🚪 Can’t Get In
Doors everywhere, not a key in sight for the newbies.
Good morning!
Thinking Machines Lab, Mira Murati's AI startup, is in talks to raise up to $6B at a valuation of at least $40B, with Nvidia putting in about half. The price rests largely on her pedigree, so the pedigree deserves a reading. It was built the way most careers are, inside companies still working things out. In 2013, Murati joined Tesla as a product manager on the Model X, which reached customers about 2 years late, held up mostly by falcon-wing doors whose original supplier Tesla ended up taking to court. In 2016, she moved to Leap Motion, a gesture-control startup later sold for $30M, a tenth of its peak valuation. In 2018, she joined OpenAI, then still a nonprofit. None of this says her work was poor. It says employers paid her to learn while their products were not yet good.
That is what goes missing in the line she delivered at Dartmouth's engineering school in June 2024, when she said some creative jobs "maybe shouldn't have been there in the first place," meaning the ones turning out low-quality work. Nobody defends bad work. But most good work starts as bad work, paid for by an employer who expects the beginner to improve. PwC's UK arm stopped paying for some of it in 2025, taking on 1,300 graduates instead of 1,500, its boss naming AI among the culprits. He had joined the firm as a graduate himself, 33 years earlier.
Across 62M US LinkedIn profiles, firms adopting generative AI shrank junior headcount while senior headcount kept growing, mostly by hiring fewer juniors rather than firing any. In the most AI-exposed US jobs, the entry-level share of postings fell from 29% to 10% between 2021 and 2026. A partner who once needed three trainees to draft a due diligence report now needs one, plus a subscription. The firm saves two salaries. The trainee who stays spends her first years correcting a machine's drafts rather than writing her own, and nobody yet knows what judgment that produces by year five. Firms are kicking away the bottom rung and assuming the ladder will hold.
Thinking Machines shipped its first product, Tinker, a service for fine-tuning AI models without running the hardware, in October 2025, and went looking for $50B to $60B a few weeks later. That round never closed. Co-founders left in turn, several back to OpenAI, one to Meta. Revenue now runs above $100M a year, and the new price sits at hundreds of times that. What investors are buying is experience, gathered in jobs where a young engineer was allowed to be late, wrong and expensive before being right. The industry is paying $40B for a CV it is making impossible to build.
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🗞️ Top Story
- 🇬🇧 Spy Another Day. MI5 chief Ken McCallum warns that Iran is ramping up attacks on UK Jewish communities and military sites, with over 50 arrests tied to Tehran in the past year. (New York Times)
- 🇫🇷 Union Dues. Le Pen unveils a €140B deficit plan anchored in deep spending cuts and a fight with the EU over France’s budget contribution, betting big on brinkmanship. (Financial Times)
- 🇩🇪 Trial by Fire. Germany puts Serhii Kuznietsov in the dock for allegedly leading the Nord Stream sabotage, forcing Berlin to confront the fallout of its Russian gas dependence. (Financial Times)
- 🇸🇪 Majority Report. Magdalena Andersson fails for the second time to form a government in Sweden, as coalition talks collapse over ministerial posts for the Left Party. (Die Zeit)
- 🇭🇺 Pride and Prejudice. Hungary’s parliament votes to repeal Viktor Orban’s anti-LGBT+ laws from 2021, marking the first rollback of his legacy. The EU applauds, but activists warn the fight is far from over. (Le Figaro)
- 🇧🇬 Diplomatic Waves. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev summons the Russian envoy following a deadly drone attack on merchant ships near Bulgaria, with 11 still unaccounted for. (BBC)
- 🇪🇺 Next Page. Ukraine advances in its membership quest as Brussels opens fresh negotiation chapters, but the final chapter is still far from written. (Le Figaro)
- 🇺🇸 Inside Job. officials have charged two people for helping North Korean operatives pose as remote workers, letting them hack dozens of firms from afar. (TechCrunch)
