Julian Lim

Julian Lim is an entrepreneur, technology writer, and a researcher. He started JL Data Analysis after graduating from NUS in Intelligent Systems. Julian writes about technology innovations and entrepreneurship on Business Times, Asia Pacific Magazine and occasionally contributes to Startup Fortune.

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Julian Lim · Jul 21, 2026 · 3:38 AM

Singles Are Letting ChatGPT and Claude Write Their Dating Messages

Singles are feeding their Tinder and Hinge conversations into ChatGPT and Claude to write opening lines and diagnose dead matches, a practice Bloomberg calls chatfishing. Google searches for the term are up 5,000%, and 49% of Gen Z daters admit to using AI this way. Match Group and Hinge both say there's little they can do to stop it.

Julian Lim · Jul 20, 2026 · 10:08 PM

Nvidia Pushes AI Agents Deeper Into 3D Design Tools at SIGGRAPH 2026

Nvidia expanded its Agent Toolkit at SIGGRAPH 2026 with new Omniverse libraries that let AI agents build and inspect simulation-ready 3D worlds on their own. The move, paired with a new Cosmos Reason model for robotics, signals Nvidia climbing the software stack as cheap open-weight models pressure the chip layer below it.

Julian Lim · Jul 20, 2026 · 9:51 PM

How to Value a Pre-Revenue Startup When There Is No Revenue

Julian Lim · Jul 20, 2026 · 5:42 PM

IREN inks $2.8 billion in AI cloud deals, lifts revenue target past $4 billion

IREN signed $2.8 billion in new multi-year AI cloud contracts with Perplexity, Figure AI, Together AI and others, pushing its year-end 2026 AI Cloud revenue target from $3.7 billion to more than $4 billion. The deals build on IREN's earlier $9.7 billion Microsoft and $3.4 billion Nvidia agreements as the former Bitcoin miner completes its pivot to AI infrastructure.

Julian Lim · Jul 20, 2026 · 8:12 AM

David Sacks Says US AI Safety Rules Let China's Kimi K3 Win on Security Fixes

David Sacks, the former White House AI and crypto czar, is pointing to Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 fixing 15 security bugs that OpenAI's Codex and Anthropic's Fable 5 declined to touch as proof that US AI safety guardrails are costing American labs the edge. The claim lands days after Kimi K3 topped the Frontend Code Arena benchmark ahead of both American rivals.

Julian Lim · Jul 20, 2026 · 3:48 AM

US Regulators Missed Their Own Deadline to Finish Stablecoin Rules

US regulators missed the GENIUS Act's July 18, 2026 deadline to finalize stablecoin rules, leaving issuers with ten unfinished proposals and comment periods stretching into September. Because the law has no penalty clause for a missed deadline, the January 2027 effective date stands regardless.

Julian Lim · Jul 19, 2026 · 10:44 PM

US Companies Now Run Nearly Half Their AI Traffic on Chinese Models

A CNBC investigation published July 7 found Chinese-origin AI models carried at least 30% of US enterprise token volume on OpenRouter every week since February 8, peaking at 46%, up from just 4.5% in early 2025. DeepSeek and Alibaba's Qwen now lead OpenRouter's token volume outright, Moonshot AI just released its 2.8 trillion parameter Kimi K3, and Airbnb has confirmed running Qwen in production, prompting a congressional inquiry into corporate ties with Chinese AI developers.

Julian Lim · Jul 19, 2026 · 4:50 PM

Iran Kills Two US Troops in Jordan and Oil Markets Are Bracing for Worse

Two US service members were killed and a third went missing after Iranian missiles struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17, prompting new US airstrikes on Iran. Oil, shipping and small business costs are already climbing as the Strait of Hormuz stays closed.

Julian Lim · Jul 19, 2026 · 11:38 AM

Singapore Weighs Hedge Fund Tax Relief as Hong Kong Fights to Win Back Wealth

Hong Kong has gazetted a bill offering zero tax on hedge fund carried interest, directly challenging Singapore's post-Covid win as Asia's preferred fund hub. The Financial Times reports Singapore's monetary authority is now in talks with investment firms about how to respond.

Julian Lim · Jul 19, 2026 · 6:41 AM

Founders are doing the dilution math and deciding VC isn't worth it

A cap table example circulating among indie hackers shows how four VC-backed cofounders can net just $1.25 million each from a $100 million exit after dilution and taxes. Carta's 2026 data confirms the broader trend, and Base44's $80 million bootstrapped sale to Wix shows the alternative.

Julian Lim · Jul 18, 2026 · 11:13 PM

Congress Takes the CLARITY Act to Wall Street as the Senate Clock Runs Out

The House Financial Services Committee held a field hearing in New York on July 17 to pressure the Senate into a floor vote on the CLARITY Act before the August recess. The bill would settle whether the SEC or the CFTC regulates tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum, but it remains seven to nine Democratic votes short of the 60 needed to pass, with Senator Elizabeth Warren tying her opposition to Trump's crypto disclosures.

Julian Lim · Jul 18, 2026 · 4:26 PM

Walden Robotics Emerges From Toyota Stealth With a $1.1 Billion Valuation

Walden Robotics spun out of Toyota Research Institute in January 2026 and came out of stealth on July 15 with $300 million in funding at a $1.1 billion valuation. Its wheeled, legless humanoid robots have already been working real shifts at a Toyota factory since February, backed by an investor list that includes Nvidia, Boeing and Samsung Ventures.

Julian Lim · Jul 18, 2026 · 2:20 PM

How to Negotiate a SaaS Contract So You Never Get Locked In

Julian Lim · Jul 18, 2026 · 12:10 PM

UK Safety Regulator Finds Jailbreaks That Turn GPT-5.6 Sol Into a Hacking Tool

The UK's AI Security Institute found universal jailbreaks in OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol that unlock autonomous vulnerability discovery and exploit development. A viral claim that Sol now beats Claude Mythos 5 on cybersecurity doesn't match the actual benchmark scores, which remain close and mixed between the two labs.

Julian Lim · Jul 18, 2026 · 5:51 AM

SpaceX is reportedly chasing a Pentagon AI compute deal

SpaceX is reportedly in talks with the Pentagon to provide AI data-center capacity in a deal that could be worth several billion dollars. The talks would push Elon Musk's company deeper into U.S. defense infrastructure as the Pentagon pursues its nearly $30 billion AI Arsenal plan.

Julian Lim · Jul 18, 2026 · 12:05 AM

Keyrock Buys BlockFills Trading Arm for $3.25 Million Out of Bankruptcy

Keyrock closed its purchase of BlockFills' institutional trading and brokerage business for $3.25 million on July 16, four months after the Chicago firm filed for Chapter 11 following $75 million in losses. The fire-sale price, next to Citadel Securities' $400 million bet on Crypto.com the same week, shows a crypto market-making industry splitting into clear winners and casualties.