Our StrictlyVC event is shaping up nicely for next week, December 3 in Palo Alto — especially if you're a news junkie hungry to understand what 2026 has in store. We'll have food, drinks, and networking, plus compelling conversations. We're sitting down with Pat Gelsinger, whose initials are physically etched into every Intel i386 processor ever made. We're talking with one of the hottest AI wearable startups and its backers — Mina Fahmi of Sandbar and Toni Schneider of True Ventures, which backed Peloton and Fitbit before they were cool. Then there's Nicholas Kelez, CEO of xLight. Right now, one Dutch company (ASML) has a monopoly on the machines that make the world's most advanced chips. No ASML, no cutting-edge AI. xLight wants to build a better laser for these machines — in America. It's audacious, and xLight isn't alone; competitors are bubbling up everywhere to crack ASML's monopoly. But Kelez has spent his entire career building exactly these kinds of systems at Berkeley Lab and SLAC, so if anyone can pull it off, it's probably him.

More announcements are coming. Sign up before we run out of room.

AWS plans to invest up to $50 billion starting in 2026 to build dedicated AI and supercomputing infrastructure for U.S. government agencies, a move that could tilt the field in its favor by locking in long-term federal workloads and squeezing Google and Microsoft out of the most lucrative AI contracts. Fox Business has more here.

A breach of SitusAMC is forcing major U.S. banks to gauge how much customer data was exposed after hackers stole corporate records from the little-known fintech middleman that processes billions of loan documents each year. TechCrunch has more here.

Private capital enters 2026 at a turning point. According to Affinity’s 2026 Predictions Survey, 54% of investors say proving the value of existing funds is their top challenge, while 67% expect more deal activity despite exit uncertainty. 

Join leaders from Northwestern Mutual, Armira and Crunchbase for Affinity’s 2026 Private Capital Predictions webinar on Dec 11 at 10AMPT/1PM ET to uncover how firms are adapting strategies, strengthening LP relationships, and using AI to drive performance in a volatile market. 
 

By Sarah Perez

“When people see it, they say, ‘that’s it?… It’s so simple.’”

That’s how OpenAI CEO Sam Altman describes how he thinks people will respond to seeing the company’s forthcoming AI hardware device for the first time.

The device is the result of the collaboration between OpenAI and Apple’s former chief designer Jony Ive. Not much is known yet about the product except that it’s rumored to be “screenless” and pocket-sized.

Earlier this year, OpenAI acquired Ive’s design startup, io, to bring AI to the masses through some sort of tech gadgetry. This weekend, Altman and Ive talked more about their vision for their AI device in an interview led by Laurene Powell Jobs at Emerson Collective’s 9th annual Demo Day in San Francisco.

Although OpenAI isn’t sharing specifics about the device, which is now a prototype, Ive and Altman were keen to describe the product in terms of its “vibe.”

Most notably, Altman compared the device to the iPhone, dubbing the Apple smartphone the “crowning achievement of consumer products” thus far. He said he could define his life as those times before the iPhone and after.

However, Altman complained that modern technologies are filled with distractions.

Fuse Energy, a three-year-old London startup that lets households buy cheaper, cleaner electricity through a modern retail energy service, is reportedly in the market to raise a round at a $5 billion valuation. Tech Funding News has more here.

Model ML, a two-year-old London and New York startup that builds AI workflows for financial firms by pulling and processing data from their trusted sources, raised a $75 million Series A round. led by FT Partners, with Y Combinator, QED, 13Books, Latitude, and LocalGlobe also stepping up. Tech.eu has more here.

Picnic, a ten-year-old Amsterdam startup that allows consumers to buy groceries online and receive free home delivery, raised a $495.6 million round from previous investors such as Edeka, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, Hoyberg, and NPM Capital. The company has raised a total of approximately $2.3 billion. ESM has more here.

Revolut, a ten-year-old London company that offers multi-currency accounts and other financial services, sold an undisclosed amount of secondary shares at a $75 billion valuation, a $27 billion increase in valuation since it closed its last round in August. The deal was co-led by Coatue, Greenoaks, Dragoneer, and Fidelity, with NVentures, Andreessen Horowitz, Franklin Templeton, and T. Rowe Price Associates also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

X-energy, a 16-year-old company based in Rockville, MD, that develops advanced small modular nuclear reactors and proprietary fuel, raised a $700 million Series D round led by Jane Street, with ARK Invest, Galvanize, Hood River Capital Management, Point72, Reaves Asset Management, XTX Ventures, Ares Management funds, Corner Capital, Emerson Collective, NGP, and Segra Capital Management also piling on. More here.

