The Wayve of the Future

Top News

• Nvidia backs Wavye, plans UK spend: As part of a £2 billion investment into the UK, American GPU giant Nvidia pre-announced a $500 million investment into Wayve, a British self-driving technology company. Nvidia took part in the company’s preceding funding round, alongside Microsoft and SoftBank, and it seems Accel and other local investing groups are joining in the cash splashing. Nvidia also recently announced plans to take a $5 billion stake in Intel, after the US government leveraged a 10% stake out of the CPU concern to unlock previously agreed-upon grants.

• More AI spend, more AI capital? OpenAI intends to spend around $100 billion on what The Information describes as “backup servers from cloud providers” over the next half-decade. This, the publication notes, is in addition to its massive buy of compute capacity from Oracle. The race to command more compute is getting pretty darn expensive. As xAI builds out its second-generation supercomputing cluster (Colossus 2), both CNBC and Bloomberg report that the company has raised $10 billion in additional funds, this time at a $200 billion valuation. xAI CEO Elon Musk denied the reports.

• Notion launches agents: In what Notion is calling the “third generation” of its product, AI agents are making their way into the collaboration and database tool. Users will be able to name, define, and tune their own agent, which Notion claims will “understand your work [and] take action” on your behalf. As with all AI features, the proof will be in the usage pudding, but in the wake of its merger with Grammarly, Notion appears to have kept its foot firmly on the product pedal.

YC Startups: Summer 2025

Continuing our coverage of our favorite startups from the latest Y Combinator accelerator cohort, here’s our final three four favorites:

• Interfere: The Interfere team has a big vision. They want to build a tool capable of seeing where software users are struggling, determine the “root cause” of their woes, and fix the problem, all before a human even checks the pertinent logs. The gist is that Interfere wants to make code antifragile. It’s working along similar lines to CodeRabbit, which is growing like a weed and recently raised $60 million.

• Luminal: Another small company with a huge idea, Luminal wants to make AI models run faster with lower GPU requirements. How does it do that? By compiling AI models “into zero-overhead GPU code,” which it says runs up to ten times faster. With an open-source approach, its machine learning compiler has already racked up more than 2,000 GitHub stars. One to watch.

• Vulcan Technologies: While OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Google all want to sell their AI products to the government, smaller players aren’t taking a pass on that growing market. Vulcan has three products: AI for regulators, AI for government affairs workers, and AI for companies dealing with regulated products and services. The startup claims that it is working with the government of Virginia and that the federal US Department of Education is using its service, too. That’s impressive traction for so young a company.

• Nox Metals: Need some metal? Nox wants to source, cut, and ship it to you. Fast. It manages the feat through what it calls “software-paced ops.” Today, Nox can slice you up four different aluminium varieties, along with tool steel, in chunks up to 144.5 inches by 60.5 inches. Having spent a portion of my youth turning the handles of lathes and milling machines, I’m impressed by the company’s focus on such a basic — but critical — part of our national manufacturing supply chain. May Nox ship many blocks of metal. Double points if they are sourced locally.

I love accelerators, so our work to highlight 15 different Y Combinator companies this week has been a treat. A big shoutout to Lon for helping out. Chat Monday! — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2180: It’s a TWiST double-header as Jason and Alex welcome TWO guests currently blowing up on social media. First, Kaan Doğrusöz of Weave Robotics shows off his company’s Isaac robot, designed for laundry folding, which will actually be released to early adopters later on this year. Then, investor Eric Jackson swings by the show to talk about his investment in Opendoor, and why he thinks the beleaguered company could not only turn things around but become the next “100 bagger.” Plus the “End of Apprenticeship,” Jason’s “Bring Your Own Algorithm” pitch, and much more.

E2179: Alex is back with another trio of TWiST 500 interviews. First up, Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine walks us through the basics of “Really Simple Licensing” (RSL), and how they’re helping writers actually get PAID for their content. Then, Human Native CEO Dr. James Smith takes us on a deep dive of the convoluted world of AI licensing, and explains why his company is pivoting from their former IP marketplace model. Finally, Jason Marks of TELO Trucks introduces us to his EV mini-truck, designed both for tough jobs and big city driving.

E2178: It’s a busy week at LAUNCH, with our new accelerator (Cohort 35!) and a fresh Founder University class both kicking off. But we STILL MADE TIME FOR TWiST. Join Jason and Alex for a rundown of the week’s biggest stories, including Alphabet joining the $3T market cap club, Eric Schmidt getting his flowers for being totally right about remote work, Polymarket adding earnings reports, and why Jason is so excited about the explosion of prediction markets more generally.

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Angel University is Back!

Jason and Mike Savino are hosting our next virtual Angel University workshop on Tuesday, October 7. Jason will share proven strategies he’s used to invest $200M+ in over 500 startups. Whether you’re new to angel investing or looking to sharpen your skills, this is your chance to learn directly from one of the most active angel investors in the world. Register now at angel.university!

Founder U is Coming to the MENA Region!

Our 12-week pre-accelerator—designed to help early-stage founders build and grow—kicks off this fall in Saudi Arabia. The first cohort launches in Riyadh on November 3rd, followed by in-person and virtual sessions throughout the program. Founders in MENA: this is your chance to turn your idea into a business and get world-class insights on building a successful startup. Apply today: https://mena.founder.university/

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