ByteDance-spun Anew Labs raises $290M for AI-driven drug discovery
Shanghai-based Anew Labs announced about $290M in inaugural external financing on September 16, 2026, from HSG, IDG Capital, Hillhouse, and 5Y Capital. Spun out of ByteDance, which…
Founders News
Founder news on ai tools.
162 updates tagged ai tools.
Sydney startup Evatto raises A$1.02M pre-seed for AI event-program platform
Sydney-based Evatto raised A$1.02 million in a pre-seed round led by Purpose Ventures, announced on 16 September 2026. The Startmate Summer 26 alumnus builds an AI platform that au…
IndiaAI Mission puts 38,000+ subsidised GPUs within reach of DPIIT startups
MeitY's official update (page last updated 16 September 2026) confirms that more than 38,000 GPUs for the common compute facility have been onboarded through the AI Compute Portal…
OpenAI tests Sponsored Agents in ChatGPT, adds Shopify and HubSpot ad tools
On September 16, 2026, OpenAI began piloting Sponsored Agents, clearly labeled advertiser-run chats, inside ChatGPT with US brands like Angi and Wayfair, and shipped its first ecom…
Anthropic merges Cowork into one Claude, adds Claude Docs and Slides in beta
On September 16, 2026, Anthropic folded its Cowork agent and Claude chat into a single 'one Claude' experience where the model picks the tool automatically, and launched Claude Doc…
Factory raises $200M at $5B valuation for its AI coding agents
AI software-engineering startup Factory raised $200 million at a $5 billion valuation on Sept 16, 2026, roughly tripling the $1.5B valuation from its $150M Series C five months ear…
Arcee AI hits $1B+ valuation with $150M Series B for open-weight models
Arcee AI announced a $150M+ Series B on Sept 16, 2026 valuing it above $1 billion, led by Vista Equity, Cambium and Emergence with Hitachi, Wipro and M12. It built its Trinity mode…
Evvy raises $40M Series B for AI-powered women's health diagnostics
Evvy, a precision-medicine company offering vaginal microbiome testing, AI-powered diagnostics and personalized care for women's health, raised a $40M Series B on September 16, 202…
Stuut raises $67.6M to automate accounts-receivable work with AI
Stuut, an AI platform that automates accounts-receivable work for companies, disclosed $67.6M in new funding on September 16, 2026 across eleven investors, bringing total funding t…
Google opens Home MCP so AI agents can control smart-home devices
On September 16, 2026, Google launched early access to Home MCP, a Model Context Protocol server that lets any MCP-capable agent (Antigravity, Claude, and others) monitor devices,…
Ridgeline raises $250M Series E at $1.425B for AI-native investment platform
Ridgeline, founded by Workday and PeopleSoft founder Dave Duffield, raised a $250M Series E on Sept 16, 2026 at a $1.425 billion valuation, with participation from Motley Fool Vent…
Japan's CADDi raises ~$121M Series D for manufacturing procurement AI
Tokyo-based CADDi announced a Series D of about 17.7 billion yen (roughly $121M) on September 15, 2026, with backers including Salesforce Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Wo…
Apple opens English public beta of rebuilt, Gemini-powered Siri
On September 15, 2026 Apple opened the English public beta of its rebuilt Siri, powered by custom models built with Google Gemini and split between on-device and Apple's Private Cl…
Profound raises $180M Series D at $1.8B for AI-search visibility (AEO)
On September 15, 2026 Profound announced a $180M Series D at a $1.8B valuation, co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, nearly double its February valuation. The platform tracks and…
Perplexity ships on-device Portable Computer agent in its Windows app
On September 15, 2026 Perplexity launched a local AI agent in its Windows app for Nvidia GeForce RTX and RTX PRO GPUs with at least 24GB of VRAM. The model, agent harness, orchestr…
Salesforce Dreamforce 2026 runs Sept 15 to 17 in San Francisco
Dreamforce 2026, Salesforce's flagship conference, runs September 15 to 17, 2026 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, drawing an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 in-person attendees. This…
Stockholm's Tandem Health raises $100M Series B for an AI clinical operating system
Tandem Health raised EUR 86.49 million (about $100 million) in a Series B led by the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund, announced September 14, 2026. The startup is expanding from AI…
BNDES and Finep pick Monashees to run new R$500M AI-startup FIP fund
On Sept 14, 2026, BNDES and Finep selected Monashees to manage a new venture fund (FIP) for AI-intensive startups that can mobilize up to R$500 million. BNDESPAR will commit up to…
Intrepid Growth closes US$525M debut fund to back AI founders
Toronto- and London-based Intrepid Growth Partners announced the final close of its inaugural fund at US$525 million (about C$730 million), US$25 million above target, on 14 Septem…
Temporal raises $550M Series E at $12.55B for reliable AI infrastructure
On September 14, 2026, durable-execution platform Temporal announced a $550M Series E at a $12.55B valuation, co-led by Lightspeed with Wellington, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, and…
