Happy Friday! We’d very much appreciate it if you could complete our anonymous reader survey. It should take less than 60 seconds(!) to fill out and would really help us figure out how to serve you better. Thank you.

Also, we’ll be at Slush next week; if you’ll be there, too, it’d be great to meet up to talk about the insanity of this past week (among other things).

Speaking of insanity, a nationwide FAA communications outage grounded flights across the U.S. on Friday, with the FBI investigating whether a software update caused the disruption and saying it does not currently believe a cyberattack or criminal activity was responsible. Bloomberg has more here.

Nvidia’s board has reportedly approached Arm CEO Rene Haas as one of several potential successors to Jensen Huang, tapping a former Nvidia executive who has led the SoftBank-owned chip designer since 2022 and still has close ties to Huang and Nvidia directors. The Financial Times has more here.

Microsoft’s current outage generated 7.4 million reports on Downdetector, making it by far the largest outage of 2026 and dwarfing the 2.8 million reports tied to a YouTube disruption in February, according to a new Ookla and Downdetector report. Mashable has more here.

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By Marina Temkin and Dominic-Madori Davis

It was the resignation heard across the world. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s embattled CEO who co-founded and led the company for 33 years, had officially stepped down. “It’s like a bomb went off,” one neocloud founder told TechCrunch when he first heard the news. 

Over the last several years, Nvidia has been a prolific investor, pouring tens of billions into startups annually, and participating in 105 rounds this year alone, often as the largest investor, according to PitchBook. “If that direction changes, it’ll be a big blow to so many young companies,” said Maria Davidson, founder of Relational Capital. 

Huang’s absence leaves the startup ecosystem without one of its biggest champions and with far less capital for now, investors say, which could have a massive impact on dealmaking, valuations, funding, and even competition.

“Nvidia is carrying almost every AI-native startup from application to neocloud,” Dawn Capital’s Shamilla Bankiya told TechCrunch. 

Most of the significant decisions to invest in startups often came from Jensen himself, according to Umesh Padval, managing partner at Seligman Ventures. Padval has known Huang since serving on the board of Mellanox Technologies, a networking chipmaker Nvidia acquired for approximately $7 billion in 2020. While there is hope that Huang’s eventual successor will resume his dealmaking spree, investors aren’t hopeful that it will happen in the short term. 

Nvidia’s interim CEO, Colette Kress is expected to institute some changes, especially when it comes to Nvidia’s investments into AI startups at the crux of the billion-dollar data centre build-out. Huang’s rampant dealmaking in this sphere has been a source of concern for Wall Street.

“She’s much more conservative,” one investor said of Kress. “I don’t think she’s going to commit the same amount of money to keep the early-stage ecosystem going.” 

Databento, a seven-year-old Salt Lake City startup that provides live and historical futures, options, equities, and index data to financial firms through one interface, raised a $100 million Series C round at a $1.1 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by previous investor Fifth Down Capital, with additional participation from Fitch Ventures as well as prior backers NEA, DRW Venture Capital, Tribe Capital, and Hedosophia. More here.

Kalshi, an eight-year-old New York startup that operates a regulated prediction market for trading on real-world events, is reportedly in talks to raise a new round at a $65 billion valuation just weeks after closing financing at a $40 billion valuation. Bloomberg has more here.

Mirendil, a San Francisco startup founded this year that develops AI models and agents that write code and run experiments for scientists and engineers, raised a $1 billion Series A round co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Clearlake Capital, with Battery Ventures, Doerr Capital, Gil & Co, Google, M13, Pear VC, and S32 also buying in. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

UFORCE, a one-year-old London startup that builds uncrewed military boats, aircraft, and ground vehicles plus the software that controls them, raised a $700 million Series A round at a $6 billion valuation. The deal was co-led by Valor Equity Partners and the UK National Wealth Fund, with U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, Menlo Ventures, Xantium, and Hiro Capital as well as previous investors Shield Capital, Ballistic Ventures, Lakestar, and Squadra also opting in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Clawlab, a three-year-old Shenzhen startup that develops a home knitting machine that turns images or ideas into knitted items by automating patterns and stitchwork, raised a $15+ million round led by miHoYo, with Vision Plus Capital and Shunwei Capital also taking stakes. The company has raised a total of approximately $25 million. More here.

Drogue, a six-month-old Washington, D.C. startup that is building floating data centers powered by ocean thermal energy, raised a $20 million round. Investors included XYZ Venture Capital, Toyota Ventures, Tamarack Global, Dream, FDVC, Garuda Ventures, Flexcap, Boost VC, and Slow Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Kindo, a four-year-old Los Angeles startup that helps businesses monitor AI agents, control their access to corporate systems, and manage their operating costs, raised a $30 million round co-led by Crosspoint Capital and Forgepoint Capital, with TFX Capital and CircleRock Capital as well as previous investors Drive Capital, Riot Ventures, RRE Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Marlinspike Partners, New Era Ventures, and Sunset Venture also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $57.6 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Mount Thor, a San Francisco startup founded this year that provides on-demand fleets of cloud-based Apple computers for AI research, agent deployment, software testing, and model inference, raised a $45 million Series A round co-led by CRV and Conviction, with CSC Leasing, Enea Capital, Long Journey Ventures, and Upper90 also chiming in. It also secured an undisclosed amount of non-dilutive financing for hardware purchases. The SaaS News has more here.

Tristar AI, a four-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that uses AI to detect manufacturing defects as products move through factory production lines, raised a $12.4 million Series A round led by Isogon Ventures, with Blackhorn Ventures, Ford Street Ventures, ISAI Cap Venture, Las Olas VC, NextView Ventures, Seraph Partners, SNR Ventures, and TenOneTen also engaging. The SaaS News has more here.

