Ben Quinn / The Guardian:
UK filing: in 2023, following Elon Musk’s acquisition, X had £69.1M in UK revenue, down 66.3% YoY, and its profit fell from £5.6M to £1.2M — Social media platform formerly known as Twitter says 66.3% revenue drop was down to fall in advertising income
Suvashree Ghosh / Bloomberg:
Analysis: stablecoins’ market value rose ~4.5% from the end of February to a new high of ~$234B in April, as crypto traders sat out the market volatility — In stable condition — As volatility took over global markets over the past couple of months, one part of the volatile digital asset market quietly grew: stablecoins.
Nikkei Asia:
Trump’s planned tariffs on chip imports risk upending a global supply chain and could lead to oversupply as the US and other countries seek domestic production — TOKYO/PALO ALTO, U.S. — The Trump administration’s steps toward extending its tariffs to the semiconductor industry threaten …
Rest of World:
Experts say Chinese investors would be wary of backing AI startups building foundation models; PitchBook: in Q1, AI/ML VC funding in China fell 30% YoY to $1.2B — Investors believe practical AI applications will fuel the next wave of growth, with startups building on top of DeepSeek’s foundation.
Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:
Inside San Francisco-based live-in startup accelerator HF0, whose alumni include OpenSea’s founders; HF0’s latest fund is $100M, up from its previous $16M fund — HF0, a live-in program for startup founders in San Francisco, mixes New Agey spirituality with Silicon Valley-esque hypercapitalism.
Financial Times:
European carmakers are increasingly doing deals with Chinese rivals to prevent them from falling behind in core areas such as software and autonomous driving — The EU is trading market access for expertise in key technologies, just as Beijing once did — Two decades ago …
Debaroti Adhikary / Moneycontrol:
Indian food delivery and quick commerce platform Swiggy launches Pyng, an online marketplace to let users find verified professionals like financial advisors — The app will help connect customers to verified professions including health & wellness experts, financial advisors …
Krishn Kaushik / Financial Times:
A look at India’s efforts to catch up in the AI race, as the government reviews 67 bids from startups and research labs seeking funding for domestic AI models — Modi’s government seeks private sector backing to scale up LLMs and spur research — India is betting on the tradition of …
Pranav Mukul / The Economic Times:
Goldman Sachs Alternatives acquires India-based HR SaaS company PeopleStrong from Multiples PE, sources say for $130M; Tracxn: Multiples PE held an 84.3% stake — This is a second major private equity buyout deal of a SaaS firm this year, after Singapore-based private equity firm Everstone …
PYMNTS.com:
Cape Town-based Stitch, which provides an online payments suite to enterprises, raised a $55M Series B led by QED Investors, bringing its total funding to $107M — South Africa-based payments infrastructure company Stitch raised $55 million in a Series B funding round to expand its offerings for enterprise merchants.
