Artificial intelligence (AI) model marketplace OpenRouter has raised $113 million in new funding. The company said its Series B round, announced Tuesday (May 26), will allow it to expand its routing, governance, and optimization capabilities as businesses increasingly deploy AI. The announcement cited a 2026...
Visa-backed digital lending startup Branch International is reportedly cutting staff at its Kenyan and Nigerian offices. That’s according to a report Friday (May 22) from Business Insider (BI), which said the layoffs are indicative of a large shift among African FinTechs, with startups focused on...
Beauty-and-wellness scheduling software firm Fresha is now a $1 billion company. The startup announced the new valuation Thursday (May 21) along with news it had received $80 million from funds managed by investment giant KKR. “Fresha has built a differentiated platform, combining software, financial services,...
On-chain derivatives trading protocol Variational has raised $50 million in new funding. The company said its Series A round, announced Wednesday (March 20), coincides with the launch of the protocol’s first real-world asset (RWA) markets. “This initial rollout allows traders to access perpetuals on select...
Artificial intelligence (AI) lab Hark has been valued at $6 billion following a $700 million funding round. The company says its Series A, announced Thursday (May 21), will help it with its effort of pairing Hark’s foundation models with hardware “to create a universal interface...
The final frontier of space has had relatively few flags planted to claim it. SpaceX’s newly released registration statement signals that’s about to change. Beneath the expected references to launch cadence, satellite deployment and Elon Musk’s personal ambitions around colonizing Mars, the 200,000-word initial public...
Blockchain.com is the latest in a series of crypto companies going public. The company announced Thursday (May 21) that it had confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its initial public offering (IPO). “The number of shares...
Banking FinTech Mercury announced it raised $200 million in a funding round that valued the company at $5.2 billion. The company’s Series D round comes as Mercury is making a push into the traditional banking sector, while also preparing a product that lets users complete financial work...
With 900 million weekly users, $25 billion in annualized revenue and a $14 billion projected loss, OpenAI is preparing to ask the public to buy in. The Wall Street Journal reported the company is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on a draft IPO prospectus....