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Clean tech startup Fluxnium found a way to tap 50,000 years’ worth of nuclear fuel; plus, Hang Ten Systems nabbed another $53m Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Fluxnium's fibers can extract uranium directly from seawater, which has enough of the nuclear fuel to power thousands of generations.

Also, Hang Ten is a Palo Alto startup and says it has landed multiple seven-figure enterprise contracts within months of launch.

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Early Anthropic hire, former METR COO have found a way to rein in rogue AI agents; plus, health benefits platform Thatch reaches $1B valuation Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

Their startup, Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC) has raised $40 million in a Series A round led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from First Harmonic.

Also, Thatch is a five-year-old startup and the company raised $108 million from The General Partnership, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, and Andreessen Horowitz.

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Superhuman acquired notetaker Fathom; plus, OpenAI bought smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging, and AI infrastructure company Cornelis raised $205M Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

Fathom said that it has over 400,000 monthly active users.

Also, Glass Imaging was founded by a pair of former Apple engineers who previously led the team that developed Apple's Portrait Mode.

And Cornelis, a company creating networking technology to help AI chips communicate more effectively, announced Monday that it has raised $205 million.

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Fusion power startups find new partners in the defense world; plus, Mecka AI nears $500M valuation amid rush for robot training data Sep 14, 2026

Show notes

Fusion startups are inking defense-related deals, reigniting the relationship between fusion and national security that might have gone dormant, but never completely disappeared.

Also, the round for Mecka is coming together months after Mecka announced its Series A.

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Defense tech Mach Industries doubled its valuation in 3 months; plus, Maven Robotics wants to steal your robot deployment deal Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

Mach Industries is a buzzy startup that raised $600 million in its Series C round.

AlsoMaven Robotics emerged from stealth Thursday with a $100 million Series A and active deployments.

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CloudNC raises $20M to automate manufacturing’s most pressing bottlenecks; plus, Sequoia doubles down on Cymphony Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

UK-based manufacturing software startup CloudNC announced Wednesday a $20 million B extension round, bringing its lifetime total raised amount to $128 million.

Also, Cymphony was valued at more than $100 million in a $25 million Series A co-led by Sequoia and SMBC Fin Atlas Beyond Fund.

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Nuclear startup Bluecore Energy raises $50M seed round, just two months after launch; plus, Poseidon Aerospace eyes first pilotless test flight, and Stoke Space raises another billion Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

-Founder Kofi Asante wasn’t planning on fundraising this year, but calls kept coming after their pre-seed launch.

-Poseidon is embracing autonomy and remote piloting, but it’s not bothering with the vertical takeoff and landing tech that is de rigueur among so many aviation startups.

-Stoke is one of a handful of startups attempting to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the low-cost rocket launch space.

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Travis Kalanick’s Atoms might be getting into the robotaxi business; plus, Krafton doubles down on India Sep 08, 2026

Show notes

-Atoms is reportedly preparing for a hiring spree, as well as acquisitions, that could make it a major player in the autonomous vehicle industry.

-Krafton is a South Korean gaming company behind titles including PUBG and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), plans to invest another $250 million in India over the next three to four years as it pushes beyond gaming into AI, robotics, and deep tech.

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Ollie is betting its focus on privacy can help it win the AI assistant race; plus, Qualcomm backs Ultrahuman Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

The family-focused AI assistant wants access to the details of your everyday life, but says it won’t use that data to train AI models or share it with others.

Ultrahuman is targeting a $200 million annual revenue run rate by January 2027 as it builds a new Qualcomm-powered smart ring.

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Volunteer at TechCrunch Founder Summit in Boston Sep 06, 2026

Show notes

Our rebranded Boston event, TechCrunch Founder Summit (formerly All Stage), is back on November 4th! And we are looking for some incredible volunteers to help us make this event happen. If you are interested in finding out what goes into building tech events, apply to volunteer.

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