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This Week in Startups · September 2, 2026 · 1h 20m

VC experts on why Physical AI funding is heating up

Katelin Holloway of Seven Seven Six and Paige Doherty of Behind Genius Ventures join Jason to discuss the surge in Physical AI investment. Paige explains her thesis favoring applications of physical AI over general-purpose robotics, and details the largest check she's ever written. The conversation covers the Pentagon's rollout of ChatGPT Mil and Grok for Government, Starcloud's massive orbital data center raise, and the EU designating ChatGPT as a very large online search engine. Katelin offers a contrarian take on the European VC landscape.

This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.

Novel

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Starcloud's Orbital Data Center Vision00:31:07
Starcloud raised $250M at a $2.3B valuation to build orbital data centers, aiming to scale AI infrastructure in space.

Highlights

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The Pentagon's AI Rollout00:09:24
The Pentagon is rolling out ChatGPT Mil and Grok for Government, marking a significant expansion of AI into defense operations.
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Physical AI vs. General-Purpose Robotics00:57:49
Paige Doherty invests in applications of physical AI rather than general-purpose robotics, recently writing her largest check ever for a company in this space.
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EU Designates ChatGPT as a Search Engine00:22:03
The European Commission designated ChatGPT as a 'very large online search engine' under the Digital Services Act, triggering the strictest digital safety rules.
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Anthropic's Data Retention Policy Reversal01:09:39
Anthropic reversed its data retention policy after enterprise customers pushed back, with plans to let enterprises hold a 30-day window.

Editorial

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Europe as an Undercapitalized Market00:24:54
Katelin Holloway offers a contrarian view that the European startup ecosystem is undercapitalized, not just over-regulated.

Misc

✧Paige spent three years at Northrop Grumman before becoming a VC.
✧Jason expresses regret over passing on Zipline.
✧The group debates whether 'unc' is a compliment across generations.
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