Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Clip raises $500M, pushes valuation past $2.5B
Mexican fintech Clip secured a $500M financing round, lifting its valuation to over $2.5B. The capital will fund a consumer‑focused wallet rollout and broaden its financial‑services platform. Investors were not disclosed and the round remains open.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OpenAI secures $122B private financing round
Turnout Grabs $35M Series A Funding Round
Turnout, an AI‑powered consumer advocacy platform, announced a $35 million Series A round that lifts its valuation to $400 million. The financing was led by HighPost Capital and includes Shine Capital, LGVP, Mangusta Capital, Honeystone Ventures, and former NBA player Omri Casspi. Turnout blends human advocates with an AI orchestrator named Jake to simplify interactions with government, insurance, healthcare, and education systems. The new capital will fund product expansion and broader market penetration.
Diamond Brew Completes Pre-Seed Round
Diamond Brew, the creator of America’s first shelf‑stable, brew‑less coffee pod, announced the close of an oversubscribed pre‑seed funding round. The round attracted a diverse group of backers, including G/7 Venture Studio, Cambridge Companies SPG’s Filipp Chebotarev, Beckett Industries, SGL Acquisitions,...
Pogo Scores $32M
Pogo, an AI‑powered consumer research platform, announced it has secured $32 million in funding from a roster of high‑profile investors and creators. The company’s flagship AI researcher lets brands converse directly with thousands of purchase‑verified buyers within hours, a speed and...
Barcelona-Based THEKER Raises €73 Million Series A to Accelerate AI Robotics Deployment
Barcelona‑based AI robotics startup THEKER announced a €73 million ($85 million) Series A round led by CRV, with participation from Samsung, LVMH, Henkel Ventures and other backers. The capital will speed up deployments with tier‑one industrial operators and expand the company’s software, electronics...
“No Bad Ideas, Just Bad Timing” — Matrix Partner Matt Brown on Fintech’s Next Decade of Runway
Matrix Capital, a 50‑year‑old VC with $800 million raised, has a track record of early bets on Apple, FedEx and Canva and now focuses on pre‑seed to Series A fintech startups. Partner Matt Brown says the firm prioritizes quality over volume, backing...
Canton Network Developer Raises $355 Million to Bring Wall Street Onchain
Digital Asset, the firm behind the Canton Network blockchain, closed a $355 million financing round led by a16z crypto, surpassing its $300 million goal. The round, which also featured ABN Amro, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, HSBC, SBI Group and the Abu Dhabi...
AWS’ Former CEO Launches New AI Infrastructure Startup Helix Digital, Backed By Nvidia And $10B In Capital
Former AWS chief Adam Selipsky has been named CEO of Helix Digital Infrastructure, a new AI‑focused startup created by KKR. Helix launches with over $10 billion in long‑duration capital commitments, backed by Nvidia, the Kuwait Investment Authority and Vistra. The firm...
Biodimension Secures Rs 8 Cr From IAN Angel Fund, Others
Biodimension, a Bengaluru‑based life‑sciences startup, closed an Rs 8 crore (~$960,000) funding round led by IAN Angel Fund, with participation from Campus Angels Network, Dr. Sampath Srisailam and angel Aaryan Baid. The capital will accelerate product development, expand laboratory infrastructure, and strengthen...
Koho Becomes Canada’s Latest Unicorn Following $130-Million Series E Round
Canadian challenger bank Koho Financial announced a CAD 130 million (~US $95 million) all‑equity Series E round, pushing its post‑money valuation to CAD 1.33 billion (~US $970 million) and granting it unicorn status. The financing, which brings total capital raised to CAD 507 million, adds sovereign‑wealth fund Mubadala, Shopify co‑founder Tobi Lütke...
TurnUp Raises €2 Million to Help Healthcare Providers Reduce No-Shows
TurnUp, a Ghent‑based health‑tech startup, closed a €2 million ($2.2 million) seed round led by Newion to scale its AI‑driven no‑show reduction platform. The solution integrates with practice management systems, predicts missed appointments and automates confirmations, cancellations and waiting‑list actions across multiple...
Ethereal Machines Raises $28.5 Mn in Series B Round Led by Avataar Ventures
Indian deep‑tech manufacturer Ethereal Machines secured $28.5 million in a Series B round led by Avataar Ventures, adding to its $13 million Series A from 2024. The funding will fund a new 300,000‑sq‑ft automated plant, development of the country’s first indigenous multi‑axis CNC controller,...
