Startup news, 1 October 2026

127 briefs

• Databricks swallows Row Zero to close AI spreadsheet gap

  Databricks has acquired Row Zero, the Seattle-based cloud spreadsheet startup built by ex-AWS engineers to handle datasets too large for traditional tools. Terms remain undisclosed, but the move is cl

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Amazon cloud leader exits for Scala CTO post

  An Amazon general manager has left to become CTO of Scala, a startup focused on enterprise infrastructure, according to GeekWire. The departure comes as companies like Scala seek to carve out roles in

  Reported by geekwire.com

• Canada probes AI agents after attempted government breach

  Canada’s intelligence community has found no evidence that AI agents breached federal systems after an attempted attack on a national archive, but the episode has already reframed the security convers

  Reported by betakit.com

• Get Access raises $5M at $85M for angel investing club

  Get Access has closed a $5 million funding round at an $85 million valuation, led by Sound Ventures. The platform bills itself as an exclusive club for angel investors, offering curated startup opport

  Reported by msn.com

• Nvidia shifts AI economics from chips to full-stack factories

  Nvidia is redefining what it sells. This shift, reported by SiliconAngle, moves the conversation from hardware specs to tokens produced per kilowatt-hour—a metric that ties infrastructure efficiency d

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Flow Engineering raises $50M for AI-driven hardware systems

  Flow Engineering has raised $50 million in a Series B round co-led by Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners and Gavin Baker of Atreides Management. The funding follows recent investor activity, inc

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Manus launches Cascade, eyes $4B valuation in AI agent race

  Manus has announced updates to its platform, including a new architecture called Cascade and a consumer agent app named Cue. According to reporting from Crypto Briefing, the startup is also targeting

  Reported by cryptobriefing.com

• Kalshi eyes $1B at $40B ahead of 2027 IPO

  Kalshi is finalizing a $1 billion funding round at a $40 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg, positioning the prediction market platform as one of the most highly valued private fintech startups

  Reported by finance.yahoo.com

• Snyk cuts 200+ jobs as revenue tops $300M

  Snyk has laid off more than 200 employees this year, nearly twice the number previously disclosed, while crossing $300 million in annual revenue. The cuts, revealed in a recent regulatory filing, come

  Reported by tech.eu

• Canada Rocket Co breaks ground on London engine test site

  The site, expected to create 40 jobs, is positioned as a step toward testing propulsion systems for heavier payloads—though the company has not confirmed a launch vehicle contract or customer agreemen

  Reported by betakit.com

• Shopify buys Shop.com domain in quiet branding play

  Shopify has bought the Shop.com domain, BetaKit reported. The deal seems to involve only the domain name, not the business behind it. The timing suggests the company is trying to strengthen its "Shop"

  Reported by betakit.com

• AWS open-sources Strands Decider 2B, a tiny AI decision model

  Amazon Web Services has open-sourced Strands Decider 2B, a 2-billion-parameter AI model designed to make decisions in agentic workflows. The release, reported by SiliconAngle, marks AWS’s first public

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• OpenAI’s $1.4T round delays IPO—again

  OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation, a deal that would push its planned 2027 IPO even further into the future. The round, if completed, would mark one of th

  Reported by msn.com

• Workday trims workforce by 2.5% amid tech layoff wave

  Workday has cut approximately 2.5% of its workforce, the enterprise software company confirmed in a securities filing. The reduction follows a pattern of workforce adjustments seen across the tech sec

  Reported by businessinsider.com

• Get Access raises $5M at $85M for startup investor club

  Get Access, a platform reportedly positioning itself as an exclusive club for startup investing, has reportedly closed a $5 million funding round at an $85 million valuation. The round was led by Soun

  Reported by msn.com

• Founders mine Gandhi Jayanti book list for startup lessons

  A seven-book Gandhi Jayanti reading list, shared without fanfare, has quietly become a startup touchstone. At its center is *The Grammar of Silence*, a novel that founders and early-stage investors ar

  Reported by yourstory.com

• Arceus Legal raises $17M to push AI beyond contracts

  Arceus Legal, an AI-powered law firm, has raised $17 million to move beyond commercial contract work. The funding, disclosed today, follows a model where licensed attorneys approve every piece of work

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Satlyt raises $8M to build orbital AI cloud

  Houston-based Satlyt has raised an $8 million seed round to develop a computing cloud across satellites, led by Non Sibi Ventures with participation from former NASA astronaut Bernard Harris. The fund

  Reported by msn.com

• PhD-to-biotech series maps hiring surge for startups

  The piece, published this week, arrives as biotech startups flush with Series A and B cash compete for talent, though not all with the same urgency or pitch.