Salesforce ships 7 named job-ready Agentforce AI agents for sales and service
On September 11, 2026 Salesforce launched seven named Agentforce agents (Casey, Paige, Carter, Hunter, Marshall, Piper and Fin) preconfigured for jobs across service, sales, commer…
Anthropic adds auto permission mode to Claude Managed Agents
On September 10, 2026 Anthropic shipped an 'auto' permission policy for Claude Managed Agents that lets the server evaluate each agent or MCP tool call and run it, deny it, or paus…
Positron AI raises $875M for memory-first AI inference chips
Positron AI announced $875 million on September 10, 2026, split into a $375 million Series C and a Series C-1 of up to $500 million, at a roughly $5 billion valuation. The round, b…
DeepSeek ships V4.1 Flash at $0.15 per million input tokens
DeepSeek released V4.1 Flash on September 10, 2026, priced at $0.15 per million uncached input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens off-peak (double during 01:00-04:00 and 06…
Paris-based Arlequin AI raises EUR 28M for LLM-alternative topological neural networks
Arlequin AI closed a EUR 28 million Series A on September 10, 2026, co-led by redalpine and OTB Ventures with Bpifrance's Defence Innovation Fund and Xavier Niel joining. Its topol…
Inspiren raises $70M Series C to run AI in senior living
Inspiren announced a $70 million Series C on September 10, 2026, with NewView Capital and Insight Partners among the backers. Its platform applies AI to operations inside senior-li…
Rogo raises about $30M from banks for financial-workflow AI
Rogo Technologies secured roughly $30 million in strategic financing on September 10, 2026, from Citi, Barclays, BNP Paribas and MUFG, among others. Rogo builds financial AI for in…
Graph AI raises $13.3M for pharma safety and adverse-event software
India-based Graph AI raised a $13.3 million post-seed round on September 10, 2026, from Insight Partners and Bessemer. Its software automates pharmaceutical safety and adverse-even…
Australia's Metacognition AI raises $10M for an AI operating-system layer
Australian lab Metacognition AI announced a roughly $10 million round on September 10, 2026, led by CSIRO-backed VC Main Sequence. It is building an operating-system layer that sit…
Enigmata raises $6.5M to run AI on encrypted data
Nashville-based Enigmata emerged from stealth on September 10, 2026 with a $6.5 million seed round led by Blockchange Ventures. Its Cipher system lets AI models train, search and a…
Wyre AI raises $5M to automate construction preconstruction analysis
Washington, DC-based Wyre AI raised $5 million on September 10, 2026, led by Ironspring Ventures with DPR Construction's WND Ventures and Virginia's VIPC. Its platform reads drawin…
RBC launches $1.4B CAD RBCx growth fund for scaling Canadian tech firms
On September 9, 2026, Royal Bank of Canada unveiled a new $1-billion USD (about $1.4-billion CAD) RBCx growth fund to make direct equity investments in growth-stage Canadian tech c…
Clay raises $115M Series D at a $7.1B valuation for its AI go to market engine
Clay announced a $115M Series D on September 9, 2026, led by Wellington with Sequoia and a16z, doubling its valuation to $7.1B from August 2025. It now serves 17,000+ customers, in…
Singapore launches AI-powered BizSG portal to simplify grant and government access
Singapore's whole-of-government BizSG portal, unveiled by Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling at the SME Centre Conference on 9 Sep 2026, launches on 30 Sep 2026 as a single entr…
Buildcheck raises $12M Series A for vision AI that reviews construction drawings
Stanford-founded Buildcheck raised a $12 million Series A led by Telescope Partners, with DPR Construction's venture arm WND Ventures joining, bringing total funding to $18 million…
Legal AI startup Harvey raises $550M at a $15.5B valuation
On September 9, 2026 Harvey raised $550 million at a $15.5 billion valuation, led by Diffusion and Lightspeed with Sequoia, a16z, Kleiner Perkins and others. Harvey says 80% of Am…
Japan's Algomatic Dynamics lands 5B yen for physical-AI robotics
On September 9, 2026 Tokyo-based Algomatic Dynamics announced a 5 billion yen (about $34M) first financing to build robotics and physical AI, including motion-data collection and d…
UK's CloudNC raises $20M for AI-driven CNC machining
UK-based CloudNC raised $20 million on September 9, 2026, from Nimble Ventures, Calculus VC and LM Ventures. Its software uses AI to automate programming for CNC precision-machinin…
Lightfield raises $47M Series A from a16z to build a CRM for agent run companies
Lightfield closed a $47M Series A led by a16z on September 9, 2026, with Greylock, Lightspeed and Coatue joining. The AI native CRM, a pivot from presentation startup Tome, reports…
Mistral AI raises record 3B euro Series D led by Samsung at 21B euro value
France's Mistral AI closed a 3 billion euro (about $3.5B) Series D led by Samsung Electronics on September 8, 2026, with co-leads EQT's Scaleup Europe Fund and PSG Equity, lifting…
OpenHands 1.0 ships production self-hosted coding agent at 68% SWE-bench Verified
The open-source autonomous coding agent OpenHands reached its 1.0 release on September 8, 2026, adding Docker sandboxing, built-in security policies, resource limits and a plugin s…
