Executive-level intelligence on the trends, people, and deals shaping the technology sector in February 2026
News and Exec Appointments
eBay has agreed a $1.2bn deal to buy second-hand fashion marketplace Depop from Etsy.
The Austrian creator of the popular open-source AI assistant OpenClaw, Peter Steinberger, is joining OpenAI, although his exact role has not yet been disclosed.
Following an 80% drop in stock price, PayPal has announced that CEO Alex Chriss is stepping down after two and a half years. Enrique Lores, CEO of HP Inc., is set to take over on March 1. PayPal’s chief financial and operating officer, Jamie Miller, will serve as interim CEO until then.
Anthropic has appointed Chris Liddell to its board of directors. Liddell previously served as the chief financial officer of Microsoft and acted as the deputy White House chief of staff during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Dassault Systèmes has decided to appoint Pascal Daloz as the Chairman of the Board. This will be in addition to the role of CEO, which he has been serving in since January 2024.
OpenAI has appointed Arvind KC as the Chief People Officer. Arvind has earlier held senior roles at Roblox, Google, Palantir Technologies, and Meta.
Ahmad Al-Dahle has joined Airbnb as CTO from Meta, where he most recently led Gen AI and oversaw the teams behind the Llama family of open-source LLMs.
London-headquartered customer engagement and commerce media firm, Reward, has been acquired by Rezolve AI PLC in a $230m deal.
Admiral Group has acquired London InsurTech Flock for £80m.
Atlassian has appointed former LinkedIn executive James Chuong as its new CFO, taking the reins from former CFO Joe Binz.
John Connolly, a former director of product management at Meta has been appointed as the Chief Product Officer of London-based AI legal tech Definely.
Uber has announced that Balaji Krishnamurthy, vice president of strategic finance will be promoted to CFO, following the resignation of Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, who joined the company in November 2023. This will be Uber’s third CFO in just three years.
Uber is acquiring the domestic delivery business of Turkish speedy grocery company Getir from Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala for $335m, and will further invest $100m for a 15% stake in Getir’s remaining grocery, retail, and water delivery operations
ClearBank Europe has announced Tristan Kirchner has been appointed as CEO, following over four years at Uber. Additionally, ClearBank UK appoints Neil Drennan as CTO, having filled the same role at Currencycloud for over four years.
Andrew Woodward has been appointed Chief Technology Officer at Aceve, provider of software for groundwork and civil engineering, who are backed by private equity firm EQT (specifically EQT Private Equity) and Adelis Equity Partners.
LoopMe, the AI brand performance platform, has announced a strategic senior hire following 40% annual revenue gains:
Sphera, provider of operational risk management and integrated sustainability software, appoints Chris Gutheil as CTO. He has previously served almost four years in a similar role at QAD.
Fundraising
London-based Nscale, an AI infrastructure provider that builds and operates GPU data centres, has secured a $1.4bn Delayed Draw Term Loan backed by GPUs. The financing is led by funds managed by PIMCO, Blue Owl, and LuminArx Capital Management.
Hyped AI-audio generator ElevenLabs has raised $500m in a Series D funding round, valuing it at $11bn, more than a tripling of its valuation from its January 2025 Series C, when it raised $180m at a $3.3bn valuation. Investment was led by US investment group Sequoia, and included a16z, Iconiq and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
UK challenger business bank Allica Bank is to become the latest UK fintech unicorn, following a $155m Series D funding round, including Ventura Capital and TCV.
Swedish electric carmaker Polestar has secured $400m in new equity funding, split equally between Feathertop Funding Limited (the investment vehicle of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) and Standard Chartered Bank’s Hong Kong unit.
Wayflyer, a Dublin, Ireland-based working-capital provider for fast-growing small businesses, raised $250m, two-year credit facility with ATLAS SP Partners.
Business payments fintech Sokin is gearing up for significant international growth following a $100m debt facility from Oxford Finance.
UK chip start-up Fractile has announced a £100m investment to expand its operations in London and Bristol to be rolled over the next three years.
Stockholm-based Funnel, the marketing intelligence platform, has secured an $80m debt facility from HSBC Innovation Banking and Hercules Capital to power its transition towards an AI-first platform.
Stockholm-based Lassie, a prevention-focused pet insurer, has raised $75m in Series C funding from Balderton Capital, Felix Captial and others, to support its expansion across Europe’s pet care and insurance market.
Naboo, a Paris-based event-tech company, has closed a $70m Series B funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, which follows the company’s €20m Series A announced in January 2025.
UK-founded legaltech startup looking to democratise legal services for consumers, Lawhive, has raised $60m in Series B funding, led by Mitch Rales, with participation from TQ Ventures, and Google’s investment arm GV.
London-based SolveAI, a platform that enables employees to build compliant enterprise software without writing code, has raised a $45m Series A led by GV alongside a previously undisclosed $5m pre-seed round led by Accel.
Berlin-based Andercore, an AI-enabled industrial supply trade platform, has raised $40m in a Series B round including participation from existing investors Atomico and Project A.
Hiring Trends
With 34% of VC funding now concentrated in AI, valuations across broader SaaS have come under pressure, making them a more attractive entry point for investors. At the same time, two distinct investment philosophies are emerging, with different implications for hiring.
The first is the AI-first model, prioritising speed, technical depth and rapid scaling. Hiring is focused on engineering, data science and product, with commercial roles following later. Talent is specialist and competition remains intense. The second is a disciplined SaaS model, focused on sustainable growth and operational execution. Hiring is more balanced, with greater emphasis on commercial leadership.
For candidates, this creates a more segmented market. AI offers pace and upside, while broader SaaS offers structure, stability and increasingly attractive valuations.
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See also
Technology Intelligence: August 2025
Top 30 CTOs in EMEA 2025
Engineering in the age of AI: Insights from PG Niero
About Neon River
Neon River is a boutique executive search firm that helps technology and digital companies hire exceptional leadership talent. We work across VC-backed scaleups, PE-owned businesses, and global tech companies, bringing deep sector expertise, high-touch service, and a track record of delivering outstanding candidates quickly and effectively.