This Week in Startups

🚀 Google is rolling Gemini into Chrome — starting now, rolling out over weeks:
Chat w/ Gemini about any page
Summarize across tabs
Recall past sites
Deep hooks into Calendar, YouTube, Maps

🔜 Coming soon: agentic browsing + AI mode in the search bar.

📊 Why? Chrome survived antitrust → Google free to push Gemini hard.

💡 Market response: grumbles, but users stay. Competitors (OpenAI, Perplexity, Atlassian, MS, xAI) will scramble.

👀 Only thing slowing Google? Protecting its ads cash cow. For now

💰 Nvidia backs Intel with $5B @ $23.28/share + new partnership:

Intel to build NVIDIA-custom x86 CPUs for data centers

Intel to build x86 SoCs w/ RTX GPU chiplets for PCs


📈 Intel stock +20% on the news.
🤔 But… its messy foundry biz still unsolved.
🇺🇸 With USG already owning 10%, this makes Nvidia + the gov Intel’s biggest shareholders.

Smart politics? Definitely. Smart business? TBD

👓 Meta just dropped two big updates:

Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 → 2x battery, 3k video, $379

Meta Ray-Ban Display → AR glasses w/ built-in 600x600 display, gesture control, AI, $799

Millions sold of Gen1 → Expect major upgrades.

Demo? Kinda messy.

Privacy? Always-on LED when recording.

Would you buy these?

Al chipmaker Groq has raised $750 million in new funding, boosting its valuation to $6.9 billion.
The round, led by Disruptive and joined by major investors like BlackRock, Samsung, Cisco, and Deutsche Telekom, comes as demand for Groq’s inference capacity continues to surge. The company says customers are requesting more capacity than it can provide, underscoring its positioning in a market still constrained by compute supply.

A framework agreement has been reached in Washington allowing TikTok to continue operating in the US, with the deal expected to close in 30–45 days. Under the plan, TikTok will form a US entity with an 80% stake held by American investors — led by Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz — while Chinese shareholders retain the remainder. The new company will have a US-dominated board, including one government-appointed member. US users will migrate to a new app built by TikTok, using recommendation algorithms licensed from ByteDance, while Oracle will manage user data at its Texas facilities. President Trump has extended the TikTok ban deadline to December 16 to accommodate the transition, though legal concerns remain.

Lyft announced a partnership with Waymo to expand autonomous mobility in Nashville starting in 2026. Lyft’s Flexdrive subsidiary will manage fleet operations, including maintenance, infrastructure, and depot services, while Waymo rides will initially remain hailable only through the Waymo app before later becoming available in Lyft’s app that same year. The move comes as Waymo pushes into new markets like Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Miami, while also exploring New York City and preparing for test drives to San Francisco International Airport. Following the news, Lyft shares jumped 12%, boosting its market cap to $8.2 billion.

In town for SXSW?! is doing a LIVE Q&A today from 4 to 6pm

Founder Fridays Pitch Madness Competition has begun!Check out these awesome meetups from different cities across the country. Any final four predictions????

Panel done! Time for meets and greets with the community.