Startups

Dessn Raises $6 Million To Let Product Teams Design Directly In The Real Codebase

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Dessn, the collaborative product design platform, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Connect Ventures, with participation from betaworks, N49P, and a group of angel investors including Declan Kelly, Roeland Delrue, Nicolas Steegmann, and Zoe Mohl. The round also includes support from Moxxie Ventures, which led the company’s pre‑seed, and reflects growing investor conviction in Dessn’s approach to unifying design and engineering workflows.

Greenboard Raises $20 Million And Launches GreenboardGo To Extend AI Compliance Across Entire Financial Institutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Greenboard, an AI-native platform for securities compliance, has announced $20 million in total funding including a previously unannounced $15.5 million Series A led by Base10 Partners. Other investors include Y Combinator, General Catalyst, Wayfinder Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Transpose Platform, Liquid2 Ventures, and strategic industry investors. Alongside the funding, the New York-based company is launching GreenboardGo, a conversational AI layer built on top of a firm's compliance books and records that answers employee questions instantly, routes decisions to the right compliance expert, and prepares compliance tasks automatically for human review and sign-off.

Webidoo: $25 Million Raised To Build AI Operating Layer For SMBs

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Webidoo announced the closing of a $25 million funding round led by IXC3, a fund within Azimut Group, as the company expands its AI-driven technology platform for small and medium-sized businesses.

Casimir: $12 Million Oversubscribed Seed Round Raised To Commercialize Quantum Energy Chips

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Casimir announced the closing of a $12 million oversubscribed seed funding round led by Scout Ventures as the company advances commercialization plans for what it describes as the world’s first quantum vacuum energy semiconductor chip.

White Circle Raises $11 Million Seed Round To Scale Real-Time AI Monitoring And Control Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

White Circle, the Paris-based AI control platform, has raised $11 million in seed funding from a group of prominent investors drawn from the highest levels of the AI industry. Backers include Romain Huet of OpenAI; Dirk Kingma, formerly of OpenAI and now at Anthropic; Guillaume Lample of Mistral; Thomas Wolf of Hugging Face; Olivier Pomel of Datadog; François Chollet of Keras; Mehdi Ghissassi, formerly of DeepMind; Paige Bailey of DeepMind; and David Cramer of Sentry. The funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand the team across the US, UK, and Europe, and grow White Circle's global customer base.

Ciridae: $20 Million Seed Funding Closed To Bring AI Transformation To Real Economy Businesses

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Ciridae, the San Francisco-based AI transformation firm building operating systems for real economy businesses, has raised $20 million in seed funding led by Accel, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Sunflower Capital, and Backcountry Ventures. The company was founded by CEO Jack Soslow, a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz and data scientist at Meta, and CTO Jack Weissenberger, a former engineering team leader at Salesforce and Head of ML at Teneyx.

Star Catcher Raises $65 Million Series A To Build First Power Grid In Space

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Star Catcher Industries, the company building what it describes as the first power grid in space, has raised $65 million in an oversubscribed Series A round, bringing its total capital raised to $88 million. The round was led by B Capital and co-led by Shield Capital and Cerberus Ventures, the venture arm of Cerberus Capital Management, with additional participation from GreatPoint Ventures, Helena, Oceans Ventures, and MVP Ventures.

Isomorphic Labs Raises $2.1 Billion Series B To Scale AI Drug Design Engine And Advance Therapeutic Pipeline

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Isomorphic Labs, the London-based AI-first drug design and development company, has raised $2.1 billion in Series B funding to accelerate its evolution from pioneering novel AI models to applying them at scale. The round is led by Thrive Capital and includes participation from existing backers Alphabet and GV alongside new investors MGX, Temasek, CapitalG, and the UK Sovereign AI Fund, significantly expanding the company's global capital base.

Havoc Raises $100 Million Series A To Scale All-Domain Collaborative Autonomy For Defense And Commercial Markets

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Havoc, the all-domain collaborative autonomy company, has announced a $100 million Series A funding round, bringing total capital raised to approximately $200 million since 2024. The round included participation from new investors CCM Capital Markets, Clear Street, Cobalt Capital, Boardman Bay Capital Management, Meet Perry, Mute Ventures, Soren Ventures, SAIC, and JA Green, alongside existing investors including Outlander VC, Scout VC, B Capital, Lockheed Martin, Taiwania Capital, UP.Partners, The Veteran Fund, and Vanderbilt University's endowment.

Judgment Labs Closes $32 Million In Seed And Series A Funding To Build Improvement Layer For AI Agents

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Judgment Labs has raised a combined $32 million across its seed and Series A rounds to accelerate its mission of helping AI‑native teams turn production data into continuously improving agents. The funding was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, which backed both rounds less than six months apart, signaling strong conviction in the company’s approach to solving one of the most complex challenges in the AI agent ecosystem. Additional participation came from Nova Global, SV Angel, Valor Equity Partners, and Dynamic, all supporting Judgment Labs’ push to become foundational infrastructure for agent‑native companies.

