Startups

CopilotKit: $27 Million Series A Raised For Enterprise Agentic Frontend Stack

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 6, 2026

CopilotKit announced it has raised $27 million in Series A funding led by Glilot Capital Partners, NFX, and SignalFire as the company expands its enterprise agentic frontend stack for generative UI and agent-human collaboration. Additional investors participating in the round included Discovery Ventures, Vermilion Cliffs Ventures, DVC, Abstraction Capital, 97212 Ventures, Deep Acre, J-Ventures, Gurtin Ventures, and Fresh Fund.

ANELLO Photonics Raises $25 Million Series B-2 To Scale Production Of GPS-Denied Navigation Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

ANELLO Photonics, the creator of the Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope and a leader in solid-state, high-precision inertial navigation systems, has secured an additional $25 million in a Series B-2 financing round. The oversubscribed round was led by MESH, an electronics-focused venture capital firm, with participation from new investors Washington Harbour Partners alongside existing investors Lockheed Martin Ventures, Catapult Ventures, New Legacy Ventures, One Madison Group, IronGate Capital, and Mana Ventures.

Barocal: Cambridge University Spin-Out Raises $10 Million Seed Funding To Commercialize Breakthrough Solid-State Cooling Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Barocal, a Cambridge University spin-out developing solid-state cooling and heating technology using barocaloric materials, has raised a $10 million seed round from World Fund, Breakthrough Energy Discovery, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, and IP Group to accelerate development and scale its engineering team ahead of commercial deployment. The company is targeting the approximately $450 billion global HVAC market, which is expected to surge to approximately $577 billion by 2033, with initial focus on data center cooling and commercial refrigeration.

Panthalassa Raises $140 Million Series B To Power AI Computing At Sea Using Ocean Wave Energy

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Panthalassa, a renewable energy and ocean technology company, has raised $140 million in Series B financing led by Peter Thiel, with participation from a broad group of new and returning investors including John Doerr, Marc Benioff's TIME Ventures, Max Levchin's SciFi Ventures, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Hanwha Group, Fortescue Ventures, Super Micro Computer, and others, alongside returning backers Founders Fund, Gigascale Capital, and Lowercarbon Capital.

Enzo Health Raises $26 Million To Deploy AI Across Home Health And Post-Acute Care

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Enzo Health, the AI-driven platform for home health and post-acute care, has announced a $20 million Series A funding round led by N47, bringing the company's total funding to $26 million. Existing investors Gradient, Tandem Ventures, and Rigby Watts also participated.

CMBlu Energy Reaches Unicorn Status With €50 Million Series C Close

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

CMBlu Energy, the German deep-tech company developing non-lithium long-duration energy storage, has reached unicorn status, crossing the €1 billion valuation threshold following a €50 million initial close of its Series C financing with participation from Samsung Ventures. All existing investors, including STRABAG SE, also joined the round.

Green Coffee Company Raises $5 Million From More Than 2,000 Retail Investors

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Green Coffee Company, a U.S.-headquartered coffee company with fully integrated operations in Colombia, has successfully closed a Regulation CF crowdfunding campaign on DealMaker's platform, raising $5 million from a community of more than 2,000 retail investors across the United States. The company, which holds exclusive third-party distribution rights for the Juan Valdez brand in the United States and Canada, has grown its retail distribution from zero to more than 1,000 locations within 12 months and targets more than 3,000 locations by year-end.

ZyG Raises $60 Million Series A To Build The First Agentic Operating System For eCommerce Scale

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

ZyG, the eCommerce agentic operating system, has raised a $60 million Series A round led by Accel with participation from Felix Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Accel partner Sonali De Rycker will join the ZyG board of directors as part of the round. The company was founded by the founders of ironSource, which went public on the NYSE at an $11 billion valuation before merging with Unity, who partnered with three leading AI experts from one of Israel's top cyber units.

InstaSwitch Raises $4.7 Million And Launches Account Activation Infrastructure For Business Banking

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

InstaSwitch has launched what it describes as the first infrastructure platform purpose-built to convert opened business bank accounts into active primary relationships, announcing $4.7 million in seed funding alongside the launch. The round was led by Chicago Ventures with participation from 8-Bit Capital, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Panache Ventures, and fintech executives from Unit, Square, PayPal, and Plaid. Early customers include Arc, Relay Financial, and Lettuce Financial, as well as additional regional and community banks.

Blitzy: $200 Million At $1.4 Billion Valuation Raised To Advance Autonomous Software Development

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Blitzy, the autonomous enterprise software development platform, has closed a $200 million funding round at a $1.4 billion valuation, marking one of the largest raises to date in the agentic coding category. The round was led by Northzone, with new investors including PSG, Battery Ventures, Jump Capital, Morgan Creek Digital, and Defiant, alongside continued support from Flybridge, Link Ventures, NFX, Picus Capital, and Venture Guides. Strategic investments came from Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, Erie Strategic Ventures, and BAL Ventures.

