CNN is reporting that Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI have discussed creating an AI industry standards body modeled on FINRA, potentially overseen by government and funded by industry, that would independently test frontier models before deployment. More here.

China’s Foreign Ministry pushed back on calls from Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk to slow frontier AI development, calling the warnings “fear mongering” that would disrupt global AI governance even as Beijing separately urged stronger AI risk controls. CNBC has more here.

Palantir, Nvidia, and Booz Allen are curbing use of Anthropic and OpenAI models over concerns about proprietary data, with Palantir seeking irrevocable zero-data-retention guarantees and Nvidia steering sensitive work to its own Nemotron models instead, according to The Information. Reuters has more here.

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By Sarah Perez

Automattic’s board is out, multiple sources have confirmed to TechCrunch, after last week’s attempt to oust CEO Matt Mullenweg by voting to put him on a paid leave of absence.

After the vote, Mullenweg, the WordPress founder and CEO of WordPress.com parent company Automattic, accused the board of conspiring against him in a post on Automattic’s Slack. On Friday, TechCrunch exclusively reported Mullenweg told the company’s staff that he was back in control of the company, also via Slack post. Automattic confirmed to TechCrunch on Saturday that he had returned.

Initially, we heard from sources that Toni Schneider, a founding CEO at Automattic who now leads the open social network Bluesky, had resigned his Automattic board seat. Schneider has since removed a paragraph from his bio page on his personal website which had noted his contributions at Automattic.

Previously, Schneider’s website read: “I also contribute actively at Automattic, the open source company behind WordPress.com and WooCommerce. I was Automattic’s founding CEO and continue to support internal projects and investments as a board member and special advisor.”

We’ve also heard that Mullenweg removed the two other board members, Sue Decker and Gen. Ann Dunwoody.

Decker’s LinkedIn bio has been updated to confirm that she served on Automattic’s board from March 2020 through September 2026, despite her name still appearing on Automattic’s Board of Directors page at the time of publication.

Buildots, an eight-year-old Tel Aviv startup that uses cameras and AI to track construction progress and flag schedule delays, raised a $130 million round at an estimated $1 billion valuation. O.G. Venture Partners was the deal lead, with Lightspeed, Intel Capital, Mohari Ventures, Human Capital, Qumra Capital, Viola Growth, Poalim Equity, and Avigdor Willenz also digging in. The company has raised a total of $297 million. CTech has more here.

Cornelis, a six-year-old startup based in Wayne, PA, that develops networking technology to improve communication among AI chips, raised a $205 million round led by IAG Capital Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

EUCLYD, a two-year-old startup based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that develops semiconductor and datacenter systems for running AI models more efficiently, raised a $230+ million Series A round co-led by Samsung, Somerset Capital Partners, Scaleup Europe Fund, and Innovation Industries, with EIFO, imec.xpand, Brabant Development Agency, and Quadri also opting in. More here.

Firehawk Aerospace, a six-year-old startup based in Addison, TX, that builds rocket motors using 3D-printed propellant for defense and aerospace applications, is reportedly in the market to raise a $200 million round at a $1.25 billion post-money valuation. The purported lead is Rochefort Asset Management, with 1789 Capital also participating. Investing.com has more here.

Kaiko, a 12-year-old Paris company that provides cryptocurrency market data and analytics, raised a $57 million Series B extension led by S&P Global, with BNP Paribas, Coinbase Ventures, Nasdaq, Royal Bank of Canada, and Stellar also engaging. The extension brings the Series B to $110 million. CoinDesk has more here.

Mecka AI, a two-year-old New York startup that collects and analyzes recordings of people performing everyday tasks to help robotics companies train humanoid and general-purpose robots, is reportedly in discussions to raise a $500 million round at a valuation of approximately $500 million, with Sequoia Capital as the purported lead. TechCrunch has more here.

Nuance, a one-year-old Seattle startup that develops audiovisual AI models for face-to-face conversations, raised a $50 million Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Accel, NVentures, South Park Commons, and Define Ventures also stepping up. Business Insider has more here.

Open Cosmos, an 11-year-old company based in Harwell, UK, that builds satellites and operates communications and Earth-imaging constellations that provide secure connectivity and satellite data for decision-makers, raised a $405 million round. Investors included Lightrock, ETF Partners, Institut Català de Finances (ICF), and Entrepreneurs First. Payload has more here.

Shield AI, an 11-year-old company based in San Diego, CA, that develops autonomous aircraft and AI pilot software for military applications, is reportedly in talks to raise new funding at a valuation of at least $20 billion, after raising $2 billion in March at a $12.7 billion valuation. The Information has more here.

Tabby, a seven-year-old Saudi startup that provides buy-now-pay-later and other consumer financial services, raised a $233 million Series F at a $6.5 billion valuation from previous investors, led by Blue Pool Capital, with HSG, Wellington Management, and Arbor Ventures also participating. The financing included both new and existing shares. Reuters has more here.

Tandem Health, a three-year-old Stockholm startup that uses AI to help European clinicians document visits, assign medical codes, dictate notes, and answer patient-specific clinical questions, raised a $100 million Series B round led by Scaleup Europe Fund, with Kinnevik, Northzone, Amino Collective, and Visionaries also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $160 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Temporal, a seven-year-old startup based in Bellevue, WA, that develops software for keeping distributed applications and AI agents running reliably through failures, raised a $550 million Series E at a $12.55 billion valuation. The deal was co-led by Lightspeed, Wellington Management, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, and Tiger Global, with T. Rowe Price as well as previous investors Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Madrona also participating. The company has raised a total of $1.2 billion. GeekWire has more here.

