The Startups VC

😎 Software Vulnerabilities Surge in 2026 About 85,000 software vulnerabilities have been found, roughly twice last year’s total. The past 3 months brought 12,000-14,000 new flaws each month, and the count is still rising. The main suspect is AI. Neural networks can now write exploits. Vulnerabilities actually used in attacks have nearly doubled. 📊@technco

🤖 AI Boom Starts Spreading Inflation Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee says the AI boom is becoming an inflation problem. Price pressure is spreading beyond data center components and adjacent industries. Illinois businesses report scarce electricians, higher construction costs, and year-long waits for electrical components as data centers compete for the same resources. Land, power, water, and infrastructure costs tied to AI campuses have also risen sharply. Goolsbee is increasingly concerned this reflects overheating demand, not a temporary supply shock. If inflation stays persistent, another rate hike later this month remains possible, reinforcing the higher-for-longer pressure already weighing on banks and long-duration tech. ✔️ news.nzoko.com

🔐 Ledger Implant Case Remains Unresolved By 11 October, Bitquery estimated $93.2M stolen from 315 wallets linked to Ledger buyers and authorised reseller CryptoBilis in Southeast Asia. Ledger confirmed an unauthorised hardware implant in one affected device. The implant was a microscopic cellular transmitter added around the screen padding. Research on separate Ledger Nano X specimens describes implants copying recovery words and sending them over cellular. Those devices were not bought from CryptoBilis. Tether froze $10M in USDT, blocking further transfers but not refunding victims. Ledger says its systems were not compromised, cannot reverse Bitcoin transactions, and has not confirmed the total or announced compensation. Ledger advises CryptoBilis buyers not to set up unused devices and to move funds to new hardware with a fresh recovery phrase. Replacing a device does not invalidate stolen keys or restore funds already taken. ✔️ @venture

The S&P 500 Telecommunication Services index fell 8.5% yesterday. T-Mobile fell 12%, while Verizon and AT&T each fell 11%. SpaceX bought a nationwide 800 MHz low-band spectrum portfolio and plans to launch Starlink Mobile, targeting existing carrier customers. Low-band signals reach inside buildings, addressing a key gap in satellite service. Carriers rely heavily on monthly phone plans, putting subscribers and pricing at risk. The telecom index is down 16% over the last 30 days. ✔️ @venture

📈 AI Big 10 Reach Record Share The “AI Big 10” now accounts for a record 42% of US stock market cap, including the Magnificent 7, Broadcom $AVGO, AMD $AMD, and Micron $MU. This figure has more than doubled since the 2022 bear market low. The 2000 Dot-Com Bubble saw the Technology, Media & Telecom sector peak at 41%, while the Nifty Fifty peaked at 40% in the 1970s. Japan’s equity bubble peaked at 44% in the 1980s. Only railroad stocks have significantly exceeded this concentration, reaching 63% of US market cap at their peak in the 1900s. ✔️ @venture

📈 AI Stocks Drive Market Since the start of 2024, 42 AI stocks have generated 67% of the S&P 500’s price return, contributing 22 percentage points of its 33% gain. The other 458 stocks added 11 percentage points. The AI basket also accounted for 58% of earnings growth and 81% of CapEx and R&D growth. The rest of the index contributed just 20% of CapEx and R&D growth. Only 29% of stocks outperformed the S&P 500 over the last 3 years, near the ~25% low during the 2000 Dot-Com Bubble. AI is all that matters. ✔️ news.nzoko.com

📈 AI Big 10 Reach Record Share The “AI Big 10” now accounts for a record 42% of US stock market cap, including the Magnificent 7, Broadcom $AVGO, AMD $AMD, and Micron $MU. This figure has more than doubled since the 2022 bear market low. The 2000 Dot-Com Bubble saw the Technology, Media & Telecom sector peak at 41%, while the Nifty Fifty peaked at 40% in the 1970s. Japan’s equity bubble peaked at 44% in the 1980s. Only railroad stocks have significantly exceeded this concentration, reaching 63% of US market cap at their peak in the 1900s. ✔️ news.nzoko.com

