Tech and Startups 18-11-2025
AI's expansion in Europe, OpenAI's GPT-5.1
đź“Ł Headlines
• Microsoft and Google data-center deals signal a massive European buildout for AI infrastructure, while startups pitching low-cost energy for AI loads like solar-thermal rock storage aim to make large-scale training and inference cheaper.
• OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 debuts with warmer, more reliable modes as CEO Fidji Simo outlines paid features and enterprise product pushes — a clear tilt toward productization and monetization for builders and platforms.
• Teradar raised $150M for a terahertz sensor that mixes lidar and radar traits and targets automotive markets, showing continued VC appetite for differentiated sensing hardware.
• Classiq’s new funding from AMD and Qualcomm and Canada’s SBQuantum ESA contract underscore rising commercial and procurement momentum in quantum software and sensing — relevant for deep-tech founders seeking strategic investors and partners.
• Einride’s SPAC filing and continued Wayve robotaxi trials in the UK show commercialization paths widening across autonomous freight and passenger mobility, with public markets and pilots both on the table.
• A wave of sector-focused early funding continues: a Crunchbase roundup highlights hardware deals (robotic hands, space-grown retina, GenAI sticker printers), while Irish startups like Lative and Farmdrive closed rounds to scale product and go-to-market efforts.
• Talent and scale moves continue — Clio opened a Dublin office planning dozens of hires, Biller Genie opened in Belfast creating 100 roles, and Figma opened in Bengaluru to expand engineering and product reach for global teams.
• Investors and builders are re-focusing on the AI app layer and integration plumbing: Accel highlights app-layer leaders as the Model Context Protocol and other "boring" integration tech gain traction to help products reach PMF.
🔧 Company Engineering Blogs
Shuffle: Making Random Feel More Human (engineering​.atspotify​.com). Spotify explains Fewer Repeats shuffle: multiple random sequences scored by freshness using recent plays to bias results
2025.8 release introduces Stack Overflow Internal: The next generation of enterprise knowledge intelligence (stackoverflow​.blog). Stack Overflow Internal debuts as enterprise knowledge intelligence, linking real-time AI answers with trusted knowledge across IDEs, Teams, and copilots
TypeScript, Python, and the AI feedback loop changing software development (github​.blog). AI-driven shift in language use, with TypeScript, Python, Bash rising as AI tools shape choices and productivity
Building for an Open Future - our new partnership with Google Cloud (huggingface​.co). Hugging Face and Google Cloud partner to empower open models with Vertex AI, GKE, Cloud Run, and Inference Endpoints for secure, scalable deployment
🧠Founder & Startup Moves
Convex raises $24M to reinvent backends (news​.convex​.dev). Convex raises $24M led by a16z to reinvent backends, expanding DX, open-source options, and scaling with a treap-based data structure
This Startup Can Track If Your AI Code Is Worth It (upstartsmedia​.com). Span raises $25M to track value of AI code and engineer time across tools like Git editors, Jira, and AI usage
Michael Truell: The Visionary Behind Cursor's $400M AI Success (wearefounders​.uk). MIT graduate Michael Truell leads Anysphere, building Cursor’s rapid AI-assisted coding platform with focus on speed, speculative editing, and privacy
They're Building An AI Expert Network. Would You Ask It For Help? (upstartsmedia​.com). SuperMe launches with $6.8M to connect users with AI versions of experts like Elena Verna and Lenny Rachitsky for scalable, non-hallucinating advice
Lovable's Journey to 8 Million Users: A Year in the Making (wearefounders​.uk). Lovable's AI coding platform grows to 8 million users, targeting enterprises and Fortune 500 teams with secure, all-in-one tools
🎙️ Voices & Perspectives
My wrap-up and analysis of WebSummit 2025 (nunodonato​.com). Reflections on WebSummit 2025: AI saturation, OS-name trends, startup viability, vibe coding, context in AI, and practical prototyping notes
A RedMonk Conversation: Fear is the Startup Killer: Jack Bridger on Founders, Differentiation, & DevTools (redmonk​.com). DevTools founder insights with Jack Bridger on fear, users, differentiation, and marketing strategies
Boring is Best: How LEGO League Can Teach Us About Engineering Simplicity (blog​.fontawesome​.com). LEGO League reveals how engineering simplicity, 80/20 mindset, and user-focused design drive reliable, boringly effective robotics and startup culture
These Comments from Vercel CTO Malte Ubl Struck Home (cto4​.ai). Vercel CTO Malte Ubl discusses AI product strategy, open-source AI SDKs, dogfooding abstractions, and choosing the right problems for agents
