Orbital Industries raises 50 million as AI-for-science funding heats up
Orbital Industries has raised a 50 million dollar Series B led by Plural as it pushes AI-driven materials discovery into data centers and industrial hardware.
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.
Carson Block rethinks India fund as AI pressure reaches portfolio construction
Carson Block is reassessing an India fund as AI risk becomes central to how investors value labor-heavy businesses and outsourcing-driven growth.
Taiwan's AI debt surge shows how far the buildout has spread
Taiwanese tech firms have taken on a record 14.5 billion dollars of debt this year as AI demand pushes chipmakers, server builders, and suppliers to expand capacity.
Illinois just raised the bar for AI regulation
Illinois has sent the toughest state AI safety bill yet to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, putting frontier model developers, enterprise vendors and startups on notice as federal action stalls.
Marvell's AI forecast lift shows the chip boom is still spreading
Marvell has raised its revenue outlook again, reinforcing the view that AI infrastructure spending is still spreading across custom silicon and networking, not just GPUs.
Cash App makes USDC transfers fee free and rewrites the consumer on‑ramp
Block's Cash App is rolling out fee free USDC transfers from USD balances, creating a frictionless on‑ramp that reshapes revenue and adoption dynamics for mainstream fintechs.
Meta's subscription push shows the next phase of social monetization
Meta is testing paid subscription tiers across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, adding a second revenue engine to a business still dominated by advertising. The move could improve monetization leverage, but it also raises new questions about bundling, regulation and platform control.
TD Cowen sees the CLARITY Act slipping out of reach in 2026
TD Cowen's view that the CLARITY Act may miss 2026 is a setback for crypto startups and investors who were counting on U.S. regulatory clarity before committing more capital.
ClickHouse's revenue surge shows why AI infrastructure is still hot
ClickHouse has tripled annualized revenue to 250M, reinforcing the case for AI infrastructure as one of the most durable parts of the stack.
Bitcoin slips as capital chases chips, gold and silver
Bitcoin has fallen to the 13th spot among global assets as investors shift money into gold, silver, AI chips and semiconductor stocks.
SpaceX's Bitcoin stash emerges as IPO scrutiny deepens
SpaceX's SEC filing revealed a larger-than-expected Bitcoin position, turning a quiet treasury bet into a fresh issue for IPO investors.
Claude Code and OpenClaw turned AI agents into tech's new force
Claude Code's leak and OpenClaw's rapid rise showed how fast AI agents are moving from experiments to infrastructure, and why the industry is scrambling to keep up.
OpenRouter's valuation shows where AI infrastructure is moving
OpenRouter has raised $113 million in a CapitalG-led Series B at a reported $1.3 billion valuation. The deal shows how AI routing and model aggregation are becoming critical infrastructure as companies move beyond single-model deployments.
Human Archive wants India’s gig workers to train tomorrow’s robots
Human Archive has raised $8.2 million to collect real-world human task data from India’s service workforce for robotics AI. The model could make India a key physical AI data hub, but privacy, consent and worker compensation will decide how far it can scale.
xAI is treating Cursor like a rival it cannot ignore
xAI has reportedly warned employees to limit contact with Cursor staff as competition in AI coding tools intensifies. The move highlights how developer workflows have become one of the most valuable battlegrounds in enterprise AI.
Arc raises fresh funding as AI drive-thrus get another chance
Arc has raised $10.76 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz as AI drive-thru ordering gets another chance. The question now is whether better models and real-time testing can clear the reliability bar that earlier fast-food pilots missed.
