News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
SpaceX Cursor deal signals AI-led coding strategy and potential $60 billion move
SpaceX is extending its push into artificial intelligence through a major option agreement with Cursor. The deal could end in a $60 billion acquisition later this year. It could also shift to a $10 billion joint investment in research. The move signals a plan to frame SpaceX as an AI-led software group. The agreement gives SpaceX a direct link to a widely used AI coding assistant. It also sends a message to future stock market investors. Elon Musk appears to want SpaceX seen as an AI player. This comes as demand rises for tools that help build and manage software faster. Under the SpaceX Cursor deal, SpaceX can choose one of two paths. SpaceX may buy Cursor at a $60 billion valuation later this year. Or SpaceX may commit $10 billion to shared development work. The companies described the tie-up as: "SpaceXAI and @cursor_ai are now working closely together to create the world's best coding and knowledge work AI." Cursor chief executive Michael Truell confirmed the arrangement on X. Michael Truell wrote that he is "excited to partner with the SpaceX team to scale up Composer". Michael Truell also called it "A meaningful step on our path to build the best place to code with AI,". Composer is Cursor's in-house AI model. The SpaceX Cursor deal follows Musk's comments about xAI's limits on coding tasks. That shortfall led to layoffs at xAI. It also triggered quick hiring. Cursor engineers Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg were recruited. The focus shows how coding results now sit at the centre of Musk's AI agenda. SpaceX is already part of a larger reorganisation into an AI-centred group. Musk combined SpaceX with xAI in February. Musk valued that transaction at $1.25 trillion. The New York Times later reported that figure. Musk then used xAI to absorb social network X, formerly Twitter. The all-stock deal for X was announced in March 2025. The sequence shows a drive to place software and data alongside aerospace work. It also puts AI products closer to SpaceX's core systems. The Cursor option adds another channel to strengthen internal tools and external positioning. SpaceX Cursor deal and "vibe coding" usage Cursor's main product is an AI assistant launched in 2023. It supports writing, testing, and debugging across large projects. This fits the "vibe coding" style. Many in technology use that term for AI-heavy workflows. Engineers rely on suggestions throughout development, rather than manual line edits. By connecting with Cursor's user base and tooling, SpaceX gains a proven coding system. This can improve internal software pipelines across complex projects. It may also help strengthen xAI's technical stack. For Cursor, the relationship places the product closer to large-scale compute resources. Cursor president Oskar Schulz highlighted that point. Oskar Schulz said: "The SpaceX team has an enormous amount of compute, and we think together we can scale up our model efforts, and we're really excited about it. We really like their team,". The statement underlined how infrastructure can shape AI model progress. SpaceX Cursor deal and startup funding talks Before the SpaceX Cursor deal became public, Cursor was in late-stage fundraising talks. The startup discussed raising about $2 billion. The target valuation was above $50 billion. Andreessen Horowitz was expected to co-lead. Nvidia and Thrive Capital were also set to join those discussions. The investor mix is notable because Andreessen Horowitz and Nvidia already back xAI. A funding round alongside SpaceX's involvement could influence negotiations. It may affect whether SpaceX prefers the $60 billion purchase option. It could also shape interest in the $10 billion joint research route. The key numerical details are set out below. SpaceX Cursor deal and IPO valuation expectations The SpaceX Cursor deal also connects to future plans for a SpaceX listing. Stronger AI capabilities can support a higher valuation case. Investors often pay more for firms tied to the next stage of AI growth. The size of the option also reflects a shift towards consolidation and large tie-ups. If SpaceX buys Cursor outright, the $60 billion figure would rank among the biggest AI deals. Analysts see control of leading AI coding systems as strategic. That view strengthens when companies prepare for an initial public offering. Such a listing would attract global attention and close scrutiny. SpaceX Cursor deal timing amid OpenAI legal dispute The timing also stands out because it comes shortly before a court appearance. Less than a week after the deal, Musk is scheduled in a Northern California court. The matter involves a legal dispute with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman. OpenAI was among Cursor's earliest investors, adding a rivalry layer. With competition intensifying, the Cursor arrangement suggests SpaceX aims to shape AI direction. Coding tools sit in a high-value segment. Early investor stakes now intersect with new alliances. OpenAI's position in Cursor overlaps with Musk's plans. This overlap adds context to the deal's strategic weight. SpaceX Cursor deal context and article authorship details The article on the SpaceX Cursor deal is written by Sayantani Biswas. Sayantani Biswas is an assistant editor at Livemint. Sayantani Biswas has seven years of reporting experience. The coverage has included geopolitics and global power shifts. The current beat covers Indian and international politics, including elections. Biswas joined Mint in 2021 after work for outlets including The Telegraph. Biswas holds an MPhil in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, obtained in 2019. The research focused on postcolonial Latin American literature. It also studied economic nationalism through Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America. Biswas grew up in Durgapur in West Bengal. The city's industrial base included migration tied to the Durgapur Steel Plant. Biswas spent childhood years listening to grandparents' accounts of hardship and displacement. Those stories related to fleeing Bangladesh during the 1947 Partition. The experiences later supported analysis of social and economic structures. Beyond daily reporting, Biswas reads cultural history and critical theory. Biswas returns often to texts like Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Biswas also stresses accuracy, rigour, and fairness in journalism. The approach argues for speed and clarity, plus historical context and precise framing. The SpaceX Cursor deal links several pressures in today's AI market. Musk's group is being reshaped around AI systems and software. Cursor is rising fast in "vibe coding" tools. Investor demand is strong for developer productivity products. The same period also includes a legal fight involving OpenAI leadership.
