Jeff Bezos has co-founded and will serve as co-CEO of Project Prometheus, an AI company that has raised $6.2 billion - much of it from Bezos himself - to develop AI for engineering and manufacturing in aerospace, computing, and automotive sectors. The New York Times has more here.

Google DeepMind unveiled a new AI weather model that delivers two-week forecasts up to 50% faster and predicts hurricane paths a full day earlier than traditional methods, promising major gains for energy traders and climate-sensitive industries. Bloomberg has more here.

Peter Thiel’s hedge fund has dumped its entire $100 million Nvidia stake as worries mount over an AI investment bubble inflated by circular deals and unsustainable valuations. Bloomberg has more here.

Observations from ingesting 20,000+ private company quarterly updates:

Metrics aren’t called the same. (Net Dollar Retention had 23 different names.) Last quarter’s ARR is routinely restated this quarter. (Always downwards. Never acknowledged.) Headline metrics have at least 2 different reported values every quarter. (Close but not equal.)

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By Connie Loizos

When Nigel Morris tells you he’s worried about the economy, you listen. As industry observers know, Morris co-founded Capital One and pioneered lending to subprime borrowers, building an empire on understanding exactly how much financial stress the average American can handle. Now, as an early investor in Klarna and other buy now, pay later companies like Aplazo in Mexico, he’s watching something that makes him deeply uncomfortable.

“To see that people are using [BNPL services] to buy something as basic and fundamental as groceries,” Morris told me onstage at Web Summit in Lisbon this week, “I think is a pretty clear indication that a lot of people are struggling.”

The statistics back up his unease. Buy now, pay later services have exploded to 91.5 million users in the United States, according to the financial services firm Empower, with 25% using the services to finance their groceries as of earlier this year, according to survey data released in late October by lending marketplace Lending Tree.

These aren’t discretionary purchases — the designer bags and latest Apple headphones that BNPL was marketed for originally. Borrowers aren’t paying it all back, either. According to Lending Tree, default rates are accelerating: 42% of BNPL users made at least one late payment in 2025, up from 39% in 2024 and 34% in 2023.

This isn’t just a consumer finance story; it’s a canary in the coal mine for the entire venture-backed fintech ecosystem and beyond, echoing what preceded the 2008 mortgage crisis except for one thing: It’s largely invisible.

Because most BNPL loans aren’t reported to credit bureaus, they create what regulators call “phantom debt.” That means other lenders can’t see when someone has taken out five different BNPL loans across multiple platforms. The credit system is flying blind.

“In a world where, if I’m a buy-now-pay-later provider, and I’m not checking bureau data, I’m not feeding bureau data, I am oblivious to the fact that Nigel may have taken out 10 of these things in the last week,” Morris explained. “[That’s] absolutely true.”

Artios Pharma, a nine-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that develops cancer drugs designed to block tumor cells from repairing damaged DNA, raised a $115 million Series D round co-led by SV Health Investors and RA Capital Management, with Andera Partners, Avidity Partners, EQT Life Sciences, Invus, IP Group plc, Janus Henderson Investors, M Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Omega Funds, Pfizer Ventures, Piper Heartland, Schroders Capital, and Sofinnova Partners also piling on. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Celero Communications, a one-year-old startup based in Laguna Beach, CA, that develops coherent DSP technology for AI optical networking, raised a total of $140 million in Series A and Series B funding. The Series A was led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and Maverick Silicon also participating; and the Series B was led by Capital G. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Flatpay, a four-year-old Copenhagen startup that helps small businesses process card payments through its point-of-sale systems, raised a $169 million Series C round at a $1.75 billion post-money valuation. AVP and Smash Capital were the co-leads, with previous investor Dawn Capital also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

Gridware, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that develops grid-monitoring technology for utilities, raised a $55 million Series B round co-led by Tiger Global and Generation Investment Management, with Sequoia Capital, Convective Capital, Fifty Years, True Ventures, Lowercarbon, and Y Combinator also contributing. More here.

KoBold Metals, an eight-year-old Berkeley startup that uses AI to identify critical mineral deposits, raised $163 million of a proposed $200 million round from undisclosed investors. The Logic has more here.

Ramp, a six-year-old New York company that provides corporate expense management software, raised a $300 million round at a $32 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Lightspeed and included an employee tender offer. The company has raised a total of $2.3 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

Sakana AI, a two-year-old Tokyo startup that develops biologically inspired AI systems to make machine learning more efficient, raised a $135 million Series B round at a $2.6+ billion valuation. The deal was led by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, with Khosla Ventures, Factorial Energy, Macquarie Capital, Fundomo, Mouro Capital, NEA, Geodesic Capital, Lux Capital, Ora Global, MPower Partners, Shikoku Electric Power, and In-Q-Tel also digging in. The company has raised a total of $479 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Solve Therapeutics, a four-year-old San Diego startup that develops antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumors, raised a $120 million round led by Yosemite, with Abingworth, Ally Bridge Group, B Capital, Balyasny Asset Management, Merck & Co., SymBiosis, Alexandria Venture Investments, AyurMaya Capital Management, DC Global Ventures, General Atlantic, and Surveyor Capital also piling on. The company has raised a total of $321 million. More here.

Turing, a four-year-old Tokyo startup that develops fully self-driving automotive systems, raised a $63.2 million Series A round at a $388 million post-money valuation. The round was led by Denso, with GMO Internet Group and Global Brain also participating. The company also raised $35.4 million in debt. Bloomberg has more here.