Nesto Secures Nearly $1.5-billion Valuation in New Series E Round
Montreal‑based online mortgage lender Nesto announced a Series E round that raised CAD 302 million (approximately $224 million USD), bringing its post‑money valuation to roughly CAD 1.5 billion ($1.1 billion USD). The capital, split between CAD 107 million in primary and CAD 195 million in secondary investments, will fund the rollout...
Gross Retention Beats Growth as AI Risk Gauge
If you ask most software investors what they are paying the most attention to right now, the answer is not growth rate, it's gross retention. Specifically, they are using it as a heuristic for AI risk. The question being asked...
Manam Chocolate Secures $9 Million Funding to Expand Retail Footprint in India
Manam Chocolate, a Hyderabad‑based farm‑to‑bar chocolate maker, secured $9 million in Series A funding led by Omnivore with participation from the Turner Morrison consortium. The capital will fund the rollout of new experiential retail outlets in the Delhi NCR region over the next...
Datadog Veterans Launch AI Coding Startup Niteshift on a Bet Against Big AI Lock-In
Datadog veterans Sajid Mehmood and Conor Branagan launched Niteshift, an AI coding‑agent platform, and closed a $7 million seed round led by Greylock’s Jerry Chen. The startup aims to unbundle coding models from the underlying infrastructure, letting enterprises switch between providers...
WealthReach Raises $1m Seed Round to Scale AI Growth Platform
WealthReach, an AI‑driven organic growth platform for RIAs and wealth‑management firms, closed a $1 million seed round led by Cecure Corporation. The funding will fuel team expansion and bolster engineering and support infrastructure. Simultaneously, the company formed a strategic advisory board...
What We Can Learn From SpaceX’s Pre-IPO Valuation
SpaceX’s IPO was priced at $135 per share, giving the company a pre‑money valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion. The filing revives interest in pre‑IPO transfers, a tax‑efficient planning tool that relies on predictable discount structures. Discounts stem from lack of marketability,...
Rivvun AI Bags $7.5 Mn To Help Enterprises Reduce Revenue Leakages
Rivvun AI, a Seattle‑based enterprise‑tech startup, closed an oversubscribed seed round of $7.5 million (≈ ₹72 crore) led by Sitara Capital and 3one4 Capital. The funding will expand its agentic AI platform that continuously scans contracts, invoices and pricing agreements to surface revenue...
SWARM Engineering Raises $10M Series A to Scale Decision Intelligence for Agrifood and Manufacturing
SWARM Engineering announced an oversubscribed $10 million Series A round led by S2G Investments and AgRogue Growth Partners. The funding will accelerate its decision‑intelligence platform that embeds industry‑specific ontologies for agrifood and manufacturing. SWARM’s AI agents can ingest real‑time data, preserve institutional...
Capsa AI Raises $18M to Expand Its AI Platform for Private Capital
Capsa AI announced an $18 million Series A round, co‑led by TX Ventures and Pivot Investment Partners, bringing its total capital raised to $20 million. The London‑based startup offers an AI operating system that consolidates data from CRMs, email, SharePoint and other sources...
Nanordica Medical Raises €1.6M to Bring Antibiotic-Free Chronic Wound Treatment to Market
Estonian medtech firm Nanordica Medical secured €1.6 million (≈$1.75 million) to bring its Premotiv antibiotic‑free wound dressing to market. The product, which simultaneously prevents infection and promotes tissue regeneration, showed a 43% reduction in wound area after one week in a 30‑patient...
When All the Capital Lands in Singapore and Goes Nowhere Else
In the first half of 2025 Singapore attracted roughly 92% of all venture capital raised across Southeast Asia, climbing to over 96% by January 2026. By contrast, Indonesia’s share fell from 42% in 2021 to just 8% in H1 2025, and Vietnam’s...
Carbon13 Launches Its Tenth Fund for Climate Startups
Carbon13 has launched its tenth Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) fund, Carbon13 SEIS Fund X, granting exclusive rights to invest in startups created through its Cambridge‑based venture builder. The fund targets a climate horizontal that includes energy, AI, materials, food security...