Viral: Woman confronts police, senior minister over traffic chaos in Mumbai; netizens say, 'Give this lady Bharat Ratna' | Today News
A Mumbai woman confronted a senior minister at a political rally, expressing her frustration over the heavy traffic caused by the event. The incident went viral, with social media users praising her bravery and calling for more public accountability from politicians. A Mumbai woman has become the talk of social media after confronting a senior BJP minister at a political rally. The incident took place on 21 April in the Worli area of Mumbai. It was caught on camera and quickly went viral on social media. The woman was reportedly stuck in heavy traffic for over an hour. She said she was trying to pick up her child from school. The traffic jam was caused by a BJP rally called "Mahila Jan Aakrosh". The event was organised by Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Girish Mahajan. The rally was held at Jambori Maidan to protest against the opposition parties. The BJP-led NDA earlier could not pass the constitutional amendment bill aimed at fast-tracking 33% reservation for women in legislatures. However, there were not enough votes in favour as the opposition alleged that it was 'delimitation' in disguise as women's reservation. Fed up with waiting, the woman stepped out of her vehicle. She walked straight into the rally where Mahajan was addressing the media. She confronted him directly and loudly. "Get out of here. You are causing a traffic jam," she said. She demanded to know why the rally was held on a busy road. She pointed out that an empty ground was available nearby. She refused to back down even when police tried to intervene. She lashed out at the officers, too, demanding that the traffic chaos be resolved first. Opposition parties were quick to use the clip. Leaders from Congress and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) shared the video to criticise the BJP. One user wrote that she spoke for every income tax-paying Indian. According to another user, she reminded politicians they were public servants, not rulers. "Someone give this lady a Bharat Ratna - she spoke for a million Indians - the 2% Indians who pay income tax... Lucky she's a woman and the 'protest' was for women's reservation bill, hence the babus remained silent!" commented a social media user. "She exposed every politician. We, citizens, hate every politician doing this nonsense on the road," wrote one user. "This isn't limited to any one party. It applies to all politicians," wrote one user. "The problem she faced is one that every citizen shares," the user added. "This is what courage looks like," wrote one user. Another called it "the beginning" of more such public confrontations: "This is the beginning, I can smell more confrontation in future." "Perfect, like this, more voices are needed, brave lady, educated lady," came from another. At the same time, many social media users thought her behaviour was inappropriate. Some said she should not have spoken to senior police officers so rudely.
SpaceX Locks in Option to Buy AI Coding Startup Cursor for $60 Billion
The deal gives Elon Musk's combined SpaceX-xAI super company an inroad into AI-assisted coding as it competes directly with OpenAI and Anthropic. SpaceX announced Tuesday it has an agreement in place that gives it the right to acquire artificial intelligence coding startup Cursor for $60 billion later this year. If SpaceX does not opt to acquire the company, it will instead pay Cursor $10 billion for the collaborative work the two have already been doing. It is unclear if the payment would be made in SpaceX stock or cash.
SpaceX says it has right to acquire Cursor later this year for $60B
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, SpaceX, founded by Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, said that SpaceXAI and Cursor are "now working closely together to create the world's best coding and knowledge work AI. The combination of Cursor's leading product and distribution to expert software engineers with SpaceX's million H100 equivalent Colossus training supercomputer will allow us to build the world's most useful models. Cursor has also given SpaceX the right to acquire Cursor later this year for $60 billion or pay $10 billion for our work together."
Vercel Breach Started With AI Tool - IT Security News
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Guwahati Flood Chaos: Gogoi Targets Himanta, Says 'Development Exposed by One Rain'
Gogoi alleged that many people remain trapped inside their homes due to artificial flooding, while the Chief Minister was seen participating in celebratory events outside the state -- an act he described as insensitive to public suffering Guwahati: A state of disorder prevails in Assam, with deaths continuing to be reported from different parts of the state, even as Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma remains engaged in election-related activities in West Bengal, according to allegations made by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Gaurav Gogoi. Addressing the media on Tuesday, Gogoi claimed that in the Chief Minister's absence, the situation in Guwahati has become increasingly difficult, with residents struggling even for basic drinking water amid widespread distress. He alleged that many people remain trapped inside their homes due to artificial flooding, while the Chief Minister was seen participating in celebratory events outside the state -- an act he described as insensitive to public suffering. Gogoi further stated that the BJP-led government's repeated claims of development in Assam were exposed following a single spell of rain that brought Guwahati to a standstill on Sunday. Large parts of the city were affected by artificial flooding, leaving several residents stranded in different locations until late at night. According to him, the situation reflects the reality behind the "double engine" government's development narrative. Highlighting specific incidents, Gogoi alleged that negligence by government departments and the administration led to the death of a woman who reportedly fell into a drain in Maligaon. He also referred to reports indicating that three bodies were recovered on the same day. He said these incidents raise serious questions about governance and the value placed on citizens' lives in what is often promoted as a "Smart City." The APCC president questioned whether the BJP government, which he described as publicity-driven, should be held accountable for the prevailing situation. He demanded a thorough investigation into the incidents, strict action against those found responsible, and concrete measures to prevent such occurrences during the upcoming monsoon season. He also called for adequate compensation for the affected families. Gogoi added that if the Congress party comes to power, it would prioritise long-term solutions to artificial flooding instead of focusing primarily on infrastructure projects such as flyovers.
