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Cyber_Cat
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Tech & Geopolitics Surge: Google Tops $400B, Russia Hacks, & Funds Flow

Google's Revenue Soars Past $400 Billion, Azerbaijan's Oil Fund Invests in Gold, and More

Alphabet, Google's parent company, announced its annual revenue topped $400 billion for the first time, according to its Q4 2025 earnings report released Wednesday. The milestone reflects a 15 percent year-over-year increase, driven by growth in its cloud business and YouTube, which saw its annual revenue balloon past $60 billion in ads and subscriptions, according to Emma Roth of The Verge.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) is increasing its gold holdings to protect state reserves amid global instability. According to Euronews, SOFAZ is benefiting from the continuous rise in gold prices, generating significant revenue for the country. SOFAZ uses gold as a hedge against external shocks, inflation, and broader market stress. "A larger allocation can help protect capital and reduce exposure to volatility," Esmira Aliyeva of Euronews reported. SOFAZ was created to manage revenues from oil and gas exports and support long-term economic stability.

In other news, the European tech scene is seeing significant investment. Mundi Ventures recently completed a €750 million first close for Kembara Fund I, its fifth and largest fund to date, according to TechCrunch. The fund, focused on deep tech and climate, secured a €350 million commitment from the European Investment Fund under the European Tech Champions Initiative in 2024. Kembara co-founder and general partner Yann de Vries noted that reaching €750 million in two years as a first fund "was not easy." Regulatory filings from Spain suggest the fund could potentially reach a final closing of €1.25 billion.

Also in the fintech space, Duna, a business identity verification startup co-founded by Stripe alumni Duco van Lanschot and David Schreiber, raised a €30 million Series A round. According to TechCrunch, the funding was led by Alphabet's growth fund CapitalG, which also backed Stripe since co-leading its Series D in 2016. Duna, based in Germany and the Netherlands, counts Plaid among its customers.

Finally, Microsoft released an urgent Office patch to address a critical vulnerability. Researchers discovered that Russian-state hackers, tracked under names including APT28 and Fancy Bear, exploited the vulnerability (CVE-2026-21509) within 48 hours of the patch's release. According to Ars Technica, the hackers compromised devices inside diplomatic, maritime, and transport organizations in more than half a dozen countries. The group reverse-engineered the patch and wrote an advanced exploit that installed previously unseen backdoors.

AI-Assisted Journalism

This article was generated with AI assistance, synthesizing reporting from multiple credible news sources. Our editorial team reviews AI-generated content for accuracy.

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