TheChek News Flow

Coatue Management and Accel have been in talks to make major investments in Anysphere, which makes popular coding assistant Cursor, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions. Anysphere is planning to raise at least $1 billion in new capital at a $27 billion valuation before the investment, according to one of those people.

The deal, if closed, would be Coatue Management’s first known investment into the coding assistant startup. Accel, which has also backed Swedish coding startup Lovable, first invested in Anysphere at a $9.9 billion valuation in June. The deal would continue Accel’s strategy of doubling down on some of its growth-stage bets, as it has done with data labeling startup Scale AI and cloud cybersecurity firm Cyera. Details of the financing haven’t previously been reported.

The Information was first to report that investors have offered to finance Anysphere at roughly three times the valuation in its last round. The new funding would add to the approximately $800 million Anysphere has on its balance sheet, according to one of the people. The firm has been training its own models to power its assistant, driving up costs.

Before we get to our column, we should acknowledge OpenAI’s latest chip deal, this time with Broadcom, announced Monday morning. The Information first reported the two companies were in talks in July of last year but a lot has happened since then. Most obviously, OpenAI has also struck deals for supplies of AI chips with both Nvidia and AMD. We’ll write about the implications on this in the days and weeks to come…

Last week, my colleague Theo reported on the setbacks afflicting Tesla’s Optimus robots. Designing a humanoid robot involves some thorny engineering problems, especially when it comes to their five-fingered hands. Those issues could delay Elon Musk’s plans for Optimus to walk on Mars next year. Making matters worse, the robot has been designed for indoor use on Earth, where temperatures are much warmer and the air is less dusty.

But other robot-makers are also targeting space, and since they’re not wed to the humanoid form factor, they could potentially get there before Tesla.

For example, four-year-old startup Inversion recently announced Arc, its flagship delivery vehicle, which is sort of like a self-driving space Waymo. Arc is designed to drop off a trunk's worth of materials, starting with military supplies, to any place on Earth in an hour by traveling through orbit, which is faster than flying cargo on a plane through the atmosphere. Inversion already flew an earlier prototype this year on SpaceX’s Transporter-12 ride share mission, and aims to send Arc to space next year.

Since Arc has to rapidly adjust its flight path and land in remote areas, it relies on “autonomy, machine learning, computer vision and AI to make decisions and land precisely when there are no humans around to control it,” said Justin Fiaschetti, Inversion’s co-founder and CEO.

Startups also say that robots should help save precious hours of astronaut labor. Currently, when a load of cargo arrives on the International Space Station, it takes a team of four astronauts seven days to unload it and seven more days to repack the vehicle with waste and other materials to send back to Earth, according to Ethan Barajas, co-founder and CEO of one-year-old Icarus Robotics.

Icarus is building robots to unload supplies at space stations, starting with a year of testing on the International Space Station in 2027. Icarus’ robots have two arms with grippers on the end mounted on a drone base (you don’t need legs to walk around in space!).

“One hour of astronaut time costs $130,000,” Barajas. That’s time they could be spending on more valuable tasks, such as running scientific experiments.

Another key advantage over astronauts is that “robots are fine on one-way missions,” said Robert Ambrose, who formerly ran NASA’s software, robotics and simulation division. In fact, the Voyager spacecraft that recently passed Pluto can autonomously detect and respond to issues, making it a bit of a robot itself, he said.

(To be sure, it’s hard to imagine robots becoming capable enough to put astronauts out of work any time soon.)

Eventually, Ambrose expects people to buy one-way tickets to the moon, and then Mars, but in the meantime, only robots will sign up for those trips. “What we really ought to do is send robots first, and get some momentum going, get some deliveries there and get equipment in place,” he said. That way, when humans arrive, everything will be set up for them.

Other robotic space efforts are already underway. For example, two-year-old startup Crest Robotics recently unveiled a spiderlike robot intended for building moon bases. If Optimus does make it to space in a few years, it might find itself in good company.

Saudi Arabia's official fashion platform kicks off this week with a record 30-plus shows from Thursday to Oct. 21, with the British designer presenting her first show in the Kingdom alongside Vivienne Westwood and top Saudi talent.

RIYADH — Riyadh Fashion Week is returning this week with its most ambitious schedule to date, featuring more than 30 runway shows and presentations across six days, culminating in a closing show by Stella McCartney.

The expanded program marks a significant milestone for the event, which has quickly established itself as a cornerstone of the Middle East fashion calendar since its 2023 debut. The increased scale reflects the growing momentum of Saudi Arabia‘s fashion sector and the Kingdom’s expanding role as a global fashion hub.

McCartney will present her first show in Saudi Arabia on the final day, Oct. 21, showcasing a special edit of recent collections alongside archival pieces, bringing her conscious luxury vision to the Kingdom. Burak Cakmak, chief executive officer of the Saudi Fashion Commission, said McCartney’s participation marks a “milestone for Saudi Arabia’s creative evolution.”

“Her commitment to sustainability and innovation reflects the values we are championing as we build a responsible and forward-looking fashion ecosystem,” he added.

