Start-up
Anthropic gives $20 million to group pushing for AI regulations ahead of 2026 elections
The Anthropic AI logo is displayed on a mobile phone with a visual digital background. Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images Anthropic, the artificial intelligence lab that’s taken heat from the White House for its support of regulations and safety, is putting $20 million into the political arena ahead of the 2026 elections. The company […]
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Apptronik raises $520 million to beat Chinese humanoids, Tesla Optimus to market
Apptronik has raised $520 million in funding at a $5 billion valuation as the startup aims to commercialize its humanoid Apollo robots, potentially beating Chinese competitors and Tesla’s Optimus to the market. The new funding, announced on Wednesday, brings Apptronik’s series A funding round to $935 million. B Capital, chaired by Howard Morgan, co-led the […]
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Musk’s xAI loses second co-founder in two days
Elon Musk announced his new company xAI which he says has the goal to understand the true nature of the universe. Jaap Arriens | Nurphoto | Getty Images Elon Musk’s xAI has lost its second co-founder in two days. Influential researcher Jimmy Ba on Tuesday announced his departure in a post on X, thanking Musk and […]
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Sandberg, other Meta vets invest in AI workplace communications startup
Slashwork founders Jackson Gabbard, Dave Miller and Josh Watzman. Courtesy: Slashwork Two years after Meta announced it was shuttering its Workplace enterprise business, a band of former engineers at the social media company is launching a new corporate communication platform. Slashwork, as the startup is called, on Wednesday announced that it has raised $3.5 million […]
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Ex-Palantir engineer raises $40 million for cyber startup Outtake, with backing from Microsoft CEO Nadella
Alex Dhillon, CEO and founder of Outtake Courtesy: Abiola Familusi Alex Dhillon spent almost five years at Palantir before leaving to build cybersecurity startup Outtake. Now his former boss is helping fuel his new company’s growth, alongside a roster of investors that includes Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Outtake, which counts OpenAI and Bill Ackman’s Pershing […]
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Meta’s $2 billion Manus deal pushes away some of startup’s customers, who are ‘sad that this has happened’
When Meta agreed to spend a reported $2 billion on Manus at the end of last year, the social media giant said it planned to take the startup’s subscription AI agent offering and “scale this service to many more businesses.” But some existing Manus customers aren’t thrilled with the deal and say they’re now going […]
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OpenEvidence, the ‘ChatGPT for doctors,’ doubles valuation to $12 billion
A startup widely known as “ChatGPT for doctors” raised a new funding round that values the company at $12 billion. OpenEvidence, based in Miami, Florida, closed a $250 million financing, led by Thrive Capital and DST, the company told CNBC. The startup first raised outside capital in February, when it reeled in $75 million from […]
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The founders of billion-dollar AI startups are getting younger — here’s why
Aexander Wang, CEO of Scale, attends an AI summit in Paris in February 2025. Getty Images The founders of some of the world’s most successful startups have been young: Think Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, both of whom were just 19 when they launched their ventures. But with the rise of billion-dollar artificial intelligence (AI) […]
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How a former U.S. special forces officer raised $22 million for his cybersecurity startup
Gene Yu is the co-founder and CEO of Blackpanda. Courtesy of Gene Yu At age 46, startup founder Gene Yu seems to have lived several lives in one. Before he started his own company, he was a Division 1 tennis player, graduated with a computer science degree from the United States Military Academy, commonly known […]
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The ‘rebellious’ instincts that turned Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli into a generative‑AI trailblazer
Victor Riparbelli, co-founder and CEO of Synthesia, has become one of Europe’s leading voices on AI — despite starting far from the traditional tech path. Growing up in Denmark, Riparbelli often felt out of step with its consensus-driven culture. “It’s an amazing place, but it’s really not a place that inspires ambition and drive and innovation,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick on the “Executive Decisions” podcast. He immersed himself in books and computers, […]
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