Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Clip raises $500M to expand fintech platform
Mexican fintech Clip secured a $500 million funding round, lifting its valuation above $2.5 billion. The capital will fund the rollout of a consumer‑focused wallet and broaden its suite of financial‑services tools.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OpenAI raises $122B in private financing
AI‑gadgets Platform Era Secures $11 Million to Grow Its Developer Ecosystem
Era, the AI‑gadgets software platform founded by Liz Dorman, Alex Ollman and Megan Gole, closed an $11 million round led by Abstract Ventures and BoxGroup. The money will fund a broader developer kit, more LLM integrations and a push into open‑source maker communities, underscating investor confidence in creator‑centric hardware infrastructure.
Crunchbase Reports $300 Billion Venture Funding in Q1 2026, a Record Quarter
Crunchbase announced that $300 billion flowed into venture‑backed startups in the first quarter of 2026, the largest quarterly total on record. Four companies alone absorbed $188 billion, while early‑stage funding rose 41% year over year, reshaping fundraising dynamics for founders and investors.
Three ANZ Startups that Raised $61.4 Million This Week
Three ANZ startups collectively raised over $61.4 million this week, highlighting a surge in regional tech capital. Syenta, an Australian AI‑chip maker, secured $36 million (≈US$26 million) in a Series A led by Playground Global and the National Reconstruction Fund. New Zealand‑based Ideally closed a...
$22M Exit, Broken Deal & Buyback | Jaclyn Johnson, Founder, Create & Cultivate & Co-Founder, Cherub
Jacqueline Johnson, founder of Create & Cultivate and co‑founder of the angel‑investing platform Cherub, recounts her 20‑year entrepreneurial journey—from early marketing agency work and a pandemic‑era $22 million private‑equity exit to buying back her company in 2024. She highlights the personal...
Lumira Ventures Secures First $200 Million Close of Fifth Healthcare Fund
Lumira Ventures announced the first closing of its fifth healthcare-focused fund, Lumira Ventures V, LP, at $200 million. The close includes a $52 million Series B investment in a pre‑commercial medical device company and marks a leadership transition with co‑founder Gerry Brunk becoming...
Schematic Secures $6.5M and Debuts Stripe App to Enable Real‑Time SaaS Pricing
Schematic announced a $6.5 million financing round, pushing its total capital to more than $12 million, and will unveil a Stripe‑integrated app that enforces pricing and entitlement rules at runtime. The move targets SaaS firms struggling with AI‑driven, usage‑based billing models.
Omni Scoops Up $120M at $1.5B Valuation
Omni, an AI analytics platform, announced a Series C round that raised $120 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by ICONIQ and included a $30 million employee tender offer, with participation from Theory Ventures, First Round Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and...
Cloneable Secures $4.6M Seed Round
Cloneable, an AI automation startup focused on infrastructure operations, announced a $4.6 million seed round. The round was led by Congruent Ventures with participation from First In, Overline, St. Elmo Venture Capital, and Bull City Venture Partners. In the same announcement, Cloneable...
Humble Emerges With $24M Seed Round
San Francisco‑based startup Humble has emerged from stealth with a fully autonomous, electric Class 8 hauler designed for cost‑efficient freight transport. The company announced a $24 million seed round, led by Eclipse and joined by Energy Impact Partners and other investors. Humble’s...
Swoop Raises $7.3 Million Seed for African Super App, Food Delivery First
Swoop, an Eswatini‑origin food‑delivery startup, secured a $7.3 million seed round to fund its first expansion outside the country, targeting Nigeria’s burgeoning market. The round was led by Silicon Valley investors such as Long Journey, Variant, Soma Capital and Zero Knowledge...
A Tale of Two LPs
Two family offices are taking opposite stances on venture capital exposure. One is sharply scaling back, limiting VC commitments to under 2% of its total assets, while the other is increasing its stake to roughly 12% of its portfolio. Both...
Orkes Raises $60M to Scale AI Workflow Orchestration
Orkes announced a $60 million Series B round, led by AVP with new investor Prosperity7 Ventures joining existing backers. The funding follows a $20 million Series A in 2024 and brings total capital raised to roughly $80 million. Orkes, built by the engineers behind Netflix’s...
