Jensen Huang Advised 2 Nvidia Founders as Their Robotics Startup Raised $57 Million
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Sep 13
Jensen Huang Advised 2 Nvidia Founders as Their Robotics Startup Raised $57 Million
3 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Sep 13
Summary
Late-night calls with Jensen Huang shaped at least two Nvidia alumni startups, with the CEO urging realism on the difficulty ahead and even pushing one team to drop its original name, Checkpoint.
David Hoeller and Nikita Rudin left Nvidia in 2024 to start Zurich-based Flexion Robotics, seeking more freedom to commercialize robotics work; Nvidia later invested, and the company has raised more than $57 million.
Bing Xu said Huang spent two hours trying to keep him at Nvidia before he left this year to found chip-software startup INT21, warning that Xu's communication skills could cap his impact.
That mix of blunt criticism and support fits Huang's hands-on management style at Nvidia, where former employees describe him as giving direct feedback on both business decisions and personal development.