# Jensen Huang Resigns from Nvidia — retained record

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Top News
Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO on Thursday after admitting to an affair with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy, and CFO Colette Kress has been named interim CEO. The departure of the longtime leader of a company that has become a linchpin of the AI economy raises broader questions about Nvidia’s strategy, including whether it will remain one of open-source AI’s biggest corporate champions as it weighs a $13 billion acquisition of Hugging Face and continues backing open-weight models and startups. TechCrunch has more here.
Huang also had a third extramarital relationship with another Nvidia employee whose name Reuters is withholding. TechCrunch has more here.
Huang has agreed to testify under oath before Congress before Thanksgiving about his relationship with a woman suspected of spying for China after lawmakers threatened to subpoena him. Bloomberg has more here.
Singapore says the U.S. provided little help with its investigation of Alice Huang and her company Megaspeed, despite Singapore holding her passport for months after President Trump had been briefed that U.S. officials believed she was a Chinese intelligence asset. The New York Times has more here.
Sponsored By …
The future starts small.
Emergence uses Scout to evaluate startups against their thesis.
Jensen Huang Is Out At Nvidia — Who Is Colette Kress, His Interim Replacement?
Image Credits: Nvidia
By Amanda Silberling
The Nvidia Board of Directors announced on Thursday morning that the company’s co-founder and CEO of 33 years, Jensen Huang, has resigned as president, CEO, and member of the board, effective immediately.
This is a shocking twist for one of the most valuable companies in the world, which designs the chips that make the AI boom possible. Few people would have predicted this turn of events even just a week ago, as Huang has been so central to Nvidia throughout the company’s existence that he never even established a succession plan. But Huang has now been ousted after reports that he had affairs with both an alleged Chinese spy and one of his direct reports at Nvidia.
While the company conducts a more thorough search for Huang’s successor, Nvidia CFO and Executive Vice President Colette Kress has taken over as interim CEO. But beyond her name and job title, what do we know about the person who will now lead a company worth about $3.8 trillion?
According to Nvidia’s website, Kress has worked at the company since September 2013. Before that, she spent three years as an SVP and CFO of Cisco’s Business Technology Operations Finance organization. She also worked at Microsoft for 13 years, where she spent four years as CFO of the Server and Tools division. She holds a finance degree from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.
The California-based 59-year-old has a very limited social media presence — on Linkedin, she has commented some well wishes on former colleagues’ posts about their retirement. But as CFO, she’s been a regular presence on Nvidia’s earnings calls, making her a familiar figure for analysts covering the company.
Massive Fundings
Agile Robots, an eight-year-old Munich startup that develops AI-controlled humanoid and industrial robots that automate manufacturing, assembly, and warehouse work, raised a $500 million Series F round at an $8.5 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by SoftBank Group, with Nvidia, Hitachi, and T. Capital also buying in. The company has raised a total of about $2 billion. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Blue J, an 11-year-old Toronto company that uses AI to automate tax research, return reviews, regulatory compliance, and client communications for tax professionals, raised a $176 million Series E round at a $700+ million post-money valuation. The deal was led by JMI Equity, with Intrepid Growth Partners as well as previous investors Oak HC/FT and Sapphire Ventures also engaging. The SaaS News has more here.
LangChain, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that helps companies build, manage, and deploy AI agents, raised $300 million at a $3 billion valuation. The deal was led by CapitalG, with new investors GIC and DFJ Growth as well as previous investors IVP and Sapphire Ventures also participating. The Wall Street Journal has more here.
Q-CTRL, a nine-year-old Sydney startup that develops AI software that improves quantum-computing hardware and enables navigation when GPS signals are unavailable, raised a $290 million Series C round at a $1+ billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by previous investor Salesforce Ventures, with Affinity Partners, AMD Ventures, EDGE Group, MPower Partners, Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, and SPARX Asset Management as well as previous investors Alpha Edison, Alumni Ventures, Bullhound Capital, DCVC, In-Q-Tel, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Main Sequence, Ridgeline, Salus Ventures, and Square Peg also piling on. Forbes has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Biomatter, an eight-year-old Vilnius startup that uses generative AI and laboratory testing to design custom enzymes for pharmaceutical, diagnostics, agriculture, and industrial biotechnology customers, raised an $18 million Series A round led by Astanor, with previous investors UVC Partners, Inventure, and Metaplanet also digging in. EU-Startups has more here.
Duet, a three-year-old New York startup that helps nurse practitioners open and grow independent primary care practices through technology, operational support, and insurer contracting, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Kairos, with Lerer Hippeau also opting in. The company has raised a total of $22.5 million. Fierce Healthcare has more here.