SpaceX locks $60 billion Cursor deal, secures option to acquire AI startup later this year
SpaceX locks $60 billion Cursor deal, secures option to acquire AI startup later this year SpaceX has entered into a partnership with artificial intelligence startup Cursor to build a next-generation coding and knowledge work AI, while securing an option to acquire the company for $60 billion later this year or alternatively pay $10 billion for joint development work. In a post on X, SpaceX said it is "now working closely together to create the world's best coding and knowledge work AI." Cursor chief executive officer Michael Truell said he was "excited to partner with the SpaceX team to scale up Composer," referring to the company's AI model. The agreement outlines two possible outcomes. SpaceX can either proceed with a full acquisition of Cursor at a $60 billion valuation or compensate the startup $10 billion for its contribution to the joint project. The company did not disclose how the transaction would be structured or whether stock could be involved. The collaboration combines Cursor's developer-focused products and distribution with SpaceX's Colossus supercomputer, which the company said delivers compute capacity equivalent to one million Nvidia H100 chips. The partnership comes amid growing efforts by SpaceX and its affiliated AI unit xAI to strengthen capabilities in AI-driven coding tools. Recent developments indicate closer ties between the companies. xAI has begun providing computing resources to Cursor, with the startup using large volumes of chips to train its latest model. Two senior Cursor engineers, Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg, also moved to xAI and now report directly to Elon Musk. Cursor has seen a sharp rise in valuation over the past year. It was valued at $2.5 billion early last year, increased to $9 billion within months, and reached a $29.3 billion post-money valuation after a $2.3 billion funding round in November. The company is currently in discussions to raise $2 billion at a valuation exceeding $50 billion. The deal comes as SpaceX prepares for a potential public offering, with the partnership seen as part of broader efforts to expand its artificial intelligence footprint. Both Cursor and xAI currently rely on models from competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic while building their own capabilities in the developer tools segment.
Cursor-SpaceX deal signals coding agents' victory
If there was any doubt that coding agents have become the beachfront property of the AI industry, the Cursor-SpaceX deal just put it to rest. In an unorthodox move on Tuesday, SpaceX signed a deal with Cursor that would allow Cursor and xAI (now a SpaceX subsidiary) to jointly develop a coding agent to better compete with the reigning champ Claude Code and the fast-charging Codex from OpenAI. For now, Cursor and xAI will see if they can make a collaboration work. And if they can, then SpaceX will acquire Cursor later this year for $60 billion. And if it doesn't work out, then SpaceX will pay $10 billion for the opportunity to learn from the coding company. That's a great deal for Cursor since the whole company was valued at $10 billion just 12 months ago. Plus, while Cursor was an early leader in the AI coding space, it's now facing an uncertain future as frontier labs make coding tools their top priority. Without guaranteed access to compute and leading-edge models, Cursor was going to have two hands tied behind its back. So why did both sides do this deal? It's telling that in the tweet announcing the move, SpaceX described the collaboration as building "the world's best coding and knowledge work AI." It's chasing the same exact goals that OpenAI and Anthropic are sprinting towards. Make no mistake: xAI is using its new big brother, SpaceX, to throw a Hail Mary pass in a desperate attempt to catch up with its coding agent rivals. You have to admire the chutzpah. But we have to see this for what it is: a lower-percentage pass. Still, both xAI and Cursor are upstarts with a lot of talent. Even if they learn they can't compete with Claude Code or Codex for a leadership role in coding agents, I wouldn't be surprised if they find a niche to carve out. Either way, this is more evidence that coding agents have moved to the epicenter of the AI revolution in 2026.
Polymarket Launches Leveraged Perps Contracts | Flash News Detail
Polymarket rolls out heavily leveraged perpetual contracts, boosting crypto derivatives market access amid Bitcoin's surge to $140K highs. Polymarket just unleashed trading for heavily leveraged 'perps' contracts, letting traders bet big on crypto outcomes with amplified exposure. This move ramps up the platform's edge in the crypto derivatives market, where perpetual swaps mimic futures without expiration, drawing in speculators eyeing Bitcoin volatility. Fresh off last quarter's regulatory nods, Polymarket targets aggressive players chasing Polymarket perps trading gains, potentially spiking volumes as BTC hovers near record levels. Insiders see this fueling broader leveraged crypto contracts adoption, especially with rising interest in prediction markets tied to real-world events.
