Tag: AI Funding

  • Brahma AI Secures $150M to Scale Enterprise AI Across Media, Sports, and Healthcare

    Brahma AI Secures $150M to Scale Enterprise AI Across Media, Sports, and Healthcare

    Brahma AI, the artificial intelligence company backed by Prime Focus, has raised USD 150 million in new funding to accelerate the expansion of its enterprise AI platform into media, sports, healthcare, and advertising. The round was led by Multiples Alternate Asset Management, which contributed USD 100 million, and values Brahma AI at approximately USD 2 billion.

    Prime Focus announced the funding on September 23, reinforcing its strategy of building Brahma AI as a standalone business while retaining a significant economic stake in the company.

    Expanding beyond entertainment

    Brahma AI’s platform helps large organizations manage content, produce visual assets, and deploy AI-powered tools for digital humans, voice, and multilingual workflows. The company already serves clients including Warner Bros., the NBA, and Mayo Clinic, and works with partners such as Google, Hakuhodo, and DNEG.

    According to Brahma AI’s founder and CEO, the new capital will support aggressive product development and global growth: “We are shortly launching interactive digital humans, we are building Brahma to be model agnostic, and we are taking our technology into entirely new use cases across sports, healthcare and advertising. We now have the firepower to invest aggressively in all of this, build out our presence in the Bay Area and significantly expand our global go-to-market organization.”

    Built on Prime Focus and DNEG technology

    Brahma AI’s technology was not built from scratch. It draws on years of work from the Prime Focus and DNEG ecosystem, including visual effects, content tools, and AI capabilities. The company also gained technology through its 2025 merger with Metaphysic, a deal that valued Brahma at USD 1.43 billion at the time.

    With the new funding, Brahma AI is positioning itself as a major AI platform player, moving beyond film and visual effects into industries where visual and digital content creation is rapidly growing. Prime Focus gains a new avenue to monetize its technology assets while maintaining exposure to the AI market’s upside.

  • Today’s Tech Roundup: India’s ₹2,500 Crore Chip Plant, Shiplog’s $930K Funding, and More

    Today’s Tech Roundup: India’s ₹2,500 Crore Chip Plant, Shiplog’s $930K Funding, and More

    Good morning, tech enthusiasts! Here are the top tech stories making headlines today, from a major semiconductor plant launch in India to key developments in AI funding, job markets, and cryptocurrency.

    PM Modi Launches ₹2,500 Crore Semiconductor Plant in Visakhapatnam

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the construction of ASIP Technologies’ ₹2,500 crore semiconductor plant in Visakhapatnam. This facility is South India’s first approved chip packaging unit under the India Semiconductor Mission. The project is expected to generate jobs, boost domestic chip production, attract further investment, and reduce India’s reliance on imported semiconductors.

    Shiplog Raises $930K for AI-Powered Marketing Platform

    AI startup Shiplog has secured $930,000 in pre-seed funding to develop AI agents that automate marketing research, campaign planning, and execution. The company aims to save businesses time by handling repetitive tasks. The fresh capital will be used to enhance the product, expand the team, and scale operations.

    AI Makes It Harder for Fresh Graduates to Land Jobs

    Many recent college graduates are facing increased difficulty securing their first job as companies integrate AI into both workflows and hiring processes. Some have submitted hundreds of applications with little success. Experts note that AI is reshaping the job market, creating new barriers for entry-level candidates.

    DeepSeek V4 Flash Offers High Performance at Lower Cost

    DeepSeek’s V4 Flash model delivers strong AI performance at a significantly reduced price, sparking debate over whether AI is becoming a commoditized product. As more affordable models enter the market, competition may shift from model quality to tools, services, security, and user experience.

    Telegram’s Brief App Store Removal Rattles Crypto Traders

    Telegram was temporarily removed from Apple’s App Store, causing concern among cryptocurrency traders. The outage led to a drop in GRAM-related tokens amid fears of user access disruption. The app was later restored, but the incident highlighted the sensitivity of crypto prices to platform availability.

