Lifestyle
From a Six-Year-Old’s Hobby to 10 Million Pounds of Popcorn a Year
Amish Country Popcorn didn’t start with a business plan, a national launch, or a long product list. It began in 1965 with a small plot of popcorn in Berne,...
Median Net Worth Hits $215,900 in the Fed’s New Survey
The Federal Reserve’s latest consumer finance survey, released October 9, puts median family net worth at $215,900. That is a 2% rise from 2022 after adjusting for inflation. First...
Robotics Funding Surges: What Mecka’s $60M Round Teaches Founders
Mecka raised a $60 million round to build the human-motion data that teaches robots how to move, with Sequoia Capital leading the deal. NVIDIA, Microsoft’s M12, Qualcomm Ventures and...
Open Source AI Agent Maker Nous Research Targets Business Users
Nous Research, maker of the free Hermes agent, closed a $90 million Series B that values the company at $1.5 billion and plans to launch AI agents for business...
Venture Capital Fund for Founders Elsewhere: Endeavor Catalyst
Endeavor Catalyst, the investing arm of the nonprofit Endeavor, wrapped up its fifth fund at $320 million in commitments, TechCrunch reported on October 7. The firm now manages more...
Contract Manufacturing Gets a Marketplace With Bloom’s Seed Round
Bloom, a Detroit startup, closed a $3.6 million seed round to build what its CEO calls an AI-powered answer to Alibaba for American factories, TechCrunch reported on October 7....
ChatGPT Interface Gets Visual: What Founders Should Test
OpenAI is launching Intelligent UI, a feature that turns ChatGPT from a wall of text into a more visual, interactive interface, TechCrunch reported on October 7. Answers can now...
AI Penetration Testing Gets Backing as Hadrian Raises Funds
Hadrian, an Amsterdam-based security company, has raised $40 million to expand its AI-driven attack testing, according to a Business Wire release dated October 6, 2026. Forgepoint Capital International and...
