EIF’s incoming chief says Europe’s Tech Champions funds hold 15 unicorns
EIF’s incoming chief says Europe’s Tech Champions funds hold 15 unicorns

Europe must give its startups the capital to grow without leaving the continent, Jean-Christophe Laloux said. The incoming chief executive of the European Investment Fund spoke at Wave by Vento in Turin on Friday. “It’s not enough to innovate in Europe…

Vittorio Colao defends copyright rules and the DSA in Europe’s AI debate
Vittorio Colao defends copyright rules and the DSA in Europe’s AI debate

Regulation is holding back AI in Europe, but not every rule in the same way, Vittorio Colao said. The former Vodafone chief executive, now vice chairman for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at General Atlantic, spoke on stage at Wave by Vento in Turi…

Ramp hits $60bn valuation in $1.85bn round, Bloomberg reports
Ramp hits $60bn valuation in $1.85bn round, Bloomberg reports

Fintech start-up Ramp has raised about $1.85bn at a valuation of roughly $60bn, Rebecca Torrence reported for Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. Dragoneer Investment Group and Thrive Capital led the round, and Founders Fund also wrote a…

Law firm Quinn Emanuel maps how AI data centre debt could unravel
Law firm Quinn Emanuel maps how AI data centre debt could unravel

A memo from US law firm Quinn Emanuel sets out how the debt behind the AI data centre boom could turn into a wave of lawsuits. Liz Hoffman reported that it was doing the rounds again this week for Semafor. The 20-page client alert was first published i…

micro1 commits $1bn to buy company data for training AI agents
micro1 commits $1bn to buy company data for training AI agents

AI training company micro1 will spend $1bn over the next 12 months buying and licensing operational data from companies. The San Francisco company announced the plan on Friday. Citi and Hercules Capital are providing the capital. The money goes through…

Nik Storonsky wants Revolut to be Europe’s answer to Meta and Google
Nik Storonsky wants Revolut to be Europe’s answer to Meta and Google

Revolut wants to grow beyond banking into a global tech company on the scale of the biggest US groups, but built in Europe, chief executive Nik Storonsky said. He spoke with Exor chief executive John Elkann at Wave by Vento in Turin, in a session title…

Vittorio Colao: Europe missed the digital wave and must not miss the next
Vittorio Colao: Europe missed the digital wave and must not miss the next

Europe has less than 2 gigawatts of AI computing capacity and needs more, former Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao said. He spoke at a closed-door press Q&A at Wave by Vento in Turin on Friday, the event’s last day. “Europe missed the big dig…

Sam Altman says OpenAI will put its mission before its share price
Sam Altman says OpenAI will put its mission before its share price

Sam Altman said OpenAI will put its mission ahead of its share price once it goes public, even if the stock “falls a lot”. The OpenAI chief executive said it in an interview with Vanity Fair, published on 5 October. Vanity Fair global editorial directo…

EA reportedly leans on a private rating as bondholders claim default
EA reportedly leans on a private rating as bondholders claim default

EA has obtained an investment-grade rating from Egan-Jones for a subset of its bonds, and is using it to argue it does not owe creditors a 101-cent payout after the largest leveraged buyout on record. Egan-Jones is under SEC investigation over whether …

OpenAI expects a $70bn revenue run rate by year-end, Bloomberg reports
OpenAI expects a $70bn revenue run rate by year-end, Bloomberg reports

OpenAI expects its annualised revenue to reach or exceed $70bn by the end of the year, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The company shared the forecast with investors in talks over its latest funding round, according to people familiar with the matter. Th…