The Daily Deal
Wednesday 30 September 2026
Salesforce buys Sweden's Listen Labs in $2B AI deal
- Chart of the day Oura vs Whoop: valuation, growth and the IPO.
- Just raised EliseAI $350M, Kahua $250M, General Intuition $220M.
- Just founded Sentinel AI, IM-Space Technologies, LeakLess.
- In the news Salesforce buys Sweden-founded Listen Labs in $2B AI deal, and six more stories.
Chart of the day
Open the chart
Oura, from Finland, makes a smart ring that tracks sleep and health. Whoop, from the US, makes a fitness band. Whoop passed $1B first, but Oura reached $10B first, and its IPO filing priced it at $12.8B–$14.1B against Whoop's last round of $10.1B. Yesterday Oura postponed the listing, citing uncertainty in the IPO market.
Just raised
All funding news-
EliseAINew York$350M Series FAI-powered leasing automation enhancing property management efficiency.
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KahuaAlpharetta$250M GrowthConstruction project management platform for owners & delivery teams — capital planning, cost & risk, portfolio & asset handover. Backed by Bain Capital and Bain Capital Tech Opportunities.
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General IntuitionNew York$220M Series BResearch lab developing AI agents that learn spatial-temporal reasoning from gameplay video.
By country
- US$41B
- China$6.3B
- France$4.8B
- UK$3.5B
- Netherlands$1.1B
- India$1B
By sector
- Enterprise software$20B
- Health$9.2B
- Security$7.9B
- Energy$7.7B
- Semiconductors$6.7B
- Transportation$6.6B
$66B across 1,990 rounds in September so far, by headquarters and by sector.
Just founded
View all from this week-
Sentinel AICheltenham
Legal claims infrastructure for automated, compliant processing.
AQ
SS
FGAlisher Qosimov, Samandar Samandarov & Firdavs Ghafurov founded it. Qosimov studied at Bard College. Ghafurov studied at Vistula University. -
IM-Space TechnologiesBratislava
Robotic technologies for in-orbit satellite manufacturing.
MGMarek Gebura previously founded Space scAvengers and worked at GA Drilling. -
LeakLessParis
AI-powered IoT for intelligent water management systems.
NE
ABNevil Enyola Bofumbo & Alexandre Béchet founded it. Bofumbo worked at Henry Schein. Béchet worked at Carrefour and L-Acoustics.
In the news
View all news stories- Salesforce buys Sweden-founded Listen Labs in $2B AI deal
Salesforce is acquiring Listen Labs, an AI startup that runs and analyses consumer interviews at scale, for around $2 billion.
- Protego Ventures closes debut $125M fund for Israeli defense tech
Protego Ventures has completed the final close of its debut fund with $125 million in commitments, targeting Israeli defense tech.
- UK venture capital hits parity with US on returns, closes late-stage gap
UK venture capital has matched the US and beaten the rest of Europe on long-term performance, according to new analysis from the British Business Bank.
- Capitolis to buy eSecLending for $200M in fourth deal in five years
Fintech unicorn Capitolis has agreed to acquire US-based eSecLending for $200 million in cash.
- Oura postpones $2.2B Nasdaq IPO, citing market uncertainty
Oura, the maker of a smart ring that tracks health and sleep, has postponed its planned Nasdaq listing, citing uncertainty in the IPO market.
- Onodrim seeks €200M Series A at $1B valuation, with Lux Capital in talks to lead
Dutch defense startup Onodrim Industries is seeking to raise a €200 million ($227 million) Series A at a $1 billion valuation.
- SMIC completes $6.1B buyout of SMIC North as China M&A activity stays high
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