Browsing: Startups

Africa’s early-stage startups are facing a new funding squeeze as venture capital firms increasingly prioritize backing proven companies over riskier young ventures in a bid to deliver returns to investors.

As orders from Israeli defense tech companies reached approximately $330 million in exports, the government met on Thursday with CEOs of some of the country’s top defense startups to discuss Israel’s defense strategy, which includes munitions independence, pushing for the development of “the next surprises,” and increasing defense exports.

Robinhood this week unveiled a financial instrument that lets anyone feel like they, too, can make money by backing Y Combinator startups.

Jeff Dean, one of the longest-serving and most influential executives at Google, is stepping down from the search giant to launch his own AI startup.

AI startups are heavily influencing the venture capital landscape, comprising 80% of the funding for Forbes’ latest list. These startups are also creating a new wave of competitors nearing unicorn status. The emphasis on AI reflects its widespread application in both enterprise and emerging technologies.

In 2026, 19.2% of African tech startups had at least one female co-founder and only 12.1% had a female CEO

Cybersecurity startup Horizon3 has raised a $250 million Series E at a $2 billion valuation, more than tripling its valuation in 14 months. The San Francisco-based firm drew backing from returning investors NightDragon and NEA.

August 03, 2026 | 22:45(0) user say A new startup incubation programme will select up to 10 startups from at least 100 applications, with three advancing to testbed and fundraising stages.

It’s so hard for big businesses to get AI tools working reliably that whole new organizations of forward-deployed engineers or FDEs— specialists who drop into a company to get its AI systems up and running — are springing up to help them.

Livestream shopping platform Whatnotis in talks to raise fresh capital at a roughly $20 billion valuation, a deal that would nearly double the company’s last private valuation.