Hungarian communications giant 4iG has made a binding $100 million investment commitment to Axiom Space. The deal aims to secure Hungary a role in future orbital data center programs and expands 4iG’s ambitious push to become a vertically integrated space player.
Visa and Mastercard have agreed to a $167.5 million settlement over claims they conspired to keep ATM access fees high. The deal, filed in federal court, covers potentially millions of ATM users with qualifying transactions since October 2007.
Imprint, a fintech that builds co-branded credit card programs, has raised $150 million at a $1.2 billion valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from several top-tier VC firms.
The era of the unicorn is over. A new class of startup, the “hectocorn,” valued at $100 billion or more, has emerged. This small club includes giants like OpenAI, SpaceX, and ByteDance.
The European Innovation Council, which manages a €10 billion ($10.7B) deeptech fund, has appointed a new 20-person board. The move comes as the organization announces it will begin funding dual-use defense technologies starting in early 2026 and emphasizes a new focus on scaling companies globally.
Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, says the current frenzy around AI startup funding is creating unsustainable “bubbles.” He points to companies raising at “tens of billions” valuations with little to show, predicting a market correction is on the way.
Two former Palantir employees have raised a $20 million Series A for their London-based startup, Ankar. They’re using AI to streamline the notoriously slow and manual patent filing process, with early customers like L’Oréal reporting big productivity gains.
Managed security provider Cyderes has acquired Lucidum, a small firm specializing in identity security. The deal adds 10 employees and key technology that Cyderes plans to use as a backbone for its managed services and future agentic AI systems.
Mindoo has secured €5 million in Seed funding to scale its platform for AI agentic workflows in healthcare. The funding round was led by 6DC and Syndicate One. The company is already deployed in hospitals in Belgium and Germany.
Fraud-fighting startup Verisoul just landed an $8.8 million Series A round led by High Alpha. The company claims to stop AI bots and fake users with a holistic platform, but the arms race against AI fraud is just heating up.