Finite State, a nine-year-old startup based in Columbus, OH, that analyzes software and firmware in connected devices to help manufacturers find vulnerabilities and meet cybersecurity regulations, raised a $27 million Series C round led by private funds managed by The O.H.I.O. Fund, with CIBC Innovation Banking, Energy Impact Partners, Energize Capital, and National Grid Partners also pitching in. SecurityWeek has more here.
Gama, a six-year-old startup based in Ivry-sur-Seine, France, that develops deployable solar arrays and power-management systems for satellites using mass-produced silicon cells, raised a $16.7 million seed round. Investors included Transition, Planet A, Draper Associates, and Manta Ray. Tech Funding News has more here.
Griffin, a nine-year-old London startup that provides regulated banking infrastructure for businesses to embed accounts, payments, savings, and compliance tools in their products, raised a $20 million Series B round at a $100+ million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Octagon Partners, with Notion Capital, A+ Ventures, Nordic Ninja, and Breega also taking part. The company has raised a total of around $95 million. Tech Funding News has more here.
Hatz AI, a three-year-old New York startup that enables managed service providers to deploy and manage AI agents and workflows for small- and medium-sized businesses, raised a $24 million Series A round led by Nadia Partners, with Vestigo Ventures and The Private Shares Fund also taking stakes. More here.
Lumbra, a one-year-old startup based in New York and Washington, D.C., that builds software for deploying and governing AI agents in classified and other high-consequence environments, raised a $25 million Series A co-led by Point72 Ventures and Ansa Capital, with previous investor Costanoa also participating. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Luminal, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that develops compiler and cloud infrastructure that lets developers run AI models across different chips, raised a $25 million Series A round led by Standard Capital, with additional participation from previous investors Y Combinator, SagaVC, Liquid 2, and Felicis. The company has raised a total of $28+ million. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Nebuly, a four-year-old New York startup that measures how AI agents affect productivity, operational efficiency, and revenue at large enterprises, raised a $21 million Series A round led by Planven, with additional support from Exor Ventures, Tenacity Capital, TGVG Capital, Fastweb+Vodafone, CDP Venture Capital SGR, and Digital Transition Fund. Tech Funding News has more here.
SE3, a three-year-old Munich startup that develops software that helps autonomous drones and ground vehicles navigate and coordinate in complex environments, raised a $30 million Series A round led by Accel, with Keen, Lakestar, and Seedcamp also chiming in. EU-Startups has more here.
Zus Health, a six-year-old Boston startup that provides a patient information platform for healthcare organizations, raised a $33 million Series B round led by Drive Capital, with Sanofi Ventures, HealthX Ventures, and Alumni Ventures as well as existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, F-Prime, Maverick Ventures, and JAZZ Venture Partners also opting in. MobiHealthNews has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Anorak, a one-year-old London startup that develops generative video tools that let communities create and share interactive games based on their interests, raised a $5 million pre-seed round co-led by Play Ventures and Backed VC, with Supercell and MTG also chiming in. The SaaS News has more here.
Axle, a three-year-old New York startup that uses AI to help investment banks coordinate meetings, conferences, and roadshows between institutional investors and company executives, raised a $9 million seed round co-led by Eniac and Bonfire Ventures, with Teamworthy Ventures also chipping in. More here.
Delphina, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI agents to answer employees’ business questions using company data and documents, raised a $7.5 million round co-led by Radical Ventures and Costanoa, with Tenacity Capital, Fei-Fei Li, and Guido Imbens also investing. The company has raised a total of $15 million. More here.
Mondrio, a San Francisco and Amsterdam startup that uses AI agents to help B2B companies set prices, guide discounts, and automate quotes and approvals, raised a $3.75 million seed round led by Heartcore Capital, with additional participation from Pretiosum VC, Hersir Ventures, Cambrena Capital, and Momo VC. More here.
Provectus Algae, an eight-year-old startup based in Noosaville, Queensland, Australia, that uses algae-based biomanufacturing to make products including methane-reducing cattle feed, raised a $4.3 million Series A extension, bringing its Series A to $14+ million. At One Ventures led the Series A, while the extension added Queensland Investment Corporation as a new investor alongside previous shareholders. More here.
