Platform Gravity
Meta offered OpenClaw's creator more money. OpenAI won anyway. The same week, Raspberry Pi stock surged 42% on demand for hardware to run OpenClaw locally. The most important AI hire of 2026 reveals where platform power actually lives — and it's not in the checkbook.
Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 4.6 with improvements in coding, consistency, and more, for Free and Pro users; it features a 1M token context window in beta
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is our most capable Sonnet model yet. It's a full upgrade of the model's skills across coding, computer use …
Sources: top VC firms in India like Khosla and Accel are set to commit investments from $300M to $500M each to India's AI ecosystem at the AI Impact Summit
Top venture capital firms in India are set to invest $300-500 million each into the country's AI ecosystem, covering infrastructure …
Sources: Apple ramps up work on AI wearables with cameras and Siri, including smart glasses, AirPods, and a pendant that can be worn as a necklace or pinned
Apple Inc. is accelerating development of three new wearable devices as part of a shift toward artificial intelligence-powered hardware …
Meta commits to buy millions of Nvidia Blackwell and Rubin GPUs in a multiyear deal; source: Meta's in-house AI chip strategy has suffered technical challenges
Social media group will purchase millions of chips even as it tries to develop its own AI hardware
A senior official says Pentagon is “close” to designating Anthropic a “supply chain risk”, requiring all US military contractors to sever ties with the company
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is “close” to cutting business ties with Anthropic and designating the AI company a …
Palo Alto Networks agrees to acquire Israeli endpoint security company Koi Security, sources say for ~$400M; Koi raised $48M across two rounds, per PitchBook
Koi has developed a software engine that uses large language models and AI agents to detect malware and vulnerabilities in applications.
Google schedules I/O 2026 for May 19 to 20 in Mountain View, teasing the “latest AI breakthroughs and updates” in Gemini, Android, and more
Following the puzzle this morning, Google has announced that I/O 2026 is taking place May 19-20. — I/O 2026 will feature …
CFTC Chair Mike Selig says the commission will file friend-of-the-court briefs to defend its exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets amid state lawsuits
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is launching a legal campaign to defend its regulatory turf on prediction markets …
Palantir moves its HQ from Denver to Miami, as the city's leadership aims to turn it into the next Silicon Valley, with backing of billionaires like Ken Griffin
Palantir Technologies Inc. said it's moved its headquarters to Miami from Denver as more tech firms seek to base themselves …
Benchmark hires Jack Altman, the founder of Alt Capital and Lattice, as its fifth general partner; three Alt Capital team members will join him at Benchmark
Benchmark on Tuesday said it had hired Jack Altman, the founder of early-stage firm Alt Capital and HR software company Lattice, as its fifth general partner.
Snapchat launches creator subscriptions in alpha, available to some creators in the US starting February 23; creators set custom monthly pricing
Social network Snapchat announced today it's launching creator subscriptions in alpha with select people in the U.S. starting on February 23.
Figma and Anthropic partner to launch Code to Canvas, letting users import code generated in Claude Code directly into Figma as editable designs
Figma is partnering with Anthropic and launching a feature called “Code to Canvas” that converts code generated in artificial intelligence tools …
Source: Benchmark's 2020 fund is now worth 10x+ and 2024 fund is 3x what investors put in, based on cash distributions and the paper value of its investments
Natasha Mascarenhas /Bloomberg:
Automattic adds an AI assistant to WordPress.com, enabling users to perform site-wide layout and style modifications via natural language commands
WordPress.com, the website hosting platform from Automattic, will now include a built-in WordPress AI assistant, the company announced on Tuesday.
Raspberry Pi stock rose as much as 42% on Tuesday in a record two-day rally, amid demand for single-board computers to run low-cost AI agents like OpenClaw
Shares in Raspberry Pi (RPI.L) rose as much as 42% on Tuesday in a record two-day rally after CEO Eben Upton bought stock in the beaten …
Stripe's stablecoin firm Bridge wins conditional approval from the US OCC to form a national trust bank, which would allow it to issue and manage stablecoins
What to know: … Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure firm owned by Stripe, said Tuesday it has received conditional approval …
Some private software companies including McAfee released earnings early to reassure investors worried about an AI-linked selloff, dubbed the “SaaSpocalypse”
A handful of software firms including McAfee have released their earnings ahead of schedule in a bid to convince lenders …
Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez says he asked the country's prosecutor office to investigate X, TikTok, and Meta over the alleged “creation and dissemination” of CSAM
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he is using special public-interest powers to ask the country's prosecutor office …
Over 100 researchers from Johns Hopkins, Oxford, and more call for guardrails on some infectious disease datasets that could enable AI to design deadly viruses
- The White House's Genesis Mission — announced in late 2025 — aims to build AI systems trained on massive scientific datasets to speed research breakthroughs.
