Startups

Exponent: $40 Million Raised To Build Financial Operating System For Franchise Operators

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Exponent announced it has raised more than $40 million in combined equity and credit capital to expand its financial infrastructure platform for multi-location franchise operators across the U.S.

Graphon AI: $8.3 Million Seed Raised For Pre-Model Intelligence Layer

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Graphon AI emerged from stealth with $8.3 million in seed funding to build what it describes as the first pre-model intelligence layer designed to help AI systems reason across complex multimodal enterprise data. The round was led by Novera Ventures founder and managing director Arvind Gupta, with participation from Perplexity Fund, Samsung Next, GS Futures, Hitachi Ventures, Gaia Ventures, B37 Ventures, and Aurum Partners.

Equipifi: $34 Million Series B Raised To Expand BNPL Solutions Across Financial Institutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

equipifi, a fintech platform that enables banks and credit unions to provide Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and flexible payment solutions directly within their digital banking experiences, announced it has secured $34 million in Series B funding.

Novella: $21 Million Raised To Expand AI-Powered Wholesale Insurance Brokerage Platform Across The U.S.

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Novella announced a $21 million capital raise to expand across the United States, recruit brokers, and continue developing proprietary AI agents designed to help insurance professionals become “super-producers.”

Mongoose AI: Seed Extension Raised To Launch Governed AI Agents For Health Plans

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Mongoose AI announced the launch of a new category of governed AI agents designed specifically for health plans, alongside an oversubscribed seed extension co-led by Vertical Venture Partners. The funding round also included participation from Overstory Partners, Connecticut Innovations, and a group of strategic healthcare executives, including current and former chief information officers and customer experience leaders from national and regional health plans.

Iceotope: $26 Million Raised For AI Infrastructure Liquid Cooling Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Iceotope announced it has raised $26 million in Series B funding to accelerate the development of its precision liquid-cooling technology for next-generation AI infrastructure. The round was led by Two Seas Capital and Barclays Climate Ventures, with participation from existing investors Edinv, ABC Impact, Northern Gritstone, and British Patient Capital.

Nectar Social: $30 Million Series A Raised For Agentic Marketing Operating System

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Nectar Social announced it raised a $30 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures and its Anthology Fund, which was created in partnership with Anthropic. The round also included participation from True Ventures, GV, and Kinship Ventures, the investment firm founded by Gwyneth Paltrow.

Saile: $2.2 Million Raised For Healthcare Staffing And Credentialing Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Saile announced that it raised a $2.2 million oversubscribed pre-seed funding round led by Matchstick Ventures. Headwater Ventures also participated in the round.

Flick: $6 Million Raised For AI-Native Filmmaking Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Flick, an AI-native filmmaking platform founded by Zoey Zhang and Ray Wang, announced it has raised $6 million in seed funding. The round included backing from True Ventures, GV, Y Combinator, Lightspeed, Formosa Capital, Pioneer Fund, Olive Tree Capital, N1, and angel investors.

Optura: $17.5 Million Series A Raised To Scale Healthcare ROAI Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Optura announced a $17.5 million Series A round led by Salesforce Ventures, with participation from Echo Health Ventures and continued backing from Susa Ventures, Matrix Partners, and HC9 Ventures. The financing brings the company’s total funding to more than $25 million.

Resurrect Bio: $10.3 Million Oversubscribed Series A Raised To Accelerate Crop Disease Resistance

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Resurrect Bio, a biotechnology company developing disease-resistant crops through gene editing, announced the final close of its Series A funding round at $10.3 million, oversubscribed from the company’s previously announced $8.1 million initial close in February 2026.

Synthetic: $10 Million Seed Raised For AI Bookkeeping Platform For Software Startups

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Synthetic announced it has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures. Additional participants in the round included Basis Set Ventures along with operator-investors Tobi Lütke, Kaz Nejatian, Zach Abrams, Cosmin Nicolaescu, and Michael Tannenbaum.

Degron Therapeutics: $40 Million Series A Extension Closed To Support Molecular Glue Degrader Clinical Development

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Degron Therapeutics announced the closing of a $40 million Series A Extension financing round to support the continued clinical development of its molecular glue degrader pipeline. The financing round was led by LAPAM CAPITAL, with participation from GTJA Investment Group, Fortune Capital, CSPC & Growth, ApicHope, GF Xinde, CASSTAR, Kinghall Ventures, and GAGE Capital. The latest financing brings the total capital raised by Degron Therapeutics to $95 million.

GridCARE: $64 Million Series A Raised To Create New ‘Power Acceleration’ Category For AI

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

GridCARE announced it has raised a $64 million oversubscribed Series A round to accelerate what the company describes as a new category called “Power Acceleration” for AI infrastructure. The financing was led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with participation from John Doerr, along with utility and institutional investors including National Grid Partners, Future Energy Ventures, Emerson Collective, Stanford University, and existing investors including Xora, Aina Ventures, Overture, Acclimate Ventures, and Clearvision Ventures.

Lansdowne Partners: $150 Million First Close Announced For UK Innovation-Focused VC Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Lansdowne Partners has launched a venture capital fund focused on supporting high-potential UK companies emerging from the country’s university research base and startup ecosystem. The fund announced a first close of $150 million and is targeting a final close in December, with indicated investor interest already exceeding the fund’s $200 million cap.