  • China Debuts First Homegrown 3D AI Chip; CuspAI Raises $450M with Jeff Bezos Backing

    China Debuts First Homegrown 3D AI Chip; CuspAI Raises $450M with Jeff Bezos Backing

    Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Here are the top tech stories making headlines today, from groundbreaking semiconductor advancements to major funding rounds and regulatory actions.

    China Launches Its First Homegrown 3D AI Chip

    China has officially launched its first domestically developed 3D AI chip, the DF1000, in Shanghai. Built by startup Dongfang Suanxin, the chip is engineered to enhance AI computing capabilities and reduce China’s reliance on foreign semiconductor technology. This milestone marks a significant step forward for the country’s AI and semiconductor industries, signaling growing self-sufficiency in critical tech sectors.

    Jeff Bezos Backs CuspAI in $450 Million Funding Round

    CuspAI, a UK-based AI startup, has secured $450 million in fresh funding, with support from Jeff Bezos and Sovereign AI investors. The company leverages artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of new materials for clean energy, computer chips, and other industrial applications. The capital will be used to expand research, refine its technology, and scale its business operations globally.

    MIT Expert Warns Against Replacing Entry-Level Jobs with AI

    MIT researcher Andrew McAfee has cautioned companies against using AI to replace entry-level positions. He argues that these roles are essential for young workers to develop skills and prepare for advanced responsibilities. Removing them could lead to a shortage of skilled talent and hinder long-term organizational growth.

    San Francisco Demands Apple and Google Remove AI Nudify Apps

    San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu has formally requested that Apple and Google remove AI-powered “nudify” apps from their app stores. These apps generate fake nude images without consent, causing significant harm. Google has already removed many such apps, while Apple has yet to respond. Legal action may follow if the companies do not comply.

    Crypto Futures Market Sees $226 Million in Liquidations

    The cryptocurrency futures market experienced $226 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours due to sharp price fluctuations. The majority of losses came from traders betting on price increases. Bitcoin and Ethereum accounted for the largest liquidations, underscoring the ongoing volatility and risk in leveraged crypto trading.

  • Databricks Reaches $188 Billion Valuation With New Strategic Funding for Enterprise AI

    Databricks Reaches $188 Billion Valuation With New Strategic Funding for Enterprise AI

    Data and AI company Databricks has announced a new strategic funding round that values the company at $188 billion, signaling strong investor confidence in enterprise artificial intelligence. The financing, led by existing investor Coatue with participation from other new and existing investors, is expected to close later this summer.

    The fresh capital will be used to strengthen Databricks’ AI portfolio, expand research efforts, and support future acquisitions as the company meets rising enterprise demand for AI-powered business solutions.

    Focus on AI Products

    Databricks said the funding will accelerate development across three key offerings: Unity AI Gateway, Genie, and Lakebase.

    Unity AI Gateway enables enterprises to manage AI models from multiple providers while improving governance, security, and cost control. Genie acts as an AI-powered coworker that helps employees turn business data into actionable insights. Lakebase is a serverless PostgreSQL database designed to support AI agents and modern enterprise applications.

    According to the company, these products aim to address what it describes as the ‘context gap’ in enterprise AI, where disconnected data systems, governance challenges, and rising infrastructure costs prevent organizations from deploying AI effectively at scale.

    Enterprise AI Strategy

    Commenting on the funding, Databricks Co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi said enterprises are increasingly prioritizing measurable business value over indiscriminate AI spending.

    ‘Enterprises are moving from tokenmaxxing to valuemaxxing. They don’t want to burn expensive tokens on the smartest model for every task, they want the best outcome per dollar. That means having the freedom to choose the right AI for the job,’ Ghodsi said.

    He added that the new investment will help the company strengthen its multi-AI strategy by enhancing Unity AI Gateway, expanding Genie, and advancing Lakebase.