Elon Musk's SpaceX Says Orbital Datacenters, Mars Colony Plans Rely On 'Unproven' Tech In Filing
Elon Musk-led SpaceX is reportedly cautioning investors looking to participate in the upcoming IPO that the company's orbital datacenter goals, as well as plans to colonize Mars, rely on technology not yet proven, casting doubt over the projects' commercial benefits. Filing Shows SpaceX Taking Cautious Approach The company laid out a far more cautious approach in filings with the SEC, saying that the "initiatives" for datacenters in orbit and "interplanetary industrialization" were in preliminary stages, Reuters reported on Tuesday. SpaceX also said that the goals involved "significant technical complexity and unproven technologies," while also acknowledging that the projects "may not achieve commercial viability." Companies are required by law to share risk factors associated with their businesses, alongside finances, via S-1 filings. The cautious approach is in contrast with Musk's public comments on space-based AI compute and plans to colonize Mars. SpaceX also said that orbital datacenters were going to operate in the "harsh environment of space," which would expose the technology to a "range of space-related risks that could cause them to malfunction or fail," according to the filing. Elon Musk's Ambitious PlansStarship Woes The S-1 filings also showed SpaceX acknowledging that many of its goals also depend on the success of the Starship rocket. "Any failure or delay in the development of Starship at scale or in achieving the required launch cadence, reusability and capabilities thereof would delay or limit our ability to execute our growth strategy," the company said in the filing. Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
Polymarket says perpetuals are coming to the platform and lets users sign for early access; it has not specified whether crypto perpetual futures are included
Shalom Levytam / iClarified: SpaceX Secures Option to Acquire AI Code Editor Cursor for $60 Billion SpaceXAI and @cursor_ai are now working closely together to create the world's best coding and knowledge work AI. The combination of Cursor's leading product and distribution to expert software engineers with SpaceX's million H100 equivalent Colossus training supercomputer will allow us to build the world's most useful models. Cursor has also given SpaceX the right to acquire Cursor later this year for $60 billion or pay $10 billion for our work together.
SpaceX teams up with AI startup Cursor in potential US$60b buyout deal
SAN FRANCISCO, April 22 -- SpaceX yesterday announced a partnership with AI coding company Cursor and said the alliance comes with an option to buy the startup for US$60 billion (about RM237 billion) later this year. The move by Elon Musk's rocket and satellite company comes as it prepares to become publicly traded, and shortly after it took over the billionaire's artificial intelligence outfit xAI. Cursor, founded in 2022 and based in San Francisco, specializes in AI for creating software code, particularly for business uses. "SpaceXAI and @cursor_ai are now working closely together to create the world's best coding and knowledge work AI," the company said in a post on X. Combining Cursor's software and product expertise with SpaceX's "Colossus" AI training supercomputer will enable the company "to build the world's most useful models," it said. The partnership comes as AI sector rivals vie to be the preferred option for software developers. Cursor competes with Microsoft's social coding platform GitHub, which has been a leading resource in the developer community. OpenAI announced yesterday that its coding tool, Codex, has grown to four million weekly users, up from three million just weeks ago. Meanwhile, Anthropic has put out word that revenue from its Claude Code tool for developers has surged. AI in the sky Musk announced in February that SpaceX would acquire xAI, a step in his plan to launch solar-powered, satellite-based data centers to run future AI models. SpaceX has set the pace in the space launch market, offering reusable rockets that vastly reduce the cost of putting satellites into orbit and itself owning the largest satellite constellation, Starlink. The company is set for a stock market listing this year widely expected to be the biggest in history, with media reports pointing to an initial public offering (IPO) as early as June. Musk called SpaceX's absorption of xAI "not just the next chapter, but the next book" for the companies. "Global electricity demand for AI simply cannot be met with terrestrial solutions... The only logical solution therefore is to transport these resource-intensive efforts to a location with vast power and space," Musk wrote when his companies were merged. The project fits into Musk's long-term ambition to build colonies on the Moon and Mars and is "a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization," he wrote. Coined in the 1960s by a Soviet astronomer, the futurist term refers to a civilization able to use all of the energy from its home system's star. SpaceX filed papers early this year with US regulators that set the stage for what could be the largest-ever public stock offering, a source familiar with the matter told AFP. The confidential filing puts the rocket and satellite builder on track to list its shares on a public exchange by July, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified sources. Media reports have said the initial public offering could be valued at a whopping US$75 billion or more, for a venture with stratospheric ambitions. If successful, SpaceX could arrive on Wall Street with a valuation exceeding US$1.75 trillion, putting it among the world's ten biggest companies by market capitalization. Besides SpaceX, two other tech heavyweights, the AI developers OpenAI and Anthropic, are reportedly planning IPOs this year. -- AFP
Anthropic investigates alleged unauthorised access to its Mythos AI model: Here is what happened