Qvyon Technologies, a one-year-old Montreal startup that develops software that simulates hazardous scenarios to test autonomous vehicles and robots before deployment, raised an $8 million seed round led by MaC Venture Capital, with BDC Capital, BKR Capital, and Spotlight VP also buying in. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Staera Semiconductor, a 10-year-old San Francisco company that develops optical links integrated into silicon chips to move data between processors and memory components, raised a $4.6 million pre-seed round led by Openspace Capital, with SGInnovate, Black Kite Capital, 28 Holdings, In Group, and Decimus Technologies also chipping in. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Sponsored By …
In 2026, your portfolio shouldn’t have old-school cap table software.
500+ VC funds back companies on Cake, the modern equity platform. Cap table, grants, 409As and compliance live in one place, ready for audit and diligence from day one. Leading US startup law firms work inside it, and investors get a clean, current cap table whenever they ask for it.
Switching from any platform is free, and our team handles the migration. See why founders choose Cake.
New Funds
Norwest, a 65-year-old investment firm based in Menlo Park, CA, that backs tech, healthcare, and consumer companies from early-stage through growth, raised $4 billion for its 18th fund from its sole limited partner, Wells Fargo. It’s the outfit’s biggest fund to date. TechCrunch has more here.
Innovius Capital, a six-year-old San Francisco VC firm that backs software and AI companies at the critical scaling stage, is raising a $250 million second fund. Read the SEC filing here.
Avalon BioVentures, a four-year-old VC firm based in La Jolla, CA, that invests in and helps build early-stage biotech companies developing new therapies, is raising a $200 million second fund, according to an SEC filing. More here.
Going Public
Anthropic’s IPO is reportedly about six times oversubscribed, with the company and its founders seeking to raise as much as $64.4 billion in the offering plus another $26 billion in a concurrent private placement that would make the listing larger than SpaceX’s. Bloomberg has more here.
People
Before the affair(s) that cost Jensen Huang his job as Nvidia CEO, he was introduced to Alice Huang by her husband, Chinese businessman Kang Wei, who for two years appeared to accept the relationship as the couple used their connections to build Megaspeed and other ventures now under scrutiny in the U.S. and Asia. The Wall Street Journal has more here.
Senior White House officials are discussing whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should be pushed out as scrutiny mounts over the administration’s handling of Nvidia chip exports to China and its failure to blacklist dozens of Chinese companies flagged as national security risks. The White House says President Trump still has “complete confidence” in him. Reuters has more here.
President Trump is publicly floating former Apple CEO and current chairman Tim Cook as Jensen Huang’s successor at Nvidia, writing that “only one man” could replace Huang and calling the idea “A Legend replaces a Legend!” TechCrunch has more here.
Post-Its
A forensic analysis of publicly released AI models found strong evidence that DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and Ant Group used export-controlled Nvidia Blackwell GPUs to initialize six recent models, suggesting they also likely trained on the chips despite U.S. restrictions on exports to China. Unemployment Labs has more here.
Essential Reads
Microsoft Outlook suffered a widespread outage that also knocked out Teams, SharePoint, Copilot, OneDrive, and other services, with Microsoft blaming “a large number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable” and saying it was redistributing traffic across its global infrastructure. TechCrunch has more here.
SpaceX and Tesla are reportedly advancing merger talks that could produce the biggest corporate deal ever, with an announcement possible as soon as December as their boards work through terms, governance, and regulatory hurdles tied in part to Tesla’s China operations and SpaceX’s U.S. defense work. Bloomberg has more here.
Detours
The Atlantic digs into parents’ growing use of location trackers, school apps, cameras, and other monitoring tools, which may be giving children fewer chances to develop independence and learn to solve problems on their own while also feeding parents’ anxiety.  
Men are increasingly embracing Botox as part of their grooming routines, spending an average of $529 per neurotoxin visit in the third quarter versus $455 for women, in part because their stronger facial muscles often require more product. 
Brain Rot
Retail Therapy
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Tips (the non-pecuniary kind)
Please send all of your hot gossip to [email protected] or [email protected].
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Top News
Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO on Thursday after admitting to an affair with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy, and CFO Colette Kress has been named interim CEO. The departure of the longtime leader of a company that has become a linchpin of the AI economy raises broader questions about Nvidia’s strategy, including whether it will remain one of open-source AI’s biggest corporate champions as it weighs a $13 billion acquisition of Hugging Face and continues backing open-weight models and startups. TechCrunch has more here.
Huang also had a third extramarital relationship with another Nvidia employee whose name Reuters is withholding. TechCrunch has more here.
Huang has agreed to testify under oath before Congress before Thanksgiving about his relationship with a woman suspected of spying for China after lawmakers threatened to subpoena him. Bloomberg has more here.