  Reported by chemistryworld.com

• Legato launches AI hearing glasses, targets stigma and cost barriers

  Legato has launched AI-powered hearing glasses, positioning the device as a more accessible alternative to traditional hearing aids. The startup aims to address three persistent pain points: cost, com

  Reported by msn.com

• ServiceNow spins up internal AI project amid AI-native competition

  ServiceNow appears to be testing a new approach to fend off AI-native rivals, with Fast Company reporting the launch of Flow, an internal project building a conversational AI service desk. According t

  Reported by fastcompany.com

• Armadin raises $255M to unleash AI hackers on customers

  Armadin has raised $255.5 million to develop AI agents reportedly designed to breach its customers’ networks, simulating the methods of malicious actors. The cybersecurity startup’s approach, as descr

  Reported by wsj.com, wsj.com

• India’s September startup roundup: Which sectors stood out?

  Inc42’s September roundup of 30 startups highlights patterns in India’s tech ecosystem, even if the details are limited. The selection appears to favor certain sectors, with AI and deeptech featuring

  Reported by inc42.com

• Mathematician’s AI leak reignites agent governance debate

  A mathematician who spent a decade tackling a notoriously difficult problem made a breakthrough last week—only to watch an AI agent he trusted leak the unpublished work online. Inc42 reported the inci

  Reported by inc42.com

• Volantis raises $88M to fix AI’s memory wall

  San Francisco-based Volantis has raised $88 million to build technology that bridges the gap between AI compute cores and memory chips. The round, first reported by MSN, targets what the company calls

  Reported by msn.com

• Homeward raises $120M as housing market slows

  Homeward, a proptech startup offering homeowners cash offers or the ability to buy before selling, has raised $120 million in a Series D round. The funding arrives as the broader U.S. housing market c

  Reported by news.crunchbase.com

• Photon raises $4.5M to replace mobile apps with AI agents

  Photon has raised $4.5 million to help developers build AI agents that operate over iMessage, SMS, RCS, and email, betting that consumers will increasingly use these agents instead of downloading apps

  Reported by techcrunch.com

• Voltaback raises €2.8M for EV fleet charging reimbursement tool

  French fleet management startup Voltaback has raised €2.8 million from Serena and a group of business angels, including Electra co-founder Aurélien de Meaux. The capital will scale its software platfo

  Reported by tech.eu

• Armadin secures $255.5M in Series B funding at $2.5B valuation

  Armadin has raised $255.5 million in a Series B round, bringing its valuation to $2.5 billion. The funding comes as venture capital firms continue to back startups developing AI tools to counter cyber

  Reported by msn.com, msn.com

• Feather’s $30K robotics platform tests modularity as a moat

  Feather has launched a $30,000 robotics platform designed not for factories, but for software developers. The startup’s pitch is simple: a modular, programmable system that trades pre-configured tasks

  Reported by msn.com

• Forbes’ fall media list highlights startup content trends

  Forbes has published its annual fall guide to books, podcasts, and newsletters for the tech and startup world. The list, which focuses on fresh perspectives in venture capital and AI, offers a snapsho

  Reported by forbes.com

• AMD expands local AI strategy as AI agents gain traction

  AMD is reportedly developing a platform aimed at running AI agents on personal computers and enterprise endpoints. The company’s local AI strategy, as described in DigiTimes, suggests a potential move

  Reported by digitimes.com

• Nebius buys Inferize in $150M GPU efficiency bet

  Nebius has acquired Inferize, a 10-month-old Israeli AI startup, for $100–150 million. The deal brings Nebius a team of engineers and technology reportedly designed to reduce GPU downtime during AI mo

