Based in Tel Aviv, Torq provides an autonomous security operations platform that the company says it built from the ground up using artificial intelligence. Notably, the platform enables organizations to automate repetitive security tasks through AI-driven agents, such as processing massive volumes of security alerts. As a result, cybersecurity teams can redirect their attention toward more complex and high-risk threats.

“You don’t want your team to have a huge backlog and using your team just to do the simple things while you can automate everything,” said Ofer Smadari, Torq’s chief executive officer and co-founder.

Earlier it was reported that Torq had achieved unicorn status through a new funding round, although the report did not disclose the investment amount.

Torq launched operations in 2020; however, the company strategically realigned its product direction a few years later following the rapid emergence of generative AI, according to Smadari.

“By the end of 2022, ChatGPT came into our lives, and we saw the opportunity to start building agents and AI functionality,” he said. Furthermore, he noted that Torq rolled out its first AI agent for security operations in summer 2023. Now, he added, “You can automate and remediate everything.”

Meanwhile, Merlin Ventures led the latest funding round, while existing backers—including Evolution Equity Partners, Notable Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Venture Partners, and Greenfield Partners—also participated.

Currently, the cybersecurity startup employs more than 300 people across Israel and the United States, Smadari confirmed. Importantly, the founding team brings proven entrepreneurial experience, as Smadari and his co-founders previously launched Luminate Security in 2017 and sold it to Symantec Corp. for $250 million in under two years.

Soon after that exit, the founders established Torq in January 2020, just weeks before the Covid-19 outbreak escalated into a global pandemic.

“We said, ‘There is nothing like a big worldwide crisis to build another company,’” Smadari said.

This transaction comes as Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg increasingly places artificial intelligence at the core of Meta’s corporate agenda, while the company accelerates efforts to develop commercially viable products on top of its expanding AI infrastructure. Although the companies did not disclose the financial terms, Manus contributes a rapidly growing subscription-led business that, in turn, offers Meta immediate monetisation potential.

Earlier this year, Manus reported an annual revenue run rate of approximately $125 million, largely driven by strong demand from businesses that rely on its AI agent to automate routine tasks. Specifically, the platform enables users to provide simple instructions to an AI assistant that can screen resumes, create travel itineraries, and conduct stock analysis, among other functions.

“Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” said Xiao Hong, CEO of Manus.

Moreover, the company raised capital earlier this year at a valuation close to $500 million, with backing from multiple investors, including US-based venture capital firm Benchmark.

Overall, the acquisition underscores Meta’s broader push to move beyond consumer-facing AI features and into enterprise-focused tools, as the company seeks to justify its substantial spending on data centres, chips, and large language models. By integrating Manus’ subscription-driven AI offerings, Meta secures an established revenue stream and gains a strategic foothold in the rapidly expanding market for AI agents designed for everyday business applications.

The new capital increases Serval’s total funding to $127 million. The San Francisco-based company held a valuation of $232 million in August, according to PitchBook data. The sharp rise in valuation over the past quarter highlights growing investor confidence in AI-driven platforms challenging incumbents such as ServiceNow and demonstrating strong market traction.

Serval stated that it has increased revenue by 500% since August, although it did not provide detailed figures. Moreover, previous backers, including Redpoint, Meritech, and General Catalyst, participated in the latest round.

Founded in 2024, Serval initially launched as an AI-powered tech support assistant designed to manage routine IT tasks for employees, including fixing computer issues and granting software access. Since then, it has expanded into human resources, legal, and finance functions.

With the fresh capital, Serval plans to accelerate hiring across its go-to-market and engineering teams. The company currently employs just under 30 people but expects to grow to more than 100 next year.

AI startups such as Perplexity and Together AI already rely on Serval’s platform to automate tasks like resolving help desk queries and onboarding employees. Additionally, Serval reported that its technology automates more than 50% of IT tickets for customers.

The company’s go-to-market strategy enables it to fully replace a customer’s existing systems or serve as an “AI layer” on top of legacy setups, an approach designed to accommodate clients tied to long-term contracts.

CEO Jake Stauch stated that Serval is building a comprehensive IT service management platform powered by AI-driven automation. “We’re seeing that thesis play out as customers rip and replace incumbent systems of record,” Stauch said.

Serval’s platform operates with a two-part AI system: an AI agent that interacts with employees to interpret support requests and a tool that lets administrators create complex automations by describing them in natural language—a process the CEO refers to as “vibe coding.”

This method generates code in the background, which provides more flexibility and capability than traditional drag-and-drop workflow tools. It also reinforces security, as the employee-facing AI can only activate automations pre-approved by administrators.

“When we heard customer feedback this strong was 16 years ago when we partnered with ServiceNow,” said Anas Biad, partner at Sequoia. “When we heard it again, we couldn’t help ourselves but just go and preempt.”

The report also noted that Sierra is on track to surpass $100 million in enterprise annual recurring revenue (ARR).

The startup previously secured $175 million in October 2024, also led by Greenoaks, with participation from Thrive Capital and Iconiq, at a $4.5 billion valuation.

Founded in 2023 by Bret Taylor (former Salesforce co-CEO and current OpenAI chair) and Clay Bavor (ex-Google executive), Sierra builds AI-powered chatbots that manage customer service for large enterprises. Its client roster includes brands like WeightWatchers and Sirius XM.

In June, the company shared on X that 15% of its customers generate more than $10 billion in annual revenue, while nearly half report revenues exceeding $1 billion annually.