Florida Fund Manager Hits WCEP with Fraud Suit over SpaceX '0/0' Pitch
A Florida fund manager, Megacap Capital, has filed a federal fraud lawsuit against West Coast Equity Partners II, alleging the sponsor misled investors with a “0/0” fee pitch for SpaceX pre‑IPO shares. Megacap claims WCEP concealed a markup that lowered...
$2,500 Grant For Early-Stage Founders (Deadline: May 6, 2026)
A $2,500 non‑dilutive grant is now open for early‑stage founders who are actively building, testing, or selling their products. The program targets entrepreneurs who need cash to validate ideas without giving up equity. Applications must be submitted by May 6, 2026, and...
Adisyn Secures $10 Million Backing Following Recent Graphene Breakthroughs
Adisyn announced an institutional placement that will raise AU $14 million (approximately US $10 million) after achieving two pivotal graphene technology milestones. The round is anchored by Regal Funds Management, which oversees more than $20 billion, and Meitav, Israel’s largest investment house with about $190 billion...
Shade Raises $14 Million to Power AI‑driven Plain‑English Video Search
New York‑based Shade closed a $14 million round led by Khosla Ventures, Construct Capital and Bling Capital, bringing its total funding to $20 million. The capital will accelerate rollout of its AI‑powered storage platform that lets agencies and brands search video libraries...
ARK Invest Leads $20 M Series B in Lucra, Marks First Non‑AI Lead Deal
ARK Invest’s venture arm led a $20 million Series B round in early‑stage startup Lucra, its first ever lead investment in a non‑AI company. The deal reflects a broader diversification strategy for the fund, which traditionally backs AI‑centric businesses. Lucra’s esports‑style loyalty...
VCs Miss Dual‑Risk Founders; $700M Bet Yields
There's a type of founder most VCs don't know how to evaluate. They carry technical risk and commercial risk simultaneously for years, Even before they know if the market is real. @bznotes spent $700M on those founders. His best seed...
USVC to Open Global Investing, Waitlist Now
The biggest "feature request" we have had so far for our public venture fund, USVC: How to invest if you don't already live in America While we cannot support this yet, we hope to roll this out very soon in the coming...
Biossil Exits Stealth with $70 Million USD to Give Failed Medicines a Second Chance
Toronto‑based biotech Biossil has emerged from stealth after raising roughly $70 million in equity from investors including OpenAI and Founders Fund. The company leverages an AI platform to spot abandoned drug candidates, then licenses or purchases them to fast‑track development. It...
Investors Reveal 2026 Drivers of Agentic AI Funding
Missed our agentic AI webinar? 👀 Investors from @NEA, @DellTechCapital, & @645ventures broke down what's actually driving agentic AI investment in 2026. Watch the full recording. 👇 https://t.co/U9o5Dvde7t https://t.co/C4BtnSkGnh
Almanac Health Launches with $10M to Scale Research-Validated Clinical AI for Point-of-Care Support
Almanac Health announced a $10 million seed round, bringing total funding to nearly $12 million, led by F‑Prime with participation from General Catalyst and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Founded by Stanford physician‑researcher Cyril Zakka, the company commercializes a retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) system that...
Sean Duffy Wants $10 Billion For AI Air Traffic Control Software
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asked Congress for an additional $10 billion to modernize U.S. air‑traffic‑control infrastructure, with a focus on AI‑driven scheduling software. The request trims his earlier $19 billion ask but builds on the $12.5 billion already allocated under the Trump administration....
Kurma Partners Closes €215 Million Biofund IV to Back European BioTech Ventures From Paris
Kurma Partners announced the final close of Biofund IV at €215 million (about $232 million), a 35% increase over its €160 million (≈$173 million) predecessor. The fund, backed by pharmaceutical giant CSL, the European Investment Fund and Bpifrance, aims to make roughly twenty investments in...
Spectrum Security Raises $19m in Seed Funding Round
Spectrum Security emerged from stealth after raising $19 million in a seed round led by TechOperators, with participation from WhiteRabbit Ventures, Skinos Ventures, and Alumni Ventures. The funding will boost engineering and go‑to‑market efforts to meet rising enterprise demand for faster...
