Artificial Intelligence

Cognichip: $33 Million Seed Funding Raised For Advancing Artificial Chip Intelligence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 3:45 PM

Cognichip, a company advancing Artificial Chip Intelligence (ACI) to power the future of semiconductor design, announced its launch out of stealth mode with $33 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by Lux Capital and Mayfield, with support from FPV and Candou Ventures.

Theom: $20 Million Series A Raised For Transforming Data Governance And Security

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 15, 2025

Theom, an AI-native Data Operations Center (DOC) platform that automates AI and data governance and security, announced it has raised $20 million in Series A funding. Wing VC led the round, which also included Sentinel One, Snowflake, and Databricks.

Persona AI: $27 Million Raised For Embodied AI Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 15, 2025

Persona AI, a leader in embodied artificial intelligence, today announced it has closed its oversubscribed pre-seed funding round, raising $27 million. The funding round was co-led by Unity Growth and Tides Ventures, with participation from Mirae Asset Group, Invicta Growth, Fathom Fund, Embedded Ventures, Wave Function Ventures, Zero Infinity Partners, dConstruct Technologies, Goose Capital, SGH, Sound Media Ventures, Kalea Ventures, K50 Ventures, Cofounder Ventures, Tola Capital, SGA Capital, and Olive Hill Ventures, and K2 Global.

Fastino: $17.5 Million Raised For Building Next-Gen LLMs

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2025

Fastino AI announced it launched a new AI model architecture, coined ‘TLMs’ – Task-Specific Language Models. Fastino also announced $17.5 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures, bringing Fastino’s total funding to $25 million. The funding round included participation from preseed lead investor Insight Partners, Valor Equity Partners, and notable angels including Scott Johnston, the previous CEO of Docker, and Lukas Biewald, the CEO of Weights & Biases.

Upscale AI: $5.5 Million Raised To Help Brands Optimize TV Ads

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2025

Upscale AI announced it has launched to help e-commerce brands win on streaming. And with $5.5 million in seed and pre-seed funding, Upscale launches Upscale Studio, the first end-to-end AI-native platform built to create, run, and optimize performance TV ads across streaming. The seed funding round was led by nvp capital with participation from M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), Eniac Ventures, SuperAngel.Fund and Breakpoint Capital.

Stash: $146 Million Series H Raised And $4.3 Billion AUM Milestone

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2025

Stash, a transformative platform helping millions build financial futures, announced that it has secured $146 million in an oversubscribed new Series H funding through a round led by Goodwater Capital, with participation from returning investors Union Square Ventures, StepStone Group, Serengeti, and the University of Illinois Foundation, and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management.

Rentana: $5 Million Secured For Accelerating Revenue Optimization

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2025

Rentana, an AI-based revenue intelligence platform for multifamily owners and operators, announced the closing of a nearly $5 million seed funding round led by Zigg Capital and Benchstrength.

Orca AI: $72.5 Million Raised For Scaling Autonomous Shipping Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2025

Orca AI, a leader in maritime technology, announced it has closed an investment of $72.5 million in Series B funding. Brighton Park Capital led the funding round with participation from existing investors Ankona Capital and Hyperlink Ventures.

Google Announces AI Futures Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2025

Today, Google announced the AI Futures Fund. This new program will invest in and collaborate with startups that want to bring their innovative ideas to market using Google DeepMind's latest AI models. With this fund, Google will work closely with companies in various stages of growth while also providing access to Google’s advanced resources, expertise, and early iterations of the company’s latest AI models like Gemini.

illumicell AI: Interview With Co-Founder & CSO Jeyla Sadikova About The Cellular Data Analytics Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2025

illumicell AI is a company that is transforming how clinicians analyze the most fundamental unit of health: the cell in fluid. Pulse 2.0 interviewed illumicell AI co-founder and CSO Jeyla Sadikova to learn more about the company.

Blackstraw AI: Interview with Founder & CEO Atul Arya About Fast-Tracking AI Projects

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 9, 2025

Blackstraw is a leading digital transformation provider specializing in delivering innovative data and artificial intelligence solutions to clients across various industries. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Blackstraw founder and CEO Atul Arya to learn more about the company.

Haut.AI: Interview With Founder & CEO Anastasia Georgievskaya About The Skincare AI Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 9, 2025

Haut.AI is an industry-leading global artificial intelligence company that specializes in skincare and longevity. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Haut.AI CEO and founder Anastasia Georgievskaya to learn more about the company.

Sett: $27 Million Series A Secured For Gaming-Focused Agentic AI Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 9, 2025

Sett, an Agentic AI platform for mobile gaming studios, announced it has emerged from stealth with a $15 million Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, along with Saga VC, F2 Venture Capital, Vgames, and gaming kingpin Akin Babayigit (Arcadia Gaming Advisors, Tripledot).

Jozu: $4 Million Raised For Scaling Enterprise AI Orchestration Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 9, 2025

Jozu, a company building enterprise-grade orchestration tools for AI applications, announced it has raised $4 million in seed funding. HalfCourt Capital led the round, which also included Mozilla Ventures, BrightSpark, AlleyCorp, Sentiero, and Union Bay Partners.

University Of Michigan Partners With Emeritus To Launch Chief Data And AI Officer Program

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 8, 2025

The Stephen M. Ross School of Business Executive Education and Michigan Engineering Professional Education, both at the University of Michigan, in collaboration with Emeritus, announced that they have launched the Chief Data and AI Officer (CDAIO) Program. This five-month multimodular program enables senior executives to develop AI-driven business strategies, enhance data governance, and lead digital transformation within their organizations. Enrollment is now open for the program starting on June 24, 2025.

EdgeRunner: $12 Million Series A Funding Raised For On-Device AI Agents For Military And Enterprise

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 8, 2025

EdgeRunner AI, a leader in domain-specific, air-gapped, on-device AI agents for military and enterprise, announced the closing of its $12 million Series A fundraise. This funding round was led by Madrona Ventures with participation from seed lead Four Rivers Ventures and joined by new investors HP Tech Ventures and Alumni Ventures. This brings EdgeRunner AI’s total funding to $17.5 million.