Year: 2026

Exclusive: Dig Ventures raises $120m to back Europe’s AI infrastructure startups Powered by WPeMatico https://sifted.eu/articles/dig-ventures-fund-europe-ai-infrastructure/

Wellness marketplace Healf tops Sifted ranking of 250 fastest-growing startups in Europe Powered by WPeMatico https://sifted.eu/articles/healf-sifted-250-2026/

Robotaxi operators will face fines for blocking first responders A new California law places new rules on autonomous vehicles operators Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/robotaxi-operators-will-face-fines-for-blocking-first-responders/

The founder’s guide to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Everything you need to know TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is built around one question: How do you build an enduring company in the AI era? Our programming and speaker lineup reflect that. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/the-founders-guide-to-techcrunch-disrupt-2026-everything-you-need-to-know/

Lyft is paying $272.5M to settle lawsuit over how it classified drivers Today, gig economy drivers are classified as contractors. This settlement clears up a lingering lawsuit from 2020 when that was still an unanswered issue. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/lyft-is-paying-272-5m-to-settle-lawsuit-over-how-it-classified-drivers/

Kevin Mandia’s new ‘agent swarm’ security startup Armadin raises $255.5M at $2.5B valuation Kevin Mandia, best known as the founder of Mandiant, has a new startup that is using agent swarms to test and protect enterprises. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/kevin-mandias-new-agent-swarm-security-startup-armadin-raises-255-5m-at-2-5b-valuation/

Musk’s AI chatbot Grok reportedly encouraged Trump to capture Venezuela’s president President Trump reportedly asked for Grok’s opinion before invading Venezuela and capturing Nicolás Maduro. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/musks-ai-chatbot-grok-reportedly-encouraged-trump-to-capture-venezuelas-president/

ElevenLabs’ valuation doubles to $22BN, as completes $300M employee tender offer The valuation of UK hyped AI-audio generator ElevenLabs has doubled to $22bn in less than a year, it said today, as it completed a $300m employee tender offer. ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski announced the closing of the tender offer on X, along with

Berlin-based Restate raises $20M The team behind a technology that underpins real-time data use in banking has raised $20m in a Series A funding round for a startup, which carries out the plumbing work behind AI agents. The funding round in Berlin-founded Restate was led by European VC Singular, with

AI’s 6 Percent Problem [Sponsored] Nearly 90 percent of companies now use AI in at least one business function, and 44 percent have already scaled it across their organizations. Yet according to McKinsey’s “State of AI in 2026,” only 37 percent report a measurable impact on EBIT. The study, released