RadixArk Launches With $100 Million In Seed Funding To Democratize Frontier AI Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

RadixArk, an AI infrastructure company founded by the creators of the open-source inference engine SGLang, has launched with $100 million in seed funding at a $400 million post-money valuation. The round was led by Accel and co-led by Spark Capital, with participation from NVentures, Salience Capital, A&E Investments, HOF Capital, Walden Catalyst Ventures, AMD, LDV Partners, WTT Investment, and MediaTek. A broad group of angel investors joined the round, including the CEOs of Intel and Broadcom, the co-founder of xAI, and the co-founder of OpenAI.

Astrada Raises $3.8 Million To Build The Data Layer For Autonomous Finance

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Astrada, a startup building real-time financial data infrastructure, has closed a $3.8 million seed funding round to accelerate its platform for AI-driven enterprise finance. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, QED Investors, and Nyca Partners, with strategic investments from Mastercard and follow-on participation from existing investor Visa. The San Francisco-based company launched in 2024 and has since processed more than $750 million in card spend and over three million transactions across all three major card networks through a single API.

QuantWare Raises $178 Million To Build World’s Most Powerful Quantum Processors At Industrial Scale

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

QuantWare, the industrial quantum processor company, has closed a $178 million Series B equity funding round to accelerate its VIO™ processor architecture and to fund the construction of KiloFab, the world's largest dedicated quantum open-architecture fabrication facility. The round marks the largest private funding round ever raised by a dedicated quantum processor company. New investors include Intel Capital, In-Q-Tel, and ETF Partners, joined by existing backers FORWARD.one, Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, InnovationQuarter Capital, Ground State Ventures, and Graduate Ventures.

Nace.AI Secures $21.5 Million To Build Metamodel That Autonomously Runs Enterprise Workflows

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Nace.AI has raised $21.5 million in seed funding to commercialize a platform where more than 100 specialized AI agents autonomously execute complex enterprise workflows, with human experts providing final validation. The round was led by Walden Catalyst with participation from General Catalyst and a group of institutional and angel investors. Alongside the announcement, the company is launching its product in research preview.

Moritz Raises $9 Million To Build An AI-Powered Law Firm For Complex Legal Matters

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Moritz, formerly known as Arcline, has raised $9 million from Y Combinator, 20VC, Urban Innovation Fund, Inception Fund, and more than 20 unicorn founders to build what the company describes as the law firm users have always wanted — one capable of resolving complex legal matters in hours without unsustainable costs. The company's cap table includes the founders of Dropbox, Reddit, Instacart, Hugging Face, Superhuman, WorkOS, Runway, Mixpanel, Rappi, Scribd, Supermetrics, Privy, Optimizely, Product Hunt, and Google Photos, alongside current and former Y Combinator partners, Lenny Rachitsky, and operators from ElevenLabs, Lovable, and OpenAI.

Reduciner Raises €3.6 Million To Turn Captured Industrial Carbon Into Sustainable Fuels

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Reduciner, a Finnish deep tech startup spun out of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, has raised €3.6 million in seed funding to commercialize a novel high-temperature technology that converts captured carbon dioxide into usable fuel and valuable industrial raw materials. The round includes equity investment from Voima Ventures, Lifeline Ventures, and Mikko Kodisoja Foundation, with VTT contributing the underlying technology and IP as an in-kind investment. Proceeds will fund the construction of a 1MW industrial-scale pilot facility in Finland.

MOTHER.Tech Raises $15 Million And Launches Degen, A One-Tap AI Creative App

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

MOTHER.Tech, an AI-native creative studio based in Brooklyn, has launched Degen, a mobile app that allows users to generate images, videos, memes, carousels, and text content in a single tap without prompt engineering, model management, or editing skills. The app is available on iOS and Android via invite code and is backed by Google Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Box Group, and Shine Capital. The company has raised a total of $15 million, with the most recent investment coming in 2026.

Lithosquare Raises $25 Million In Seed Funding To Deploy Geology AI For Critical Metal Exploration

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2026

Lithosquare, a deep tech startup applying foundational AI to mineral exploration, has secured $25 million in seed funding to deploy its Geology AI platform globally. The round was led by World Fund with participation from Kindred Capital VC, daphni, Omnes, and OVNI Capital. The company has spent months operating alongside initial exploration partners to validate its technology in real-world geological settings before announcing the raise.

Smartness Raises €47 Million Raised For Lodging Industry Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 4, 2026

Smartness, an agentic technology platform for the lodging industry, has raised €47 million in what the company describes as the largest-ever round in Italy for a Vertical AI company. The funding comes as Smartness pushes to redefine how hospitality operators engage with software, shifting the model from purchasing tools to purchasing outcomes.

