Pelican AI Bolsters Sales Team, Tessera Defense Lands Edge AI Order

Key Takeaways

• Pelican AI appoints sales and channel leaders to accelerate revenue growth
• Tessera Defense receives initial Edge AI order with potential for 1,000 units
• Leena AI secures IBM Ventures investment for agentic HR and IT platform
• Coursera reports 95% surge in AI training enrollments in Ghana and 93% in Nigeria
• VistaPrint integrates with Google Gemini to let users design print products in chat
• Teradyne invests $300 million in FormFactor for AI chip testing collaboration
• Thomson Reuters ruling may create a licensing market for AI training data
• NBA launches AI chatbot AskNBA and new digital products for 2026-27 season
• Analysts say AI trade is shifting toward Mag 7 over debt-heavy neoclouds
• New method generates 14.3 million high-quality synthetic data points for finance AI

Pelican AI hires sales and partnerships leaders

Pelican AI appointed Maria Papas as VP of Sales for the Americas and Doug Drummond as Head of Channels and Alliances. The hires support the company's go-to-market plan first outlined on September 15, 2026. Both leaders bring experience from payments and financial services. The move aims to accelerate revenue growth through direct sales and partner relationships.

Tessera Defense receives initial Edge AI order

Tessera Defense and Homeland Security Inc. said its subsidiary Zorronet received an initial order for two Edge AI systems from a global defense company. The customer indicated potential for a follow-on order of up to 1,000 units, but this depends on successful field testing and validation. The Edge AI systems process data locally, which supports communications-denied defense operations. The systems are developed and manufactured in Israel.

Leena AI gets strategic investment from IBM Ventures

Leena AI announced a strategic investment from IBM Ventures to grow its agentic AI platform for HR, IT and Finance operations. The platform already integrates with systems from SAP, Workday and Oracle and serves over 500 enterprises. The investment could create go-to-market synergies with IBM's AI orchestration tools. This funding may help Leena AI expand its enterprise sales and product development.

OpenSesame expands training with Chegg Skills

OpenSesame added Chegg Skills to its OpenSesame Plus platform, expanding AI, data and cybersecurity training. The partnership brings over 100 new courses that help employees build practical job-ready skills. The training combines technical instruction with durable skills like critical thinking and communication. Existing subscribers can access the new content through their current subscription.

Ghana and Nigeria see surge in AI skills training

A Coursera report found AI-related micro-credential enrollments rose 95% in Ghana and 93% in Nigeria over the past year. Ghana launched a National AI Strategy, a $250 million AI Computing Centre and the One Million Coders Programme. Nigeria's government is training 32,000 people through a digital skills initiative. However, both countries rank low globally on Coursera's AI-Human Skills Synergy Index, at 89th and 81st respectively.

Korea Investment Keeps Buy Rating on NAVER Stock

Korea Investment & Securities maintained its Buy rating and set a target price of 360,000 won for NAVER. The firm believes the stock is undervalued because investors have not fully priced in the potential of NAVER's AI data center business. Although revenue from these data centers is not expected until 2028, the current price-to-earnings ratio of 13x suggests existing business concerns are already reflected in the share price. NAVER's stock recently closed at 182,900 won, offering potential upside to the target price despite delays in announcing key customers.

Teradyne Partners with FormFactor for AI Chip Testing

Teradyne announced a collaboration with FormFactor that includes a US$300 million equity investment from Teradyne. The partnership focuses on developing test architectures for high-performance computing and advanced packaging technologies. Teradyne also launched its new UltraFLEXplus S series testers and expanded Titan HP burn-in capabilities to support next-generation semiconductor devices. These tools are designed to help manage AI-centric chip programs from the wafer stage through data center deployment.

New Method Creates High-Quality Synthetic Data for Finance

Researchers introduced a new method to generate high-quality synthetic datasets for training AI systems in finance. The process produced 14.3 million quality-filtered examples from a taxonomy of 632,000 scenario specifications. A four-stage pipeline was used to ensure diversity and realism by removing duplicates and evaluating samples with large language models. This approach reduced 26.4 million raw samples to 14.3 million high-confidence examples across banking, insurance, and financial services domains.

