Joyce Shen’s picks: musings and readings in AI/ML, May 11, 2026
📌 Musings and Readings
“America's A.I. Is Futuristic. China Is Just Making It Work.” (Link)
“The More Sophisticated AI Models Get, the More They’re Showing Signs of Suffering” (Link)”
“Nvidia embraces role of AI investor, pushing past $40 billion in equity bets this year” (Link)
“AI in the sky: Inside the FAA plan to overhaul air traffic” (Link)
Roche to acquire PathAI to boost AI-powered diagnostics (Link)
“AlphaEvolve: How our Gemini-powered coding agent is scaling impact across fields” (Link)
👏 Deals
Certifyde, a NYC–based company offering a SaaS platform that embeds AI training, guidance, and certification directly into employees’ daily workflows, has raised $2m in seed funding.
Chord, a NYC–based company developing a data and AI solution for e-commerce brands that unifies fragmented data to power real-time insights and automated decision-making, has raised $7m in funding.
Creati Studio AI, a CA–based company that enables businesses to generate high-quality marketing videos and visual content, has raised $20m in funding.
Featherless, a CA–based company building a serverless AI infrastructure platform that provides API access to open-weight models, has raised $20m in series A funding.
Barocal, a Cambridge, UK-based climate-tech company developing solid-state heating and cooling systems, has raised $10m in seed funding.
Astrada, a CA–based company provides financial data infrastructure and APIs for real-time banking and card transaction data for automation, has raised $3.8m in seed funding.
Davis, a Paris, France-based AI proptech company automating feasibility studies, zoning analysis, and early-stage building design for real estate developers, has raised $5.5m in pre-seed funding.
Travv, an Oklahoma-based startup building AI infrastructure for veterinary diagnostics, with an initial focus on radiology workflows, has raised $1.6m in seed funding.
Illoca, a CA–based company building an AI-native architectural design platform that enables architects to generate and refine building designs, has raised $13m in seed funding.
SageOx, a Seattle, WA–based startup building shared context infrastructure for AI teams, has raised $15m in seed funding.
CodeWords, a London-based startup building an automation platform that translates natural-language instructions into agentic workflows, has raised $9m in seed funding.
Corvera, A CA-based AI startup providing an operations platform that automates supply chain and back-office workflows, has raised $4.2m in seed funding.
Ethos, a London-based AI startup building an AI-powered talent agent that matches professionals with paid consulting, research, and advisory opportunities, has raised $22.7m in series A funding.
RobotEra, a Beijing, China-based robotics company developing general-purpose humanoid robots, has raised over $200m in funding.