Year: 2026

AI startups swallow half the funding across European tech Powered by WPeMatico https://sifted.eu/articles/ai-startups-swallow-half-funding

Sam Altman’s project World looks to scale its human verification empire. First stop: Tinder. World, which has raised eyebrows (but also a lot of interest) with its Orb-centered anonymous verification project, is looking to expand its influence via a bevy of new partnerships. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/17/sam-altmans-project-world-looks-to-scale-its-human-verification-empire-first-stop-tinder/

Kevin Weil and Bill Peebles exit OpenAI as company continues to shed ‘side quests’ Kevin Weil and Bill Peebles are leaving OpenAI as the company shuts down Sora and folds its science team, signaling a sharp pivot away from consumer moonshots toward enterprise AI. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/17/kevin-weil-and-bill-peebles-exit-openai-as-company-continues-to-shed-side-quests/

Man who hacked US Supreme Court filing system sentenced to probation Nicholas Moore hacked into three U.S. government networks using stolen credentials, and then bragged about it and posted victims’ personal data on Instagram under the handle @ihackedthegovernment. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/17/man-who-hacked-us-supreme-court-filing-system-sentenced-to-probation/

Sources: Cursor in talks to raise $2B+ at $50B valuation as enterprise growth surges Returning backers a16z and Thrive are expected to lead the round. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/17/sources-cursor-in-talks-to-raise-2b-at-50b-valuation-as-enterprise-growth-surges/

‘Tokenmaxxing’ is making developers less productive than they think There’s a lot more code — but it’s a lot more expensive and requires a lot more rewriting. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/17/tokenmaxxing-is-making-developers-less-productive-than-they-think/

Fund II second close strengthens Unconventional Ventures’ bet on overlooked founders Today, Unconventional Ventures (UV) announced the second close of Unconventional Ventures Fund II. In a challenging global climate — marked by economic uncertainty and tightening capital markets — this close represents more than a fundraising milestone. It signals strong

Solidroad scores $25M Series A to turn customer conversations into actionable data Solidroad, an AI platform that helps companies evaluate and improve every human and AI customer conversation, today announced a $25 million Series A round led by Hedosophia.. Solidroad strengthens customer experience through AI-powered training and quality insights. It

ET Capital launches Cambridge Venture Index Fund 2 to broaden access to deeptech investing ET Capital, a long-standing investor in high-growth technology businesses, has launched the Cambridge Venture Index SEIS/EIS Fund 2 (CVIF2).   It aims to back up to 20 early-stage, science-based companies emerging from the Cambridge and Oxford start-up

“We are where ChatGPT was five years ago,” says European 3D AI foundation model startup boss One of Europe’s top AI researchers, who is heading up a 3D AI foundation model startup, says that 3D AI models are “kind of where ChatGPT for language was five years ago”.  Matthias Niessner, the CEO and co-founder of SpAItial, took a leave of absence from