Listen to today’s podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silk-logic-small-business-daily/id1841930957
Small Business Daily Podcast — 01/09/2026
Today’s podcast episode was created from the following stories: here are the headlines and why they matter for founders, operators, and curious listeners.
CrowdStrike buys identity security startup SGNL for $740 million in latest deal push
By: Samantha Subin | Published: January 8, 2026 | Source: cnbc.com
CrowdStrike is acquiring SGNL for roughly $740 million to strengthen identity security inside its Falcon platform as AI-driven attacks make identity a prime threat vector. The deal, expected to close in Q1 FY2027, underscores rapid consolidation across cybersecurity and CrowdStrike’s strategy to help customers reduce vendor sprawl.
Read the pitch deck a Y Combinator‑backed startup used to raise $3.6 million to bring AI agents to the doctor’s office
By: Henry Chandonnet | Published: January 8, 2026 | Source: businessinsider.com
Tivara raised a $3.6 million seed round to deploy AI agents that answer phones, schedule visits, and manage refills for large specialty medical groups, aiming to cut administrative bottlenecks rather than practice medicine. Backed by YC, Mischief VC, and others, the five‑person team plans to scale after early traction with groups like Los Angeles Cancer Network.
CraftStory adds image‑to‑video generation to power long‑form AI videos with human ‘actors’
By: Kyt Dotson | Published: January 8, 2026 | Source: siliconangle.com
CraftStory’s new image‑to‑video model can generate up to five‑minute videos, using a parallelized diffusion pipeline to keep faces, outfits, and motion consistent across scenes. Built on high‑frame‑rate training data, the system aims at marketing, business comms, and education by delivering believable human performances from a single image and script or audio.
Snowflake storms into IT monitoring with Observe acquisition
By: Eric Avidon | Published: January 8, 2026 | Source: techtarget.com
Snowflake is acquiring Observe to bring infrastructure observability into its AI Data Cloud, a move analysts say reframes telemetry as a core data problem and differentiates Snowflake from data platform rivals. The strategy could boost developer productivity and create a sticky new workload, though go‑to‑market, pricing, and partner dynamics will be critical.
Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s startup triples to $100M valuation
By: Jagmeet Singh | Published: January 8, 2026 | Source: techcrunch.com
Spangle raised $15 million at a $100 million valuation to personalize e‑commerce pages in real time using its ProductGPT model, reporting gains like a 50% lift in revenue per visit and 2x ROAS for brands such as Revolve. The company plans to invest in R&D, engineering, and sales as AI‑mediated shopping changes how consumers discover and buy.
Protege raises $30M to grow governed marketplace for AI training data
By: Duncan Riley | Published: January 8, 2026 | Source: siliconangle.com
Protege secured $30 million led by Andreessen Horowitz to expand its governed marketplace that connects data owners with AI builders seeking high‑quality, rights‑protected training data. By curating complex datasets and handling compliance and valuation, Protege aims to unlock proprietary data access—one of AI’s biggest bottlenecks.
TakeMe2Space raises $5 million, led by Chiratae Ventures
By: ETtech | Published: January 8, 2026 | Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
TakeMe2Space raised $5 million to expand a constellation enabling real‑time in‑orbit AI inferencing and to advance optical links and megawatt‑scale compute satellites. Its OrbitLab platform lets customers upload models to run directly on LEO satellites, aiming to cut latency and downlink costs for earth‑observation workloads.
Shark Tank India 5: Gurgaon founder stuns sharks with 430 free flights and Rs 15 lakh jewellery using credit card rewards
By: Trending Desk | Published: January 9, 2026 | Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
SaveSage’s founder showcased an AI app that helps users maximize credit‑card rewards—claiming 430 free flights, 100 hotel nights, and Rs 15 lakh in jewelry from points, and a 23% recovery on spend. The pitch, at a Rs 100 crore valuation ask, highlights growing consumer fintech tools that turn everyday purchases into tangible value.
I’m a startup founder who uses AI as a middle manager. It enables my junior employee to produce senior‑level work.
By: Agnes Applegate | Published: January 8, 2026 | Source: businessinsider.com
A founder describes using Gemini 3 to help a junior employee draft product requirements and strategy faster, reducing supervision while maintaining quality via structured prompts and guardrails. The approach carries risk but suggests AI can accelerate upskilling and shift hiring toward aptitude and cultural insight over years of tenure.