  Reported by blockonomi.com

• Fresh Bus doubles revenue, widens loss in FY26

  Fresh Bus, the ixigo-backed intercity bus operator, reported ₹63.5 crore in operating revenue for FY26, more than doubling from the previous year. The catch: its net loss widened by 33%, Inc42 reporte

  Reported by inc42.com

• Volantis raises $88M to tackle AI chip memory bottleneck

  San Francisco-based semiconductor startup Volantis has raised $88 million in venture funding to develop a technology aimed at addressing a key challenge for AI chips: the inefficiency of moving data b

  Reported by msn.com

• Elio Mortgage bets on AI-native brokerage with $5.1M raise

  Elio Mortgage has raised $5.1 million to build an AI-native mortgage brokerage, a bet that embedding engineers alongside loan officers can avoid the pitfalls that sank earlier mortgage software startu

  Reported by alleywatch.com

• Jio IPO filing sets stage for India’s largest tech listing

  Reliance Industries has filed the draft red herring prospectus for its digital arm, clearing the path for what could become India’s largest initial public offering. The fresh issue, as reported by a l

  Reported by yourstory.com

• Nebius buys Inferize in $100-150M stealth AI GPU play

  Nebius has acquired Inferize, a 10-month-old Israeli AI startup, for $100-150 million. The deal, first reported by CalcalisTech, brings Nebius a team of 17 engineers—former Granulate executives—and te

  Reported by calcalistech.com, techgraph.co

• Anthropic’s IPO push highlights AI’s brutal economics

  Anthropic appears to be moving ahead with its IPO, while Oura’s delayed offering suggests some companies may be reconsidering their timing. The contrast raises questions about how investors are evalua

  Reported by news.crunchbase.com

• Good Tape raises fresh capital, launches AI interview search tool

  Good Tape, the Copenhagen-based AI transcription startup, has secured new funding from Nordic Makers and launched a feature called Explore, designed to surface insights from archived interviews. The c

  Reported by tech.eu

• Cloudflare Basin joins growing push to simplify AI data workloads

  Cloudflare has introduced Basin, a serverless data platform targeting small businesses and developer teams seeking to avoid the expense and complexity of building their own analytics infrastructure. T

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Exabeam turns SIEM agents into persistent AI investigators

  Exabeam has rolled out AI-powered updates to its New-Scale and LogRhythm platforms, describing the changes as part of a move toward "agentic security operations." The updates suggest a model where AI

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• ServiceNow’s Flow skips ITSM, bets on conversational AI for desk ops

  ServiceNow has rolled out Flow, a conversational interface for its service desk that handles employee requests through natural language and automation. The company is pitching it to organizations that

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Nubank halts Monzo acquisition talks

  Nubank has ended early-stage acquisition discussions with Monzo, according to a report by Sifted.

  Reported by sifted.eu

• CScale’s $145M Bet: Nvidia & Intel Back Optical AI Interconnects

  CScale has raised $145 million in a Series C round led by Nvidia and Intel Capital, a joint bet on optical interconnects designed to address AI’s growing networking challenges: moving data between lar

  Reported by ventureburn.com

• NYC, India startup funding rounds trickle into October 2026

  The first two days of October 2026 brought funding announcements from New York City and India, but the rounds are small and the pace is sluggish. AlleyWatch reported deals for OuterSignal and Destro A

  Reported by alleywatch.com, yourstory.com, alleywatch.com

• Bengaluru drives India’s $2.9B Q3 startup funding surge

  Indian startups raised $2.9 billion in the third quarter of 2026, a figure that keeps Bengaluru’s outsized influence intact despite a broader slowdown in deal volume. The city’s startups accounted for

  Reported by newsbytesapp.com

• Harry Stebbings: regret, rebrand, and the venture media playbook

  This week, in an interview with Sifted, he called that era’s relentless work ethic a mistake. The regret is notable less for its substance—who hasn’t second-guessed late-night decks?—than for its timi

  Reported by sifted.eu

• Apple Pay launches in India with Axis Bank, PayU, Razorpay partnerships

  Apple Pay has launched in India, enabling iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch users to make contactless payments at participating merchants. The service is currently available to Axis Bank Visa and Masterca

