Startups

Portal Biotechnologies: Cell Engineering Platform Company Raises $7 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 24, 2024

Cell engineering platform company Portal Biotechnologies announced an oversubscribed $7 million seed round led by IA Ventures with participation from Pear VC, Undeterred Ventures, Page One VC, IKJ Capital, and other current investors.

xAI: Elon Musk’s AI Company Raises $6 Billion (Series C) To Advance Scientific Discovery

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 24, 2024

xAI, a company founded by Elon Musi in 2023 to advance scientific discovery, announced it raised $6 billion in a new round of funding. This round included participation from A16Z, Blackrock, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Kingdom Holdings, Lightspeed, MGX, Morgan Stanley, OIA, QIA, Sequoia Capital, Valor Equity Partners and Vy Capital, and others. And strategic investors NVIDIA and AMD also participated and continue to support xAI in rapidly scaling our infrastructure.

Report: Perplexity Raises $500 Million At $9 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Perplexity AI – an artificial intelligence company that is creating a search product to compete with Google – has reportedly closed a $500 million round of funding tripling the company’s valuation to $9 billion, according to sources with Bloomberg and several other news outlets.

3Gen Consulting: $22 Million Raised From Piramal Alternatives

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

3Gen Consulting, a healthcare consulting and revenue cycle management (RCM) services provider, announced that it will receive a strategic investment of up to $22 million (INR 185 crores) from Piramal Alternatives. This partnership is set to advance 3Gen Consulting's growth and bolster its leadership in the healthcare industry.

Orqa: Advanced Autonomous Drone Solutions Company Raises €5.8 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Orqa, a leader in advanced autonomous drone solutions, announced that it raised €5.8 million in a seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Radius Capital, Decisive Point and existing investor Day One Capital.

Hamming.ai: AI-Based Voice Agent Reliability Company Raises $3.8 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Hamming.ai, an AI voice agent reliability platform, announced that it raised $3.8 million in seed funding led by Mischief, with participation from Y Combinator, AI Grant, Pioneer, Coalition Operators, Coughdrop and angels including Hiten Shah, Ran Makavy, Max Kolysh, Richard Aberman and Kulveer Taggar.

ICEYE: Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite Operations Company Secures $65 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

ICEYE, the global leader in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite operations for high-fidelity Earth Observation, persistent monitoring, and natural catastrophe solutions, announced that it had closed a $65 million extension of the company's earlier growth funding round of $93 million (announced in April 2024).

SiteOne Therapeutics: $100 Million (Series C) Raised For Advancing Selective Ion Channel Modulators For Pain Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

SiteOne Therapeutics - a biopharmaceutical company developing selective ion channel modulators for treating pain, cough, and other conditions - announced a $100 million Series C financing. Led by Novo Holdings, with participation from OrbiMed, Wellington Management, Mission BioCapital, BSQUARED Capital, and existing investors, this funding will support the advancement of SiteOne's portfolio of selective, small molecule ion channel modulators for the treatment of sensory hyperexcitability disorders through human clinical proof of concept.

Benchstrength: $62 Million Closed For Early-Stage Venture Capital Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Benchstrength, a venture capital firm whose goal is to invest in high-potential early-stage technology companies, announced the closing of its first fund. The fund’s investors include the Ford Foundation, GCM Grosvenor, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Churchill Asset Management, Fairview Capital, Bank of America, Citi Impact Fund, General Catalyst, Village Global, The Kapor Foundation, The Equity Alliance, and First Close Partners.

Twill: Talent Platform Company Raises $1.4 Million (Pre-Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Twill - a next-generation talent platform that connects companies with vetted tech professionals through peer recommendations - announced it has raised $1.4 million in pre-seed funding led by Bloomberg Beta. And additional investors include Vitalize VC, Correlation Ventures, Purpose Built Ventures, and executives from Netflix, Meta, and Snap.

