Morning Scan

The week starts with Tesla expanding its robotaxi footprint while Europe throws €80 billion at its scaleup problem, and Nvidia's Jensen Huang warns that DeepSeek optimizing for Huawei chips would be a nightmare scenario for US AI dominance. Meanwhile, luxury brands are rethinking their Middle East expansion as regional instability hammers Gulf state sales.

€80B — Europe's new fund of funds aims to unlock this much in scaleup funding, addressing the continent's notorious growth-stage capital gap.. (The Next Web)

Connected World

Tesla expands its robotaxi service to Dallas and Houston

The company started offering rides without safety drivers in January — now it's time to see if the Texas expansion can prove the model scales beyond Austin. (TechCrunch)

Nvidia's Huang warns DeepSeek running on Huawei chips would be 'horrible' for the US

The CEO's warning on the Dwarkesh Podcast highlights how China's AI efficiency gains could bypass US hardware dominance entirely. (The Next Web)

Anthropic's Amodei meets Wiles and Bessent at the White House in first step toward resolving Mythos standoff

The CEO's sit-down with Trump's chief of staff and treasury secretary suggests the administration is taking AI safety governance seriously. (The Next Web)

Even Netflix is getting in on vertical videos, mobile app redesign gets discussed

The streaming giant is finally acknowledging that people watch video on phones, not just TVs — only about five years late to the TikTok party. (Android Central)

Connected World

Europe is pouring tens of billions of public money into VC. The hard part is making it work

The European Investment Fund's €15 billion ETCI 2 initiative aims to solve Europe's scaleup funding gap, but public money doesn't automatically create Silicon Valley dynamics. (The Next Web)

Expo, which develops an eponymous React Native framework, raised a $45M Series B led by Georgian

Cross-platform mobile development tools are having a moment as companies try to reduce their iOS/Android maintenance burden. (SiliconANGLE)

Luxury Brands Bet on the Middle East. War Has Damaged Their Plans.

Louis Vuitton and Hermès are scrambling for new markets after Persian Gulf sales collapsed — turns out geopolitical stability matters for selling $5,000 handbags. (NYT)