You Don’t Need Silicon Valley Funding to Start a Business — and These Founders Are Proving It
Founders across emerging and regional markets are building world-class companies without Silicon Valley’s capital advantage. Here’s how.
The Download: The startup that says it can stop lightning, and inside OpenAI’s Pentagon deal
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. This startup claims it can stop lightning and prevent catastrophic wildfires Startup Skyward Wildfire says it can prevent catastrophic fires by stopping the lightning strikes that ignite them. So far, it hasn’t publicly…
EVs could be cheaper to own than gas cars in Africa by 2040
Electric vehicles could be economically competitive in Africa sooner than expected. Just 1% of new cars sold across the continent in 2025 were electric, but a new analysis finds that with solar off-grid charging, EVs could be cheaper to own than gas vehicles by 2040. There are major barriers to higher EV uptake in many…
Samsung to hold its Galaxy S26 event on February 25
Samsung is going to launch S26 lineup just before Mobile World Congress (MWC).
With co-founders leaving and an IPO looming, Elon Musk turns talk to the moon
According to The New York Times, which reports that it heard the meeting, Musk told employees that xAI needs a lunar manufacturing facility, a factory on the moon that will build AI satellites and fling them into space via a giant catapult.
OpenAI policy exec who opposed chatbot’s “adult mode” reportedly fired on discrimination claim
The executive has denied the allegation that she engaged in discrimination.
Amazon may launch a marketplace where media sites can sell their content to AI companies
A new report claims the e-commerce giant is looking to create a pipeline of licensable content between media publishers and AI companies.
An ice dance duo skated to AI music at the Olympics
Czech ice dancers Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek are learning the hard way that LLMs sometimes spit out straight-up plagiarism.
Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter steps down after 30 years at the company
Robert Playter announcd he is leaving Boston Dynamics after 30 years at the company in various roles, including six years as CEO.
This Founder Is Taking a Bite Out of the $50 Billion GLP-1 Market By Going Natural
As pharmaceutical companies race to scale synthetic GLP-1s, Evolv is betting that consumers want a natural, orally available version.
VC Masha Bucher, Epstein associate and Day One founder, explains herself
After numerous news reports documented Masha Bucher’s close business and personal relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Bucher took to X to explain.