Nvidia’s board is reportedly preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang after revelations that he had two extramarital affairs – one with a woman U.S. intelligence officials believe works for Chinese intelligence and a second relationship with an Nvidia employee. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

The New York Times broke the news today that Huang had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care and a direct report; the paper said the story was confirmed by five people who worked at the company. More here.

Nvidia’s board is working with an outside firm to identify potential successors to Huang. Bloomberg has more here.

House Republicans are preparing to subpoena Huang if he doesn’t agree to a closed-door congressional briefing. Bloomberg first reported the development. TechCrunch has more here.

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It’s almost inconceivable that Nvidia would fire its rock star CEO. Yet here we are, on the precipice of this happening. Over at Kalshi, Jensen Huang’s odds of surviving the week are sitting at a lowly 30%. Even though he built one of the world’s most valuable — and, many would argue, dangerously powerful — companies, the tides have completely turned against him. He has confessed to an extramarital affair, but as of Wednesday afternoon it isn’t even clear whom he meant: Alice Huang, the Chinese executive suspected by U.S. intelligence of spying for her country, or Kimberly Powell, an Nvidia executive who reports to him and who, five sources told The New York Times in an explosive new report, was also a paramour.

Even if Huang is pushed out as CEO, the board members he has made very rich are unlikely to cut him loose entirely. Barring another shoe dropping, they could keep him on as chairman, a role Nvidia doesn’t currently have. But someone still has to run the company, and there’s no apparent succession plan, which leaves us, like everyone else, to speculate while we wait to see what happens next. While Huang’s 60 direct reports undoubtedly get a closer look, consider this our own parlor game, featuring some obvious and less obvious candidates:

Lisa Su. The AMD CEO runs Nvidia’s most credible rival, as well as a distant cousin of Huang. The Information floated her name this week, but why would she leave her job for his? Her company stands to benefit from every day that Nvidia spends distracted by an investigation, congressional briefings, and all the mini dramas that are sure to follow. Her best move might be to send a nice note and keep her current corner office.

Eric Schmidt. He was the pick of Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, who we talked with earlier this week. Schmidt could “parachute in tomorrow and do a very good job,” Sonnenfeld said, and perhaps he could. He ran Google from 2001 to 2011, chaired the National Security Commission on AI from 2018 to 2021, and now runs the rocket company Relativity Space. Chips, software, government, rockets — it’s an impressive range. Then again, Schmidt would bring a lot of baggage when it comes to his own extramarital dalliances. It’s hard to see him clearing the board for that reason.

Applied Intuition, a nine-year-old startup based in Sunnyvale, CA, that builds operating systems, simulation software, and autonomous-driving technology for vehicles, is reportedly in talks to raise at least $1.5 billion in a round led by General Catalyst at roughly a $30 billion pre-money valuation, double its valuation in June 2025, with General Catalyst planning to invest $250 million. Bloomberg has more here.

Edelbyte, a one-year-old startup that develops data infrastructure that lets companies and AI agents search and analyze large datasets, raised a $45 million Series A round at a $500 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Quiet Capital, with Cerca Partners as well as previous investors Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks, Swish Ventures, QP Ventures, and Startpoint Capital also buying in. The company has raised a total of $70 million. CTech has more here.

Fractile, a four-year-old London startup that designs chips that run AI models while keeping data directly on the processor, raised an approximately $720 million Series C round at a $7 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Lightspeed, and Redpoint, with Sovereign AI Fund, British Business Bank, Shopify, Balderton, Dragoneer, and BlackRock also chiming in. TechCrunch has more here.

Imprint, a six-year-old New York startup that builds and operates co-branded credit card and loyalty programs for major consumer brands, raised a $130 million round at a $1.88 billion valuation. Investors included Positive Sum as well as prior backers Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Khosla Ventures. Upstarts has more here.

Index Industries, a New York startup founded this year that develops housing-price benchmarks and blockchain infrastructure for investment products tied to U.S. residential property values, raised a $50 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Polychain Capital, Galaxy Ventures, and Wintermute Ventures also pitching in. The SaaS News has more here.

Rox, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that develops AI agents that automate prospecting, deal execution, and account expansion for large companies, raised a $100 million Series B round at a $1.3 billion valuation. The deal was co-led by General Catalyst and March Capital, with Databricks Ventures and Prosperity7 Ventures as well as previous investors Sequoia Capital and Factory also digging in. Fortune has more here.

Torus, a five-year-old Salt Lake City startup that manufactures modular energy storage and AI computing systems for deployment at commercial and industrial sites, raised a $500 million Series C round led by Magnetar, with ICONIQ, Origin Ventures, Ridgeline Partners, and Trinity Capital also chipping in. Investing.com has more here.

VectorY Therapeutics, a six-year-old Amsterdam startup that develops gene therapies that prompt central nervous system cells to produce antibodies targeting proteins linked to neurodegenerative diseases, raised an $83.4 million Series A round. Investors included Angelini Ventures, Invest-NL, and the European Investment Bank as well as previous investors Forbion, EQT Life Sciences, MRL Ventures, Insight Partners, BioGeneration Ventures, Eli Lilly, and the ALS Investment Fund. It also secured a $33.3 million convertible loan from the European Investment Bank. The company has raised a total of $262.4 million. European Biotechnology has more here.

