News linked to this event type.
According to Fortune, live streaming e-commerce platform Whatnot completed a $545 million Series G funding round, with its valuation nearly doubling from $11.5 billion in October 2025 to $20 billion. The round was led by ICONIQ, Lightspeed, and Avra, with new investors including Kleiner Perkins, Wellington Management, and others, while existing shareholders such as Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, and CapitalG continued to participate. Since its founding in 2019, Whatnot has raised approximately $1.5 billion in total funding, expanding its business from collectibles to hundreds of categories including designer bags and fresh food, covering multiple national markets, and surpassing 1 billion in order volume.
Odaily News - Investment firm Bernstein recently released a report assigning different ratings to two major Bitcoin miners transitioning to AI infrastructure: maintaining an "Outperform" rating on CleanSpark with a price target of $24, and initiating coverage on MARA Holdings with a "Market-Perform" rating and a price target of $17.Bernstein analysts stated that the core reason for the valuation divergence between the two companies lies in their differing progress in executing AI infrastructure transitions. CleanSpark has already signed an anchor tenant agreement for an AI data center and commenced construction, while MARA is still awaiting its first commercial AI contract.Regarding CleanSpark, the company previously announced the signing of a 20-year triple-net lease agreement with a global high-investment-grade technology firm, covering 175MW of IT capacity at its Sandersville, Georgia project. The agreement also includes exclusive cooperation arrangements for CleanSpark's total 885MW asset portfolio in Texas. Bernstein believes that CleanSpark's collaboration with tenant-designated engineering and construction contractors helps mitigate risks associated with its first large-scale AI infrastructure deployment. The first data center hall is expected to become operational in the fourth quarter of 2027.In contrast, Bernstein's assessment of MARA is more cautious. Analysts pointed out that the first commercial AI contract will serve as a key catalyst for a re-rating of MARA's stock, noting that company management previously indicated expectations of signing at least two AI lease agreements by the end of this year. (The Block)
Odaily News Ark Invest, the asset management firm founded by Cathie Wood, disclosed that on August 6, it purchased 267,676 shares of Block stock, valued at approximately $21 million; on the same day, it increased its holdings by 20,318 shares of SpaceX, valued at approximately $2.3 million. Block, formerly known as Square, was renamed by Jack Dorsey in 2021. It has held Bitcoin on its corporate balance sheet since 2020 and offers BTC buy/sell services to retail customers via Cash App. In recent months, Block has also expanded related operations through its Bitkey hardware wallet and its Bitcoin mining hardware division, Proto. SpaceX listed on Nasdaq in June under the ticker SPCX, with an issue price of $135, raising approximately $75 billion and reaching a valuation of nearly $1.8 trillion. Ark's purchase came about two months after SpaceX's listing.
According to EU-Startups, Cyprus-based enterprise AI customer service company Omilia announced the completion of a €58.1 million (approximately $67 million) Series B financing round led by Expedition Growth Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate business expansion in North America and globally, with plans to open its first U.S. office in the second half of 2026. Founded in 2002, Omilia focuses on providing self-learning agent CX solutions for enterprise call centers using its proprietary voice AI technology, and the platform supports compliance standards such as FedRAMP, PCI-DSS, SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR.
According to TechFlow Research, JPMorgan's August 6 research report cites LightCounting's latest forecast that the data communication market CAGR from 2025 to 2030 will reach 28%, with the scale increasing from $20 billion to over $70 billion. 1.6T products are the largest growth driver, with a CAGR of about 120%, contributing about $40 billion by 2030. After the NPO/CPO market is included in the addressable market calculation, it will exceed $18 billion by 2030, accounting for more than 25% share of the data center communication market. The telecom and data center interconnect market CAGR is 18%, reaching $9 billion by 2030. In terms of short-term financial reports, JPMorgan believes COHR has the highest earnings certainty, with revenue and profit margins expected to continue improving; market concerns over LITE are excessive, with valuation corresponding to only 22x 2028 EPS, leaving room to exceed expectations; FN needs September quarterly guidance to boost confidence. In terms of customer landscape, Google is expected to become the largest optical component purchaser by 2030, and Meta will lead NPO/CPO deployment. For Nvidia, short-term share rebounds to 25% due to 1.6T, but long-term share is expected to drop from 18% to 12%.
