October 17th Newsletter

Markets are on edge as the Government shutdown delays September jobs and October inflation data, limiting Fed visibility as Powell warns of policy uncertainty, while Goldman estimates jobless claims rose to 235,000. The Fed’s Beige Book reports that Trump-era tariffs continue to drive inflation, pressuring firms and consumers alike, while overall economic growth remains flat. In response to long-term challenges, JPMorganChase announced a sweeping $1.5 trillion Security and Resiliency Initiative focused on defense, AI, energy, and critical minerals. Meta is ramping up its AI infrastructure, teaming with Arm Holdings and investing $1.5 billion in a new Texas data center. Despite posting its strongest profit in over three years, Samsung saw shares dip as AI-fueled earnings failed to meet investor expectations. Intel joined the AI arms race with a 160GB inference GPU built on its new Xe3P architecture, kicking off an annual release cycle to challenge Nvidia and AMD. 

Top 5 AI Highlights

[1]  💾 OpenAI and Broadcom ink a multibillion-dollar deal to co-develop and deploy 10GW of custom AI chips by 2029. Combined AI capacity now totals 26GW, enough to power 2× NYC's summer electricity demand. Read more from WSJ. 

[2] 🛒 Walmart partners with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT for shopping, enhancing personalization. Competing with Amazon’s Rufus, Walmart’s Sparky AI assistant debuted in June 2025. Privacy and investment concerns loom amid expanding AI retail strategies. More from NBC.

[3] 🎯 Meta has hired Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab, just months after he reportedly rejected a $1.5 billion compensation offer in August 2025. Tulloch previously spent 11 years at Meta before joining OpenAI and later co-founding Thinking Machines Lab with Mira Murati. (WSJ)

[4] 🗣️ Sam Altman defends OpenAI’s decision to allow erotica on ChatGPT, stating it’s “not the moral police of the world.” Policy applies to verified adults, amid rising FTC scrutiny and safety debates. Read more from CNBC. 

[5] ⚖️ California becomes the first U.S. state to regulate AI companion chatbots with SB 243, mandating safety protocols, age checks, and crisis intervention. Offenders face fines up to $250,000 per offense starting Jan 1, 2026. More from TechCrunch. 

Founder’s Corner

Should 6 Year Vesting be the New Normal?

What We Read This Week

• Anthropic targets $20 to $26B revenue run rate by 2026, up from $7B now, driven by enterprise AI demand. Over 300K business clients make up 80% of revenue. Read more from Reuters. (Reuters)

• BlackRock, GIP, MGX, Nvidia, and Microsoft lead a $40B takeover of Aligned Data Centers, aiming to double its 50 campuses using a $100B AI infrastructure fund to meet soaring AI compute demand. (FinancialTimes)

• Stellantis unveils a record $13B U.S. investment, adding 5,000+ jobs, launching 5 new vehicles, and boosting U.S. production by 50%. Over 4 years, 19 product actions will reignite key manufacturing sites. (LinkedIn)

• Nestle to cut 16,000 jobs and boost cost savings to 3B Swiss francs under new CEO Navratil. Shares surged after Q3 sales beat, but U.S. tariffs remain a key headwind. (Reuters)

• Spotify partners with Netflix to stream video podcasts in the U.S. by early 2026, targeting Gen Z viewers. With 430,000+ video shows and 65% YoY growth, Spotify eyes ad revenue resurgence. (TechCrunch)

• X (formerly Twitter) is to test profile transparency tools, showing account creation date, location, and username history to fight bots. Users can opt out, but opt-outs will be flagged. Rollout starts next week. (TechCrunch)

AI Fundraising news (Oct 10 — Oct 16)

• Afori: AI platform automating workflows for insurance brokers, raised $4.6M Preseed

• Alleviate Health: AI agents for clinical trial patient recruitment, raised $4.3M Seed

• Altitude: AI-powered clinical decision support for nurse practitioners, raised $5.4M

• Arbio: AI-native OS for short-term rental property management, raised a $36M Series A

• Bondu: AI-powered toys for child companionship, raised $5.3M Seed

• Brook AI: AI-powered remote care platform, raised a $25M Series B

• Campfire: AI-powered ERP and accounting services provider, raised a $65M Series B

• ClaimSorted: AI platform streamlining insurance claims processing, raised $13.3M Seed

• Clove: AI-assisted financial advice with human advisers, raised $14M Preseed

• David AI Labs: Audio data company for training AI models, raised $50M

• Dexory: Autonomous warehouse robots and AI data platform, raised a $165M Series C

• Echelon: AI automation for enterprise IT implementation, raised $4.8M Seed

• Ecorobotix: AI-powered crop-spraying machinery, raised a $105M Series D

• Ego AI: Developer of AI characters, raised $6.7M Seed

• Encube: AI for manufacturability analysis in hardware design, raised $23M

• Epiminds: AI agents for marketing analytics and optimization, raised $6.6M Seed

• Finch: Voice-based AI automating paralegal administrative tasks, raised a $20M Series A

• FleetWorks: AI matching small carriers with freight, raised a $15M Series A

• Flint: AI tools that generate and update websites, raised $5M Seed

• Focal: AI productivity platform for financial advisors, raised $5M Seed

• Foundation Health: AI for pharmacy and provider automation, raised a $20M Series A

• General Intuition: Trains AI agents in spatial reasoning using game clips, raised $133.7M Seed

• GEVI: AI-powered vertical-axis wind turbines, raised $3.1M Seed

• Govini: AI software for U.S. defense supply chain, raised $150M

• Jack & Jill: Conversational AI agents for hiring, raised $20M Seed

• Liberate: AI agents for insurance operations, raised a $50M Series B

• Lila Sciences: AI systems for scientific discovery and automation, raised a $115M Series A

• Matters AI: AI data security startup, raised $6.3M

• Mentium: AI “digital workers” for freight brokerages, raised $3.2M Seed

• Meta-Flux: AI decision-support for drug development data, raised $2.1M Seed

• Parallel: AI finance platform with fractional CFO support, raised $2.4M Seed

• Pavus AI: AI for procurement data and sourcing, raised $5.3M Seed

• Poolside: Generative AI tools for software development, raising $2B

• Prezent: AI-powered enterprise presentation builder, raised $30M

• Reducto: OCR and vision-language models converting documents for LLMs, raised a $75M Series B

• Reflection AI: Open-source AI model developer, raised $2B

• Resistant AI: AI tools detecting fraud and financial crime, raised a $25M Series B

• Sensi.AI: AI to monitor and improve senior care, raised a $45M Series C

• Smallest.ai: Ultra-fast speech generation models for enterprises, raised $8M Seed

• Strawberry: Browser-embedded AI companions automating workflows, raised $6M

• Trove AI: AI assistants for private equity workflows, raised $7.1M Seed

• Unikraft: Unikernel-based cloud infrastructure for AI workloads, raised $6M Seed

• Vertical Semiconductor: Vertically stacked GaN chips for AI data centers, raised $11M Seed

• Viven: AI digital twins giving workers instant knowledge access, raised $35M Seed

• Waldo: AI software generating marketing insights and briefs, raised a $10M Series A

• Worktrace AI: AI to automate tasks via workflow observation, raised $5M Seed

• Woz: AI app builder platform, raised $6M Seed

• Yendo: AI-backed vehicle-secured credit cards and products, raised a $50M Series B