Friday 23 October 2026
Top stories today:
OpenAI nears up to $30B round at $1.25T pre-money valuation
a16z Crypto rebrands, expands focus to AI, robotics
Canva launches Craft, its first image generation model
Warp Sciences, ex-OpenAI CPOās startup, emerges with $215M
Upwind received ~$4B Datadog offer, instead finalizing $300M round
0. Data & Calendar
All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 and NASDAQ close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT).
All times are ET.
Listen to our AI-generated podcast summarizing todayās newsletter (beware of hallucinations)
1. OpenAI said to near up to $30B round at $1.25T pre-money valuation, led by UAE investors, Coatue
The round would serve as an āopportunisticā bridge ahead of an IPO.
After facing investor resistance, OpenAI reportedly cut its valuation target.
Morgan Stanley and Dragoneer had pitched the earlier $1.4T pre-money valuation to the bankās private wealth clients.
Investors have until Oct. 30 to commit to the deal.
OpenAI would get the right of first refusal on new computing capacity developed by its UAE partners.
Framer is the AI website builder for teams that care about every detail. Agents work directly in the canvas, helping design pages, manage CMS content, write copy, add SEO, and audit sites.
Build faster: Create, refine, and publish production-ready pages in minutes.
Scale confidently: Manage content, localization, and metadata across your site.
Stay in control: Review every change, collaborate in real time, and publish when ready.
Trusted by teams at Miro and Perplexity
*Sponsored.
3. a16z Crypto rebrands as a16z Frontier, expands focus to AI, robotics, emerging tech
a16z Crypto GP Ali Yahya reportedly plans to leave to launch a startup.
a16z Crypto has raised $9.8B across 5 funds to date.
Coresignal Monitors keeps your lead lists current. Turn any AI Data Search prompt into a standing monitor without touching the API.
Every week or sooner, we report new matching companies or employees, those that no longer match, and updated data records, by email or to your own webhook URL.
Pay for change, not repetition. Monitoring is free. Credits go only to the changed records you collect.
*Sponsored.
5. Canva launches Craft, its first image generation model trained on human-designed templates
Craft ranks just behind OpenAIās models on DesignArena:
It supports 2K images at any aspect ratio with precise control.
Available via Canvaās app and public API, with MCP server support coming soon.
micro1 pays U.S. businesses with at least 50 employees that are winding down to license their operational data for AI training.
Turn old internal documents, slack, email, codebase records, etc. into cashflow.
Help build simulated workplaces where AI learns to perform real business tasks.
Refer a company and earn up to $50,000 per successful referral.
*Sponsored.
7. Warp Sciences, ex-OpenAI CPOās AI drug startup, emerges with $215M at $865M valuation
Former OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil founded Warp Sciences to accelerate drug development.
Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, with IVP, Premji Invest, and Lux Capital also participating.
