Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
LangChain raised $125 million at a $1.25 billion valuation, the company announced on Monday. TechCrunch reported in July that the provider of a popular open source framework for building AI agents was raising fresh funds at a valuation of at least $1 billion. The deal was led by IVP, as we previously reported. New investors CapitalG and Sapphire Ventures joined in, as did existing investors Sequoia, Benchmark, and Amplify. LangChain began in 2022 as an open source project founded by machine learning engineer Harrison Chase. The startup was an early darling of the AI era, solving problems that made building…
Netflix’s quarter — and stock price — was dragged down by a hefty $619 million tax-related expense that took Wall Street by surprise.Netflix otherwise had another standout quarter, notching record revenue fueled by robust viewership for Korean-themed megahits like “Kpop Demon Hunters” and “Squid Game,” as well as its live boxing event, “Canelo vs. Crawford.”Netflix’s revenue rose 17.2% to a record $11.5 billion in the third quarter, largely in line with expectations from analysts and the company’s guidance.The company said its ad tier, a key growth area for the streamer, had its “best ad sales quarter ever” and doubled commitments…
Sesame, a conversational AI startup and smart glasses maker, has raised a $250 million Series B round and is opening up its beta to a select group of testers, the company announced Tuesday. The startup, headed by former Oculus co-founder and CEO Brendan Iribe and Ankit Kumar, former CTO of AR startup Ubiquity6, is working to create a personal AI agent that interacts with users using a natural-sounding human voice. The company plans to embed the personal AI agent into lightweight eyewear designed to be worn throughout the day and which users can interact with via voice. The startup first…
Today, OpenAI launched its new Atlas web browser in a surprise livestream. The show started with CEO Sam Altman himself, speaking directly to the audience. “We think AI represents a rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be,” Altman said. “In the same way that, for the previous way people used the internet, the URL bar and the search box were a great analogue, what we’re starting to see is that the chat experience and the web browser can be a quick analogue.” It was an inspiring note, in the classic Steve Jobs mode. But even more important than…
When I think of the term “lunch hour,” I picture Jon Hamm as Don Draper in Mad Men, schmoozing with clients over prime rib and several martinis, even though that’s certainly not what my work lunch looks like. The endless array of fast and fast-casual food joints available in the U.S. suggests that it’s not the way most Americans are spending their midday meals either. (There’s even a “sad desk lunch” hashtag that went viral a few years ago.)It makes me wonder: Does anyone take a real lunch break anymore? To find out, Yahoo/YouGov polled 1,676 U.S. adults between Sept. 25…
Fal.ai, a startup that hosts image, video, and audio AI models for developers, has closed a new round valuing the company at over $4 billion, four people familiar with the deal said. The company raised approximately $250 million, two of the people said. Major investors in the round are Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia, according to our sources. Fal didn’t respond to a request for comment. Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins declined to comment. The new round is coming less than three months after Fal announced a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation led by Meritech. At that time,…
For the last six months, I’ve been living with health-focused wearables — testing the best fitness trackers, best smartwatches, and best smart rings head-to-head to see which brands, models, and categories are actually worth it. And in a sea of bulky watches, complicated app interfaces, and so much buzzing interrupting my day, the Fitbit Inspire 3 is an uncomplicated, lightweight return to the basics of what’s important when being your healthiest self.After weeks of testing during work, sleep, workouts, and travel, I’ve found the Fitbit Inspire 3 nails the fundamentals without any of the fuss: it’s light, low-profile, and comfortable…
After earlier this year launching a marketplace that allows websites to charge AI bots for scraping their content, web infrastructure provider Cloudflare is pushing for increased regulation in the AI sector. The company’s chief executive, Matthew Prince, says he’s in London to speak with the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), where he’s proposing stricter rules on how Google should be able to compete in the AI race, given its search dominance. The CMA earlier this month designated Google with a special status in the search and advertising markets because of its “substantial and entrenched” position. The move will allow…
Tesla will report third-quarter earnings on Wednesday after the closing bell, and investors are eager to hear updates on some of the EV maker’s big projects, namely its Robotaxi rollout and how it’s incorporating AI into its vehicles.Tesla stock has had an extremely volatile 2025. It fell as much as 47% from January to March as investors worried about weak demand and CEO Elon Musk’s work with the Trump administration, which drummed up political protests and calls for boycotts. Then, shares kicked off a 100% rally as investors bought the beaten-down stock amid Musk’s renewed focus on the company and…
By Jennifer RigbyLONDON (Reuters) -Eradicating polio is still possible despite significant funding cuts to the effort, global health officials said on Tuesday as they outlined how they will cope with the shortfall.The budget of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a partnership including the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation, will take a 30% cut in 2026 and has a $1.7 billion funding gap up to 2029, the organisation says.The shortfall is largely driven by a global pullback from foreign aid, led by the United States – which is also withdrawing from the WHO – although its future funding for…