Knit Health Secures $11.6 Million Seed Funding To Launch Its Large Clinical Behavior Model

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Knit Health has emerged from stealth with $11.6 million in seed funding to build a new category of clinical intelligence AI that learns directly from real‑world clinician behavior. The round was co‑led by Uncork Capital and Frist Cressey Ventures, with the pre‑seed round led by Moxxie Ventures and participation from Coalition Operators. The company, spun out of the University of California, Berkeley, plans to accelerate development and deployment of its Large Clinical Behavior Model across health systems nationwide.

Embat: €30 Million Series B Raised To Expand AI-Powered Treasury Management Across Europe

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Embat, the Madrid-based fintech specializing in AI-driven treasury management, has closed a €30 million Series B round led by Cathay Innovation, a Paris-based global venture capital firm with more than €2.5 billion under management. Existing investors Creandum, Samaipata, 4Founders, and Venture Friends also participated. The raise brings Embat's total funding to more than €50 million since its founding in 2021.

Adfin Raises $18 Million Series A To Build Agentic Finance Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Adfin, the London-based payments and finance automation company, has closed an $18 million Series A round, bringing total investment in the company to over $30 million in less than two years. Index Ventures led the round and tripled down on its prior commitment, with existing investor Visionaries Club also participating. The round additionally welcomed Stéphane Kurgan and Miro founder Andrey Khusid as new individual investors.

Fifth Dimension Raises $26 Million Series A To Scale AI Decision Intelligence Platform For Real Assets

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Fifth Dimension, the decision intelligence platform built for the real assets industry, has raised $26 million in a Series A funding round led by HV Capital, with participation from Prudence, Mercia Ventures, MMC Ventures, and AFG Partners, and continued support from Speedinvest, Seedcamp, and Anthemis Group. The capital will accelerate expansion across the United States, already 70% of the company's revenue, and into Asia Pacific, where Fifth Dimension has opened a Singapore office.

n8n Valuation Doubles To $5.2 Billion As SAP Makes Strategic Investment And Embeds Platform Into Joule Studio

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

n8n, the AI orchestration platform, has announced a strategic investment from SAP alongside a multi-year commercial partnership that more than doubles the company's valuation to $5.2 billion from $2.5 billion secured less than a year ago. Under the commercial agreement, n8n's workflow automation platform will be embedded natively within Joule Studio, SAP's agent-building environment within SAP Business AI Platform, marking n8n's arrival as enterprise AI infrastructure for one of the world's largest software companies.

Rogue Raises $2.5 Million Pre-Seed And Secures Launch In 2,800 Walmart Stores Nationwide

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Rogue, a Los Angeles-based high-protein snack company, has announced a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round led by Science Inc., with participation from Uncommon VC, Simple Food Ventures, and additional strategic investors. The capital will support inventory production for a national Walmart launch, expand creator and affiliate partnerships, hire across operations and retail, and prepare for broader wholesale distribution.

Heaviside Industries Raises $28 Million Series A To Scale Autonomous Precision Munitions

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Heaviside Industries has emerged from stealth with a $28 million Series A funding round led by Interlagos, with participation from Menlo Ventures, Flume Ventures, Cantos, Anorak Ventures, and a group of defense-focused individual investors including Frank Finelli, former Partner and Managing Director at The Carlyle Group; Paul Dimitruk, Co-Founder and Senior Partner at Partners Capital; and Aaditya Devarakonda, former CEO of Dedrone. The Los Angeles-based defense company has been operating quietly since its founding in 2024, building a team of more than 50 engineers and operators across offices in Los Angeles and Oslo, Norway.

4AM Raises $4 Million Seed Round And Launches Science-Backed Clean Sheets In 1,745 Target Stores

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

4AM has closed an oversubscribed seed round of more than $4 million led by CAVU Consumer Partners — the firm behind poppi, Necessaire, and Vital Proteins — and is launching its hero product, Clean Sheets, in 1,745 Target stores nationwide. The round also attracted participation from B4 Capital and Type Capital, alongside a tightly curated group of strategic angel investors including Joe Cloyes of Youth to the People, Cassandra Grey of Violet Grey, Brian Bordainick of Starface, dermatologists Dr. Muneeb Shah and Dr. Joyce Park, Maggie Sellers Reum of Hot Smart Rich, and Michelle Hu of Etoile. The launch caps a year of four-times year-over-year revenue growth, four sold-out production runs, and a number-four ranking in TikTok Shop's Cleansers category.

Boundary Labs Raises $2 Million Pre-Seed To Launch Institutional Stablecoin USBD

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Boundary Labs has announced the closing of a $2 million pre-seed funding round led by Galaxy Ventures, with participation from institutional finance partners and angel investors, including VCs BlackWood and FirstBlock Capital. The capital will accelerate the launch of USBD, a stablecoin protocol engineered specifically for financial and blockchain institutions and approved participants that require a new standard of on-chain verifiability in the more than $300 billion stablecoin market.

Paymentology Raises $175 Million To Accelerate Global Issuer Processing Expansion

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

Paymentology, the London-based global issuer-processor, has raised $175 million in a funding round co-led by Apis Partners, a private equity firm specializing in financial infrastructure and services, and Aspirity Partners, a pan-European private equity firm focused on financial technology and services. The investment will support Paymentology's continued global expansion, product development, and team growth as the company builds on strong demand for modern issuer processing at scale.