- 🇺🇸 Press Pass. A federal judge blocks the Trump administration from banning CNN, Politico, and MS NOW reporters from the White House while their lawsuit proceeds, keeping the press corps intact for now. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇲🇲 Dictator’s Welcome. Min Aung Hlaing, now Myanmar’s civilian president, is being feted by ASEAN neighbors who seem ready to forget the bombs for a handshake. (Libé)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Speed Dial. Andy Burnham hosts Zelensky in London and announces the UK will accelerate missile shipments to Kyiv, while promising new sanctions and urging allies to squeeze Russia’s energy exports. (BBC)
- 🇦🇫 Off the Air. Afghanistan's Taliban government pulled the plug on BBC FM transmissions nationwide, citing vague "violations" and leaving listeners scrambling for information. (BBC)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Echo Chamber. Elon Musk amplified a baseless conspiracy theory about Senate candidate James Talarico on X, pushing fringe claims about Talarico's mental health into mainstream feeds and racking up hundreds of thousands of views. (Washington Post)
🏛️ Economy
- 🇪🇺 Page Turner. Michael Page Plc 🇬🇧 reports that hiring sentiment is finally improving across Europe, hinting that the continent’s job drought may be ending. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Ban and Repeat. The FTC and seven states accuse Martin Shkreli of violating his lifetime ban from the pharma industry by trading stocks and livestreaming his opinions, and now want him held in contempt. (CNBC)
- 🇨🇺 Fuel's Gold. Cuba lets local private companies join its oil and gas sector, chasing relief from the US-driven energy crunch with a dose of market magic. (Die Zeit)
- 🇸🇬 Still Waters. Singapore’s central bank held its policy steady despite forecasts for rising import prices, signaling confidence that its current stance will curb inflation. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🌍 AI Watchdogs. Leading researchers urge the creation of an international body to oversee and contain high-risk AI systems, saying recent security lapses show self-regulation will not cut it. (Boursier)
- 🇺🇳 Deficit Gravity. The IMF warns that advanced economies are heading for their largest budget deficits since the Covid crisis, with global public debt climbing toward 100% of GDP. Urgent action is apparently still on hold. (Financial Times)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Post Haste. Royal Mail is losing 400 postal workers every week after rolling out its new delivery system, with the union blaming increased workloads and chaos just in time for Christmas. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Forecast and Furious. The IMF nudges up its UK growth forecast to 1.3% for 2026, but warns that high energy prices and inflation will bite next year. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Tax and Never. Jamie Carragher avoids bankruptcy after settling his unpaid tax bill with HMRC, dodging a financial red card at the last minute. (BBC)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Yield Squeeze. The Treasury’s rapid-fire bill sales are pushing short-term rates higher, leaving money market funds and borrowers to feel the pinch. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Trading Places. CFTC staff flagged suspicious oil trades just before Trump’s Iran announcement, but senior officials ordered the analysis withdrawn and the referral retracted. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Interest Accrued. JPMorgan Chase 🇺🇸 missed profit forecasts with $15.3B as rising rates and inflation squeeze Wall Street’s usual windfalls. Wells Fargo 🇺🇸 also underwhelmed, despite cost-cutting. (New York Times)
🏢 Real Estate
- 🇺🇸 Suite Dreams. Jeff Bezos and a French designer have transformed New York’s iconic Flatiron Building into a luxury residence, complete with marble kitchens and a private pool. (Le Parisien)
