that must react instantly, has raised $90 million in a Series B financing round led by Maverick Silicon. The…

GeneralMind targets the next layer above ERP Berlin-based AI startup GeneralMind is building what it calls a “System of Action”—an operational AI layer designed to sit on top of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software and help companies execute, automate, and…

Autonomy moves from “nice-to-have” to necessity on construction sites Gravis Robotics, a Swiss construction-technology company founded in 2022, is positioning autonomous heavy machinery as an increasingly urgent requirement for the construction sector, citing safety, labour constraints and the complexity of…

Embedded analytics moves data from reports to real work As businesses face mounting pressure to make faster and better-informed decisions, many are discovering that traditional reporting tools are no longer enough. While standalone dashboards and periodic reports can surface key…

Ionech develops process to generate power from ambient air Ionech, an Oxfordshire-based clean-energy technology company, is developing a process designed to harness thermal energy from ambient air and convert it into electricity, a concept that—if proven at scale—could add a…

Replit reportedly in talks for major new funding Replit, the San Francisco–based developer platform known for browser-based coding and AI-assisted software creation, is reportedly raising a fresh $400 million funding round that would push its valuation to roughly $9 billion.…

Merge Labs secures $252 million to build brain-computer devices Merge Labs, a company co-founded by Sam Altman, has raised $252 million to develop devices designed to connect human brains to computers, according to information provided in the announcement. The funding…

France strengthens its tech hub credentials amid AI surge Over the past few years, France has significantly strengthened its position as one of the world’s most dynamic technology hubs, with artificial intelligence emerging as a central force in that transformation.…

Hydrosat secures €51 million to expand thermal infrared data Luxembourg- and US-based Hydrosat, a provider of thermal infrared satellite data and AI-powered analytics, announced it has closed a €51 million (about $60 million) funding round. The company said the capital…

Parloa lands €310 million Series D in rapid follow-on round Parloa, a Berlin-based developer of enterprise customer AI agents, has raised €310 million (about $350 million) in a Series D financing, just seven months after closing its Series C. The…

Luna Systems secures €1.5 million late-seed to commercialize AI safety camera Luna Systems has raised €1.5 million in a late seed funding round as it prepares to bring its first AI-powered safety camera hardware product to market. The financing is…

AINA lands $1M seed round to streamline recruiting AINA, a Limassol-based recruitment technology company, has raised a $1 million seed round as it targets one of the most persistent pain points in modern hiring: the time and cost required to…

Automation changes how startups raise capital Automation is increasingly reshaping the fundraising playbook for tech startups, as new software tools streamline everything from investor outreach to reporting. What was once a process dominated by spreadsheets, email threads, and manual updates…

Cyb3r Operations raises €4.6 million to expand cyber defence efforts London-based cybersecurity startup Cyb3r Operations said today it has raised €4.6 million (about $5.4 million) as it looks to expand its offering for organisations seeking to improve their security posture…

Spot Ship secures €1.15 million to digitise ship chartering London-based maritime technology startup Spot Ship has raised €1.15 million (about £1 million) in a fresh funding round aimed at modernising the global ship chartering market, the company said. The capital…

osapiens announces decarbonization agreement osapiens, a Mannheim-based provider of enterprise software positioned around sustainable growth, announced today that it has entered into an agreement related to Decarbonization. The company did not disclose the counterparty, commercial terms, timeline, or the specific…

SkyFi closes $12.7M oversubscribed Series A SkyFi, an Austin-based satellite imagery and analytics company, has raised $12.7 million in an oversubscribed Series A round as it looks to make Earth-observation data easier to access and use across the defence, agriculture…

Aikido Security becomes Europe’s fastest cybersecurity unicorn Aikido Security has raised a $60 million Series B round at a $1 billion valuation, accelerating its push to build autonomous “self-securing” software that can identify and remediate security issues with minimal human…

OpenCode claims rapid adoption as enterprises take notice A developer tool built by Jay V and his team at OpenCode has surged from launch to roughly 650,000 monthly users in just five months, according to the company. The pace of…

