King Charles met with a group of prominent U.S. technology executives on Tuesday in Washington as part of his four-day state visit to the United States. The session brought together chief executives and leaders from several leading technology firms to discuss the hurdles faced by early-stage companies, with particular emphasis on ventures spun out of university research.
Among those present were Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Alphabet President Ruth Porat. The conversation centered on the difficulties many small companies encounter when trying to secure initial financing.
King Charles remarked on the plight of startups formed from academic work, saying these founders "have the greatest difficulty getting off the ground" and that many fall into what he described as a "terrible valley of death." His comments underscored concerns about the transition from research to commercial viability and the financing gap that can prevent promising technologies from progressing.
"These are the people I always think have the greatest difficulty getting off the ground," the monarch told the assembled executives. "They get into this terrible valley of death."
Nvidia's Jensen Huang pointed to large potential markets and technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum robotics as areas of opportunity, and he emphasized the need for "a vibrant VC ecosystem and a startup culture." The exchange included lighthearted moments: after Huang observed competition among the attendees, the king responded that they were "deadly competitors," prompting laughter and a brief back-and-forth about the remark.
Jeff Bezos recounted his early experience founding Amazon in 1995, saying he struggled to raise $1 million from investors and received 40 refusals while obtaining the funds in increments of $50,000. The king quipped that those who passed on investing must regret it now, drawing wide laughter from the group. The monarch also likened hesitant early investors to publishers who turned down the Harry Potter books, illustrating the unpredictable nature of backing breakthrough ideas.
The meeting comes after a September announcement during President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK in which several companies, including Microsoft, Nvidia, Google and OpenAI, pledged 31 billion pounds ($42 billion) in British investments over the coming years across areas such as AI, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy.
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