Cognition raises $2B at a $48B valuation for its Devin coding agent
On September 8, 2026 San Francisco-based Cognition AI closed a $2 billion Series E at a $48 billion valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, Founders Fund, General Catalyst an…
US data-center land deals jump 79% as powered sites draw ~$6B
Reported September 8, 2026, US data-center land deals rose 79% in the first half of 2026, with investors spending nearly $6 billion on future data-center sites. Premium powered lan…
Meta launches Muse, a US only personal AI agent that books travel and sends email
Meta debuted Muse on September 8, 2026, a personal AI agent for users 18+ that opens a browser, fills forms and executes multi step tasks like booking travel or drafting a business…
OpenAI launches GPT Image 2.5 with faster Flare and Sunburst APIs
On September 8, 2026 OpenAI released GPT Image 2.5, exposing two developer APIs: Flare, its fastest model generating high-quality images at two to four times the speed of GPT-Image…
AI health startup Forus raises $150M at $3B value to automate drug access
Forus (formerly Tandem) raised a $150 million Series C at a $3 billion valuation announced September 8, 2026, led by Bain Capital Ventures with Accel, Thrive Capital, General Catal…
Anthropic's Claude produces first computer-checked proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
Announced September 4, 2026, Anthropic says Claude ran largely autonomously for 11 days to produce the first end-to-end, computer-checked proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in Lean. Th…
Gimlet Labs raises $300M Series B at $3B for multi-chip inference
Gimlet Labs closed a $300 million Series B on Sept 4, 2026 at a $3 billion valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz with Arm, Samsung Ventures, and Microsoft's M12 among backers, brin…
GitHub Copilot adds parallel agent sessions and a unified Copilot experience
In its September 4, 2026 changelog, GitHub added parallel agent sessions to the Copilot app, letting multiple AI tasks run independently in separate Git worktrees, and introduced a…
China's MIIT launches AI SME plan, targets 10,000+ new AI startups by 2028
On 4 September 2026, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the 'AI SME Entrepreneurship Support Plan (2026-2028),' structured as 4 areas and 15 key…
MIIT launches AI SME Entrepreneurship Support Plan 2026-2028
On September 4, 2026, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the 'AI SME Entrepreneurship Support Plan (2026-2028),' targeting over 10,000 new sci-te…
GitHub ships Project HydraFusion, a multi model coding preview in Copilot CLI
GitHub launched Project HydraFusion as a research preview in the Copilot CLI on September 4, 2026, dynamically orchestrating multiple AI models and picking one of three execution p…
Nvidia agrees to buy AI hub Hugging Face for about $13B
Nvidia announced on Sept 3, 2026 a definitive deal to acquire Hugging Face for roughly $12.93 billion, pledging to keep it an open platform where Nvidia compute is not required. Hu…
Google DeepMind launches WeatherNext 3 with hourly 5km AI forecasts and API
Google DeepMind and Google Research launched WeatherNext 3 on September 3, 2026, generating 15-day probabilistic forecasts initialized hourly at up to 5km resolution across 64 ense…
OpenAI ships GPT-6 Astra with 1M+ context at $10/$50 per million tokens
OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra (API id gpt-6-astra) on Sept 3, 2026, priced at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output, with cached input at $1. It carries an ~1.1M-to…
Crusoe raises over $3B at a $30B valuation for AI data centers
AI infrastructure and cloud provider Crusoe raised more than $3 billion on Sept 3, 2026 at a roughly $30 billion valuation, co-led by Atreides Management and Valor Equity Partners…
Google adds Gemini voice 'Live' features to Gmail, Docs and Keep
On September 3, 2026 Google rolled out Gmail Live, Docs Live and Keep Live, letting users query their inbox, draft documents (pulling from Gmail, Drive, Chat and the web) and take…
Axle AI lands $17.5M Series A for AI-native insurance backend
New York insurtech Axle AI announced a $17.5M Series A on Sept 3, 2026, led by Base10 Partners. Its AI agents automate claims, coverage verification and policy endorsements for ins…
Resect AI raises $25M to build an accountability layer catching LLM hallucinations
Seattle stealth startup Resect AI announced a $25M seed/Series A round on Sept 3, 2026 from undisclosed investors. The company is building an 'AI accountability layer' that detects…
Elucid raises $55M Series D for AI cardiovascular imaging
Boston-based Elucid announced a $55M Series D on Sept 3, 2026, led by IAG Capital Partners and Elevage. Its AI software analyzes cardiovascular imaging to detect coronary artery di…
Munich's Zeit AI raises EUR 5M seed for autonomous data engineering
Zeit AI, based in Munich, raised a EUR 5 million seed round on Sept 3, 2026 with backing from Y Combinator, Oxford Seed Fund, a Sequoia Capital scout fund, ACE Ventures, and Hasso…
