Group14 Technologies has closed a €150 million (about $169 million) extension to its Series D, and it's spending the attention on Europe. The Woodinville, Washington, company said on October 29 that it picked Sagunto, Spain, for its next factory, a plant it calls BAM-4 with an initial 10 GWh module making its SCC55 silicon anode material. The money came from a single new … [Read more...] about Group14 Raises 150 Million Euros and Picks Spain for Its Next Silicon Anode Plant While Moses Lake Waits for 2027
Collective, Wabi and AvalonX Raise $165 Million as OPay Pulls Its $304 Million NYSE IPO on Debut Day
Four funding announcements went out on October 29 and 30. Three were private rounds. The fourth, and by far the biggest, rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell and then never traded. Collective, Wabi and AvalonX announced up to $165 million between them, debt included. OPay priced a $304 million IPO and pulled it the same day. The common thread in the three private … [Read more...] about Collective, Wabi and AvalonX Raise $165 Million as OPay Pulls Its $304 Million NYSE IPO on Debut Day
Bose Buys Skullcandy to Reach Younger, Budget Headphone Buyers Its Own Brand Misses
Bose has bought Skullcandy, the Park City, Utah headphone brand that grew up around snowboard lifts and skate parks. The deal was announced on October 21. Bose bought it from a fund managed by Mill Road Capital Management, the Connecticut investment firm that took Skullcandy private in 2016, and neither side will say what it paid. Skullcandy keeps its name and its Park City … [Read more...] about Bose Buys Skullcandy to Reach Younger, Budget Headphone Buyers Its Own Brand Misses
Sony Shrinks a 0.51 Megapixel Image Sensor to 1 mm Square for Disposable Endoscopes, With Digital Output Over 5 Meters
Sony Semiconductor Solutions has a new image sensor that is exactly 1.00 mm on each side, and it's built to be thrown away. The IMX742 goes into single-use endoscopes, the disposable scopes hospitals open, use on one patient and discard. Samples ship in November 2026. Sony didn't give a price. The headline claim is about the wire. Sony says the IMX742 is the first CMOS sensor … [Read more...] about Sony Shrinks a 0.51 Megapixel Image Sensor to 1 mm Square for Disposable Endoscopes, With Digital Output Over 5 Meters
Whop Raises $200 Million at a $5.1 Billion Valuation as Sequoia and Shopify Ventures Bet on AI-Run Creator Businesses
Whop has raised $200 million in a Series D round at a $5.1 billion valuation, led by Sequoia Capital and Shopify Ventures. It's the company's second $200 million raise this year. In February, Tether put in the same amount at a $1.6 billion valuation, which means the price has more than tripled in about eight months. Sequoia's Doug Leone is joining the board. Earlier backers … [Read more...] about Whop Raises $200 Million at a $5.1 Billion Valuation as Sequoia and Shopify Ventures Bet on AI-Run Creator Businesses
Visa, Gurobi and ISG Data Show AI Use Has Gone Mainstream While Trust to Let It Act Still Lags
Four releases this week, from four unrelated corners of business, tell the same story. People use AI constantly now. They are far slower to let it do anything on its own. Shoppers ask AI for ideas, then pay themselves Visa's 2026 Holiday Spending Shift Survey, run by Morning Consult among 1,016 US adults in late September, found that 54% have used AI for at least one shopping … [Read more...] about Visa, Gurobi and ISG Data Show AI Use Has Gone Mainstream While Trust to Let It Act Still Lags
Fujifilm Spends 10 Billion Yen to Make Five Times More LTO Tape as AI Data Centers Run Short of Storage
The company most people know for cameras and instant film is making its biggest bet yet on a storage medium plenty of people assumed was finished. Fujifilm will spend about 10 billion yen, roughly $63 million, at its Odawara site in Kanagawa to raise data tape shipment capacity to about five times its fiscal 2025 level. The work runs from fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2028 and … [Read more...] about Fujifilm Spends 10 Billion Yen to Make Five Times More LTO Tape as AI Data Centers Run Short of Storage
Foundry Robotics Raises $100 Million Series A to Run an AI-Driven Assembly Factory in Emeryville
Most American hardware startups hit the same wall. The prototype works, a customer wants a few thousand units, and nobody at home will build them at that volume without a year of tooling and a big check. So the order goes to Shenzhen. Foundry Robotics has raised $100 million to be the place that says yes instead. The Series A was oversubscribed and led by Marlinspike Partners. … [Read more...] about Foundry Robotics Raises $100 Million Series A to Run an AI-Driven Assembly Factory in Emeryville
Apple Brings Touch and a Tandem OLED Display to the MacBook Pro With M5 Pro and M5 Max
Apple has put a touchscreen on the Mac. For years the company said touch didn't belong on a laptop. Now the new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display has it, along with a tandem OLED panel and a Dynamic Island where the notch used to be. Pre-orders opened October 28 in 30 countries. Machines arrive from November 6. The display PROLED XDR is a tandem OLED panel, meaning two … [Read more...] about Apple Brings Touch and a Tandem OLED Display to the MacBook Pro With M5 Pro and M5 Max
FuriosaAI Raises $620 Million Series D at a $2.9 Billion Valuation to Scale Its RNGD Inference Chip
FuriosaAI has closed a $620 million Series D, about KRW 820 billion, at a post-money valuation of roughly $2.9 billion. Its last round valued the Seoul company at around $735 million. So the price went up about four times in a year. That kind of jump doesn't come from slides. It comes from a chip that's actually shipping. Who put money in South Korea's National Growth Fund … [Read more...] about FuriosaAI Raises $620 Million Series D at a $2.9 Billion Valuation to Scale Its RNGD Inference Chip