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Before we dive into this week's Silicon Valley circus, I've partnered with Notion to drop $50K in founder tools, including credits from PostHog, v0, and Supabase, with a vetted list of investors to help you go from idea to funded startup.
This week proved that audacity beats arithmetic in tech, as $18B companies bid on $50B assets with IOUs while presidents negotiate chip exports like they're selling timeshares, but at least you can build something real with these free tools while everyone else plays pretend billionaire.
As we continue to build at Context Ventures, we've launched Startup Intros with a simple mission: to help early-stage founders find the right investors, faster and smarter.
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Keep reading for the latest edition of Trending Thursday:
🎯 BLUF: Bottom Line Upfront
Perplexity's $34.5B Google Fantasy: The $18B startup offered to buy Chrome worth $50-172B with "multiple large investors" who had no idea about it
Trump's Chip Shakedown: The president invented a 15% "tax" on Nvidia and AMD's China revenue in exchange for export licenses
China's Paranoid Power Play: Beijing ordered ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to cancel 700K Nvidia chip orders over "security concerns"
AMD's Quiet $300B Revolution: Lisa Su doubled data center revenue to $12.6B while capturing OpenAI, Meta, and both of Elon's companies as clients
Crypto's "Told You So" Moment: Bullish exchange IPOs at 89% pop to $10B valuation despite $348M losses, while Congress passes more crypto regulation
🎭 Perplexity's $34.5B Chrome Play: Marketing Genius or Delusion?
Co-founders of Perplexity from Left to Right: Johnny Ho, Aravind Srinivas & Denis Yarats
🎪 The David vs Goliath Bid That Broke the Internet
Perplexity just offered $34.5B to buy Google's Chrome browser, despite being valued at only $18B itself. Here’s the audacious details:
The Math Problem: Perplexity had $850M in the bank as of December, but claims "multiple large investors" would fund the full $34.5B
Project Solomon: The internal codename for this moonshot, complete with nonbinding term sheets and promises to invest $3B over two years
The Pinky Promise: They'd keep Google as Chrome's default search and maintain Chromium for "at least 100 months post-close"
Reality Check: Chrome is estimated to be worth $50B minimum, with some calculations putting it at $172-630B based on Safari economics
The Kicker: Even Perplexity's own investors are scratching their heads as several of them have said they haven't even been briefed on this Chrome deal.
🎯 The Real Game: Perplexity's Browser Shopping Spree
Before this Chrome spectacle, Perplexity was already playing browser speed-dating with everyone who'd take their calls:
The Browser Co. (Dec ‘24): Discussed acquisition but got nowhere; OpenAI got further, even discussing price, but no dice
Brave (Summer ‘25): Offered ~$1B mostly in stock for the privacy-focused browser but got "thanks but no thanks" to being lowballed
DuckDuckGo: CEO meetup arranged by mutual investors; Perplexity pitched their browser dreams, DuckDuckGo listened politely
The Haul So Far: Acquired Sidekick (distraction-free browser), Carbon (LLM data connector), and Invisible (AI agent infrastructure)
Why It Matters: CEO Aravind Srinivas told investors Perplexity needs a "popular browser offering" to win AI search. Browsers provide crucial context (open tabs, browsing history, user behavior) that makes AI search actually useful.
📊 Chrome Math: Why $34.5B is Either Genius or Insulting
Thomas Tunguz provides real numbers about what Chrome is actually worth:
The Safari Benchmark: Google pays Apple $18-20B annually for default search on 850M Safari users = $21 per user/year
Chrome's 3.5B Users: At Safari rates, that's $73B in annual revenue potential
Perplexity's Offer: Values Chrome at just $9 per user/year (less than half Safari's rate)
Real Valuation Range: At standard 5-6x revenue multiples, Chrome is worth $367-441B minimum
The Strategic Play: If Google is forced to divest, it'd likely pay the buyer of Chrome the same $73B+ annually to be the default search. That makes the browser a golden goose worth protecting at almost any price.