Prometheum: Digital Asset Securities Company Secures $20 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Prometheum - a leading market infrastructure provider for digital asset securities - announced it raised approximately $20 million this year from a group of high-net-worth investors and institutions. And the funding will support Prometheum’s hiring and development plans in 2025 as it completes the rollout of its vertically integrated blockchain-enabled ecosystem for the trading, clearance, settlement, and custody of digital asset securities through its SEC-registered and FINRA member affiliate subsidiaries, Prometheum Capital and Prometheum ATS.

Gigs: $73 Million (Series B) Raised To Help Companies Launch Mobile Services

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Gigs - an operating system for mobile services - announced that it has raised a $73 million in Series B led by Ribbit Capital. And all existing investors, including Google’s Gradient, YC and Speedinvest, participated in the round.

Anatomy: AI-Based Healthcare Lockbox Company Raises $19 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Anatomy Financial, the developer of the AI-based lockbox to convert paper mail from healthcare practices to an email-like experience for simplified billing workflows, announced $19 million in Series A funding led by Canapi Ventures. Neil Underwood from Canapi and Nicole Quinn from Lightspeed Venture Partners will join the Anatomy board, supporting the company’s efforts to bring a digital back office and AI-based financial operations to healthcare providers across the US.

Hostaway: Vacation Rental Software Company Raises $365 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Hostaway - a leading all-in-one vacation rental software and management system - announced it had raised a $365 million strategic growth investment led by General Atlantic, with participation from existing investor PSG Equity. And Hostaway plans to partner with General Atlantic and PSG Equity to propel further its growth strategy, such as international expansion, product development, and AI initiatives.

NeuroKaire: Precision Medicine Biotech Company Secures $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

NeuroKaire - a pioneering biotechnology company specializing in precision medicine in psychiatry and neurology - announced it had secured $10 million in funding to advance the development of its clinical test, which helps identify drug efficacy for depression patients. GreyBird Ventures led the round. The company's other investors include Meron Capital Jumpspeed Ventures, among others.

Tuesday Capital: Ethan Imboden Named As Partner

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Seed-stage fund firm Tuesday Capital announced it had added Ethan Imboden, a long-time collaborator, as a partner. Imboden joins the team after 10 years at global design & strategy consulting firm frog, where he founded and led the venture practice and investment arm.

Slip Robotics: Truck-Loading Robots-As-A-Service Company Closes $28 Million (Series B)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

Slip Robotics, a next-generation provider of automated truck-loading robots-as-a-service, announced it raised a $28 million Series B financing led by DCVC. The funding reflects Slip’s rapid growth with industry-leading customers – including John Deere, GE Appliances, Valeo, and Nissan – using SlipBots to load and unload any truck in just 5 minutes.

Mindgard: $8 Million Raised For Safeguarding AI With Security Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 23, 2024

AI security company Mindgard announced a $8 million funding round. .406 Ventures led the round, which included participation from Atlantic Bridge, Willowtree Investments, and existing investors IQ Capital and Lakestar.

Ayar Labs: Optical Interconnect Company Raises $155 Million (Series D)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 22, 2024

Ayar Labs, a leader in optical interconnect solutions for large-scale AI workloads, announced it has raised $155 million in financing led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital to address the AI bottleneck of data movement with its optical I/O technology. This brings the company’s total funding to $370 million and raises its valuation to above $1 billion.

Aisti: €29 Million (Series A) Raised To Transform Acoustic Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 22, 2024

Finnish technology company Aisti - a company that is renowned for its acoustic tiles made of renewable wood fibers - announced it raised a Series A funding round of €29 million. This funding round attracted notable early-stage investors, such as Voima Ventures, Maki.vc, the Valve Ventures consortium, and private investors.

Remodel Health: ICHRA Provider Company Raises Over $100 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 21, 2024

Remodel Health, an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) provider for brokers, announced it had raised over $100 million from Oak HC/FT and Hercules Capital in growth funding. And Remodel offers an end-to-end white-labeled tech platform that supports employers and employees with everything they need for launching and accessing their ICHRA plans, including plan creation and administration, call center support, automated quoting, employee onboarding, HRIS integrations and payments with carriers and access to ancillary products.

