Artificial Intelligence

Butterflies AI: Social Media Company Raises $4.8 Million To Help People Connect With AI Characters

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 27, 2024

Butterflies AI, a social media platform enabling humans and AIs to co-exist, announced the public launch of its platform after five months in beta. To support rapid consumer interest, the company has raised a $4.8 million seed round led by Coatue with participation from SV Angel and several strategic angels, many of whom are former Snap product and engineering leaders.

Backstroke: AI-Based Messaging Company Raises $2 Million In Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 27, 2024

Backstroke announced the launch of its generative AI messaging platform that is set to transform email, SMS, mobile push, and customer marketing for B2C brands. With a $2 million seed round co-led by venture firms High Alpha and Ground Game Ventures, and with participation from Allos Ventures. Backstroke features new technology with seasoned experience, presenting a major opportunity in the marketing tech landscape.

Etched Raises $120 Million To Develop Fast AI Chip

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 27, 2024

Etched, a two-year old company that is aiming to develop the fastest AI chip, announced it raised $120 million in Series A funding. This funding was from from Primary Venture Partners and Positive Sum, with participation from Two Sigma Ventures, Skybox Datacenters, Hummingbird Ventures, Oceans, Fundomo, Velvet Sea Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, Galaxy, Earthshot Ventures, Max Ventures and Lightscape Partners.

Bright Machines: Software-Defined Manufacturing Company Closes $126 Million In Series C Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 26, 2024

Bright Machines, a software-defined manufacturing, announced it has raised $126 millionin Series C funding, with $106 million in equity led by investment from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and participation from NVIDIA, Microsoft, Eclipse, Jabil and Shinhan Securities, and with $20 million in venture debt from J.P. Morgan. This brings the company's total amount raised to more than $400 million.

Waabi: AI-Based Self-Driving Technology Company Raises $200 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 25, 2024

Waabi, a company developing generative AI for the physical world, announced it has raised $200 million in an oversubscribed Series B round, led by Uber and Khosla Ventures. This funding round includes participation from strategic investors NVIDIA, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Scania Invest and Ingka Investments. And additional financial investors include HarbourVest Partners, G2 Venture Partners, BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund, Export Development Canada, Radical Ventures, Incharge Capital, and others.

MeetRecord: Revenue Automation Company Closes $2.7 Million In Pre-Series A Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 25, 2024

Leading revenue automation platform company MeetRecord announced it raised $2.7 million in Pre-Series A funding. This funding round was led by SWC Global, a venture capital fund based in Singapore, with additional support from existing investor All In Capital.

Substrate Labs: AI Infrastructure Company Closes $8 Million In Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 25, 2024

AI infrastructure company Substrate Labs announced an $8 million seed round to deliver elegant APIs that enable developers to build more modular AI systems, accelerating a new era of software development. The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from South Park Commons, Craft Ventures, Guillermo Rauch (Vercel), Immad Akhund (Mercury), Will Gaybrick (Stripe), and others.

Wordsmith: AI-Based Legal Assistant Platform Company Closes $5 Million In Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 25, 2024

Wordsmith, an AI-based legal assistant platform, announced it has raised $5 million to transform the legal industry and unleash a new generation of hyper-skilled legal professionals. Index Ventures led this seed funding, which was joined by General Catalyst and angel investors, including Skyscanner founder Gareth Williams.

FairNow: AI Governance Software Company Raises $3.5 Million In Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 25, 2024

FairNow, a leading McLean, Virginia-based provider of AI governance software, announced that it has secured $3.5 million in a seed funding round. The funding will help FairNow accelerate its mission of equipping enterprises with a governance platform that manages AI-related business and regulatory risks.

Vecna Robotics: Flexible Material Handling Automation Solutions Company Raises $100 Million In Series C

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 25, 2024

Vecna Robotics, a leader in flexible material handling automation solutions, announced its Series C round closing at $100 million, with $40 million in new funding including equity and debt, nearly doubling the company valuation from the previous round. Tiger Global Management, Proficio Capital Partners, and IMPULSE joined in the round.

