TechCapsules

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 [...]

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.

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, [...]

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 [...]

Shareholders of Churchill Capital Corp XI voted 84% in favor of a business combination with humanoid‑robot maker Agility Robotics, clearing the path for the SPAC merger to close on Nov. 4 and for the combined entity to list on Nasdaq under “AGLT” on Nov. 5. The deal will give Agility roughly $465 million in gross capital—$164 million from the SPAC trust, $201 million from a Foxconn‑led PIPE and $100 million from prior equity—down from the $620 million originally projected. Agility will remain privately owned by [...]

Ukrainian startup CODE380 has unveiled the D·Vision SDR, a 10‑ounce pocket receiver that intercepts unencrypted video feeds from Russian drones and displays them in time. The device captures streams transmitted over radio frequencies used by Russia’s Molniya UAVs, which began broadcasting video, and presents the live footage on a screen, allowing Ukrainian units to track a drone’s flight path and target before impact. Weighing less than half of comparable Ukrainian systems, the SDR is praised for its [...]

Tokyo‑based Nagoshi Studio announced its closure this week, confirming that its debut title, Gang of Dragon, will not be released. The studio, founded by Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi in 2021, had unveiled a crime‑drama trailer at The Game Awards 2025 featuring actor Ma Dong‑seok. Months earlier, publisher NetEase withdrew a required £33.1 million (≈$44.4 million) investment, leaving the project unfunded. The funding cut reflects NetEase’s broader retreat from overseas game investments, a trend that has also forced studios such [...]

Trucks VC reports a surge in autonomous‑vehicle startups, with 81 pitches in 2026—two‑thirds more than the previous year—indicating a second, larger AV wave. The firm attributes the growth to AI foundation models like Nvidia’s Alpamayo and Qwen’s vision‑language‑action systems, which lower development costs and accelerate deployment. Startups are targeting diverse sectors, from construction to robotaxis, and many position themselves as regional competitors to Waymo. The trend suggests a rapidly expanding, more accessible AV ecosystem. [...]