Nvidia opened an independent board investigation into CEO Jensen Huang’s conduct after he acknowledged an affair with Alice Huang, an executive U.S. intelligence concluded was spying for China, though the company says it has no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw a classified memo this spring warning senior Trump officials that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy, even as Huang remained influential in shaping U.S. policy on AI chip exports to China. The New York Times has more here.

China’s Foreign Ministry dismissed allegations that Beijing had deployed a spy to target Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as unsubstantiated and aimed at smearing China. The Washington Post has more here.

Jensen Huang hired Heller, a crisis communications firm known for handling sex scandals, as early as October 2025, around the time his ties to suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang first became public. Wired has more here.

Short seller Culper Research flagged Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s “uncomfortably close” relationship with Alice Huang six months before the current scandal while also alleging that Nvidia’s restricted China business was being rerouted through Southeast Asia via Megaspeed. (The latter claim has not been independently verified.) TechCrunch has more here.

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Nvidia’s board announced Sunday that it’s launching an independent investigation after CEO Jensen Huang told staff he was unfaithful to his wife. But this isn’t a case of just another CEO having an extramarital affair. The romantic interest is Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, whom U.S. officials believe is a Chinese spy who was feeding information back to Beijing. In short, the stakes reach well beyond Nvidia, given how many tech and financial partners depend on its place at the center of the AI economy. “I’m responsible for an entire industry,” Huang recently told Bloomberg in a sit-down.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed the allegations in late October as “groundless smears and slanders,” and no one has been charged. But U.S. intelligence officials reportedly briefed President Donald Trump about their concerns a year ago, and unnamed senior officials inside the Trump administration told the Times that they doubt Huang could have remained unaware all that time of Alice Huang’s intelligence-gathering role for China. When Trump was first briefed, the Times reported, officials didn’t believe Huang knew, and it isn’t clear whether their assessment has changed. The board, meanwhile, says it sees no sign that national security or company secrets were compromised.

The question is whether Huang can survive this. To think through what could come next, this editor spoke Sunday with famed professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management and founder of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, which has hosted Huang at its CEO summits. Sonnenfeld likes Huang, he said, and he called Huang’s career salvageable but put the odds at “about a 50-50.” He also had a lot more food for thought.

First, the damage. Until now, Huang has been “revered and trusted by everybody in technology,” Sonnenfeld noted. But he called this episode “remarkably poor judgment.” Even if Huang was merely naive, he said, “any employee in Nvidia other than him would be fired over this,” and the recklessness alone would mean “an irretrievable loss of confidence.”

Sonnenfeld suggested that Huang’s saving grace could be what social psychologists call idiosyncrasy credits, if he can prove he was being duped. The term comes from Edwin Hollander, a social psychologist who proposed in a 1958 paper that people earn latitude in a group by showing competence and following its rules. Huang has been earning latitude since he co-founded Nvidia in 1993. But all that goodwill can run out when a screw-up looks self-serving or touches the group’s core norms. Here that group includes Nvidia’s board, its roughly 42,000 employees who are bound by security rules, and, in a looser sense, the U.S. government, given it restricts its exports.

We also talked about precedents, except, as it turns out, there really are none for what’s unfolding right now. Executives who survive personal scandals sometimes pick up where they left off at another company, Sonnenfeld observed. Former HP CEO Mark Hurd is one example. Between 2005 and 2010, he drove HP to the top of the tech industry by revenue, then was pressured to resign after he filed inaccurate expense reports that hid a personal relationship with a contractor. Oracle hired him about a month later. Huang has no equivalent because Nvidia is his company.

Mavria, a startup founded this year and based in Texas that mass-produces modular data centers designed to be shipped by truck and rapidly deployed, has raised $130 million in total funding and was recently valued at $1 billion. Investors include Paradigm, Liquid 2, Critical Frontier, and AMP. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Nominal, a four-year-old Austin startup that connects hardware data and engineering context so engineers and AI agents can analyze, test, and monitor complex systems, raised a $240 million Series C round at a $3 billion valuation, triple the valuation of the Series B extension it raised in March. The deal was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Insight Partners, with Lux Capital, Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Avenir, Salesforce Ventures, M13, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Red Glass Ventures, PSP Growth, and Deployment Capital also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Onodrim, an Amsterdam startup founded this year that acquires controlling stakes in established European defense, aerospace, and manufacturing companies and provides technology and operational support, raised a $300 million Series A round at a $1.3 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Lux Capital, with previous investors General Catalyst, Lakestar, Altimeter, Strike Capital, 137 Ventures, 8090, and Expeditions also engaging. Tech Funding News has more here.

Project Omega, a one-year-old startup based in Newport, RI, that recycles used nuclear fuel into long-duration power sources, reactor fuel, and commercial, medical, and scientific isotopes, raised an $80 million Series A round led by B Capital, with noa VC and 645 Ventures as well as previous investors Starship Ventures, Mantis Ventures, Decisive Point, Virta Ventures, Pace Ventures, Essential Capital, and Washington Harbour Partners also investing. Tectonic Defense has more here.

