OpenAI has put plans to launch an erotic chatbot on hold indefinitely, the Financial Times reported. The move comes after employees and investors of the startup raised concerns about the impact of sexualised AI content on society. The ChatGPT maker also shut down Sora, its app for creating and sharing AI-generated videos, on Wednesday.

Deccan AI, a US-based startup supplying post-training data to help improve AI models, raised $25 million (₹235 crore) in its first funding round. The all-equity Series A round was led by A91 Partners, with participation from Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and Prosus Ventures. Founded by IIT Bombay alumnus Rukesh Reddy, the startup will use fund to expand its enterprise-focused products.

Legal tech startup Harvey confirmed that it had closed a new round of $200 million at a $11 billion valuation. The funding was co-led by returning investors Singapore's GIC and Sequoia. Andreessen Horowitz and Conviction Partners were among the existing investors who participated in the funding. "Harvey has become the platform on which legal work runs," Sequoia's Pat Grady said.

Reflection AI, a US-based startup building open AI systems, is in talks to raise $2.5 billion (over ₹23,000 crore) in funding at a valuation of $25 billion (over ₹2 lakh crore), the WSJ reported. JPMorgan Chase could participate in the round through its Security and Resiliency Initiative. NVIDIA had invested around $800 million in Reflection's previous funding round.

Infosys has approved the acquisition of two US-based firms, Optimum Healthcare IT and Stratus Global, for a total of ₹5,250 crore. It will acquire 100% stake in Optimum Healthcare for ₹4,360 crore, gaining domain expertise in electronic health record advisory. Separately, buying the insurance firm Stratus Global for ₹890 crore shall strengthen Infosys' casualty insurance segment.

Moving Tech Innovations, the company behind Namma Yatri, has acquired Netherlands-based Automicle, marking its entry into Europe. The deal expands its zero-commission mobility model beyond India. The company aims to offer open, city-led transport systems globally. The move also reflects growing India–EU collaboration in digital infrastructure and sustainable urban mobility solutions.

Qweebi, an online STEM platform for engineering and robotics projects, has raised $500,000 in a seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures, with participation from global leaders. Serving 5,200+ US schools and 100,000 students, Qweebi enables hands-on learning entirely online, reducing teacher prep time and classroom setup. Funds will expand product development and adoption across US schools.

Plum, India’s leading employee health benefits platform, has raised ₹193 crore in Series B funding led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from Tanglin Venture Partners and GMO VenturePartners. The company, now EBITDA and cashflow positive, has processed over 500,000 claims, reduced hospital discharge to 47 minutes, improved reimbursements to 1.5 days, and serves 6,000+ organisations.

OpenAI has appointed JioStar CEO Kiran Mani as Managing Director for Asia-Pacific operations, Bloomberg reported. He previously worked at IBM (2000-08), exiting as VP for Strategy, Marketing and Operations in South Asia, and was Senior Director at Microsoft (2008-10). Mani later served as GM for Android and Google Play at Google before joining JioStar as CEO in 2023.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the merger of Udemy with Chess Merger Sub, Coursera's wholly owned subsidiary. After the completion of the merger, Udemy will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coursera. Existing Coursera shareholders are expected to own approximately 59%, while Udemy stockholders will own about 41% of the combined entity, on a fully diluted basis, CCI said.