  Reported by yourstory.com

• Jio-Allianz JV infuses ₹640 Cr amid insurance sector shifts

  Jio Financial Services and Allianz have injected ₹640.1 Cr ($66.5 Mn) into their general insurance joint venture. The funding arrives at a time when the sector is experiencing turbulence, with recent

  Reported by inc42.com

• SBI MF bets big on Swiggy with ₹300 Cr open-market stake

  SBI Mutual Fund has quietly acquired an additional 1.18 crore equity shares in Swiggy, worth roughly ₹300 crore, through open-market transactions.

  Reported by inc42.com

• IRDAI’s commission cap rattles insurtech, traditional players alike

  India’s insurance regulator has proposed capping agent commissions, sending shares of insurtech platforms and traditional insurers into a tailspin. PB Fintech, which operates a major digital insurance

  Reported by yourstory.com

• Belgium’s H1 2026 funding lopsided as one startup takes lion’s share

  Belgium’s tech sector raised €1.09 billion in the first half of 2026, and the vast majority of it went to a single company. According to tech.eu, one startup accounted for roughly 79% of the country’s

  Reported by tech.eu

• Nuclear startup funding hits $6B in 2026 as public markets cool

  Investors have poured over $6 billion into nuclear energy startups in 2026, smashing previous records and outpacing last year’s total, according to Crunchbase data. The capital rush spans ventures foc

  Reported by news.crunchbase.com

• D-Wave launches gate-model quantum simulator beta

  D-Wave Quantum has opened its gate-model quantum computing simulator to beta testers, letting customers run error-aware programs on a dual-rail superconducting architecture. The simulator, announced t

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Selective IPO window favors companies with governance edge

  The IPO window is reopening, but only for companies that spent the last two years tightening their books, governance, and operations. That’s the take from Mark Williams, chief revenue officer at Datas

  Reported by news.crunchbase.com

• E2W rebound masks competitive shifts for Ola, Ather

  Electric two-wheeler registrations in India rose 12% month-on-month in September, reversing two straight declines, Inc42 reported. The rebound suggests a potential recovery in demand, though the broad

  Reported by inc42.com

• India’s TDB halts R&D funding amid proposal surge

  The board, which has reviewed 51 of 124 submissions since the scheme’s launch, has 73 proposals still under evaluation as of April 2026. Approvals so far include 22 projects with combined R&D costs ex

  Reported by economictimes.indiatimes.com

• Legal AI startup Chamelio bags $26M to automate procurement friction

  Chamelio has closed a $26 million Series A led by Entrée Capital to build AI agents that automate the routine collisions between legal and procurement teams.

  Reported by yourstory.com

• Mandrake Bio raises $1.9M pre-seed for AI-driven gene-editing enzymes

  Bengaluru-based Mandrake Bio has raised ₹16 crore ($1.9 million) in a pre-seed round co-led by Activate and Antler India. The startup is developing a generative AI and biophysics platform aimed at des

  Reported by financialexpress.com

• Nvidia & Intel Bet $145M on CScale’s Optical AI Interconnect

  CScale, a stealth startup building optical interconnects for AI chips, has raised $145 million in a Series C round led by Nvidia and Intel Capital. The funding marks a rare alignment between two semic

  Reported by msn.com

• Rewind CEO targets “entire cloud” after PE buyout

  Rewind, the data-backup provider, has reportedly been taken private by a private-equity firm. CEO Mike Potter now says the company plans to use its new ownership to “back up the entire cloud,” positio

  Reported by betakit.com

• Stanford’s AI-run biotech lab raises governance questions

  A Stanford-affiliated biotech initiative reportedly involves thousands of AI agents, potentially representing an early attempt to delegate scientific functions to autonomous systems. The project, asso

  Reported by msn.com

• Instinct’s $1B round pushes AI agents into valuation unknown

  Instinct has raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation, led by Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue. The Series C, disclosed on September 28, 2026, marks a significant increase in the com