- 🇺🇸 Power Play. As the AI boom inflates electricity requests, utilities question whether many new data centers are real or just speculative placeholders on the grid. (Wall Street Journal)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Premium League. Skyrocketing home insurance costs have become a central issue in the midterms, with candidates scrambling to promise relief as premiums outpace inflation. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Rate Expectations. Adjustable-rate mortgages now make up over 10% of new home loans as buyers bet on future rate cuts to rescue their budgets. (CNBC)
🔗 On-chain
- 🇬🇧 Token Gesture. BitMEX, the crypto exchange co-founded by Reform UK donor Ben Delo, faces a £20M lawsuit for allegedly selling unregulated products to UK investors. The FCA never signed off, but the sales pitch went ahead anyway. (The Guardian)
- 🇬🇧 Gift Economy. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has received over $6M in “unconditional gifts” from crypto billionaires, sparking a British scandal with very American vibes. (New York Times)
💱 Listed Markets
- 🇫🇷 Cabaret Voltaire. Tesla’s Cybercab and Xpeng 🇨🇳 show off their self-driving prowess in Paris, proving the real spectacle is now software, not style. (Bloomberg)
- 🇳🇱 Guidance Counselor. ASML 🇳🇱 raises its annual sales forecast for the third time this year as AI demand sends chipmaking orders to new highs. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇪🇺 Exit Strategy. Blackstone sets a new record in Europe by cashing out $6B in private equity deals, proving there is always a market for a well-timed goodbye. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Bank Shot. Bank of America 🇺🇸 gets hit with a $1.2B fine for letting suspicious transactions flow freely, even after repeated warnings from regulators. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Premium Bonds. CoreWeave is targeting insurers’ vast capital pools to fund its AI infrastructure, betting that chip-backed debt can unlock “unlimited” money at lower rates. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Player Two. Epic Games announces a major pivot to artificial intelligence for coding and art, with Tim Sweeney calling it "empowering" even as developers brace for a new era of automation. (BBC)
- 🇺🇸 Bundle in the Jungle. SpaceX Super Intelligence now offers X Premium, Grok, and Cursor in a single subscription called The X Subscription, hoping one package can lure more users than three separate ones. (TechCrunch)
- 🇭🇰 IPOcalypse Now. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission is investigating suspected IPO rigging, warning banks and brokers against artificially inflating demand or channeling proceeds back to insiders in three high-profile listings. (Bloomberg)
🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)
- London Stock Exchange Group 🇬🇧 is in talks to acquire credit specialist Octus 🇺🇸 for $3.5B.
- TotalEnergies 🇫🇷 expands its U.S. joint venture with KKR 🇺🇸 through an additional $1.2B renewables portfolio.
- Aurelius 🇩🇪 has agreed to acquire Nokia 🇫🇮's Enterprise Campus Edge (ECE) private mobile networks business, with closing expected in H1 2027.
- BASF 🇩🇪 could raise its offer for Evonik Industries 🇩🇪 after its $11.7B bid was rejected.
- Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena 🇮🇹 pushes back against Intesa Sanpaolo 🇮🇹’s sweetened takeover bid, saying the premium is below comparable Italian banking offers. Intesa warned it could withdraw if shareholders back alternative deals.
- Kaleon 🇮🇹 has completed the acquisition of an 80% stake in Navigazione Isole Borromee Lago Maggiore 🇮🇹, a Lake Maggiore water-taxi operator, at a €2M enterprise value.
- CSG 🇨🇿 acquires a 9.5% stake in MDA Space 🇨🇦 for around $434M, becoming its largest shareholder.
- CVC 🇱🇺 has agreed to acquire a 40% stake in camouflage maker Fibrotex 🇮🇱 from the founding Blum family for $280M.
- EU regulators 🇪🇺 have opened an investigation into XXXLutz 🇦🇹’s proposed $1.1B acquisition of Porta 🇩🇪.
- Johnson & Johnson 🇺🇸 is leaning toward spinning out its hips-and-knees business after talks with Apollo Global Management 🇺🇸 over a roughly $20B sale.
- Starbucks 🇺🇸 denies reports it is exploring a takeover bid for Chipotle 🇺🇸, valued at $40B.
- Albertsons 🇺🇸 is demanding $9B from Kroger 🇺🇸 over the collapse of their $25B merger.
- Amazon 🇺🇸 is in talks to acquire real-world model startup Decart AI 🇮🇱 for $7B.
- Steris 🇺🇸 will acquire privately held medical equipment maker Xodus Medical 🇺🇸 for $2.1B.