Anthropic ships Claude Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1, cutting agent costs ~45%
On September 2, 2026 Anthropic released Claude Fable 5.1 (broadly available) and Mythos 5.1 (restricted to vetted organizations), citing about 45% lower costs for agentic workloads…
Photonics chip startup iPronics raises $125M led by Nvidia for AI data centers
On September 2, 2026 Spanish semiconductor startup iPronics announced a $125 million funding round led by Nvidia and other investors. The capital backs its programmable photonic ne…
Google's Gemini 3.8 Flash launches at $0.75/$3.75 per million, doubling in 2027
Google released Gemini 3.8 Flash on Sept 2, 2026 with a 1,048,576-token context window, priced at $0.75 input and $3.75 output per million tokens through Dec 31, 2026. The rate is…
HiddenLayer nabs $100M Series B as enterprises rush to secure AI deployments
Austin-based HiddenLayer raised a $100 million Series B announced September 2, 2026, led by Delta-v Capital with Ten Eleven Ventures, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft's M12 and Booz Allen…
Perplexity adds hybrid compute to its Computer agent, splitting cloud and local Macs
On September 2, 2026 Perplexity launched a hybrid-compute capability for its Computer agent that divides a single AI task between cloud models and models running locally on Apple s…
CrowdStrike launches SafeMind dual-model agentic security system at Fal.Con 2026
At Fal.Con 2026 on September 2, 2026 CrowdStrike introduced SafeMind, pairing an offensive model, Red Tempest, trained on 15 years of incident-response data to probe for attack pat…
Meta ships Muse Spark 1.3, cutting tool calls ~20% and tokens ~25%
Meta released Muse Spark 1.3 on Sept 2, 2026 at $1.25 input and $4.25 output per million tokens with a 1,048,576-token context window, claiming roughly 20% fewer tool calls and 25%…
Google, Anthropic and OpenAI gate top cyber AI models behind vetted-access programs
In early September 2026, the three labs restricted their most cyber-capable models to trusted-defender programs: Google's Fairwind (Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber, over 650 partners includ…
Wonderful raises $550M at $5B valuation for its enterprise AI agent OS
Wonderful raised a $550 million Series C led by Insight Partners at a $5 billion valuation, more than doubling its value in under six months. Its AI operating system coordinates ag…
AIR Security launches with $50M to firewall the AI agents enterprises deploy
AIR Security emerged from stealth in early September 2026 with $50 million raised across two rounds in six months (Sequoia led a $10M, Greenoaks led a $40M). Its inline firewall sc…
South Korea proposes record $597B 2027 budget centered on AI and chips
On 1 September 2026 South Korea proposed a record 821 trillion won (about $597 billion) 2027 budget that names AI and semiconductors as strategic national priorities. The plan sign…
3D-AI maker Tripo (VAST) raises ~$446M Series B for foundation models
On 1 September 2026 VAST, developer of Tripo AI, announced roughly 3 billion yuan (~$446 million) across Series B and Series B+ rounds led by MPCi, with backers including Perfect W…
Proptech funding holds near $8.7B in 2026 as investors bet on AI construction and ops
Real estate tech startups have raised roughly $8.7 billion across 794 deals so far in 2026, on pace to match or slightly exceed 2025's $12.3 billion, per Crunchbase News. Capital i…
SciFin raises $44M seed for an enterprise AI context layer
On 1 September 2026 SciFin announced a $44 million seed round led by Altimeter and Madrona for an enterprise AI context layer that connects customer and forecasting data so AI syst…
DeepSeek ships experimental V4-Flash-Vision multimodal model on Hugging Face
On August 31, 2026 DeepSeek published V4-Flash-Vision-Exp, a roughly 305B-parameter experimental multimodal model, on Hugging Face under the permissive MIT license. It shows substa…
ChatGPT advertising crosses $1B annualized run rate under 200 days after launch
OpenAI's ChatGPT advertising business crossed a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate as of August 31, 2026, fewer than 200 days after its February 2026 pilot launch. It marks the…
MAS commits S$220M to FSTI 4.0 to fund fintech innovation and AI adoption
On 31 August 2026, the Monetary Authority of Singapore committed S$220 million (about US$173 million) over three years to the renewed Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Sch…
MAS commits S$220M FSTI 4.0 to fund fintech innovation over three years
On 31 August 2026, the Monetary Authority of Singapore committed S$220 million (about US$173 million) over three years under the renewed Financial Sector Technology and Innovation…
EuroHPC signs 387.8M euro contract for LUMI-AI supercomputer in Finland
On Aug 31, 2026 the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking signed a 387.8M euro contract with Bull to build LUMI-AI, powered by AMD Instinct MI430X GPUs and 6th-gen EPYC CPUs at CSC in Kajaani,…
Sydney anti-scam AI startup Apate.AI raises A$11.4M seed
Sydney-founded Apate.AI raised A$11.4 million (about US$8.15 million) in a seed round announced 31 August 2026, led by Silicon Valley's Lobby Capital with OIF Ventures, Investible,…