XpertDox, an 11-year-old Scottsdale company that automates medical coding by converting clinical records into coded billing and reimbursement data for healthcare providers, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Savant Growth, with Kennet Partners also pitching in. More here.

Akara, a seven-year-old Dublin startup that uses privacy-preserving sensors, AI agents, and robotics to help hospitals automate operations and use clinical space more efficiently, raised a $5.5 million round led by Locke Health, with VTC Ventures, EIC Fund, CommonKind, and NovaVector Holdings as well as previous investors ACT Venture Capital, Atlantic Bridge, and Enterprise Ireland also opting in. The company has raised a total of $12.3 million. More here.

Athlete to Athlete, a three-year-old startup based in Santa Monica, CA, that connects young athletes with college athletes in the same sport for paid, one-on-one virtual mentorship, raised an $8 million Series A round led by Rally Ventures, with Newbound VC, Scrum Ventures, and UpHonest Capital also taking part. More here.

Eli Radiopharma, a two-year-old startup based in Hangzhou, China, that develops targeted radioactive drugs to diagnose and treat cancer and neurological diseases, raised a nearly $9 million Series A round co-led by Huagai Capital and Bayland Capital, with additional support from Boyu Ventures, Delian Capital, InnoPinnacle Fund, Haibang Venture, Bairui Capital, Shenzhen Angel FOF Management, and Grand Flight Investment as well as previous investors CSPC & Growth Bio Fund, Huaige Capital, KHK Fund, Longfeng Venture, Hongsheng Capital, Bioclub Fund, and Skyfield Capital. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Kardi Ai, a four-year-old startup based in Olomouc, Czech Republic, that uses a wearable ECG sensor and AI analysis to monitor heart rhythms and flag possible arrhythmias for physicians, raised a $5.9 million Series A round at a $25.4 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Callisto Health, with Česká spořitelna, Slovenská sporiteľňa, BrightCap Ventures, Purple Ventures, DEPO Ventures, and Garage Angels also participating. Tech.eu has more here.

Opdo, a one-year-old Los Angeles startup that uses AI agents and manufacturing data to automate optical-system design and production for hardware companies, raised a $2.3 million pre-seed round led by Angular Ventures, with Inflection and Tiny.vc also chipping in. Tech.eu has more here.

Triplemoon, a three-year-old Dallas startup that provides virtual behavioral health services to children and families through pediatric and family medicine practices, raised a $4 million seed round co-led by LiveOak Ventures and Activate Venture Partners. The company has raised a total of $7.5 million. More here.

Twin1 AI, a one-year-old startup based in San Mateo, CA, that creates AI digital twins that use professionals’ workplace data to automate communication and share institutional knowledge, raised a $5 million seed round led by Curql, with Greyhair Ventures, KittyHawk Frontier, Apex Star Capital, Bin Lin, and Fan Li also investing. The company has raised a total of $25 million. The SaaS News has more here.

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TSMC is launching a $500 million venture fund to back semiconductor startups it believes could become the “next Nvidia,” with the chipmaker also considering investments in suppliers and partners as it looks to strengthen the broader semiconductor ecosystem. Taiwan News has more here.

Col Ventures, a new venture firm led by longtime Israeli tech investor Yair Geva, is raising a $60 million debut fund and has sold $30.3 million so far, according to an SEC filing. More here.

Nscale says it needs to raise additional financing to meet 2027 obligations tied to a $45 billion Anthropic contract, adding pressure ahead of a planned $35 billion IPO as the Nvidia-backed neocloud reports mounting losses, $5.5 billion in debt, and sharply higher capital-spending commitments. The Financial Times has more here.

Moonshot AI is restructuring its corporate ownership ahead of a planned Hong Kong IPO early next year that could raise as much as $5 billion, after recently completing a pre-IPO round that valued the Beijing AI startup at about $50 billion. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Before his ouster, Jensen Huang privately called incoming interim CEO Colette Kress “a deer in the headlights” and a “reporting CFO” during a meeting about Nvidia’s aggressive financing deals, which Kress had been questioning and later helped scale back. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Nvidia leveraged Jensen Huang’s close relationship with President Trump to push U.S. officials to loosen restrictions on H200 chip sales to China, with general counsel Tim Teter repeatedly invoking Trump’s wishes and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick emerging as a receptive ally. Semafor has more here.

Jensen Huang biographer Stephen Witt argues that the former Nvidia CEO’s downfall stemmed less from technology or politics than from arrogance, a culture of deference inside Nvidia, and reckless personal behavior that colleagues were reluctant to challenge. The New York Times has more here.

Jensen Huang’s ouster has rattled Wall Street because he personally drove many of Nvidia’s biggest investments and financing schemes, turning the company into what one banker called “the central bank of A.I.” and generating billions in fees for banks and advisers. The New York Times has more here.

Reuters has identified more than $3.2 billion in Chinese AI computing projects built around restricted Nvidia H100, H200, and H800 chips, underscoring continued demand for the company’s hardware despite U.S. export controls and raising new risks for projects still dependent on those processors after Jensen Huang’s departure. Reuters has more here.

Surfers from around the world are converging on Mavericks near northern California’s Half Moon Bay, where a Pacific swell could produce waves approaching 50 feet on Saturday.

Florida’s Space Coast is now overrun with Chinese and Russian spies.

Diplo’s Whoop data.

Singapore Airlines plans to spend more than $1.5 billion upgrading its cabins, highlighted by a new first-class suite whose two center seats convert into what the airline calls the largest double bed in commercial aviation, measuring 60 inches wide and 80 inches long.

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