Tech Stocks Cool Down as Investors Watch Earnings

Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.5% as investors worried about rising costs and scrutiny of AI financing before major tech earnings. CoreWeave dropped 3.1% and Nebius Group fell 2.9% while Nvidia and Apple also slipped in premarket trading. Concerns focus on the debt load of companies like CoreWeave and the rising price of energy, which hit about $111 a barrel. Investors are waiting for big tech companies to prove they can grow despite these higher input costs and financing challenges.

VistaPrint Integrates with Google Gemini for Design

VistaPrint launched a new integration with Google Gemini that allows users to design print products directly in the AI assistant. Small business owners can now search the catalog, turn a logo into a print-ready design, and add items to their cart without leaving the chat. The feature is currently available for English-language users in the United States and lets customers visualize products before printing. VistaPrint plans to expand this connected app experience to more regions and platforms later this quarter.

AI Trade Rotation Favors Mag 7 Over Neoclouds, Analysts Say Ahead Of SPCX, META, NFLX Results

Analysts say investors are moving toward cash-rich tech companies like the Magnificent Seven and away from debt-dependent AI infrastructure firms. Drew Pettit of Roundhill Investments said funding concerns are pushing investors to seek quality in the AI trade. SpaceX, Meta Platforms, and Netflix are set to report earnings this week, with SpaceX expecting EPS of $0.13 on revenue of $12.99 billion and Meta expecting EPS of $6.60 on revenue of $63.34 billion. Mike O'Rourke of JonesTrading warned that high earnings expectations could leave stocks vulnerable if companies give cautious guidance.

Thomson Reuters v. ROSS: Third Circuit Recognizes a Licensing Market for AI Training Data

On September 29, 2026, the Third Circuit issued what appears to be the first federal appellate decision on whether training AI on copyrighted material is fair use. The court found harm to the original market and recognized a potential licensing market for using headnotes as AI training data. It cited evidence that the copyright owner was using headnotes as training data for its own AI search products. The ruling may influence how companies structure training-data deals and could lead courts to test these licenses similarly to patent licenses.

NBA leans on content creators, AI to power new digital products, drive game viewership

The NBA is launching new digital products and initiatives for the 2026-27 season to attract fans and drive live game viewership. The league is expanding Tap to Watch access points, introducing a new app feature called Game Pulse, and hosting a Creator Content Day on opening night with 50 creators who have over 500 million followers combined. The AI chatbot AskNBA, which draws on multiple LLMs, returns to help fans with questions about games, stats, and league history. Amazon Web Services is backing a hub for advanced stats, using technology that tracks movement patterns for every NBA play.

Sources

• Pelican AI (PEL) Hires Sales and Alliances Leaders
• Tessera Defense and Homeland Security Inc. (HLSQ) Gets Initial Edge AI Order, Follow-On Potential Up To 1,000 Units
• Leena AI Receives Strategic Investment From IBM Ventures
• OpenSesame expands AI, data, and cybersecurity training with Chegg Skills
• Ghana, Nigeria See Surge in AI Skills Training, Coursera Report Finds
• Korea Investment & Securities: NAVER's AI Data Center Hopes Have Vanished; Maintains Target Price of 360,000 Won (approximately $270)
• How New AI Test Tools At Teradyne Stock Has Changed Its Investment Story
• FinSafeGuard: A Quality-Driven Synthetic Dataset for Financial AI Safety
• Tech Earnings Take Center Stage As AI Stocks Cool Off
• Google Gemini users can turn a logo into a print-ready design and add it to a VistaPrint cart.
• AI Trade Rotation Favors Mag 7 Over Neoclouds, Analysts Say Ahead Of SPCX, META, NFLX Results
• Thomson Reuters v. ROSS: Third Circuit Recognizes a Licensing Market for AI Training Data (via Passle)
• NBA leans on content creators, AI to power new digital products, drive game viewership