This week in AI: 2 Nov 2026 to 8 Nov 2026

Foundry Robotics, an Emeryville, California startup that builds and operates its own factories for complex assembly, announced an oversubscribed $100 million Series A led by Marlinspike Partners on 28 October 2026. The company uses AI-powered robotic cells with manufacturing staff, sells production as a service and says it already ships to paying customers in energy, telecom, autonomous vehicles and defense. Valuation and revenue were not disclosed.

Serval announced on 29 October 2026 a $150 million Series C led by Sequoia at a $3 billion valuation, its third round in about twelve months and three times the valuation of its December 2025 Series B. Total funding is now $277 million. The company, which pitches its AI service management platform as a ServiceNow replacement, plans to hire more than 500 people, including over 100 automation engineers for a new services arm.

Microsoft Threat Intelligence published an assessment on 29 October 2026 of how eight North Korean state hacking groups use generative and agentic AI. It places Jade Sleet, Coral Sleet and Jasper Sleet at the highest of four adoption stages, says Onyx Sleet produced more than 100 tailored PDF lures in minutes, and reports ARTEX agents in live operations since late October. Microsoft says the operations remain human-directed, not autonomous.