Sources: AI legal software startup Legora is in talks to raise $400M at a $5B+ valuation, after raising $150M in October 2025 at a $1.8B valuation
As investors double down on the promise of automating legal work, the company is in talks to raise $400 million following two rounds in late 2025.
Crypto VC firm Dragonfly closes a $650M fund, its fourth, as the crypto VCs go through a “mass extinction event”; Dragonfly backed Polymarket's Series B
When Rob Hadick signed the paperwork to join Dragonfly Capital in April 2022, he rented a house in the Hamptons.
Josh Kushner's Thrive raised $10B+ for its tenth and largest fund, lifting its AUM to ~$50B; sources: it distributed 64% of capital raised during the 2021 peak
The backer of OpenAI, Stripe, SpaceX and Skims says it's taking “ride-or-die” approach to investing.
The European Commission opens a full DSA investigation into Shein over sales of child-like sex dolls that “could constitute child sexual abuse material”
Shein risks hefty European Union penalties after regulators opened a full-scale probe into sales of child-like sex dolls on the Chinese e-commerce platform.
Cohere releases Tiny Aya, a family of 3.35B-parameter open-weight models supporting 70+ languages for offline use, trained on a single cluster of 64 H100 GPUs
Enterprise AI company Cohere launched a new family of multilingual models on the sidelines of the ongoing India AI Summit.
How LLMs are dismantling the moats that made vertical SaaS defensible, and why the market selloff is structurally justified but temporally exaggerated
In the past few weeks, nearly $1 trillion was wiped from software and services stocks. FactSet dropped from a $20B peak to under $8B.
Sources: Western Digital plans to raise $3.09B by selling a Sandisk stake at $535-$555/share, a 9.4% discount to Tuesday's close; the offering is oversubscribed
Western Digital Corp. is seeking to raise $3.09 billion from the sale of a stake in Sandisk Corp., after the digital storage company spun off …
Mesh, founded by ex-SpaceX staff to mass produce optical transceivers that convert optical signals to electrical signals, raised a $50M Series A led by Thrive
Mesh Optical Technologies, a startup working on hardware used to move data at high speeds within data centers …
Quantum computing company Infleqtion closed at $15.59 in its trading debut, up ~9% from its opening price of $14.25, after merging with a Michael Klein-led SPAC
Choose Barron's as a preferred source of financial news — Key Points — A new contender among quantum computing stocks has entered the ring.
Mistral buys Paris-based Koyeb, which simplifies AI app deployment at scale and manages AI infrastructure, in its first acquisition; Koyeb raised $8.6M to date
Mistral AI, the French company last valued at $13.8 billion, has made its first acquisition. The OpenAI competitor has agreed …
Night Media, a talent agency that represents influencers like Twitch streamer Kai Cenat, raised $70M led by StepStone to expand into gaming, sports, and music
Night Media Inc., the talent management firm that represents social media celebrities such as popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat …
UK activist investor Palliser says Toto, Japan's largest toilet maker, is an “undervalued and overlooked” AI play due to its “advanced ceramics” used in chips
Toto should make more of its sideline in the chip supply chain, Palliser urges
Sources: US healthcare manufacturer Danaher is nearing a deal to buy medtech company Masimo for ~$10B; Masimo is in an IP dispute with Apple over Apple Watch
Google's Android XR design docs and developer tools hint at the XR glasses' details, including mandatory physical buttons and “Glimmer” UI design language
Android XR glasses are coming in 2026. Here's what you can expect from the user interface and experience.
SEC filing: Liftoff withdraws its IPO filing without specifying a reason, less than two weeks after the mobile ad platform postponed plans to price its IPO
Israeli drone OS developer Xtend merges with New York-listed JFB to list on Nasdaq at a $1.5B valuation, including a $152M investment from Eric Trump and others
Braintrust, which helps companies evaluate and monitor their AI tools' performance, raised an $80M Series B led by Iconiq at an $800M post-money valuation
Braintrust, a startup building AI observability and evaluation tools, raised an $80 million Series B led by Iconiq …
Cloud infrastructure startup Render raised a $100M Series C extension led by Georgian Partners at a $1.5B valuation, and says 4.5M+ developers use its tools
Venture capitalists are doubling down on Render, a startup offering easy-to-use cloud infrastructure.
