Artificial Intelligence

Apono: Cloud Access Governance Company Raises $15.5 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Apono, a leader in privileged access for the cloud, announced the successful completion of its Series A funding round, raising $15.5 million. This funding round was led by New Era Capital Partners, with participation from Mindset Ventures, Redseed Ventures, Silvertech Ventures, initial seed investors, etc.

Qodo: GenAI-Based Code Integrity Platform Closes $40 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Generative AI code integrity platform Qodo (formerly CodiumAI) announced $40 million in Series A funding, bringing the company's total funding to $50M. The oversubscribed round was led by Susa Ventures and Square Peg, with participation from Firestreak Ventures, ICON Continuity Fund, and Seed investors TLV Partners and Vine Ventures. Just 18 months since exiting stealth, Qodo's solutions have already been used by over 1M developers, and its enterprise platform has been adopted by industry leaders, including multiple Fortune 100 companies.

Loti AI: Likeness Protection Technology Company Raises $7 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Loti AI, a leader in likeness protection technology, announced it has secured an additional investment from Khosla Ventures for its seed funding. This new funding brings the total capital raised to $6.65 million. FUSE and Bling Capital led the seed funding round, with participation from K5 Tokyo Black, Ensemble, and AlphaEdison.

Wispr: Voice Dictation Company Secures $12 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Wispr, a company building a more natural way to interact with technology, announced a new $12 million investment to help fuel the launch of Wispr Flow, a voice-first productivity tool. Built for Apple Macs, Wispr Flow allows users to speak naturally and see their words come to life: clear, concise, and up to 3 times faster than typing. This investment was led by Matt Kraning (CTO / Cortex at Palo Alto Networks) with participation from existing investors NEA and 8VC, along with Tim Junio (CEO of Expanse) and Alumni Ventures. Wispr’s total funding to date is $26 million.

Ontinue: Redefining MDR with AI-Powered Automation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

Ontinue is a leading provider of AI-powered managed extended detection and response (MXDR) services. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Ontinue’s VP of Security Operations, Craig Jones to learn more about the company.

Visa To Buy AI-Based Payments Protection Company Featurespace

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 28, 2024

Visa announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Featurespace, a developer of real-time artificial intelligence (AI) payments protection technology that prevents and mitigates payment fraud and financial crime risks. The acquisition of Featurespace will complement and strengthen Visa’s portfolio of fraud detection and risk-scoring solutions, which are used by clients around the world to grow and protect their businesses.

Phare Bio: Up To $27 Million Award Received From ARPA-H

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 28, 2024

Phare Bio - along with the Collins Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard's Wyss Institute - announced that they have been awarded up to $27 million in funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to enhance their generative artificial intelligence (AI) discovery platform and produce novel classes of antibiotics. And with mounting concern around the AMR crisis, there is an urgent need for new antibiotics that have the potential to save millions of lives.

Mendaera: $73 Million (Series B) Raised To Scale Robotics And AI

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 28, 2024

Mendaera - a Silicon Valley-based healthcare technology company developing a handheld robotic interventional platform - announced the closing of $73 million in Series B funding led by Threshold Ventures, with participation from investors including Lux Capital, PFM Health Sciences, and Fred Moll (founder of Intuitive Surgical and Auris Health). The funding will further Mendaera’s efforts to scale robotics and AI across mainstream medical procedures.

Mediwhale: AI-Based Health Diagnostics Company Raises $12 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 28, 2024

AI-based health diagnostics company Mediwhale announced it raised $12 million in Series A2 funding. This funding utilizes the momentum of their technological advancements and rapid adoption of its innovative biomarker for preventing cardiovascular disease in general hospitals and clinics.

How These University Of Louisiana Students Used AI To Build A Housekeeping App

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 28, 2024

Students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette spent the whole summer enhancing a mobile AI application for Keepers, a locally founded startup that automates the entire housekeeping process for short-term rental property hosts and managers. Students used AI to help Keepers streamline their all-in-one solution for short-term rental housekeeping operations.

Prepared: $27 Million (Series B) Secured To Transform Emergency Communications

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 27, 2024

Prepared, a leading AI platform built to transform emergency communications, announced a series B funding of $27 million led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from returning investors First Round Capital and M13. And new investor NewView Capital also participated in the round. This second funding round from a16z, First Round, and M13 brings Prepared’s total investments to $57 million.

