Startups

L-Nutra: $83.5 Million In Total Series D Raised And Abu Dhabi JV For Medical Nutrition and Longevity Programs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

L-Nutra announced it has secured a $36.5 million investment led by Mubadala Investment Company as part of its Series D round, bringing total Series D proceeds to $83.5 million. The company is pushing to expand internationally and scale its “nutrition as medicine” and longevity-focused programs.

Dam Secure: $4 Million Seed Funding Closed To Help Enterprises Secure AI-Generated Code At Scale

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Dam Secure, an AI security startup based in Sydney and San Francisco, has raised $4 million in seed funding to address the security risks posed by AI-generated code entering production environments. The round was led by Paladin Capital Group, a Washington, D.C.-based investor focused on cyber and AI.

Statusphere: $18 Million Series A Raised To Scale Micro-Influencer Programs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Statusphere has raised $18 million in a Series A financing led by Volition Capital as the company positions its AI-powered platform to help enterprise retailers and consumer brands turn micro-influencer marketing into a repeatable, brand-safe growth channel. The round brings Statusphere’s total funding to $27 million and included participation from HearstLab, 1984 Ventures, and How Women Invest.

BIOMAKERS Raises Additional $8 Million To Scale Global Precision Oncology Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

BIOMAKERS, a San Francisco-headquartered precision medicine and oncology intelligence company, announced it has closed an additional $8 million in financing as it shifts from building diagnostics and data infrastructure to scaling an AI-native platform designed to support drug and diagnostic development, improve clinical trial execution, and expand access to precision oncology globally. Participants in the round include Labcorp Venture Fund, Oncology Ventures, Endurance28, Zentynel, Sonen Capital, Sky High Fund, and other strategic investors.

Think Bioscience: $55 Million Raised For Developing Small-Molecule Drugs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Think Bioscience, a Boulder, Colorado-based biotechnology company developing small-molecule drugs against historically difficult targets, has raised $55 million in an oversubscribed Series A financing to advance its internal pipeline of first-in-class programs.

Formulary Financial: $4.6 Million Seed Funding Closed To Build AI-Native Fund Administration Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Formulary Financial has emerged from stealth with $4.6 million in seed funding to launch what it calls a full-service, AI-native fund administration business aimed at modernizing back-office operations for private market investors. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Acrew Capital, Company Ventures, Human Ventures, Serena Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and a group of strategic partners and industry executives.

Zipline: $600 Million Raised At $7.6 Billion Valuation For Drone Delivery Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Zipline announced it raised $600 million in a new funding round, valuing the drone delivery company at $7.6 billion, as investors ramp up bets on last-mile autonomous logistics. According to Bloomberg, the round included both new and existing backers, with Zipline naming Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, and Tiger Global among participants.

Divert Lands New Wittington-Led Funding To Scale Food Waste-To-Energy Infrastructure Across North America

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Divert secured new funding led by Wittington Investments, Limited to accelerate the buildout of infrastructure aimed at reducing wasted food across North America, as the company scales its “Prevent, Provide, Power” model across major retail and manufacturing customers.

Blackstone Closes Majority Investment In NetBrain As Bernadette Nixon Takes Over As CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Blackstone Growth has closed its previously announced majority investment in NetBrain Technologies, with the AI NetOps platform provider saying the funding will accelerate global expansion and advance its AI-powered network automation capabilities.

Exciva: €51 Million Series B Closed To Advance Alzheimer’s Agitation Therapy Into Phase 2

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

EQT Life Sciences announced it co-led a €51 million Series B financing in Exciva, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for behavioral symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s disease, with proceeds earmarked to move the company’s lead program into a Phase 2 study.

Orbem: €55.5M Series B Raised To Scale MRI-Powered AI Across Food and Healthcare

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Orbem has secured €55.5 million in Series B funding to advance its goal of building a healthier and more sustainable future. The round was led by Innovation Industries and joined by Supernova Invest, with continued support from existing investors General Catalyst, 83NORTH, The Venture Collective (TVC) Collective, and Possible Ventures.

XBuild: $19 Million Series A Raised And AI-Based Residential Roofing Estimate Product Launched

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

XBuild, an AI estimating platform built for construction contractors, has raised $19 million in a Series A round led by N47, with participation from Rackhouse Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. The company said it will use the new capital to expand beyond roofing into additional construction estimating categories, including concrete, landscaping, painting, windows and doors, glass and glazing, insulation, HVAC, and plumbing.

Atlas Invest: $25 Million Raised To Expand AI-Driven Commercial Real Estate Private Credit Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Atlas Invest has raised $25 million in funding led by BlackRock as it looks to scale its technology-enabled approach to commercial real estate bridge lending and broaden access to institutional-style real estate debt opportunities. The New York-based lender said the raise will support expanded origination and management of senior, real estate-backed loans while strengthening underwriting, monitoring, and servicing capabilities across its portfolio.

Ivo: $55 Million Series B Closed To Scale Contract Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Ivo has raised $55 million in Series B financing to scale its contract-intelligence platform, the company said in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.

Ethernovia: Over $90 Million Series B Raised To Scale Leading-Edge Autonomy And Physical AI Networking Chips

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Silicon Valley semiconductor startup Ethernovia has raised over $90 million in a Series B financing round to accelerate the development and production of its Ethernet-based packet processor platform, aimed at real-time “physical AI” workloads across vehicles, robots, and industrial intelligent machines.