AI One, a one-year-old New York startup that helps large organizations connect to SaaS and legacy systems to extract usable context from fragmented data, raised a $7 million Series A round led by Vestigo Ventures and existing investors. The company has raised a total of $11 million. More here.

Momentic, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that automates software testing, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Standard Capital and including Dropbox Ventures, Y Combinator, FCVC, Transpose Platform, and Karman Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Nest Health, a five-year-old New Orleans startup that provides in-home medical, behavioral, and social care for Medicaid families, raised a $22.5 million Series A round. Investors included Socium Ventures, Amboy Street Ventures, Impact America Fund, Hopelab, University Growth Fund, and Luminary Impact Fund. More here.

Opti, a one-year-old Israeli startup that uses AI to analyze identity risk and recommend least-privilege access decisions across enterprise systems, raised a $20 million seed round co-led by YL Ventures, Mayfield Fund, and Hetz Ventures, with Squared Circle Ventures, and Maple Capital also contributing. CTech has more here.

Blast Security, a two-year-old Tel Aviv startup that helps enterprises prevent cloud security misconfigurations by modeling and enforcing configuration changes before deployment, raised a $10 million seed round co-led by 10D and MizMaa Ventures, with Squared Circle Ventures, and Maple Capital also investing. CTech has more here.

Maritime Fusion, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that aims to build a ship-based fusion reactor using high-temperature superconducting magnets, raised a $4.5 million seed round led by Trucks VC, with Aera VC, Alumni Ventures, Paul Graham, and Y Combinator also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.

MuchBetter.ai, a three-year-old Paris startup that enables sales and field teams to practice their pitches through AI-generated training conversations, raised a $4.6 million round led by Educapital, with Astorya VC and Antler also taking part. Tech.eu has more here.

Palo, a two-year-old Palo Alto startup that uses AI to help creators analyze short-form video performance and generate new content ideas, raised a $3.8 million round led by Peak XV, with NFX also engaging. TechCrunch has more here.

Social Links, a ten-year-old Dutch startup that uses OSINT techniques and AI agents to detect fraud, misinformation, and other malicious activity across social media and online networks, raised a $3 million follow-on round led by Yellow Rocks!. Tech Funding News has more here.

Firgun Ventures, a London VC firm founded this year that backs Series A and Series B quantum technology startups, secured a first close of $70 million for a planned $250 million debut fund. Quantum Insider has more here.

The Trump administration has abruptly disbanded Elon Musk’s cost-cutting DOGE unit months before its mandate ended. TechCrunch has more here.

Andrea Vallone, an OpenAI safety lead who helped shape the company’s mental-health safeguards, is leaving at year-end. Wired has more here.

OpenAI’s push to boost engagement by releasing more personable chatbot updates backfired as sycophantic behavior triggered delusional spirals, hospitalizations, and multiple wrongful death suits, forcing the company to tighten safeguards while racing to maintain user growth. The New York Times has more here.

Amazon has built an internal Autonomous Threat Analysis system that pits specialized AI agents against each other in realistic test environments to discover software vulnerabilities and propose defenses at machine speed, freeing human security teams to focus on higher stakes attacks. Wired has more here.

Major insurers are moving to exclude AI-related liabilities from corporate coverage as black-box model failures trigger mounting legal and financial fallout, raising fears of systemic risk that could produce thousands of simultaneous claims. TechCrunch has more here.

A thief posing as a delivery driver allegedly tied up a San Francisco homeowner at gunpoint and forced him to handover the credentials for $11 million in crypto, highlighting a sharp rise in so-called “wrench attacks” targeting wealthy crypto holders. Decrypt has more here.

In case you’re still mad at yourself for losing a password to a key account, consider this: a major cryptology group had to scrap and redo its leadership election after one trustee lost a decryption key.

A 79-year-old British aristocrat is offering a £50,000-a-year package to recruit a much younger wife who can manage his estates provided she can bear at least two sons, holds a shotgun and helicopter license, and is at least 5'6" tall.

Private equity investor Ted Kruttschnitt is seeking a record-breaking $88 million for his 12-acre Hillsborough compound featuring a private golf course, a 150-seat amphitheater, and a lake-sized reflecting pool.

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