Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Qorelo secures $3.5M seed round to accelerate AI‑driven SAP migrations
AI‑focused startup Qorelo announced a $3.5 million seed round led by HPI Ventures and Caesar Ventures. The funding will be used to develop its AI‑powered layer that automates functional workstreams in SAP S/4HANA migrations, which the company says can cut project timelines by up to 45 percent ahead of the 2027 SAP migration deadline.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Sygaldry Technologies raises $139M in seed and Series A round
Kelonia Investor Venrock Will Clear a 45-Fold Return on Startup's Sale to Lilly
Venture capital firm Venrock is set to pocket roughly $900 million after its modest $20 million seed investment in Kelonia Therapeutics paid off. Kelonia agreed to an all‑cash acquisition by Eli Lilly valued at $3.25 billion, delivering an upfront payment that triggers the windfall. The transaction translates to an approximate 45‑fold return for Venrock, one of the most striking multiples in recent biotech exits. The deal highlights the escalating valuation of microbiome‑focused drug platforms.
Invest in the GP, Not Just the Fund
Most investors focus on deals. But some of the most sophisticated capital allocators invest somewhere else entirely. In The Holy Grail of Investing, Tony Robbins highlights a strategy used by institutional investors called GP stakes. Instead of investing in the fund, you invest...
Eigen Secures $15M Seed for ‘Mutual Friend’ AI Tool
San Francisco‑based Eigen emerged from stealth with a $15 million seed round led by Benchmark, backed by notable angels such as Pinterest co‑founder Ben Silbermann and Spotify’s co‑president Gustavo Söderström. The startup is building what it calls the world’s first “mutual...
Dorit Dor, Co-Founder of Qbeat Ventures
In this episode, Dorit Dor, former Check Point C‑level executive and co‑founder of Qubit Ventures, discusses how quantum startups can apply lessons from cybersecurity—particularly the importance of a clear go‑to‑market strategy, focus on specific problems, and adherence to standards. She...
Pulnovo Medical Raises $100 Million in Strategic Round Led by Medtronic
Pulnovo Medical announced a $100 million strategic financing round led by Medtronic, adding new investors and cementing a commercial partnership. The capital will accelerate clinical trials, regulatory filings and international rollout of its Pulmonary Artery Denervation system.
Crypto VC Slowdown Reflects Limited Founder and Idea Pool
controversial take: crypto VC take on fewer funds deploying is downstream of there being ENOUGH good founders and ideas to back. the quality of early stage founders and ideas in crypto, taken in aggregate, is simply not as large of...
Stendr Secures $5.4 Million Pre‑Seed to Build AI‑Native Defense Platform
Stendr, a Nordic defense‑technology startup, closed a $5.4 million pre‑seed round backed by Rainfall Ventures, ACME Capital and several other investors. The capital will fund the development of an AI‑native platform designed to counter drone threats, marking a notable infusion of...
Àrgentil Receives Support for $75m West Africa SME Fund
Àrgentil Capital Management was chosen for the inaugural cohort of the Blended Finance Accelerator for Fund Managers (A4FM) and received proof‑of‑concept grant support to launch the Àrgentil Investment Fund (ÀSIF). The $75 million private‑equity vehicle will target underserved small and medium‑sized...
Polymarket Seeks $15B Valuation as It Raises Capital Ahead of U.S. Regulatory Outcome
Polymarket is in talks to raise an additional $400 million, expanding its current round to $1 billion and valuing the platform at roughly $15 billion. The funding follows a $600 million investment from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which may increase its strategic stake to $2 billion....
South Africa: Norfund and E Squared Invest in Nafasi Water
Norfund is investing R160 million (about $9.8 million) in South African water‑treatment specialist Nafasi Water Technologies, with a follow‑on contribution from existing shareholder E Squared Investments. The capital will enable Nafasi to scale its waste‑to‑value manufacturing, project‑finance operations and a new platform for...
STACKUP: The Stack's Weekly Tech Startups and Funding Wrap
Artemis, a cybersecurity startup focused on AI-driven defenses, announced a combined $70 million seed and Series A round as NASA’s Artemis II mission concludes. CEO Shachar Hirshberg discussed the growing AI security gap and the company’s solution. The weekly wrap also notes quantum‑AI...
UK Startup Rivan Raises €28.7 Million to Scale Domestic Synthetic Fuel Production in Europe
UK‑based Rivan announced a €28.7 million (≈$31 million) Series A round led by IQ Capital to accelerate its synthetic fuel platform. The funding follows a €11.4 million seed raise and will back the commissioning of a 15 MW synthetic natural gas (SNG) plant in Wiltshire...
Cybersecurity Funding Holds Up At Robust Levels
Cybersecurity venture funding remained robust in Q1 2026, with investors deploying $4.9 billion globally—only a slight sequential dip but well above the prior year. Round count stayed near 200, including 13 mega‑rounds of $100 million or more. The largest deal was Cloaked’s...
Startale Secures $63M Series A and Expands to Abu Dhabi via Hub71
Startale Group, backed by a $63 million Series A, has been selected for Hub71’s Digital Assets cohort and will open a regional hub inside Abu Dhabi Global Market. The move gives the crypto‑focused fintech regulatory clarity and access to a network...
