THE DECODER

European AI startup Lovable has raised $330 million in a Series B financing round, bringing its valuation to $6.6 billion. Google led the round, with additional backing from Nvidia, HubSpot, and Deutsche Telekom.Lovable, which allows users to build web applications through simple text prompts, has quickly become one of the fastest-growing startups in the world. The company says its Sweden-based team of 120 employees hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue just eight months after reaching its first million. This follows a massive summer for the company, where it secured one of the largest European Series A rounds on record - raising $200 million at a $1.8 billion valuation.

Lovable calls its mission the "Age of the Builder" - a time when people without coding experience, such as teachers, marketers, or founders, can turn their ideas into working software on their own. Despite its rapid growth, Lovable still trails market leaders like ChatGPT in total user numbers. The space is also becoming increasingly competitive: US rival Cursor recently raised $2.3 billion, highlighting both the intense competition in AI-assisted software development, but also the difference in investment volume.

Mistral AI has released Mistral OCR 3, an updated version of its document analysis model. The system goes beyond basic extraction—it can interpret cursive handwriting, dense form layouts, and complex table structures, including linked cells. According to the company, this third version outperforms its predecessor in 74 percent of cases, showing particular strength in handling handwriting, scanned forms, and complex tables. OCR 3 also stacks up well against Deepseek's specialized character recognition model.

The model is available through an API or the Document AI platform introduced in May. Pricing sits at two dollars per 1,000 pages, with discounts available for bulk orders. The French company—which recently secured a large investment from chip manufacturer ASML—is using this release to solidify its position in document recognition, even as its current generation of open-weight language models trails behind commercial competitors from the US.

OpenAI has started accepting submissions for ChatGPT apps, which will populate a new directory following a review process. These applications allow users to perform specific actions directly within conversations, such as ordering food. The directory is located in the Tools menu, and users can launch specific apps simply by using the "@" command. While a software development kit (SDK) is currently available in beta, the first batch of tested applications is scheduled to launch in early 2026.

On the security front, OpenAI requires that apps remain suitable for general audiences and request only essential user information. At this stage, developers can link from their ChatGPT apps to external websites or native apps to complete transactions for physical goods. However, the company is exploring additional monetization options—including for digital goods—and notes that it has been collaborating with PayPal for several months. This rollout follows October's Dev Day, where OpenAI introduced the Apps SDK alongside its AgentKit for autonomous AI agents.