IRAS EIS guide adds 400% tax deduction on AI spend for YA 2027 and 2028
IRAS published its updated Enterprise Innovation Scheme e-Tax Guide on 31 Aug 2026, formalising a Budget 2026 change that grants a 400% tax deduction on up to S$50,000 of qualifyin…
Apate.AI raises A$11.4M seed for adversarial anti-scam AI agents
On Aug 31, 2026, Apate.AI (founded in Sydney, now Delaware-incorporated) closed an A$11.4M (about US$8.15M) seed round led by Lobby Capital. Its AI agents impersonate potential sca…
Huawei Cloud opens CodeArts Agent coding platform to international users
On Aug 28, 2026 Huawei Cloud moved CodeArts Agent from public beta to general availability across Asia Pacific, launching commercially in Singapore. The platform orchestrates 16 sp…
Federal judge rules Pentagon unlawfully retaliated against Anthropic over safety limits
On Aug 28, 2026 a federal court ruled the Defense Department unlawfully retaliated against Anthropic for refusing a contract without safety restrictions on lethal autonomous weapon…
Tencent open-sources Hy4, a 770B model with 1M context under Apache 2.0
On August 28, 2026 Tencent released and open-sourced its Hunyuan Hy4 preview: a 770B-parameter Mixture-of-Experts model activating 49B parameters per token, with a 1-million-token…
NVIDIA ships TensorRT Model Connect: Hugging Face checkpoint to C++ in two commands
On Aug 28, 2026, NVIDIA released TensorRT Model Connect, an open collection of reference implementations that turns a Hugging Face or local checkpoint into native C++ inference wit…
Anthropic opens free Claude for Teachers to US K-12 schools and districts
On Aug 28, 2026, Anthropic made Claude for Teachers available to US K-12 schools and districts as a free Enterprise offering with SSO, role-based controls, and standards-aligned te…
Hugging Face launches Microduck, a $399 open-source bipedal robot
On Aug 28, 2026 Hugging Face launched Microduck, a $399 open-source bipedal robot with 15 motors, a camera and lidar, targeting first deliveries before Christmas in North America a…
Lambda closes $1B credit facility to buy Nvidia GPUs for Microsoft deal
On Aug 28, 2026, Nvidia-backed AI cloud provider Lambda closed about $1B in senior secured private debt, arranged by JPMorgan, to fund chips tied to its Microsoft collaboration. La…
North America data center vacancy stuck at 1.4% with 80% of new capacity preleased
CBRE reported H1 2026 North American data center vacancy held at 1.4%, leaving under 1,500 MW available across primary markets, roughly six months of supply. Over 80% of the record…
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and 100+ firms urge joint defense against AI cyberattacks
On Aug 27, 2026 more than 100 companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, CrowdStrike, Okta and Fortinet signed an open letter warning that AI-enabled cyberattacks wi…
Agentrys raises $24.5M for AI agents that verify semiconductor engineering
On Aug 27, 2026 Agentrys announced $24.5M in combined seed and pre-seed funding, led by Etna Capital with MediaTek participating, to build AI agents for semiconductor verification…
Onos Health raises $17M Series A for behavioral-health clinical AI
On Aug 27, 2026 Onos Health announced a $17M Series A led by Costanoa Ventures to build behavioral-health AI for clinical intelligence and utilization analysis. It reflects sustain…
Instinct raises $250M Series B led by Index and Benchmark for a consumer AI assistant
On Aug 27, 2026 Instinct announced a $250M Series B co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark to build a consumer AI assistant that automates tasks across apps and devices. The size o…
Transfyr launches with $25M seed from General Catalyst for 'physical AI' in labs
On Aug 26, 2026 Transfyr launched with $25M in seed funding led by General Catalyst, with Lux Capital, Breakout Ventures and others. Founded by ex-Ginkgo Bioworks AI lead Anna Mari…
Z.ai ships GLM-5.3-Flash: 1M-context multimodal coding model at ~1/10 the price
On Aug 26, 2026 China's Z.ai released GLM-5.3-Flash, a 320B-parameter (18B active) mixture-of-experts model with a 1M-token context and native image/video input, under an MIT licen…
Amazon to shut down Mechanical Turk on Sept 30, 2026
Amazon confirmed it will close Mechanical Turk (MTurk) on September 30, 2026, and is also closing SageMaker Ground Truth and Amazon Augmented AI (A2I) to new users. The moves retir…
IBM releases open Granite 4.2 models (3B–30B) under Apache 2.0
On Aug 26, 2026 IBM released Granite 4.2, a family of open models in 3B, 8B, and 30B parameter sizes with a 128,000-token context window under the permissive Apache 2.0 license. Th…
OpenAI unveils Jalapeno, its first custom inference chip, co-built with Broadcom
OpenAI announced first results for Jalapeno, its in-house AI inference ASIC co-developed with Broadcom, claiming 1.5x-1.9x higher throughput per kilowatt and 1.7x-3.6x lower end-to…
South Korea's WRTN Technologies hits unicorn scale with ~$72M Series C
On Aug 26, 2026 South Korean AI startup WRTN Technologies raised about $72.2 million in Series C funding at a valuation above 1 trillion won (~$722M), reaching unicorn scale. The c…
Salesforce and Anthropic launch Claudeforce, embedding Claude across the CRM