Northern Gritstone Closes £20m to Back UK Life Sciences
Northern Gritstone announced a £20 million (≈$25.6 million) funding close to expand its life‑science and deep‑tech portfolio in northern England. The capital, led by a cornerstone investment from the British Business Bank and existing shareholders, reinforces the firm’s focus on university spinouts...
Goldman Sachs Backs BLP Digital with $50m Investment
Goldman Sachs Alternatives has injected $50 million into Zurich‑based BLP Digital, a startup that uses agentic AI to automate enterprise resource planning (ERP) finance workflows. The funding will accelerate BLP’s push to replace manual accounts‑payable processes with a unified AI execution...
Cloudsmith Raises $72M to Secure the AI Software Supply Chain
Cloudsmith announced a $72 million Series C round, led by TCV and Insight Partners, to bolster its cloud‑native artifact management platform amid an explosion of AI‑generated code. The company positions itself as a secure “single source of truth” for binaries, packages, containers,...
SpaceX Mulls $60 B Offer for AI‑Coding Startup Cursor, Threatening Its $2 B Fundraise
SpaceX is reportedly preparing a $60 billion bid to acquire Cursor, the AI‑coding platform, potentially pre‑empting the startup’s slated $2 billion fundraising round. The proposal underscores the scale of AI‑focused M&A and raises questions about valuation, founder control, and the broader private‑equity...
Goldman Sachs Alternatives Invests $50 Million in AI Finance Firm BLP Digital
Goldman Sachs' Alternatives arm has taken a $50 million stake in Swiss AI fintech BLP Digital, signaling a surge in institutional backing for AI-powered finance tools. The deal, made through a purchase of existing shares, arrives as demand for AI in...
Anthropic’s Secondary‑Market Valuation Hits $1 Trillion, Surpassing OpenAI
Anthropic’s secondary‑market price on Forge Global surged to roughly $1 trillion, eclipsing OpenAI’s $880 billion valuation. The spike reflects feverish buyer interest, limited supply of private‑company shares, and a broader shift in venture capital appetite toward AI startups.
Weekly TOP Startup / VC News of April 23, 2026
The weekly roundup highlights a wave of AI‑focused capital across multiple regions, with notable rounds such as TraqCheck’s $8 million Series A for autonomous recruitment agents, The Hosteller’s $16 million Series B to scale Indian hostel capacity, and Lightcast’s $27 million to launch its Envisia...
MoonPay Leads $76 Million Investment in Korean Fintech Finger to Launch Won Stablecoin
MoonPay, together with Sungho Electronics and Pantos Holdings, is investing roughly KRW 110 billion ($76 million) in Korean fintech Finger. The deal aims to combine MoonPay’s stablecoin infrastructure with Finger’s banking software to create a Korean won stablecoin from issuance to real‑world use.
British Business Bank Commits £100m to Health Tech Investment Fund
The British Business Bank has pledged £100 million (about $127 million) to the Apposite Healthcare Growth I fund, its largest commitment to date. The fund will back UK health‑tech firms across medical products, diagnostics, digital health and pharma‑outsourcing services. By writing a...
Tech Funding Thrives Outside of London, Report Reveals
A new HSBC Innovation Banking report shows that more than half of UK venture capital now flows to firms outside London, with regional deals accounting for just over 50% of all term sheets across life‑stage categories. Early‑stage activity is especially...
Copperhelm Dives Deep Into Automation to Build Enterprise Cloud Defenses
Copperhelm Inc., a startup focused on agentic AI for cloud cybersecurity, announced its launch with a $7 million seed round led by TLV Partners, joined by ToDay Ventures, ICON and SaaS Ventures Israel. The company’s platform uses a "Context Lake" decision...
Bio Sector Remains Tiny Slice of Booming Venture Pie
Stay Humble: Life Sciences as a Small Slice of an Increasingly Big Venture Pie. New data-rich blog from @AimeeRaleigh13 on the comparative scale of bio sector vs tech https://t.co/sPIMtuWvWy
Exclusive: Cloneable Raises $4.6M To ‘Clone’ Expert Worker Knowledge With Agentic AI For Utilities And Infrastructure
Cloneable, a Raleigh‑based AI startup, announced a $4.6 million seed round led by Congruent Ventures, bringing its total funding to $5.35 million since its 2023 launch. The company’s agentic AI platform watches experts in utilities and other infrastructure‑heavy sectors, then creates autonomous...
