Etched announced a working inference chip and over $1 billion in signed contracts after emerging from stealth with $800 million raised and a $5 billion valuation. Their rack-scale system, built on TSMC’s N4P process, is already running models like DeepSeek, Qwen and Llama, and production is ramping at new Taiwan and San Jose facilities.

• Etched has working A0 silicon on TSMC's N4P process and a rack-scale system already running DeepSeek, Qwen, Mamba and Llama models
• The company raised $800M total, including a $500M round in December at a $5B post-money valuation, backed by Peter Thiel, Karpathy, Hinton, Fei-Fei Li and major trading firms
• It has over $1 billion in signed customer contracts despite being just under three years old
• Etched is building out Taiwan production and a San Jose HQ (data center, test house, NPI lab) with a goal of gigawatt-scale manufacturing by 2027

a16z Speedrun offers up to $1 million in funding and $5 million in credits for startups, plus hands-on support from operators across recruiting, marketing, go-to-market, HR, visa assistance, and more. The Summer/Fall SR007 cohort runs July 27–October 11, 2026; applications close May 17, 2026 at 11:59 pm PT. Late applications roll into the next cohort.

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The article outlines significant mergers and acquisitions in the digital health sector during Q1 2026, highlighting deals like Hims & Hers acquiring Eucalyptus and Universal Health Services purchasing Talkspace. It also notes continued large funding rounds and the emergence of new unicorns, reflecting a shift toward strategic growth rather than public market exits.

• M&A is replacing IPOs as the main exit path in digital health: Hims & Hers bought Eucalyptus ($240M upfront, up to $1.15B) for Australian market entry, Sword Health paid $285M for Kaia Health to expand in Europe, and UHS bought Talkspace for $835M—well below its SPAC-era valuation.
• Despite the IPO freeze, funding stayed strong and selective: OpenEvidence raised $250M at a $12B valuation and WHOOP raised $575M at over $10B, with seven new unicorns minted this quarter (e.g., Eight Sleep at $1.5B, eMed above $2B).
• Capital is concentrating in fewer, higher-performing companies while strategic buyers prioritize geographic expansion and folding digital tools into established care models.

Yupp, an AI model-picking service, is shutting down less than a year after launching despite initial user growth and backing from prominent investors. The founders cited an inability to achieve product-market fit and rapid changes in AI development as key reasons for the closure. Some employees will move to another AI company, while others are job hunting.

• Yupp raised $33M (seed, led by a16z crypto's Chris Dixon, with Jeff Dean and Biz Stone as investors) but shut down in under a year despite hitting 1.3M users and gathering feedback on 800 AI models.
• Founders say they couldn't find product-market fit because the industry is shifting from user-generated feedback to expert-driven evaluation of AI models.
• The broader pivot toward autonomous, agentic AI systems (rather than human-in-the-loop feedback) undercut Yupp's core business model.
• Some employees are moving to another "well-known" AI company while others are job hunting.

OpenAI raised $122 billion in its latest funding round, marking the largest in Silicon Valley's history. The investment, which values the company at $852 billion, includes major contributions from Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank, and expands access for individual investors through ARK Invest's funds.

• OpenAI raised $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation—the largest funding round in Silicon Valley history, with Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank contributing $110 billion combined.
• Retail investors can now get exposure through ARK Invest ETFs (3% allocation in its $6 billion Innovation ETF) plus over $3 billion raised from wealthy individuals via banks.
• OpenAI shares are also showing up in mutual funds/ETFs from T. Rowe Price and Fidelity, signaling broadening mainstream investor access ahead of a possible IPO by year-end.