Insider Brief Mecka raised $60 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital to expand its real-world robotics data infrastructure, research and commercial robot deployments. The company records human demonstrations using its own multi-sensor hardware and converts that data into training signals for robots, including motion tracking, 3D reconstruction and sensor alignment, while also…

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Insider Brief The Association for Advancing Automation will hold its International Robot Safety Conference Nov. 3-5 at Huntington Place in Detroit, with sessions focused on updated safety requirements for industrial robots, humanoids, mobile systems and other emerging automation technologies. A central focus will be the updated R15.06-2025 robot safety standard, with speakers from Amazon Robotics,…

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TikTok has introduced a conversational AI Shopping Assistant alongside a new in-app checkout feature that allows users to buy directly from brands, the company announced on Monday. According to TikTok, the Shopping Assistant is an AI agent built to help users discover and purchase products. The company said it understands context and remembers users’ preferences…

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Insider Brief Torch Systems, an outdoor asset intelligence company applying AI-powered monitoring to critical infrastructure, has secured $11.5 million in total funding, including $9.5 million in equity from Khosla Ventures, Abstract, Construct Capital and Starship Ventures, plus $2 million in venture debt from First Citizens Innovation Banking. The company pairs its solar-powered TerraNode sensing devices,…

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Insider Brief Hadrian, an agentic AI offensive security platform, has secured $40 million in funding co-led by Forgepoint Capital International and SmartFin, with participation from existing investors including HV Capital and Motive Partners, bringing its total funding to $65 million to support expansion across EMEA and the U.S. The platform combines continuous exposure management through…

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Melius, a New York-based AI platform for generating ad campaigns, images and videos, has secured $25 million in total funding, comprising a $20 million Series A led by CRV and a $5 million seed round led by General Catalyst. The company said it surpassed $1 million in annualized revenue within two months of emerging from…

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Insider Brief Valon Technologies, an AI-native operating system for regulated finance, has raised $150 million in Series D funding at a $2.3 billion valuation, doubling its previous valuation, with new investor Ribbit Capital joining existing backers including Andreessen Horowitz. The funding will accelerate development of ValonOS and its AI agents, which handle mortgage servicing tasks…

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Axya, an AI-powered procurement platform for manufacturers, has secured $17 million CAD in Series A funding led by McRock Capital, with participation from Yamaha Motor Ventures and existing shareholders including the Business Development Bank of Canada’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Real Ventures. The company has also established a new banking relationship with CIBC to…

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Read Online | Sign Up | Advertise Good morning, {{ first_name | AI enthusiasts }}, and welcome to our 3,941 new readers. OpenAI has spent 2026 turning math into its favorite proving ground, from a handful of solved problems in August to a Millennium Prize claim in September. The latest chapter is all about volume.…

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OpenAI is under fresh scrutiny after a long-serving safety employee resigned with a public warning about the company’s culture, even as it pushes ahead with new display ads in ChatGPT and invisible watermarks on AI-generated text in the European Union. David Robinson, who led the writing of the safety reports accompanying OpenAI’s major product launches…

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