S&B

🚨 BREAKING: LawX raises €7.5M after hitting €1M ARR in just six months Six months. One million in recurring revenue. That is an exceptional start for any startup, let alone one operating in a sector as traditionally slow to change as legal services. Founded by Dr. Norman Koschmieder, Dr. Sara Brinkmann, and Torben Rabe, LawX has built an AI powered operating system for legal work that brings case management, workflows, contact and calendar management, document processing, and billing into a single integrated platform. That is the full stack of legal operations in one place. The round was led by Motive Partners with participation from WENVEST Capital, xdeck, and SIVentures. A focused and strategic investor group for a company at this stage. The bigger opportunity here is hard to overstate. Legal is one of the last major professional services industries still running on fragmented, outdated software. Most law firms manage their operations across multiple disconnected tools, leading to inefficiency, billing errors, and lost time that directly impacts profitability. LawX is solving all of that in one system, and German law firms are already paying for it at scale. Germany entering the legaltech race in a meaningful way is also significant. The country has one of the largest legal markets in Europe and has historically been slower to adopt legal technology than the UK or US. That gap represents enormous runway for LawX. The real question is how fast LawX can expand beyond Germany into other European legal markets where the same inefficiencies exist at massive scale. Follow Charudatta Kale, MBA for daily market insights #LegalTech #AI #Germany #Startups #Europe #Investing #Innovation #LawX

Well said Steve Carter ! A consistent workforce yields safe and reliable results for projects, and we are proud to deliver that to our customers.

Glad to see the S&B from Baton Rouge and Lake Charles out on the course serving delicious food at the Westlake golf tournament. If you are out on the links stop by and say hello to our team. Sutton Yvette , Dale Mouch, Jr., P.E. , Greg Kramer, PE , and michael royer

Lawyers should not draft contracts by themselves. Not because they aren't good at it. But because a contract written only by legal is only one-third of the answer. In my world, we say that the contract process is like a three-legged stool — Legal, Operations, and Commercial. Every significant contract needs all three legs. Remove one and the whole thing tips over. Here's what I've learned after nearly 20 years in commercial contracting: Legal sees the risk. Operations evaluates the execution. Commercial knows how to price the work or risk and structure a deal that actually wins. The stool determines how to support a risk. A redline isn't the only way to address risk. Sometimes the answer is a policy or procedure. Sometimes it's pricing risk dollars into the deal. And sometimes, and most often, the answer is a creative conversation between all three that gets everyone to yes. The best commercial lawyers I know don't hunt for reasons to redline. They hunt for ways to get the deal done responsibly. That's a different mindset. And it doesn't come from law school. It comes from sitting at the table with operations and commercial long enough to understand their world — and earning enough trust that they actually want you there. A contract is only as strong as the team that built it. How does your organization collaborate to create successful deals? #LawyerLessons #GeneralCounsel #InhouseCounsel #Collaboration

🚨 Pillar raises $12M seed round One of Italy's fastest growing startups is building the operating system for construction. And the early numbers are hard to ignore. €1M in ARR added in just the first four months of 2026. Double digit month on month growth. Over 400 active clients. 460,000 invoices managed. 5,700 job sites running on the platform. For a seed stage company, that is exceptional traction. Founded by Gabriel Guinea Montalvo, Paolo Tarsia Incuria, and Lorenzo Demaio, Pillar has built a single AI platform that integrates invoicing, cash flow management, bank reconciliation, and site management for construction businesses. That is a sector that has been dramatically underserved by modern software. Construction is one of the largest industries in the world and one of the least digitised. Most companies still rely on spreadsheets, disconnected tools, and manual processes that create costly errors and cash flow blind spots. Pillar is solving all of that in one place. The round was led by Earlybird Venture Capital and Base10 Partners, two funds with strong track records backing enterprise software at this stage. The bigger picture is clear. Vertical AI platforms targeting overlooked industries with real operational complexity are proving to be some of the most defensible businesses being built right now. The real question is how fast Pillar can expand beyond Italy into other European construction markets where the same problems exist at massive scale. Follow Charudatta Kale, MBA for daily market insights #Pillar #Startups #Italy #Construction #AI #Europe #VentureCapital #Investing

Should be a fun and engaging morning! Honored to be invited.

🚨 BREAKING: NVIDIA commits $40B+ to AI equity investments in 2026 And the strategy behind it is more calculated than it looks. The biggest single move is a $30B investment into OpenAI. Additional capital has gone into companies like Corning and IREN, with the total commitment crossing $40B for the year. But here is the real play. NVIDIA is not investing for financial returns alone. It is investing to ensure the AI ecosystem runs on NVIDIA hardware. Every company it backs becomes a customer. Every dollar invested creates demand for its chips. That is not venture capital. That is vertical integration through the investment portfolio. And some analysts are already flagging the circular nature of it. NVIDIA invests in AI companies. Those companies use the capital to buy NVIDIA GPUs. NVIDIA revenues grow. The cycle repeats. It works beautifully as long as demand for AI compute keeps accelerating. And right now there is no sign of it slowing down. The bigger picture is clear. NVIDIA is no longer just a chipmaker. It is positioning itself as the financial and infrastructural backbone of the entire AI economy. Chips, software, cloud partnerships, and now equity stakes across the most important AI companies in the world. That is an extraordinary amount of leverage over where AI goes next. The real question is whether this level of integration creates long term dominance or eventual regulatory scrutiny. Follow Charudatta Kale, MBA for daily market insights #NVIDIA #AI #Investing #Tech #Semiconductors #OpenAI #Markets #Innovation

🚨 BREAKING: Anthropic Expands Big in London Anthropic is massively scaling its presence in London, securing a new 158,000 sq ft office with capacity for around 800 employees. That’s a major jump from its current ~200 capacity. The new office is located in the Knowledge Quarter at Regent’s Place, signaling a long-term commitment to the UK. This move isn’t happening in isolation. The United Kingdom government has been actively pushing to attract top AI firms, especially as tensions grow between AI companies and regulators in the United States. And the timing is interesting. Just days ago, OpenAI announced its first permanent office in London. Now Anthropic is doubling down. The bigger shift: London is positioning itself as the leading AI hub outside the US • Strong talent pool • Supportive policy environment • Growing cluster of top AI labs This is no longer just expansion. It’s a geographic power shift in AI. The question is: Can London truly compete with Silicon Valley as a global AI center? Follow Charudatta Kale, MBA for daily market insights #AI #Anthropic #London #OpenAI #Tech #Startups #UK #GlobalMarkets

Kicked off the 2nd round of our Manager Essentials series today, focused on strengthening how we lead, support, and develop our people. People managers sit at the heart of the employee experience, and it’s energizing to continue investing in their growth. A great start to the series, with a special thank you to Rachel Heller , our SVP of IT for sharing practical, everyday tips our managers can put to use right away, and appreciation to the People & Talent team for the thoughtful work behind the scenes to make this possible. #LeadershipDevelopment #StrongManagers #PeopleFirst Monica Ali, MS-HRD, SHRM-CP Natalie Smith, M.A., MBA Kevin Hughes, PHR