🇨🇳 China’s Gold Demand Surges China spent nearly $160 billion on gold in the last 8 months, even as prices reached $5,595 this year. The government sees gold as a safe store of funds with no counterparty risk. Domestic investors are also turning to it as real estate and stocks struggle, while the 10-year bond yield is just 1.67%. China imported more than 1,000 tonnes this year, exceeding its entire 2025 volume. Demand shows no sign of fading. ✔️ news.nzoko.com

🏦 US Debt Tilts Toward T-Bills After 30-year Treasury yields rose above 5% in May 2026, more than 75% of the increase in marketable Treasury debt since July came from T-bills. That compares with 18% in 2025. The US now has a record $7.25 trillion in T-bills outstanding. They mature within a year and must be constantly refinanced. Yields are already around 3.8%-4%, while another 25 bps Fed hike is expected on Wednesday. BofA expects 3 25 bps hikes this year, which could add over $50 billion in annual interest costs once the debt is fully rolled over. The Treasury avoided more expensive long-term borrowing by using short-term debt. Now that short-term funding is getting more expensive too. ✔️ @venture

📞 Trump Calls Jensen Huang Live Trump called NVDA CEO Jensen Huang live during an interview: “He can create the best AI chip in the world but can’t figure out how to put me on speakerphone.” They agreed AI is a major driver of growth and U.S. national security. ✔️ @venture

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the U.S. cannot pause on AI because China will not. “Nothing would matter if China pulled away on AI.” AI has a PR problem. As the buildout grows, hyperscalers must explain what their spending is enabling. ✔️ @venture

💻️ NVIDIA’s $105 Billion Lease Exposure If OpenAI defaults, NVIDIA may take over a lease to satisfy the covered loss obligation under its $105 billion guarantee. It could also seek a replacement tenant, sell the assets, allow termination, or defer its choice for up to a year while paying specified costs. Takeover terms are redacted. The arrangement covers 9 phases in Pike County, Ohio, designed for 4.25 gigawatts of capacity. Each has a 20-year lease, with the first expected to begin in NVIDIA’s fiscal 2029. NVIDIA may support another 3.8 gigawatts. OpenAI’s affiliate has promised to reimburse NVIDIA, but the filings do not show whether that covers every obligation or whether payment would be timely. A qualifying credit rating for OpenAI or its parent could release NVIDIA before the first building opens. ✔️ @venture

“If you’re a slightly above-average investor who spends less than you earn, over a lifetime you cannot help but get very wealthy.” Warren Buffett ✔️ @venture

Recommended reading for investors. ✔️ @venture

“You need to be intellectually curious, really really open-minded, & you need to have courage. And when I say courage, you need the courage to bet big & bet concentrated, but also the courage to fight your own emotions.” Stanley Druckenmiller ✔️ @venture

🔍 Google's First $100,000 Google was founded this day in 1998. Its first investor wrote a $100,000 check. They celebrated with breakfast at Burger King. ✔️ @venture

📉 Yen Strength Threatens Global Markets USDJPY has fallen from 163.98 to 155.31, a 5.3% move in about five weeks. The yen alone is up 2.5% this week, creating a serious risk for global markets. The trade is simple. Investors borrow cheap yen, convert it into dollars, and buy assets such as US stocks and bonds. Because the loan is in yen, a stronger yen makes repayment more expensive. At 10x leverage, a 5.3% move against the trade wipes out about 53% of the trader’s cash cushion. At 20x, it wipes out more than 100%. Forced selling, followed by more yen buying, can create a self-reinforcing unwind. The same loop drove the sharp global selloff in August 2024. Japan has spent $169.5 billion this year trying to control the yen, including $52.8 billion in a single day. Markets now see a 75% chance of another Bank of Japan rate hike this month, up from 24% a month ago. Higher rates make yen borrowing more expensive. The size of the trade is unknown, but past estimates put it in the hundreds of… ✔️ @venture

💰 US Treasury Debt Buyback The US Treasury bought back $12.5B of its own debt, its largest buyback in over 3 months. ✔️ news.nzoko.com

🤖 OpenAI Releases GPT-6 Astra OpenAI just released GPT-6 Astra, calling it a “generational leap” and saying people may look back at this model as when AGI arrived. ✔️ news.nzoko.com

Claude can now use your computer in the background in Claude Cowork and Claude Code. Give him something to do on your desktop and Claude will click, type and open applications exactly as you would, while you work on something else.