Artificial Intelligence

Etched Raises $700 Million At $21 Billion Valuation As Customer Contracts Top $1 Billion And Jane Street Deploys First Rack

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 19, 2026

Etched has raised $700 million in new funding at a $21 billion valuation as the AI semiconductor company moves from chip development into customer deployments, with Jane Street becoming its first customer and more than $1 billion of contracts already secured across AI companies and cloud providers. The round was led by Jane Street, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, Bain Capital Ventures, Neo, Primary, Stripes, Positive Sum and Blackstone.

Sphere 3D Targets AI And HPC Conversion Of Bitcoin Mining Power Assets After Cathedra Combination

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 19, 2026

Sphere 3D is repositioning parts of its Bitcoin-mining infrastructure for AI and high-performance computing workloads after combining with Cathedra Bitcoin, seeking to capture more economic value from already-energized power capacity rather than using every available megawatt exclusively for cryptocurrency mining.

Flip Raises $25 Million To Bring AI To Frontline Workers Across 1,000+ Brands

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 19, 2026

Flip has raised $25 million in new funding to expand its AI-native employee experience platform and provide frontline workers with greater access to digital identities, enterprise applications and automated workflows. Existing investors Notion Capital and HV Capital increased their stakes in the company, while L-Bank, the development bank of Baden-Württemberg, joined as a new investor.

AMC Robotics: Recurring AI And Cloud Revenue Rises 54% As Company Moves Away From Inventory-Heavy Sales

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 19, 2026

AMC Robotics reported 54% year-over-year growth in recurring AI and cloud revenue-sharing revenue during Q2 2026 as the company deliberately reduced lower-margin, inventory-intensive product sales in favor of AI, cloud and service-based revenue.

Duos Announces More Than $611 Million Of AI Data Center Contracts Tied To 65 MW Of Capacity

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 19, 2026

Duos Technologies has announced AI and data-center agreements representing more than $611 million of contracted value tied to 65 MW of capacity, dramatically increasing the scale of the company’s commercial commitments as it completes its transformation into an AI infrastructure provider.

Uptiq Adds Gagan Kanjlia, Amit Parmar And Marc Billanti As AI Banking Platform Passes $10 Billion In Loan Balances

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2026

Uptiq has expanded its U.S. banking leadership team with three senior appointments as the AI platform moves to support financial institutions deploying AI agents beyond pilots and into production.

Rillet Raises $100 Million Series C At $1 Billion Valuation As AI-Native ERP Tops 600 Customers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2026

Rillet has raised a $100 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation as the AI-native enterprise resource planning company accelerates development of what it calls “Accounting Superintelligence,” where AI agents perform increasingly complex finance work directly inside a real-time general ledger. The round was led by ICONIQ, with participation from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Global Equities, Bain Capital Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Battery Ventures, FirstMark, Scale Venture Partners and Creandum.

Sandisk: 10 NBM Agreements Signed With Eight Customers Represent $93.9 Billion In Minimum Expected Revenue At Floor Pricing

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2026

Sandisk has signed 10 New Business Model agreements across eight Datacenter and Edge customers that management says represent at least $93.9 billion of expected revenue at floor pricing, creating a multiyear base of committed demand as the flash-memory company seeks to make revenue, production and cash flow considerably more predictable.

YCharts Names Steve Bendt Chief Marketing Officer As AI-Powered Investment Platform Accelerates Growth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2026

YCharts has appointed fintech marketing veteran Steve Bendt as Chief Marketing Officer, bringing in an executive with nearly three decades of experience as the investment research and client engagement platform looks to accelerate growth across advisor, enterprise and asset manager markets. Bendt will lead YCharts' global marketing organization and report directly to CEO Sean Brown.

Google Buys Spirit Airlines’ Internal Data For $10 Million To Train AI On Real-World Business Workflows

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2026

Alphabet is acquiring internal business data from bankrupt Spirit Airlines for $10 million, giving Google access to a large collection of real-world enterprise information it could use to improve artificial intelligence models and workplace productivity tools, according to Reuters.