Spines, a five-year-old startup based in Boynton Beach, FL, that uses AI agents and publishing professionals to edit, design, translate, distribute, and market authors' books, raised a $29 million Series A-1 round led by Zeev Ventures, with Dan Senor as well as previous investors Aleph, NordStar, M-Fund, and LionTree also pitching in. It also secured a $35 million non-dilutive growth financing facility from Twelve. The company has raised a total of $86 million. CTech has more here.

Coframe, a three-year-old San Francisco startup whose AI agents continuously generate, test, and optimize websites, landing pages, and ads, raised a $25 million Series A co-led by Khosla Ventures and Hanabi Capital. The company has raised a total of $35 million. More here.

GeniosAI, a two-year-old startup based in Santa Clara, CA, that develops AI agents that automate traceable financial analysis and modeling for corporate finance and investment teams, raised a total of $19.1 million in seed and Series A financing led by FactSet, with Zoom and General Catalyst also chipping in. More here.

Vudoo, a nine-year-old Melbourne startup that lets brands, retailers, and media owners embed product browsing and checkout directly into ads and content, raised a $15.2 million Series B round led by Blue Sky Capital. More here.

Blackletter, a New York law firm launched this year that combines lawyers with proprietary AI software and charges fixed fees instead of billable hours, raised a $6 million seed round led by Lerer Hippeau, with Seven Stars, Maple VC, Garage Capital, and Ripple Ventures also investing. More here.

Marble Imaging, a three-year-old startup based in Bremen, Germany, that provides high-resolution satellite imagery and AI analysis for defense, civil security, and critical infrastructure customers, raised a $6.7 million seed round led by Cherry Ventures. The company has raised a total of $12.6 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

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Altimeter Capital, an 18-year-old technology-focused investment firm based in Menlo Park, CA, and Boston, is raising a $2.5 billion ninth Premier Growth fund, according to a new SEC filing. More here.

Mento VC, a three-year-old San Francisco VC firm that backs early-stage AI-native startups, is raising a $55 million second fund, with $3 million sold so far, an SEC filing shows. More here.

Toronto-based Ada, which uses AI agents for customer service, is merging with Dialpad, a California company that sells cloud phone, contact center and other business communications software, in an all-stock deal reportedly valuing Ada at about US$424.6 million, well below its $1.2 billion valuation in 2021. Ada has raised a total of $190.6 million from investors including Spark Capital, Accel, Tiger Global Management, Leaders Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Version One Ventures, Burst Capital, Giant Ventures, and Ramen Ventures. The Globe and Mail first reported the transaction. BetaKit has more here.

Anthropic is reportedly moving ahead with its IPO despite the recent Nasdaq sell-off, with plans to set a valuation range this week and begin trading as soon as next Thursday or Friday. Institutional investors are pushing for a valuation below the $1.5 trillion target discussed last week. TechCrunch has more here.

Windward Bio is targeting about $204 million in net proceeds from a Nasdaq IPO to fund two respiratory drugs licensed from China, with Sanofi separately agreeing to buy $50 million of stock in a private placement. The company has raised a total of $365 million from OrbiMed, Novo Holdings, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, SR One, Omega Funds, and others. Fierce Biotech has more here.

President Trump said AI safety risks are manageable and claimed the Justice Department threatened the leader of a major AI company with jail over unspecified misconduct, after which the executive “totally changed everything.” He also said he would work with Democrats on AI guardrails as long as they do not put the U.S. behind China. The Verge has more here.

Sequoia Capital co-leaders Alfred Lin and Pat Grady have cut the firm’s general partners in half, closed its London office, dismantled Roelof Botha’s permanent-capital fund, and sharply increased its AI bets after ousting Botha last year. Partners were reportedly blindsided when he joined SpaceX’s board without first informing the firm. The Financial Times has more here (but also, Connie kind of said as much here).

Nvidia shares fell more than 4% Monday, and plaintiffs’ lawyers are already circling. At least four firms announced investigations, and Rosen Law Firm filed a class action alleging Nvidia and CEO Jensen Huang misled investors by calling his Megaspeed ties “not unusual” while he was having an affair. TechCrunch has more here.

It’s all about home robots these days. Amazon has assembled a new team to build a home robot, after acquiring humanoid startup Fauna Robotics earlier this year, and is hiring for a “new-to-world” product as it takes another run at consumer robotics after Astro never made it beyond beta. CNBC has more here.

Anthropic is spending $3.4 billion on Caterpillar natural gas generators capable of producing up to 1.7 gigawatts of electricity, a rare infrastructure purchase for the AI company as power shortages and years-long turbine and grid-connection backlogs threaten data center expansion. TechCrunch has more here.

California’s “billionaire tax” proposal is officially kaput. TechCrunch has more here.

Louis Theroux sparked speculation about a possible Nathan Fielder collaboration after posting a photo of the pair having coffee, prompting fans to joke about the prospect of “the most awkward interview ever filmed” and “the Alien vs. Predator of documentary lovers.”

Rexhep Rexhepi’s Chronographe Flyback just won watchmaking’s equivalent of the Oscar for Best Picture, taking the 2026 GPHG Aiguille d’Or, the industry’s top prize, for its unusually symmetrical in-house flyback chronograph movement.

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