It was the resignation heard across the world. Jensen Huang, Nvidia\u2019s embattled CEO who co-founded and led the company for 33 years, had officially stepped down. \u201cIt\u2019s like a bomb went off,\u201d one neocloud founder told TechCrunch when he first heard the news.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the last several years, Nvidia has been a prolific investor, pouring tens of billions into startups annually and participating in 105 rounds this year alone, often as the largest investor, according to PitchBook. \u201cIf that direction changes, it\u2019ll be a big blow to so many young companies,\u201d said Maria Davidson, founder of Relational Capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Huang\u2019s absence leaves the startup ecosystem without one of its biggest champions and with far less capital for now, investors say, which could have a massive impact on dealmaking, valuations, funding, and even competition. <\/p>\n
\u201cNvidia is carrying almost every AI-native startup from application to neocloud,\u201d Dawn Capital\u2019s Shamillah Bankiya told TechCrunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most of the significant decisions to invest in startups often came from Jensen himself, according to Umesh Padval, managing partner at Seligman Ventures. Padval has known Huang since serving on the board of Mellanox Technologies, a networking chipmaker Nvidia acquired for approximately $7 billion in 2020.<\/p>\n