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BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University responded Monday to recent threats from the Education Department to halt its grant funding, highlighting reforms it was undertaking but warning it won’t budge on “its core, legally-protected principles” over fears of retaliation.A letter from Harvard President Alan Garber detailed how the institution had made significant changes to its leadership and governance over the past year and a half. Among the reforms, Garber said, was a broad “strategy to combat antisemitism and other bigotry.”Last week, the Department of Education threatened a grant freeze in a major escalation of Trump’s battle with the Ivy League school.…

Paysafe, a leading payments platform with a global footprint in online and digital payment services, and Fiserv, a Fortune 500 payments and financial technology provider, have announced an expanded partnership aimed at supporting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with improved financial tools and digital solutions.The deepened collaboration between the two companies is centred around helping SMBs access capital more easily, strengthen fraud and risk protection, and offer a new digital wallet experience.Paysafe, which operates in over 12 countries and supports 260 payment types in 48 currencies, is known for its integrated platform offering payment processing, digital wallet, and online cash…

OpenAI’s ambitious Stargate data center project is facing delays thanks to tariff-related economic uncertainty, reports Bloomberg. Growing market volatility and cheaper AI services have made banks, private equity investors, and asset managers wary of investing in Stargate, an OpenAI-led project that aims to raise up to $500 million for AI infrastructure in the U.S. and overseas. SoftBank, which in January said it would contribute significant capital to Stargate, has yet to develop a financing template or begin detailed discussions with potential backers, according to Bloomberg. Tariffs could greatly increase the cost of data center buildouts. Per an analysis by TD…

Securitize, a leading platform for tokenising real-world assets, has announced a strategic investment from Jump Crypto, the digital asset division of Jump Trading Group.The exact investment amount was not disclosed, but Jump has taken an equity stake in Securitize as part of the deal.Securitize provides an end-to-end platform that enables the issuance and management of tokenised securities. The company has tokenised over $3.8bn in assets as of May 2025, working closely with major asset managers such as Apollo, BlackRock, Hamilton Lane, and KKR. Its ecosystem includes services as a SEC-registered broker-dealer, digital transfer agent, fund administrator, and operator of a…

RetailBook, a UK-based FinTech platform that empowers retail investors to participate in primary capital market deals on equal terms with institutions, has announced a £4.5m funding round.The round was led by Augmentum Fintech, one of Europe’s leading FinTech-focused venture capital firms. Existing investors Peel Hunt, Jefferies, Rothschild & Co, and Hargreaves Lansdown also joined the round to support RetailBook’s next phase of growth.RetailBook enables broader participation in capital markets by bridging the gap between retail and institutional investors during equity and debt transactions. The platform has gained momentum in recent years as regulators and policymakers continue to encourage wider market…

Stash, a US-based FinTech platform focused on making wealth-building accessible to everyday consumers, has secured $146m in its Series H funding round.The oversubscribed round was led by Goodwater Capital, with participation from returning investors including Union Square Ventures, StepStone Group, Serengeti, and the University of Illinois Foundation. Additional backing came from funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management.Founded to democratise investing, Stash offers automated financial tools, educational content, and a user-friendly app designed to help users build long-term financial health. With over 1.3 million paying subscribers and $4.3bn in assets under management, the company has become a…

As a Biden administration ban on so-called “junk fees” took effect Monday, Ticketmaster said it would start displaying the full price of a ticket as soon as consumers begin shopping.Ticketmaster, long a subject of complaints about hidden fees and other issues, was among those targeted by the new rule, which was announced in December by the Federal Trade Commission. The rule requires ticket sellers, hotels, vacation rental platforms and others to disclose processing fees, cleaning fees and other charges up front.Ticketmaster said it agreed with the FTC’s action.“Ticketmaster has long advocated for all-in pricing to become the nationwide standard so…

Google’s openly available Gemma collection of AI models has reached a milestone: over 150 million downloads. Omar Sanseviero, a developer relations engineer at Google DeepMind, announced the figure on X over the weekend, also revealing that developers have created more than 70,000 variants of Gemma on the AI dev platform Hugging Face. Gemma just passed 150 million downloads and over 70k variants on Hugging Face🚀🚀🚀What would you like to see in the next Gemma versions?— Omar Sanseviero (@osanseviero) May 11, 2025 Google launched Gemma in February 2024, aiming to compete with other “open” model families like Meta’s Llama. The latest…

Rippling, a workforce management platform offering integrated solutions across HR, IT and finance, has secured $450m in a Series G funding round.The raise saw participation from Elad Gil, Sands Capital, GIC, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Baillie Gifford, and Y Combinator, alongside existing investors.In addition to the primary investment, Rippling has launched a $200m tender offer to repurchase equity from current and former employees. The round places the company’s valuation at $16.8bn.Founded on the belief that employee data plays a foundational role across numerous enterprise systems, Rippling offers more than two dozen products that cover functions such as payroll, benefits, identity management,…

Illinois-based physical security company Andy Frain Services revealed on Friday that a data breach suffered last year impacts more than 100,000 people. Andy Frain provides security services for major sports arenas, event venues, universities, commercial businesses, airports, and organizations in the transportation industry. The data breach notification letter sent by the company to impacted individuals does not contain any technical details on the incident and it’s unclear exactly what type of information has been compromised.  However, the information is likely sensitive considering that impacted individuals are being offered 12 or 24 months of credit monitoring and identity restoration services.  Andy…