  Reported by ksl.com

• Razorpay enables Apple Pay for OTP-free checkout in India

  Razorpay has enabled Apple Pay for online and in-store payments across India, allowing eligible shoppers to skip OTPs and authorize transactions with Face ID or Touch ID. The integration comes after A

  Reported by yourstory.com

• Osavul raises €8.5M to track hostile threats for NATO, governments

  Osavul, a startup that helps NATO and governments detect hostile threats before they escalate, has raised €8.5 million in a Series A round. The funding arrives as the company scales its AI-driven moni

  Reported by tech.eu

• Anthropic IPO filing reveals rapid growth, massive losses

  Anthropic has filed for an IPO, revealing breakneck revenue growth alongside staggering losses and a stark warning about the "catastrophic risks" of advanced AI, according to a Reuters report on the p

  Reported by investors.com

• ElevenLabs doubles valuation to $22B in $300M tender

  ElevenLabs has doubled its valuation to $22 billion in a $300 million tender offer co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price, according to TechCrunch. The deal marks one of the fastest valuation jumps in

  Reported by techcrunch.com

• India’s TDB halts R&D funding call amid review backlog

  The move comes as the board works through a backlog of proposals—73 still under review as of April 2026—after approving 22 out of 124 submissions since the scheme’s launch. The closure, which TDB has

  Reported by economictimes.indiatimes.com

• Headline closes $400M European fund with AI startup backing

  Headline has closed its eighth early-stage fund at $400 million, dedicated to Seed and Series A rounds across Europe.

  Reported by tech.eu

• Trace.Space launches Trinity to streamline hardware scaling

  Trace.Space has unveiled Trinity, a platform designed to help hardware teams—particularly in robotics, aerospace, automotive, and defense—transition from prototypes to scalable manufacturing. The move

  Reported by tech.eu

• Sifted Summit panel examines digital funding alternatives for European startups

  Sifted Summit’s closing panel last week focused on how European startups are approaching funding beyond traditional venture capital. The session, titled “EU Inc: Power, money, or seeing the future?”,

  Reported by sifted.eu

• Instinct’s $1B Series C cements AI agent frenzy at $10B

  Instinct, the consumer AI assistant startup, has closed a $1 billion Series C round at a $10 billion valuation, led by Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue. The deal, announced today, follow

  Reported by digitalmarketreports.com

• Zaperon raises ₹7 Cr seed for Agentic AI cybersecurity

  Cybersecurity startup Zaperon has raised ₹7 crore in a seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The company positions itself as a unified platform built for the "Agentic AI era," focusing on secur

  Reported by newspatrolling.com

• Deepslate raises €7.7M for European voice AI platform

  Berlin-based Deepslate has raised €7.7 million in a seed round led by 42CAP, with participation from Alstin Capital, existing investor SIVentures, and unnamed angels. The funding reflects investor int

  Reported by tech.eu

• Seeds Fincap raises ₹100 Cr Series B to expand rural lending

  Seeds Fincap has closed a ₹100 crore Series B round led by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, joining a wave of recent funding announcements in India’s startup ecosystem. The startup has stated plan

  Reported by yourstory.com

• UPI volumes dip 2% MoM as MDR reintroduction bites

  UPI transaction volumes fell 2% month-on-month to 24.07 billion in September, marking the first decline since merchant discount rates (MDR) were reintroduced for transactions above ₹2,000. The drop, r

  Reported by inc42.com

• flydubai pilot’s heroics highlight India’s aviation talent pipeline

  Flydubai pilot Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, prevented what could have been a catastrophic crash last week, earning praise from global leaders. The episode reflects India’s long-standing role in

  Reported by yourstory.com

• Foundational exits stealth with £8.2M pre-seed for satellite tech

  London-based Foundational has emerged from stealth with £8.2 million in pre-seed funding. The round will expand its satellite positioning infrastructure and data platform, though the startup has revea

  Reported by tech.eu

• Accel’s Mitra bets on AI to shrink startup IPO timelines

  Accel partner Subrata Mitra expects AI startups to reach IPO scale in far less time than the 12 years it took digital lender Moneyview.

