Daily News Feed

Assort Health, a startup automating patient phone calls with AI, secured $50 million in Series B funding at a $750 million valuation, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, following a recent $22 million Series A. This significant investment, mirroring similar funding rounds for competitors, highlights the burgeoning market for AI-driven solutions addressing the high volume and repetitive nature of patient communication in healthcare, promising increased efficiency and cost savings for medical practices.

Kohl's stock surged over 20% after exceeding second-quarter earnings and revenue projections, despite a sales decline and the ongoing search for a new CEO; the company also narrowed its full-year sales and earnings guidance. This positive surprise demonstrates Kohl's resilience in a challenging economic climate and suggests the company's cost-cutting measures and revised strategies are starting to bear fruit, potentially attracting investor confidence and signaling a more stable future than initially anticipated.

SpaceX successfully completed a test flight of its Starship rocket, a significant milestone for the company's ambitious lunar mission planned for 2027, overcoming previous launch failures with a successful ocean splashdown. This achievement not only advances SpaceX's space exploration goals but also strengthens its position as a leader in the burgeoning commercial space industry, attracting further investment and potentially shaping future space-based businesses and infrastructure.

The U.S. Treasury sanctioned a global fraud network that North Korea uses to infiltrate American companies; North Korean hackers, posing as job applicants, steal money and data from their employers, generating at least $1 million for the regime's nuclear weapons program. This highlights the escalating threat of sophisticated state-sponsored cybercrime, demanding increased vigilance from businesses regarding cybersecurity measures and employee vetting processes to protect sensitive data and bottom lines.

JLL's global Bid Intensity Index rose in July, marking the first increase this year in commercial real estate transaction volume after a period of economic uncertainty and decreased activity. This positive shift suggests improved market liquidity and stabilized investor confidence, signaling a potential rebound in commercial real estate investment and potentially influencing future capital allocation strategies.

Eli Lilly's experimental weight-loss pill, orforglipron, successfully completed a late-stage trial, demonstrating significant weight loss in obese and type 2 diabetic patients, leading to an expected global regulatory filing. This successful trial positions Lilly to capture a substantial share of the rapidly growing, highly profitable weight-loss and diabetes medication market, offering a potentially more accessible and convenient alternative to existing injectable treatments and potentially disrupting the current market leader, Novo Nordisk.

The Trump administration unexpectedly tried to convert Intel's planned government grants into a 10% equity stake, a move whose legality and effectiveness in addressing Intel's struggling foundry business—which has lost major contracts and billions—are highly questionable. This highlights the limitations of government intervention in rescuing struggling tech giants and underscores the need for Intel to fundamentally restructure its foundry operations to achieve long-term profitability independent of government support.