Voize, a six-year-old Berlin startup that develops an AI companion to automate documentation and reduce administrative workloads for nurses, raised a $50 million Series A round led by Balderton Capital, with HV Capital, Redalpine, and Y Combinator also stepping up. EU-Startups has more here.

Amogy, a five-year-old New York startup that develops ammonia-to-power systems for carbon-free distributed energy, raised a $15 million round led by GS Engineering & Construction, with XPLOR and GS Futures also participating. The company has raised a total of $315 million. H2 View has more here.

Mate, a Tel Aviv startup founded this year that automates SOC alert investigations by integrating with SIEM, EDR, and email tools to correlate signals and resolve incidents, raised a $15.5 million seed round co-led by Team8 and Insight Partners. CTech has more here.

PowerLattice, a two-year-old startup based in Vancouver, WA, that develops chiplet technology to cut chip power consumption by more than 50%, raised a $25 million Series A round co-led by Playground Global and Celesta Capital, with participation from Pat Gelsinger. TechCrunch has more here.

Reelables, an eight-year-old London startup that makes printable wireless smart labels for tracking cargo and inventory, raised a $10.4 million Series A round led by Amigos Ventures, with Moneta, Raptor Group, Silicon Labs, and Smooth Brain also investing. More here.

Runlayer, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that provides security tools for the Model Context Protocol to help enterprises control and monitor AI agent access, raised an $11 million seed round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Felicis. TechCrunch has more here.

Span, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that develops an AI-native developer intelligence platform to help engineering teams measure and improve productivity, raised a $25 million Seed and Series A round. Investors included Alt Capital, Craft Ventures, SV Angel, BoxGroup, and Bling Capital. More here.

Guidoio, a two-year-old Milan startup that operates what it claims to be Italy’s first fully digital driving school, raised a $4 million seed round led by 360 Capital, with Azimut Libera Impresa also investing. Startup Rise EU has more here.

Luminal, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that builds compiler technology to optimize GPU performance for AI workloads, raised a $5.3 million seed round led by Felicis Ventures and joined by investors including Paul Graham. TechCrunch has more here.

Shipday, a five-year-old Menlo Park startup that provides delivery and logistics software for small and medium-sized businesses, raised a $7 million Series A round co-led by ECP Growth and Ibex Investors Mobility VC. More here.

Skeletalis, a Boston startup founded this year that develops bone-targeted therapies for musculoskeletal diseases, raised an $8 million round. Pillar VC was the deal lead, with KdT Ventures, age1, and Slocum Management also engaging. More here.

Private capital is facing its most complex market in over a decade. IPO windows are unpredictable, M&A selective, and valuations under pressure as LPs demand liquidity and fundraising tightens. 

According to Affinity’s 2026 Predictions Survey, 54% of investors cite proving fund value as their top challenge, while 67% expect more deals despite exit uncertainty. 

Join Northwestern Mutual, Armira, and Affinity to explore how firms are adapting strategies to thrive in 2026. 

Sofinnova Partners, a 53-year-old Paris venture firm that backs early-stage biotech and medtech startups, closed its eleventh flagship fund, Sofinnova Capital XI, at €650 million ($750 million), bringing total capital raised across its platform over the past year to €1.5 billion. More here.

The LegalTech Fund, a four-year-old Fort Lauderdale, FL venture firm that backs early-stage startups transforming the legal industry, raised its second fund with $110 million in commitments, nearly quadrupling its inaugural $28.5 million vehicle. More here.

Replicate, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that helps developers deploy and run AI models, is being acquired by Cloudflare to expand its AI development and deployment capabilities across its global network. Terms were not disclosed. Replicate’s backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, NVentures, SV Angel, Heavybit, and Y Combinator. More here.

EzDubs, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that provides real-time voice translation across more than 30 languages, was acquired by Cisco to integrate its technology into Webex and other collaboration tools. Terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

Tech titans Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Sundar Pichai are all exploring space-based data centers to power AI, arguing that solar energy harvested beyond Earth could eventually surpass terrestrial grids. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Apple’s board is preparing for Tim Cook’s possible exit as CEO early next year, with hardware chief John Ternus emerging as the leading successor after Cook’s 14-year run that took Apple’s value from $350 billion to $4 trillion. The Financial Times has more here.

In a 60 Minutes interview last night, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned that the AI industry could repeat the past mistakes of tobacco and opioid companies if it is not more transparent about its products and the risks they pose. The Guardian has more here.

An investigation by The New York Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found that at least $28 billion in illicit funds from hackers, scammers, and criminal groups has flowed into major crypto exchanges including Binance and OKX since 2023. The New York Times has more here.

Consumer watchdog PIRG found that several AI-enabled toys, including a teddy bear from China’s FoloToy, shared sexual content and safety risks with children while collecting sensitive data, prompting FoloToy to suspend sales and launch a safety audit. The Register has more here.

A new AI industry–backed super PAC called Leading the Future, funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Joe Lonsdale, Ron Conway, and others, is targeting New York congressional candidate Alex Bores over his support of state-level AI safety legislation. TechCrunch has more here.

A new kids’ skin-care brand, Rini, co-founded by actress Shay Mitchell, is sparking backlash for marketing sheet masks to children as young as 4, underscoring how beauty brands are pushing ever younger consumers into the self-care economy.

Why you need $1,500 earbuds.

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