The group has been using Mythos since the day it was publicly announced. Anthropic recently introduced a cybersecurity-focused AI model called Mythos, describing it as a powerful tool designed to help enterprises detect and respond to digital threats. However, the company is now investigating reports that an unauthorised group has gained access to the system through a third-party environment. According to a report by Bloomberg, a private online forum managed to access Mythos shortly after it was announced. The members of this group have not been publicly identified, but they reportedly accessed the model through a third-party vendor that works with Anthropic. The company is looking into the matter. 'We're investigating a report claiming unauthorised access to Claude Mythos Preview through one of our third-party vendor environments,' an Anthropic spokesperson told TechCrunch. The company also claimed that it has not found any evidence so far that the alleged activity has affected its systems. Also read: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman takes dig at Anthropic Mythos AI, calls it fear-based marketing The report claims that members of the group attempted different methods to get access with the model, including using access privileges associated with a person, who is said to work for a contractor partnered with Anthropic. Bloomberg also reported that the members of the group are part of a Discord channel focused on discovering and experimenting with unreleased AI models. According to the outlet, the group has been using Mythos since the day it was publicly announced and even shared screenshots and a live demonstration of the model to verify their claims. The group reportedly guessed the location of the model online based on Anthropic's previous patterns. Also read: ChatGPT Images 2.0 is here with improved photorealism, better Hindi text rendering and more Mythos was originally released to a limited group of vendors as part of Anthropic's Project Glasswing project. The restricted rollout included major partners such as Apple and was intended to ensure that the powerful cybersecurity tool did not fall into the wrong hands. Also read: 'Legend': Sam Altman and other leaders react as Tim Cook steps down as Apple CEO
SpaceX plans $60 billion bet on AI startup cursor
New Delhi: SpaceX has said it may buy AI coding startup Cursor later this year for $60 billion, or pay $10 billion for their ongoing partnership. The company shared this update on X, adding that both sides are now working together to build better AI tools for coding and general knowledge work. This move comes as SpaceX tries to catch up in the fast-growing AI coding space. The company recently combined its operations with xAI, which is owned by Elon Musk. Musk had earlier admitted that xAI is behind competitors in coding tools and said he wants to rebuild the company's efforts from scratch. What the deal means As part of this shift, Musk has already made internal changes, including layoffs in March and a push to hire more engineers. Cursor has also been a source of talent, with some hires coming from the startup earlier. At the same time, Cursor was in talks to raise around $2 billion from investors at a valuation above $50 billion, Bloomberg reported. Big names like Nvidia and Andreessen Horowitz were expected to take part in that funding round. Rising competition in AI coding Cursor's AI assistant, launched in 2023, helps developers write and fix code more easily. It has quickly become one of the fastest-growing startups and is part of what many call the "vibe coding" trend, where AI tools are used to speed up software work. Cursor president Oskar Schulz said SpaceX has strong computing power, which could help both companies scale their AI models faster. Competition in this space is increasing, with companies like Anthropic and OpenAI also launching tools to simplify coding.
New AI lab Core Automation 'nerdsniped' researchers from Anthropic, Google DeepMind
A new AI startup called Core Automation, founded by an ex-OpenAI researcher, is snatching top talent from Anthropic and Google DeepMind. On Tuesday, Core Automation wrote in its first X post that it is "building the world's most automated AI lab." "Our objective: systems that optimize and automate work, starting with research itself," the company wrote in the post. Jerry Tworek, a former vice president at OpenAI, lists himself as the CEO and cofounder of Core Automation on his X bio. In an X post on Tuesday, Anthropic researcher Rohan Anil said he left the company after Tworek "nerdsniped" him. "Ok I did leave anthropic, a few weeks ago, it was one of the best places to work for a researcher," Anil, who also worked in Google DeepMind, wrote. "Jerry Tworek nerdsniped me into starting this with him and others." Anmol Gulati, a research scientist from Google DeepMind working on Gemini, said in a post that he was "starting something new with some exceptional people." "I've increasingly felt that the current research paradigm -- scaling models, data, and static deployment won't get us all the way," Gulati wrote. "We believe the next phase comes from something different: new learning algorithms, architectures beyond today's stack, and systems that automate the process of building itself." On its website, Core Automation wrote that its team consists of people who have "helped build frontier models" and "influential architectures." It's not the first time top AI researchers have left big labs for startups. Yann LeCun, formerly Meta's chief AI scientist, left the company to start his AI startup Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs, also known as AMI Labs. The startup focuses on developing world models -- AI systems that better understand and reflect the real world. AMI Labs' approach departs from Meta's focus on commercially driven model development and scaling. Last year, tech giants were battling over top AI talent, offering multibillion-dollar acquihires and massive pay packages. Startups were also active players in the talent war, offering competitive salaries and equity packages, as well as the unique impact and ownership that come with working at a smaller company. Shawn Thorne, managing director at executive search firm True Search, told Business Insider last year that base salaries at startups rose rapidly as they compete to attract AI talent. Equity is "the big factor" helping offset the "opportunity cost" for top researchers or engineers who might otherwise choose to start their own ventures, he said. To sweeten the deal, startups also offer additional incentives such as cofounder titles, access to compute, and time for independent research, Thorne added.