Cambridge biotech Nuclera targets a key drug discovery bottleneck Nuclera, a Cambridge-based BioTech company, is positioning itself to accelerate drug discovery by tackling one of the industry’s most persistent challenges: reliable, rapid access to functional proteins. The company’s benchtop eProtein…

Deepgram lands $130M to accelerate real-time Voice AI Deepgram, a developer-focused Voice AI company focused on real-time speech recognition and voice agents, has raised $130 million in a Series C funding round at a reported $1.3 billion valuation. The company…

Anthropic enters healthcare AI amid intensifying rivalry Anthropic has introduced Claude for Healthcare, a new version of its AI assistant tailored for hospitals, clinics, insurers, and other care providers. The launch comes only days after the debut of ChatGPT Health,…

Midnight positions privacy tech for regulated Web3 Midnight used its November 2025 summit in London to frame privacy as the next major inflection point for Web3, spotlighting zero-knowledge proofs and selective disclosure as core tools for regulated adoption. Organizers said…

NetBird lands €8.5 million Series A to expand open-source network security NetBird, a Berlin-based open-source network security platform, said it has raised a €8.5 million (about $10 million) Series A round as it looks to scale operations, grow headcount, and…

NetBird secures Series A to scale open-source Zero Trust networking Berlin-based cybersecurity company NetBird has raised $10 million in Series A funding as it looks to accelerate global growth and push deeper into a market long dominated by traditional virtual…

Avenue Biosciences announces €4.8M seed extension Avenue Biosciences, a Helsinki-based protein engineering technology company, said it has raised a €4.8 million seed extension (about $5.7 million) as it looks to scale its operations and accelerate the development of its technology…

Communication, not code, is the recurring failure point In the race to build and deploy artificial intelligence, many startups assume their greatest existential risk is technical: model performance, infrastructure costs, or the ability to ship faster than competitors. But according…

Dassault Aviation leads $200 million round for Harmattan AI Dassault Aviation has teamed up with Harmattan AI to lead the startup’s $200 million Series B funding round, a sizable raise that underscores growing interest in artificial intelligence applications across aerospace,…

Tucuvi secures €17 million to expand certified voice AI Tucuvi, a Madrid-based HealthTech company focused on “certified voice AI,” has raised €17 million (about $20 million) in a Series A round to accelerate adoption of its technology across healthcare settings.…

Plan A acquired by Diginex Plan A, a Berlin-based carbon accounting startup, has been acquired by Diginex, a London-based sustainability regulation technology provider. The deal brings together carbon measurement and reporting capabilities with regulatory-focused ESG tooling as companies face expanding…

CES 2026 highlights: What mattered—and why CES 2026 arrived with a familiar promise—thousands of launches, demos, and bold claims—but this year’s most compelling announcements shared a common thread: practical deployment. Rather than flashy prototypes, many exhibitors emphasized products and platforms…

Perceptra secures €1.2M to scale Raman sensing on a chip Perceptra, an MIT spin-off developing chip-scale Raman spectroscopy sensors for chemical monitoring, has raised €1.2 million in funding from PhotonDelta. The company said the investment will support product development and…

United Manufacturing Hub secures fresh funding to scale industrial data tools Cologne-based United Manufacturing Hub (UMH), an open-source industrial data management platform built for modern factories, announced it has raised €5 million in new funding. The company said the capital…

Engitix signals progress in ECM-focused drug development Engitix, a British biotechnology company developing therapies that target the extracellular matrix (ECM), said it “today announced” an update related to its efforts to create transformative treatments for cancer and fibrosis. The company’s…

Protege raises $30M to tackle AI’s data bottleneck Protege, a startup focused on unlocking and operationalizing real-world data for training artificial intelligence models, has raised a $30 million Series A extension led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The new capital brings…

Luxury Presence secures $37M to expand AI platform for real estate agents Luxury Presence, a proptech company building marketing and relationship tools for real estate professionals, has raised a total of $37 million to accelerate the rollout of its new…

BrightHeart secures €11M Series A to scale AI-guided fetal heart screening BrightHeart, a European healthtech company building real-time AI assistance for prenatal ultrasound, has raised €11 million in Series A funding to accelerate its expansion in the United States and…

