The TLDR
Is this the crash? Or the pre-crash? Or the pre-pre-crash? Big Tech shed nearly $900bn as Wall Street questioned the price of the AI build-out. Alphabet had its worst day ever, Amazon disappointed on its Christmas forecast and Intel fell more than 20%. Meanwhile, the private markets are partying like it’s 1999 (gulp…) and the money-train kept blowing its horn: Kalshi nearly doubled to a $40bn valuation with a $1bn round co-led by Sequoia and Wellington, Wabi reached a $1.25bn valuation 31 days after pivoting, Fractile raised £540m, and Easol closed a $30m Series A extension with Y Combinator leading the equity. Trebles all round!
The TOP 3 STORIES (slow news day!)
1. Kalshi nearly doubles to a $40bn valuation with a $1bn round co-led by Sequoia and Wellington
Prediction-market company Kalshi has raised $1bn in a round co-led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management, at a $40bn valuation reached just five months after its previous round. The valuation is roughly 10 times Kalshi’s reported annualised revenue of $4bn.
Why it matters: It’s so interesting to see this happening. In Europe, gambling is legal and heavily regulated. That means incumbents have all the juice. Meanwhile, Polymarket is pressuring Europe to treat its bets as “financial products” and leading a “lobbying blitz”. One of the two biggest in the world alongside arch-rival Kalshi, it’s already been evicted from several European nations including Italy, the Netherlands and France, to name a few. According to the FT, Polymarket has been meeting the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and in Brussels, reportedly with the European Commission and European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), as well as with other national regulators across the European Union (EU). However, the EU watchdog says prediction markets ‘rife with insider trading’. That may count against them…
Sources: Tech Funding News and many others
2. European defence tech is booming, mostly in mega-rounds, as industrial buyers target dual-use startups and US investors pounce
European defence-tech startups have raised a record $7.4bn in venture capital so far in 2026, making defence one of Europe’s fastest-growing major VC segments. At the Capital Engaged Investments Conference, the discussion was about how Europe's defence tech sector is attracting record investment, but funding gaps, reliance on US capital, and fragmented procurement remain major challenges. US investors now account for 47% of the European total, for instance. Meanwhile, a new dual-use report describes a rush of investment into European startups whose technology serves both civilian and military customers, because of access to a much larger market, greater growth potential and less dependence on any single customer. It also highlights growing interest from industrial buyers.
Why it matters: So much for de-coupling from the US! Now European investors have to rub shoulders with US ones. How’s about that for sovereignty…
Sources: The Recursive · Resilience Media
3. London’s Easol closes a €26.78m ($30m) Series A extension led by Y Combinator as it launches AI agents for experience businesses
Easol, a London-based experience commerce platform, has closed a €26.78m ($30m) Series A extension, bringing total funding to €53.57m ($60m). The round comprises €17.85m ($20m) in equity and an €8.92m ($10m) debt facility. Y Combinator led the equity portion, with Tiger Global and Foundation Capital among those taking part. Founded in 2021 by Rise Festival creators Ben and Lisa Simpson, Easol is an all-in-one platform for managing events and experiences, combining bookings, payments, marketing and customer data. Its clients include Coachella, Defected and Afronation. In 2026, it has handled bookings for 2.8 million guests across 135 countries. Its new agentic AI product, Teammates, automates sales, customer support and operations using real-time business data.
Why it matters: It’s a cool story about how a couple went from running their own festival to building a product for other people to run events and experience. Maybe we will use it…Pathfounders Coachella, anyone?
Sources: EU-Startups
Other stories of note
Big Tech sheds nearly $900bn as Wall Street questions the price of the AI boom
Sources: FT (1) · FT (2) · FT (3)
Alphabet suffers its worst-ever day on the stock market, with $500bn wiped off
Sources: Sky News · BBC News · FT
The story of Anthropic in three numbers
Sources: FT
Two fears will decide the fate of Anthropic’s giant IPO
Sources: FT
Inside the AI mega-project behind Nscale’s $35bn IPO
Sources: FT
Binance hit by an industry-record $6.3bn hack, attributed to North Korea
Sources: The Guardian · BBC News · Sky News
The European startups deciding what AI agents can do
Sources: Sifted
London’s Ares Intelligence raises €2.6m from Creandum and Lakestar to turn employee insights into AI adoption plans
Sources: EU-Startups
Sweden’s Pixel Systems raises a €2.7m seed to identify AI-generated and manipulated material
Sources: EU-Startups
MuRay raises €7.1m to inspect defence and aerospace components using muons
Sources: Resilience Media
And finally…
What is it like to work when your co-workers are AI agents?
The Guardian reports that companies are using AI for roles from executive assistants to chiefs of staff and boasting about doing more with less, creating tension with human workers. Dhruv Amin, who runs the AI startup Anything, chats daily with AI colleagues including an executive assistant called Gwen and a coding colleague called Cody.
Sources: The Guardian
‘Manosphere’ as bad as tobacco for public health, report warns
Sky News reports that a new report says social media manosphere communities should be treated as a public health issue and compares them to the tobacco industry. FINALLY.
Sources: Sky News
Killer App: Pavel Durov and the story of Telegram
The FT’s Darren Loucaides investigates the Russian tech billionaire behind the messaging platform and the anti-authoritarian image that helped it reach a billion users.
Sources: FT