🎪 The Marketing Masterstroke (That Everyone Sees Through)
Jan ‘25: Offered to buy TikTok's US operations (that went nowhere)
Pattern Recognition: Make splashy offer for thing that's not for sale → generate headlines → raise money at higher valuation
Mission Accomplished: More press in 3 days than the previous 3 weeks, plus news of a fresh funding round at $20B valuation
The Legal Angle: Bloomberg's Dave Lee suggests Perplexity is trying to influence Judge Amit Mehta by proving Chrome could thrive outside Google, poking holes in Google's defense that Chrome needs to stay in-house for Chromium's health.
Bottom Line: As M.G. Siegler put it, this is "clearly a marketing stunt." But it's a brilliant one as Perplexity keeps positioning itself as the plucky AI underdog willing to take on Big Tech, even if the math doesn’t add up.
💻 The Silicon Showdown: How Chips Are the New Oil
💰 Trump's 15% Chip Tax: Making Nvidia Pay to Play in China
The dealmaker-in-chief just invented pay-to-export foreign policy. Nvidia and AMD agreed to fork over 15% of their China chip revenue to the US Govt in exchange for export licenses:
The Cut: 15% of revenue from Nvidia's H20 and AMD's MI308 chips (Trump wanted 20%)
The Tease: Trump might allow "somewhat enhanced-in a negative way" Blackwell chips (30-50% performance cut)
The Math: Billions in quarterly revenue = hundreds of millions in questionable "taxes"
The Play: Jensen Huang reportedly dangled a $500B US investment and worked to develop a bromance with Trump. As the president put it: "Listen, I want 20% if I'm going to approve this for you, for the country."
🇨🇳 China Says "Thanks But No Thanks" to Nvidia's Chips
Just weeks after Trump's deal, China’s Cyberspace Administration ordered ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to suspend all Nvidia purchases, citing "security concerns."
The Result: Chinese firms had just ordered 700K H20 chips after Trump's reversal
CAC Fears Backdoors: Speculating that there are US location trackers in chips
China Knows Huang's game: Keep Chinese innovation dependent on US tech
The paranoia is real, but trust is a luxury nobody can afford in the chip wars.
🚀 Lisa Su's Quiet Revolution: How AMD Became the AI Alternative
While Jensen gets headlines, AMD CEO Lisa Su methodically built the anti-Nvidia with a 10-year turnaround from $2B to nearly $300B market cap.
The Revenue: Doubled data center to $12.6B in two years
The Clients: OpenAI, Meta, Google, plus both of Elon's companies
Reality Check: Under 15% AI chip market share as AMD's software still makes developers cry compared to CUDA
The Philosophy: Rejected nine-figure comp packages ("It's not really about one person")
The Family Secret: Su and Jensen Huang are distant cousins, which she finds annoying when asked. Her secret weapon is patience: "I'm not impatient with this. Just give me a shot."
🎯 Everyone's Coming for Nvidia's Crown (Good Luck With That)
Nvidia controls 80%+ of the AI chip market thanks to 16 years of building CUDA while losing money. And here are the other challengers who want a share of that $500B+ pie:
Hyperscalers: Google's TPUs and Amazon's Trainium offer cheaper alternatives; the custom chip market is expected to double in 2025
Intel: Once America's chip darling, now desperately relevant with Gaudi chips and a new CEO
Huawei: Jensen's "single most formidable" Chinese nightmare that export restrictions only made hungrier
Startups: Cerebras, Groq, Rivos, and others are burning VC cash searching for the one weird trick Nvidia hates
The Reality: When your competition spent 16 years building an unassailable moat, good luck catching up with a Series B and a dream.
