Startups news, week of October 12, 2026

Machine summary Key facts from the reports:

1. For the first half of 2026 the article reports adjusted EBITDA of $4.6 billion against capital expenditures it says exceeded $28 billion
2. The company held about $98 billion in cash and marketable securities, the same article states
3. Per the article, shares were trading at about $157 as of writing, which put the company's value close to $2 trillion.
4. The stock rose about 7% after the company launched three rockets within 13 hours, per the October 16 article

Reported by Yahoo Finance, The Motley Fool and fool.com.

Machine summary CNBC reported the shares rose 35% after the filing surfaced, and Reuters reported the transaction takes Berkshire's holding to 4%, following an earlier $600 million investment made at the company's July 2026 Nasdaq listing.

1. Under the arrangement, CNBC reported that 10 million ordinary shares of Bending Spoons will be issued to Berkshire at a price of $33 each.
2. Berkshire's stake in the company stands at 4% following the investment, according to the filing cited by the reports
3. Berkshire had previously invested $600 million in Bending Spoons in July 2026, when the company went public on the Nasdaq, CNBC reported
4. Bending Spoons shares rose 35% after the filing was revealed, according to CNBC

Reported by Reuters and CNBC.

• Nasdaq
• Bending Spoons

Machine summary Zenzap raised $44 million from Bessemer, Lightspeed, The Garage and individual investors including Wix president Nir Zohar, TechCrunch reported on October 14, 2026. Founder Guy Weiss previously bootstrapped StuccoMedia from 2012 and sold it to Market Group in 2015, and told TechCrunch this is the first time he has raised venture capital.

1. Zenzap raised $44 million from Bessemer, Lightspeed and The Garage, plus individuals Nir Zohar and Yoram Tietz, TechCrunch reported on October 14, 2026
2. The round is the first time founder Guy Weiss has raised outside capital; he bootstrapped StuccoMedia in 2012 and sold it to Market Group in 2015, according to the report
3. Weiss started Zenzap in 2022 after meeting Bessemer partner Adam Fisher, with co-founders Noam Neumann and Jonatan Bien, and initially self-funded the company while working out of Bessemer's office
4. The product is a private messenger with AI intended to give employees their organization's context while meeting IT and security rules, per TechCrunch
5. TechCrunch describes businesses worldwide using consumer chat apps including WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord and iMessage to coordinate staff and share documents and data

Reported by techcrunch.com and Globes - Israel Business News.

• WhatsApp
• Lightspeed
• The Garage
• Market Group
• StuccoMedia
• Bessemer

Machine summary Harvard's endowment returned 27.1% in fiscal 2026 to reach nearly $68 billion, the university said in its annual financial report. A second-quarter 13F filing listed a $2.2 billion SpaceX position as the largest single holding by value, ahead of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company at just under $350 million. The report also stated that the federal excise tax on net investment income rises from 1.4% to 8%, which Harvard's CFO and treasurer estimated at roughly $300 million a year.

1. Harvard's endowment returned 27.1% in fiscal 2026, its strongest year since 2021, and now totals nearly $68 billion, per the university's annual financial report
2. The return beat the S&P 500's 22.3% total return for the same period by 4.8 percentage points
3. Harvard's second-quarter 13F filing with the SEC disclosed a $2.2 billion stake in SpaceX, its largest single holding by value; Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company followed at just under $350 million
4. Federally sponsored research revenue fell 19.5% to $509 million in fiscal 2026, according to CNBC's account of the report
5. CFO Ritu Kalra and treasurer Timothy Barakett wrote that the federal excise tax on net investment income rises from 1.4% to 8% in the current fiscal year, costing roughly $300 million a year by their estimate

Reported by CNBC, Bloomberg and 24/7 Wall St..

• SpaceX
• Harvard Management Company

Machine summary Growth equity firm Activate Capital has joined the Qatar Investment Authority's USD 3 billion Fund of Funds and announced its first office outside the United States will be in Doha, the two organizations said on October 15, 2026. QIA took an undisclosed limited partner position in Activate, which invests from Series B through pre-IPO in energy, transportation, digital industry, supply chain and climate adaptation, and Semafor reported Activate is the 13th venture firm in the program. Semafor reported participating managers must staff a Doha office with senior investors and that QIA offers portfolio companies incentives such as compute power to relocate to Qatar.