On Aug 26, 2026 Salesforce and Anthropic announced Claudeforce, making Claude a default reasoning model across Agentforce, Slack and developer tools. It ships with a 'Salesforce in…
Ex-Prometheus founders launch physics-first AI processing 5T data points
Accelerated Understanding, founded by researchers who declined a Bezos-backed Project Prometheus offer (~35% stake and $2B+ committed), unveiled a physics-first AI model on Aug 25,…
Apple opens Mac Mini M6 pre-orders at $899 with on-device AI focus
Apple opened pre-orders on Aug 25, 2026 for a new Mac Mini with the 2nm M6 chip starting at $899 (16GB/256GB), plus an M5 Pro option at $1,699, shipping Sept 22. Apple highlights a…
Emerald AI raises $150M Series A at $1.05B to flex data-center power
On Aug 25, 2026 Emerald AI raised a $150 million Series A at a $1.05 billion valuation. The startup builds software that lets AI data centers modulate their power draw to ease grid…
Stability AI raises $76M with Universal, Sony, Warner and EA backing
Stability AI, maker of Stable Diffusion, raised $76M in fresh funding announced Aug 25, 2026, with participation from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, a…
Perplexity in talks to raise at $30B+ as revenue tops $750M annualized
As of August 24, 2026 Perplexity is discussing a new equity round valuing it above $30B, up from roughly $20B a year earlier. Its annualized revenue climbed from under $250M at the…
Robotics-AI startup Generalist raises $200M, second round in two months
Generalist AI reportedly raised ~$200M led by 8VC on Aug 24, 2026, just two months after a $400M round backed by Nvidia and Bezos Expeditions. Its new Gen-1.5 model teaches robots…
XPeng's humanoid-robot unit raises $900M+ at a $6.3B valuation
XPeng's humanoid-robotics business raised over $900M in its first external round at a $6.3B+ valuation, announced Aug 24, 2026, led by IDG Capital and Gaorong Ventures with strateg…
Alibaba launches Wan3.0 AI model that turns documents into 30-second videos
On August 24, 2026 Alibaba unveiled Wan3.0, an AI video model that generates roughly 30-second videos directly from documents and spreadsheets. Alibaba paired the launch with a rep…
Arintra raises $25M Series B for autonomous medical coding AI
Arintra raised a $25 million Series B announced the week of Aug 24-26, 2026, led by Define Ventures with Peak XV Partners and Y Combinator, bringing total funding to $51 million. I…
VC portfolio-ops startup Standard Metrics raises $20M Series B
Standard Metrics, which makes portfolio reporting, valuation and benchmarking software for VC and PE firms, raised a $20M Series B led by 8VC with Salesforce Ventures and Spark Cap…
Embedd raises $2.7M to cut cross-chip software-integration work
Embedd raised a $2.7M pre-seed led by Seedcamp, announced Aug 24, 2026, to build developer infrastructure that reduces the software-integration work of supporting different chip pl…
Anthropic makes Claude Enterprise Admin API GA, adds agent site limits
Around Aug 19-22, 2026 Anthropic moved its Claude Enterprise Admin API (members, invites, groups and custom roles) out of beta, dropping the required beta headers, and let organiza…
NZ launches Institute for Advanced Technology at Auckland's GridAKL
On 21 August 2026 the Government launched the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology (NZIAT), the country's fourth Public Research Organisation, based at GridAKL in Auckland…
Dreamforce 2026 runs Sept 15-17 at Moscone Center with agentic-AI focus
Salesforce's Dreamforce 2026 takes place September 15-17 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, centered on the 'Agentic Enterprise' with 1,600+ breakout sessions and 50+ keynotes…
GitHub Universe 2026 set for Oct 28-29 at Fort Mason, San Francisco
GitHub published its GitHub Universe 2026 schedule on Aug 13, 2026, themed 'All together now, in the agentic era,' returning to Fort Mason in San Francisco on Oct 28-29. In-person…
US data-center vacancy stays at 1% with 66+ GW under construction, JLL reports
JLL's North America Data Center Report (Aug 11, 2026) pegs vacancy at 1% for the third straight year despite record building, with more than 66 GW under construction—an electricity…
IndiaAI Mission crosses 38,000 GPUs, offers subsidised AI compute to startups
In an official update dated August 11, 2026, MeitY confirmed the Rs 10,372 crore IndiaAI Mission has onboarded more than 38,000 GPUs for its common compute facility - over three ti…
DPIIT signs 5 MoUs giving startups cloud credits, payments and mentorship
On August 8, 2026, DPIIT (Startup India) signed five strategic MoUs with Cashfree Payments, Vultr India, Darwin Dynamics, Cars24 Services and the Council for Startup India to expan…
Step San Francisco 2026 AI startup conference set for Aug 26-27
Step San Francisco 2026 runs August 26-27, with Day 1 kickoff events across the Bay Area and the main conference Aug 27 at The Midway in San Francisco. Billed for 'the people build…
US office vacancy drops to 18.3% in Q2 2026, biggest fall since 2015
CBRE reports US office vacancy fell 30 basis points to 18.3% in Q2 2026 — the largest quarterly drop since 2015 — while leasing volume rose 16% year-over-year to 62.4 million sq ft…
