According to Sifted’s year-end review, 2025 was dominated by AI agents and Revolut’s relentless expansion. But the year also saw climate tech funding plummet, major media layoffs, and plenty of VC drama.
Nick Donahue’s first startup, Atmos, raised $20M but became an operational grind. His new company, Drafted, uses a cheap, specialized AI model to spit out custom floor plans in minutes for between $1,000 and $2,000, aiming to make bespoke homes accessible.
ASRock has rolled out stable BIOS updates for its AMD and Intel motherboards to support next-generation processors. The updates target Ryzen 9000X3D chips and Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs expected at CES 2026. This move ensures current motherboard owners won’t need a new board for the next CPU wave.
Amazon’s Chief Security Officer detailed how the company has prevented over 1,800 suspected North Korean IT workers from joining since April 2024. The scammers use stolen identities and target AI roles to funnel wages back to the regime. This highlights a massive, industry-wide security threat.
The University of Phoenix has disclosed a breach affecting nearly 3.5 million individuals. The attack, linked to the Clop ransomware group, exploited a zero-day flaw in Oracle’s software and went undetected for months.
Interpol coordinated a major cybercrime crackdown across 19 African nations. Operation Sentinel led to 574 arrests and disrupted thousands of malicious links targeting businesses and critical infrastructure.
The AI data center rush is hitting a bizarre bottleneck: a critical shortage of underground salt caverns used to store natural gas. Industry experts warn we’re building only half the storage needed, threatening power reliability and adding to energy price volatility. It’s a slow-motion infrastructur
Google is rolling out a useful update to its Find Hub app on Android, adding multiple map layers for easier device tracking. The new views include satellite, terrain, and traffic overlays, bringing the app’s functionality closer to Google Maps.
In a massive deal, defense giant CACI International is acquiring space technology company ARKA Group for $2.6 billion. The acquisition aims to supercharge CACI’s capabilities in space-based sensing and intelligence processing for national security missions.
South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang is facing a class action lawsuit following a major data breach. The suit claims the company downplayed its cybersecurity vulnerabilities in regulatory filings.
