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Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
Google handed its CEO a pay package worth up to $692m, most of it in Alphabet stock plus shares in Waymo and Wing. Nothing says "we believe in moonshots" like tying your CEO's wealth to autonomous cars and delivery drones. Meanwhile, Anthropic released a list of jobs that will be impacted by AI. Reads like a Doom’s Day report for white-collar workers. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.
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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party
Europe’s AI cloud contender lands $2bn megadeal
Nvidia-backed AI cloud start-up Nscale has raised $2bn in a record Series C round for Europe, valuing the two-year-old UK company at $14.6bn. The round underscores surging investor appetite for AI infrastructure despite market jitters. Former Meta heavyweights Sheryl Sandberg and Nick Clegg are joining the board as Nscale ramps up data centre projects for customers including OpenAI and Microsoft.
Flink raises $100m as quick commerce stages a comeback
Berlin-based Flink raised $100m at a $900m valuation, led by Prosus. The company claims it now operates profitably at EBITDA level across Germany and the Netherlands. A far cry from its $5bn peak in 2022, but a signal that quick commerce may finally have a sustainable business model after the sector shakeout.
Nvidia and UK government back self-driving startup Oxa
Oxford spinout Oxa raised $103m in a Series D first close, with $50m from the UK National Wealth Fund and backing from Nvidia's venture arm and BP Ventures. The company builds autonomous vehicle software for industrial settings like ports, airports and factories, not public roads. It plans to raise more by mid-2026.
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Food for thought
Are European startups hiding as Delaware corps?
We analyzed all 5,690 Y Combinator companies ever funded. 402 had European headquarters. Europe's share of YC batches dropped from 13.1% in 2021 to 5.5% in 2025. Looks like decline, but probably isn't. Incorporations in Delaware or European founders moving to SF show up as American. Is this a sign of Europe not being attractive?
Are more people coming from the US to Europe?
The Economist flags a reversal in tech talent migration: for the first time, more tech workers are moving from the US to Europe than the other way around. Notable, though: migration patterns in general are declining. Is this the rise of Europe, or the collapse of a global tech scene?