This year, AI agents have emerged as a major focus across the tech industry, with companies like Microsoft and OpenAI testing different strategies to develop and deploy them.

Elon Musk’s AI venture xAI entered the race last week by launching grok-code-fast-1, a coding agent it described as fast and cost-efficient, even though it arrived relatively late to the space.

This marks the cloud software leader’s return to major acquisitions after a period of restraint, prompted by pressure from activist investors demanding improved profitability.

Negotiations gained momentum in early April when several potential buyers — including private equity firms and other companies — approached Informatica around the same time, according to a source familiar with the sale discussions. Two sources confirmed that five parties expressed interest, including Thoma Bravo and Cloud Software Group. Thoma Bravo declined to comment, while Cloud Software Group did not respond immediately.

Acquiring Informatica would mark Salesforce’s largest deal since its $27.7 billion purchase of Slack in 2021. The move positions Salesforce to strengthen its data management capabilities as it sharpens its focus on AI-driven solutions. The acquisition also enables Salesforce to take greater control over how it handles and leverages enterprise data—a crucial step as it accelerates the integration of generative AI data across its product suite.

“Salesforce and Informatica will create the most complete, agent-ready data platform in the industry,” said Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, adding the deal will strengthen its position in the $150 billion-plus data enterprise market.

The company has already secured over 1,000 paid contracts for Agentforce, its platform for building AI-powered virtual representatives.

As part of the Informatica acquisition, Salesforce is offering $25 per share, representing a 30% premium over Informatica’s closing stock price on May 22, just before reports of renewed negotiations surfaced. Following the announcement, Informatica shares rose 5.8% to $23.86, while Salesforce shares were up 1.78% in afternoon trading.

Salesforce actively deploys AI data agents—automated programs that handle routine tasks without human intervention—for business functions like recruitment and customer service. The company plans to close the deal early next fiscal year, starting in February, and will finance it through a combination of cash and new debt. Salesforce anticipates the acquisition will start to enhance its operating margin from the second year onward.

Scotiabank analysts stated that the acquisition could help Salesforce close the gap with software competitors, as “data management software is now most often sold as part of mega-vendor tool kits.”

Salesforce has a history of major acquisitions, having acquired data visualization firm Tableau Software for $15.7 billion in stock in 2019, followed by its largest-ever deal in 2021—the $27.7 billion purchase of Slack.

However, these high-profile deals came under increased scrutiny in 2023, when activist investors such as ValueAct Capital and Elliott Management began pushing for strategic changes aimed at boosting profitability.

This partnership leverages CoRover’s expertise in sovereign AI alongside Persistent’s Proficiency in Digital Engineering and its AI-focused, platform-driven approach. According to the announcement, they aim to meet emerging market needs, enhance customer experiences, and unlock new business revenue opportunities.

Ankush Sabharwal, Founder & CEO of CoRover.ai, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration, “The combination of CoRover.ai’s AI products and platforms with Persistent’s Global services expertise will redefine enterprise AI solutions. Together, we aim to empower businesses with cutting-edge AI-driven efficiency, innovation, and growth, transforming customer engagement and operational workflows.”

Vijay Verma, Chief Revenue Officer – Service Lines at Persistent, highlighted the alignment of the partnership with Persistent’s AI-led strategy: “We are delighted to join forces with CoRover.ai as their global business and implementation partner. CoRover.ai’s AI-powered multilingual conversational platform addresses key market needs and accelerates go-to-market initiatives. By integrating their advanced capabilities with Persistent’s expertise in digital transformation, enterprises can revolutionize customer engagement, streamline operations, and foster innovation. This partnership aligns seamlessly with our Re(AI)magining™ the world vision, driving impactful outcomes for businesses worldwide.”

The strategic collaboration also focuses on achieving economies of scale, strengthening operational resilience, and accelerating market readiness, all while remaining at the forefront of AI innovation.

With its leadership in Conversational GenAI, CoRover.ai delivers human-centric, multilingual, multi-modal, and multi-channel virtual assistants and AI agents. This partnership is poised to set a new standard in conversational AI, reshaping how businesses engage with their customers.

As a top search engine company, Baidu has joined other tech firms in shifting focus towards commercializing large language model (LLM) applications. This move follows nearly two years of intensive research and development on models they promote as alternatives to OpenAI‘s GPT.

During the annual Baidu World Conference, CEO Robin Li introduced I-RAG, a text-to-image tool designed to address the “hallucination” problem in AI-generated images. This tool, leveraging Baidu’s search capabilities, aims to ensure that generated images stay faithful to the input text without adding non-existent elements.

Li shared that Baidu’s Ernie platform now processes 1.5 billion user interactions daily, up from 200 million in May. These interactions include text generation, question-answering, and support for various AI-driven applications.

Baidu has focused on commercializing its AI agents, which allow users to build customized applications. The company has also integrated this technology into its existing product suite, making it available to external users via cloud services.

Additionally, Baidu introduced a smart glasses device from its hardware division, Xiaodu, featuring a built-in AI assistant. These glasses include cameras for photos and videos and support voice commands through Ernie.

Unlike competitors, Baidu is not pursuing an AI-based “super app.” This strategy marks a departure from ByteDance, which has recently launched multiple standalone AI apps.

Lastly, Baidu presented Miaoda, a tool that uses its LLM to assist users in generating code, enabling software development without deep coding knowledge.