EU AI Act transparency rules now enforceable, fines up to 3% of global turnover
From 2 August 2026 the EU Commission's AI Office and national authorities began enforcing the AI Act's transparency duties: chatbots must disclose they are AI, deepfakes and AI-gen…
California's AI Transparency Act (SB 942) takes effect Aug 2, 2026
California's SB 942 became operative Aug 2, 2026, requiring large generative-AI providers (over 1 million monthly users) to offer a free AI-detection tool and attach both visible a…
EU AI Act's main obligations now apply as of Aug 2, 2026
On August 2, 2026 the bulk of the EU AI Act became applicable, including Article 50 transparency duties (disclosing chatbots and labeling AI-generated content, the latter deferred…
EU AI Act enforcement against general-purpose AI providers goes live
As of August 2, 2026 the European Commission can actively investigate and fine providers of general-purpose AI models under the EU AI Act. Duties include technical documentation, d…
EU AI Act enforcement powers over general-purpose AI models now active
Since August 2, 2026, the European Commission's supervision and enforcement powers over general-purpose AI (GPAI) model providers under the EU AI Act are in force, backed by the AI…
The AI Conference returns to San Francisco Sept 29-Oct 1, 2026; tickets open
The AI Conference 2026 takes place Sept 29-Oct 1 at Pier 48 in San Francisco, gathering 5,500+ builders, researchers and leaders across tracks on agentic AI, LLMs, infrastructure a…
The AI Conference 2026 returns to San Francisco's Pier 48, Sept 29–Oct 1
The vendor-neutral AI Conference 2026 runs September 29–October 1 at Pier 48 in San Francisco's Mission Rock, expecting 5,500+ builders and 120+ speakers across five tracks (AGI, L…
AI transparency rules now enforced in Sweden: label chatbots and AI content
From 2 August 2026 the EU AI Act's transparency obligations (Article 50) are enforced and apply directly in Sweden: businesses must tell users when they are interacting with a chat…
MIIT issues 'Xiao-Kuai-Qing-Zhun' 2026 guide to curate cheap digital tools for SMEs
On July 27, 2026, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) issued the 'Xiao-Kuai-Qing-Zhun' (小快轻准) Digital Products and Services Cultivation Guide (2026 Ed…
San Francisco office market rebounds on AI, with AI firms 80%+ of new leases
San Francisco office vacancy improved roughly 370 basis points year-over-year and net absorption hit nearly 800,000 sq ft in Q1 2026 — the strongest since 2019 — driven by AI tenan…
China's first AI companion rules take effect, curbing addiction and barring minors
On July 16, 2026, China's Cyberspace Administration (CAC) and four other agencies enacted the country's first dedicated rules for AI companion services. Providers must show a usage…
Ottawa commits $13.85M to 63 Quebec AI projects under Regional AI Initiative
On July 15, 2026, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) announced $13,852,374 through the Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative (RAII) for 63 Quebec organizati…
Australia sets up Office of AI in PM&C to build a national AI framework
On 14 July 2026, PM Anthony Albanese announced a new Office of AI inside the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to coordinate 'Australian standards' for AI and end the go…
MAS releases SAFR white paper on runtime safeguards for AI agents in finance
On 3 July 2026, MAS and industry partners published the 'Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime' (SAFR) white paper under its BuildFin.ai initiative, an industry framework gover…
FTC proposes policy targeting AI systems steered away from accuracy
On July 1, 2026, the FTC sought public comment on a proposed policy statement warning that companies which distort their AI systems' outputs to serve undisclosed goals may be decei…
US data-center vacancy hits record-low ~1.4% as power caps supply
CBRE's Global Data Center Trends 2026 reports vacancy across primary US markets at a record-low ~1.4% — Northern Virginia just 0.3% and Atlanta ~1% — with the vast majority of unde…
MAS opens 2026 Global FinTech Hackcelerator; S$80k prizes, Aug 14 deadline
On 29 June 2026, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) opened applications for the 2026 Global FinTech Hackcelerator, run with the Singapore FinTech Festival. Applications clos…
MAS opens 2026 Global FinTech Hackcelerator: S$80,000 per winner, apply by Aug 14
MAS announced on 29 June 2026 the call for its 2026 Global FinTech Hackcelerator (part of Singapore FinTech Festival), inviting AI proposals on three problem statements: credit/fra…
MAS launches Future of Finance Institute to scale AI and tokenisation in finance
On 25-26 June 2026, the Monetary Authority of Singapore established the Future of Finance Institute (FFI) to move AI and tokenisation beyond pilots across Singapore's financial sec…
Google for Startups Accelerator opens to NZ founders for the first time in 2026
Google announced on 21 June 2026 that its Google for Startups Accelerator: Australia and New Zealand includes Kiwi startups for the first time. The equity-free 10-week hybrid progr…
LaunchVic funds 9 AI & deeptech pre-accelerators with $3.5M for Victorian founders