A-Cube Secures €4 Million Round To Accelerate International Tax Compliance Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 4, 2026

A-Cube, an Italian technology company specializing in automated digital tax compliance, has closed a €4 million funding round led by P101 SGR, one of Italy's leading venture capital firms. Sella Direct Ventures, a fintech-focused investor, also participated in the round and will make its global network available to the company. The capital will support A-Cube's expansion across key European markets, accelerate the development of its API-first platform, and fund integration of artificial intelligence models to enhance automation and predictive capability. The Milan-based company, founded in 2018, has processed more than 70 million invoices since 2019 and currently serves more than 450 customers across more than 10 countries.

Woodward Sports Names Co-Founder Joey Namou CEO Following Majority Stake Acquisition

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 4, 2026

Woodward Sports announced that co-founder Joey Namou has acquired a majority stake in the company in a seven-figure transaction and has been named Chief Executive Officer, marking a significant milestone for Detroit's leading digital sports media platform.

Reserv: $125 Million Series C Raised To Scale AI-Native Insurance Claims Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 4, 2026

Reserv, the property and casualty insurance industry's largest AI-native third-party administrator, has raised $125 million in a Series C funding round led by KKR, with participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and Flourish Ventures, as well as select strategic partners and clients.

Latus Bio: $97 Million Series A Raised To Advance Gene Therapy Platform Into Larger Patient Populations

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 4, 2026

Latus Bio, a biotechnology company engineering scalable gene therapies for broader patient populations, has closed a $97 million Series A financing, including a $43 million extension led by 8VC, with participation from existing investors DCVC Bio, BioAdvance, Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners, Modi Ventures, Gaingels, and Hatch BioFund, along with new investors Korea Development Bank and Helen's Pink Sky Foundation.

Fun: $72 Million Raised To Scale Global Payments Infrastructure For Internet-Native Capital Markets

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2026

Fun, a global payments infrastructure company operating in stealth since its 2022 founding, has raised $72 million in a Series A round co-led by Multicoin Capital and SignalFire. The company has built proprietary technology to become the payments backbone for platforms operating at a global scale, processing over $18 billion in transaction volume per year with a 99.999% success rate, supporting millions of users across more than 100 countries.

Lumian: $3 Million Raised To Build AI-Native Amazon Agency With Specialized Agents For Brand Operations

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2026

Lumian, a San Francisco-based AI-native Amazon agency, has raised $3 million in funding backed by Flybridge, Bowery Capital, and Fika Ventures. The company has built a single workspace in which specialized AI agents run advertising, listings, inventory, content, and account health continuously, with human brand managers owning strategy and decisions.

Featherless: $20 Million Raised To Scale Open-Source AI Infrastructure Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2026

Featherless, a neutral infrastructure platform for open-source AI models, has raised a $20 million Series A co-led by AMD Ventures and Airbus Ventures, with significant participation from BMW i Ventures, Kickstart Ventures, Panache Ventures, and Wavemaker Ventures. The capital will support global footprint expansion, deeper technical integrations, enterprise deployments, and advancement of the company's open-source agent runtime.

Nura Studios Emerges From Stealth With Animation Platform Showcraft To Transform IP Into Episodic Content

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2026

Nura Studios, an animation technology company founded by veterans from Apple, Unity, Roblox, Adobe, and Canva, has emerged from stealth with the announcement that its Showcraft animation platform will enter Early Access on May 19. The company is backed by seed funding from iGlobe Partners, Fellows Fund, and Shanda Ventures.

VideoTutor: $11 Million Seed-Backed AI Tutoring Platform Surpasses 50 Million TikTok Views

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2026

VideoTutor, an AI tutoring startup founded by Gen Z entrepreneurs and backed by $11 million in seed funding from YZi Labs, Baidu Ventures, and Amino Capital, has announced that VideoTutor-related content has surpassed 50 million cumulative views on TikTok, driven largely by organic student sharing. The milestone reflects growing demand for AI tutoring that generates visual, animated instructional content rather than text-based answers.

Ctruh: $2.5 Million Raised To Scale Browser-Native 3D Platform For Spatial Internet Experiences

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2026

Ctruh, a full-stack platform enabling brands to deploy 3D and extended reality experiences at scale, has raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures and co-led by Avinya Ventures. The round saw additional participation from India Accelerator, Finvolve, Founders Avenue, Anthill Ventures, and LVX, alongside angel investors including Vivek Sinha, former COO of Unacademy, and Shivakumar Ganesan, founder of Exotel. The latest raise brings Ctruh's total capital raised to $4.5 million and will fund deep-tech research and development as well as market launches in the United States and UAE in 2026.

Techcyte: $15 Million Raised To Scale AI-Powered Digital Pathology Platform Toward Profitability

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2026

Techcyte, a leading provider of AI-powered digital diagnostics for anatomic and clinical pathology, has completed a $15 million capital raise led by Van Tuyl Companies, with participation from existing investors Zoetis and Mayo Clinic. The investment supports Techcyte's path to profitability and continued expansion of its Fusion platform across veterinary, environmental, and human diagnostic segments.