Granted, it’ll have been less than (or about) 24 hours into that new world by the time you’re reading this, and there’s so much we don’t know about what a Jensen-less AI landscape looks like. One thing we do know: It will affect the private markets. 

“Nvidia matters more to private AI markets than any single investor because it has three roles,” said Harrison Rolfes, PitchBook senior research analyst, who was among many who answered my feverish reporting calls yesterday. “It’s the largest corporate investor in U.S. AI. It’s the main supplier for AI startups, and it’s the main [benchmark] public stock investors use to judge the AI market.”

Now, in the near term at least, how Nvidia and new interim CEO Colette Kress will handle dealmaking is in question. Rolfes pointed out to me that Nvidia invested $189 billion in 2026, making it AI’s top U.S. corporate backer. This broke down somewhat expectedly: OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI account for $172 billion, and 27 other deals make up the remaining $17 billion. Kress, and any Huang successor, could be more circumspect moving forward. (Indeed, worth noting: Nvidia’s blockbuster $12.93 billion buyout of open-source startup Hugging Face hasn’t yet closed.) And some companies will struggle more than others, especially neoclouds, for which Huang was dealmaker and guarantor.

“If they’re dependent on Nvidia to bankroll them, like [CoreWeave] or Lambda Labs or some of these neoclouds, then I think you could be really screwed,” one early-stage VC told me. 

Much will move forward, nevertheless: My colleague Beatrice Nolan and I reported that Anthropic’s IPO is high-stakes but (for now) very much on, and some VCs told me that, yes, this could pressure AI valuations—and so what. 

“I think the valuations were ridiculous anyway,” said Rob Biederman, managing partner at Asymmetric. “I don’t think it would be the worst thing for the tech world if there was a little bit of a reset shakeout because a lot of things are getting funded right now that aren’t especially good ideas.” 

For startups wondering what’s next, Rolfes had some advice: Nvidia will invest less for now, but (on the bright side) it’s possible GPU prices will also drop.

“If you’re a startup, maybe don’t reach out to Nvidia in the short term to get investment cash,” he said. “What they should do is reach out to go get compute, go buy the chips…If some of these startups can get a hold of cheaper chips, then they can build out their product, which means we’ll probably start to see an influx of seed-stage [and] Series A-stage startups moving up.”

Here’s our larger feature contemplating life in AI after Jensen.

See you Monday,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com

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Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE CAPITAL

- Mirendil, a San Francisco-based developer of tools for frontier AI research, raised $1 billion in Series A funding. Kleiner Perkins and Clearlake Capital led the round and were joined by Battery Ventures, Doerr Capital, Google, M13, Pear VC, and S32.

- UFORCE, a London, U.K.-based developer of uncrewed defense systems, raised $700 million in Series A funding. Valor Equity Partners and the U.K. National Wealth Fund led the round and were joined by Menlo Ventures, Shield Capital, Ballistic Ventures, Lakestar, and others.

- Databento, a Salt Lake City-based market data platform, raised $100 million in Series C funding. Fifth Down Capital led the round.

- SE3, a Munich-based developer of spatial AI software for military drones, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Accel led the round and was joined by Keen, Lakestar, and Seedcamp.

- Hatz AI, a provider of a platform that lets managed service providers sell AI services to small businesses, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Nadia Partners led the round and was joined by Vestigo Ventures and The Private Shares Fund.

- Nebuly, a Turin, Italy-based provider of software that measures the return on enterprise AI, raised $21 million in Series A funding. Planven led the round and was joined by Exor Ventures and others.

- Griffin, a London, U.K.-based embedded banking platform, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Octagon Partners led the round and was joined by Notion Capital, A+ Ventures, NordicNinja, and Breega.

- Biomatter, a Vilnius, Lithuania-based developer of AI-designed enzymes, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Astanor led the round and was joined by UVC Partners, Inventure, and Metaplanet.

- Gama, a Paris, France-based maker of lightweight solar arrays for satellites, raised €15 million ($16.6 million) in seed funding from Transition, Planet A, Draper Associates, and Manta Ray.

- Duet, a New York City-based network of primary care practices owned by nurse practitioners, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Kairos led the round and was joined by Lerer Hippeau.

- Athlete To Athlete, a youth sports mentorship platform, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Rally Ventures led the round.

- Twin1 AI, a San Mateo, Calif.-based developer of AI digital twins for professionals, raised $5 million in seed extension funding. Curql led the round and was joined by Greyhair Ventures and KittyHawk Frontier.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Branford Castle Partners acquired Floratine Products Group, a Collierville, Tenn.-based maker of specialty plant nutrition products for golf courses, sports turf, and agriculture. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Bluestone Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in 11th St. Workshop, a New York City-based designer and fabricator of custom environments for live events, brand campaigns, and retail spaces. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Trusted Space, a Washington Harbour Partners portfolio company, acquired Falcon ExoDynamics, an El Segundo, Calif.-based developer of autonomy technology for national security spacecraft. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IPOs

- vVardis, a Zug, Switzerland-based health care and dental company, now plans to raise up to $199.2 million in an offering of 8.3 million shares priced between $21 and $24 on the New York Stock Exchange.