Sequoia’s decision to close a program it pioneered 17 years ago is prompting questions about the future of venture capital scouting. The firm’s broader overhaul also includes shutting its London office, but observers say the end of the scout program offers a clearer signal about changing investment practices.
As the midterms shift Washington’s balance of power, technology companies that cultivated closer ties with President Donald Trump’s administration are reaching out to Democrats, who have promised tighter oversight of AI. Their efforts come as data-center opposition grows and state governments continue to pursue their own rules.
Google has taken over an unfinished data center project in southeastern Wyoming from Crusoe, the Denver-based developer confirmed Friday. The campus was planned to reach 10 gigawatts of power capacity, but Google had raised concerns about its cost and construction schedule under Crusoe’s management, according to reports.
OpenAI has reportedly raised $11 billion in a funding round that remains open and values the company at $1.25 trillion. Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the round could reach about $20 billion when it closes in the coming weeks.
More than 100,000 apps built for Apple’s foldable iPhone Duo are now available on the App Store, the company said Friday, with thousands more added daily. The announcement came alongside updates to more than a dozen prominent apps, as developers continue adapting software to the device’s unusual screen.
More than 800 Artex deployments were reachable online without a password, cybersecurity firm Censys said, exposing copies of an autonomous penetration-testing tool that has been linked to attacks. The company said it was unclear why so many were publicly accessible, since the software does not need an internet-facing connection.
Meta’s new Spaces feature gives users a dedicated place to work with a Muse agent on projects such as trip planning, recipe collecting and event tracking. The custom conversations appear in the interface sidebar and are designed to keep each goal organized in its own tab.
A Massachusetts startup has won conditional approval for a $250 million Department of Defense loan to build a Tennessee factory, part of a push to expand U.S. production of battery materials and reduce reliance on Chinese suppliers. 6K announced the approval on Thursday.
Fox has completed its $22 billion purchase of Roku, bringing the streaming company under Fox ownership earlier than the companies initially projected and expanding Fox’s reach in connected TV. Fox said the combined business ranks third among U.S. television companies by viewership.
Token spending rose only 1.5% across August and September, down sharply from July’s 42% monthly increase, even as companies used more AI, according to Ramp. The data points to pricing pressure and more cost-conscious customers curbing revenue growth for AI providers including OpenAI and Anthropic.
Amazon is introducing a way for customers to shop through text messages with its Alexa AI agent, just before the holiday shopping season. Select customers in the U.S. will be invited to use the feature, which can search for products, add items to carts and make purchases from natural-language requests.
A retro-themed browser game is the showcase for Underdog’s Woof text-to-speech model, which the startup says is just 31.7 MB and can run on most devices without an internet connection. Players can type text for the model to speak or turn a tuner to generate different kinds of music.
Robotics startup Physicl has raised $10 million in seed funding from Inovia Capital to help developers train physical AI systems with realistic digital environments. Founder Alex de Vigan is adapting technology from his previous company, which built 3D product renderings for retailers, to address gaps in robot training.
Tesla plans to stop making the Cybertruck next year and convert the factory space to produce more two-seat Cybercab robotaxis, CEO Elon Musk said on X. The shift comes after the electric pickup fell well short of the annual sales target Musk set when the first trucks were delivered in late 2023.
At least 10 local governments and police departments have moved since summer to restrict or end their use of Flock Safety surveillance technology, amid rising concerns over privacy, data sharing and oversight. The decisions span several states and include contract cancellations, planned withdrawals and a League City, Texas, vote against continued use.
Palo Alto Networks is discussing a cash acquisition of Clutch Security for $500 million, plus milestone-based payments, according to a person familiar with the talks. The three-year-old startup makes tools to control AI agents’ access to company systems, a security concern drawing growing investor and buyer interest.
Letterboxd has grown from 3 million users in January 2021 to 28 million by April this year. The New York Times reports that its parent company, The New York Times Company, has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire the film-focused social platform for $330 million.
Meta, Google and TikTok have sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta to block AB 1709, a law restricting certain social media features for users under 16. Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, it is scheduled to take effect at the start of the new year.
Airbnb plans to release its AI travel agent to consumers in the first half of 2027, the company said in its Q3 shareholder letter. CEO Brian Chesky says the tool will use travel-specific visual features rather than rely on a text-only chatbot, while also assisting guests with issues during their trips.
Serve Robotics is moving beyond its own delivery and hospital robots, launching Physical AI Services to sell connectivity and data tools to other robotics companies. The new business already has construction-robotics startup Bedrock Robotics as a customer, the company said Thursday.
Meta has made Muse Voice, its call and video-chat feature for the company’s consumer AI agent, available to everyone in the United States. The feature gives Muse an animated avatar that can respond during live conversations, and users can customize its appearance.
A researcher says he used an OpenAI model to uncover a severe flaw in software used by Ubuntu servers in about two hours. Debian issued a patch, and there is no known evidence the vulnerability was exploited—but the discovery has sharpened questions about whether defenders can keep pace with AI-assisted hacking.
Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said Democratic victories in the midterm elections could make it harder for companies to build data centers, as opposition to local projects reflects wider concerns about artificial intelligence. The industry, she said, has not adequately explained the benefits of its investments.
Internet-connected refrigeration systems used by supermarkets, cold-storage facilities and other critical industries face an “ongoing cyber threat,” U.S. federal agencies warned Thursday. The alert follows attacks on freezers and chillers in Europe and the United Kingdom, as well as reported incidents involving a French blood bank and U.S. military bases.
Harbinger has raised $240 million in a Series D round, bringing the electric truck startup’s total funding to more than $650 million as it moves into battery storage and defense applications. The Los Angeles-based company announced its previous, $160 million Series C almost a year ago.
OpenAI could be ready to go public in 2027, co-founder and president Greg Brockman said at a Wall Street Journal technology conference on Wednesday, citing a stronger business and rapid growth in enterprise revenue. He said the company would choose its timing based on when it felt right to list.
Stephen Ward is seeking roughly $250 million for a second Brightmind Partners fund, after the cybersecurity investor’s debut fund backed 14 companies and recorded one exit. The new raise comes as Ward runs the firm alone following the departure of co-founder Gur Talpaz and another early colleague this spring.
Claude users in the U.S. will be able to connect bank and credit card accounts and ask the chatbot about their spending. Anthropic’s new Personal Finance tool uses Plaid, is limited to read-only access and is starting to roll out in beta this week to subscribers on Pro, Max and Ultra plans.
Wonder has confidentially filed for an initial public offering, the food technology company announced Thursday, bringing it closer to a public listing after years of fundraising, acquisitions and expansion. It has not disclosed how many shares it plans to offer or the expected price range.
Axiom says it has formally verified the Stacks Project, a major open-source mathematics reference, converting its roughly 7,654 pages into about 16 million lines of Lean code checked by a proof assistant. The company says the verified library could give AI agents a reliable base for future mathematical work and software development.
