Today's news, explained simply.

🧠 South Korea’s FuriosaAI raises $620 million for AI chips

This story came via Google News, which only gives the headline. Rather than guess, there's no explanation; the original link has the full story.

💰 FuriosaAI · $620 mn · AI chips · South Korea

🐱 Smylo is in talks to raise ₹30 crore for cat food

D2C cat food startup Smylo is reportedly in advanced talks to raise about ₹30 crore, mostly as equity with some debt. Founded in 2024 by former Titan Capital executives Abhishek Agrawal and Kartikeya Gupta, it sells wet food, dry food and broths for kittens and adult cats through its site, marketplaces and quick commerce platforms.

Why it matters: Fresh funding could help Smylo add products, build a factory and push deeper into India’s pet food market.

💰 Smylo · ₹30 Cr · D2C pet food · India

🏭 Venttup raises $3 million to scale industrial manufacturing tech

Venttup raised $3 million in a pre-Series A round led by Rainmatter and Unicorn India Ventures. The Kerala Startup Mission incubated company builds manufacturing-as-a-service for precision components and subassemblies, serving sectors like energy, data centres, mobility, defence, aerospace and space.

Why it matters: The new money supports more prototyping and manufacturing capacity for industrial customers that need precision parts.

💰 Venttup · $3 Mn · industrial tech · India

🤖 Coratia Technologies raises Rs 18 crore for underwater robots

Coratia Technologies raised Rs 18 crore in a bridge round led by MGF Kavachh. The Odisha startup builds underwater robotic systems and says the money will help it execute a Rs 66 crore Indian Navy contract under iDEX, while expanding R&D and manufacturing.

Why it matters: The funding helps Coratia deliver a Navy contract and widen use of its underwater robots beyond defence.

💰 Coratia Technologies · Rs 18 Cr · deep-tech robotics · India

🤖 Tensrai raises Rs 3.4 crore for physical AI software

Hyderabad-based Tensrai raised Rs 3.4 crore in a pre-seed round from India Accelerator, Finvolve, Hyderabad Angels and others. It is building a retrofittable autonomy platform that lets industrial and commercial machines do tasks on their own, including material handling and cleaning.

Why it matters: The round gives Tensrai runway to sell autonomy tools to factories, warehouses and other work sites.

💰 Tensrai · Rs 3.4 Cr · physical AI · India

↩ Same pattern: Last week self-driving excavators drew $600 million in funding; today Tensrai raises pre-seed money for physical AI hardware. (26 Oct)

📈 Pine Labs says Q2 profit rose 6.5 times

Pine Labs reported Q2 net profit of Rs 38.6 crore, up 6.5 times from a year earlier, with revenue rising 24% to Rs 806 crore. The fintech company processes payments and said growth came from online payments, cross-border payments, SMBs and government segments.

Why it matters: Its results show faster profit growth even as the company expands into more payment categories and countries.

↩ Sequel: Last week WeWork India reported revenue up 34% and profit tripled; today Pine Labs says profit rose 6.5 times. (26 Oct)

🚚 Shadowfax reports 5x quarterly profit and 57% revenue growth

Shadowfax, which provides logistics and last-mile delivery services to e-commerce platforms and businesses, reported Q2 FY27 profit of Rs 68 crore, up five-fold year on year. Revenue from operations rose 56.6% to Rs 1,538 crore.

Why it matters: Strong earnings at a delivery company show how volume growth and cost control are reshaping logistics margins.

🔍 Google says AI search earns less as Alphabet shares fall

Alphabet reported Q3 revenue of almost $128 billion and net income of more than $26 billion, but its shares fell sharply after the update. The company also said AI search makes less money than organic search, even as it plans to spend more on AI next year.

Why it matters: Lower monetization from AI search could pressure how Google funds its next wave of AI spending.

🌐 Reddit says Google’s AI Mode is cutting search referrals

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said Google’s AI-powered search features do not drive traffic to Reddit. He said search referrals in October dropped by more than 1 million on average per week, as AI Mode and AI Overviews change how people search.

Why it matters: Falling referrals could make Reddit more dependent on direct users and other sources of traffic.

💻 Intel says demand for its cheapest laptop chips exceeds supply

Intel says demand for its budget Wildcat Lake chips is outstripping supply, and CFO David Zinsner said they are sold out. The chips are showing up in lower-cost Windows laptops as PC makers try to manage higher component costs.

Why it matters: Short supply for entry-level chips can affect pricing and availability in the cheapest laptop segment.

🏗️ Avendus says India can gain from a $3 trillion AI buildout

Avendus Capital says India’s new-age manufacturing sector could benefit from a $3 trillion global AI infrastructure investment cycle. It points to defence, aerospace, space tech, robotics, semiconductors, energy transition and advanced materials as the main areas where Indian firms could grow.

Why it matters: The report argues that demand for chips, space tech and clean-energy hardware could create a large manufacturing opportunity in India.

🛡️ IG Defence and Oman’s MSA Global explore drone production

India’s IG Defence and Oman’s MSA Global signed an MoU to explore co-developing and locally making drone and counter-drone systems for Oman and the GCC. The agreement is exploratory only, and the company says it covers three systems: KAL, BAJ and JWALA.

Why it matters: If the talks advance, the companies could set up regional production for drones and counter-drone systems.

🤖 Trump calls foreign-made factory robots a national security threat

President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on October 28 saying imports of foreign-made industrial robots pose a national security threat. He ordered new US negotiations with trading partners and left open future tariffs on robot imports. The order could affect manufacturers that use these machines, including General Motors, Ford, Tesla, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Why it matters: Manufacturers that rely on imported robots could face new trade talks or tariffs on equipment they use in production.