Middle Eastern Business Headlines at 1:34 p.m. GMT

TechCrunch Thor and Harbinger Motors' new hybrid RV will let you spend more time at the campsite Legacy automakers are experiencing a sort of existential crisis as they grapple with whether to stick to plans to go all-electric or hedge with hybrids. This sudden appetite for options across the industry is creating opportunity for EV startups like Los Angeles' Harbinger Motors, which announced Monday that it has developed its first hybrid powertrain for an RV made by customer Thor Industries with 500 miles of range. Harbinger has spent the last few years developing a commercial-grade EV drivetrain that can power anything from a delivery truck to a recreational vehicle, and it delivered the first one to Thor in March for its electric RV.

Kestra raises another $8M for its open-source orchestration platform It's right there in the company's name — Kestra is all about or-kestra-tion. The product acts a bit like a train station manager, but for a business environment: Kestra makes sure the trains run on time, are on the right tracks and are heading to the right station. In more complex terms, Kestra is an event-driven orchestration and scheduling platform that lets companies define and automate complex data workflows.

Yahoo Sports Week 4 Overreaction: Michigan grinds down USC & Tennessee's defense looks nasty Week 4 managed to be much messier than anyone anticipated. On this week's overreaction show, Dan Wetzel, Ross Dellenger and SI's Pat Forde revel in Michigan's overpowering win over USC and Tennessee's defensive domination of Oklahoma. And of course, they give another pitch for why Colorado's Travis Hunter should win the Heisman.

Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine a 'cancer to WordPress' and urges community to switch providers Mullenweg criticized the company — which has been commercializing the open source WordPress project since 2010 — for profiteering without giving much back, while also disabling key features that make WordPress such a powerful platform in the first place. For context, WordPress powers more than 40% of the web, and while any individual or company is free to take the open source project and run a website themselves, a number of businesses have sprung up to sell hosting services and technical expertise off the back of it.

Ibotta's CEO explains why startups shouldn't try to time the IPO market The IPO market has not roared back in 2024 as many investors hoped it would — not yet, at least. Elevated interest rates (this week's 50 bps rate cut notwithstanding) and uncertainty related to the U.S. election have prompted many companies to stay private and wait for better market conditions. Enterprise rewards platform Ibotta, which builds the backend rewards program infrastructure for enterprise clients like Walmart and Exxon, was one of them, debuting on the NYSE on April 18.