Lightspeed is sharpening its India strategy around AI, targeting $250 million for a new early-stage fund as the venture firm bets the technology will drive the next wave of startups in one of the world’s largest markets.

The Silicon Valley venture firm is already a major investor in AI companies including Anthropic, xAI, and Databricks. In India, it has backed Sarvam AI, one of the country’s leading large language model developers and a startup selected by the Indian government to help develop sovereign AI models.

The new fund, Lightspeed India Partners V, will be half the size of its $500 million predecessor, raised in 2022, and has already secured commitments for 80% of its $250 million target, according to a letter sent to investors on Thursday and seen by TechCrunch.

In late April, Lightspeed disclosed the new fund in a U.S. regulatory filing, though the filing did not specify its target size. Indian media had previously reported that the firm was looking to raise between $300 million and $350 million for the vehicle.

Lightspeed plans to begin investing from the new fund within two months and has designed it around an investment period of roughly two and a half years, per the letter. Until then, it will continue making its final investments from the existing fund.

A Lightspeed spokesperson declined to comment.

Starting with the new fund, Lightspeed is also moving its India funds onto the same fundraising cycle as its global funds for the first time, per the investor letter. The change brings a regional business it established nearly two decades ago more closely in line with the rest of the firm.

The move follows a similar shift by rival firm Accel, which in August raised its latest $550 million India fund alongside new U.S. and Europe funds and a global growth vehicle as part of a coordinated $3.5 billion fundraising effort. It was the first time Accel had raised all four funds simultaneously.

The $250 million fund is sized to match how quickly Lightspeed is currently investing and its shorter investment period, according to the letter. Lightspeed suggested to investors that the smaller size lets it focus on individual deals rather than fund size, and raise its next fund sooner.

The new fund also marks a sharper focus on AI for Lightspeed’s early-stage investment strategy in the region. The investment thesis outlined in the letter anticipates AI creating more value in India than the internet did, with the fund seeking out AI companies across India and Southeast Asia.

India has yet to produce a major frontier AI model developer on the global stage and has attracted far less investment in AI than the U.S. and China. Investors, nonetheless, increasingly see an opportunity for India in the application layer, drawing on the country’s large pool of software developers and its decades-long history as a hub for software and technology services.

The new $250 million India vehicle is a fraction of the capital available across Lightspeed’s global platform. The firm, which manages more than $65 billion in assets globally, raised $9 billion across several new funds last December, the largest fundraising haul in its history. The total included a $980 million early-stage venture fund.

Lightspeed’s dedicated India and Southeast Asia funds represent only part of the capital the firm has put to work in the region. Those funds have deployed roughly $900 million, while Lightspeed’s global funds have invested another $1.6 billion to support companies from the regional portfolio, according to the investor letter.

The decision to dedicate its newest regional fund entirely to AI also marks a sharper thematic focus for Lightspeed in a market where it has historically invested across sectors. Its India portfolio spans businesses including quick commerce, consumer internet, software, and household services.

Lightspeed’s bets in India have included companies such as quick-commerce startup Zepto, audio platform Pocket FM, house-help startup Snabbit, rooftop solar startup SolarSquare, and a range of enterprise software businesses.

The same team that led Lightspeed’s previous four India funds will manage the new fund, per the letter.

A new botnet malware called Carbonato is targeting insecure hosts running Docker daemons to install the Hermes Agent AI framework and take control.

The malware features worm-like capabilities and was discovered in an unauthenticated Docker registry that contained nearly 60 repositories and 4.3 GB of image data.

Researchers at enterprise security company ThreatDown retrieved operational evidence spanning October 2024 to August 2026. The archive also included details about the botnet and a separate campaign that distributed counterfeit cryptocurrency wallet apps.

According to ThreatDown, Carbonato spreads across Docker hosts with an API exposed on port 2375 without authentication.

The malware connects to that API and instructs the daemon to launch a privileged container, giving it access to the host.

It then opens a reverse SSH tunnel, installs an SSH server with the operators’ key, and reports the new deployment through Telegram. At the same time, scripts set up cron jobs, systemd timers, rc.local, and OpenRC hooks for persistence.

One notable aspect of the attack is that the AI agent framework Hermes Agent is installed on the hosts, using an agent named “GH0ST,” with instructions that overwrite the default ‘SOUL.md’ persona file.

Hermes has been extensively abused in malicious cyber-operations recently. Recently, cybersecurity company Gambit documented a large-scale card-skimming operation that stole 600.000 credit card details.

In the case of Carbonato, Hermes handles task commands received through Telegram, including collecting AI API keys, SSH credentials, access tokens, and other data, running commands, and sending back the results.

The researchers describe this as an operator-driven process involving an “interactive command loop” exchange.

“The​ ​model​ ​interprets​ ​the​ ​task,​ ​writes​ ​terminal​ ​commands,​ ​reads​ ​the​ ​output,​ ​and​ ​decides​​ what ​​to​​ do ​​next,” ThreatDown researchers note.