The Secret Value of Freelancers for Companies (helloanselm​.com). Freelancers bring business value, agile problem-solving, and knowledge transfer to teams; ROI through faster starts and coaching of internal staff
🧑‍💻 Career, Craft & Wellbeing
Reflections on My Tech Career – Part 2 (randomascii​.wordpress​.com). Career reflections across Cavedog, Microsoft, Valve, Google; ETW, CPU, debugging, and blogging insights
Should CEOs Code? I coded an iOS app in 8 weeks to find out. (airgradient​.com). CEO explores coding an iOS app in 8 weeks using Swift/SwiftUI, AI-assisted development, and cross-platform Android integration
What It Really Takes to Move From Senior to Staff Data Engineer (seattledataguy​.substack​.com). Senior to staff data engineer insights from Brian Femiano at Apple; focus on collaboration, governance, design docs, and GenAI
Seasons, Injuries, and Rainy Days (diego-pacheco​.blogspot​.com). Explores managing rainy days in software work: burnout, vacations, negotiation, and high-performance teams
The Long Shelf Life of Software (brajeshwar​.com). Durable software mindset: avoid disposable code, reduce burn, and build antifragile systems for downturn resilience
For the Developers who feel lost this year (tomshaw​.substack​.com). Explores rekindling passion for coding amid AI, no-code trends, and shifting tech culture
Developer Generalists (granot​.io). Developer Generalist explores wide IT interests, automation love, and the value of cross-domain skills across roles and languages
🛠️ AI-Assisted Coding
Zed Is Our Office (zed​.dev). Zed showcases built-in collaboration in a native editor using CRDTs, audio, and screensharing for daily work across teams
Is Vibe Coding the Future of Skilled Work? (scotthyoung​.com). Explores vibe coding, AI-assisted programming, and how abstraction, design, and theory shift skill requirements for developers
Where AI-assisted coding accelerates development — and where it doesn’t (johnnyreilly​.com). AI-assisted coding accelerates prototyping with Copilot, Claude Code, and Replit, while raising quality, security, and architectural concerns
How I Claude Code (loki​.ws). How I use Claude Code to build SATB web app with TDD, EARS IDs, design-first approach, and threadkeeper-like AI-assisted workflows
Concurrent Local Coding Agents (xxchan​.me). Local concurrent coding with Git worktrees, AgentDev UI, and multi-agent testing for faster parallel development
🏗️ Engineering Culture & Org Design
Netflix’s Engineering Culture (newsletter​.pragmaticengineer​.com). Inside Netflix’s engineering culture with CTO Elizabeth Stone: no formal reviews, continuous feedback, Keeper Test, and global scale engineering
Build bridges, not walls (bitfieldconsulting​.com). Empathy, collaboration, pairing, monitoring, and shared tooling to bridge dev and ops and improve production systems
Why Engineers Must Become Multipliers in the AI-Era (newsletter​.eng-leadership​.com). Engineering multipliers in the AI era: problem-solving, people-skills, and impact over tools; from startups to product leadership
Generative culture, engineering allocation, and creator CEOs 💡 (refactoring​.fm). Generative culture, engineering allocation, and creator CEOs explored with Warp AI, incident handling, and a Creator CEO interview
Startup Engineering Team Organisation (marcgg​.com). Explores startup engineering organization options (squads, chapters, core/platform, per-project), using Stack: NodeJS monolith, React frontend, Swift/Kotlin mobile, with staff engineers and product design
Good Engineering Management Is a Fad ↬ (lethain​.com). Eight foundational engineering management skills—core versus growth—across fads, with focus on execution, team, ownership, alignment, taste, clarity, ambiguity navigation, and timescale awareness
Fractional Leadership in Practice (playfulprogramming​.com). Fractional leadership contract leads to long-term product direction, documenting decisions, and codebase insights using Unity and frontend work
đź’ˇ Product Strategy & Domain Focus
The Company as a Machine for Doing Stuff (notboring​.co). Explores founders who build 'machines' to do meaningful work, not just seek riches, citing Forrest Heath, Cursor, Meter, and Elon Musk
Dev Stack 2025, Part VII: Sqlite (loufranco​.com). Explores using SQLite with Django for a web app, portability, testing, and potential future DB migrations
Why AI Won't Save Your PLG Strategy (But It's Changing How I Find It) (ksred​.com). Indie SaaS founder uses AI to accelerate testing and onboarding, explores PLG activation, pricing, and distribution with Cont3xt.dev
The Most Dangerous Startup Idea in the World (unworkableideas​.com). Explores an identity–context substrate for enterprises, the Work Graph, and the risks of a universal AI-enabled org nervous system
A Software Engineer’s Guide to Building Specialized Domain Products (pharzan​.com). How software engineers and domain experts collaborate, deriving solutions beyond obvious data problems to build domain-focused products