Scribenote Raises $8.2 Million (Seed) To Help Veterinarians Streamline Documentation Processes

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 27, 2024

Scribenote, an AI-based medical scribe for veterinarians, announced it raised $8.2 million in seed funding to tackle this problem head-on. And the company's funding was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with additional participation from Inovia Capital, the Velocity Fund, and a line-up of angel investors.

Piramidal: Interview With Co-Founder Kris Pahuja About This Brain Language AI Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 27, 2024

Piramidal (YC W24) is a company that is building a first-of-its-kind foundation model that can detect and understand complex “brain language” or brainwaves. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Piramidal co-founder Kris Pahuja to learn more about the company.

Ubie: Interview With Co-Founder & Co-CEO Kota Kubo About This AI Symptom-Checker Service

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 26, 2024

Ubie is a health-tech company providing an AI symptom-checker with 10+ million monthly active users. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Ubie co-founder and co-CEO Kota Kubo to learn more.

UJET: AI-Based Cloud Contact Center Solutions Company Raises $76 Million (Series D)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 26, 2024

UJET, a leader of AI-based cloud contact center solutions, announced it has closed its latest round of funding led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from new investors KeyCorp and IonPacific and existing investors GV, Kleiner Perkins, Citi Ventures, DCM, and Ericsson Ventures. UJET’s latest funding round brings the total Series D funding to $76 million and will accelerate UJET's development of generative AI technologies, enabling businesses to enhance customer experiences (CX) significantly.

Crisp: $72 Million (Series B) Raised To Expand Into CPG And Retail Channels

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 26, 2024

Crisp announced it closed a $72 million Series B equity round, including $17 million from new strategic investors, including Wellington Management, Toshiba Corporation, DNX, Cox, and Prologis. This brings Crisp's total equity raised to $97 million since its founding.

Zartico: Using AI To Create Strategic Planning And Marketing Optimization Solutions In A $225+ Billion Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 26, 2024

Zartico is the maker of the first Destination Operating System and it harnesses and streamlines big data using science, AI, and technology to provide unprecedented visibility into the movement of people and economic opportunities. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Zartico CEO Sarah Lehman to learn more about the company.

Upend: Interview With Founder Jeevan Arora About The AI-Based Task Engine

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 26, 2024

Upend.ai is a new platform that pairs search with large language models to give you the best results possible and help you understand them. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Upend founder Jeevan Arora to learn more about the company.

Sware: Interview With CEO Ellen Reilly About The Digital Validation Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 25, 2024

Sware is a leading digital validation and process automation across the healthcare, life sciences, and medical device industries. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Sware CEO Ellen Reilly to learn more about the company.

Letta: UC Berkeley GenAI Spin Out Raises $10 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 24, 2024

Letta, a new GenAI startup spun out of UC Berkeley's AI research lab, has emerged from stealth with a $10 million seed round led by Felicis with participation from Sunflower Capital and Essence VC. And notable angels include Jeff Dean (Chief Scientist at Google DeepMind), Clem Delangue (CEO of HuggingFace), Cristobal Valenzuela (CEO of Runway), Jordan Tigani (CEO of MotherDuck), Tristan Handy (CEO of dbt Labs), Robert Nishihara (co-founder of Anyscale), and Barry McCardel (CEO of Hex).

HavocAI: End-To-End Maritime Autonomy Solutions Company Raises $11 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 24, 2024

Trousdale Ventures and Scout Ventures have co-led a $11 million investment round in HavocAI, a developer of low-cost, collaborative, autonomous surface vessels. And HavocAI's fleet of uncrewed boats represents a game-changing solution, with capabilities delivered at incredibly low costs in an era where threats to global shipping and security intensify daily.

Jus Mundi: $22 Million (Series B) Raised And Jus AI Launched

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 24, 2024

Global legal AI company Jus Mund announced the launch of Jus AI, its research and productivity assistant for global legal professionals. The company has also secured €20 million (US $22 million) in Series B funding, one of the largest rounds of funding for a European legal tech company.

Datricks: AI-Based Compliance Platform Company Raises $15 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 24, 2024

Datricks, a pioneering financial integrity platform, announced $15 million in Series A funding led by Team8’s venture capital arm. And SAP, the global leader in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, made a strategic investment in the round, along with participation from existing investor Jerusalem Venture Partners. This funding round follows Datricks' recent expansion of its commercial partnership with SAP, which included the launch of Datricks for Risk Mining as an SAP Endorsed App.