Month: July 2026

13 early-stage deeptech startups Tier 1 VCs backed in H1 2026 Powered by WPeMatico https://sifted.eu/articles/13-early-stage-deeptech-startups-tier-1-vcs-backed-in-h1-2026

Pliant hits $100m ARR following US expansion Powered by WPeMatico https://sifted.eu/articles/pliant-100m-arr

One of Europe’s most active LPs is looking for VCs with ‘industrial know-how’ Powered by WPeMatico https://sifted.eu/articles/molten-ventures-invest-defence-space-vc

Microsoft is openly competing with OpenAI, Anthropic more than ever Microsoft pitched its own homegrown AI models, harnesses, and even a Mythos competitor on Wednesday, telling Wall Street it plans for continued growth. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/29/microsoft-is-openly-competing-with-openai-anthropic-more-than-ever/

Mark Zuckerberg predicts that billions of people will have personal AI agents in five years As Meta pours billions into AI infrastructure and agents, Zuckerberg is working to convince investors that the payoff will be worth the price. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/29/mark-zuckerberg-predicts-that-billions-of-people-will-have-personal-ai-agents-in-five-years/

Microsoft logs $3.2B from Anthropic investment, but OpenAI was a mixed bag When Microsoft reported killer fourth-quarter earnings for its fiscal 2026 year (which ended June 30), it tucked in an interesting little tidbit about how its investments in the two biggest, and competing, AI labs are doing. Powered by

Zuckerberg says Meta’s enterprise AI opportunity extends beyond agents On the company’s second-quarter earnings call Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta sees a “large enterprise opportunity” spanning AI agents, APIs, compute, and internal software. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/29/zuckerberg-says-metas-enterprise-ai-opportunity-extends-beyond-agents/

Discover what’s next for AI, from the SaaS reckoning to the agent security gap, at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026  At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, the AI Stage is back to dig into the single hottest topic in the community for the past few years, presented by Google for Startups. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/29/discover-whats-next-for-ai-from-the-saas-reckoning-to-the-agent-security-gap-at-techcrunch-disrupt-2026/

Greyparrot secures $27M Series B to scale AI waste intelligence for the circular economy London-based AI waste intelligence company Greyparrot has raised $27 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding to $60 million. The round was led by technology investor Omar Mir and comes after Greyparrot’s AI platform

5U AI lands $3.2M pre-seed for AI freight workforce platform Munich-based logistics AI startup 5U AI has raised $3.2 million in pre-seed funding to scale its digital workforce platform for freight forwarding teams. The round was led by London-based Emerge Capital. Founded in 2025 by Technical University of Munich graduates