1. Activate Capital joined QIA's USD 3 billion Fund of Funds, with QIA putting in an undisclosed sum to become a limited partner, Semafor reported on October 15, 2026
2. The Peninsula reported that Activate plans to open a Doha site—its inaugural office outside US borders—manned with senior investment personnel that will include a Qatar-focused partner.
3. Activate is the 13th venture firm in QIA's Doha program, joining B Capital, Founders Circle and Liberty City Ventures, according to Semafor
4. The venture program is a small fraction of QIA's USD 580 billion fund, Semafor reported
5. The Fund of Funds was first announced in February 2024 to attract international VC firms to Qatar and accelerate startup development in Qatar and the region, The Peninsula reported

Reported by semafor.com and thepeninsulaqatar.com.

• Qatar Investment Authority
• B Capital
• QIA Fund of Funds
• Activate Capital
• Founders Circle
• Liberty City Ventures

Machine summary Instant househelp startup Snabbit reported a net loss of Rs 167.8 crore for FY26 against Rs 12.2 crore of operating revenue, according to financial statements IANS says came from the Registrar of Companies. The prior fiscal loss stood at Rs 5.7 crore, while total expenses rose to Rs 194.8 crore from Rs 6.8 crore as the company spent on customer acquisition, worker onboarding and market expansion.

1. Snabbit reported a net loss of Rs 167.8 crore in FY26, up from Rs 5.7 crore in the previous fiscal year, per financial statements IANS says it sourced from the Registrar of Companies
2. Revenue from operations rose about 46-fold to Rs 12.2 crore in FY26, with platform services contributing Rs 10.82 crore (around 88 per cent) and uniform sales the remainder
3. Other income of Rs 14.76 crore, largely interest on bank deposits, exceeded the company's operating revenue, according to the report
4. Total expenses jumped to Rs 194.8 crore from Rs 6.8 crore a year earlier, including Rs 63 crore in expert service costs, Rs 46 crore in employee benefits, Rs 48.7 crore in marketing and Rs 23.8 crore in service fulfilment
5. Snabbit spent about Rs 15.92 for every rupee of operating revenue generated during the fiscal year, the report states

Reported by The Economic Times and bhaskarlive.in.

• The Economic Times
• IANS
• Registrar of Companies
• Snabbit

Machine summary Early-stage deals took 51.3% of the capital, late-stage 38.9% and seed-stage 9.8%.

1. Indian tech startups raised $231.5 million across 26 rounds in the week ended October 16, 2026, Tracxn data cited by ETtech shows, more than double the prior week and 45.3% below the same period a year earlier
2. The week's biggest deal saw Boldfit secure approximately Rs 400 crore ($41.5 million) in funding from The Wealth Company Alternates, a Pantomath Group entity.
3. The report says GreenCell Mobility intends to deploy around 4,500 electric buses within the coming six to eight quarters, pushing its fleet beyond 5,000 in 105 cities, after bringing in equity of Rs 330 crore ($34.5 million) from Impact Fund Denmark.
4. Hitachi Ventures led a funding round in which Scimplify secured $25 million, and the company intends to put about $10 million into US operations over a two-year period spanning semiconductors and batteries; Inner Sky Labs brought in $30.9 million.
5. Early-stage deals accounted for 51.3% of capital raised, late-stage for 38.9% and seed-stage for 9.8%, according to the digest

Reported by economictimes.indiatimes.com and The Economic Times.

• Accel
• Elevation Capital
• Pantera Capital
• Tracxn
• Hitachi Ventures
• Scimplify

Machine summary U-topia, a self-custody money app founded five years ago, announced its public beta is open in more than 50 countries. The company said the launch came at FLOW Summit 2026 in Bangkok on Oct. 15-16, where organizers said more than 700 people attended and more than 500 builders joined a 24-hour U-Hackathon. The announcement discloses no funding total, valuation or user figures.

1. U-topia announced its public beta is open in more than 50 countries, distributed via GlobeNewswire on Oct. 18, 2026
2. According to the company, the unveiling happened at FLOW Summit 2026, which ran Oct. 15-16 at Avani Sukhumvit Bangkok, five years on from U-topia's founding.
3. The announcement says more than 700 people attended the two-day launch event
4. Organizers said U-Hackathon attracted more than 500 hackers and builders, who worked a 24-hour build period on AI and Web3 products
5. Described as offering eligible users the ability to hold, send, spend, convert and withdraw both digital and everyday currencies, the app uses U-Tag @name handles instead of wallet addresses.

Reported by NewsAffinity and manilatimes.net.

• U-Tag
• FLOW Summit 2026
• U-Hackathon
• U-topia
• Avani Sukhumvit Bangkok