👓 Meta Invests $3.5 Billion in EssilorLuxottica👓
3% stake deepens partnership with Ray-Ban and Oakley maker

Meta Platforms has acquired just under 3% of EssilorLuxottica for approximately $3.5 billion, deepening its commitment to the AI-powered smart glasses market.

The investment strengthens Meta's existing partnership with the world's largest eyewear manufacturer, which produces Ray-Ban and Oakley brands. The companies have collaborated since 2019, with Meta currently selling Ray-Ban smart glasses featuring built-in cameras and AI assistants, and recently launching Oakley-branded smart glasses with similar AI functionality.

EssilorLuxottica shares surged up to 7.1% following the news, while Meta is considering expanding its stake to around 5% over time. The deal aligns with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's AI strategy, allowing Meta to control its own hardware distribution rather than relying on competitor smartphones.

EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri had previously indicated Meta's interest in taking an equity stake, with the partnership providing Meta access to detailed manufacturing knowledge and global distribution networks essential for mass-market smart glasses adoption.

🎓 Anthropic Launches Claude Developer Training Platform 🎓
New learning platform covers API, cloud integrations, and MCP

Anthropic has launched a comprehensive training academy featuring multiple specialized courses for developers and AWS professionals working with Claude.

The platform offers six core courses including "Claude with the Anthropic API," "Claude with Amazon Bedrock" (created as part of an AWS accreditation program), and "Claude with Google Cloud's Vertex AI."

The academy features advanced training on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), including both introduction and advanced topics covering tools, resources, prompts, and production server development. Additionally, there's a dedicated course on "Claude Code in Action" for integrating Claude into development workflows

💻 Replit + Microsoft bring Vibe Coding to Enterprise Customers 💻
Natural language software creation integrated with Azure

Replit has announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to democratize enterprise software development by enabling business teams to build applications using natural language without coding expertise. T

he collaboration integrates Replit's agentic development platform with Azure Container Apps, Azure Virtual Machines, and Neon Serverless Postgres, allowing organizations to develop securely on Replit and deploy seamlessly to Azure infrastructure. Over 500,000 business users across Product, Design, Operations, Sales, and Marketing teams are already using Replit to build solutions from internal tools to customer-facing applications. The partnership will enable direct purchasing through Azure Marketplace, streamlining procurement and accelerating adoption across organizations.

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🤖 Hugging Face opens orders for Reachy Mini Robots 🤖

Hugging Face has officially opened orders for its Reachy Mini desktop robots, announced as developer-friendly devices for AI experimentation. The company offers two versions: the Reachy Mini Lite at $299 (requires external computing connection) and the Reachy Mini Wireless at $449 (runs on Raspberry Pi 5). The open-source robots come as DIY kits about the size of stuffed animals, featuring two screen eyes and antennas. Once assembled, they're fully programmable in Python and integrate with the Hugging Face Hub, providing access to 1.7 million AI models and 400,000 datasets.

💰Mistral in talks to raise $1B from Abu Dhabi's MGX Fund💰

Mistral, the French AI startup behind the Le Chat chatbot, is reportedly in talks to raise up to $1 billion in equity from investors including Abu Dhabi's MGX fund, according to Bloomberg. The company is also discussing hundreds of millions of euros in debt financing with French lenders like Bpifrance SACA. Mistral is one of Europe's most significant AI players, focusing on open-weight large language models and has already raised $1.19 billion at a $6.51 billion post-money valuation, with its last Series B round completed in June 2024.