Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Wordware, which lets customers like Instacart and Runway create AI agents using natural language instead of code, raised a $30M seed led by Spark Capital  —  A San Francisco startup wants to make artificial intelligence development as easy as writing in a word processor.

Michelle Conlin / Reuters:
Nick Pickles, who left X as VP of Global Affairs in September, joins Sam Altman’s Tools for Humanity, which is building World Network, as chief policy officer  —  Nick Pickles, the former head of global affairs at Elon Musk’s social media platform X, is joining forces with one of Musk’s rivals, his fellow OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman.

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Cybersecurity startup Wiz acquires Dazz, a specialist in security remediation and risk management; sources: the cash-and-stock deal is valued at $450M  —  Wiz, one of the most talked-about names in the world of cybersecurity, is making a significant acquisition to expand its product reach in cloud security …

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Lightning AI, which lets customers fine-tune and run AI models in their preferred cloud environments, raised $50M, bringing its total funding to $103M  —  AI may be the hottest thing since sliced bread.  But that doesn’t mean it’s getting easier to develop and run.

Steven Levy / Wired:
How Satya Nadella transformed Microsoft as it enters its 50th year, including by changing its toxic culture, embracing open source, and making the OpenAI deal  —  When Satya Nadella took over as CEO, the company was lumbering and uncool.  He cleaned up a toxic culture, crafted the deal of the decade, and put Microsoft back on top.

George Hammond / Financial Times:
A profile of Thrive Capital, whose biggest portfolio companies include OpenAI and Stripe, as rivals say the VC firm’s approach is closer to asset management  —  As OpenAI raced to raise almost $7bn last month, one investor was always on hand.  Thrive Capital stayed close to the AI start-up’s co-founder …

M.G. Siegler / Spyglass:
Forcing Google to sell Chrome sounds good on paper but the reality of it happening is fairly small as it will be extremely messy, if not impossible to execute  —  If Google were to sell off Chrome, who would benefit?  Anyone?  —  The idea that Google would be broken up as a result …

Anna Gross / Financial Times:
Several media and tech executives say UK VC Matt Clifford, who has advised successive Tory and Labour governments, has an outsized influence over AI policy  —  British venture capitalist has advised successive Tory and Labour governments  —  Last year, as thousands of customers withdrew …

Sam Gutelle / Tubefilter:
Streamlabs: Twitch accounted for 82.3% of total Q3 streaming hours, with YouTube Gaming in second place at 5.6%; Kick grew 204% from Q2 2023 to Q3 2024  —  For years, the Logitech-owned creator dashboard Streamlabs and its data partner Stream Hatchet have compiled quarterly progress reports for the streaming industry.

Bloomberg:
Alibaba appoints Jiang Fan its new e-commerce chief in an overhaul of the struggling business; Jiang was demoted in 2020 after allegations of improper conduct  —  – International chief Jiang will oversee entire commerce unit  — Jiang will become one of the company’s most powerful execs