  Reported by moneycontrol.com

• AI startup rankings signal consolidation ahead

  Analytics Insight’s latest “100 Leading AI Startups Shaping the Global Market in 2026” landed last week. The list covers foundation models, AI infrastructure, robotics, healthcare, cybersecurity, auto

  Reported by analyticsinsight.net

• FRANK raises €2.9M to automate insurance broker workflows

  Portuguese insurtech FRANK has raised €2.9 million in a round led by Armilar and Start Ventures to expand its AI-powered platform for insurance brokers. The funding arrives as the sector grapples with

  Reported by tech.eu

• Moneyview’s 64% debut premium signals fintech IPO resilience

  Digital lender Moneyview opened trading on the BSE at a significant premium this morning, marking one of the strongest debuts for an Indian fintech in recent years. The ₹1,092 crore IPO, which closed

  Reported by inc42.com

• Healf tops Sifted’s 250 fastest-growing European startups

  Sifted’s latest ranking of Europe’s 250 fastest-growing startups puts wellness marketplace Healf at the top, a position determined by headcount expansion rather than revenue or funding. The list track

  Reported by sifted.eu

• Dig Ventures raises $120M amid Europe’s AI funding challenges

  Dig Ventures has reportedly closed a $120 million fund aimed at backing European AI infrastructure startups. If confirmed, it would be among the largest dedicated vehicles of its kind in the region. T

  Reported by sifted.eu

• Tangent Robotics raises $4.5M to tackle robotic dexterity bottleneck

  Tangent Robotics has raised $4.5 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate development of robotic fine motor skills, a long-standing challenge in automation. The round was led by Fly Ventures and Toyo

  Reported by financialcontent.com

• Arivihan’s $10M Series A tests India’s low-cost AI tutoring model

  Indore-based AI edtech startup Arivihan has raised $10 million in a Series A round from existing backers Accel and Prosus Ventures, the company confirmed this week. The funding arrives as a reported s

  Reported by msn.com

• India’s Q3 2026 startup funding rises 5% as investors narrow their bets

  India’s startup funding climbed 5% year-over-year in Q3 2026, per Inc42’s report, a modest gain that reflects deeper shifts in how investors are deploying capital. The quarter’s numbers point to a mar

  Reported by inc42.com

• Simple Energy’s Rs 1,750 Cr raise: addressing delays alongside scaling

  Simple Energy has raised Rs 1,750 crore ($180 million) in Series C funding, one of the largest rounds for an Indian electric two-wheeler (E2W) startup. Co-founder Shreshth Mishra told YourStory the ca

  Reported by yourstory.com

• India’s fintech unicorn hunt ends—resilient models survive, says industry observer

  India’s fintech unicorn era is over, according to an industry expert. In a recent interview, the founder of a fintech-focused platform declared the easy-growth phase of recent years finished, with inv

  Reported by bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com

• Vytalyou raises ₹9 crore pre-Series A for AI-driven clinic expansion

  Mumbai-based longevity startup Vytalyou has secured ₹9 crore in pre-Series A funding to grow its network of clinics using AI to address chronic lifestyle diseases. The raise, disclosed by a local busi

  Reported by health.economictimes.indiatimes.com

• Monzo sale talks reignite Europe’s exit brain drain

  Reports suggest Monzo, the UK neobank, may be exploring early-stage sale discussions, according to Yahoo Finance. If completed, the deal would likely see the company acquired by a non-European buyer,

  Reported by ca.finance.yahoo.com

• Metaview raises $60M to automate recruiting with AI agents

  Metaview, an AI recruiting startup that uses autonomous agents to handle sourcing, screening, and scheduling, has raised $60 million in a Series C round led by Insight Partners. GV, Seedcamp, Vertex V

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Noah Shinn’s Instinct AI reportedly hits $10B valuation at 23

  Reports emerged of a funding round that could value Instinct AI, a personal AI assistant startup, at $10 billion. The company’s founder, a young entrepreneur who previously attended Northeastern Unive

  Reported by finance.yahoo.com

• Physical Intelligence expands footprint in robotics push

  Physical Intelligence, a robotics startup that recently raised a substantial sum, has taken a large sublease from a well-known tech company in a major city’s design district. The move is the clearest

