Canva lays off over 1,200 people amid slowing growth

techcrunch.com Nov 4, 2026

Canva lays off over 1,200 people amid slowing growth

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Nov 4, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Design platform Canva announced a 22% workforce reduction, laying off 1,271 employees as growth slows for the first time in a decade. CEO Melanie Perkins told staff that despite scaling the service to hundreds of millions of users, the company must restructure to sustain future success. The cuts accompany a reorganization that merges product, growth and platform groups, reduces subspecialisation, and shifts to a hybrid‑office model. Canva is also deploying its own AI models to lower reliance on external providers, but rising AI costs forced a downgrade of its revenue‑growth outlook from 30% to 20% and prompted investors to trim its valuation to $35 billion. The move comes amid intensifying competition from AI‑focused startups and chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini.

💡 Why It Matters

· Canva’s downsizing underscores how soaring AI expenses are forcing even fast‑growing SaaS firms to curtail headcount and reassess growth targets, reshaping the economics of the design‑tech market.

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AI inference startup Fal doubles its valuation to $16B as demand surges

Fal, a San Francisco-based AI inference platform, secured $1.3 billion in a Series F round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with Nvidia, Sound Ventures, and T. Rowe Price participating. The funding doubles the company’s valuation to $16 billion, up from $8 billion in April, and brings total capital raised to $1.65 billion across Series E and F. Fal’s revenue surpassed $800 million annually, reflecting growing demand for inference services from open‑source model users. The deal underscores Fal’s rapid expansion amid a competitive, high‑margin‑challenged market.

💡 Fal’s valuation surge signals that investors see a lucrative path for inference providers, potentially reshaping how AI workloads are monetized and accessed.

techcrunch.com · Nov 4

Orbital Matter 3D-printed the first rigid beam in the vacuum of space

Orbital Matter’s Replicator 2 satellite, launched on a SpaceX rideshare, printed a half‑meter rigid plastic beam in orbit using four onboard UV‑cured resin printers. The printers extrude resin coils that solidify into cylindrical beams, demonstrating the first free‑flying spacecraft to fabricate structural components in vacuum. The successful boom also deployed a flexible solar array despite a printer anomaly, proving the concept for on‑orbit construction. The company, founded in 2022 and backed by a $3 million seed round, works with ESA and Thales Alenia and aims to scale beams to 100 m, comparable to Starlink V2’s 20‑m arrays. A follow‑up mission planned for 2028 will test larger printers and a 5 kW solar array, targeting 100 kW deployments by 2030 for future deep‑space communication platforms networks.

💡 Enabling spacecraft to print their own structures removes the launch‑fairing size bottleneck, opening a path to megawatt‑scale power stations in orbit.

techcrunch.com · Nov 4

India’s EloElo nabs $80M from NBCUniversal to bet on the country’s rising…

EloElo, the Indian startup behind the Story TV micro‑drama app, closed a $80 million Series C round led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, bringing total funding to $130 million and valuing the company at $500 million. Story TV, founded in 2020 by former Flipkart executive Saurabh Pandey, now serves over 33 million active users and hosts more than 5,000 titles in six languages, with users averaging 95 minutes per day. The investment targets expansion in India’s fast‑growing micro‑drama market, which attracts 118 million monthly viewers and is projected to generate $3‑4 billion in revenue by 2030. EloElo plans to leverage its Dolphin AI creation suite and partnerships such as with Balaji Telefilms to boost content production and convert free viewers to paid subscribers and strengthen its position in streaming.

💡 The capital enables EloElo to scale AI‑driven content creation, potentially redefining mobile‑first serialized entertainment in a market where converting viewers to paying customers remains a critical challenge.

9to5mac.com · Nov 3

Don’t miss this scary-good deal: make your wireless bill less frightening this…

Tello Mobile offers a limited‑time promotion of 10 GB data with unlimited talk and text for $10 per month, down from the usual $15. The carrier operates on America’s largest 5G network, allowing customers to keep their unlocked phones and existing numbers via online eSIM activation. Plans start at $5 monthly, with no contracts or hidden fees, and include free international calls to 60+ countries. Tello’s Trustpilot rating is 4.5 from over 15,000 reviews, underscoring its customer satisfaction.

💡 The deal exposes how independent carriers can deliver full 5G coverage at a fraction of major network prices, challenging the perception that high costs are unavoidable. It also highlights the growing trend of contract‑free, eSIM‑based services that simplify switching and reduce consumer lock‑in.

cleantechnica.com · Nov 3

Aluminum–Air Generators for Data Centres Face a Metal Logistics Test

California startup Voya Energy raised $35 million to develop aluminum‑air generators that convert prepared scrap aluminum, air and water into electricity without combustion. The company targets diesel‑powered backup units at data centres, citing advantages over exhaust, noise and permitting constraints, and also envisions continuous‑power installations at grid‑constrained sites. An aluminum‑air cell consumes metal and produces aluminum hydroxide, requiring a supply chain for fuel delivery and by‑product handling that the firm’s specifications omit. Using Voya’s reported 57 % conversion efficiency, a hypothetical 100 MW data centre would need about 520 metric tons of aluminum daily and generate roughly 1,500 metric tons of hydroxide, translating to 190 000 tons of incoming metal and 550 000 tons of waste annually. The analysis highlights that logistics, material sourcing and residue processing could dominate costs, especially for continuous operation, and that Voya’s price targets leave little margin for these additional expenses.

💡 The feasibility of aluminum‑air power hinges on whether the massive daily metal shipments and waste streams can be managed economically, a challenge that could make the technology impractical for large‑scale data‑centre use.

thequantuminsider.com · Nov 3

Chattanooga Accelerator Selects Four Quantum Startups For Commercialization Program

Chattanooga’s CO.LAB has launched its first quantum commercialization cohort, selecting Ridge Quantum, Superquantum, Esoteriq and Kottackal for a 12‑month studio that links startups with technical experts, pilot projects and potential customers. The program, beginning in November, assigns each company an individualized market‑readiness plan, a readiness assessment and regular reviews by an internal board. Ridge Quantum will test continuous‑variable quantum key distribution on EPB’s fiber network, targeting utilities and critical‑infrastructure operators. Superquantum aims to benchmark its fault‑tolerant quantum computing software across hardware platforms. Esoteriq’s Rune tool will evaluate data‑encoding costs for quantum tasks, while Kottackal focuses on industrial‑sensing applications. Partners such as Quantinuum, Davidson Technologies and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga provide regional expertise and infrastructure for future growth initiatives.

💡 By bridging the notorious gap between quantum breakthroughs and paying customers, the cohort could turn Chattanooga into a launchpad for viable quantum services, accelerating adoption in critical‑infrastructure sectors.