Morning Scan

The AI money keeps flowing sideways in increasingly creative ways — chips-for-equity, licensing-for-compute, payments-companies-buying-routers — while everyone insists it's not a bubble, just "the singularity." Robotaxis keep expanding city by city and regulators keep circling. Business as usual, just faster.

$6B — Nvidia's licensing deal with Poolside, on top of a $1B investment at a $12B valuation. (Newcomer)

Machines & Minds

Poolside Strikes $6 Billion Licensing Deal with Nvidia

Nvidia keeps finding new ways to fund its own demand — this time via a model-building startup few outside AI circles have heard of. (Newcomer)

Nvidia Discusses $20B Mercor Investment

Nvidia already paid Mercor tens of millions last quarter — now it wants equity too. The chipmaker is becoming AI's largest LP. (The Information)

Stripe Didn't Really Buy OpenRouter Because of the 'Singularity'

A payments company buying a prompt-routing startup makes more sense once you remember Stripe's whole business is plumbing. (TechCrunch)

Stripe Told Investors January 1 Marked the "Beginning of the Singularity"

H1 revenue up 41% YoY gives that grandiose framing some actual backing. (Axios)

Callosum Raises $100M, With the British State on the Cap Table

Six months after a $10M seed, the UK sovereign fund just tripled down on software that makes AI workloads cheaper — sovereignty and cost control in one bet. (The Next Web)

Brand & Growth

Uber, Verne, and Pony.ai Launch Autonomous Rides in Zagreb

Europe's robotaxi debut arrives via Croatia, not Berlin or Paris — a reminder that regulatory speed matters more than market size. (Reuters)

Waymo's Cheaper Robotaxi Now Open to All Riders in Three Cities

The Ojai is Waymo's bid to stop burning cash per ride — scale finally meets a cost curve. (TechCrunch)

Amazon Aims for Delivery Drones to Reach 500 US Neighborhoods by End of 2026

A sixfold expansion target for Prime Air — ambitious given how slowly this program has moved so far. (Ars Technica)

Australia's News Bargaining Incentive Passes Parliament

Meta, Google, TikTok, and LinkedIn are now on the hook whether they carry news or not — five years of lobbying didn't stop the bill, it just delayed it. (The Next Web)

The EU Shifts From Fines to Technical DMA Orders (paywall)

Brussels is done writing headline-grabbing checks and moving toward forcing actual compliance — scarier for Big Tech than another fine. (Politico)

Connected World

OpenAI CFO Says Company "Will Be a Public Company in 2027"

Sarah Friar left herself an out — "or sooner if our business continues to inflect" — which is corporate-speak for "ask us again in six months." (CNBC)

Munich Re Acquires Cyber Insurer At-Bay for $575M

A modest markup from At-Bay's 2021 $1.35B private valuation — a rare down-ish exit in a sector that usually only goes up. (CTech)