Baseten vs Verda

New in LangSmith: Engine v2, Managed Deep Agents, Fine-Tuning, and More

LangChain announced a wave of new LangSmith capabilities at Interrupt NYC, centered on LangSmith Engine v2, Managed Deep Agents v0.8, Trajectories, Fine-Tuning, and Custom Apps. Engine v2 adds red teaming, broader issue detection, and automated fix validation. Managed Deep Agents introduces identity-scoped auth and memory, expanded channels, and built-in web search. LangSmith Fine-Tuning turns agent trajectories into training data for open models, while Custom Apps lets teams build tailored interfaces on LangSmith data.

• LangChain announced the updates on September 25, 2026, at Interrupt NYC.
• LangSmith Engine v2 introduces red teaming, detection of performance trends and inefficient agent work, and automated validation of proposed fixes before human review.
• Managed Deep Agents v0.8 adds identity-scoped user memory, agent and user-owned credentials, Slack file transfer, HTTP channel support, and built-in web search powered by Parallel.

Goodfire Launches Internal AI Agent Monitors

Goodfire, a startup specializing in AI interpretability, launched on Thursday a new type of AI agent monitor that inspects a model's internal signals rather than reading its output, aiming to detect rogue behaviors more efficiently and at a fraction of the cost. The monitors are available to customers of Baseten, an AI model hosting platform. Baseten's Base Labs had previously announced a safety partnership with Goodfire and Hugging Face. Goodfire's approach uses small probes that scan a model's internal activations at each step, triggering a closer AI review only when flagged. In tests on the Kimi K3 model, Goodfire's monitors caught 94% of malicious hacking sessions and cost about $51 for 1,500 sessions, compared to $233 for a cheaper model and $10,000 for a top-tier one. The company positions the solution for open models, which can be stripped of safeguards, and sees it as critical for inference-time guardrails.

• Goodfire launched internal activation monitors for AI agents on October 8, 2026.
• Monitors are available to Baseten customers.
• In tests on Kimi K3, monitors caught 94% of malicious hacking sessions.

Announcing our partnership with OpenAI

Baseten announces a partnership with OpenAI, as featured on their blog.

Verda Raises $189M to Expand AI Cloud and Compute Capacity

European AI cloud company Verda, formerly DataCrunch, has raised $189 million (€164.8 million) in Series B funding, propelling it to unicorn status with a valuation over $1 billion. The oversubscribed round was led by Emergence Capital, with participation from MUFG Innovation Partners, Supermicro, Varma, Lifeline Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital, byFounders, Tesi, and angel investors including Ola Tørudbakken and Mark Saroufim. This brings Verda's total funding to over $450 million (€392.3 million). The company plans to scale its full-stack AI cloud, accelerate product development, multiply compute capacity, and expand internationally, including deploying Nvidia's upcoming VR200 NVL72 generation. Verda's renewable-powered data centres in Finland support its operations across Europe, the US, and Asia. The company reported an annualized revenue run rate of $165 million (€143.85 million) in July 2026, serving customers in over 50 countries.

• Verda raised $189 million (€164.8 million) in Series B funding led by Emergence Capital.
• The funding values Verda at over $1 billion, making it Europe's latest unicorn, with total funding exceeding $450 million (€392.3 million).
• Investors include MUFG Innovation Partners, Supermicro, Varma, Lifeline Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital, byFounders, Tesi, and angel investors.

Finland's top-funded tech companies H1 2026

In H1 2026, European tech funding demonstrated a strong focus on AI and space technology, with significant concentration in large transactions. Finland attracted approximately €1.3 billion across 53 deals, led by ICEYE's €900 million raise. Across Europe, top AI companies secured substantial funding, including Ineffable Intelligence ($1.1B), Advanced Machine Intelligence ($1B), Mistral AI ($830M debt), and ElevenLabs ($561M Series D). The UK led in funding value and deal count, followed by France and Germany. Investments supported AI models, computing hardware, data infrastructure, and applications in healthcare, manufacturing, and finance. Early-stage rounds complemented mega-deals, reflecting strength in research-intensive sectors.

• Finland's tech ecosystem raised ~€1.3 billion across 53 deals in H1 2026, with ICEYE securing €900 million.
• European AI funding saw mega-rounds: Ineffable Intelligence ($1.1B), AMI Labs ($1B), Mistral AI ($830M debt), and ElevenLabs ($561M Series D).
• The UK led Europe in AI funding value and deal count, followed by France and Germany.