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At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Databricks’ Co-Founder on What Kills Enterprise AI Deals
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Databricks co‑founder Arsalan Tavakoli‑Shiraji warned that enterprise AI deals are now dying from operational instability rather than weak models. He explained that large firms have moved past curiosity and are scrutinizing implementation risk, governance, workflow disruption, infrastructure strain, and compliance exposure. Startups that focus on clean integration, reduced friction, and long‑term operational trust are more likely to convert pilots into lasting revenue. The session underscores a market shift from demo hype to durable, scalable AI deployments.
DuckDuckGo Installs Are up 30% as Users Reject Being ‘Force-Fed’ Google’s AI Search
Google’s rollout of an AI‑driven search experience has sparked backlash, prompting users to seek alternatives that let them opt out of AI. DuckDuckGo reported a surge in U.S. app installs, up 18.1% week‑over‑week and peaking at 30.5% on May 25, with...
Ethos Raises $22.75M From A16z for Its Expert Network with Voice Onboarding
Ethos, a London‑based AI startup, announced a $22.75 million Series A round led by a16z, with participation from General Catalyst and others. The company uses voice‑powered onboarding to capture detailed expert knowledge, enabling AI to match natural‑language client queries with highly specific...
Peter Sarlin’s QuTwo Reaches $380M Valuation in Angel Round
Finnish AI lab QuTwo, founded by ex‑AMD Silo AI chief Peter Sarlin, closed a €25 million ($29 million) angel round, lifting its post‑money valuation to €325 million (about $380 million). The company’s flagship QuTwo OS orchestrates workloads across classical, quantum and hybrid hardware, positioning it as...
Satya Nadella Says He’s Ready to ‘Exploit’ the New OpenAI Deal
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the revised OpenAI partnership gives Microsoft royalty‑free access to OpenAI’s models through 2032 and eliminates direct licensing fees. He highlighted that the AI business now runs at a $37 billion annual revenue rate, up 123% year‑over‑year, and...
Google Cloud Surpasses $20B, but Says Growth Was Capacity-Constrained
Google Cloud reported first‑quarter 2026 revenue of $20 billion, a 63% year‑over‑year increase, driven primarily by explosive demand for its generative AI offerings. AI‑related services grew nearly 800% YoY, while Gemini Enterprise sales rose 40% quarter‑over‑quarter. The division’s backlog surged to...
Beehiiv Rolls Out New Creator Tools, Including Webinars and Customizable Paywalls
Beehiiv unveiled a suite of creator‑focused tools, adding live webinars for up to 10,000 attendees, AI‑powered podcast analytics, metered paywalls and flexible paid‑trial options. The updates extend its native podcast hosting, letting creators manage distribution and monetization in one place....
OpenAI Teams up with Infosys to Bring AI Tools to More Businesses
OpenAI has teamed up with Infosys to embed its AI suite, including the Codex coding assistant, into the Indian IT firm’s Topaz AI platform. The integration will help Infosys’ clients modernize software development, automate workflows and scale AI deployments, initially...
InsightFinder Raises $15M to Help Companies Figure Out Where AI Agents Go Wrong
InsightFinder, an AI observability startup founded by NC State professor Helen Gu, secured a $15 million Series B round led by Yu Galaxy, bringing total funding to $35 million. The capital will fund its first sales and marketing hires as it scales the...
AI Data Center Startup Fluidstack in Talks for $1B Round at $18B Valuation Months After Hitting $7.5B, Says Report
Fluidstack is in talks to raise a $1 billion round that would value the AI‑focused data‑center startup at $18 billion, more than double its $7.5 billion valuation from months earlier. The company recently secured a $50 billion contract with Anthropic to build custom AI...
Arm Is Releasing the First In-House Chip in Its 35-Year History
Arm Holdings announced its first internally designed processor, the Arm AGI CPU, aimed at AI inference workloads. The chip, built on the Neoverse IP and co‑engineered with Meta, is already available for order with Meta as the inaugural customer. Arm...
Mistral Bets on ‘Build-Your-Own AI’ as It Takes on OpenAI, Anthropic in the Enterprise
Mistral unveiled Forge, a platform that lets enterprises build and train custom AI models from scratch using their own data. Announced at Nvidia GTC, Forge differentiates itself by offering full model training rather than simple fine‑tuning or retrieval‑augmented generation. The...
Memories AI Is Building the Visual Memory Layer for Wearables and Robotics
Memories.ai announced a partnership with Nvidia to build a visual‑memory layer for AI wearables and robotics, using Nvidia's Cosmos‑Reason 2 and Metropolis tools. The startup launched its Large Visual Memory Model (LVMM) in July 2025, positioning it against Google’s Gemini Embedding 2. It...
Hyperscale Power Is the Latest Startup to Challenge 140-Year-Old Transformer Tech
The century‑old iron‑core transformer is being eclipsed by solid‑state alternatives as data‑center power needs surge. Startups in the space have collectively raised over $330 million, with Hyperscale Power securing a €5 million seed round to develop an ultra‑compact, high‑frequency transformer. Hyperscale claims...
How 1,000+ Customer Calls Shaped a Breakout Enterprise AI Startup
Narada, an enterprise AI startup founded by veteran entrepreneur David Park, built its product by conducting more than 1,000 customer calls to pinpoint workflow automation pain points. The team deliberately postponed fundraising, preferring bootstrapped growth to stay lean and avoid...