- IonQ 🇺🇸 has agreed to acquire enterprise security firm Elisity 🇺🇸 for $1.3B in an all-stock deal.
- Ithaca Holdings 🇺🇸 is in advanced talks to acquire dating app Bumble 🇺🇸 at a $1B valuation.
- Kimberly-Clark 🇺🇸 has won conditional EU approval to acquire Kenvue 🇺🇸 for $40B, subject to divesting tampon and feminine hygiene brands in the European Economic Area.
- Omron 🇯🇵 has agreed to acquire industrial PC firm OnLogic 🇺🇸 and its parent company InterLogic 🇺🇸 for $675M.
- Itochu 🇯🇵 acquired a 20% stake in Aspirant Group 🇯🇵, a domestic private equity firm.
- A.G. Oatley Wines 🇦🇺 has reacquired wine brands Rosemount, Ingoldby and Secret Stone from Treasury Wine Estates 🇦🇺.
- ADNOC Logistics & Services 🇦🇪 is in talks to acquire a stake in HEA Energy 🇦🇪 at a $3B valuation.
🇺🇸 United States
- Terminus Capital Partners 🇺🇸 makes a majority investment in PickTrace 🇺🇸, an agricultural workforce management and operations technology company.
- Mesh 🇺🇸 has acquired Bluvo 🇮🇹, a developer of exchange connectivity technology.
- Helium Ventures 🇺🇸 announces its acquisition of Jitsu 🇺🇸, an open-source customer data platform.
- HealthpointCapital 🇺🇸 invests in surgical operations software provider Ospitek 🇺🇸. Transaction details were not disclosed.
- Rosenwald Private Wealth 🇺🇸 joins Indivisible Partners 🇺🇸 with $1.1B in advisory assets.
- Ironlight Markets 🇺🇸 has agreed with FundBridge Capital 🇸🇬 to make the Delta Wellington Ultra Short Treasury On-Chain Fund available to accredited investors through a planned private placement.
- Northrim Horizon 🇺🇸 acquires Cressy Door and Fireplace 🇺🇸, a Seattle-based installation, repair and maintenance services provider.
- Godspeed Capital 🇺🇸 announces the acquisition of environmental services firm GreenVest 🇺🇸 and appoints Brett Berkley as CEO.
- Fengate Private Equity 🇨🇦 has acquired a majority stake in Clinical Research of West Florida 🇺🇸, a clinical research site network.
🧳 Private Markets & VC
- 🇫🇷 Up in the Air. CMA CGM 🇫🇷 takes a stake in Flying Whales, backing €90M in new capital for giant cargo airships that promise to float freight above the competition. (Les Echos)
- 🇫🇷 Chip Shot. Nvidia 🇺🇸 takes a minority stake in France's Doctolib, aiming to boost the platform's AI capabilities and recruit top talent for its healthcare tech push. (Die Zeit)
- 🇺🇸 Chain Reaction. After being labeled a supply chain risk by the Pentagon, Anthropic petitions the court to reconsider its failed appeal, aiming for a reversal. (CNBC)
- 🇨🇳 Chip Happens. CXMT’s surprise leap in memory tech wiped billions from rivals as investors realized China’s underdog might actually be catching up. (CNBC)
- 🇦🇺 Eye Robot. Science Corporation has implanted its PRIMA chip in a Stargardt disease patient, giving them the ability to see letters for the first time in years. (TechCrunch)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Hack in Vogue. TFG London confirms a cyber-attack affecting its luxury brands, with H&M also probing a hacking claim. This season, ransomware is the must-have accessory. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Goal Line. The UK football regulator warns that 94% of English clubs are loss-making and most are teetering on the edge of insolvency, with urgent reforms demanded before disaster strikes. (BBC)
Fundraising
- Winverse AI 🇨🇳 (AI): $400M (DeepSeek)
- Metaplanet 🇯🇵 (Crypto): $328M
