Adopt AI, a San Jose and Bengaluru-based agentic AI startup, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Elevation Capital, with participation from Foster Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures, Darkmode Ventures, and angel investors. The funding will be used to expand the company’s engineering and product teams and to scale enterprise deployments of its automation platform.

Founded by Deepak Anchala, Rahul Bhattacharya, and Anirudh Badam, Adopt AI offers a platform that lets businesses automate workflows and execute complex actions using natural language commands, without needing to rebuild existing systems. Its core products include a no-code Agent Builder, which allows companies to quickly create and deploy AI-driven conversational interfaces, and Agentic Experience, which replaces traditional user interfaces with text-based commands.

The startup’s technology is aimed at SaaS and B2C companies in sectors like banking and healthcare, helping them rapidly integrate intelligent agent capabilities into their applications. Adopt AI’s team includes engineers from Microsoft and Google, with Chief AI Officer Anirudh Badam bringing over a decade of AI experience from Microsoft.

The company has also launched an Early Access Program to let businesses pilot its automation solution and collaborate on new use cases.

Google has refreshed its iconic ‘G’ logo for the first time in nearly 10 years, replacing the familiar solid blocks of red, yellow, green, and blue with a smooth, vibrant gradient that blends these colors seamlessly. This subtle update gives the logo a softer, more fluid, and modern appearance, aligning with Google’s evolving digital identity and current design trends.

The new gradient transitions smoothly from red to yellow, yellow to green, and green to blue, making the logo more visually appealing and adaptable across various devices, especially on mobile platforms. This redesign also reflects Google’s growing emphasis on artificial intelligence, echoing the gradient style used in the branding of Google Gemini, the company’s AI-generative assistant.

The updated ‘G’ logo has started rolling out on iOS through the Google Search app and on some Android devices, particularly Pixel phones running the Google app beta version 16.18. However, most other platforms, including the web and non-Pixel Android devices, still display the classic solid-color logo. A wider rollout is expected in the coming weeks.

So far, Google’s main wordmark and other product logos like Chrome, Maps, and Gmail remain unchanged. Given the shift toward gradient designs and AI-inspired visuals, similar updates to other Google icons may follow in the future.

In summary, this first major update to the ‘G’ logo since 2015 signals a subtle but meaningful shift in Google’s branding strategy, blending tradition with innovation as the company deepens its focus on AI and modern design aesthetics.

Skype’s downfall, culminating in its retirement on May 5, 2025, was set in motion as early as 2011 when Microsoft acquired the platform. While Skype was once synonymous with online calling, Microsoft’s stewardship led to stagnation. Instead of innovating, Microsoft focused on integrating Skype into its broader ecosystem and later shifted attention to Teams, cannibalizing Skype’s features and user base.

Skype’s peer-to-peer architecture struggled to adapt to the cloud era, making it less scalable and secure compared to cloud-native rivals like Zoom. As competition from WhatsApp, FaceTime, and especially Zoom intensified, Skype’s interface became cluttered and user experience suffered.

The COVID-19 pandemic should have been Skype’s moment, but it failed to capitalize. In 2020, Skype held a 32.4% market share, but by 2021, Zoom had surged to nearly 50% while Skype plummeted to just 6.6%. Users flocked to Zoom for its simplicity and reliability, while Skype’s daily user count actually dropped during this period.

Ultimately, Skype lost because it failed to modernize, innovate, and focus on what users valued most-simple, high-quality video calls. Its decline was less about Zoom’s brilliance and more about years of missed opportunities and strategic missteps.