OpenAI's ads pilot has crossed $100 million in annualised revenue in six weeks in the United States, a spokesperson said on Thursday. OpenAI, which in January said it would roll out ads to some users, has expanded to over 600 advertisers, the spokesperson added. "We're seeing no impact on consumer trust metrics, low ‌dismissal ⁠rates of ads," OpenAI said.

The Brazilian government auctioned its first-ever public land concession for reforestation to startup Re.green. The project aims to restore vast degraded forest areas and fund large-scale ecosystem recovery via carbon credits. The startup agreed to pay the government a fee of 0.7% from the sale of carbon credits earned ​through the project, expected to reach around $2 million annually.

Chennai-based Professional Services Automation (PSA) startup Rocketlane raised $60 million in a Series C funding round led by global software investor Insight Partners. The fresh capital brought its total fundraise to $105 million, which will be used in R&D and global expansion. "We need to invest in executive hiring and expand teams across India, US, UK," Co-Founder Srikrishnan Ganesan said.

Defence technology startup Shield AI raised $1.5 billion in a new funding round at a $12.7 billion valuation. The firm said the round was led by Advent International and JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment ​Group, with existing investors as participants. This comes as Shield AI is reportedly looking ​to expand its AI software amid growing use ‌of autonomous tools in conflicts.

Chandigarh administration has received only 10 applications in 11 months since the launch of its startup policy, HT reported, quoting an official. Despite the policy's financial perks and mentorship support, stakeholders claimed the slow response was due to "tedious" procedural factors. The policy aims to establish 200 new startups and provide an annual corpus of ₹30 lakh for startup festivals.

European Union (EU) launched an investigation into Snapchat over concerns that it failed to prevent child grooming and the sale of illegal goods. EU said Snapchat's content moderation tools were ineffective in preventing spread of information that led minor users to the sale of drugs, vapes and alcohol. EU will take over a probe opened by Dutch regulators last September.

Semiconductor company GlobalFoundries sued Tower Semiconductor over patent infringement on Thursday. The former alleged that the latter infringed on 11 of its patents that were related to manufacturing chips that are used in smartphones and other electronic devices. GlobalFoundries and Tower Semiconductor are speciality chipmakers that focus on silicon photonics and radio-frequency chips.

Blackstone invested $250 million (₹23,550 crore) in Advanced Digital Gaming Technology (ADGT), a new UAE-based payments and data-intelligence platform. It is the first private equity-backed inbound deal in the Gulf region since the US-Israel-Iran war started, the London Stock Exchange Group said. ADGT will initially focus on deployments across the UAE, the Middle East, and Africa, among others.

Discussions about the potential acquisition of Thyssenkrupp's steel unit by Jindal Steel International could be called off due to differences over energy costs, pension liabilities, and investments, Reuters reported. Discussions may result in an agreement, but a deal is now less likely. Thyssenkrupp tried selling its steel unit several times, via listings, spinoffs, JVs and even outright sales.

Ondas (ONDS) rose as Wall Street analysts hiked price targets amid strong autonomous defense demand. Northland lifted its target to $18, citing 'torrid demand' and 75% upside potential, while Maxim set a $22 target. The CEO highlighted rising revenue and market adoption, driving optimism for the company's multi-domain autonomous systems growth.