  Reported by therealdeal.com

• Palmonas banks on offline retail as India’s jewellery market heats up

  Palmonas is doubling down on brick-and-mortar stores as competition intensifies in India’s branded jewellery market. The move comes as Palmonas looks to reduce marketing costs and lean on repeat custo

  Reported by economictimes.indiatimes.com

• India’s electric two-wheeler registrations surge 7.7% in September

  India’s electric two-wheeler (E2W) market saw registrations climb in the first nine months of 2026, with September alone recording a month-on-month increase, according to Vahan vehicle registration da

  Reported by economictimes.indiatimes.com

• CScale raises $188M for optical data-center interconnects

  CScale, a startup developing optical interconnects for data centers, has emerged with $188 million in funding. Roughly three quarters of the capital came from a Series C round co-led by Atreides Manag

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Kalshi eyes $1B raise at $40B ahead of 2027 IPO

  Kalshi is closing in on a $1 billion funding round at a $40 billion valuation, according to Crypto Briefing, positioning it for a 2027 IPO. If completed, the raise would mark one of the largest privat

  Reported by cryptobriefing.com

• Snapdeal’s IPO closes at 4.93x, but questions linger

  Snapdeal’s parent company has closed its ₹420 crore IPO with a 4.93x oversubscription, according to Inc42. The offering, priced at ₹30-32 per share, drew anchor investors at the upper band, though bro

  Reported by inc42.com

• Restate’s $20M bet on homegrown durability for AI agents

  Restate has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Singular, with participation from existing backers, to scale its infrastructure for keeping AI agents and modern applications running through

  Reported by techcrunch.com

• FTC probes OpenAI, Anthropic over consumer risks amid regulatory scrutiny

  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating OpenAI and Anthropic over potential unfair or deceptive practices, according to a report citing unnamed sources. The probe may extend to other AI pro

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Micron’s AI-driven revenue surge tests memory chip market limits

  Micron Technology just reported a fiscal fourth quarter that crushed Wall Street expectations, with earnings per share hitting $33.42 against a $31.61 target and revenue nearly quadrupling year-over-y

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Raven lands $90M valuation from Coinbase, CMCC for prediction markets

  Raven has secured funding at a $90 million valuation from CMCC Global and Coinbase Ventures, two firms that have previously backed projects in the prediction markets space. The round, first reported b

  Reported by beincrypto.com

• Destro AI raises $8M to unify warehouse robot fleets

  Destro AI has raised $8 million to expand its software for coordinating mixed robot fleets in enterprise warehouses. The startup’s platform acts as a translation layer, assigning tasks to robots regar

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Inbolt raises $34M to bring vision to legacy industrial robots

  Paris-based Inbolt has closed a $34 million funding round led by Shift4Good, the climate-focused VC firm, with participation from Bridges Climate Transition Partners, BNP Paribas Développement, and Or

  Reported by manufacturing.net

• UPI MDR protest called off—fintech’s quiet regulatory win holds

  The protest was meant to oppose the reintroduction of merchant discount rates on UPI transactions above ₹2,000, a move that had drawn sharp criticism from small merchants who saw it as an additional c

  Reported by inc42.com

• HPE doubles down on networking as post-acquisition growth driver

  Hewlett Packard Enterprise has identified networking as its next major growth opportunity, roughly a year after completing its acquisition of Juniper Networks. At a recent investor event, the company

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Google’s Gemini 4 Argon: A cybersecurity moat before public release

  Google has begun rolling out Gemini 4 Argon, its latest and most capable AI model, to a select group before any broader release. The move restricts access to cybersecurity teams, including Google’s ow

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Tech layoffs top 127,000 in 2025 as AI shift accelerates

  Another 127,000 tech workers lost their jobs in U.S.-based companies last year, according to Crunchbase’s latest tally, with no signs of a slowdown in 2026. The numbers extend a trend that has reshape

  Reported by news.crunchbase.com

• Modulate’s $25M raise tests voice AI’s edge over LLMs

  Modulate has raised $25 million to scale Velma, its audio-native voice intelligence model. The round, led by Future Ventures, marks one of the few high-profile bets on small, domain-specific AI models