Odaily News, data from BofA Global Research shows that as of now, global AI-related funding in 2026 has reached $344 billion, compared to just $136 billion for the entire year of 2025. Of this, $157 billion came from U.S. dollar-denominated hyperscale cloud providers, $62 billion from non-U.S. dollar-denominated cloud providers, $51 billion was directed toward data center projects, $50 billion was tied to NVIDIA and SpaceX, and another $23 billion flowed into the chip sector.
According to TechFlow Research, Morgan Stanley's research report on August 6 pointed out that the combined growth rate of the three major cloud vendors in Q2 jumped from 39% to 48%, accelerating for five consecutive quarters. AWS grew 37% (fastest in 18 quarters), Azure increased 43%, and Google Cloud increased 82%. AWS's AI annualized revenue has exceeded $25 billion, with triple-digit growth. Azure's PostgreSQL revenue increased 55% (accelerating for three consecutive quarters), and Fabric paying customers exceeded 40,000, up 60%. Morgan Stanley believes AI consumption is driving core infrastructure demand, creating a positive backdrop for DDOG, SNOW, and MDB. However, expectations are also rising simultaneously. Market expectations for DDOG's Q2 growth rate are 35% to 36%, with valuation corresponding to approximately 69 times 2028 FCF; any signal below expectations could be amplified. Most of SNOW's consumption comes from AWS, and cloud acceleration is a positive signal for product revenue. MDB is unlikely to see an AI inflection point in the short term, but competitive pressure is increasing. Morgan Stanley maintains an Overweight rating on all three companies, with target prices of $300, $300, and $380 respectively. Whether demand exists no longer needs verification; the question the market needs to ask is whether demand is good enough to support current valuations.
According to Reuters, Australian AI infrastructure company Firmus completed a $2 billion equity financing, pushing its post-money valuation to over $10.5 billion, nearly doubling the $5.5 billion valuation from its previous funding round in April. The round saw continued participation from NVIDIA and Coatue Management, with funds under Blackstone and Jane Street also providing support.
According to TechFlow Research, Morgan Stanley's latest research report in August indicates that the Q3 DRAM contract price quarter-over-quarter increase has fallen from an expected 20% to 15%, memory module inventory has risen to 12.5 weeks, and signs of weakness have emerged in China's consumer electronics demand. However, Morgan Stanley believes this is merely a normal cyclical slowdown, not a trend reversal. The capex growth rate of the four major cloud vendors was adjusted up from 14% to 29%, and AI demand remains strong. Samsung aims to place 60% to 70% of its capacity under long-term agreements, SK Hynix has completed LTA negotiations with approximately 10 clients, and Micron's 16 agreements cover approximately $100 billion in minimum revenue. Morgan Stanley maintains an overweight rating on Samsung and SK Hynix, with target prices of 381,000 won and 2.6 million won respectively, implying 74% to 84% upside potential. Samsung's current stock price corresponds to an expected P/E ratio of about 5x for 2026, while SK Hynix is about 5.8x. Morgan Stanley believes LTAs are changing industry earnings visibility; the market has not yet assigned a premium to LTA-supported earnings. If LTAs verify downside protection, the memory valuation system may be reshaped.
According to Reuters, optical network startup Lumilens announced that it raised over $700 million in its latest Series C funding round, with the company valuation reaching $5.51 billion and total funding exceeding $900 million. Driven by the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers, market demand for high-speed, low-power optical network connection technology continues to rise.