On 18 June 2026, Victoria's LaunchVic announced $3.5 million to fund nine pre-accelerator programs for early-stage AI and deeptech startups, with each provider receiving up to $400…
Victoria funds nine AI & deeptech pre-accelerators with $3.5M, up to $400k each
Announced 18 June 2026 at the Victorian Startup Gala, the Victorian Government is splitting $3.5 million across nine pre-accelerator programs, each receiving up to $400,000 to help…
China's 7-agency plan makes big platforms open tech, data and compute to SMEs
On June 18, 2026, seven agencies led by MIIT (with CAC, NDRC, MOST, MOFCOM, SAMR and the National Data Administration) issued the Action Plan for Coordinated Development of Large,…
China opens STAR Market pre-profit IPO track to AI, quantum and embodied-AI startups
On June 17, 2026, CSRC Chairman Wu Qing announced at the Lujiazui Forum that Shanghai's STAR Market 'fifth listing standard' — which requires no profit or revenue — now covers AI l…
NZ govt funds AI tools for small business: $400k AcceleratorNZ, $82k AI mentor
On 11 June 2026, Small Business Minister Cameron Brewer announced Government funding for AI-powered SME support: $400,000 to Business South to expand its AcceleratorNZ programme to…
Canada's new AI strategy pledges $2.3B, incl. $500M Canadian Tech Growth Fund
On June 4, 2026, Canada unveiled a national AI strategy with roughly $2.3 billion in spending, headlined by a new $500-million Canadian Tech Growth Fund offering growth capital, in…
Connecticut's AI employment law (CART Act) starts phasing in Oct 1, 2026
Connecticut's AI Responsibility and Transparency Act begins phasing in Oct 1, 2026: employers filing WARN layoff notices must disclose whether AI drove the cuts, and using an autom…
Google for Startups Accelerator: SEA opens, equity-free AI cohort starts Aug 2026
Google Cloud launched the equity-free Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia, a three-month program for 25 seed-to-Series B AI startups from Singapore and five other ASEAN…
Google Cloud & EnterpriseSG launch AI Startup Innovation Corridor via Singapore
On 25 May 2026, Google Cloud launched an AI Startup Innovation Corridor linking Southeast Asia to Silicon Valley through Singapore, backed by EnterpriseSG and regional partners. Th…
Google Cloud & EnterpriseSG launch AI startup corridor; SEA cohort begins Aug 2026
On 25 May 2026, Google Cloud and Enterprise Singapore (with government partners in Indonesia and Vietnam) launched a Southeast Asia-to-Silicon Valley AI startup corridor routed thr…
Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia opens with EnterpriseSG, starts Aug 2026
On 25 May 2026 Google Cloud, with Enterprise Singapore, launched the Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia, an equity-free three-month program for an inaugural cohort of…
Colorado delays its landmark AI Act to January 1, 2027
On May 14, 2026, Governor Polis signed SB 189, delaying Colorado's AI Act effective date from June 30, 2026 to January 1, 2027 and substantially narrowing employer obligations. The…
Colorado delays its AI Act to Jan 1, 2027 and scales back its requirements
Gov. Polis signed SB 189 on May 14, 2026, pushing the Colorado AI Act's effective date from June 30, 2026 to January 1, 2027 and significantly narrowing its duties on developers an…
FINEP opens R$300M non-reimbursable grant for AI, robotics, quantum startups
FINEP's 'Mais Inovacao Brasil - Tecnologias Digitais' call offers R$300 million in economic subsidy (non-reimbursable, no repayment) to Brazilian companies developing AI, advanced…
Singapore's EIS adds AI expenditure: 400% tax deduction on up to S$50k
Budget 2026 added qualifying AI expenditure as a new category under the Enterprise Innovation Scheme (EIS): companies can claim a 400% tax deduction on up to S$50,000 of qualifying…
JTC's LaunchPad masterplan adds Kampong AI, a live-work precinct for AI startups
On 2 March 2026 JTC unveiled a refreshed masterplan for LaunchPad @ one-north, headlined by Kampong AI — Singapore's first integrated startup community pairing ~14,500 sqm of busin…
Singapore adds AI spend to Enterprise Innovation Scheme: 400% tax deduction for YA 2027-2028
In Budget 2026 (delivered 12 Feb 2026), Singapore added AI-related expenditure as a qualifying activity under the Enterprise Innovation Scheme, giving businesses a 400% tax deducti…
CBRE: US data centers head for record 2026 leasing as power delivery becomes the limit
CBRE's 2026 US data center outlook projects another record leasing year with preleasing in the mid-70 percent range, far above the historical 40 to 50 percent norm, and vacancy at…
Shenzhen launches AI 'One Person Company' startup plan with compute and data vouchers
On 14 January 2026, Shenzhen's Bureau of Industry and Information Technology issued the AI 'OPC' (One Person Company) Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Action Plan (2026–2027), targeting…
Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA) in effect Jan 1, 2026
TRAIGA (HB 149), effective January 1, 2026, amends the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act with AI-specific duties and prohibits AI systems used for behavioral manipulation, unlawf…