Meta Platforms announced on 30th of December that it has acquired Manus, a Singapore-based developer of general-purpose AI agents, in a deal valued at more than $2 billion. Manus, founded in China before relocating to Singapore, introduced its first AI agent in March this year, which can execute complex tasks
The UK and Germany are emerging as key hubs for a new wave of AI defence startups, as Europe scrambles to rearm amid rising geopolitical tensions. Investors have funnelled a record $4.3 billion into the sector since the start of 2022, nearly four times the funds deployed in the
Yann LeCun, one of the godfathers of modern AI, is departing Meta at the end of the year after 12 years with the company, where he served as founding director of Facebook AI Research (FAIR) and Chief AI Scientist. LeCun plans to launch a startup focused on world models, a
Exowatt closed a $50 million funding round in November 2025, led by MVP Ventures and 8090 Industries, extending the company's April 2025 $70 million Series A round to a total of $120 million raised. The startup, backed by Sam Altman and Andreessen Horowitz, is attempting to provide continuous,
In 2025, Google has taken its energy strategy to a new level by investing in fusion energy startups that could one day power the immense energy demands of AI systems. The company partnered with Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which raised over 1.8 billion USD in 2021 and is now
In June 2025, Meta invested $14.3 billion in the data-labelling company Scale AI, but the partnership ran into difficulties only a few months later. As part of the collaboration, Scale AI’s CEO Alexandr Wang and several senior executives took over leadership of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), yet soon
Meta officially launched the Llama Startup Program on 21st May 2025, providing 50 selected ventures with access to the complete Llama 3.1 model family, including the 405 billion parameter Llama 3.1 405B model, alongside technical support and up to $150,000 in Meta AI cloud credits. The programme