“​The​​ agent ​​runs ​​those​​ commands ​​on ​​the ​​victim​​ and​ ​returns​ ​its​ ​report​ ​to​ ​the​ ​Telegram​ ​chat​ ​that​ ​also​ ​receives​ ​deployment​ ​reports.​​”

The malware’s worm-like capability allow it to spread to other exposed Docker daemons and is handled by scripts that scan networks attached to the host every five minutes.

Each new compromise pulls the implant from the registry, launches the same privileged container, and enters the persistence and scanning loop.

ThreatDown could not attribute Carbonato to any known threat clusters, but based on various evidence, points to Costa Rica as a possible location of the operator.

To prevent infection, the researchers recommend keeping Docker daemon APIs off the network and requiring authentication on registries.

Signs of Carbonato attacks include a GH0ST persona file, the CARBONATO_API_KEY setting, unexpected Telegram traffic, and reverse SSH tunnels toward AS262145.

Join Mikko Hyppönen and security leaders from the NFL, CHANEL, and Atlassian for a two-hour digital summit on what AI-speed attacks change, what defenders should stop doing, and how to validate, decide, fix, and re-validate at machine speed.

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HTX Studio spent about two months turning a full work desk into a charger that finds a phone wherever you set it down and starts feeding it power. Apple showed that idea in 2017 as AirPower, a small mat that would charge a phone, Watch, and AirPods case without lining them up on a single coil. The pad never shipped. Apple cancelled it in 2019. The YouTube builder waited through nine promised “next years,” then built a version big enough to work on.

Apple’s design for the pad included filling it with a lot of coils so that it didn’t matter where you placed the devices. Covering an entire desk like that would require approximately 600 coils, which is a large number to say the least. HTX Studio took an alternative approach, just slotting a single coil onto a motorized trolley and allowing the coil to go instead. A camera situated above the desk monitors your phone and transmits location information to the motors. The coil then glides below till the charging begins, and to make things even neater, they inserted two extra coils into each corner for when you leave your gadgets plugged in in the same location.

Apple 2026 Mac mini Desktop Computer M6 chip

• LITTLE DO-IT-ALL — Mac mini packs pure power into a small, five-by-five-inch desktop as the M6 chip delivers next-level AI capabilities. Mac mini…
• M6 CHIP — Everything you do on Mac mini feels more responsive with the M6 chip and its next-generation CPU. Fly through AI workflows with up to 4.8x…
• CONNECT IT ALL — Features three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, and a 2.5Gb Ethernet port in the back, and two USB-C ports and a headphone jack…

The initial prototype demonstrated that the concept was viable, as well as a thorough examination of why getting to work on a desk is so much more difficult than using a mat. To get things rolling, the motors had to crawl along slowly. Then there were the cables, which were dragged around and snagged on various objects. The surface above did nothing more than obscure the coil beneath. Faster motors sped up the process, but it still required patience. Then there was the difficulty of getting the moving power line to play out and retract without making a mess, which took a week on its own with a homemade cable reel. HTX later discovered that a linear slide would have avoided the need for all of the moving wires and had things up and running in no time.

In the end, the desktop became more of a screen. When you place your phone down, an animated cat will ride along with the coil, as if it is hauling up power from below. Once one device has been fully charged, the system searches for the next one that need a charge. In idle mode, one coil sits beneath the keyboard, concealing a receiver coil, allowing the keyboard to recharge as well. One moving coil cannot feed multiple phones at the same time, as AirPower promised, so this one travels between them instead. The corners protect the extras.

A Mac mini sits inside the frame, and when you plug in a display, the desk functions as a computer. The screen displays the charge status, a short daily to-do list, and a small dot that lights up when you finish a job. Sit still for approximately an hour with the surface remaining low, and the entire top will light up in a soft glow. The cat returns with a reminder and a button that elevates the motorized legs to a predetermined standing height. Every hour or so, an electromagnet on the trolley slides a matching cup toward you, ensuring that you do not simply ignore your water. Focus Mode activates a 25-minute timer beneath the phone. Lift the phone before the countdown expires, and the desk will not charge it when you put it back down.

In the end, the finished AirDesk functions as a standard workstation for a keyboard, trackpad, and monitor, but with all the bells and whistles. After nine years of waiting for a product that would never come to fruition, the builder now has a surface that charges everything you throw on it, reminds you to stand and drink, and even cuts off power if you keep reaching for your phone.
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It occurs to me that, as a new(ish) father, and someone who reviews products for a living, I am a nightmare to get gifts for. I’m not alone. Most of my friends have no idea what to get their dad, and end up brainstorming in group chats with anyone they can get their hands on.

Fear not, I’m here to make gifting a little easier this year (or at the very least, contribute to the brainstorm). Below are some of the best WIRED-tested gifts for the dad or father figure in your life, including travel gadgets, dad-approved apparel, and best-in-class earbuds. I’ve personally gifted a few of these to my dad, with great results.

Updated September 2026: I completely overhauled this guide with 27 new picks, including tech accessories, headphones, dad-approved apparel, fitness gear, and more.

For the Travel Dad

From businesses exhausting yearly AI budgets in just months to some imposing limits on staff AI use, it’s clear heavy token consumption or ‘tokenmaxxing’, is reaching its limits.

Instead of incentivizing and measuring business output, many are measuring consumption and usage.