The week will also feature presentations from Vivienne Westwood in collaboration with Art of Heritage by Princess Noura Al Faisal. The Saudi designer lineup demonstrates the breadth of talent emerging from the Kingdom. Couture houses Tima Abid and Atelier Hekayat will present alongside sustainable ready-to-wear label Abadia, contemporary designer Hindamme, and streetwear brand 1886, among others. The diverse roster, from haute couture and ready-to-wear to contemporary streetwear, underscores Riyadh Fashion Week’s mission to celebrate Saudi design in all its forms.

The programming combines large-scale runway shows with intimate presentations, offering a platform that accommodates emerging voices alongside established names. For Saudi designers, the format diversity and curation standards have elevated the platform’s credibility.

Razan Alazzouni, founder of her eponymous label, noted the event’s evolution in her second year participating. “You can see how every year the fashion week is becoming bigger and the participants are more diverse, and the collections shown are very, very different, but at the same time, all of the same quality and standards,” she said. “Before participating in Riyadh Fashion Week, we go through a review process where they review the quality of the designs as well as the quality of the production. Fashion week does give that exposure that you wouldn’t necessarily get otherwise — when it’s one event with multiple designers showing, it’s always a more appealing thing for international press or gives leaders in the industry an opportunity to see multiple brands at the same time.”

Arwa Al Banawi, founder and creative director of Arwá, emphasized the significance of having a choice of presentations. “This is pivotal in allowing us to communicate our story, to tell the story of the codes of the house in a format that feels deeply aligned with our values — intimacy, narrative and craft,” she said. Noting the her label rebranded earlier this year, she added: “We’ve been intentional about selecting the more salon-style setting, as we did back in 2016 in Paris in our showrooms. These presentation formats offer a quieter luxury.”

Fahad Aljomiah, cofounder and CEO of 1886, has seen exponential growth for his brand in the last year, recently opening a boutique at Riyadh’s Solitaire mall alongside noted global luxury brands. He shared that the week’s diverse lineup fosters a nice creative exchange. “Riyadh Fashion Week has become a real reflection of Saudi Arabia’s creative pulse, whether it’s couture or contemporary to streetwear,” he said. “It pushes us to constantly redefine what ‘Saudi fashion’ can look like. For 1886, it’s about merging cultural roots with a forward global mindset. We are about translating heritage not through patterns or symbols, but through attitude, form and narrative.”

He also noted that having this platform enables more engagement with global buyers, editors, and industry leaders at home. “That changes everything. It feels like we’re no longer ’emerging,’ we’re participating as equals,” he said. “It’s also opening doors for collaboration, retail expansion and a stronger dialogue between Saudi creativity and the world.”

The event has attracted corporate support, with Cenomi Centers, a mall operator, and Saudia, the national carrier, joining as official partners.

The Saudi Fashion Commission, which operates under the country’s Ministry of Culture, was founded in 2020. They have been working fast to not just develop the creative platform of fashion week, but also regulatory frameworks and investment opportunities to support the next generation of Saudi fashion talent to position Saudi Arabia not just as a fashion market, but as a creative capital.

Suspected Russian drone appearances across Europe have forced states to look for novel ways to protect their airspace

WYRYKI, Poland—After suspected Russian drones violated NATO airspace in recent weeks, closing airports and rattling citizens, European militaries and governments find themselves in a new era of conflict with an urgent need to bolster their defenses.

Allied countries are caught between having to develop long-term solutions to address Russia’s continuing hybrid threats, and a more immediate need to help civilians prepare for the next potential wave of drones. The solutions span from multilayered air-defense systems to civilian target practice against drones.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is racing to adopt new technologies that can spot drones from afar and take them out without wasting expensive weaponry. It is also weighing how to confront incursions by unmanned vehicles when the culprit, and their intentions, can’t be determined.

Drones in recent weeks forced airport closures in Denmark and circled above the country’s most crucial air force base. The aircraft disappeared before authorities could intercept them, leaving Danish authorities without evidence of who sent them. In Poland, NATO warplanes shot down several Russian drones last month.

Poland and Denmark rank among Ukraine’s staunchest wartime allies and are now looking to Kyiv for support. Poland is in contact with Ukraine to discuss how to respond to drone threats, and Danish defense companies have firsthand knowledge from the war-torn country of the rapidly changing drone technology in play there.

Other allies are responding, too. The German cabinet last week agreed on a draft law authorizing police to shoot down drones posing an immediate threat. Sweden on Friday announced that it would invest about $370 million in new counter-drone systems, including weapons to down unmanned aircraft, drone interceptors and jamming sensors.

Two British surveillance aircraft flew a 12-hour mission on Thursday along the Russian border, supported by U.S. and NATO forces, prompted by the recent incursions.

Defending Europe against drones involves several steps: detecting and identifying the unmanned vehicles, deciding whether to neutralize them, and exerting pressure away from the skies to deter enemies from launching them.

The drone incursions have prompted European officials to speed up the construction of a so-called drone wall on NATO’s eastern flank, using new technology such as acoustic detection and lasers. Those plans, combining six NATO countries, were put into motion last year but haven’t found funding from the European Union.