BRKZ, a four-year-old Riyadh startup that helps contractors, distributors, and factories source building materials, compare pricing, arrange logistics, and access flexible payment terms, raised a $13 million Series B round co-led by Wa’ed Ventures and 500 Global, with BECO Capital and ANB Capital also participating. The company has raised a total of $70+ million. More here.

Chift, a four-year-old Brussels startup that connects business software companies to European accounting, invoicing, payments, and other financial systems through one API, raised a $12.1 million Series A round led by BlackFin Capital Partners, with Entourage, Shapers, the Seeder Fund, and Wallonie Entreprendre also anteing up. Tech Funding News has more here.

Jack & Jill, a one-year-old London startup that uses AI agents to match job seekers with employers, raised a $40 million Series A round led by Air Street Capital. LAVX has more here.

Pave Finance, a five-year-old New York startup that provides software for financial advisers to build, personalize, and manage client portfolios, raised a $15+ million Series A round from an unnamed group of investors at a $100 million pre-money valuation. Financial IT has more here.

Resolutiion, a four-year-old London startup that helps companies detect early signs of commercial disputes in active contracts using messages, delivery data, invoices, and project trackers, raised a $10.4 million round. Investors included Cherry Ventures, Octopus Ventures, LocalGlobe, and Auxxo. Tech Funding News has more here.

Shennon Biotechnologies, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that develops T-cell engager cancer therapies that direct immune cells against surface and intracellular targets in solid tumors, raised a $12 million round. Investors included Future Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Samos Investments, Atypical Ventures, and Saras Capital as well as previous investors DCVC, Foundation Capital, and AV8 Ventures. The company has raised a total of $25 million. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Nara Health, a two-year-old Palo Alto startup that administers employer health plans by combining benefits administration, claims processing, care coordination, and member support in one system, raised a $10 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures, with Long Journey Ventures and Superior Studios also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $14 million. More here.

Robocurve, a San Francisco startup founded this year that independently evaluates how well frontier AI models control real robots, raised a $10 million seed round led by Initialized Capital, with Notable Capital, Decasonic, Y Combinator, and Halcyon Futures also participating. More here.

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Ciena, the Fulton, Md.-based networking technology company, launched Ciena Ventures, a $200 million corporate venture program that will back early-stage startups and venture funds working on AI-era networking, data-center architectures, optical interconnects, computing, materials, and emerging communications technologies. More here.

Superhuman, the AI productivity platform formerly known as Grammarly, acquired six-year-old meeting-notetaker Fathom, which has more than 400,000 monthly active users and had raised over $30 million, as Superhuman pushes deeper into AI agents that can act on meeting context. Terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

OpenAI has quietly acquired Glass Imaging, a seven-year-old startup founded by former Apple camera engineers that uses AI to improve smartphone image quality, in a deal valuing the company above $300 million; its technology could potentially feed into OpenAI’s consumer-device ambitions with Jony Ive. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Firmus, the seven-year-old Australian AI infrastructure company, is seeking to raise up to $5 billion in an IPO as soon as the end of October, according to Bloomberg and the Australian Financial Review. The company was valued above $10.5 billion in an August financing. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the company will not go public in 2026 despite having filed confidentially for an IPO, telling Fortune that amid mounting AI-safety concerns, “right now would be an ill-advised moment” to enter the public markets. TechCrunch has more here.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei argues in a new essay that frontier AI development should be deliberately slowed so safety work can keep pace but says China presents the “toughest dilemma”: if U.S. labs slow while Chinese rivals do not, Beijing could gain a strategic and military advantage. CNBC has more here.

President Trump lashed out at Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei after Amodei called for slowing frontier AI development, arguing that AI needs no additional guardrails beyond a “strong and smart” president, while Vice President JD Vance separately called industry appeals for regulation a possible “Trojan horse.” Business Insider has more here.

Sam Altman tweeted last night that OpenAI does not need to wait for legislation or an antitrust exemption to begin slowing development where necessary, arguing that “pacing” means accepting costly safeguards and monitoring even under competitive pressure. More here.

Insight Partners' Devin Parekh opened up at last week’s StrictlyVC event about losing Legora to General Catalyst, why he's fine holding stakes in rival AI labs, and why — even as everyone else piles into OpenAI and Anthropic — his $90 billion firm is deliberately staying diversified.

According to the Financial Times, Anthropic has told shareholders its adjusted operating income will be positive for a second straight quarter while gross margins are above 80% before revenue-sharing payments to partners such as Amazon and the (er, considerable) cost of training its models. Reuters has more here.

A Virginia startup is developing satellites that would beam near-infrared energy to existing solar farms so they can generate power at night; Meta has signed up for the first gigawatt of capacity, and the company is targeting its first demonstration for January 2028. The Washington Post has more here.

Fast Company reports that “mouthfeel” is becoming a bigger driver of food and beverage sales, with consumers increasingly seeking contrasting textures such as crunchy-plus-chewy, frothy, gooey, and juicy, pushing companies to rethink everything from candy and coffee to takeout coatings.

French champagne producers have been temporarily allowed to raise alcohol content to as much as 15% after record heat and drought pushed grape sugar levels unusually high, with the 2026 harvest also arriving earlier than ever.

“College concierge moms” are becoming a thing, with parents hiring local stand-ins to deliver care packages, do laundry, pick up prescriptions, check on unresponsive students, and even sit with them in emergency rooms.

Ducati, Pirelli, and SACS Marine have created a 26-boat Pirelli 44 Ducati Edition speedboat with Superleggera-inspired styling, hand-carved tire-pattern tubes, a carbon-fiber hardtop, and three 500-hp Mercury Racing outboards producing 1,500 hp.

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