The Rundown: Edition 26 – Natalie Portman, $14M for Matta, and ideal cities
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Trump approves the sale of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to China
US President Donald Trump has sanctioned the sale of Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips to “approved customers” in China. Trump argues that the move balances US job creation with national security concerns. BBC
Nick Clegg announces venture capital career pivot
Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Meta executive, is taking on a new role as a general partner at Hiro Capital. He will be joined by former colleague Meta AI chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, who serves as an advisor. FT
SpaceX set for $1.5tn IPO
The rocket manufacturer is preparing for an initial public offering next year, which would make it one of the largest public listings to date. SpaceX executives and advisors are pursuing a 2026 IPO with a target valuation of about $1.5 trillion. Times
FCA outlines measures to boost UK investment culture
The Financial Conduct Authority has announced a package of measures to foster a stronger “investment culture” among UK retail investors, intended to make it easier for consumers to understand investments. UKTN
Dutch payments firm Mollie buys GoCardless for €1.1bn
Amsterdam-based Mollie, which is backed by Blackstone and EQT, has agreed to buy British unicorn GoCardless in a deal that will create a European fintech powerhouse with a €3 billion valuation. FT
London fintech CapRelease raises £27m in debt and equity
CapRelease, which provides flexible capital to e-commerce retailers, has secured a £25 million senior debt facility from private credit firm Partners for Growth and a £2 million equity investment from a fintech-focused family office. Sky
Hello Vet closes £15m Series A
Founded in 2022, Hello Vet – the first veterinary practice to invite pet owners into treatment and recovery rooms – has announced its Series A funding round, with backing from Addition and Future Positive, alongside 15 leading vets. Times
University of Cambridge spinout raises $14m
Matta is building industrial AI for factory sentience, enabling factories to see, understand, and improve in real time. Lakestar and Giant Ventures co-led the funding, with participation from other investors such as InMotion Ventures and 1st Kind (Peugeot family). tech.eu
Market research business Bolt Insight secures £7m
Bolt Insight, which helps brands unlock consumer insights through AI-moderated research, has announced a £7 million funding round led by Pembroke VCT with participation from 212, Active Partners, Velocity and TIBAS Ventures. UKTN
Natalie Portman joins the vegan leather party
The award-winning actress and campaigner has joined UNCAGED Innovations as a strategic investor and board member. She praised Elevate, the biomaterial created by UNCAGED, for looking and feeling like real leather in a sustainable, animal-free way. Vogue
EU agrees to cut emissions 90% by 2040
According to Louis Fearn, Principal at InMotion Ventures, the EU’s decision provides “the long-term certainty that investors needed to continue deploying capital into net zero technology at scale”. CNBC
Where are the most investable UK regions?
Michael Anstey, Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), describes Cambridge’s startup ecosystem as a “living cell”, adding that the city’s strength is bolstered by its position in the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor. Sifted
Overvalued AI apps most at risk when bubble bursts
The AI bubble remains intact – for now – but apps with high valuations will struggle to survive any correction in the AI market boom, according to Sampsa Samila, Professor of Strategic Management at IESE Business School. Fast Company
The ultimate AI agent
Ted Lappas, Co-founder of Conscium, believes that jobs without a physical element will be susceptible to AI agents taking over. These agents will get more sophisticated with time, “until we get to the ultimate agent: the version that operates like a human”. Sifted
If you could build your perfect city, what would it look like? Maybe free public transport and childcare, or perhaps clean streets and lots of green spaces. Well, some uber-wealthy tech entrepreneurs are turning their ideal cities into a reality. Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase, has started a “Network School” on an artificial island near Singapore. There, techno-optimists can work remotely while living in a hotel together and learning how to “bootstrap” a new society – for as little as $1,500 a month. Or the libertarian “charter city” Prospera might be more your vibe. It’s a free-for-all tax haven on Roatán island in Honduras, which has raised over $100 million in investments from tech titans such as Peter Thiel, Adam Draper, and Marc Andreessen. Anyone keen to visit?
Or maybe your ideal city is a social media-free zone. Take Australia, for example, which has just banned platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit and YouTube for under-16s. Critics argue that the ban could make children less safe online, impinge on their rights and will be difficult to enforce. However, some teens are finding ways around the ban and still using such apps and websites. While the UK isn’t yet feeling pressure to do the same, this may change with time. Whether this law remains solely in Australia or has a worldwide ripple effect, we’re sure to see a spike in VPN use – just as we did when the UK introduced the Online Safety Act.
When designing that perfect city, you’ll surely want it to be protected. If it’s in Europe, you may be in favour of a defence VC to fund the technologies that can safeguard civilians, militaries and critical infrastructure. As they say, there’s no time like the present, particularly as the UK and Germany are emerging as defencetech hubs thanks to AI. Innovation requires investment, but some believe that “traditional venture capital models don’t work for defence”. Perhaps blended capital is the answer.