Borealis Biosciences: RNA Medicines Company Secures $30 Million (Series A Extension)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 21, 2024

Next-generation RNA medicines company Borealis Biosciences announced the appointment of Christian Hordo as CEO and a $30 million infusion from an extension of the Series A led by Westlake BioPartners. Plus, the company announced the addition of three new board directors, David Allison, Ph.D., Tom Frohlich, and Catherine Thut, Ph.D.

TripSuite: Travel Agency Software Company Raises $5 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 21, 2024

TripSuite, a leading software platform for travel agencies, announced it has raised $5 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by F-Prime Capital, with participation from Bienville Capital Management and Thayer Ventures.

HERVolution Therapeutics: Dark Genome Biotech Company Raises $11.7 Million (Series A) For Advancing Treatments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 21, 2024

HERVolution Therapeutics ApS - a dark genome-focused biotechnology company developing immunotherapies for addressing aging-related diseases - announced a $11.7 million Series A financing to advance its lead assets toward clinical evaluation. This funding round was led by the Serum Institute of India (SII) with participation from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and other investors.

Ottimo Pharma: Over $140 Million (Series A) Raised To Advance Bifunctional Medicines

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Ottimo Pharma - a private biotech company pioneering bifunctional medicines to extend the lives of people with cancer - announced the completion of a Series A financing round of over $140 million. The funding round was led by OrbiMed, Avoro Capital, Samsara BioCapital. It included blue chip investors RTW Investments, Decheng Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital, Invus, and founding investor Medicxi. In connection with the financing, Peter Thompson (OrbiMed), Mark Chin (Avoro Capital), and Srini Akkaraju (Samsara BioCapital) will join the Board of Directors.

Justt: AI-Based Chargeback Management Company Raises $30 Million (Series C)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Justt, a leader in AI-based chargeback management, announced the closing of its $30 million Series C funding round, led by Zeev Ventures, with participation from existing investors Oak HC/FT and F2 Venture Capital. With total funding now at $100 million, Justt is advancing its goal of transforming chargeback management through its proprietary AI technology and in-house expertise.

Nuon: Bring Your Own Cloud Platform Company Raises $16.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Nuon has announced $16.5 million in funding and the early access release of its Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) platform. Investors in this round include M12 (James Wu), Uncork Capital (Andy McLoughlin), Redpoint Ventures (Pat Chase), Alumni Ventures (Meera Oak), Essence VC (Timothy Chen), Mantis VC (Alex Pall), Red Swan Ventures (Sandy Cass) and angel investors Quinn Slack (CEO of SourceGraph), Richie Artoul (co-founder of WarpStream, acquired by Confluent) and Michael Grinich (CEO of WorkOS). And this funding will fuel product development, prepare for general availability in early 2025, and drive customer acquisition.

Akamis Bio: Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene Company Closes $60 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Akamis Bio - a clinical-stage oncology company using a proprietary Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene (T-SIGn) therapy platform to deliver novel immunotherapeutic proteins, biomolecules, and transgene combinations to treat solid tumors - announced $60 million in funding linked to the close of a Series A Prime financing round and entry into a strategic partnership for developing its lead clinical candidate, NG-350A.

Vultr: Growth Financing Raised At $3.5 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Cloud infrastructure company Vultr announced it completed a growth financing at a $3.5 billion valuation led by LuminArx Capital Management and AMD Ventures.

Atlas Invest: Bridge Loan Company Raises $11 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Premier bridge loan company Atlas Invest announced the closing of an $11 million funding round. Combining decades of real estate legacy and financial expertise with advanced AI, Atlas offers real estate developers seeking efficient financing solutions and private and institutional investors looking to invest in US real estate debt. This funding round, led by The Garage with participation from State of Mind Ventures, Anfield, Guy Gamzu, and other previous investors, will advance Atlas' expansion and further strengthen its position leading the real estate-backed debt market.