PitchBook: the biggest US private startups raised $150B in 2025, surpassing the previous high of $92B in 2021, boosted by large funding rounds by AI startups — Mega funding rounds create ‘fortress balance sheets’ as investors advise top groups to brace for tougher markets
A Kapwing study of the 15,000 top YouTube channels finds 278 of them have only posted AI-generated “slop” videos, amassing 63B+ views and 221M+ subscribers — Low-quality AI-generated content is now saturating social media - and generating about $117m a year, data shows
Global hotel groups are intensifying efforts to get customers to book directly, as they seek to save on online platform commissions and prepare for AI agents — Companies including Marriott and Hilton push to improve perks and get more direct bookings — Major hotel groups are intensifying efforts …
Lou Gerstner, a former IBM CEO and chairman credited with turning the company around, died at 83; IBM's market value rose from $29B to ~$168B during his tenure — Louis Gerstner, who took over International Business Machines Corp. when it was on its deathbed and resuscitated it as a technology industry leader, died Saturday.
How executives at humanoid robot startups like Agility Robotics and Weave Robotics are managing safety risks and tempering expectations for the technology — Despite billions in investment, startups say their androids mostly aren't useful for industrial or domestic work yet
Tracxn: VC funding for Indian startups fell 17%+ YoY to $10.5B in 2025 across 1,518 deals, down ~39% YoY; AI startups raised $643M, up 4% YoY, across 100 deals — India's startup ecosystem raised nearly $11 billion in 2025, but investors wrote far fewer checks and grew more selective …
A look at Chinese food delivery giant Meituan's subsidy war with Alibaba and JD.com, leading Meituan to a big Q3 loss and internal debate over global expansion — Competition from Alibaba and JD.com for fast-growing instant retail market has hit the Beijing-based group
A study finds that foreign direct investment accounts for 98% of Vietnam's electronics exports, “signaling limited technology spillovers” to the local economy — HO CHI MINH CITY — Vietnam looks like a tech darling as investment from giants such as Apple, Samsung and others pours in.
The European Commission claims €80B of €120B in post-EU Chips Act investments remain on track, despite the stalled GlobalFoundries-STMicro project in France — President Emmanuel Macron, who wanted to be at the forefront of France's reindustrialization efforts, traveled to Isère …
Sources: Peter Thiel and Larry Page may leave CA over a proposed ballot measure, opposed by Newsom, that levies a one-time 5% tax on those with $1B+ in assets — It's uncertain whether the proposal will reach the statewide ballot in November, but some billionaires like Peter Thiel and Larry Page may be unwilling to take the risk.
Amazon, Microsoft, and Google pledged a combined $67.5B in Indian investments since October, 80% of those in December, as part of an AI spending frenzy in India — Amazon, Microsoft and Google have pledged a combined $67.5 billion in Indian investments since October. Eighty percent of those commitments came this month.
Chinese government data: shipments of foreign-branded mobile phones, primarily iPhones, rose 128.4% YoY in November 2025 to 6.93M units — Shipments of foreign-branded mobile phones, including Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhones, rose 128.4% in China in November from the same month last year …
A Google support page in Hindi says the company plans to roll out an option to let users change their Gmail addresses while retaining all data and services — For quite some time now, Google has allowed users to change their account email address if they are using a third-party email address …
AI sector minted 50+ new billionaires in 2025; Crunchbase: investors poured $200B+ into AI startups in 2025, or about 50% of global funding, up from 34% in 2024 — Record activity in the AI sector this year has boosted dozens of founders and business executives into the billionaire ranks.
Tesla's robotaxi service in Austin significantly trails Waymo, deploying an estimated 30 cars with safety drivers, vs. Waymo's 200 cars without human monitors — Shares of Tesla have hit new highs on optimism about the company's self-driving taxis. But experts say Tesla is far behind Waymo, which has a big head start.
Meir Orbach / CTech : Docs: Israeli AI chip startup Hailo is pursuing an urgent IPO via a SPAC merger at a valuation of less than $500M; ...
