Startups

A100x: $50 Million Fund II Launched

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

A100x announced its second fund, a $50 million vehicle dedicated to supporting aspiring early stage founders in artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets, and blockchain, and is strategically designed to foster the next generation of companies that are building applications and middleware to solve real world challenges and foster enterprise and consumer adoption. And there is no better time than during this US administration to support these technologies.

Whalar Group: Strategic Investment Raised From Marc Benioff, Shopify, And Neal H. Moritz

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Whalar Group, which is the global Creator company on a mission to liberate the creative voice, announced that they have secured strategic investment from a group of powerhouse investors: Marc Benioff the visionary founder of Salesforce, Shopify, and Neal H. Moritz the acclaimed Hollywood producer & founder of Original Film.

Owner: $120 Million Series C Raised At $1 Billion Valuation For Helping Restaurants Grow

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Owner announced it is raising $120 million in Series C at a $1 billion valuation. The company aims to create a “Shopify” for local businesses, starting with restaurants. The funding round was co-led by Alex Kurland of Meritech and Shalini Rao of Headline.

Wireless Logic: General Atlantic Named As Minority Shareholder At £3.5 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Wireless Logic - a leading independent global Internet of Things (IoT) solutions provider - announced it welcomed General Atlantic, a leading global investor as a new minority shareholder, through investment from the firm’s BeyondNetZero climate growth equity fund. And the company’s existing shareholder Montagu (a leading mid-market private equity firm) will remain the majority shareholder, reinvesting alongside General Atlantic.

Origin: $21 Million Series A Raised For Global Benefits Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Origin, the world’s first Global Benefits Intelligence platform, announced it officially launched and it has raised $21 million in Series A funding led by Felix Capital, with participation from Acadian Ventures and Notion Capital. And additional investment has been secured from Tudor Havriliuc (former VP of HR at Meta), Paul Daugherty (enterprise AI author) and recently retired CTO of Accenture), Jacqui Canney (CHRO at ServiceNow), and Laura Modiano (Startups Lead for OpenAI in EMEA). The funding round values Origin at $106 million and will advance the company's goal to transform the global benefits industry by providing HR and benefits.

Azafaros: €132 Million Secured To Develop Treatments For Lysosomal Storage Disorders

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Azafaros, a clinical-stage company focused on developing disease-modifying therapeutics to offer new treatment options to patients with rare lysosomal storage disorders, announced the completion of an oversubscribed €132 million Series B financing led by Jeito Capital, co-led by Forbion Growth, and with additional participation from Seroba, Pictet Group and existing investors Forbion Ventures, Schroders Capital and BioGeneration Ventures (BGV).

Optimal Dynamics: $40 Million Series C Raised For Scaling Logisitics Decision Layers

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Optimal Dynamics, a leader in artificial decision intelligence for trucking companies, announced a $40 million Series C financing round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies. This funding emphasizes Optimal Dynamics' bold vision to fundamentally reshape decision-making across the trucking industry by building the first-ever autonomous decision layer of logistics.

PhaseV: $50 Million Series A Closed For Clinical Development Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

PhaseV, a leader in AI/ML-driven clinical development, announced the completion of a $50 million Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Accel and Insight Partners, and existing investors Viola Ventures, EXOR, and LionBird participated. This brings the company's total funding to $65 million.

Stord: $200+ Million Raised At $1.5 Billion Valuation For Commerce-Enabling Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Stord, a commerce-enablement leader providing high-volume fulfillment services and e-commerce technology for omnichannel brands, announced that it has raised more than $200 million in financing. This Series E equity funding is led by Strike Capital, with additional support via growth debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, and ORIX USA. New investors, Baillie Gifford, NewView Capital, G Squared, and Georgia Tech Foundation, joined the round and existing investors, Kleiner Perkins, Franklin Templeton, Founders Fund, Bond, Sozo, 137, and Lux, also participated. And the funding round raised Stord’s valuation to $1.5 billion, reflecting the company’s growth trajectory.

DiffuseDrive: $3.5 Million Raised For Physical AI Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

DiffuseDrive, a next-generation physical AI company, announced a double milestone, raising $3.5 million in seed funding and multiple successful deployments with Fortune 500 companies. And the company’s breakthrough generative AI platform turns data scarcity into data abundance automating photorealistic content in hours giving enterprises a competitive edge.

Dazos: $25 Million Series A Raised For Advancing Product Development Of Health Providers

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Dazos, an all-in-one CRM platform for behavioral health providers, announced it has raised $25 million in Series A funding from Radian Capital.