Singapore says the U.S. provided little help with its investigation of Alice Huang and her company Megaspeed, despite Singapore holding her passport for months after President Trump had been briefed that U.S. officials believed she was a Chinese intelligence asset. The New York Times has more here.
Sponsored By …
The future starts small.
Emergence uses Scout to evaluate startups against their thesis.
Jensen Huang Is Out At Nvidia — Who Is Colette Kress, His Interim Replacement?
Image Credits: Nvidia
By Amanda Silberling
The Nvidia Board of Directors announced on Thursday morning that the company’s co-founder and CEO of 33 years, Jensen Huang, has resigned as president, CEO, and member of the board, effective immediately.
This is a shocking twist for one of the most valuable companies in the world, which designs the chips that make the AI boom possible. Few people would have predicted this turn of events even just a week ago, as Huang has been so central to Nvidia throughout the company’s existence that he never even established a succession plan. But Huang has now been ousted after reports that he had affairs with both an alleged Chinese spy and one of his direct reports at Nvidia.
While the company conducts a more thorough search for Huang’s successor, Nvidia CFO and Executive Vice President Colette Kress has taken over as interim CEO. But beyond her name and job title, what do we know about the person who will now lead a company worth about $3.8 trillion?
According to Nvidia’s website, Kress has worked at the company since September 2013. Before that, she spent three years as an SVP and CFO of Cisco’s Business Technology Operations Finance organization. She also worked at Microsoft for 13 years, where she spent four years as CFO of the Server and Tools division. She holds a finance degree from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.
The California-based 59-year-old has a very limited social media presence — on Linkedin, she has commented some well wishes on former colleagues’ posts about their retirement. But as CFO, she’s been a regular presence on Nvidia’s earnings calls, making her a familiar figure for analysts covering the company.
Massive Fundings
Agile Robots, an eight-year-old Munich startup that develops AI-controlled humanoid and industrial robots that automate manufacturing, assembly, and warehouse work, raised a $500 million Series F round at an $8.5 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by SoftBank Group, with Nvidia, Hitachi, and T. Capital also buying in. The company has raised a total of about $2 billion. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Blue J, an 11-year-old Toronto company that uses AI to automate tax research, return reviews, regulatory compliance, and client communications for tax professionals, raised a $176 million Series E round at a $700+ million post-money valuation. The deal was led by JMI Equity, with Intrepid Growth Partners as well as previous investors Oak HC/FT and Sapphire Ventures also engaging. The SaaS News has more here.
LangChain, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that helps companies build, manage, and deploy AI agents, raised $300 million at a $3 billion valuation. The deal was led by CapitalG, with new investors GIC and DFJ Growth as well as previous investors IVP and Sapphire Ventures also participating. The Wall Street Journal has more here.
Q-CTRL, a nine-year-old Sydney startup that develops AI software that improves quantum-computing hardware and enables navigation when GPS signals are unavailable, raised a $290 million Series C round at a $1+ billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by previous investor Salesforce Ventures, with Affinity Partners, AMD Ventures, EDGE Group, MPower Partners, Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, and SPARX Asset Management as well as previous investors Alpha Edison, Alumni Ventures, Bullhound Capital, DCVC, In-Q-Tel, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Main Sequence, Ridgeline, Salus Ventures, and Square Peg also piling on. Forbes has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Biomatter, an eight-year-old Vilnius startup that uses generative AI and laboratory testing to design custom enzymes for pharmaceutical, diagnostics, agriculture, and industrial biotechnology customers, raised an $18 million Series A round led by Astanor, with previous investors UVC Partners, Inventure, and Metaplanet also digging in. EU-Startups has more here.
Duet, a three-year-old New York startup that helps nurse practitioners open and grow independent primary care practices through technology, operational support, and insurer contracting, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Kairos, with Lerer Hippeau also opting in. The company has raised a total of $22.5 million. Fierce Healthcare has more here.
Finite State, a nine-year-old startup based in Columbus, OH, that analyzes software and firmware in connected devices to help manufacturers find vulnerabilities and meet cybersecurity regulations, raised a $27 million Series C round led by private funds managed by The O.H.I.O. Fund, with CIBC Innovation Banking, Energy Impact Partners, Energize Capital, and National Grid Partners also pitching in. SecurityWeek has more here.
Gama, a six-year-old startup based in Ivry-sur-Seine, France, that develops deployable solar arrays and power-management systems for satellites using mass-produced silicon cells, raised a $16.7 million seed round. Investors included Transition, Planet A, Draper Associates, and Manta Ray. Tech Funding News has more here.