Origin Lab: $8 Million Seed Raised To Turn Video Game Worlds Into AI Training Data

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Origin Lab, the technology platform turning licensed video game worlds into structured training data for world models and multimodal AI, announced an $8 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Credibly: Over $260 Million In New Financing Secured To Accelerate SMB Financing Growth

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Credibly announced that it secured more than $260 million in new financing to strengthen its capital base and support continued growth in small and medium-sized business financing.

Stitch: $25 Million Raised For Financial Infrastructure Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 14, 2026

Stitch announced it has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, marking the venture firm’s first investment in the GCC region. The funding round brings Stitch’s total funding to $35 million. Existing investors Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures, and SVC also participated in the round.

Mantle8: €31 Million Raised For Natural Hydrogen Exploration And Drilling Campaign

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

Mantle8 has raised €31 million in Series A funding to advance its proprietary technology platform and launch a global exploration and drilling campaign aimed at identifying the first commercially exploitable reservoir of high-purity natural hydrogen.

NVision: $55 Million Series B Raised To Expand From Quantum Sensing Into Quantum Computing For Drug Discovery

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

NVision announced a $55 million Series B financing round as the company expands from quantum sensing into quantum computing, with the goal of accelerating the discovery and validation of new therapies. The funding round was anchored by Abbott and also included a $17 million venture loan from the European Investment Bank. Other investors participating in the round included Playground Global, Matterwave Ventures, and Entrée Capital. The new financing brings NVision’s total capital raised to $120 million.

Fractile: $220 Million Raised To Build Next-Generation AI Inference Hardware

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

Fractile announced it has raised $220 million to accelerate the development of a new generation of inference hardware designed to dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of frontier AI systems.

Recursive: $650 Million Raised At $4.65 Billion Valuation For Self-Improving AI Research

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

Recursive, a new artificial intelligence research company founded by former leaders from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta AI, Salesforce AI, and Uber AI, announced it is emerging from stealth with a mission to develop self-improving AI systems capable of conducting experiments to safely improve themselves through automated scientific discovery.

UroMems: $60 Million Raised For Smart Implant Treating Stress Urinary Incontinence

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

UroMems announced a $60 million strategic investment from Ajax Health to continue funding pivotal clinical trials and commercial launch preparation for the UroActive System, the company’s smart automated implant designed to treat stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

Waterdrop: €100 Million Raised For Global Hydration Expansion

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

waterdrop announced it has closed a funding round exceeding €100 million, marking the largest capital raise in the company’s history as it accelerates global expansion and product innovation initiatives. The round includes investments from Aspeya, Atlantic Grupa, and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who joins the company as both an investor and brand ambassador. Existing shareholders, including Temasek, Döhler, and Bitburger, also continue backing the business.

Outmarket AI: $17 Million Series A Raised To Power The Intelligence Era Of Insurance

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

Outmarket AI, an AI platform purpose-built for the insurance industry, announced it has raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Permanent Capital Ventures, with participation from SignalFire, Fika Ventures, TTV Capital, and Dash Fund. The funding brings the company’s total capital raised to $21.7 million.

Rev1 Ventures: Startup Ecosystem Generated $718 Million Economic Impact In 2025

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

Rev1 Ventures announced that founders supported through its venture studio platform generated $718 million in total economic impact during 2025 despite a difficult venture capital environment for early-stage startups. The organization said the results reflect continued resilience and growth across Central Ohio’s startup ecosystem amid broader national funding challenges.

9amHealth: $26 Million Series B Raised To Expand Virtual Specialty Care

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

9amHealth announced a $26 million Series B financing round led by Define Ventures, with participation from SemperVirens VC, Catalio Capital Management, and NewHealth Ventures. The company said the funding will support expansion of its AI-enabled virtual specialty care platform beyond cardiometabolic care into additional chronic conditions that collectively account for up to 70% of employer pharmacy spending.

Autoimmunity BioSolutions Expands Seed Round To $3.1 Million To Advance Genetically Guided Autoimmune Therapy Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

Autoimmunity BioSolutions announced the close of a $1 million seed extension financing round, bringing the company’s total seed funding to $3.1 million. The financing was anchored by Eos BioInnovation alongside participation from several family office investors focused on long-term healthcare and biotechnology investments.

Mind Robotics: $400 Million Financing Expands AI-Powered Industrial Robotics Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

Mind Robotics announced a $400 million financing round led by Kleiner Perkins, bringing the company’s total funding to more than $1 billion since its founding in 2025. The financing included participation from new investors Meritech Capital, Redpoint Ventures, SV Angel, Incharge Capital, A-Star Capital, and Garuda Ventures, alongside existing investors including Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Eclipse, Prysm Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and Greenoaks.

Avant Genomics Raises Over $3 Million To Advance Automated Liquid Biopsy Sample Preparation Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 13, 2026

Avant Genomics announced it has raised more than $3 million in financing to accelerate development of its Avant Source platform, an automated liquid biopsy sample preparation system designed for precision cancer detection. The financing included participation from TitletownTech, Halyard Ventures, Virginia Venture Partners, CAV Angels, Global Impact Fund, along with additional angel investors and family offices.