Odaily News - The Korea Digital Convergence Industry Association has released the "Expected Revisions to Sub-regulations of the Tokenized Securities System and Detailed Guidelines" document, which primarily clarifies the scope of "pooling" for similar underlying assets, OTC trading limits for retail investors, access conditions for OTC exchanges handling non-standardized securities, the roadmap for tokenization of standardized securities (STO), and requirements for issuer account management institutions.The document mentions that separate annual limits are expected to be set for retail investors trading tokenized securities over-the-counter. In addition, licensing standards for OTC trading venues will be established, along with the inclusion of multiple asset valuation standards and profit distribution methods.It is reported that the detailed regulatory rules will still need to go through legislative, public notice, and regulatory review procedures before being finalized. The new regulations are expected to promote the gradual expansion of tokenization from non-standardized securities such as investment contract securities and income-bearing securities to standardized securities including stocks and bonds, while further improving investor protection and market infrastructure development. (EToday)
: Japanese yen stablecoin operator JPYC Inc. has announced an extension of its Series B funding round, bringing total funding to approximately 6 billion yen, or roughly $38 million. The latest investment includes approximately 1 billion yen (about $6.3 million) from Tokyo-listed logistics company AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings. Core business: operating JPYC, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Japanese yen. JPYC launched the stablecoin in October 2025 and became the first digital currency to be registered as an official electronic payment instrument under Japan's revised Payment Services Act. Each JPYC is backed by yen bank deposits and Japanese government bonds, and holders can redeem them for regular yen on demand. AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings plans to use JPYC to pay approximately 2,300 business partners and independent contractors for transportation work and outsourced services, primarily covering truck drivers and subcontractors. The company is also developing a dedicated wallet application and plans to link payments with delivery confirmation records, potentially executed through GPS tracking or smart contracts.
Odaily News Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced that its asset tokenization platform Hadron will provide real estate asset tokenization technology for institutional investors in Saudi Arabia, bringing traditional real estate assets on-chain.Tether stated that it will collaborate with local Saudi partner First Data and fintech company BKN301 to provide institutional clients with infrastructure support for the issuance, management, and digitalization of real estate assets. In the future, this model could expand to other real-world asset (RWA) sectors such as energy and infrastructure financing.This move is Tether's latest initiative to expand from its stablecoin business into the real-world asset tokenization space. Tether launched the Hadron platform in 2024 to streamline the asset tokenization process, and is currently one of the world's largest issuers of tokenized gold assets, with its gold token XAUT reaching approximately $2.6 billion in size.In recent years, banks and asset management institutions have been exploring the tokenization of traditional assets such as money market funds, private credit, real estate, and equities on blockchain to improve settlement efficiency, broaden investor reach, and optimize capital utilization. Citigroup previously forecast that the tokenized securities market could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030.Saudi Arabia is actively exploring the application of blockchain technology in financial services, government, and supply chains as part of its economic diversification strategy under Vision 2030.Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that with the digital transformation opportunities brought by Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is an ideal market to demonstrate the value of the Hadron platform. (CoinDesk)
: Fintech company Stripe is in exclusive acquisition negotiations with AI model aggregation platform OpenRouter, with a transaction valuation of approximately $10 billion. If completed, this would become one of Stripe's significant moves in the AI sector in recent years. Stripe has primarily focused on payment infrastructure, financial services, and enterprise software, and acquiring OpenRouter could further drive its expansion into AI developer infrastructure.According to sources familiar with the matter, OpenRouter has previously received acquisition interest from multiple major tech companies, but Stripe has now entered the exclusive negotiation phase. The deal has not been finalized yet, and specific terms may still change. Founded in 2023, OpenRouter positions itself as an AI infrastructure platform connecting users with various large language models, allowing developers to access AI models from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google through a unified interface, and select different models based on performance, price, and availability. (The Information)