Samsung releases an ad for the Galaxy S26 series that briefly shows a “Zero-peeking privacy” toggle to black out on-screen content for onlookers at an angle
Alibaba debuts Qwen3.5, a 397B-parameter open-weight multimodal AI model that it says is 60% cheaper to use and 8x better at large workloads than Qwen3
London-based Fyld, which makes AI tools to assist infrastructure and utility fieldwork operators, raised a $41M Series B led by Energy Impact Partners
FYLD Ltd., a London-based artificial intelligence-powered startup that assists infrastructure and utility fieldwork operators …
Analysis: US productivity rose by ~2.7% in 2025, nearly doubling the 1.4% annual average over a decade, as AI-exposed sectors cooled their entry-level hiring
Filing: Gemini says its COO, CFO, and chief legal officer are leaving; Cameron Winklevoss will take on many of the COO's duties; GEMI falls 10%+
What to know: … Gemini Space Station Inc. (GEMI) is parting ways with three top executives, including its chief operating officer (COO) …
A look at the fall of Indian edtech startup Byju's, leading to US court sanctions, as lenders accuse founder Byju Raveendran of siphoning $533M of a $1.2B loan
Qualcomm says UK consumer association Which? is withdrawing its chip royalties lawsuit that sought £480M for 29M iPhone and Samsung users, after a CAT trial
Chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM.O) said on Tuesday a London lawsuit alleging it had abused its dominant position to force Apple …
Apple sends invites for a “special Apple Experience” event on March 4 in New York City; rumors suggest an M5 MacBook Pro, entry-level iPad Air, and iPhone 17e
Danaher agrees to acquire US medical tech company Masimo for $9.9B, paying $180 per share, a nearly 40% premium on February 13's close, set to close in H2 2026
Danaher Corp. agreed to buy US medical technology firm Masimo Corp., in a deal with an enterprise value of about $9.9 billion.
Internal email: the European Parliament has blocked AI features on the work devices of lawmakers and their staff over cybersecurity and data protection concerns
Airbnb expands its Reserve Now, Pay Later feature globally, after a US pilot for domestic travel saw a 70% adoption rate for eligible bookings
Airbnb said on Tuesday that it is launching its “Reserve Now, Pay Later” feature — which lets users secure bookings without immediate payment — globally.
Mexico-based online used car dealer Kavak raised $300M led by a16z, the first Latin American deal for a16z's Growth fund, after raising $700M in September 2021
Mexico-based online used car dealer Kavak raised $300 million in an equity round led by Andreessen Horowitz, according to the startup's chief executive officer.
Crypto lender Nexo says it is relaunching in the US in partnership with Bakkt, three years after leaving the US and paying a $45M fine to settle SEC charges
Q&A with Replit CEO Amjad Masad, who says India is Replit's second-largest market by active users, on integrating Razorpay's tech, AI's impact on SaaS, and more
Temporal, which builds open-source software to ensure “durable execution” of code, raised a $300M Series D at a $5B valuation, up from $2.5B in October 2025
Software startup Temporal has raised $300 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the company at $5 billion …
UK software firm Pinewood's stock fell ~31% on February 16 after Apax withdrew its £575M takeover offer, citing “prevailing challenging market conditions”
Apax Partners abandons offer for FTSE 250 company over ‘challenging market conditions’
Sources: Moonshot, the Chinese startup behind Kimi chatbot, is targeting a $10B valuation in a funding round expansion after securing $500M at a $4.3B valuation
Q&A with Google Chief AI Scientist Jeff Dean about the evolution of Google Search, TPUs, coding agents, balancing model efficiency and performance, and more
Sam Altman says Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, is joining OpenAI “to drive the next generation of personal agents”; OpenClaw will remain open source
How locals in Potters Bar, a town near London, are challenging Equinix's $5B data center plans, as the UK reclassifies “green belt” land to boost construction
The residents of Potters Bar are working to protect the “green belt” of farms, forests, and meadows that surround London …
Letter and sources: Starboard plans to nominate a majority slate to Tripadvisor's board; Starboard holds a 9% stake, and TRIP has dropped ~46% in the past year
Dubai-based fractional property investment startup Stake raised a $31M Series B led by Emirates NBD PJSC; the platform facilitates investments starting at ~$136
Stake, a Dubai-based fractional property investment platform, raised $31 million in a second fund-raising round that will help …
Nifty IT Index, which tracks Indian IT stocks, slumped ~15% so far in February due to worries about AI, and is on track for its worst month since March 2020
Indian conglomerate Adani Group announces plans to invest $100B to build renewable energy-powered AI-ready data centers across India by 2035
Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) said on Tuesday that the group will invest $100 billion to build renewable energy-powered AI-ready data centres by 2035 …
Sony says it has developed tech to identify copyrighted music in AI-generated songs, aiming to help rights holders receive compensation if their music was used
Japanese company seeks to help copyright holders receive share of revenue — Sony Group operates major music labels under its umbrella.
