📁 Market

Texas-based Noveon Magnetics has raised $215 million to expand its U.S. operations. The investment aims to improve American access to rare-earth magnets, essential for HDD production and crucial for reducing reliance on China. An estimated $630 million will be spent in 2025 on American reshoring efforts.

Humans&, a startup that believes AI should empower people, not replace them, has raised a $480 million seed round. The company's valuation is $4.48 billion. The company was founded by alums from Anthropic, xAI, and Google.

A PwC survey of over 4,500 business leaders reveals that more than half have seen neither increased revenue nor decreased costs following massive investments in AI. The findings raise questions about the actual economic return of these technologies.

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar has outlined an optimistic vision for the company's future, despite current economic challenges. The article explores how OpenAI's success, and potentially the global economy, depends on finding a sustainable business model for artificial intelligence.

London-based Allocation Strategy, a company developing analytics tools to support asset allocation and investment decisions, has raised £1.6 million in a funding round led by Fuel Ventures. The new capital will be used to scale the business, expand research and development, and accelerate the rollout of new solutions for institutional investors.

Indian startup Emergent, specializing in "vibe-coding", has announced a $70 million funding round, reaching a valuation of $300 million. Investors include SoftBank and Khosla Ventures. The company aims to achieve an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $100 million by April 2026, after already reaching $50 million.

The UK government has announced a package of measures to attract talent in the tech sector, offering visa fee reimbursement to key figures working at promising UK startups. The initiative aims to position Britain as a haven of stability and innovation in sectors such as AI, clean energy, and life sciences, attracting top experts and companies to invest in the country.

In 2025, corporate IT hardware upgrades were driven by the necessity to maintain support, rather than excitement for new AI-related features. IT departments refreshed systems to keep up with compatibility requirements, demonstrating that the urgency to comply with software specifications prevails over the adoption of emerging technologies.

Belgian business software company Odoo has reached a fresh milestone, exceeding €7 billion valuation. Growth investor General Atlantic has increased its stake in the firm, buying additional shares from Wallonie Entreprendre. This move isn’t a typical funding round but a secondary transaction of existing shares.

The Cyberspace Administration of China has inadvertently created a detailed guide to the country's burgeoning AI sector. A government registry tracks thousands of companies driving this technological revolution, offering a unique overview of the Chinese AI ecosystem and its key players.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is considering launching a 24/7 exchange for tokenized stocks and ETFs, leveraging blockchain technology to modernize trading. This initiative aims to enable continuous operation, potentially revolutionizing how securities are traded and opening new opportunities for global investors.

England's Department of Health and Social Care is recruiting a head of technology, digital and data with a maximum salary of up to £285,000 a year, exceeding the salary of the department's boss. The role is pivotal in driving technological innovation within the national healthcare sector.

EIT Food's Straight2Market program facilitates the entry of agrifood startups into the European market by directly connecting them with major retailers. The initiative offers financial support, market testing, and experimentation opportunities for innovative and sustainable solutions, accelerating the path from prototype to shelf and promoting a more resilient food system.

NEOintralogistics, a German robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) provider, has closed a €3 million seed funding round. The aim is to democratise warehouse automation, making it more affordable and scalable. Its robotic picking system is designed for both brownfield and greenfield warehouses, with rapid implementation and a pay-per-pick model that shifts costs into a flexible service.

The UK government has delayed the release of its digital roadmap, a plan intended to save up to £45 billion by modernizing public sector IT. The delays raise concerns about the feasibility of achieving these savings.

French accounting software platform Pennylane has raised $200m in a funding round led by TCV, with participation from Blackstone Growth and existing investors including Sequoia and CapitalG. Despite not having an immediate need for funds, the company seized the opportunity to accelerate its expansion in Europe and invest in AI. Pennylane's valuation is around $4.25bn.

Munich-based Orbem, a deeptech company applying artificial intelligence to magnetic resonance imaging, has closed a €55.5 million Series B financing round. The company uses AI to industrialise magnetic resonance imaging, with applications in agriculture, food production, and health. The funding will support expansion into the United States and the fruit and vegetable sector, as well as developing healthcare applications.

The UK government-backed British Business Bank (BBB) is taking a £25m stake in Kraken Technologies, the software entity being spun out of Octopus Energy, marking the bank's biggest ever direct investment into a private firm. The move follows Octopus Energy's sale of a $1bn stake in Kraken to a syndicate of investors, paving the way for its demerger from Octopus Energy and a possible stock market flotation.

Tech events used to focus on quantity. More attendees meant greater success. But this model is outdated. Today, industry leaders are looking for smaller, more targeted events, where the quality of interactions is higher than the mere size of the crowd. Founders, executives, and operators with real responsibilities prefer contexts where they can directly engage with their peers and build meaningful relationships.

Berlin-based GeneralMind has raised $12 million in funding to develop an AI system that automates operational workflows, particularly in supply chain management. The goal is to reduce manual intervention and improve efficiency by integrating with ERP systems, email, and spreadsheets. The funding will be used to scale the technology across Europe.