OpenAI Acquires Database Analytics Company Rockset

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 25, 2024

OpenAI announced it has acquired search and database analytics company Rockset to enhance retrieval infrastructure for making AI more helpful. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.

QpiAI: AI/Quantum Computing Company Raises $6.5 Million In Pre-Series A Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 25, 2024

QpiAI announced it closed its first external investment, a pre-series A funding of $6.5 million led by Yournest and SVCL. WFC, Ramesh Radhakrishnan, Ramaswamy Prabhakar, Quick Heal Security founders Kailash Katkar and Sanjay Katkar and their family office, Lakshmi Lakshmeenarayanan, Bhupinder Singh, Pratap Reddy, Sahasra Capital, and other angels also joined the round. Debraj Banerjee from SIDBI Venture Capital will be joining the board of QpiAI as a nominee.

GrayMatter: AI-Based Robotics Company Raises $45 Million In Series B Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 24, 2024

GrayMatter Robotics, an AI-based robotics leader empowering humans with intelligent automation, announced $45 million in Series B funding. Wellington Management led the funding round, which also included NGP Capital, Euclidean Capital, Advance Venture Partners, SQN Venture Partners, and other existing investors 3M Ventures, B Capital, Bow Capital, Calibrate Ventures, OCA Ventures, and Swift Ventures.

Vehya: $2.1 Million Seed Funding Raised To Drive Innovation In The Service Industry

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 24, 2024

Vehya, an easy-to-use mobile app dedicated to automating the installation, repair, and routine maintenance processes for home and small business services, announced the successful completion of a $2.1 million seed funding round. And the funding will enhance the platform's AI capabilities, expand its service offerings, and accelerate growth in key markets like California, Texas, Florida, Maryland, and Michigan.

Trustwise: Gen AI Performance And Risk Management Company Raises $4 Million In Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 24, 2024

Trustwise, a generative AI (Gen AI) application performance and risk management, announced its official launch, the release of its Optimize:ai product, and $4 million in seed financing. The round was led by Hitachi Ventures with participation from Firestreak Ventures and Grit Ventures.

SewerAI: Sewer Condition Assessment Company Raises $15 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

SewerAI, a leader in AI and cloud-driven sewer condition assessment, announced the completion of a $15 million Series B funding round. This funding round was led by Innovius Capital, with additional funding from Emerald VC, Epic Ventures, Suffolk Technologies, Bentley Systems, Burnt Island Ventures, and notable individual investors, including Zachary Bookman, founder and CEO of OpenGov, and the CEOs of several elite AI and computer vision companies.

Iambic Therapeutics: $50 Million Closed To Develop Novel Therapeutics With AI-Driven Discovery

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Iambic Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics utilizing a unique AI-driven discovery platform, announced the closing of an oversubscribed $50 million extension to its Series B financing. The Series B extension was led by new investors Mubadala Capital and Exor Ventures, with participation from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), and existing investors Abingworth, Illumina Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Coatue, and Tao Capital Partners.

SurrealDB: Multi-Model Database Company Raises $20 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Multi-model database company SurrealDB announced it raised $20 million in funding, led by FirstMark and Georgian and with participation from Crew Capital and Alumni Ventures. This round brought SurrealDB's total to $26 million.

McKinsey Expands Gen AI Platform With Iguazio

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2024

McKinsey has expanded its Gen AI platform (powered by Iguazio) to offer enterprises a consolidated, software-based approach to building, implementing, scaling, and governing Gen AI solutions.

Tinybird: Real-Time Data Platform Company Raises $30 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2024

Tinybird, a real-time data platform for data and engineering teams, announced that it has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by Balderton Capital. Existing investors, including CRV and Singular Ventures, also participated in the round. This new funding round will accelerate Tinybird’s growth, enhance its product offerings, and expand its global footprint.

GPTZero: AI-Based Content Detection Company Raises $10 Million In Series A

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2024

GPTZero, a leading platform for AI-generated content detection and responsible AI adoption, announced it had raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Footwork VC with participation from Reach Capital, Uncork, Neo, Alt Capital, and the former CEOs of Reuters and The New York Times.