Sources: SpaceX and xAI are competing in a $100M DoD contest to make voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarms; OpenAI is helping Applied Intuition's submission
Elon Musk's SpaceX and wholly owned subsidiary xAI are competing in a secretive new Pentagon contest to produce voice-controlled …
Manus launches Manus Agents, allowing users to access Manus directly inside messaging apps, starting with Telegram and coming soon to other platforms
Today, we're introducing Manus Agents — a new way to access and use Manus directly inside your messaging apps. Telegram is the first supported channel.
Micron launches the first mass-produced PCIe 6.0 SSDs, with read speeds up to 28GB/s, double that of PCIe 5.0 SSDs, optimized for AI and data center deployments
Micron's new drive is so fast that it fully benefits from liquid cooling, but air cooling is still supported
Top AI researchers argue that AI is now more useful for mathematics thanks to the latest “reasoning” models, as math becomes a key way to test AI progress
OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic seek to use advanced maths to show how capable AI models really are
Valve says the Steam Deck OLED may be “intermittently” out of stock due to memory and storage shortages; it has been out of stock in the US for a few days
www.theverge.com/games/879845...
Apple debuts iOS 26.4 beta 1 for developers, adding limited support for encrypted RCS messages, enhancements to Apple Music, and a Smart List for Reminders
iOS 26.4 beta 1 is now available in beta for developers. The update includes a ton of new features and changes for iPhone users.
Micron, which has undertaken a $200B US expansion, says it can currently meet about 50% to 66% of demand for some key customers, as AI drives memory chip demand
For decades, memory chips were low-margin commodity products. Now the industry can't make enough to satisfy data centers' hunger.
Ireland's DPC launches a “large-scale inquiry” into X over Grok's creation and publication of “potentially harmful” sexualized images, the latest European probe
‘Large-scale’ inquiry is latest sign of how regulators are scrutinising the group's Grok chatbot
Indian IT giant Infosys partners with Anthropic to develop AI services for telecom, with plans to expand to finance, manufacturing, and software development
https://lnkd.in/gvJNERbU …Anthropic:We're collaborating with Infosys to build and deploy AI agents for regulated industries, starting in telecommunications, and expanding to financial services, manufa...
As India hosts its AI Impact Summit in New Delhi this week, the country is promoting its approach of developing cheaper AI tools aimed at solving local problems
Tripti Lahiri /Wall Street Journal:
Anthropic opens a Bengaluru office, its second in Asia, says its India run-rate revenue doubled since October, and curates training data for 10 Indic languages
our new home base in India, and Anthropic's second office in Asia-Pacific. India is our second-largest market for https://claude.ai/. We're launching new partnerships to deepen our long-term commitmen...
Apple says it will bring “advanced video capabilities” to Apple Podcasts this spring, including allowing users to switch between watching and listening to shows
Apple Podcasts is finally giving video a full embrace. — The tech giant, which pioneered the podcast audio format …
Sources: Sony is considering delaying its next PlayStation console to 2028 or 2029; Nintendo is considering raising Switch 2 prices, amid a memory chip shortage
(Read more at Bloomberg) [image]Forums:r/GamingLeaksAndRumours:Bloomberg: Sony is considering pushing back the debut of its next PlayStation to 2028 or 2029, Nintendo contemplating raising price of Sw...
Palo Alto Networks reports Q2 revenue up 15% YoY to $2.6B, vs. $2.58B est., and projects Q3 adjusted EPS below estimates; PANW drops 7%+ after hours
Elias Schisgall /Wall Street Journal:NEW