Griffin, a nine-year-old London startup that provides regulated banking infrastructure for businesses to embed accounts, payments, savings, and compliance tools in their products, raised a $20 million Series B round at a $100+ million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Octagon Partners, with Notion Capital, A+ Ventures, Nordic Ninja, and Breega also taking part. The company has raised a total of around $95 million. Tech Funding News has more here.
Hatz AI, a three-year-old New York startup that enables managed service providers to deploy and manage AI agents and workflows for small- and medium-sized businesses, raised a $24 million Series A round led by Nadia Partners, with Vestigo Ventures and The Private Shares Fund also taking stakes. More here.
Lumbra, a one-year-old startup based in New York and Washington, D.C., that builds software for deploying and governing AI agents in classified and other high-consequence environments, raised a $25 million Series A co-led by Point72 Ventures and Ansa Capital, with previous investor Costanoa also participating. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Luminal, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that develops compiler and cloud infrastructure that lets developers run AI models across different chips, raised a $25 million Series A round led by Standard Capital, with additional participation from previous investors Y Combinator, SagaVC, Liquid 2, and Felicis. The company has raised a total of $28+ million. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Nebuly, a four-year-old New York startup that measures how AI agents affect productivity, operational efficiency, and revenue at large enterprises, raised a $21 million Series A round led by Planven, with additional support from Exor Ventures, Tenacity Capital, TGVG Capital, Fastweb+Vodafone, CDP Venture Capital SGR, and Digital Transition Fund. Tech Funding News has more here.
SE3, a three-year-old Munich startup that develops software that helps autonomous drones and ground vehicles navigate and coordinate in complex environments, raised a $30 million Series A round led by Accel, with Keen, Lakestar, and Seedcamp also chiming in. EU-Startups has more here.
Zus Health, a six-year-old Boston startup that provides a patient information platform for healthcare organizations, raised a $33 million Series B round led by Drive Capital, with Sanofi Ventures, HealthX Ventures, and Alumni Ventures as well as existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, F-Prime, Maverick Ventures, and JAZZ Venture Partners also opting in. MobiHealthNews has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Anorak, a one-year-old London startup that develops generative video tools that let communities create and share interactive games based on their interests, raised a $5 million pre-seed round co-led by Play Ventures and Backed VC, with Supercell and MTG also chiming in. The SaaS News has more here.
Axle, a three-year-old New York startup that uses AI to help investment banks coordinate meetings, conferences, and roadshows between institutional investors and company executives, raised a $9 million seed round co-led by Eniac and Bonfire Ventures, with Teamworthy Ventures also chipping in. More here.
Delphina, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI agents to answer employees’ business questions using company data and documents, raised a $7.5 million round co-led by Radical Ventures and Costanoa, with Tenacity Capital, Fei-Fei Li, and Guido Imbens also investing. The company has raised a total of $15 million. More here.
Mondrio, a San Francisco and Amsterdam startup that uses AI agents to help B2B companies set prices, guide discounts, and automate quotes and approvals, raised a $3.75 million seed round led by Heartcore Capital, with additional participation from Pretiosum VC, Hersir Ventures, Cambrena Capital, and Momo VC. More here.
Provectus Algae, an eight-year-old startup based in Noosaville, Queensland, Australia, that uses algae-based biomanufacturing to make products including methane-reducing cattle feed, raised a $4.3 million Series A extension, bringing its Series A to $14+ million. At One Ventures led the Series A, while the extension added Queensland Investment Corporation as a new investor alongside previous shareholders. More here.
Qvyon Technologies, a one-year-old Montreal startup that develops software that simulates hazardous scenarios to test autonomous vehicles and robots before deployment, raised an $8 million seed round led by MaC Venture Capital, with BDC Capital, BKR Capital, and Spotlight VP also buying in. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Staera Semiconductor, a 10-year-old San Francisco company that develops optical links integrated into silicon chips to move data between processors and memory components, raised a $4.6 million pre-seed round led by Openspace Capital, with SGInnovate, Black Kite Capital, 28 Holdings, In Group, and Decimus Technologies also chipping in. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Sponsored By …
In 2026, your portfolio shouldn’t have old-school cap table software.
500+ VC funds back companies on Cake, the modern equity platform. Cap table, grants, 409As and compliance live in one place, ready for audit and diligence from day one. Leading US startup law firms work inside it, and investors get a clean, current cap table whenever they ask for it.
Switching from any platform is free, and our team handles the migration. See why founders choose Cake.
New Funds
Norwest, a 65-year-old investment firm based in Menlo Park, CA, that backs tech, healthcare, and consumer companies from early-stage throu
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