AngelList USVC: Invest in Startups From $500
AngelList launched USVC, a regulated venture fund that lets U.S. investors participate with as little as $500, removing the traditional accreditation barrier. The fund’s portfolio is weighted toward AI and tech leaders such as OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Vercel. USVC...
Why DeepSeek’s $20bn Valuation Matters More for Pay Than Capital
DeepSeek is raising at a valuation above $20 billion, a figure that serves more as a talent‑retention lever than pure capital. The company, previously funded by founder Liang Wenfeng’s trading firm, now seeks at least $300 million, with Alibaba and Tencent reportedly...
Gravity Rail Raises $2.75M From Redesign Health for AI Patient Communication
Gravity Rail, an AI‑driven platform that automates patient calls, texts and follow‑up workflows, announced a $2.75 million seed round led by Redesign Health. The funding will accelerate product development and expand its go‑to‑market team. Gravity Rail’s technology aims to streamline enrollment,...
Sector Snapshot: EV Funding On Track For Modest Gains
Electric vehicle sales surged 20% in 2025, reaching 21 million units, but growth is slowing amid price pressure and policy shifts. Funding for EV‑related startups in 2026 totals about $3.6 billion across roughly 50 rounds, a modest rise from last year yet...
PvX Partners Announces Series A Funding Round, New Hires | Exclusive
PvX Partners announced a Series A funding round designed to grow its team and increase deal flow. The capital will support the company’s performance‑based financing model that underwrites user‑acquisition spend for mobile game developers. By tying repayments to game revenue,...
UK Startups Win Better Deals as Investors Fight for Top Companies
HSBC Innovation Banking’s Venture Capital Term Sheet Guide 2026, based on 711 term sheets, shows UK later‑stage startups—particularly AI and deep‑tech—gaining stronger negotiating power, with Series B+ deals now representing 31% of equity rounds over £500,000 (≈$635,000). Seed‑stage deals still dominate...
Pudu Robotics Raises Nearly USD $150M in New Funding, Exceeds $1.5B Valuation
Pudu Robotics announced a fresh financing round that brought in nearly $150 million, pushing its post‑money valuation above $1.5 billion. The injection lifts the company’s cumulative capital to more than $300 million and will fund accelerated embodied‑AI research, product diversification, and scaling of...
Athletes Join L Catterton to Accelerate Consumer Brands
News: Investment firm L Catterton and Patricof Co form partnership to pursue investment in consumer brands where athletes can drive growth. CHAMP - Champion Athlete Managing Partner - will be co owners of portfolio companies. Participating athletes ⤵️ Story to...
85-Year-Old VK Digital Health CEO Prepares Seed Round to Fund 2,500 Smart Clinics
Charlie Nahabedian, the 85‑year‑old founder and CEO of VK Digital Health, is gearing up for a seed‑stage financing round that will finance the rollout of smart clinic chairs and mobile health units to 2,500 sites. The company has already raised...
AI Startup Pomo Raises $4.5 Million Seed Round to Speed Up Product Build
Pomo, the AI‑focused venture founded by former Google colleagues Praneet Dutta and Joe Cheuk, announced a $4.5 million seed round. The funding will back a team of fewer than ten people as they develop a platform that helps marketers make faster...
SpaceX’s $60 B Cursor Deal Poised to Net $10 B for Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital
SpaceX announced a right‑to‑acquire AI‑coding startup Cursor for $60 billion, a move that would translate into roughly $6 billion for Andreessen Horowitz and $4.2 billion for Thrive Capital. The deal, pending SpaceX’s IPO, could become one of the largest venture‑capital exits in recent...
CPG Due Diligence: The Operator Framework Behind a $800M Exit | Keith Levy Part 1
In this episode, M&A Science host Kisan Patel dives deep with operating partner Keith Levy, a veteran of the consumer packaged goods world who spent 24 years at Anheuser‑Busch, led Royal Canin, and oversaw Mars Wrigley’s acquisition of KIND before...