Vitrealab closes oversubscribed €9.4 million Series A Vienna-based deeptech company Vitrealab, which develops Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) for laser-based augmented reality display systems, has raised €9.4 million (about $11 million) in a Series A financing round. The company said the…

NVIDIA broadens its CES 2026 agenda beyond GPUs At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, NVIDIA presented itself less as a graphics-card maker and more as an end-to-end infrastructure company for artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. The announcements,…

AI is compressing the unicorn timeline The race to build billion-dollar startups is accelerating—and AI is the main catalyst. A decade-long analysis by global early-stage venture firm Antler, covering 1,629 unicorns and 3,512 founders from 2014 to 2024, suggests that…

A viral “whistleblower” story unravels A Reddit user who claimed to be a whistleblower at a major food delivery platform has been exposed as a fake after a viral post alleged the company was exploiting drivers and customers through opaque…

AI dominates CES 2026 as hardware giants unveil new platforms CES 2026 is underway in Las Vegas, and after several days of press conferences and early previews, the show floor has opened with a familiar theme: AI is again the…

Europe arrives at CES 2026 with deeptech and accessibility in the spotlight As CES 2026 opened in Las Vegas this week, European startups and scaleups used the world’s biggest consumer technology show to push beyond flashy gadgets and into a…

AMD pushes “AI for everyone” with new PC processors at CES 2026 AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su opened the company’s CES 2026 keynote with a clear message about where personal computing is headed: “AI for everyone.” Framing artificial intelligence…

A market pivot from “AI tourism” to measurable value After a year defined by rapid adoption and headline-grabbing demos, 2026 is shaping up to be the moment the AI boom grows up. Industry executives and investors across Europe say organisations…

£2.5m investment positions lighting as a growth engine in agriculture Bloemteknik has secured a £2.5 million investment aimed at accelerating the company’s push to make lighting a strategic lever for growth in modern agriculture. The funding will support expansion of…

Nvidia used CES 2026 to lay out an expansive bet on what it calls physical AI: robots and machines that can perceive, reason, and act in the real world without being confined to single-purpose, preprogrammed tasks. The company announced a…

Uber, Lucid Motors and Nuro lift the curtain on a production-intent robotaxi Uber, Lucid Motors and autonomous driving developer Nuro have revealed the production-intent version of their jointly developed robotaxi at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show, offering a clearer look…

Teradar emerges from stealth to pitch a new sensor class Just two months after revealing a $150 million funding round, Boston-based Teradar is using CES 2026 to introduce its first flagship product: a terahertz sensing unit called Summit. The company…

Google expands Gemini on Google TV with CES 2026 upgrades Google is pushing deeper into the living room with a new wave of Gemini-powered features designed to make television more conversational, more personalized and easier to control. At CES 2026…

Amazon brings Alexa+ to the web Amazon is extending its AI-powered digital assistant overhaul, Alexa+, to the open web with the launch of Alexa.com. The company announced the new site Monday at the start of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)…

Palo Alto Networks nears $400M acquisition of Israel’s Koi Security Palo Alto Networks is in negotiations to acquire Israeli endpoint security startup Koi Security in a transaction valued at around $400 million, according to reports. The deal has not been…

Plaud is expanding its lineup of AI-powered note-taking hardware and software ahead of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, introducing a new wearable recorder called the Plaud NotePin S and a desktop app designed to capture and…

DoorDash removes driver after viral claim of AI-generated proof DoorDash says it has permanently banned a delivery driver after a customer in Austin, Texas, alleged the driver used an AI-generated image to falsely claim an order had been delivered. The…

Subtle launches AI earbuds aimed at clearer calls and better transcription Subtle, a voice AI startup focused on voice-isolation models designed to help computers understand speech in loud environments, has launched a new pair of wireless earbuds it says can…

India orders X to change Grok safeguards after obscene content complaints India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has directed Elon Musk’s social media platform X to make immediate technical and procedural changes to its AI chatbot Grok, following complaints…

First studio, new responsibilities Moving into a first studio apartment is a milestone—often equal parts freedom and whiplash. Without roommates, the small conveniences you once took for granted can suddenly become your problem: replacing light bulbs, keeping floors clean, remembering…