Bucketlistt Raises Pre-Seed Funding to Scale Experience Tourism Platform
Bucketlistt, an Indian curated experiences marketplace, secured a pre‑seed angel round of about $129,000, valuing the company at roughly $1.2 million post‑money. The funding, led by angels Arvind Choudhar, Aenik Shah, Kartik Khatri and Yash Mehta, will bolster technology, expand its...
Wealth Advisory Startup HyperNorm AI Raises $2.2 Mn in Seed Funding
Wealth‑advisory startup HyperNorm AI announced a $2.2 million seed round co‑led by Capital 2B and SenseAI Ventures. The capital will accelerate product development, broaden U.S. and international reach, and expand its engineering and AI research teams. HyperNorm’s platform uses a causal‑reasoning engine...
Rotomate Raises €2.1M to Automate Industrial Reliability Analysis
Finnish AI startup Rotomate announced a €2.1 million (~$2.3 million) pre‑seed round led by Kvanted, with participation from Accel’s scout programme, Robin Capital, Business Finland’s AI grant and several angels. The company’s platform uses artificial intelligence to turn raw sensor streams and...
01Health Secures $15M to Scale Specialist Healthcare Platform
UK health‑tech firm 01Health announced a $15 million Series A round led by Gresham House Ventures, with participation from Balderton Capital, Eka Ventures, Wavemaker360 and angel investors. The capital will accelerate the commercial launch of its specialist‑care platform across the United Kingdom...
NinjaOne Raises $400M+ for Its Endpoint Management Platform
NinjaOne Inc. announced a secondary funding round that raised more than $400 million, extending its Series C after a $500 million follow‑on earlier this year. The round attracted Alphabet’s CapitalG, Sequoia Capital, ICONIQ and other top investors. NinjaOne’s platform automates endpoint management, promising...
EV Charging Startup Exponent Energy Nets ₹200 Cr To Accelerate R&D
Exponent Energy, an Indian rapid‑charging startup, closed a ₹200 crore ($21.1 million) round co‑led by 360 ONE Asset, TDK Ventures and Hitachi Ventures. The funding will accelerate R&D, broaden its platform to new vehicle categories and expand its physical footprint across additional geographies....
How Justin Ernest Invested Nearly $500M Into Hot Startups without a Traditional VC Fund
Justin Ernest leveraged his Playground Global experience to launch Sabertooth Capital, a network‑driven vehicle that channels family‑office capital into late‑stage AI and deep‑tech startups without forming a traditional VC fund. Over the past year Sabertooth deployed roughly $500 million across ten...
Beacon Raises $225M to Acquire and Optimize Software Companies
Beacon Software Inc., a Toronto‑based roll‑up of niche software firms, closed a $225 million Series C round led by HarbourVest and General Catalyst. The funding brings total external capital above $550 million and will fuel weekly acquisitions and AI‑focused enhancements. Beacon’s portfolio EBITDA...
NTT, SK Group and Partners Launch $440 Million AI Optical Network Fund
Japanese telecom giant NTT, South Korea’s SK Group, Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom and the Development Bank of Japan announced a $440 million IOWN AI Fund. The vehicle will back startups developing photonics‑electronics convergence, AI semiconductors and advanced AI models that run on...
Rylo Raises $85M Series Growth Funding as AI Accessibility Demand Surges
Rylo secured an $85 million Series Growth round led by General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund, bringing its total capital raised to over $100 million. The Tel Aviv‑New York startup, formerly known as Nagish, builds AI‑powered real‑time captioning, speech‑to‑text and sign‑language translation tools for...
Databricks Targets $165 Billion Valuation in New Funding Round
Databricks is negotiating a new private funding round that could value the company between $165 billion and $175 billion, up from its $134 billion valuation last year. The cloud‑data platform reported a $5.4 billion revenue run rate, a 65% year‑over‑year increase, with AI services...
Vinyl Equity Raises $20M to Modernise Capital Markets Infrastructure
Vinyl Equity announced a $20 million Series A round led by Jump Capital, with participation from MUFG Innovation Partners and existing backers. The fintech, an SEC‑registered transfer agent, provides a unified platform that automates shareholder record‑keeping, equity issuance, and payment distribution across...