Unbox Robotics: $28 Million Series B Closed For Supply Chain Robotics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Unbox Robotics has raised $28 million (INR 243 crore) in a Series B funding round led by ICICI Venture and Redstart Labs (Infoedge), with co-investment from F-Prime, 3one4 Capital, Navam Capital, Force Ventures, and other existing backers. The round included a mix of primary and secondary capital, and the company said the transaction also created meaningful employee liquidity through its ESOP program.

Emergent Lands $70 Million Series B As ARR Hits $50 Million In 7 Months

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Emergent, an AI-driven software creation platform that helps users build full-stack web and mobile applications, has raised $70 million in Series B funding led by Khosla Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, the company said Tuesday.

Humans& Raises $480 Million Seed Funding At $4.48 Billion Valuation For Building Human-Centric AI Collaboration Tools

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Today humans& announced it officially launching, which is a new company founded by leading researchers from Google, Anthropic, xAI, OpenAI, Meta, and other top labs and academic institutions. In an announcement sent to Pulse 2.0, the company said it has raised $480 million in a seed round of funding at a valuation of $4.48 billion. The round was led by SV Angel and co-founder Georges Harik, with participation from NVIDIA, Jeff Bezos, GV (Google Ventures), Emerson Collective, Forerunner, S32, DCVC, Human Capital, Felicis, and CRV, among others. And this financing is one of the largest seed rounds in the AI industry.

Pomelo: $55 Million Series C Raised To Expand Beyond Card Issuing And Build New Payment Rails

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Pomelo, a Latin America-based payments infrastructure company, has raised a $55 million Series C round to accelerate the modernization of payments infrastructure and broaden its product roadmap beyond card issuing. The round was co-led by Kaszek and Insight Partners, with participation from Index Ventures, Adams Street Partners, S32, Endeavor Catalyst, monashees, and TQ Ventures. Founded in 2021, Pomelo said the financing brings its total capital raised to $160 million.

Legato: $7 Million Seed Funding Raised To Bring In-Product Vibe App Creation To Business Users

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Legato, an early-stage startup building “vibe app creation” capabilities that can be embedded directly inside B2B software platforms, has raised a $7 million seed round led by S Capital VC with participation from Cerca Partners.

Ultra: $11 Million Series A Closed To Scale Nicotine-Free Focus Pouches

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Ultra, a nicotine-free functional pouch brand positioning itself as a “clean” alternative for sustained focus, has raised an $11 million Series A round to expand product development, broaden distribution, and grow headcount across the United States, the company said.

Neuropacs: Over $1 Million Seed Round Raised To Advance AI MRI Diagnostics For Neurodegenerative Parkinsonism

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

neuropacs, which is developing AI-driven neurological diagnostic software, announced it has raised more than $1 million in seed financing to expand product development and prepare for broader clinical commercialization.

Pennylane Raises €175 Million To Expand AI And E-Invoicing Push Across Europe

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Pennylane has raised €175 million in a funding round led by TCV, with participation from Blackstone Growth, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, CapitalG, and Meritech Capital, as the company seeks to position itself as a leading “financial operating system” for European businesses. Bloomberg revealed that the funding round was at a $4.25 billion valuation.

Jetson: $50 Million Series A Raised To Scale Home Heat Pump Electrification

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Jetson, a home electrification company focused on replacing gas furnaces with all-electric heat pump systems, announced it has raised $50 million in Series A funding as it expands into additional U.S. markets and builds out a broader product roadmap. The round was led by Eclipse, with participation from 8VC and Activate Capital, as well as existing backers Garage Capital and Active Impact. Jetson said the financing will support expansion into new states and continued development of its vertically integrated model, which combines direct-to-consumer sales, remote assessments, rebate management, and an in-house installation team.

Point Laz: $3 Million Raised To Scale Automated Mine Shaft Inspections

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Point Laz Mining Laser Expertise announced it has closed a $3 million funding round to accelerate production and global deployment of its automated mine shaft inspection technology and related analytics platform. The financing was led by the i4 Capital Fund, with significant participation from Fonds Impulsion, which is managed by Investissement Québec and financed by the Government of Québec.

Elyos AI: $13 Million Series A Raised To Expand AI “Front Office” Agents for Trades Businesses

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 19, 2026

Elyos AI has raised a $13 million Series A round to accelerate development of AI agents built for trades businesses, targeting one of the sector’s most persistent operational problems: missed work and lost revenue when customer inquiries aren’t handled quickly and consistently. The Series A was led by Blackbird, with participation from Y Combinator and Pi Labs.

Dripl: €4 Million Raised To Expand Office Hydration Push And Cut Single-Use Packaging

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 19, 2026

Dripl, a workplace hydration company, has raised €4 million to expand its office drink systems and push toward its goal of eliminating 1 billion single-use packages by 2030, according to a post by co-founder Colin Deblonde.

Dominion Dynamics: C$21 Million Seed Round Closed For Arctic-Focused Defense Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 19, 2026

Dominion Dynamics, a Canadian defense technology startup building interoperable, “attritable” systems for contested environments, has raised a C$21 million (US$15.2 million) seed round led by Georgian, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and British Columbia Investment Management.

Wed Society: Series B Closed At $11 Million Valuation, Citing 110+ Million Annual Content Views

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 19, 2026

Wed Society announced it has closed a Series B funding round at an $11 million valuation, positioning the Oklahoma City-based wedding planning platform to broaden its national footprint and invest in technology and operations as it targets continued expansion in 2026.

Noveon Magnetics: $215 Million Series C Raised To Expand U.S. Rare Earth Magnet Manufacturing

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 19, 2026

Noveon Magnetics, a U.S. manufacturer of sintered rare earth permanent magnets, has closed a $215 million Series C financing round led by One Investment Management (OneIM), including a $200 million investment from OneIM.