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Boom Supersonic raises $300M to build natural gas turbines for Crusoe data centers Dec 10, 2025

Show notes

Crusoe will pay Boom $1.25 billion for more than a gigawatt of generating capacity with deliveries of the turbines starting in 2027.

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Empromptu raises $2M pre-seed to help enterprises build AI apps; Pebble’s founder introduces a $75 AI smart ring for recording brief notes Dec 09, 2025

Show notes

Empromptu claims all a user has to do is tell the platform's AI chatbot what they want — like a new HTML or JavaScript app — and the AI will go ahead and build it.

Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky is expanding his company's device lineup with a new smart wearable: an AI-powered smart ring known as Index 01.

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Tiger Global plans cautious venture future with a new $2.2B fund; plus, SoftBank and Nvidia reportedly in talks to fund SkildAI at $14B, nearly tripling its value Dec 09, 2025

Show notes

Tiger's last fund did well with investments in OpenAI, Waymo and Databricks. But it warns investors that AI valuations are already 'elevated.'

Skild AI is developing a hardware-agnostic foundation model for robots that can be customized for various uses.

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Heat pump startup Quilt raises $20M Series B to expand sales ; plus, OpenAI says it’s turned off app suggestions that look like ads Dec 08, 2025

Show notes

Quilt has sold nearly 1,000 units in the U.S. and Canada, and the new funding should help expand sales operations to more states and provinces.

Also, while OpenAI continues to insist that there are currently no ads — or tests for advertising — live in ChatGPT, the company’s chief research officer also acknowledged that the company “fell short” with recent promotional messages.

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Meta acquires AI device startup Limitless; and Is it time to ‘refound’ your startup? Dec 08, 2025

Show notes

Limitless said it shares Meta's vision of bringing personal superintelligence to everyone.

Also, sometimes, founding a startup just once isn’t enough.

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New streaming channel launches to give viewers a peek into city council meetings Dec 05, 2025

Show notes

Hamlet TV is a way to help keep citizens informed of what's happening inside local governments.

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Nexus isn’t going all in on AI, keeping half of its new $700M fund for India startups; plus, Amazon hopes to jump-start its AI coding tool Kiro by giving it away to startups Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

Nexus Venture Partners manages $3.2 billion in capital across its funds and has invested in more than 130 companies over the years.

Also, can Kiro win the hearts of startup founders above the many AI coding tools they already have? Amazon hopes a free year will tempt them.

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VCs deploy ‘kingmaking’ strategy to crown AI winners in their infancy Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

While VCs have long used big investments to spur category winners, they are taking this strategy to new extremes.

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Microreactor startup Antares raises $96M for land, sea, and space-based nuclear power; plus Kalshi raises $1B at $11B valuation Dec 03, 2025

Show notes

Antares is designing and building small modular reactors that it plans to deploy for commercial, space, and defense applications.

The latest funding comes less than two months after Kalshi announced that it raised $300 million at a $5 billion valuation.

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Titan OS raises $58 million from Highland Europe for its smart TV OS; also, Paris-based AI voice startup Gradium nabs $70M seed Dec 02, 2025

Show notes

Titan OS aims to expand its independent TV operating system in Europe and Latin America.

Gradium, a startup spawned out of French AI lab Kyutai (backed by French telecom billionaire Xavier Niel), launched out of stealth on Tuesday.

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