Market Intelligence Company AlphaSense Buying Tegus And Raises $650 Million At $4 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

AlphaSense, a leading market intelligence and search platform, announced an agreement to buy Tegus, a leading provider of expert research, unique private company content, and financial data and workflow tools. As part of this deal, AlphaSense also raised $650 million in funding, co-led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners, and joined by new investors, J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Blue Owl, Alkeon Capital, and existing investors Alphabet's CapitalG and Goldman Sachs Alternatives. This raise brought AlphaSense's valuation to $4 billion.

Simulations Plus Acquiring Pro-ficiency For $100 Million In Cash

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Simulations Plus (a leading provider of modeling and simulation software and services for pharmaceutical safety and efficacy) announced the acquisition of Pro-ficiency Holdings and its subsidiaries, a leader in providing simulation-enabled performance and intelligence solutions for clinical and commercial drug development. Simulations Plus had acquired Pro-ficiency from QHP Capital, L.P. (management company for NovaQuest Private Equity) and Pro-ficiency’s minority shareholders for about $100 million in cash.

Daydream: $50 Million Seed Round Raised To Change How People Shop Online

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

E-commerce tech and retail veteran Julie Bornstein and co-founders Matt Fisher, Dan Cary, Lisa Green, and Richard Kim announced today they raised a $50 million seed round co-led by Forerunner Ventures and Index Ventures with participation from GV (Google Ventures) and True Ventures to launch Daydream. This new AI-powered platform will change the way people shop online.

Aidentified: AI-Based Financial Services Prospecting Company Raises $12.5 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Aidentified, a leading AI-powered prospecting and relationship intelligence platform for financial services professionals, announced that it has raised $12.5 million in Series B funding from FactSet, a global financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider.

Merlin To Acquire AI And Autonomy Company EpiSci

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Merlin, a leading developer of safe, autonomous flight technology for fixed-wing aircraft, and EpiSys Science (a software AI and autonomy company delivering groundbreaking solutions for dual-use applications) announced that they have agreed to terms for the future acquisition of EpiSci by Merlin.

Amazon To Invest €10 Billion In Germany For Cloud, Logistics, And R&D

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2024

Amazon announced it has planned investments of €10 billion in Germany to drive innovation and support the expansion of its logistics network and cloud infrastructure across the country. And Amazon is also creating 4,000 new jobs this year, at three new fulfilment centers: one in Horn-Bad Meinberg (North Rhine-Westphalia), opening in late summer 2024, one in Erfurt (Thuringia), opened in May 2024, and one in Großenkneten, opened in August 2023.

Enveda Biosciences: $55 Million Closed To Use AI For Translating Nature Into New Medicines

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2024

Enveda Biosciences, a biotechnology company that utilizes AI to translate nature into new medicines, announced a new funding round of $55 million to add to its $119 million combined Series B and B1. The new investors, Premji Invest, Lingotto Investment Fund, Microsoft, and The Nature Conservancy, participated in the round alongside existing investors Kinnevik, True Ventures, FPV, Level Ventures, and Jazz Venture Partners.

Autify: Quality Engineering AI Company Secures $13 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 18, 2024

Autify, an AI platform for quality engineering, announced that it has completed a Series B funding round of $13 million and launched a beta version of Zenes, an autonomous AI agent for software quality assurance. Leading the funding round are Globis Capital Partners (Tokyo-based VC firm) and LG Technology Ventures (the Silicon Valley-based venture capital arm of LG Group). Existing investors WiL (World Innovation Lab), Salesforce Ventures, Archetype Ventures, and Uncorrelated Ventures also joined the round.

Constructor: AI-Based Product Discovery Platform Company Raises $25 Million At $550 Million Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 18, 2024

Constructor, a leading AI-powered product discovery and search platform for enterprise e-commerce companies, announced that it has closed a $25 million Series B round. This funding round brought the company's valuation to $550 million. Sapphire Ventures led the round with participation from existing investor Silversmith Capital Partners.