    Growing Enterprise Adoption

    Headquartered in San Francisco, Databricks serves more than 20,000 organizations worldwide, including Adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, and Unilever. The company says around 70% of Fortune 500 companies use its Data + AI Platform to build AI applications, analytics tools, and autonomous AI agents.

    The latest funding further strengthens Databricks’ position in the rapidly expanding enterprise AI market as businesses continue to invest in scalable, governed, and cost-efficient AI infrastructure.

  • DeepSeek Weighs New Funding Round Weeks After Record $7 Billion Raise

    DeepSeek Weighs New Funding Round Weeks After Record $7 Billion Raise

    Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek is already exploring another funding round, barely a month after completing its first-ever external fundraising. The move underscores the soaring capital demands of the global AI race, where companies are spending aggressively on computing infrastructure and custom chips to stay ahead.

    According to a Financial Times report, DeepSeek has begun preliminary discussions with potential investors for a new funding round that could value the company at about $71 billion before the investment. If completed, the proposed valuation would mark a sharp rise from the roughly $52 billion post-money valuation it secured after raising nearly $7 billion in late May.

    The fresh capital is expected to support expansion plans, particularly the construction of proprietary data centers and the purchase of additional AI processors needed to power next-generation models and AI agents.

    New fundraising efforts can be viewed as a large amount of money needed to build the complex infrastructure that would enable the development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology. Due to increased competition, more money will be spent on building computational power, not only via third-party cloud infrastructure.

    DeepSeek also builds AI chips for the inference stage, which involves the reaction of already-trained models to user queries. The firm intends to reduce its dependence on foreign hardware, optimize performance, and lower costs. It was previously reported that DeepSeek used Huawei Ascend processors alongside its existing hardware.

    DeepSeek has quickly gained a reputation as one of the most-watched Chinese AI startups because of the attention and appreciation of V3 and R1 models both internationally and among experts in the field. This success raised doubts about China’s ability to compete with leading US-based AI companies and made the startup a representative of China’s AI developers.

    With the successful completion of the proposed fundraising, DeepSeek will have significantly more financial resources to invest in infrastructure construction and chip development in the competitive AI environment.

  • Today’s Tech Roundup: France Launches Chip Testing Lab, AI Funding Tilts to Deep Tech, Multi-Agent AI Advances

    Today’s Tech Roundup: France Launches Chip Testing Lab, AI Funding Tilts to Deep Tech, Multi-Agent AI Advances

    Welcome to your daily briefing on the most significant developments in technology, startups, and digital innovation. Here’s what you need to know today.

    France Opens Joint Semiconductor Validation Laboratory

    French AI chip company Polyn Technology, in partnership with Alter Technology, has inaugurated a new laboratory in France dedicated to chip validation. The facility will test neuromorphic semiconductors in real-time environments, helping chipmakers accelerate product lifecycles and improve reliability.

    AI Investment Shifts Toward Deep-Tech Infrastructure

    Global AI funding remains robust, but capital is increasingly flowing from consumer AI applications to deep-tech companies building foundational infrastructure for AI, semiconductors, and data centers. Investors are prioritizing computing capacity for future AI workloads over short-term consumer products.

    Campus Hiring Delays Persist in India’s IT Sector

    Engineering graduates continue to face delayed onboarding, postponed joining dates, and even withdrawn offers as major IT firms adjust their recruitment policies amid market shifts.

    UN Blockchain Week 2026 Announces Major Media Partnership

    UN Blockchain Week 2026 has partnered with Crypto. The announcement was made during the 81st UN General Assembly. The collaboration aims to raise awareness of blockchain innovation, digital currencies, and policy, bringing together governments, companies, developers, and investors to advance Web3 technologies.

    Multi-Agent AI Systems Drive Smarter Enterprise Automation

    Multi-agent AI systems enable specialized AI agents to collaborate on complex tasks rather than relying on a single model. This approach enhances decision-making, process automation, scalability, and efficiency, allowing enterprises to manage intricate workflows with greater accuracy and speed.