✍️ NVIDIA vs. Groq, Transatlantic Alliance in Danger, Orbex Series D round
Heartcore Insights Edition #121
Hi there,
Welcome to the 121st edition of Heartcore Insights, curated with 🖤 by the Heartcore Team.
If you missed the past newsletters, you can catch up here. Now, let’s dive in!
NVIDIA vs. Groq: The Future of Training vs. Inference - 20VC
Rethinking scaling laws: While expanding model size and data volume has traditionally enhanced AI performance, this approach faces diminishing returns due to resource constraints. Jonathan Ross, founder of Groq, advocates leveraging synthetic data and reinforcement learning to transcend these limitations, enabling models to generate high-quality training data autonomously. This self-improving cycle accelerates progress without solely relying on scaling parameters and datasets.
Efficiency over brute force: AI’s progress isn’t limited by a single bottleneck. While compute, data, and algorithms all play a role, compute has historically been the easiest lever - throw more hardware at the problem and results improve. However, smarter algorithms and higher-quality data can reduce the need for brute-force scaling. The real frontier now lies in efficiency: refining training processes, improving data quality, and optimising compute resources for breakthroughs without exponential cost increases.
Inference now consumes 10 to 20 times more compute vs. training, making it the true infrastructure bottleneck. Groq’s LPUs are designed for inference at scale, delivering results at more than 5 times lower cost and one-third the energy per token vs. GPUs. This positions LPUs not as GPU replacements but as complementary tools, boosting existing GPU deployments by offloading inference workloads.
Inference at scale is transforming how companies think about operations. Instead of hiring 100 people, startups can hire 10 and buy compute power equivalent to 90 full-time staff. These “digital workers” don’t quit, don’t need retraining, and maintain peak performance indefinitely, fundamentally reshaping operational scaling.
Breaking supply constraints: Unlike GPUs, Groq’s architecture bypasses the need for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the hardest component to manufacture. By relying on standard silicon used for mobile chips, they’ve eliminated production bottlenecks, scaling from 640 chips at the start of 2024 to 40,000 by year-end, with plans for millions more.
Power bottleneck looming: While chip availability is improving, data center power is becoming the real constraint. Hyperscalers are investing $80B annually in AI infrastructure, doubling the current 15 GW of global data center capacity. However, Groq predicts an overbuild followed by a slowdown, just as AI demand surges. Within 3–4 years, power shortages could become the hard bottleneck, with projected demand skyrocketing to 240 GW.
Jonathan Ross’s hot take on the next AI breakthroughs: Solving hallucination, enabling goal-driven agentic workflows, unlocking creativity with non-obvious ideas, and models becoming trusted decision-makers.
Transatlantic Alliance in Danger: Takeaways from the Munich Security Conference - Mathias Döpfner
At the Munich Security Conference, J.D. Vance’s speech sparked controversy, with many European leaders condemning his remarks. Mathias Döpfner, German media mogul in Germany and head of Axel Springer, had a slightly different take. In a conversation with the Financial Times’ Gideon Rachman, Döpfner called the backlash from German politicians short-sighted. Vance wasn’t tearing down the transatlantic alliance, he was sounding the alarm: Europe needs to step up if it wants to remain a credible partner for the US. Isolationism, Döpfner warned, would only weaken Europe’s position.
Vance’s claim that Europe’s internal policies - like excluding populist parties - are a bigger threat than Russia or China hit a nerve. Döpfner didn’t endorse alliances with parties like the AfD but argued that ignoring them has only fuelled their rise - as evident in the German election this weekend, where the AfD secured 21% of the vote, doubling its result from the last election. This hints at the notion that disregarding voters’ concerns doesn’t silence them – it deepens alienation.
Beyond politics, the conference revealed deeper cracks. The U.S. is talking to Russia about Ukraine without Europe in the room. Energy infrastructure faces constant attacks, and AI is reshaping power dynamics, with China’s DeepSeek model setting the pace. Döpfner’s bottom line? Europe can’t afford to stand still. It needs reforms, resilience, and innovation to stay relevant in a world where alliances are shifting fast.
Microsoft Unveils Quantum Chip, Dwarkesh Podcast
Consumer is Back – And Why It’s Been So Hard Since 2014, James Currier
A list of Resources for Reading about ‘Agent’ Models, AI Agents for Computer Use
Only Fools Think Elon is Incompetent, Noah Smith
Undeclared - The war on Fentanyl Escalates in Earnest, Doomberg
🇪🇺 Notable European early-stage rounds
Bluebook, a Sweden-based AI-powered software for accounting firm, raises $3M with EQT/YC - link
Astral Systems, a UK-based startup developing multi-state fusion (MSF) technology, raises £4.5M with Speedinvest - link
C the Signs, a UK-based AI-powered cancer detection platform, raises $8M with Khosla Ventures - link
Capi Money, a UK-based cross-border trade platform that helps businesses in Africa pay their overseas suppliers, raises €17.2M with Creandum - link
Lanch, a Germany-based startup that leverages social media and influencers to create food brands, raises €26M with Felix/HV Capital - link
Avelios, a Germany-based startup that provides hospital admin software, raises €30M with Sequoia/HTGF - link
🇺🇸 Notable US early-stage rounds
Fluent Labs, a blockchain computation startup, raises $8M with Polychain - link
Observo AI, an AI-native data pipeline startup, raises $15M with Felicis/Lightspeed - link
Presto, an electric vehicle charging platform, raises $15M with USV - link
ConverzAI, an AI-powered recruitment solutions provider, raises $16M with Menlo/Left Lane - link
HockeyStack, a marketing analytics and attribution platform, raises $20M with Bessemer/YC - link
🔭 Notable later stage rounds
Eleven Labs, a US-based startup that leverages AI to convert text into natural-sounding speech, raises $180M with a16z - link
Abridge, a US-based generative AI startup for clinical note-taking and billing, raises $250M with Elad Gil - link
Harvey, a US-based AI startup focused on the legal industry, raises $300M with Sequoia - link
Together AI, a US-based startup that operates a public cloud optimized to run AI models, raises $305M with General Catalyst - link
Helion, a US-based nuclear fusion startup, raises $425M with Lightspeed - link
Saronic Technologies, a US-based autonomous surface vessels developer, raises $600M with Elad Gil - link
🖤 Heartcore News
Kudos to Orbex 🖤 for raising £23M in the first tranche of Series D round. 🎉
Congrats to FINN 🖤 on securing up to €1B and closing their second ABS financing round! 🥳
Bravo to BLAST 🖤 on producing a phenomenal SI 2025 at the iconic MGM Music Hall in Boston! 🎮
Cheers to Corti 🖤 on launching three specialised AI foundational models - Solo, Ensemble and Symphony. 👏🏼
Shoutout to CarbonPool 🖤 for Innovation Zero has named them the carbon credit startup to watch in 2025. 👀
We had our first Friday with Friends and Founders at our Copenhagen office hosting amazing folks from the Copenhagen startup ecosystem. 🍾
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