Pittsburgh weekly roundup: Skild and Abridge chase more funding; Leviathan Energy layoffs; Will PA dominate AI’s future?

This week in Pittsburgh, the public school system considers a $2 million upgrade, Honeycomb Credit raises nearly $6 million and more.

Read on for Technical.ly’s weekly roundup of top news in the region.

📰 News Incubator: What else to know

• Skild AI is nearing a deal to raise $500 million at a $4.2 billion valuation and Abridge is in talks to raise at a $5 billion valuation, according to recent reporting from The Information. Skild and Abridge did not immediately return Technical.ly’s requests for comment. [The Information]

• Pittsburgh-based aluminum producer Alcoa is facing criticism for its expanding bauxite mining operations in Western Australia’s Northern Jarrah Forest. Local scientists and authorities warn Alcoa’s mining could soon collapse the forest’s entire ecosystem and contaminate Perth’s drinking water. [PublicSource]

• The future of AI is unfolding in Western Pennsylvania, wrote Washington Examiner columnist Salena Zito in a recent opinion piece. She pointed to the $10 billion transformation of the former Homer City coal plant into a natural gas-powered AI data center and efforts from the region’s AI Strike Team. [Washington Post]

• Pittsburgh-based Simcoach Games raised $265,000 in seed funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to develop a trilogy of interactive games to build job-readiness skills for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. [Technical.ly]

• About 105 Leviathan Energy employees will lose their jobs as the company closes its Monroeville and Canonsburg offices following the $1.8 billion acquisition of Olympus Energy. [WPXI]

• Technical.ly spoke with CMU grad student and Mito Robotics cofounder Bingda Li about the local resources that fueled his startup’s growth and how he secured a $1 million pre-seed investment in the latest edition of How I Got Here.  [Technical.ly]

• Construction began on a $31 million redevelopment project of Arts Landing, a four-acre public space in Pittsburgh’s downtown Cultural District. The project is part of the $600 million downtown revitalization effort and will soft launch in April 2026, just in time for the NFL draft that will be hosted in Pittsburgh. [Pittsburgh City Paper/Technical.ly]

🗓️ On the Calendar

• The Pittsburgh B2B Software Meetup Group is back on May 26. Meet like-minded professionals, share knowledge and explore opportunities for collaboration in the competitive world of B2B software. [Attend]

• Join the first Black Startups & Tech Meetup at Avenu: Meyran on May 28 to connect with Black professionals, founders and creatives shaping Pittsburgh’s tech and startup scene. [More info]

• Learn from industry experts at Phase to Phase, a free virtual event on May 28 hosted by Life Sciences Pennsylvania. Explore the full drug development journey from discovery to commercialization. [Sign up]

• See the future of space innovation at the Keystone Space Innovation Challenge Awards Ceremony & Investor Day on May 29 at Alloy 26 in Nova Place. Hear from local leaders and network over drinks at Federal Galley. [Details here]

• Connect with fellow developers passionate about AI agents at an informal, hybrid meetup hosted by Hackers Guild PGH on May 29. Share ideas, experiences and insights on autonomous agents. [Register]