1KOMMA5°, BlinkOps, and Dropzone AI Raise Over $250M to Boost AI-Powered Innovation

Three cutting-edge startups just secured major funding, signaling big trends in AI-powered tech. German company 1KOMMA5° raised €150 million pre-IPO to scale its AI-driven home energy platform—aiming to make sustainable, CO₂-neutral power management affordable and widespread across Europe and Australia. In cybersecurity, BlinkOps brought in $50 million to expand its “security micro-agents,” which automate repetitive security duties for enterprises without code, improving focus on real threats. Meanwhile, Dropzone AI landed $37 million to grow its AI-driven autonomous SOC analysts, which leverage large language models to investigate and triage security incidents at scale. Collectively, these investments highlight the rapid integration of AI into energy and cybersecurity, boosting efficiency and automation across critical industries.

Read more: TechStartups

UK’s Online Safety Act Triggers VPN Surge, Raises Digital Rights Concerns

After the UK’s new Online Safety Act kicked in, requiring adult and sensitive content sites to verify users’ age, VPN downloads in the country spiked—some by over 1,000%. Platforms like Proton VPN and NordVPN reported massive surges in sign-ups. Critics say this trend mirrors what’s happened in heavily censored nations and warns it could lead to overreach. While officials hail progress, digital rights advocates argue that these “quick tech fixes” risk normalizing surveillance and pushing users into a privacy-cat-and-mouse game. The move sparks fresh debate on balancing child safety with online freedom and anonymity.

Read more: Wired

Trump Signs Order to Ban ‘Woke AI’, Sparks Concerns Over Free Speech in Tech

Trump has signed an executive order banning “woke AI” and any AI tools with ideological bias, especially those promoting DEI values, from receiving federal contracts. The order demands AI must be “ideologically neutral” and “truth-seeking,” but experts warn it could pressure companies to align with political agendas. Elon Musk’s xAI, which promotes “anti-woke” views, may benefit most from the move. Critics argue the order enforces viewpoint discrimination and ignores the reality that true objectivity in AI is nearly impossible, especially when facts themselves are politicized in today’s polarized environment.

Credit: TechCrunch

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