  Reported by msn.com

• TPG exits Shadowfax in ₹114 cr bulk deal—third PE sell-off in weeks

  Private equity firm TPG has sold additional shares of logistics startup Shadowfax in a ₹114 crore open-market transaction, as reported by Inc42. The move follows a series of bulk deals by institutiona

  Reported by inc42.com

• CoreWeave doubles down on AI inference as GPU demand shifts

  CoreWeave is betting big on inference. The AI cloud provider, once synonymous with GPU rentals, is now building out networking, storage, and software layers to capture the surging demand for AI worklo

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Sequoia-backed Flow Engineering hits $750M for AI hardware agents

  Flow Engineering has raised a new round at a $750 million valuation, backed by a group of prominent investors. Roelof Botha, Sequoia’s steward, has joined the board as an angel investor. TechCrunch br

  Reported by techcrunch.com

• Oracle doubles down on data-layer security as AI agents multiply

  Oracle is repositioning its cybersecurity strategy around the database layer, according to recent reporting. The move appears to respond to the growing presence of AI-driven agents, which may require

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Ek’s $700M bet on body scans reshapes preventative health

  Daniel Ek’s Neko Health has raised $700 million to build a business around full-body scanning, a move that reflects growing interest in preventative healthcare models. The round, reported by TechCrunc

  Reported by techcrunch.com

• Spotify’s Ek backs $700M push into US body scans

  The funding round highlights growing investor interest in startups aiming to shift healthcare toward early detection and monitoring. Other companies, including Midjourney and Function Health, have als

  Reported by techcrunch.com

• Tech CEOs sign White House AI safety agreement

  Several prominent tech executives have signed a White House-backed agreement on AI safety, according to a late Tuesday post on Truth Social by U.S. President Donald Trump. The document, called the Whi

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Cognition hires Factory AI’s former VC board advisor as CRO

  Chris Degnan’s shift from Factory AI to Cognition may signal more than a standard executive transition. The timing coincides with Cognition’s recent $48 billion valuation, announced less than four mon

  Reported by techcrunch.com

• Delos Data’s $100M funding highlights AI data center chip race

  Delos Data, a chip startup founded by former Intel engineers, has raised $100 million to develop hardware and software aimed at improving data movement in AI data centers. The round, reported by BetaK

  Reported by betakit.com

• MobiKwik’s Taku buys shares as insider confidence signal

  MobiKwik cofounder and CFO Upasana Taku has acquired 1.07 lakh shares of the company, a small but notable insider transaction in a stock that has seen limited insider activity in recent years. The pur

  Reported by inc42.com

• NetApp bets on Novus to fix enterprise AI’s data bottleneck

  NetApp CEO George Kurian has staked the company’s AI strategy on Novus, a new architecture designed to help enterprises move AI workloads from pilot to production. The pitch appears to center on data

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• India’s $25B deep-tech fund aims to close US-China gap

  India has set aside $25 billion to invest in deep-tech startups, a move that could reshape its position in semiconductors, AI, and space tech amid a widening gap with other major economies. The commit

  Reported by msn.com

• Maven Robotics eyes public markets after $100M Series A

  Maven Robotics emerged from stealth in September with a $100 million Series A, and reports suggest it may be positioning for an initial public offering. If confirmed, the move would mark one of the fa

  Reported by roboticsandautomationnews.com

• AI writing tool Sherpa claims major IP co-creation role

  Pocket Entertainment founder Rohan Nayak has stated that Sherpa, an AI-powered long-form fiction writing harness, played a key role in developing a valuable intellectual property. The disclosure arriv

  Reported by economictimes.indiatimes.com

• AWS embeds DuckDB in Aurora PostgreSQL for live-historical queries

  Amazon Web Services has quietly embedded the open-source DuckDB analytical engine inside Aurora PostgreSQL, letting applications query live transactions and historical Iceberg data lake records from a

  Reported by siliconangle.com

• Apollo launches AI suite to unify sales workflows

  Apollo has rolled out an AI-powered platform designed to pull sales workflows—data enrichment, outreach, and analytics—into a single interface. The launch targets what the company calls "tool sprawl,"

  Reported by siliconangle.com