AI product management · Industry brief

Emerald AI raised $150 million in Series A funding at a $1.05 billion valuation, led by Energize Capital and DCVC, with participation from NVIDIA, Samsung Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and others. The company develops software that manages AI computing workloads and on-site energy resources in data centers, enabling them to adjust electricity consumption during grid stress while maintaining critical workload performance. Emerald AI plans to expand global commercial deployments with AI companies, data center operators, and utilities, with the company estimating its approach could make over 100 GW of capacity available on the existing U.S. power grid.

Over $7 billion has flowed into legal and legal tech startups in the past two years, with 2025 reaching a record $4.6 billion and 2026 accumulating $2.2 billion to date, according to Crunchbase data. Harvey leads the sector with $1.2 billion in total funding and is reportedly seeking another $500 million at a $15.5 billion valuation, while Legora raised $600 million in Series D this year at a $5.5 billion valuation. Wolters Kluwer has been actively acquiring legal tech startups, paying $500 million for Brightflag and $105 million for Libra, while Harvey and Legora have also made multiple acquisitions without disclosed prices. A Thomson Reuters survey found 80% of legal professionals believe AI will have high or transformational impact within five years, with over half already seeing ROI from AI investments, particularly in document review, legal research, and brief drafting.

A Sensedia and Squadra study conducted in partnership with MIT Sloan Management Review Brazil found that while 66.2% of executives prioritize AI as a business imperative, only 7.4% of organizations have successfully integrated it broadly into corporate processes. The research reveals that 74% of organizations face unexpected costs, technical redundancies, and compliance risks due to decentralized and loosely governed AI tool deployment. The study indicates the competitive advantage has shifted from AI adoption to integration and governance at scale, with 41.4% of technical professionals operating without consolidated risk management processes and only 4.8% of executives claiming complete governance models supported by dedicated platforms. The findings highlight that as intelligent agents begin executing critical processes, enterprise architecture, integration, and governance have become competitive differentiators, with APIs and integration platforms assuming a strategic infrastructure role in AI governance.