No. 1Security
Four states sue TP-Link over China ties and router safety
Florida, Montana, Iowa and Nebraska filed lawsuits yesterday. They claim TP-Link misled consumers about its links to China and the risk of its routers being exploited by Chinese state hackers. The suits allege unfair and deceptive trade practices. This comes about six months after the FCC announced a ban on consumer routers made wholly or partly outside the US. Netgear, Asus, Amazon's Eero and Starlink have won exemptions, but TP-Link hasn't. It can't sell its newest Wi-Fi 8 routers here, though models approved before the ban remain on sale. TP-Link calls the suits false and says its US devices are made in Vietnam and that it isn't controlled by any foreign government.
No. 2AI Funding
Nous Research raises $90M at $1.5B valuation, targets businesses
Nous Research, maker of the open source Hermes Agent, confirmed a $90 million Series B at a $1.5 billion valuation. Robot Ventures led, with Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung and 1789 Capital among the backers. Total funding now stands at $158 million. The startup says Hermes Agent has been cloned over 24 million times and drives roughly 2.5% of global AI token usage, though those are its own estimates. The money funds "Hermes for Businesses," which lets companies run custom agents for multi-step workflows while keeping data private. The Wall Street Journal reported annualized revenue of about $36 million in mid-September 2026, with over $100 million expected by year-end.
Why it mattersYou get a look at whether open source AI agents can turn developer popularity into real enterprise revenue.
Full story at TechCrunch →No. 3Robotics
Mecka AI raises $60M from Sequoia to train robots
Mecka AI raised a $60 million Series B led by Sequoia, with Nvidia and Microsoft's M12 also participating. TechCrunch earlier reported the round was nearing a $500 million valuation. Founded in 2024, Mecka pays people to record everyday tasks, such as making coffee or fixing cars, using body sensors and smartphones. The goal is to supply robots with human motion data, much as Scale AI and Surge do for language models. Rival XDOF was reportedly in talks to raise at a $1.2 billion valuation, and Scale AI and Micro1 are expanding into robotics too.
Why it mattersYou can see where the next AI data bottleneck is forming: getting robots enough real-world human examples to learn from.
Full story at TechCrunch →