Travel demand appears to be holding up, but at the same time, investor appetite for travel tech startups has cooled. Even a wave of startups promising to improve travel with AI hasn't managed to reverse the funding slowdown, a review of Crunchbase data shows. Whether uncertainty over how AI will reshape travel planning and booking is contributing to that pullback remains an open question. Startups in the travel tech space have raised $2.2 billion this year through the third quarter, according to Crunchbase data. The largest funding recipients span a wide range of categories including hotel management software, travel booking platforms, alternative accommodations and corporate events. The mix also includes electric aviation, travel finance and insurance, and consumer hospitality businesses, reflecting a broad definition of travel tech. The broad trend: Investors are making far fewer bets on travel startups than immediately before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Crunchbase data shows. This year could be the lowest since at least 2018 when it comes to dollars raised and deal count....
October 2026 data out of Gallup shows that employee engagement in the United States has fallen to its lowest level in 15 years. This collection of HBR articles aims to help companies ensure people feel invested in their work, particularly amid seismic shifts in technology and a thinning of management ranks....
This week featured a robust lineup of large rounds, led by manufacturing startup Re:Build, which closed on $2.1 billion, and predictions marketplace Kalshi, which picked up another $1 billion. Other sectors in which startups drew significant rounds included construction automation, biotech, batteries and enterprise AI. 1. Re:Build, $2.1B, manufacturing: Re:Build, a manufacturing startup that partners with industrial companies and innovators from the product design phase to large-scale production, secured $2.1 billion in new funding. General Catalyst and JPMorganChase led the financing for the 6-year-old, Framingham, Massachusetts-based company. 2. Kalshi, $1B, predictions marketplace: Predictions marketplace Kalshi announced a $1 billion Series G financing led by Wellington Management and Sequoia Capital. The round set a $40 billion post-money valuation for New York-based Kalshi, which says its business' annualized trading volume now exceeds $1 trillion. 3. Bedrock Robotics, $600M, construction tech: San Francisco-based Bedrock Robotics, a developer of autonomous systems for heavy equipment used in construction, raised $600 million in Series C funding led by CapitalG and Emergence Capital. The round brings Bedrock's total funding to nearly $1 billion and sets a post-money valuation of $4.1 billion....
In this subscriber-exclusive roundtable discussion, HBR invited experts Daniel Dobrygowski of Sophos and Keri Pearlson of MIT Sloan to explore how AI is reshaping cyber risk and how organizations can prepare for evolving threats. AI is making attacks faster and more scalable while introducing new risks around AI agents, permissions, model manipulation, and data security. For leaders, the discussion underscored that cybersecurity is a business risk, not simply an IT responsibility, requiring investments aligned with operational, financial, and strategic priorities. Organizations should also prioritize resilience, including practicing how they will respond, recover, communicate, and maintain critical operations during an incident. For organizations with limited resources, the emphasis was on getting fundamentals such as identity and access management and critical-data protection right first, then drawing on trusted external partners to extend their capabilities....
