Startups
Latest news, analysis, and insights about Startups.
AI Model Wars: Gemini, Claude & GPT Battle for Supremacy
Gemini 3.1 Pro leads most benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.6 wins on human preference. GPT-5.2 shipped under competitive fire. The AI model wars of 2026 have no clear winner — and that's exactly what makes this market fascinating. Here's a sharp breakdown of where things stand and what it means.
South Korea Enacts Sweeping AI Regulations as Startups Warn of Compliance Costs
South Korea has enacted landmark AI legislation, becoming one of the first Asian nations with comprehensive AI rules. But Korean startups—including global players like Kakao, Naver, and Upstage—are warning the compliance burden could kneecap innovation.
Meta's Chief AI Scientist Bets His New Startup Against Large Language Models
Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist and longtime LLM skeptic, is reportedly launching AMI Labs—a startup built on his conviction that large language models are a dead end. The Turing Award winner is putting his money where his mouth has been for years.
LiveKit Reaches Unicorn Status With $100M Raise, Cementing Its Role as Voice AI's Backbone
LiveKit, the real-time communication engine powering OpenAI's Realtime API, just hit unicorn status with a $100M Series B led by Index Ventures. The five-year-old startup's $1B valuation signals that the picks-and-shovels bet in conversational AI is paying off.
Humans& Just Raised the Largest Seed Round Ever—What Their 'Human-Centric' AI Bet Means
A new AI startup called Humans& just closed what may be the largest seed round in venture history: $480 million at a $4.48 billion valuation. Founded by veterans of Anthropic, xAI, and Google, the company is betting that AI's future lies in augmentation, not replacement.
AI Video Startup Higgsfield Reaches $1.3B Valuation With Actual Revenue to Back It Up
While most AI video startups chase hype, Higgsfield just proved there's real money in the space. The ex-Snap exec's company hit unicorn status on $200M in actual revenue—a stark contrast to competitors still searching for sustainable business models.
Parloa's $350M Raise and $3B Valuation Signal Enterprise Voice AI's Breakout Moment
German voice AI startup Parloa just tripled its valuation to $3 billion in eight months, raising $350 million from General Catalyst. The rapid ascent signals that enterprise customers are ready to bet big on AI-powered customer service automation.
Cursor Buys Graphite: AI Code Editor Expands Into Code Review and PR Management
Cursor, the AI-powered code editor that's been eating GitHub Copilot's lunch, just acquired Graphite—the modern code review platform known for stacked PRs. This isn't just a feature add. It's a land grab for the entire developer workflow.
Lovable's $6.6B Valuation Signals Investor Frenzy for AI Coding Tools
Lovable just raised $330 million at a $6.6 billion valuation—more than tripling since July. The 'vibe coding' startup's meteoric rise signals a new phase in AI-assisted development.
Lightspeed's $9 Billion War Chest Signals Venture Capital's Deepening AI Conviction
Lightspeed Venture Partners just closed a record $9 billion in fresh capital, with AI startups firmly in its sights. The massive raise signals that top-tier VCs see plenty of runway left in the AI boom—and are positioning to capture it.
Fal's $140M Series D signals Sequoia's big bet on AI infrastructure for developers
In a market where AI valuations are under intense scrutiny, Fal just pulled off something remarkable: tripling its valuation to $4.5 billion in five months flat. Sequoia's leading the $140M Series D, and the numbers tell a story worth paying attention to.
Former Databricks AI Chief Raises $475M Seed at $4.5B to Build Brain-Inspired Computers
A two-month-old startup just raised $475 million at a $4.5 billion valuation. Unconventional AI, founded by former Databricks AI head Naveen Rao, is betting that the future of AI computing looks a lot more like your brain than your GPU.
Enterprise AI Spending Surges to $37 Billion as Startups Dominate the Application Layer
Enterprise spending on generative AI has exploded from $1.7 billion in 2023 to $37 billion in 2025, now capturing 6% of the global SaaS market. But here's the real story: startups are winning, taking $2 for every $1 incumbents earn at the application layer.
Cursor Ditched Sanity and Built Their Own CMS in 3 Days. Is This the Future—Or a Trap?
Lee Robinson migrated cursor.com off Sanity in 3 days for $260 using AI agents. Sanity's response reveals a fundamental tension: is vibe coding the future of infrastructure, or are we about to learn why CMSes exist the hard way?
How a YC Startup Built LLM Training That's 2x Faster—And Runs on Your Gaming PC
A YC startup with 43,000+ GitHub stars just made fine-tuning LLMs accessible to everyone. Unsloth delivers 2x faster training with 70% less VRAM—and it's completely open source.
Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab Launches Tinker, Democratizing AI Fine-Tuning for Everyone
Mira Murati's new AI startup just dropped its first product—and it's a direct challenge to the closed-model orthodoxy. Tinker gives researchers the keys to fine-tune frontier models.