TechCapsules

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]