Startup announce new funding almost every day, and the headlines are full of jargon. A single line can mention a Series D, a post-money valuation and an annualized run rate. Once you know seven terms, you can read any funding announcement with confidence. We will use Modal’s October 14 announcement as a live example. 1. The Round…
Modal, a startup that sells cloud infrastructure for AI workloads, has raised $750 million at a $15.75 billion post-money valuation. In its announcement, the company says Accel led the Series D round, Kleiner Perkins joined, and all existing investors took part. SiliconANGLE notes that the valuation is more than triple what Modal was worth after its May…
Smart cameras, speakers and hubs are now ordinary household items, and new ones keep arriving. Each one connects to your home Wi-Fi, so each one deserves basic protection. The good news is that the most important steps are simple and mostly free. Here is how to secure smart home devices, using guidance from the UK’s…
Apple has unveiled HomeView, its first smart home hub with a screen. According to Apple’s announcement, it costs $299 in the US, pre-orders opened on October 13, and it ships on November 13. CNBC notes that this is John Ternus’s first launch outside iPhones since he took over from Tim Cook at the start of September. Our…
Startups are reaching $10 billion valuations faster, and in greater numbers, than ever before. A startup valued at $10 billion or more is called a decacorn. Axios, citing PitchBook data, reports that 42 decacorns have been created globally in 2026, with three months still to go. The previous record was 34, set in 2021. How Fast…
Apple has told some of its suppliers to cut production of components for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, according to an exclusive report from Nikkei Asia. The report says rising memory chip costs forced higher prices, and those prices have dampened consumer demand. If the report holds up, the iPhone 18 Pro…
Google has announced the Fitbit Edge, a fitness tracker with a screen that sits between the screenless Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 5. Pre-orders opened today, October 12, at $179.99. The tracker reaches stores on October 27. The Fitbit Edge is built for people who want phone-free GPS and glanceable stats without paying for…
SpaceX has made its biggest move yet into the wireless market, and investors noticed straight away. On Thursday, October 8, the company agreed to buy a nationwide portfolio of low-band spectrum licenses from investment firm Grain Management. By Friday’s close, the three largest US carriers had lost billions in market value. This SpaceX spectrum deal…
OpenAI filed a confidential S-1 with the SEC on May 22, 2026 — one week after rival Anthropic did the same. For most of the summer, the AI world assumed the two companies would race each other to market in a historic twin listing. Then, last week, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI’s leadership has concluded they…
Anthropic’s IPO roadshow is starting this month, according to Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter. The company is now targeting a valuation of up to $2 trillion — more than double the $965 billion post-money valuation from its June 2026 Series H round. The listing is expected to be completed before the US Thanksgiving…
Facial recognition has moved from a futuristic concern to an everyday reality faster than most people noticed. You’ve been scanned at an airport gate, possibly at a concert or sports venue, almost certainly at a border crossing, and — depending on where you live — possibly at a supermarket or on a public street. Most…
AMD confirmed yesterday that it has agreed to acquire World Labs, the spatial intelligence AI startup co-founded by Fei-Fei Li — in an all-stock deal valued at $8.2 billion. The transaction is AMD’s second-largest acquisition in history, behind only its $50 billion purchase of Xilinx in 2022. It is expected to close by the end of…
AI-focused startups investment has become one of the defining stories of the current technology cycle. Venture capital firms that once spread bets across every category of tech are now openly prioritizing artificial intelligence, and founders who can credibly position their company around AI are finding it easier to get meetings, term sheets, and checks than…