'$60 Billion Trapped' -- Inside The Plumbing Problem Kraken's IPO Exposed
Arjun Sethi, the co-CEO of Kraken, told the Semafor World Economy Summit on April 14 that what retail crypto traders really want is what Citadel, Jane Street and JPMorgan already have. "That's our mission," he said. "How do we make all these products open?" Sethi used the appearance to confirm that Kraken's confidential S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission is still active, first filed in November 2025 and paused this March when markets softened. The product Kraken wants to sell retail is the same product its institutional desk already sells: tight spreads, fast settlement, credit lines. Two founders building the middleware that would make that product work at scale say the plumbing underneath is still a decade behind foreign exchange. "No matter what your views on Bitcoin or Ethereum, that new capital wants to enter this space," BridgePort CEO Nirup Ramalingam told me on my podcast On The Margin. "So we have to build an infrastructure that's needed for them." Roughly $60 billion sits trapped in pre-funded accounts across crypto exchanges, according to BridgePort, because institutions do not trust the venues enough to leave assets there. And the off-chain attack surface that made Bybit, Resolv and Drift the year's biggest breaches is getting wider, not narrower. Institutional crypto's next leg up is not a new ETF wrapper or a regulatory tailwind. It is plumbing. And Kraken's pricing window will put the numbers in the open. Ramalingam spent two decades in foreign exchange and fixed income infrastructure before co-founding BridgePort. His pitch frames institutional crypto through a direct FX comparison. "In FX, seven trillion dollars is traded every single day between institutions. In crypto, that number is something like 100x less, somewhere between 50 and 70 billion," he said, adding that spot crypto volumes were suppressed the week we recorded. (The Bank for International Settlements' 2025 triennial survey, released in September, put daily global FX turnover closer to $9.6 trillion these days.) The gap, in Ramalingam's telling, is not about the asset class. It is about how trades settle. "Institutions with millions of dollars don't want to deposit assets on every single exchange. When they're not trading on any particular exchange, that's debt capital. Debt capital is no ROI basically." The pre-funding model dates to Mt. Gox. You wired dollars, Mt. Gox credited your account, you traded. Fifteen years later the model still survives, and the cost is that institutions park billions at venues they do not fully trust just to have execution optionality. "This is what really enabled FTX collapse to happen," Ramalingam said. "Traders could have been making money but unfortunately their money wasn't secured and segregated. It was either inadvertently or nefariously taken up by the exchange." BridgePort's answer is to sit as middleware between exchanges and custodians, letting trading firms pledge assets at a regulated custodian and draw a credit line on the exchange. Ramalingam described it in one line: "BridgePort is the Plaid for crypto." Assets stay with the custodian. The exchange sees a balance it can lend against. When the trader wants to move capital, it reallocates in milliseconds rather than hours of on-chain withdrawals and deposits. The guardrail is that the pledged amount cannot be double-allocated across venues, something BridgePort enforces in software. The institutional uptake is already visible in the plumbing itself. In March, 360T's crypto trading platform 3DX integrated BridgePort as its off-exchange settlement layer. 360T is owned by Deutsche Börse, the German exchange operator with a market capitalization of roughly $50 billion. Anchorage Digital integrated BridgePort in December. BridgePort also plugged into the Lynq settlement network, whose other members include B2C2, Crypto.com, Galaxy Digital and FalconX. The middleware layer is being built in public by entities that do not generally enter businesses early. Ramalingam is explicit about where that leads. "In fact, some in the US cannot pre-fund because of regulations," he said of traditional asset managers. "So they have to hold their assets with the qualified custodian. Unless you put those qualifiers in place, how can crypto scale?" The other plumbing problem is not about capital. It is about keys. Ido Sofer spent seven years at the Israeli Ministry of Finance before founding Sodot, a key management infrastructure company whose name means "secrets" in Hebrew. His read of 2026's biggest crypto losses is blunt. "Starting from Bybit and moving forward to a lot of others, including the recent ones like Resolv, Drift and others," Sofer said. "Those are off-chain hacks that led to on-chain loss of funds. Developer credentials, deployment keys, API keys that are being stolen. And that provided access to moving funds on chain." It is not the first time the industry has had to rebuild after a security shock. What matters about that framing is that the smart contracts were not broken. The operational security around them was. Sofer calls the new state of play "custody 2.0": it is no longer enough to secure private keys, because the attack surface has expanded to every credential a crypto firm uses to push code, connect to an exchange, or deploy a vault. "Attackers understood that before infrastructure teams and before security teams," he said. "It's upon us, the crypto companies, the infrastructure companies to close this operational security gap." Sofer's recommendation for institutions is multiparty computation, the cryptographic technique that splits a key into shards held in different geographies, operating systems and sometimes different legal entities. None of the shards alone can move funds, and no single compromise, whether of an employee, a cloud provider or a country's legal process, breaks the vault. Sodot sells a self-hosted version because institutions insist on running the software themselves. "This is how they do everything," Sofer said, referring to how asset managers and regulated entities have always built internal infrastructure. The market, he added, has "changed itself for those institutions so they will feel