Hayden AI, a San Francisco startup valued at $464 million, has sued co-founder and former CEO Chris Carson, alleging he stole 41GB of proprietary data before his September 2024 termination. The company claims Carson engaged in fraud including forged board signatures and unauthorised stock sales. According to the lawsuit, Carson secretly sold over $1.2 million in company stock without board approval to fund a multimillion-dollar Florida home and luxury purchases including a gold Bentley Continental. He allegedly downloaded his entire email file, containing proprietary information, days before launching rival firm EchoTwin AI. Hayden AI further alleges Carson fabricated his professional credentials, including a PhD from Waseda University. The complaint states that in 2007, Carson was actually operating a paintball equipment business in a Florida strip mall, not completing doctoral studies.

EchoTwin AI, an Abu Dhabi-based company developing AI-driven urban infrastructure solutions, secured $8 million in seed funding led by Metis Ventures. Participants included Automotive Ventures, Supernova, Plug and Play, Higher Life Ventures, and Tesserakt Ventures. EchoTwin AI's platform helps municipalities manage cities more efficiently by transforming vehicle fleets into real-time AI-supported sensors, creating a digital twin of cities to proactively address infrastructure issues.