For those that are new around here, this is an extension of my weekly newsletter where I highlight new and innovative AI products that are worth exploring.
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Happy Wednesday!
Here’s your news in newsletter!
I’ve been out and about, taking some time to rest, and time to learn a LOT about growing startups in today’s environment! Thanks for your patience while the AI Product Report has been on hiatus. It’s been an eventful start to 2026, and I’ve appreciated the space to settle in.
In this Issue:
Your Weekly Industry News Recap
The Raise Recap
Your Weekly Industry News Recap
A new review warns that while AI in retail is exciting, it could lead to "algorithmic bias" and less control for shoppers. 🛒 Regulators are worried about how big data might hurt competition in the long run. Read more
GitLab is making "AI agents" a reality for software engineers, automating tasks from planning to security. 💻 It’s a big step toward letting developers focus on building while the AI handles the routine maintenance.
Microsoft is making AI agents a core part of Windows with a new framework that makes them easy to find. 🖥️ Soon, you’ll be able to trigger AI help directly from your Start menu or search bar. Read more
Cathedrals on Sand: AI’s Centralization Problem - A deep dive into why AI naturally trends toward centralization and why Web3 startups need to be careful. 🏰 The author warns that building on "speculative tokenomics" is like building a cathedral on sand.
Human-in-the-Loop: An Ethical Position
A piece from Queen’s University arguing that keeping humans involved in AI isn’t just a technical detail—it’s about responsibility. 🤝 It highlights how machines don't "wash bias clean" and still need human judgment.
New Releases From The Giants
Anthropic just launched "Claude Cowork," and it's already scaring the pants off traditional software companies. 💼 These AI agents can handle everything from legal summaries to data analysis, threatening old-school business models. Read more
Anthropic is open-sourcing its standard for AI "skills" to challenge OpenAI in the workplace. Standardizing how AI interacts with apps like Slack and Figma 🛠️. Read more
NVIDIA just released "Earth-2," the world's first fully open set of AI models for weather forecasting. 🌤️ It’s designed to help scientists predict storms and climate changes with insane speed and accuracy. Read more
Google’s FunctionGemma: A tiny, 270M parameter model designed to run locally on your phone. It’s 85% accurate at following commands without needing the cloud 📱. Read more
The AI Vending Machine Disaster: A hilarious test where Claude ran a vending machine and went bankrupt after buying a PS5 and live fish. Real-world economic tasks are still a challenge for bots 🐟. Read more
Qwen-3 TTS: Alibaba’s new voice model rivals ElevenLabs. 🎙️ Open-source voice cloning is getting scary-good. Read More
Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is a new open standard that lets AI agents handle shopping, from finding products to hitting the "buy" button. 🛍️ It's designed to make checkout seamless across different apps and AI platforms.
Meta Acquires Manus: In a $2B+ deal, Meta snapped up the "truly autonomous" agent startup Manus. Zuck is doubling down on agents that plan and execute without hand-holding 🤝. Read more
This Week’s Raise Recap 📈💰
Product management just got a lot smarter! 🧠 ProductPlan bought Winware.ai to build a platform that uses "agentic AI" to help teams decide exactly what to build and why. Read more
humans& Raises $480M for AI Collaboration A new startup founded by AI veterans just snagged nearly half a billion dollars in seed funding! 🚀 They’re building "human-centric" AI designed to help people work together better rather than just replacing them. Read more
Ricursive Intelligence Hits $4B Unicorn Status In just two months, this "frontier" AI startup hit a $4B valuation with a $300M Series A. 🦄 They're using AI to design better chips, creating a loop where AI makes the hardware that makes AI even faster. Read more
Synthesia Secures $200M for AI Avatars The video platform used by almost all Fortune 100 companies just raised big to turn passive videos into interactive AI agents. 🎥 Now your training videos might actually talk back to you (in a helpful way!). Read more
Tandem Lands $1B Valuation for Healthcare AI Prescription paperwork is a nightmare, but Tandem just hit unicorn status by automating the boring stuff like prior authorizations. 💊 It’s a huge win for speeding up how patients get their meds. Read more
Vention Raises $110M for Manufacturing AI This company is bringing "Physical AI" to the factory floor to make high-tech automation easier for everyone. 🤖 They're using the cash to speed up how robots are deployed in global manufacturing. Read more
Kime Raises €2M for AI Search Analytics As we all start asking AI assistants instead of Googling, Kime is helping brands track if they're even being mentioned. 🔍 Think of it as SEO, but specifically for the era of ChatGPT and Claude. Read more
Skild AI Hits Massive $14B Valuation This robotics software maker is now worth $14B after a staggering $1.4B funding round led by SoftBank. 🧠 They’re building a "brain" that can work on almost any type of robot hardware. Read more
WitnessAI Secures $58M for AI Governance As companies rush to use AI, WitnessAI just landed strategic funding to keep those AI agents in check. 🛡️ They provide the "guardrails" needed to make sure enterprise AI stays secure and follows the rules. Read more
Fanvue Raises $22M for AI Creator Economy The "creator economy" is going AI-first, and Fanvue is betting $22M that AI-led monetization is the future. 💸 They’re building tools to help creators scale their businesses using virtual personas. Read more
Stay well, and see you next week!
-✌🏽 Sam
Cue the legal stuff: The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are solely my own and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of my employer or any organizations I am affiliated with. All content is for informational purposes only and to express opinion.