comfortable." Sofer's mental model for defending against nation state attackers is colder than the industry usually admits. "North Korea, they spend a significant amount of resources and they're gonna be successful one way or another," he said. "So what can you do? You apply risk distribution and add other layers of security on top of it, and then essentially you're making it very hard, much harder than other companies in the space." The gazelle does not have to outrun the lion. It has to outrun the slowest gazelle. Pre-funded balances and unhardened keys are the same problem wearing two masks. Neither pitch is radical. Off-exchange settlement is how every other asset class settles. MPC custody is how any banking institution with more than a billion dollars would design a new vault from scratch. Both are being rebuilt, in public, by founders who came from places where this was solved a generation ago: Ramalingam from FX and fixed income, Sofer from an Israeli government that treats cryptographic infrastructure as a strategic asset. Neither Kraken nor any other public-listing candidate will get through a diligence process without showing buyers how both have been solved. The Kraken filing will be the market's first extended look at what institutional crypto infrastructure actually generates in revenue. Sethi's April round valued Kraken at $13.3 billion, roughly a third below the $20 billion the company commanded in late 2025. Deutsche Börse's $200 million secondary purchase in that round is the same Deutsche Börse whose 360T subsidiary integrated BridgePort's off-exchange settlement rail in March. The same parent is betting on Kraken's equity and on the plumbing Kraken would need to scale its institutional business. "What they want at the end of the day is what Citadel and Jane Street have, or JPMorgan has," Sethi said at Semafor. Whether Kraken can deliver it depends on whether the middleware layer Ramalingam and Sofer are quietly building is ready for the dollars that come with an IPO. "Another collapse like FTX cannot happen," Ramalingam said of the institutions now circling crypto. Kraken's S-1 will be the first time the public sees how much of the plumbing designed to make that promise true is already generating revenue, and how much is still being built.
Transport chaos in Medak region as RTC employees intensify protest
RTC employees blocked bus operations across depots, halting services and leaving passengers stranded. Private buses faced resistance, police ensured order, and commuters turned to autos and interstate buses amid widespread transport disruption in Telangana Sangareddy: Public transportation came to a standstill as RTC drivers, conductors and other employees launched a protest blocking the RTC services at bus depots from very early morning on Wednesday. The passengers were seen waiting at bus stations for long hours. The management was trying to operate buses by roping in private drivers, but the RTC staff had thwarted their attempts by blocking the buses from going on to the roads at several places. Meanwhile, a huge number of police officers were deployed at all the bus depots and bus stations to ensure the protest was organised smoothly. The police provided escorts to ensure smooth running RTC services in some routes. The passengers were taking autos and other private vehicles to reach their destinations. The auto drivers were busy since morning as they could get continuous raids. There are 1,043 conductors and 869 drivers working at bus depots across the Medak RTC region. Meanwhile, the Karnataka and Maharastra state RTC buses, which were being operated from various parts of these states to Hyderabad, were fully occupied with Telangana passengers.
Elon Musk's SpaceX Targets AI Coding Boom With $60 Billion Cursor Deal Option As Grok Parent Looks To Clo
Elon Musk's SpaceX has secured an option to either acquire AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion later this year or enter a $10 billion partnership. SpaceX Weighs Acquisition Or Partnership With Cursor SpaceX's official X handle said, "SpaceXAI and @cursor_ai are now working closely together to create the world's best coding and knowledge work AI." Cursor is among a new wave of startups, alongside OpenAI and Anthropic, gaining traction by using artificial intelligence to automate coding tasks -- one of the earliest areas of commercial success for AI. Last week, reports indicated that Cursor is nearing a deal to raise at least $2 billion in new funding at a $50 billion pre-money valuation. Strategic investor Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is expected to participate, though the terms have not been finalized and remain subject to change. Boosting xAI And Grok's Competitive Edge The potential deal could strengthen xAI, which merged with SpaceX earlier this year and develops the Grok. The company has so far trailed rivals in AI-powered coding tools. "The combination of Cursor's leading product and distribution to expert software engineers with SpaceX's million H100 equivalent Colossus training supercomputer will allow us to build the world's most useful models," the company wrote. Colossus Supercomputer And Talent Moves SpaceX brings significant computing power through its "Colossus" AI cluster in Memphis, touted as one of the largest globally. The company has invested billions into AI infrastructure to accelerate model development. IPO Looms As SpaceX Expands Into AI The move comes ahead of SpaceX's anticipated IPO, where it is reportedly targeting a valuation near $1.75 trillion and a $75 billion raise -- potentially the largest in history. Some analysts have raised concerns about SpaceX's valuation, suggesting that much of the company's upside may already be priced in, potentially limiting returns for investors participating in the IPO. Meanwhile, SpaceX has reportedly moved up its vesting timeline, notifying employees that their stock options will become eligible for sale this month, earlier than the previously scheduled May date. Photo: Thrive Studios ID via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
Vercel data breach: How hackers targeted the cloud company and offered its data for sale for $2 million