Audio is becoming the interface layer for everyday life The next major shift in computing may not arrive as a new screen, a faster chip, or a lighter headset. It may arrive as something far simpler: sound. Across consumer devices…

StrictlyVC Download spotlights Sandbar’s AI “Stream” ring This week on StrictlyVC Download, listeners are getting a front-row seat to a conversation recorded at a Palo Alto event featuring Sandbar, a startup developing an AI wearable called the Stream ring. The…

Pragmatech secures €650,000 to advance AI in infectious disease research Pragmatech, a Spanish HealthTech startup developing artificial intelligence solutions for pharmacology, microbiology, and infectious diseases, has raised €650,000 in fresh funding as it looks to accelerate product development and broaden…

A blunt prediction about the iPhone’s future A striking forecast is reigniting debate over how long the smartphone era will last. In a recent remark, Callaghan said, “We’re not going to be using iPhones in 10 years,” adding that he…

Face-down phones and what they may reveal With most people reaching for their devices dozens of times a day, a small but noticeable behavior has become a modern social signal: placing a phone face-down during a conversation. Researchers who study…

Voice-first productivity is gaining momentum AI-powered dictation apps are quickly evolving from simple speech-to-text utilities into broader productivity tools used for email replies, note-taking, and even voice-driven coding. The shift reflects a wider trend in workplace software: using generative AI…

Meta outlines dual-track plan for Manus and messaging apps Meta plans to keep Manus operating as an independent product while also bringing its “agents” into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, according to a statement describing the company’s approach to expanding AI…

NanoXplore secures €20 million to accelerate defence push NanoXplore, a French fabless semiconductor company, has raised €20 million in fresh funding to speed up its diversification into the defence sector, the company said. The capital is expected to support the…

Octopus Energy Group raises €850 million for Kraken Octopus Energy Group has raised €850 million (about $1 billion) for its technology subsidiary, Kraken, in what the company described as the platform’s first standalone investment round. The fundraising highlights growing investor…

Clean energy’s metals demand is surging—and mining is struggling to keep up The global push to electrify transport, expand power grids and scale renewable energy is colliding with a hard constraint: metals. Industry and policy forecasts increasingly warn that clean-energy…

Apple Watch productivity apps aim for “glanceable” work A growing ecosystem of Apple Watch apps is helping users stay productive without the pull of constant phone checking. Designed around short interactions—quick taps, brief dictation, and timely alerts—many of today’s watch…

Equity podcast dissects tech’s 2025—and what comes next The hosts of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast closed out the year with a wide-ranging review of what “actually happened” in technology in 2025, framing the discussion as a reality check for builders, investors,…

Friendship apps expand beyond dating-style swipes A new generation of friendship apps is trying to solve a familiar modern problem: meeting people outside of work, school, or long-established social circles. From friend-discovery platforms like BFF to event-focused services like Timeleft,…

UK faces 2026 crunch to scale AI infrastructure The United Kingdom is heading into a defining year for artificial intelligence: whether it can build the infrastructure needed to compete with global leaders. The question is no longer whether the country…

A growing market for digital focus Whether the goal is to limit social media scrolling or block off time for concentrated work, a broad range of productivity tools is increasingly positioning itself as a practical solution to modern distraction. The…

UK fintech’s next AI wave: from cost-cutting to financial wellbeing After several years in which artificial intelligence was deployed largely to trim operating costs, UK fintech firms are expected to redirect their AI roadmaps in 2026 toward consumer financial health,…

Software update released to address lane-crossing behavior A company behind an autonomous driving system has issued a software update intended to fix a lane-crossing behavior that could cause the vehicle to drift or cross lane markings under certain conditions. The…

AI startups heading into 2026: a tougher, more disciplined era As artificial intelligence moves from experimentation to infrastructure, the playbook for building new companies is changing fast. In a recent conversation, serial entrepreneur and investor Dmitry Volkov described an environment…

Seven essential APIs shaping the modern tech stack As software teams race to ship faster, scale globally, and keep systems reliable, the “modern tech stack” has become less about a single framework and more about how well a product composes…

Hurree CEO warns 2026 will test whether AI can pay for itself After two years of rapid experimentation and headline-chasing, the next chapter for artificial intelligence will be less glamorous and far more demanding, according to the CEO of Hurree.…

