🕶️ Silicon Valley’s wish granted: Lina Khan exits FTC hot seat

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Six bullets of updates

1. 🤖 OpenAI unveils Sora, an AI video tool enabling 20-second creations, stirring both Hollywood and tech buzz

2. ⚖️ Court orders Automattic to restore WP Engine's access to WordPress.org after banning access to 40% of the web.

3. 🇺🇸 U.S. sanctions Chinese firm for hacking 23,000 firewalls using a zero-day vulnerability, targeting critical infrastructure.

4. 💸 Finny, a YC-backed startup, boosts financial advisors' lead conversions, seeing 150% monthly revenue growth

5. 📊 Cohesity merges with Veritas’ data business, creating a $7B entity with 12K customers, eyeing future IPO

6. 🕵️‍♂️ Hackers exploit a flaw in Cleo's file transfer tools, affecting 24 businesses and risking many more. Keep firewalls up!

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Silicon Valley cheers: Lina Khan steps down as FTC chair

Andrew Ferguson, a Republican FTC commissioner appointed by President Biden, has been announced as the next FTC chair by incoming President Donald Trump. Lina Khan, known for her aggressive antitrust stance against Big Tech during her tenure since 2021, steps down after her term expired in September. Critics in Silicon Valley blamed her leadership for reduced M&A activity.

Ferguson, formerly a Congressional aide and Supreme Court clerk, is expected to bring a pro-innovation approach to the FTC, described by Trump as "the most America First" chair in its history. Read more.

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. Today! From Pitch Deck to Funding | Dec 12 | Webinar

2. Today! Entrepreneur First Bangalore - Core | Dec 12 | Webinar

3. Networking for Tech Startups/Founders/Investors/Developers | Dec 15 | Meetup

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These companies just raised money

1. Speak, San Francisco-based AI-powered language-learning platform, secures $78M in Series C Funding to Redefine Language Learning.

2. 🚗 CarDekho SEA secures $60M, reaching a $300M+ valuation, aiming for acquisitions to bolster its Southeast Asia presence.

3. 📊 Mynt attracts $23M at a $210M valuation, scaling its AI-powered expense management tools for SMEs across Europe.

4. 💼 Onze raises $20M to enhance its corporate pension platform, thriving amidst LatAm's active funding scene.

5. 💰 Peak XV and HongShan lead a $10M seed round in KAST, a stablecoin-focused neobank targeting emerging markets.

6. 🔗 Colektia lands $9M to scale its AI-driven debt recovery solutions across Latin America's $3.5B market.

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Google’s renewable energy blitz to power AI

As nuclear power struggles with long timelines, Google is ramping up its renewable energy efforts to fuel its AI ambitions. Partnering with Intersect Power and TPG Rise Climate, the tech giant announced a $20 billion investment to build gigawatts of renewable power, battery storage, and grid upgrades. This includes an $800 million equity stake in Intersect Power.

The initiative aims to match data center capacity with equivalent renewable energy and battery storage to ensure sustainable and quick energy deployment. With new AI data centers expected to face power shortages by 2027, Google’s approach highlights the urgency of energy innovation compared to slower nuclear power timelines. The first project phase will be operational by 2026.

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How the third Snapchat founder was ghosted

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