Newsletter platform Beehiiv is expanding into new avenues of engagement by launching a feature called Community, which lets subscribers of a creator chat with each other. The company also launched a new AI Copilot that helps creators manage and grow their audience.

The updates come as Beehiiv positions itself as a creator platform beyond newsletters. In the last few months, the company has launched podcasts, webinars, and customizable paywalls. Some of these moves are already showing positive results. The company said that 50% of podcast users migrated their shows from elsewhere, for instance.

Beehiiv’s new Community tool will allow users to spin up a discussion forum within the platform. Today, creators often have a chat for members on a separate Discord or Slack server or in Facebook groups, but Beehiiv wants to bring those chats back to its own platform. Here, creators can also create paid membership tiers for exclusive access to certain chatrooms and moderate conversations.

“People following your content have a shared interest in what you’re creating, but they can’t communicate with each other. Whether that interest is in sports, the World Cup, or politics, being able to have a community where your audience can actually engage with one another is super valuable,” Beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk told TechCrunch.

The platform is also introducing an additional revenue-generation opportunity with programmatic ads, which allow users to sell ad slots in their newsletters. They can earn money by choosing the ads that potentially offer the highest returns based on their audience, content, and performance.

The company already has tools like metered paywalls, paid trials, and a sponsorship storefront to sell their own slots in packages. Plus, Beehiiv said the publishers on the platform earn more than $1 million per month through their ad network.

Beehiiv is launching a new AI assistant called Copilot, as well, which can understand context like content, audience, subscribers, and performance to give users advice on how to manage their newsletter and grow their audience. The assistant can analyze the performance of various newsletters and podcasts, draft campaigns for outreach, and look for new money-making opportunities.

The assistant is one of several AI efforts underway. Earlier this year, the company launched a model context protocol (MCP) server, allowing users to connect their Beehiiv to other assistants like ChatGPT and Claude to ask questions and get insights. It’s also working on better AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), which helps a newsletter be cited in AI assistant answers more frequently.

Along with these updates, the company is shipping a redesigned editor that allows users to see editing and preview modes side by side, helping them to understand how the content they are writing would appear to readers.

Denk noted that in the coming quarter, Beehiiv wants to spend time educating users about these tools and teaching them about how top newsletters are using them to grow their publications.

The platform’s rivals are also evolving by launching new offerings. For instance, Riverside launched a newsletter publishing feature last month, and Substack launched a built-in recording studio product in March.

BP has had an on-again, off-again relationship with climate tech. Now, it’s definitely “off.” On top of pivoting away from clean energy earlier this year, the oil giant announced today that it was selling the majority of its venture portfolio — more than 10 companies, according to BP — to Verdane, a Nordic private equity firm.

Since BP launched its venture arm in 2007, it has invested in a wide range of industries, many of them focused on the energy transition, including green hydrogen, e-mobility, ride-hailing, autonomous vehicles, private jet charters, and geothermal energy, among other sectors.

In a press release, the company said it would “retain interests in a small number of investments where the technology has the potential to create value for its businesses.” When reached for comment, BP declined to specify which companies it would be keeping. The company also declined to comment on the fate of BP Ventures employees, citing local legal and regulatory requirements, though layoffs seem likely. BP expects the portfolio sale to be completed in the second quarter of 2027.

Over the years, BP Ventures’ varied investments haven’t been terribly successful financially: Axios reporter Alan Neuhauser said last year that the portfolio was valued at about $1.2 billion, or roughly the same amount that the company had poured into it since establishing the unit in 2006.

After weeks of speculation, Uber officially agreed to acquire Delivery Hero, a purchase that will take the ride-hailing and delivery giant’s status to new heights, and nearly 100 markets across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia.

German-based Delivery Hero also made a separate agreement to sell its business in 14 markets, where Uber Eats is already operating, to New York-based investment firm SSW Partners for $1.6 billion.

The $14.8 billion all-stock acquisition isn’t a done deal yet. The purchase will make Uber’s delivery platform one of the largest in the world, at least the largest outside of China, and will likely face regulatory scrutiny. And Uber, which was already the largest shareholder of Delivery Hero, has set a minimum acceptance threshold of 50% plus one share of Delivery Hero’s outstanding share capital. Prosus, another major shareholder, has agreed to sell its 17% stake as well, according to the announcement.

If the deal closes, Uber will essentially double its footprint, putting it in a better position to compete with DoorDash and Just Eat.

“Together, we’ll nearly double the number of markets where we offer both mobility and delivery services, scaling a proven platform that we believe will create significant long-term value for our customers and shareholders,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement.