Startups

StrikeReady: Cybersecurity Leader Raises $12 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 10, 2024

StrikeReady—an AI pioneer advancing the way modern security teams operate—announced $12 million in funding. The Series A funding round was led by 33N Ventures, with participation from Hitachi Ventures, Monta Vista Capital, and industry luminaries Brian NeSmith, executive chairman and former CEO at Arctic Wolf, and Rod Beckstrom, former CEO of ICANN and Founding Director of U.S. National Cybersecurity Center (now CISA).

Leash Biosciences: $9.3 Million Raised To Solve Medicinal Chemistry

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Leash Biosciences, an AI/ML-native biotechnology company utilizing machine learning to solve medicinal chemistry, announced the completion of a $9.3 million seed financing round to advance its goal of transforming medicinal chemistry through modern computational methods and massive biological data collection. The oversubscribed round was led by Springtide Ventures with participation from MetaPlanet, Top Harvest Capital, Mitsui Global Investment, MFV Partners, Recursion CEO and co-founder Chris Gibson, and Recursion co-founder Blake Borgeson.

Procurement Sciences AI: $10 Million Raised To Transform Government Contracting Business Development Processes

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Procurement Sciences AI (PSci.AI), a next-generation bidding intelligence platform for government contractors, today announced that it has raised $10 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by global, technology-focused investment firm Battery Ventures, with follow-on investment from Tower Research Capital and new funding from K Street Capital and Blu Ventures. Brandon Gleklen from Battery Ventures and Jared Young from Tower Research will join the Procurement Sciences board of directors.

Luminance: Legal LLM Company Raises $40 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Luminance, a leader in legal-grade AI, announced that it has raised $40 million in a Series B funding round. March Capital led the round, which included participation from National Grid Partners and other existing investors, including Slaughter and May.

SingleInterface: Hyperlocal Marketing-To-Commerce Company Raises $30 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

SingleInterface, a leader in the ‘hyperlocal marketing-to-commerce’ software sector, announced a $30 million financing in its first-ever external fundraising round. Asia Partners, a Singapore-based growth equity investment firm focused on investments in high-growth technology and technology-enabled companies, led the round. And PayPal Ventures, the venture arm of PayPal, also participated.

Lockchain: Blockchain Risk Management Platform Closes $4.6 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Lockchain.ai, an AI-powered Blockchain Risk Management platform, announced its official launch from stealth to bring automated risk management solutions to traders, investors, and fund managers in the blockchain ecosystem. The company also announced it raised $4.6 million through a seed round led by Lerer Hippeau. The funding round included Arrington Capital, Valhalla Ventures, ARCA, RSE/Vayner, Sonic Boom Ventures, Alex Weiss of Clear Sky Capital, and Artico Search. White Star Capital joined in a subsequent funding cycle.

Aligned Marketplace: $8 Million Raised To Help Americans Find High-Quality Primary Care Relationships

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Aligned Marketplace, a membership to a national network of value-based advanced primary care for employers, announced it raised $8 million in a seed funding round led by A* Capital and Maverick Ventures, with participation from Box Group, EPIC Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures, SV Angel, and other angel operators.

Lumana: Video Security Platform Company Raises $24 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Lumana has emerged from stealth with a next-generation video security platform that utilizes AI and distributed hybrid cloud architecture. With $24 million in seed funding from Norwest and S Capital and a talented leadership team experienced in computer vision and machine learning, Lumana transforms any security camera into an AI-powered device that can identify complex events and potential risks as they occur.

Seaport Therapeutics: $100 Million Raised To Advance Development Of Novel Neuropsychiatric Medicines

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Seaport Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is charting a proven path in neuropsychiatry, announced the closing of a $100 million oversubscribed Series A financing round. The funding round was co-led by ARCH Venture Partners and Sofinnova Investments, as well as Third Rock Ventures and Seaport founder PureTech Health. Seaport appointed Daphne Zohar as Founder, CEO and a member of the Board of Directors, and Steven M. Paul, M.D., as founder and Chair of the Board of Directors.

rater8: Healthcare Reputation Management Company Raises Strategic Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

rater8, a leader in healthcare reputation management and patient feedback solutions, announced the close of a Series A funding round led by Elsewhere Partners. rater8 will use the growth financing to expand its market reach to medical practices and hospitals of all types and sizes. It will continue to build out its team, deepen industry partnerships, and enhance its SaaS solutions to meet the changing needs of patients and the modern healthcare community.

Varda: Space Manufacturing And Hypersonic Earth Re-Entry Logistics Company Raises $90 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Varda Space Industries - the world's first in-space manufacturing and hypersonic Earth re-entry logistics company - announced the completion of a $90 million Series B funding round, led by Caffeinated Capital, with participation from Lux Capital, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, and Khosla Ventures. And Varda has raised $145 million to date.

Fluid Topics: €15 Million Raised From Kennet Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Fluid Topics, a leading Content Delivery Platform for product information, announced the completion of its Series B funding round. Kennet Partners has invested €15 million in the company to reinforce Fluid Topics’ premier position on the market by scaling operations across the US and utilizing the potential of AI in customer support applications. Existing investors include Ventech, the pioneering pan-European early-stage VC, and Credit Mutuel Innovation.

Flip: Social Commerce Company Raises $144 Million At $1.05 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Flip, a rapidly growing social commerce platform, announced the company will soon be relaunching its marketing platform for brands utilizing AppLovin’s AXON technology. And Flip announced it is raising $144 million in a Series C funding round, including a $50 million investment by AppLovin. This funding round was led by Streamlined Ventures with participation from previous investors Mubadala Capital and WestCap, and AppLovin as a new investor, bringing the company’s pre-money valuation to $1.05 billion.

Windfall Bio: Methane-To-Value Solutions Company Raises $28 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

Windfall Bio, a leader in methane-to-value solutions, announced its $28 million Series A funding round led by Prelude Ventures with participation from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Global Brain (through its Norinchukin Innovation Fund L.P.), Incite Ventures, and Positive Ventures. Existing investors, including B37 Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Mayfield, and UNTITLED (a fund backed by the Tetra Laval family), also joined the round.

ION Clean Energy: $45 Million Raised In Round Led By Chevron

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

ION Clean Energy (ION) announced it has raised $45 million from Chevron New Energies (CNE), a division of Chevron U.S.A., who is leading the round, and Carbon Direct Capital. ION is a Boulder-based company that offers post-combustion point-source capture technology through its third-generation ICE-31 liquid amine system.

Biolinq: $58 Million Raised To Build Precision Multi-Analyte Biosensors To Improve Metabolic Health

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

Biolinq, a healthcare technology company pioneering precision multi-analyte biosensors to improve metabolic health, announced the completion of $58 million in financing led by Alpha Wave Ventures, with participation from Niterra’s corporate venture capital fund jointly operated with Pegasus Tech Ventures and existing investors RiverVest Venture Partners, AXA IM Alts, Global Health Investment, Aphelion Capital, Senvest Management, Features Capital and Taisho Pharmaceutical.

SiMa.ai: Embedded Edge Machine Learning System-On-Chip Company Raises $70 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

SiMa.ai, the software-centric and embedded edge machine learning system-on-chip company, announced it raised an additional $70 million of funding led by Maverick Capital, with participation from Point72 and Jericho, and existing investors Amplify Partners, Dell Technologies Capital, Lip-Bu Tan, and others.

Ivo: GenAI Legal Contracting Solution Raises $4.8 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

Ivo (formerly Latch), a generative AI (GenAI) powered contract review solution, announced $4.8 million in funding to enable legal teams to improve efficiency and accuracy and drive consistent negotiating positions. This funding round was led by Uncork Capital and Fika Ventures, with additional funding from previous investors Daniel Gross, GD1, and Phase One Ventures. This brings the company’s total funding to $6.2 million.

Lirvana Labs: Yeti Confetti Kids App Company Closes $5.3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

Lirvana Labs, the creator of the Yeti Confetti Kids app, which provides an AI-powered personalized learning companion for preschool to elementary grade children, announced it had raised $5.3 million in early-stage financing led by Kapor Capital III, Transcend Capital Partners II, and Chingona Ventures.

Selux Diagnostics: $48 Million Closed To Combat Superbug Infections And Fight Antimicrobial Resistance

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

Selux Diagnostics, a Boston-based biotechnology company whose mission is to combat superbug infections and fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR), announced they have received an additional $48 million to launch their next phase of commercialization of the Selux Next Generation Phenotyping (NGP) System within the US. RA Capital Management led this new funding round with participation from Northpond Ventures, Sands Capital, and Schooner Capital.

Obsidian Therapeutics: Cell And Gene Therapies Company Raises $160.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

Obsidian Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering engineered cell and gene therapies, announced it has closed a significantly oversubscribed $160.5 million Series C financing with a top-tier syndicate of life science investors led by a new investor, Wellington Management. And new investors participating in the funding include Foresite Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Novo Holdings A/S, Paradigm BioCapital, RTW Investments, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, and Woodline Partners LP. Existing investors Atlas Venture, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Bristol Myers Squibb, Deep Track Capital, Logos Capital, RA Capital Management, TCGX, Samsara BioCapital and Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company) also joined the round.

NobleAI: Science-Based AI Company Closes Over $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

NobleAI, a pioneer in Science-Based AI solutions for Chemical and Material Informatics, announced over $10 million in Series A extension financing. New investor Sway Ventures led the round and was joined by Dorilton Ventures. The round also included additional investments from NobleAI’s original Series A investors.

Hailo: Edge AI Processor Company Raises $120 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

Hailo, a pioneering chipmaker of edge AI processors, announced it had extended its series C fundraising round with an additional $120 million investment. The company also introduced its innovative Hailo-10 high-performance generative AI (GenAI) accelerators, which ushered in a time when users could own and run GenAI applications locally without registering with cloud-based GenAI services.

Datavolo: AI-Based Data Pipeline Company Raises $21 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2024

Datavolo, a leader in multimodal data pipelines for AI, announced that it has raised over $21 million in financing, led by General Catalyst, with participation from notable investors, including Citi Ventures, Human Capital, Rob Bearden, and MVP Ventures. This funding includes the company’s seed and Series A funding round.

TechGrid: Business Automation Platform Company Raises $9.2 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 7, 2024

TechGrid, a business platform for technology service providers (TSPs), announced it has secured a $9.2 million Series A investment from Bellini Capital. Formerly called SecurEdge Networks, TechGrid works with TSPs, including Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Value-Added Resellers (VARs), by streamlining workflows for selling, fulfilling, and managing IT solutions delivered to businesses. The new funding round will help evolve and scale the platform.

Miach Orthopaedics: $20 Million Raised To Transform Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear Treatment

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 7, 2024

Miach Orthopaedics - a company transforming the treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears from reconstruction to restoration with the Bridge-Enhanced ACL Restoration (BEAR) Implant - announced the closing of a $20 million Series B extension financing round. The funding will support the commercial expansion and clinical activities for the BEAR Implant, which has been used to treat nearly 3,000 patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears.

Proxima: Data Intelligence Software Company Raises $12 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 7, 2024

Proxima - a data intelligence software company that enables consumer technology businesses to scale customer acquisition profitably, expand customer lifetime value, and optimize full lifecycle marketing - announced the closing of a $12 million Series A round led by Mucker Capital. And the other investors in the round include Aglae Ventures (the family office of LVMH founder), Great Oaks Venture Partners, Data Point Capital, Broadway Venture Partners, FirstLook Partners, and Connexa Capital.

Alterome Therapeutics: $132 Million Closed To Pioneer Small Molecule Targeted Therapies For Cancer Treatments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 7, 2024

Alterome Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of small-molecule targeted therapies for cancer treatment, announced the closing of a $132 million Series B financing. The proceeds from the funding round will support the advancement of multiple wholly-owned pipeline programs in the clinic, such as a specific AKT1 E17K inhibitor and a KRAS-selective inhibitor.

Torus: Energy Solutions Company Raises $67 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 7, 2024

Torus announced some milestones, including completing an equity fundraising round and expanding its Board of Directors. This $67 million financing round (in the form of conversion of outstanding notes and a loan facility) was led by Origin Ventures. The financing also features contributions from notable institutional investors, including Epic Ventures, Cumming Capital, the Larry H. Miller Company, Zions Bank, Pelion, and ICONIQ.

Higgsfield AI: $8 Million Secured To Provide Advanced Video Creation Tools Accessible To Creators

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 7, 2024

Higgsfield AI, a company focused on democratizing social media video creation, recently announced $8 million in seed funding led by Menlo Ventures. This new funding round marks a major milestone in Higgsfield AI's goal to bring video AI generation and editing into the mainstream with its proprietary video model.