Tootfinder

North American startup funding hit $92B in Q3, down 35% QoQ but up 50% YoY, with $61B to AI startups; there were 11 $1B acquisitions and IPOs remained quiet (Joanna Glasner/Crunchbase News)
https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/q3-2026-north-amer…

North America’s Startup Funding Falls In Q3 As AI Giants Eye The Public Markets
In total, investors poured $92 billion into seed- through growth-stage rounds for U.S. and Canadian startups in the third quarter, per Crunchbase data. That’s a 35% decline from the prior quarter but up 50% from year-ago levels.

Trump says data centers are “liquid gold.” Voters smell something else, and savvy candidates should take advantage of that in November. My latest Substack for Crimson Goes Blue https://jonippolito.substack.com/p/run-against-the-server-farm

Sony Pictures reports Q1 operating income up 21% YoY to $156M, revenue down 13% to $1.978B, with Motion Pictures group revenue down 13% to $645M (Todd Spangler/Variety)
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/sony-pictures-earnings-june-2026…

Sony Pictures Revenue Drops 13% in June Quarter, Music Sales Jump 21%
Sony Pictures Entertainment posted a sales decline for the June quarter, slightly offset by growth at Crunchyroll, while Sony's music segment saw revenue increase 21%.

"Het volgende verhaal is al vele malen verteld en niemand weet of het waar is. Maar natuurlijk is het waar! Worden immers niet altijd uitsluitend ware verhalen verteld over koningen en kunstenaars?"
https://kamasys.nl/la-cronica/de-koning-en-de-kunstenaar.html

Security- and AI-related startups have raised $855M across more than 150 reported seed-stage rounds this year, on track for an all-time high (Joanna Glasner/Crunchbase News)
https://news.crunchbase.com/cybersecurity/seed-trends-ai-security-startup-fund…

AI Seed Investors Flock To Cybersecurity
Startups at the intersection of AI and security have raised $855 million across more than 150 reported seed-stage rounds this year, per Crunchbase data.

Throwback time! June 2025 - Air Force One over Amsterdam
#kamafotos

Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this summer soared to record highs since the start of this Trump administration
— with 43,000 in June, more than 49,000 in July and nearly 51,000 in August
— as officials cut or narrowed the pathways to legal residency in the United States and expanded the pool of people eligible for deportation.
Federal agents appeared in nearly every corner of daily life,
carrying out operations at hospitals and airports, outside suburb…

A Quiet ICE Surge That Unfolded ‘Everywhere All at Once’ This Summer
A review of dozens of incidents caught on camera sheds new light on a largely invisible crackdown.

Ook in de herhaling: de bussen van Malta.
#kamafotos

Chip giants participated in startup funding rounds collectively surpassing $250B YTD; Nvidia leads the sector in deal volume with a record 59 funding rounds (Joanna Glasner/Crunchbase News)
https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/semiconductor…

Semiconductor Giants Are Busy Backing Startups This Year
Massive AI spending has helped push earnings and valuations for semiconductor industry leaders to record levels, prompting the sector's giants to invest record sums in artificial intelligence and robotics startups.

Sources: ECB President Christine Lagarde asked Greece to block Binance's MiCA license in June at the last minute, aiming to protect the bank's "digital euro" (Angus Berwick/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/chr