Snack Bar Startups Draw Capital Around Protein, Function and Format
Stars+Honey, a Detroit‑based collagen protein bar brand, secured a minority growth investment from VMG Partners. The company, which offers 15 grams of collagen‑rich protein per under‑200‑calorie bar, is on track for roughly $50 million in revenue this year. The new capital will...
Honeycomb Insurance Raises $40 Million to Scale AI-Driven CRE Insurance Platform
Honeycomb Insurance announced a $40 million financing round led by Zeev Ventures to broaden its AI-powered commercial real‑estate insurance platform. The capital will fund geographic expansion, new product lines and enhancements to its data‑rich underwriting engine, underscoring investor confidence in PropTech...
ICEYE, Isar Aerospace Announce Significant Funding Rounds
Finnish Earth‑observation firm ICEYE closed a €450 million Series F round at a €10 billion valuation, pushing total proceeds above €1 billion ($1.16 billion) to expand global coverage and intelligence services. German launcher Isar Aerospace secured €270 million in a Series D round to accelerate production of...
How an E-Scooter Founder Raised $5 Million to Build Space Data Centers
Orbital, a space‑data‑center startup founded by former e‑scooter CEO Euwyn Poon, closed a $5 million seed round led by a16z Speedrun and a slate of 15 other investors. The company aims to launch a constellation of 10,000 satellites equipped with Nvidia GPUs...
Isar Aerospace Raises €270m to Scale Launch Operations
German rocket startup Isar Aerospace secured €270 million (≈$295 million) in a Series D round, adding investors Island Green Capital, Molten Ventures, HV Capital, Lakestar and UVC Partners. The funding will expand production of its Spectrum launch vehicle, boost capacity to 40 rockets a year, and support...
Mercor Co‑Founder Blasts Sequoia Over ‘Dual‑Pricing’ Valuation Tactics
Mercor co‑founder Brendan Foody accused Sequoia Capital of using a “dual‑pricing” model that reports inflated headline valuations while investing a larger portion at a lower price. The claim, backed by examples from other AI startups, has sparked a heated discussion...
Zepto Files $1.1 B IPO, Faces Regulator Scrutiny as Quick‑commerce War Heats Up
Zepto, the Y Combinator‑backed quick‑commerce platform, filed a revised prospectus for a Rs 9,500 crore ($1.1 bn) IPO, aiming to raise up to Rs 8,010 crore ($965 m) in fresh capital. The filing also disclosed Enforcement Directorate summons to its founders, adding regulatory risk as the company...
ICEYE Hits €10.5B Valuation After €1B+ Funding Round, Marking Finland’s Third Decacorn
ICEYE secured a €450 million Series F round, pushing its valuation above €10.5 billion (≈ $11.3 billion) and making it Finland’s third decacorn. The round, led by General Atlantic and joined by investors such as Nokia, Qatar Investment Authority and TCV, brings total capital raised...
Venture Catalysts++ Partially Exits Rentomojo with 3.4x Return
Venture Catalysts++, a multi‑stage venture capital firm, partially exited its stake in direct‑to‑consumer rental platform Rentomojo in January 2026, delivering a 3.43× multiple on invested capital and a 20.27% XIRR. The firm originally invested in May 2019 and the secondary...
Zaro Lands $5.1M to Build the Next Layer of Enterprise AI
London startup Zaro emerged from stealth with $5.1 million pre‑seed funding led by Cherry Ventures. The company is building an adaptive workspace that unifies AI tools, workflows, and data via a shared context layer. Zaro’s eight‑person team, many from Convergence and...
Antwerp-Based Pitchdrive Closes €60 Million Fund IV to Back AI-Native Early-Stage Startups
Pitchdrive, an Antwerp‑based pre‑seed venture firm, closed its fourth fund at €60 million (≈$65 million), exceeding its €50 million target. The fully privately backed Fund IV will invest €250 k–€3 million in 25‑30 AI‑native early‑stage startups across Europe and its first U.S. deal, a $10 million pre‑seed...
Funding for Climate Tech Startups in Southeast Asia Rose Year-on-Year in 2025
Climate‑tech startups in Southeast Asia raised $166 million in disclosed equity funding in 2025, a 10 % increase over 2024 but still below the 2023 peak of $288 million. Singapore remained the dominant hub, accounting for $872 million of the region’s cumulative $1.1 billion since...