Thinking Machines Labs is reportedly seeking a $50B valuation, just months after raising at a $12B mark. But with co-founder departures and a first product—Tinker—that feels incremental rather than transformative, the jump raises questions. As we’ve covered before, the company still looks more like a research lab than a revenue engine. The widening gap between ambition and output makes this valuation hard to justify.

Arta has expanded its Arta AI platform, bringing its “AI Sidekick” to wealth managers and banks like Bank of Singapore and Hong Leong Bank. Purpose-built for finance, Arta AI gives each advisor a dedicated digital co-pilot that connects portfolios, research, and market data. The launch highlights a shift toward task-specific AI helpers — “micro-agents” designed to augment human expertise, offering precision and compliance where generic chatbots fall short.

Global venture capital reached $120.7 billion in Q3 2025, the fourth straight quarter of growth, according to KPMG’s Venture Pulse Report. AI dominated funding flows, with Anthropic ($13B), xAI ($10B), and Mistral ($1.5B) among the largest rounds. From the U.S. to Europe and Canada, investors are pouring record sums into both model builders and applied AI startups—cementing AI as the gravity well of global VC.

The AI sector has entered an era of unprecedented valuations — with Thinking Machines raising the largest seed round in history and nearly half of all venture capital now flowing into AI. As M.G. Siegler noted on spyglass, OpenAI leads with a $500B secondary valuation, while Anthropic, xAI, and others are pushing past the $100B mark. But as the race tilts from technology to market share and data access, smaller players remain crucial, driving innovation and attracting the att

Global VC funding hit $91 billion in Q2, with nearly half flowing into AI—a clear sign that the AI boom is driving unprecedented investment momentum - based on Fortune and Crunchbase