Variational, which has built a protocol for decentralized derivatives trading aimed at gathering liquidity from traditional markets, raised a $50M Series A (Jack Kubinec/Fortune)

Kalshi and Polymarket sponsored X posts promoting viral LA mayoral election fraud conspiracy theories; Kalshi says it asked its paid influencers to remove posts (Max Tani/Semafor)

Paris-listed Teleperformance, the world's largest customer service company, has become one of Europe's most shorted stocks, as hedge funds bet on AI disruption (Ramsay Hodgson/Financial Times)

Sources: Uber has committed nearly $500M to self-driving startup Nuro, providing a crucial runway as Nuro works to prove its technology at commercial scale (Abhirup Roy/Reuters)

Inside the Trump admin's push to integrate AI into the healthcare system, including an FDA regulatory fast track for digital health tech like AI chatbots (Elizabeth Dwoskin/Washington Post)

SoftBank's PayPay, Japan's dominant payments app, says it will take a 70.2% stake in T&D Financial Life Insurance for $840M, expected to close in October 2027 (Mayumi Negishi/Bloomberg)

Kepple: seed-stage startup funding in Japan fell 42% YoY in 2025 to a 10-year low of $124M, as the Tokyo Stock Exchange moves to reduce small listings (Ami Yamada/Nikkei Asia)