AI Venture Stream

Galbot and Fourier Backed a Former Fourier Engineer: China's Robot Makers Are Raising Shared Suppliers

On October 20, Galbot and Fourier both invested in YITA Dynamics, founded by Fourier's former head of humanoid power R&D, Zhong Xuegang. According to the SVTR AI venture database, of 25 rounds since August 2025 in which Chinese robot companies invested in other companies, 6 came between October 10 and 22: 5 went into joints, sensors, chips or cooling, and 3 had two or more robot companies in the same round. Our view: Chinese robot makers are co-owning shared suppliers. The stakes buy delivery priority when capacity is tight, not exclusivity. In the US, Figure is bringing actuators, hands and batteries into its own factory.

Jun Ye Wins the Wolf Prize: Money Pours into Quantum Computing, Orders Land on Atomic Clocks

Jun Ye has won the 2026 Wolf Prize in Physics. Looking at the companies that grew out of his lab, venture capital is betting on quantum computing: six neutral-atom computing startups in the SVTR AI Venture Database have raised about $1.88B, with Oratomic alone raising $775M in its first year, while timing and sensing startups mostly sit in the tens of millions. Yet orders at scale are landing on atomic clocks first, with DARPA contracting IonQ for up to 125 optical atomic clocks.

SVTR Field Notes: Bay Angels' October Pitch Night, Where All Six Skipped General AI Customer Service

Six early-stage companies pitched at Bay Angels in Palo Alto on October 22. The four enterprise software startups (ChargeMate, Clyn, Cadents, Tweelin) avoided general AI customer service and went deep into industry workflows: EV charging operations, cleaning verification, IT asset replacement. The two healthcare companies (Calaris, Immergo) run on clocks set by regulators. Includes a list of on-stage claims still to verify.

Beyond Eric Schmidt's 1% of Anthropic: 13 of the 20 AI companies he backed personally build models

Bloomberg reports Eric Schmidt owns about 1% of Anthropic. According to the SVTR AI venture database, 13 of the 20 AI companies he has backed in his own name train their own models, versus 4 of 27 for Innovation Endeavors, the fund he co-founded, since 2023. His fund backs apps; his own money backs models, and Anthropic is the first of those bets to pay off.

Funding Halved, and the Money Went to Gatekeeping AI Agents

The SVTR AI Venture Activity Index fell 4.8% to 155.7 this week. 92 confirmed AI rounds totaled $3.3B, less than half of last week. Money was scarcer, yet deals that put gates around AI agents piled up: five agent security and governance companies raised $120M combined, and Workday signed to acquire agent identity platform C1.ai.