AMP IT Closes New Funding Round To Scale Private EV Charging Platform Across Switzerland And Europe

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 12, 2026

AMP IT, a Geneva-based energy and mobility company, has completed a new funding round supported notably by the Swiss Technology Fund, bringing the company's total funding to €7 million since its founding in 2021. The capital will support operational scaling, further development of its proprietary software platform, and expansion into selected European markets beyond its core Swiss market.

Meatly Raises £10.4 Million Series A To Build Europe’s Largest Cultivated Meat Facility

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 11, 2026

Meatly, Europe's first company to sell cultivated meat, has raised £10.4 million in Series A funding to build Europe's largest cultivated meat production facility. The round was led by three European VC funds — Oyster Bay Venture Capital, Clean Growth Fund and JamJar Investments — joining existing investors Agronomics and Pets at Home. The latest raise brings Meatly's total funding to date to £17.4 million, building on £7 million in seed funding from founding investor Agronomics.

Lyrie Completes $2 Million Pre-Seed Round To Build Security Layer For The AI Agent Era

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 11, 2026

Lyrie.ai, the autonomous cybersecurity platform developed by OTT Cybersecurity LLC, has completed a $2 million pre-seed funding round and officially exited stealth. The raise will support continued platform development, security research team expansion, and the operationalization of the Agent Trust Protocol across Lyrie's platform and partner ecosystem. The company is headquartered in Dubai, UAE, and is already preparing a Series A round to scale deployment across enterprise and government markets.

Antier Solutions Secures $3 Million To Scale Enterprise Blockchain Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 11, 2026

Antier Solutions, an enterprise blockchain engineering firm headquartered in Mohali, India, has secured $3 million in its first institutional funding round, led by GVFL, India's pioneer venture capital firm.

Ciridae Raises $20 Million Seed Round Led By Accel To Bring AI Transformation To Real Economy Businesses

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 11, 2026

Ciridae, an AI transformation firm building operating systems for real economy businesses, has raised $20 million in seed funding led by Accel, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Sunflower Capital, and Backcountry Ventures. The company was founded by CEO Jack Soslow, a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz and data scientist at Meta, and CTO Jack Weissenberger, a former engineering leader at Salesforce and Head of ML at Teneyx. Ciridae will use the new capital to expand its engineering team and advance its mission of bringing AI transformation to mid-market companies that have largely been left behind by the broader AI boom.

Cowboy Space Corporation Raises $275 Million Series B At $2 Billion Valuation To Build Orbital Data Centers and Rockets

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 11, 2026

Cowboy Space Corporation, the orbital infrastructure company founded by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt, has raised $275 million in Series B financing at a $2 billion valuation. The round was led by Index Ventures, with participation from new investors IVP, Blossom Capital and SAIC, alongside existing backers Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Construct Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Interlagos and Bhatt himself. The company, which operated under the name Aetherflux since its founding in 2024, also unveiled a new name and brand alongside the funding announcement.

Driive Raises Pre-Seed Round To Build AI Scheduling Platform For Home Service Trades

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 11, 2026

Driive, the Lincoln, Nebraska-based AI-native booking and scheduling platform built for the home service trades, has closed a pre-seed funding round with investment from Nebraska Angels, Nelnet, Move Venture Capital, and Luke Hansen, founder and CEO of CompanyCam. The company is building what it describes as the scheduling layer for the trillion-dollar U.S. home services industry, targeting HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, pest control, and other home service contractors.

Grand Games Raises $70 Million Series B To Scale Hybrid Casual Mobile Gaming Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 11, 2026

Grand Games, the Istanbul-based mobile gaming company, has raised a $70 million Series B funding round, bringing total funding raised to $103 million. The round was led by Balderton's Growth Fund, which doubled down on its Series A investment from January of last year. Existing investors Bek Ventures and Laton Ventures also followed on, alongside mobile gaming serial entrepreneur and exited founder Mert Gür as an angel investor. The company's valuation has increased approximately 6x since its previous round just over 12 months ago, with only single-digit dilution, putting it within reach of unicorn status.

Cellply Secures €7.15 Million In Funding To Accelerate Global Expansion Of Cell Therapy Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 11, 2026

Cellply, a Bologna-based deep tech company developing analytical tools for cell therapy and regenerative medicine, has secured €7.15 million in funding and opened a round extension to support its international growth plans. The round was led by Enea Tech and Biomedical Foundation, with participation from CDP Venture Capital and existing investors. The company is developing tools to characterize immunotherapies and cell-based therapies at single-cell resolution, with its flagship VivaCyte platform at the center of its commercial strategy.

Algorithmiq Closes €18 Million Funding Round And Moves Global HQ To Milan

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 11, 2026

Algorithmiq, a quantum computing software company, has closed an €18 million strategic funding round and relocated its global headquarters to Milan, Italy. The round was led by United Ventures, with participation from Inventure VC, and marks the largest venture capital investment into an Italian quantum startup to date.