Cloud development platform Vercel confirmed a security breach after an employee's Google Workspace account was compromised via a third-party AI vulnerability. Attackers gained unauthorized access to internal systems, targeting non-sensitive environment variables. The data, including source code and API keys, is reportedly being sold for $2 million. American cloud development platform Vercel on Sunday confirmed a security breach allowing an attacker to gain unauthorised access to data for a "limited subset of customers". "We've identified a security incident that involved unauthorized access to certain internal Vercel systems. We are actively investigating, and we have engaged incident response experts to help investigate and remediate. We have notified law enforcement," the company wrote in a blogpost. What was the data breach about? The data breach occurred after a employee's Google Workspace account was compromised via a vulnerability at the third-party AI platform Context.ai. Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch confirmed that hackers exploited this foothold to infiltrate internal systems with "surprising speed", suggesting the attackers likely used AI-driven tools to navigate the company's infrastructure and identify technical vulnerabilities. The intruders specifically targeted environment variables, focusing on those marked as 'non-sensitive,' a convenience feature now undergoing a rigorous security review. Although Vercel emphasises that sensitive data remained encrypted at rest and that the impact was limited to a small number of customers, the fallout has escalated into a high-stakes extortion attempt. The threat actor, identified by some as the group ShinyHunters, listed Vercel's data for sale on BreachForums for $2 million. The hackers claim to have exfiltrated source code, internal databases, and API keys. "Vercel stores all customer environment variables fully encrypted at rest. We have numerous defense-in-depth mechanisms to protect core systems and customer data. We do have a capability however to designate environment variables as "non-sensitive". Unfortunately, the attacker got further access through their enumeration," CEO Rauch wrote in a post on X. Per The Information, last September, Vercel raised $300 million at a $9.3 billion valuation. How is Vercel currently tackling the breach? The company is prioritising investigation, customer communication, tightening security, and cleaning affected systems. Vercel has confirmed that core tools and projects such as Next.js and Turbopack remain secure and uncompromised. Vercel has partnered with Google's Mandiant team and law enforcement to investigate the full scope of the breach. The company has already begun rolling out new safeguards, specifically enhancing the visibility and control of environment variables within its dashboard. Rauch has committed to transforming this incident into a catalyst for the 'strongest security response possible' for the platform. "At the moment, we believe the number of customers with security impact to be quite limited. All of our focus right now is on investigation, communication to customers, enhancement of security measures, and sanitisation of our environments. We've deployed extensive protection measures and monitoring," Rauch added in his post. Further, Vercel has directly contacted affected individuals, advising them to immediately change their sensitive credentials, such as passwords and API keys, and monitor access logs to check if attackers have already accessed these keys and prevent further unauthorised activity.
SpaceX filing says space AI data centers and Mars plans may not be viable - CNBC TV18
SpaceX warned investors that its ambitions to build space-based artificial intelligence data centers, as well as human settlements on the moon and Mars, rely on unproven technologies and may not become commercially viable, according to a company filing. The business risks laid out in SpaceX's pre-IPO filing, which have not been previously reported, present a far more cautious assessment of the rocket maker's future than the vision laid out publicly by billionaire CEO Elon Musk in recent weeks, as the company gears up for what could be the largest initial public offering in history. Risk factors in a prospectus are required by U.S. securities law and are designed to inform investors of potential pitfalls while also shielding companies from future legal liability. "Our initiatives to develop orbital AI compute and in-orbit, lunar, and interplanetary industrialization are in early stages, involve significant technical complexity and unproven technologies, and may not achieve commercial viability," SpaceX said in an excerpt from the S-1 filing, which was seen by Reuters. Any future AI orbital data centers will operate "in the harsh and unpredictable environment of space, exposing them to a wide and unique range of space-related risks that could cause them to malfunction or fail," the document said. MUSK SAYS AI IN SPACE IS A 'NO-BRAINER' Companies use the S-1 registration document to disclose their finances and risks before going public. SpaceX is targeting a listing in the coming months at a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion with a $75 billion raise, which would make it the largest initial public offering in history. Musk said at the World Economic Forum in January that building AI data centers in space was "a no-brainer" and that it would be the cheapest place to put AI within two to three years. In February, after announcing a merger between SpaceX and his social media and artificial intelligence firm xAI, he said "space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale". SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. SpaceX also highlighted its heavy dependence on Starship, its next-generation fully reusable rocket, which has suffered several delays and testing failures. "Any failure or delay in the development of Starship at scale or in achieving the required launch cadence, reusability and capabilities thereof would delay or limit our ability to execute our growth strategy," the filing said. Starship is designed to loft far larger payloads than SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, aiming to dramatically reduce launch costs for Starlink satellites, space‑based data centers and human missions to the moon.
