News

Palo Alto, Calif. – September 24, 2026 -- Prime Minute emerged from stealth with $15 million in pre-seed funding led by Eclipse, with participation from 8VC, to build what it calls the first global resilience prime for natural disaster response.

Wildfires cost the US an estimated $424 billion annually, driving urgency for faster response

The company's initial product targets rapid initial attack against wildfires, addressing gaps in detection, coordination, and suppression that determine whether a fire is contained early or escalates into a major disaster. The system combines real-time intelligence, AI-assisted mission analysis, and precision aerial suppression capabilities designed to operate during high winds, nighttime incidents, degraded visual environments, and when ground crews cannot reach a scene.

New York – September 24, 2026 -- Paxos Labs has launched PAXGy, a gold-backed token that accrues value in gold terms by routing reserves into the multi-billion dollar institutional gold leasing market that has set bullion lending rates for four decades.

PAXGy deploys PAXG reserves into a market previously closed to retail holders

Holders deposit PAXG or swap accepted stablecoins for PAXGy, which is redeemable for PAXG at any time. The underlying gold is deployed to a network of vetted institutional borrowers -- refiners, jewelry manufacturers, miners and bullion banks -- through the same leasing market that has priced bullion lease rates for decades. As reserves are deployed, value accrues to the PAXGy exchange rate, meaning each token becomes worth more PAXG over time and holders can exit with more notional ounces than their principal.

Pleasanton, Calif. – – September 24, 2026 -- Aqua Medical, Inc. has closed a Series B financing round led by Nashville-based Relevance Ventures, with proceeds earmarked to complete its ongoing U.S. RESTORE-1 pilot study and prepare for a planned U.S. pivotal trial of its investigational diabetes procedure.

Series B capital targets completion of RESTORE-1 pilot and pivotal trial launch

The financing will fund the remaining stages of the RESTORE-1 pilot study, which is evaluating Aqua Medical's Proximal Intestinal Mucosal Ablation (PIMA) procedure for Type 2 diabetes under an FDA-approved Investigational Device Exemption. The company said the round will also support operational preparations, including patient recruitment infrastructure, for a larger planned pivotal trial subject to regulatory authorization.

Washington – September 24, 2026 -- Moore has been named brand agency of record for the Alzheimer's Association, expanding an existing fundraising mandate to now cover strategy, creative and media across the health organization's master brand.

Moore expands scope beyond fundraising into full brand management

The appointment follows a competitive review process and grants Moore oversight of all brand creative development, paid media planning and delivery, and marketing across the Association's master brand and national initiatives. The agency will also support select medical and scientific research communications, product launches, and campaigns aimed at reinforcing the Association's position in brain health.

New York – September 24, 2026 -- Eighty-one percent of senior living executives say resident acuity has increased over the past two years, according to a new report from Sage, an integrated Care Intelligence Platform for senior living and skilled nursing. The findings, unveiled at Sage's caregiving summit Sage Shift, draw on a survey of 510 senior living executives, community leaders and caregivers conducted between July 9 and August 31, 2026, alongside operational data from communities running Sage's platform.

Seoul – September 24, 2026 -- Hyosung Heavy Industries is scaling its proprietary voltage-source converter (VSC) HVDC technology to 2 gigawatts, building on a commercial base of 200 MW systems, as it targets a position among the world's top three power solutions providers within five years.

Hyosung began HVDC development in 2012 with a 20 MW demonstration project in Jeju

The company subsequently developed 200 MW converter valves and control systems and deployed them on live grids, building operational experience that it is now applying to large-scale 2 GW systems. Since 2012, Hyosung has pursued in-house development of core HVDC components rather than licensing external technology, part of a South Korean government push to localize converter valves, control systems and converter transformers.

Beijing – September 24, 2026 -- Honor's global smartphone shipments surpassed 71 million units in 2025, making it the fastest-growing leading smartphone vendor after the company's domestic market share had collapsed to just 3% following its November 2020 spinoff from Huawei.

Shipments climbed 25% in Q1 2026 despite market headwinds

Honor extended its recovery into 2026, with first-quarter shipments rising 25% even as broader smartphone demand faced pressure. The gains follow a period in which the roughly 7,000-person team operated without an owned operating system or manufacturing facilities.

Tokyo – September 24, 2026 -- Cellid Inc. is showcasing its binocular, full-color AR glasses reference design "Crux" at Snapdragon Summit, the annual technology event hosted by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. in Hawaii, USA, running September 22-24, 2026.

Crux pairs Cellid's proprietary waveguide with Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform

The reference design combines Cellid's proprietary waveguide and display module with a Snapdragon platform, targeting high-end AR applications. The company states the integration delivers high-quality visuals alongside a wearing experience closer to standard eyeglasses, addressing a persistent trade-off in AR hardware between optical performance and form factor.

New York – September 24, 2026 -- Trustpilot has launched dedicated Product Review Pages along with expanded Location Reviews, AI Search Market Insights, and a beta version of Trustpilot AI, targeting businesses seeking greater visibility in AI-driven search and shopping tools.

Research shows product-level pages lift AI citation rates by 12 percentage points

Independent analysis by Seer Interactive found that Trustpilot was the most frequently cited review website across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, and Gemini. The same research found that businesses using dedicated Product Review Pages achieved brand citation visibility 12 percentage points higher than those relying solely on a company profile page.

New York – September 24, 2026 -- AutonomyAI has launched Discover Mode, completing its Autonomous Product Delivery system that turns a product manager's question into a review-ready pull request without engineering handoffs. More than 170 product teams, including Datadog, Nielsen, SolarWinds and SolarEdge, already run on the platform.

Discover Mode researches product questions across company data before a single line of code is written

A product manager can ask why signups are dropping or which issue customers report most, and AutonomyAI scans product analytics, support tickets, customer calls and the codebase to return an evidence-backed brief. The system can also flag improvements on its own by monitoring usage patterns, without a prompt from a human.