- Scanntech 🇺🇾 (Retail intelligence): $180M (LCatterton, Partners Group, Bradesco, SPX)
- Soufflé Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $135M (Juvia Group, TCG Crossover Management, BB Biotech, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Balyasny Asset Management, a Leading Sovereign Wealth Fund, Amgen Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Breyer Capital, The Invus Group, Janus Henderson, Leaps by Bayer, Polaris Partners, Safar Partners, TAS Partners, Temasek, Vida Ventures)
- Suki 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $90M (Healthier Capital, Crosslink Capital, Hercules Capital, Venrock, Flare Capital Partners, Hedosophia, Philips Ventures, Zoom Ventures)
- Albert 🇺🇸 (AI): $55M (TCV, Delta-v Capital, Socium Ventures, HighSage Ventures, Coral Capital, Legion VC, Coatue, J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, Index Ventures, Applied Ventures, LLC)
- LearnUpon 🇮🇪 (Edtech): $50M (Claret Capital Partners)
- Scarlet 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $50M (Headline)
- Pluto Security 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $42M
- Ambi 🇺🇸 (AI): $26M (Luminous Ventures, Huaqin Technology)
- Mistlabs 🌐 (AI): $26M (Luminous Ventures, Huaqin)
- Causa Prima 🇪🇸 (AI): €18M (Base10 Partners)
- Undecimal Bio 🇬🇧 (Biotech): €16M (4BIO Capital, IQ Capital)
- Epyr 🇫🇷 (Energytech): €15M (SlateVC, AENU, Daphni, WEPA Ventures, OVNI Capital, Aurum Impact)
- Ashvin (Healthcare): $16.5M (Mathew Mammen)
- Preference Model (AI): $16M (a16z)
- HYLIGHT 🇫🇷 (Industrial): €13M
- Ubitium 🇩🇪 (Semiconductors): $14M (Ibex Investors, OpenOcean, KBC Focus Fund, Runa Capital, Inflection, Florian Seibel)
- Skopos Bio 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $12M (Tenmile, Tin Alley Ventures, Yosemite)
- Wavo 🇫🇷 (Fintech): €10M (Eurazeo, Axeleo Capital, HUB612)
- Sonilo (AI): $11M (B Capital)
- Clueso 🇺🇸 (AI): $10M (Dharana Capital)
- Aatmunn 🇺🇸 (Industrial intelligence): Up to $8M (Memento Growth Partners, existing investors)
- Klarent 🇺🇸 (Software): $8M (Mosaic)
- Lightsprint 🇺🇸 (AI): $6.1M (645 Ventures, January Capital, Rebel Fund, Kaz Nejatian)
- Pathways 🇺🇸 (AI): $6M (Sorenson Capital, Pi Labs, Zacua Ventures, Blue Lion, Positive Ventures, Great Wave, Titan Ventures, Heidelberg Materials)
- Sensydia 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $6M+ (Colle Capital Partners, Orlando Health Ventures)
- Alchera Technologies 🇬🇧 (AI): £2.7M (Maven Capital Partners, Baves Entrepreneurship Fund, The FSE Group, Innovate UK, Cambridge Applied Research)
- reebuild 🇦🇹 (Proptech): €3M (Fortino Ventures, Rise PropTech, CuriosityVC)
- Collective X Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $3.2M (Council Capital, Anthemis Female Innovators Lab Fund, SoGal Ventures, Emerson Collective, Muse Capital, Segal Ventures)
- Intellivisa 🇺🇸 (Travel): $3M (Mu Ventures, Incisive Ventures, Uncommon Denominator, Recursive Ventures, P2S, AltaIR Capital, Smart Partnership Capital, United Airlines Ventures)
- Cofrai 🇪🇸 (Proptech): €2.6M (DFF Ventures, Swanlaab Venture Factory)
- ParkMundo 🇳🇱 (Travel): €2.3M (Rabobank)
- Unknown 🇩🇰🇱🇹 (Drones): Over €2M
- Affinity Labs 🇬🇧 (AI): $2M (Fuel Ventures, Antler, Innovate UK, Google DeepMind angels, Meta angels, Playfair VC angels, Marcello Ascani, Devran Amaratunga Karaca)
- Unnamed AI startup 🇬🇧 (AI): £1M
