Join me to congratulate Binta Financial, a Tekedia Capital portfolio company, for coming first in Canada: ” Binta Financial, a fintech startup building the infrastructure for borderless credit histories, captured first place in the 2025 New Ventures BC Competition, presented by Innovate BC. Along with securing the $110,000 Innovate BC First Place Prize, the Vancouver-based company has cemented itself as the province’s top startup.”

“Binta’s platform enables newcomers to carry verified credit histories across borders and access housing, loans, and employment faster, while also offering tools like rent reporting and an AI-powered financial literacy companion to help build local credit from day one. By turning credit into a truly borderless asset, Binta is making it possible for millions of people to arrive in a new country without having to start from zero.”

Well done CEO Paschal Okwundu, MBA and Team; win more markets.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday became the first person ever to reach a net worth of nearly $500 billion, a landmark fueled by a rebound in Tesla’s shares and soaring valuations of his other ventures.

According to Forbes’ billionaires index, Musk’s fortune stood at $500.1 billion as of 4:15 p.m. E.T., cementing his lead as the richest individual in modern history.

Musk’s wealth remains tied closely to Tesla, where he owns more than 12.4% as of September 15. The electric vehicle maker’s stock has gained more than 14% so far this year, with a 3.3% jump on Wednesday alone, adding over $6 billion to Musk’s net worth.

The rally reflects renewed investor confidence as Musk reasserted his focus on Tesla after months in Washington. Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm recently said Musk was once again “front and center” at the automaker. Days later, Musk himself underscored that commitment by buying about $1 billion worth of Tesla shares in a personal vote of confidence.

Still, Tesla has struggled with declining vehicle sales and persistent margin pressures, leaving it among the weakest performers in the so-called “Magnificent Seven” group of megacap technology stocks. Despite those headwinds, the company is betting big on its future. The Tesla board last month unveiled what could become the most audacious corporate compensation plan in history—a $1 trillion package for Musk – tied to aggressive financial and operational milestones.

The proposed plan aims to secure Musk’s leadership as Tesla pivots from being primarily an electric car manufacturer to positioning itself as an AI and robotics powerhouse. If approved, the package is expected to more than double Musk’s fortune, potentially catapulting him into uncharted territory as the world’s first trillionaire.

The plan’s structure echoes Musk’s earlier controversial pay package, which paid out in tranches based on stock market performance and operational targets, but this new proposal raises the stakes considerably.

The move comes as Musk’s wider portfolio of companies is also gaining in value. His AI startup xAI was valued at $75 billion as of July, according to Pitchbook, with speculation in September of a potential $200 billion valuation. Musk denied plans for fresh fundraising. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported in July that SpaceX was weighing a share sale valuing the rocket company at around $400 billion. Both ventures add considerable weight to Musk’s already sprawling empire.

The combination of these factors has widened the gap between Musk and the world’s second-richest person, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, whose net worth stood at $350.7 billion as of Wednesday. Ellison’s fortune, rooted in Oracle’s steady cloud and database business, underscores the contrasting paths to wealth—steady growth and dividends versus Musk’s volatility-driven rocket rise.

However, the latest developments revive a broader debate about Musk’s staggering fortune, which comes with the question of whether it is a reflection of transformative innovation or a sign of valuations detached from fundamentals. Although Tesla’s new $1 trillion compensation package has faced criticism and its approval is not certain, it is designed to lock Musk into the company’s future, and is also expected to mark the next step in cementing his place not only as the world’s richest man but potentially as the first trillionaire in history.

Meta Platforms said on Wednesday it will begin using people’s interactions with its generative AI tools to personalize content and advertising across its apps, including Facebook and Instagram, starting December 16 — a move that extends the company’s decades-long push to refine ad targeting and revives debate over user privacy.

The change, which applies only to users of Meta AI, will roll out in most regions outside the UK, the European Union, and South Korea. Users will be notified beginning October 7, and critically, they will not have an option to opt out, Meta said.

Interactions with Meta AI — whether by text or voice — will now be added to existing signals like likes and follows to shape recommendations for Reels, group suggestions, and ads. For instance, someone chatting with Meta AI about hiking could later see trail updates from friends, be nudged toward outdoor groups, or be served ads for hiking boots.

“People’s interactions simply are going to be another piece of the input that will inform the personalization of feeds and ads,” Christy Harris, Meta’s privacy policy manager, said. “We’re still in the process of building the first offerings that will make use of this data.”

Meta said that while interactions involving sensitive categories such as religion, political views, sexual orientation, health, or racial and ethnic origin will not be used for ad targeting, conversations on more general interests will feed into the company’s recommendation engines.

The update is designed to scale quickly. Meta AI already counts 1 billion monthly active users across its family of apps, giving the company one of the largest datasets of conversational interactions in the consumer internet space.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has signaled this direction repeatedly. At the company’s annual shareholder meeting earlier this year, he said the “focus for this year is deepening the experience and making Meta AI the leading personal AI with an emphasis on personalization, voice conversations and entertainment.” At its Connect conference last month, Meta launched its first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display, underscoring its commitment to blending hardware, AI, and platform services.

For Meta, the move represents the next stage in a long-running strategy to squeeze more value from its personalization systems. Advertising still accounts for nearly all of the company’s revenue, and AI-powered tools are increasingly seen as the key to maintaining its dominance as user growth matures.

But the decision also arrives against a fraught backdrop. Meta has faced repeated privacy controversies, most notably the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, when the misuse of Facebook user data for political advertising triggered global scrutiny and led to a $5 billion fine from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. More recently, Apple’s iOS privacy changes in 2021 — which forced apps to obtain permission before tracking users — significantly disrupted Meta’s ad business and wiped billions off its market value. These episodes underscored the risks of over-reliance on user data and remain fresh in the minds of regulators and investors alike.

Comparatively, Google and Amazon have also been monetizing AI, though largely through cloud-based services that target enterprise clients rather than consumer-facing personalization. Meta’s approach — feeding conversational data directly into its multi-platform ad engine — is more ambitious in scope, marrying AI-driven engagement with advertising at a scale unmatched by rivals.

The rollout may also test regulatory boundaries. The company has deliberately excluded the EU, the UK, and South Korea, regions with stricter data protection rules. By contrast, markets in North America, Latin America, and Asia are expected to see full adoption, offering investors a chance to evaluate the revenue potential before a broader global expansion.

The update highlights both opportunity and risk. Meta’s unmatched scale could give it a lead in AI-driven personalization, but its reliance on user trust and regulatory approval may prove a limiting factor. With competitors like Google and Amazon pursuing different monetization pathways, Meta’s strategy of embedding AI into the heart of its ad business faces the test of delivering measurable returns in 2025.