⚡ Quick Hits: When Desperation Meets AI Innovation
📈 Bullish's 89% IPO Pop Makes Everyone Bullish on Crypto: The Cayman Islands crypto exchange soared from $37 to $70 on its NYSE debut, hitting a $10B valuation despite posting a $348M Q1 loss. They allocated 20% to retail investors to avoid "another Figma situation" but still mooned anyway, proving that vibes are everything.
🏛️ The CLARITY Act: Congress Actually Doing Its Job: The House just passed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (294-134 with 78 Dems). Potentially the most important crypto law ever, it promises to end years of regulatory uncertainty that's kept crypto in legal limbo, with supporters comparing it to the Securities Act of 1933.
💰 Trump's Crypto 401(k) Executive Order: Trump signed orders letting 401(k)s invest in crypto and private equity while also banning "debanking" for political beliefs (his family is suing Capital One for closing their accounts post-Jan 6). Critics worry your retirement is going to get riskier, while crypto bros celebrate.
💸 What Other Startups are Popping Off
Here's a roundup of this week's trending startup activity:
🤖 AI Agents & Automation
Macaron AI: The AI that instantly gets you and cooks up mini-apps
Simular Pro: Production-grade computer use agent that clicks buttons and fills forms
Sellinger AI: Autonomous LinkedIn outreach that doesn't sound robotic and gets replies
Kandid: AI salesperson for e-commerce that converts browsers into buyers
Snowglobe: Simulate real users to test your AI before it goes rogue in production
🚀 No-Code & App Building
🛠️ Developer Tools & Infrastructure
mcp-use: Open-source MCP infrastructure
Autumn: Stripe made easy for AI startups to handle usage billing with a few API calls
Dereference: IDE for Claude Code that makes AI pair programming productive
VibeScan: Ship AI code with confidence by catching vibes that are off before users do
Weave: Engineering metrics for the AI era to know what your AI agents are doing
Fellow API: Turn meeting transcripts into workflows
📚 Education & Learning
nFactorial AI: Video calls with the world's best minds as personal tutors
Codédex v1.0: Start your coding adventure with gamification that’s not patronizing
Guided Learning in Gemini: Google's attempt to turn answers into actual learning
💼 Business & Productivity
Recall: Chat with everything you've read, heard, watched, or noted
Airbook AI: Cursor for Analytics, because SQL queries shouldn't be this hard
Finden: AI workspace to unify, automate, and run your business from one dashboard
Nowadays: AI-powered events built on community to host better gatherings
Hyprnote: AI notepad for private meetings that stays on your device
🎨 Creative & Content Tools
Hera: Your AI motion designer who never has to learn After Effects
Vireel: AI reels from proven viral formulas
SuperCraft: Figma for designing physical products
Shotva: Prettify your screenshots so your demos look great
🌟 Editor's Note
At Startup Intros, our mission is to bring the latest founder-investor news straight to your inbox, keeping you ahead in the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley. Our free weekly newsletter delivers curated insights, deals, and trends to help you navigate the startup ecosystem.
Stay tuned for our upcoming paid daily newsletter and fundraising app to help you close your next round!
💭 Parting Thoughts
The tech industry has entered its "fake it till you make it" final boss level, where $18B companies bid on $50B assets with IOUs, and presidents negotiate chip export licenses like they're selling timeshares. But maybe that's the perfect metaphor for 2025: in a world where memes move markets and marketing stunts masquerade as M&A, the only currency that matters is audacity.
Comment “Founder” to Get $50K of AI Founder Tools: Free tools for startups, including PostHog, Vercel, Supabase credits, plus 2,000+ VC list and 50+ pitch decks!
Forward to a friend and hit reply to let me know what you're seeing in your world.
Till next time!
Dev Chandra
CEO @ Startup Intros
Associate @ Context VC
LinkedIn: /in/devchandra
Tim Hsia
Investor @ Context VC
Co-Founder @ Startup Intros
LinkedIn: /in/timhsia
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Startup Intros Trending Thursday: Your trusted source for founder-investor insights, delivered with clarity and focus.
