From Akamai’s massive $11.6B cloud deal with Anthropic to Dextr AI’s $6.7M seed round, YourStory brings you today’s headlines with the latest developments across sectors.

Akamai Technologies has signed an $11.6-billion seven-year cloud computing deal with AI developer Anthropic. The agreement, which could expand by another $9 billion to reach $20 billion, points to the growing demand for heavy-duty computing power as artificial intelligence tools scale globally.

Dextr AI, a hospitality-focused artificial intelligence startup, has raised $6.7 million in seed funding, led by venture capital firm Elevation Capital with participation from US-based Foundation Capital, which backs enterprise technology.

Dextr said it plans to use the funding to develop its products, expand its team and increase deployments across global hospitality markets, with India specifically identified as an expansion market.

Digital lender mPokket has onboarded more than 6.5 million New-to-Credit customers into formal finance, with NTC acquisition growing about 20% annually over the past three years. Nearly 79% of these customers were under 25 when they first accessed formal credit, while 83% of mPokket's lifetime NTC portfolio comes from rural and semi-urban India.

The company expects lifetime disbursals to exceed $5.5 billion in FY26. It plans to target annual disbursals above Rs 25,000 crore and a loan book exceeding Rs 20,000 crore within three years, supported by alternative-data underwriting and technology investments.

Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kanpur has launched UpStart 2026, a national startup competition featuring screening, mentoring and business model refinement rather than short-format pitching alone. Regional rounds will be held in Delhi on October 10, Bengaluru and Hyderabad on October 24, and Mumbai on December 5, with applications closing between September 30 and November 26.

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