OpenAI: Prompt injections are a lasting threat for agentic AI browsers OpenAI is cautioning that prompt injection attacks will remain an enduring security risk for AI browsers with agentic capabilities—systems that can interpret instructions and take actions on a user’s…

Artificial Intelligence platforms move from experiments to core business tools As organizations prepare budgets and product roadmaps for 2026, Artificial Intelligence is increasingly being treated less like a standalone initiative and more like an operating layer embedded across departments. The…

Conversion, not traffic, is the real test for a SaaS store Launching a SaaS-based online store is only the opening move. The defining metric comes after the site goes live: conversion—the share of visitors who complete a purchase and pay.…

Quiet innovation is changing how buildings get delivered Construction is being reshaped by technology, but not through headline-grabbing gadgets or dramatic overhauls. Much of the progress is happening in planning offices, on job sites, and inside the everyday software teams…

OpenAI expands tone controls inside ChatGPT OpenAI has rolled out new controls that let users directly adjust ChatGPT’s “enthusiasm level,” along with related tone attributes such as warmth and emoji use. The update, disclosed in a social media post from…

When Amazon introduced the first Echo and Google followed with what became the Nest smart speaker line, the pitch was intentionally modest: a convenient voice assistant for everyday tasks. Users could ask for the weather, set timers, play music, or…

Yann LeCun confirms new startup, rules out CEO role Yann LeCun, one of the most influential figures in modern artificial intelligence, confirmed Thursday that he has launched a new startup—formalizing what he described as the “worst-kept secret” in the tech…

Cisco flags active exploitation of a zero-day Cisco has issued a warning that China-linked government hackers are actively exploiting a previously unknown vulnerability, or zero-day, in some of its products, raising concerns that a broad set of organizations may be…

Nodu secures $1.45M pre-seed to expand stablecoin infrastructure in Europe Nodu, a London-based stablecoin infrastructure startup with Latvian roots, has raised a $1.45 million pre-seed round led by Digital Space Ventures. The company says the funding will accelerate development of…

Edison Scientific lands $70M seed to build Kosmos Edison Scientific, a spinout of FutureHouse, has raised a $70 million seed round to develop Kosmos, an artificial intelligence “co-scientist” intended to accelerate scientific discovery by combining literature review, data analysis, and…

Lovable secures €281M to accelerate AI-native software creation Lovable, a Stockholm-based, AI-native software creation platform that enables users to build full-stack applications without writing code, has secured €281 million in new funding, according to information provided in the announcement. The…

Neural Concept secures €85 million to expand engineering AI Neural Concept, a Lausanne-based AI platform focused on what it calls Engineering Intelligence for product development, announced it has raised €85 million in new funding. The company said the capital will…

InfiniteWatch emerges from stealth with $4M pre-seed InfiniteWatch, a new observability platform built for what it calls the “agentic internet,” has launched from stealth with a $4 million pre-seed round. The company was founded by former executives from CoverWallet and…

Neural Concept lands $100M Series C to expand CAD-native AI Neural Concept, a Swiss AI engineering company focused on bringing artificial intelligence directly into computer-aided design workflows, has raised $100 million in a Series C funding round led by Goldman…

Canva has introduced its Creative Operating System. CEO Melanie Perkins‘ company is focusing on new AI tools and making the Affinity suite free. The visual communication platform Canva has announced its most comprehensive update to date, the Creative Operating System…

UnionDigital Bank adopts iProov solutions to enhance cybersecurity and protect users from fraud and account takeovers in the Philippines.

Holistic AI introduces a free LLM Decision Hub, providing comprehensive comparisons of over 20 AI models to streamline enterprise model selection.

AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su will headline CES 2026 in Las Vegas, on how AMD will deliver AI capability across cloud, enterprise and edge devices to customers. AI scope from data center to client devices The Consumer Technology…

FAITH Token, a blockchain project combining AI and decentralized finance (DeFi), announced its listing on Azbit and IndoEx exchanges, complementing its existing PancakeSwap presence. Simultaneously, the project detailed progress on its dual-AI ecosystem, aiming to empower users with advanced market analysis and trading tools.