Nanopath, a seven-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that develops 15-minute molecular tests that diagnose vaginitis during a clinical visit, raised a $25 million Series B round co-led by Norwest and SV Health Investors' MedTech Convergence Fund, with additional support from Labcorp Venture Fund, Elderberry Ventures, GingerBread Capital, and Alumni Ventures. It also secured $2 million in non-dilutive grant financing. The company has raised a total of $46+ million. Femtech Insider has more here.

Palomma, a three-year-old Medellín startup that combines AI leasing software, rent payments, rental guarantees, and financing for property managers, tenants, and landlords, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Cometa, with Volpe Capital, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Tekton Ventures, Simma Capital, and Yango Ventures as well as previous investors Y Combinator, 17Sigma, Nido Ventures, and Norte Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $14 million. Crunchbase News has more here.

Plurai, a one-year-old New York startup that simulates user interactions to identify AI agent failures before deployment and improve performance in production, raised a $13 million seed round led by Team8, with U&I, Velocity, Mercer, and Udi Mokady also anteing up. More here.

Tendrils, a startup founded this year based in Cambridge, UK, that develops general-purpose processors with thousands of parallel cores and an open-source programming language for them, raised a $30 million seed round led by Benchmark, with Visionaries Club, the UK Sovereign AI Fund, FR8, Antimatter, Cloudberry VC, Conviction, Embassy Ventures, and SV Angels also stepping up. Tech Funding News has more here.

WhiteMatter, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that secures and governs an enterprise's AI agents, models, and interactions throughout deployment and operation, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Blumberg Capital, with previous investors Crew Capital and Sprout & Oak also taking stakes. The company has raised a total of $24 million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Helix, a one-year-old Los Angeles startup whose on-device voice technology verifies that users are human and can estimate their age, raised a $6.2 million round led by Chicago Ventures, with BAM Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, Corazon Capital, Press On Ventures, Tusk Ventures, Yonder Ventures, Rule 30, and Brown Angel Group also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.

Tano, a one-year-old London startup whose AI agents find, contact, negotiate with, and pay creators for brand campaigns, raised a $4 million seed round led by Cherry Ventures, with participation from Seedcamp and The Players Fund. The company has raised a total of $5 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Valkyrie Dynamics, a one-year-old Lithuanian startup that is developing miniature radar seekers that help drone interceptors track targets through clouds, fog, rain, and smoke, raised a $1.2 million pre-seed round led by Hexa, with Better Angle, Kima Ventures, Helvetic Venture, and Next Front Ventures also taking part. Resilience Media has more here.

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RedBlue Capital, a five-year-old New York VC firm that backs startups in robotics, logistics, manufacturing, and energy, has held a first close on a second fund that founder Olaf Sakkers says will total at least $50 million. TechCrunch has more here.

The 81 Collection, a five-year-old Chicago VC firm that backs founder-owned businesses in services, manufacturing, and other physical industries, raised an $82 million second fund, double the size of its 2021 debut. More here.

Anthropic’s IPO is already multiple times oversubscribed, with demand driven by large anchor orders as investors pile into what could become the biggest IPO ever. Bloomberg has more here.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in the company’s IPO roadshow video that advances in AI could make cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and mental illness “relics of the past” in less than a decade, arguing that careful management of the technology’s risks could usher in what he calls an “age of miracles.” More here.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp is signaling an abrupt political pivot after Democrats’ midterm gains, repeatedly describing himself and Palantir as “progressive,” saying Democrats had done enough to win back his support in 2028, and arguing that they have an advantage on “economic justice.” Politico has more here.

Former Meta global affairs chief Nick Clegg argues that Silicon Valley’s embrace of Trump has been a “near-total failure,” saying China has narrowed the AI gap, public hostility toward AI has worsened, and anti–Big Tech sentiment has intensified abroad. The Atlantic has more here.

Meta infrastructure chief and co-head of engineering Santosh Janardhan is stepping down after 17 years at the company, with former Amazon executive Dave Brown taking over as Meta ramps spending on data centers and AI infrastructure. Bloomberg first reported the departure. TechCrunch has more here.

Elon Musk, Bill Ackman, Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire, and other Silicon Valley figures are rallying behind Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, arguing that his relationship with a woman U.S. officials believe was a Chinese spy was a personal lapse and that losing him would hurt America’s position in the AI race. The New York Times has more here.

Polymarket laid off some full-time employees and shrank its contractor ranks as part of a broader push to “professionalize” ahead of a potential 2027 public offering. The company says annualized revenue has topped $1.8 billion; it’s also reportedly finalizing a $1 billion round at a roughly $21 billion valuation. Front Office Sports has more here.

United Airlines says it will block personal AI agents from booking flights on its website, citing privacy, safety, and regulatory concerns and CEO Scott Kirby’s reluctance to “create another middleman,” even as rivals such as Delta and Southwest experiment with agent-assisted booking. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Google DeepMind has unveiled AlphaGenome 2, an AI model trained on more than 100 million individual cell profiles that predicts how genetic variants affect specific cell types and states, potentially helping researchers connect DNA changes to disease and identify new treatment targets. The Verge has more here.

Breakfast is increasingly being reshaped by protein-heavy diets and wellness trends, with more Americans swapping cereal, toast, and pancakes for foods like steak, salmon, soup, and leftovers traditionally associated with dinner.

Sanlorenzo has unveiled the 1150 Explorer, its largest expedition yacht yet, a 197-foot flagship built for extended trips to remote islands and coastlines far from marinas or refueling stops, with six decks, two glass-bottom pools, a helipad, and an estimated 4,600-mile range.

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