Insider Brief The ARM Institute’s 2025 Impact Report highlighted 14 completed technology projects, 18 new project starts, $3.8 million in project funding and a new five-year cooperative agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory worth up to $87.66 million. The organization identified robotics for casting and forging and physical AI for manufacturing as its two…

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Insider Brief Firebird has launched Firebird Labs, a new venture platform focused on incubating and funding startups in robotics, physical AI, aerospace and life sciences, while partnering with OpenAI and Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport to provide AI tools to 50,000 students, teachers and researchers. Firebird Labs plans to invest in and…

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Insider Brief Human Archive has raised $8.2 million in funding from Wing Venture Capital, NVP Capital, Y Combinator and angel investors from frontier AI labs and technology companies to expand its platform for collecting real-world training data for robotics and physical AI systems. The company develops hardware and mobile systems that collect and synchronize video,…

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Insider Brief Airis Labs has emerged from stealth with $60 million in funding, including a $31 million Series B led by PSG Equity, to expand its AI-powered visual intelligence platform for government and defense customers. The company’s software ingests video and imagery from sources including smartphones, drones, security cameras, body cameras and social media, transforming…

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Insider Brief Slamcore has raised $14 million in funding led by ROKStar Ventures, bringing its total funding to $40 million, with participation from Toyota Ventures, Interwoven Ventures, MMC Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners and IP Group. The London-based company develops visual AI software that enables industrial vehicles to track their position and movement inside facilities without…

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Boston-based SOND has emerged from stealth with $7 million in funding and a debut product called Dreambuds — in-ear devices that capture 12 physiological signals and use a cloud-based AI coach to actively intervene and improve sleep in real time. The startup was co-founded by CEO Yadid Ayzenberg, formerly Bose’s Head of Sleep Products, and CTO Amir…

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Insider Brief EngineAI Robotics announced a new manufacturing facility in Shenzhen and began production of the first batch of its T800 humanoid robots, with the company saying the factory can produce a robot every 15 minutes. The 129,000-square-foot facility supports the full manufacturing process and incorporates automated assembly, bonding and laser welding systems alongside digital…

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YouTube is rolling out new podcast features for Premium subscribers, led by an AI-powered recommendation tool that suggests shows based on genre, mood, and listening history — extending the personalised discovery already offered by its Ask Music feature. A new Auto Speed setting uses AI to intelligently adjust playback rates during slower or information-dense segments, addressing the…

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Anthropic has closed a $65 billion Series H round at a $965 billion post-money valuation, co-led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, and others, with strategic participation from Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. The round includes $15 billion in previously committed hyperscaler investments, among them $5 billion from Amazon. Altimeter founder Brad Gerstner…

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Asana has acquired StackAI, a Y Combinator-backed AI workflow automation company, for $75 million, as the project management platform repositions itself as an operating system for human-agent teams. StackAI co-founders Tony Rosinol and Bernard Aceituno will join Asana as part of the deal. StackAI had raised just under $20 million, including a $16 million Series…

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