GoKawiil
Tech News
OpenAI now lists 27 open robotics positions on its careers page, more than double the 11 postings seen in May, spanning hardware, software, data and prototyping work. Base salaries range from $177,000 to $500,000 before equity and bonuses, with the top-paying role focused on building infrastructure to process robotics training data at scale.
A franchise disclosure document from Jamba Juice reveals that 130 franchise agreements have ended over the last three years, contributing to a shrinking store count nationally. The private equity-backed smoothie chain disclosed the terminations as part of standard franchise filing requirements.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and 12 congressional co-sponsors introduced federal legislation modeled on an Oregon law to prohibit private equity firms, insurers and management services organizations from owning or controlling medical practices. The bill responds to a sharp increase in corporate ownership of physician practices, which has climbed from 62 percent to over 80 percent of doctors employed by corporate entities in seven years.
The FCC has approved Paramount Skydance's request to waive federal foreign-ownership limits, allowing indirect foreign ownership to reach 49.5 percent through investments from sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. The funds, totaling roughly $24 billion, are tied to Paramount's pending $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal already cleared by the Justice Department but still facing a lawsuit from several US states.
Valor Equity Partners, the venture firm led by SpaceX board member Antonio Gracias, has transferred about 8.5% of its SpaceX stake—roughly $8.5 billion worth—directly to its limited partners rather than selling shares and returning cash. An SEC filing shows Valor retains more than 460 million shares after the distribution.
Nasdaq's venture arm is putting $100 million into Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, valuing it at $21 billion. The two firms plan to build infrastructure for issuing and trading tokenized equities, blockchain-based digital representations of publicly traded stocks, with a target launch in the second quarter of 2027. Payward will also adopt Nasdaq's market-surveillance technology across its trading platforms as it expands beyond crypto into stocks and derivatives.
Private equity firm Silver Lake is combining two of its portfolio companies, French business software maker Cegid and payroll platform Silae, into a single entity valued at over 10 billion euros. The merged company will unite payroll, accounting, e-invoicing and finance data under one roof, with a 1,400-person developer team dedicated to AI investment. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027 pending regulatory approval, with combined annual revenue projected at 1.9 billion euros.
Dick Portillo opened a hot dog stand in Chicago in 1963 with just $1,100, despite not knowing how to prepare a hot dog, and grew it into the Midwest's largest privately owned restaurant chain with 4,000 employees. In 2014 he sold Portillo's to private equity firm Berkshire Partners for nearly $1 billion, using the proceeds to buy a mansion, a private jet and a Florida waterfront home.
French AI startup Mistral AI has closed a €3 billion Series D funding round at a post-money valuation exceeding €21 billion, which it calls the largest equity raise ever by a European tech company. Samsung Electronics led the round, with EQT's Scaleup Europe Fund and existing backer PSG Equity as co-leads. Mistral plans to use the capital to expand compute infrastructure, accelerate commercial growth, and grow its presence internationally across the 20 countries where it now operates.
Mistral has closed a €3 billion Series D funding round at a post-money valuation exceeding €21 billion, marking the largest equity raise ever by a European tech company just three years after its founding. Samsung Electronics led the round, with EQT's Scaleup Europe Fund and existing backer PSG Equity co-leading. The company now operates in 20 countries and serves over 125 enterprises, including Airbus, ASML and HSBC.
Yum Brands has finalized the sale of Pizza Hut to private equity firm LongRange Capital, closing a deal first announced in June. The transaction comes after the chain closed hundreds of restaurant locations over the past year amid ongoing struggles in the pizza segment.
General Intuition, a New York startup building foundation models for AI agents that navigate space and time, is reportedly negotiating a new funding round at a $6 billion pre-money valuation. New backers reportedly include Valor Equity Partners, Point72 Ventures and Seven Seven Six, alongside existing investors Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst, just weeks after the company raised $320 million at a $2.3 billion valuation.