- FLÆ Robotics 🇨🇿 (Robotics): €1M+
- Obsero 🇬🇧 (AI): €1M (SFC Capital)
Fund Watch
- BBAM 🇺🇸: $1.7B (Incline Aviation III, aviation fund, final close)
- Consonance Capital Partners 🇺🇸: $1.35B (3rd healthcare PE fund)
- Square Peg 🇦🇺: $700M (across two new VC funds)
- Savory Fund 🇺🇸: $201.5M (Fund III, oversubscribed restaurant-focused private equity fund, 35% deployed)
- Stonepeak 🇺🇸: $100M (Australia-listed credit fund, in talks to raise)
- Antares Ventures 🇸🇬: $50M+ (2nd close of inaugural deep-tech fund)
- Atomico 🇬🇧: £300K (VC fund for UK refugee founders, investing in up to five startups)
- Aliyah Ventures 🇮🇱: launching a pre-seed VC fund targeting immigrant entrepreneurs in Israel
🔔IPO
- Frasers 🇬🇧 (Retail): raised its stake in Burberry to 7.42%.
- Unison 🇺🇸 (Fintech): selected banks for a $500M IPO.
- Dongshan Precision Manufacturing 🇨🇳 (Electronics): gauging investor interest for a $2B-$3B Hong Kong IPO.
- Moonshot AI 🇨🇳 (AI): no longer has Bank of America in talks to arrange its potential Hong Kong IPO.
- Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals 🇳🇬 (Energy): extended its record $2B Nigerian IPO by two weeks amid strong demand.
- OPay 🇳🇬 (Fintech): plans to raise $500M through a US private placement and IPO, including a $200M placement with Standard Bank.
🧳 Debt
- Credit Agricole 🇫🇷: considering an SRT tied to European car dealership loans.
- Mall of Berlin 🇩🇪: creditors seek to sell $615M of debt as its owner explores refinancing.
- Volta Infrastructure 🇺🇸: JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs did not underwrite $3.7B of its $5B debt package.
- Mercer Advisors 🇺🇸: refinanced $1.9B of debt with a Goldman Sachs-led syndicated term loan.
- Tencent 🇨🇳: launched a $5B international bond sale to fund AI capex.
🇺🇸 United States
- Medincell 🇫🇷: secured €13.8M in non-dilutive financing from European banks and Bpifrance.
- Garage Beer 🇺🇸: secured a $20M revolving credit facility from Tiger Finance.
- Bravo Property Trust 🇺🇸: financed an $80M construction loan for a 194-unit multifamily tower.
- DCC Holdings 🇿🇦: secured R275M ($17M) in mezzanine debt from Kholo Capital to refinance existing obligations and fund growth.
❌ Failures
- Eramet 🇫🇷: France will raise its stake from 27% to 49% after the struggling miner’s planned $560M capital raise.
- Character.ai 🇺🇸: the AI companion startup filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing high costs, litigation liabilities, and a $20M stalking-horse bid from Disney.
- Getty Images 🇺🇸: plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and go private through a restructuring.
- New World 🇭🇰: the developer will surrender control of its $2.3B 11 Skies complex as Hong Kong’s Airport Authority waives billions in rent.
🎯 For a Few More Minutes…
- 🇫🇷 Cold Case. The body of Michel Meynard was discovered at Toulouse's hospital morgue after being forgotten there for 14 years, with the hospital declining to comment. (Le Parisien)
- 🇫🇷 Catch Him If You Can. Channeling Frank Abagnale, Shimon B. used fake official emails and phone tricks to steal from French firms, outwitting authorities until his dramatic arrest. (Le Monde)
- 🇺🇸 Case Closed. Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former Los Angeles gang leader, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur, ending decades of speculation. (Le Parisien)