“The drone wall was decided months ago; what we are worried about is the lack of understanding of urgency among our allies,” said Marko Mihkelson, head of Estonia’s parliamentary foreign-policy committee.

Some experts say the idea of a wall gives a misguided impression of how to stop drones. For Western European countries, drone prevention also happens further from NATO’s eastern borders. Denmark said the drones that circled its airspace recently were launched from the vicinity of the country, not from afar.

“A drone wall is perhaps best understood as a defense on the border with Russia, but it is just as important to have a similar defense in depth,” said Hans-Christian Mathiesen, vice president of defense programs at Sky-Watch, a Danish maker of a type of fixed-wing combat drone used in Ukraine. “As long as we have as open societies as we do, there are endless ways to bring in drones.”

Since the recent drone incidents, the Danish armed forces have installed Doppler radars by at least two of the overflown sites, Copenhagen Airport and an air base in Skrydstrup that is home to most of the country’s F-16 and F-35 jet fighters. The radars, produced by Danish engineering company Weibel, are similar to ones the company installed at Charles de Gaulle Airport for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Drones over civilian areas present governments with a conundrum of how to respond. Airport disruptions, for instance, generally fall under the jurisdiction of homeland security authorities or interior ministries, but can require the protection of militaries. This potentially slows down supply of crucial defense material.

“If we are to supply solutions, who do we send them to, who has the budgets, who are the decision makers?” said Peter Røpke, Weibel’s chief executive officer.

Efficient drone detection relies on sifting through vast amounts of information from air and ship traffic, and responding to a drone threat within seconds rather than hours. That requires multiple types of sensors, including radars, electro-optical and infrared cameras and artificial intelligence, combined in one system, said Jesper Bøhnke, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Danish-based radar maker Terma Group.

“It requires an unbelievably complex combination of systems interacting completely seamlessly,” he said.

Once a drone is detected, the decision of whether to down it involves an assessment of risk and cost. A crashed drone can cause damage and casualties on the ground. Targeting it with missiles can quickly deplete precious arsenals if drone incursions become routine.

One solution: shotguns. The Danish armed forces last month received a large order of shotguns after expediting an existing order, and rushed to train instructors from the navy, air force and army to hit drones with them.

Swedish aerospace and defense giant Saab in August introduced its first-ever missile dedicated specifically to down drones. With a range of 3 miles, the Nimbrix missile has a warhead that can detonate in the air to target swarms of drones at a relatively low cost.

Earlier this year, Saab also introduced a modular counter-drone system that integrates a mobile radar with a remote weapons station, which is equipped with machine guns, and electronic-warfare components.

Working with the Swedish armed forces, Saab produced the system in three months, aiming for a quick, Silicon Valley-style innovation to meet the rapidly changing demands, said Petter Bedoire, Saab’s chief technology officer. “Instead of setting a very high bar,” said Bedoire, “we said, if we want it fast, what can we get?”

The company hopes to fully integrate the Loke system across NATO wartime units by the end of the year.

Pressuring Russia on other fronts could be its own deterrent. That, however, requires tangible evidence of Russian responsibility, something that isn’t always clear, given the clandestine nature of drone attacks, said Andreas Graae, head of research at the Institute for Military Technology at the Royal Danish Defence College. He cautioned that engaging Russia in hybrid warfare could escalate the conflict.

“Generally, Russia has systems that offer much better protection against hybrid attacks than we do,” Graae said.

Regardless, last week, the Danish government said it would intensify environmental inspections of ships at Skagen Red, one of Scandinavia’s busiest anchorages at the northern tip of Denmark. The inspections will target older ships, particularly those belonging to Russia’s clandestine network of vessels known as the shadow fleet, transporting sanctioned oil through Danish waters.

“We have to put a stop to Putin’s war machine. That goes for the Russian shadow fleet as well,” said Morten Bødskov, Danish minister for industry, business and financial affairs. “We will use all tools at our disposal.”

As politicians and militaries deliberate and procure equipment, citizens are rattled. On Poland’s eastern border where the first drones crossed into allied airspace, residents are working out on their own how to respond to the next threat.

In Wyryki, where a house was destroyed recently after a jet fighter tried to down one of Russia’s low-cost Gerbera drones, Ewa Jablonska, a police-dog trainer, has seen the turnout for her first-aid classes jump. A physical-education teacher is instructing pupils in how to respond to drones, and the village mayor has started weekend skeet-shooting classes.

“Anyone who is skilled at that would be able to shoot down a drone,” said Wyryki County Mayor Bernard Blaszczuk. Soldiers with battlefield experience say drones are harder to hit than birds.

Formerly in the border guard service, Blaszczuk sent a letter to the Ministry of Defense offering for the armed forces to use a school as a base. He has also applied for EU funding to build bomb shelters after residents of three villages recently voted to build them using budget funds.

“We all want peace, but sometimes you get attacked, and then you need to be able to defend your people,” he said.

At the first-aid training session, nearly 30 residents learned to perform first aid in preparation for the next time drones showed up.

One participant was Joanna Lesniewska-Gulwell, mayor of neighboring village Horostyta-Kolonia. “There is no initiative from the government, so we organize ourselves,” she said.

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