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Brent Crude prices roughly 70% of the world's oil trade - yet the North Sea fields it's named after now produce under a million barrels a day. A short walkthrough of how a shrinking physical market became the planet's dominant oil benchmark, why Brent trades at a $1–5 premium to WTI, what 60% financial positioning means for price formation, and whether declining North Sea reserves threaten the benchmark's long-term credibility.

Mave, a Tel Aviv agentic SecOps startup founded by Unit 8200 alumni, raised $34M ($28M Series A led by Red Dot Capital Partners plus $6M seed).

Cadmium powered the world's rechargeable batteries for decades - then regulators stepped in. A short walkthrough of how this toxic byproduct of zinc and copper refining became essential to Ni-Cd batteries, why the EU ban pushed the market into a slow structural decline, where aerospace and defence electroplating keep demand alive, and why cadmium is rarely a standalone investment despite trading on the LME.

Zenzap, an Israeli AI startup, raised a $33M Series A for AI agents in workplace chats. It has raised $44M in total.

A calendar spread pairs a long position in one futures month against a short in another - and it's one of the most capital-efficient trades in commodities. A short walkthrough of how spreads profit from curve convergence, the different approaches for contango and backwardation markets, why professional traders use butterfly and condor spreads to isolate specific curve segments, and the key risks that can unwind even a well-constructed spread.

Arda Industries, founded by ex-OpenAI research chief Bob McGrew, emerged from stealth with $232M to automate manufacturing engineering with AI.

Warp Sciences, an AI chemistry CRO startup from ex-OpenAI science lead Kevin Weil, emerged from stealth with a $215M Series A led by Lightspeed.

Pigment, a Paris-based AI business planning platform, raised a $250M Series E at a $2.3B valuation led by EQT's Scaleup Europe Fund.

Rivercell, a French startup, emerged from stealth with €22M for AI-powered drug discovery infrastructure.

Duvo, a Czech startup, raised a $32M Series A.

Chromium is why stainless steel doesn't rust - and it accounts for roughly 75% of all chromium consumption. A short walkthrough of how chromium flows through markets as ferrochromium rather than a direct futures contract, why South Africa's 40% share of global reserves creates a structural supply risk, what drives the price cycle, and why there's no pure-play chromium investment.

Enact Intelligence, a Swiss robotics startup, raised a $30M pre-seed backed by Mistral's CEO and Yann LeCun.

Tenstorrent, an AI chip startup, raised a $1.5B Series E to scale production of its custom AI compute hardware.

Whop closed a Series D at a $5.1B valuation, the largest fintech deal of the week.

Bending Spoons is buying collaboration platform Miro for $1.355B in cash.

Brent crude settled at $116.72 a barrel, its highest close in six months, as Red Sea attacks and reported US-Israeli strike plans on Iran tightened oil supply fears.

Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel on Earth - and the world still burns 8 billion tonnes of it every year. A short walkthrough of the two completely separate coal markets (thermal for electricity, coking for steel), why China accounts for half of global output and 55% of demand, how Australia became Asia's premium supplier, and what the long road to a 15–25% electricity share by 2050 actually looks like for investors.

The Kremlin says Beijing is preparing a first-ever Trump-Xi-Putin meeting around the Nov. 18-19 APEC summit in Shenzhen, but China has yet to confirm it.

Warp Sciences, founded by ex-OpenAI product chief Kevin Weil, emerged from stealth with $215M led by Lightspeed. It is building an AI- and robotics-driven US chemistry lab for drug research, work now often outsourced to China.

The Democratic Republic of Congo produces roughly 70% of the world's cobalt - and no other critical commodity is so dependent on a single nation. A short walkthrough of why cobalt became essential to EV battery cathodes, how the market swung from $8 to $25 per pound and back to $6 in just two years, why LFP batteries are threatening to bypass it entirely, and what a 5% recycling rate means for long-term supply security.