Odaily Odaily News: AI personal assistant startup Pally has announced the completion of a $5.2 million funding round, led by Cyber Fund and Y Combinator, with participation from Pioneer Fund, Founders Inc, 468 Capital, and angel investors. The company is valued at $30 million and primarily provides AI personal assistant services through an SMS interface. Pally was launched in 2025, with its latest version released in June, and can sync with platforms such as Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Granola, and Notion. After user authorization, Pally can book flights, manage inboxes, reply to messages, and reserve restaurant tables. Pally uses Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's ChatGPT, as well as open-source models such as Kimi K3 and GLM 5.2. Co-founder Haz Hubble stated that the company will not sell user data or use related data to train models. (Business Insider)
Odaily Odaily News: Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of bitcoin treasury company Strategy, stated that AI is transforming the way wealth is created, and that both businesses and individuals should not attempt to compete with machines, but rather use AI to amplify their own capabilities. Saylor noted that he used ChatGPT to help Strategy design a bitcoin-based preferred stock financing plan, which ultimately helped the company raise approximately $15 billion through an IPO and related financing. Saylor believes that the core advantage in the AI era is not repeatedly performing tasks that machines can handle, but rather asking better questions and leveraging AI to explore new opportunities that were previously impossible. (Fortune)
According to Bloomberg reports, SpaceX stock performed relatively steadily on Thursday following the expiration of the lock-up period (lock-up agreement) restricting insiders from selling shares, involving the unlocking of up to approximately 911.5 million shares valued at about $100 billion based on current valuation. Trading data shows SpaceX stock price fluctuated within a range of less than 3% during early trading, as the market digests the potential selling pressure brought by this large-scale share release. Trading volume in the first 30 minutes after the opening approached 93 million shares, accounting for about 40% of the total volume of the previous trading day. This unlocking occurred shortly after SpaceX announced its first earnings report. Previously, SpaceX stock price once fell about 14% due to investor concerns that the company's investment scale in artificial intelligence business was higher than expected. However, most Wall Street analysts still maintain a long-term optimistic view on the company. Market focus includes SpaceX's future investment plans in AI, satellite internet, and mobile communication businesses. Despite facing capital expenditure pressure in the short term, analysts believe the company's leading position in rocket launches, Starlink satellite network, and commercial space sectors remains an important factor supporting its long-term valuation. This stock unlocking of about $100 billion has also become an important event for the market to test investor confidence after SpaceX's listing. The lack of significant stock price fluctuations indicates that the market had certain expectations regarding the liquidity release from internal shareholders.
Odaily News: AI-native startup studio Inevitable AI Group (IAIG) has announced the completion of a $6 million Pre-Seed funding round, led by Aleph. IAIG plans to leverage artificial intelligence to reshape the software development model, building and launching dozens of AI-native SaaS companies.IAIG was founded by tech entrepreneurs Nimrod Lehavi and Ofer Bar-Or. The company's core philosophy is that with the rapid advancement of AI technology, small teams can develop, launch, and scale software products more cost-effectively and efficiently. Since its inception in January this year, IAIG has incubated and launched five companies, with plans to roll out dozens of AI-native software projects by the end of the year. The company focuses on software sectors with validated market demand, using AI to enhance product efficiency, accessibility, and pricing competitiveness. (Financewire)
Odaily News: AI research startup Mirendil has entered into a multi-year partnership agreement with Google Cloud to secure large-scale computing resources in support of its "Self-Improving AI" research and development. Under the agreement, Mirendil will gain access to TPU and NVIDIA GPU computing resources provided by Google Cloud, as well as managed AI training clusters, to develop AI systems capable of continuously optimizing their own capabilities. It is reported that Mirendil is focused on advancing "Recursive Self-Improvement" AI, in which AI systems enhance their own performance through iterative refinement, self-learning, and optimization. This direction is also a research area of interest among some of the top AI laboratories today.Benham Neyshabur, co-founder and CEO of Mirendil, revealed that the total value of the agreement exceeds $100 million, roughly equivalent to half of the $1 billion valuation seed funding round the company completed at the end of June. (TechCrunch)
According to CryptoQuant on-chain data, total institutional BTC holdings, including trusts, ETFs, and closed-end funds, have decreased from 1.33 million BTC three months ago to 1.2 million BTC, a decline of approximately 10%. Meanwhile, the corporate Bitcoin treasury model is also facing pressure. Novaque Research analysts pointed out that the market cap of multiple Bitcoin treasury companies has currently fallen below the net asset value (NAV) of their BTC holdings, and the previous positive cycle mechanism of "stock price premium → financing to buy BTC → strengthening premium" has significantly weakened. The listed company with the largest holdings, Strategy, even sold 1,638 BTC last week.