European VC Surge: 75+ Deals Deploy Over $2 B in Week, Cleantech Leads
European venture capital activity jumped last week as more than 75 tech deals raised over €1.9 billion ($2.05 billion). Cleantech captured €1.2 billion ($1.30 billion) of that pool, while Sweden, the United Kingdom and Germany posted the highest regional totals.
British Business Bank Commits £35m to New Episode 1 Fund
The British Business Bank has pledged up to £35 million (≈ $45 million) as a cornerstone investment in Episode 1 Ventures’ Fund IV. Episode 1 focuses on pre‑seed and seed‑stage UK software companies, emphasizing AI, infrastructure, deep‑tech and biotech, aligning with the UK’s industrial strategy. The...
Logicc Secures €2.5 Million Amid Continued Momentum in Germany’s Secure AI Market
Logicc, a Hamburg‑based AI startup focused on highly regulated sectors, closed a €2.5 million (≈$2.7 million) seed round. The funding will accelerate its GDPR‑compliant, zero‑knowledge platform that aggregates models like ChatGPT and Gemini for lawyers, doctors and public institutions. Within six months...
Anthropic's Ownership: Big Tech Holds ~30% Collectively
Anthropic’s approximate major equity ownership: • Amazon: ~8–16% • Google (Alphabet): ~14%l • NVIDIA: ~3% • Microsoft: low single-digit % • Co-founders (Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei & other 5 co-founders): each ~1.8%+ (collective significant founder stake; total founders likely...
Four-Month-Old Recursive Superintelligence Raises $500m
Recursive Superintelligence, a London‑based AI startup founded four months ago by UCL professor Tim Rocktäschel and former Salesforce chief scientist Richard Socher, announced a $500 million Series A round at a $4 billion valuation. The financing was led by Google Ventures and included...
UK Impact Investor EKA Ventures Closes Second Fund at £80m
UK‑based impact investor EKA Ventures has closed its second fund, raising £80 million (approximately $102 million). The new capital will be deployed into early‑stage ventures that address socially beneficial challenges, notably preventative healthcare and affordable housing. The fund follows a similar strategy...
Fewer Rounds, Bigger Bets: What Q1 2026 Reveals About Where European Tech Capital Is Concentrating
In Q1 2026 European venture capital moved from a broad recovery to a tight concentration around strategic sectors. Mega‑rounds exceeding €3.5 billion (≈$3.8 billion) funded AI infrastructure, defence/dual‑use and industrial deep‑tech firms such as Wavve, AMI and Nscale. Investors favored large, capital‑intensive bets...
Pulnovo Raises $100M Led by Medtronic to Advance PADN System for Pulmonary Hypertension
Pulnovo Medical announced an oversubscribed $100 million financing round led by Medtronic, bringing together existing backers such as EQT, Qiming Venture Partners, Gaorong Ventures, OrbiMed and Lilly Asia Ventures. The capital will accelerate clinical development, regulatory work and commercialization of Pulnovo’s...
The Base Is Thinning 🔻
African startups raised $3.3 billion in the 12 months to March 2026, with $1.8 billion in equity and $1.4 billion in debt. However, the share of small equity rounds is collapsing – deals between $100k‑$250k fell from 40% in 2021 to just 21% in...
Planetary Nets $28M to Scale Full-Stack Fermentation Platform for Sustainable Proteins
Swiss biotech startup Planetary secured CHF16 million ($20.4 million) in Series A financing and an additional CHF6 million ($7.6 million) credit facility, bringing total capital to roughly $41 million. The funds will expand its BioBlocks full‑stack fermentation platform, scale a global licensing business, and diversify its...
India’s Consumer Sector Sees Funding Dip but Deal Activity Surges in FY26
India’s consumer sector saw total funding drop to about $8.5 billion in FY26, down from $9.8 billion the prior year. At the same time, deal volume surged to 510 transactions, the highest since the pandemic, indicating a shift toward smaller, diversified investments....
Fluency Hires RTB Veteran Eric Picard as SVP of Product After $40M Series A
Fluency announced on April 16, 2026 that Eric Picard, a real‑time bidding pioneer, will serve as senior vice president of product. The hire follows a $40 million Series A led by Integrity Growth Partners and underscores Fluency’s push to scale its...
Wayve Lands $60 M From AMD, Arm and Qualcomm to Speed AI Driver Rollout
Wayve announced a $60 million extension to its Series D round, funded by AMD, Arm and Qualcomm Ventures. The cash builds on a prior $1.2 billion raise and is earmarked for integrating Wayve’s AI Driver across diverse automotive compute platforms, underscoring chipmakers’ confidence...
Nava Secures $8.3M Seed Round to Verify AI Agents in DeFi
Nava announced an $8.3 million seed round led by Polychain Capital and Archetype, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and others, to build a blockchain‑based verification layer for AI‑driven financial agents. The funding targets a market where unauthorized AI transactions cost $2.1 billion...
Battery Recycling Startup Renewable Metals Charges up on $12 Million Series A
Australian battery recycling startup Renewable Metals closed a $12 million Series A round, led by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and joined by European Metal Recycling, Investible and Climate Tech Partners. The funding will launch a 2,000‑tonne‑per‑year demonstration plant in Kewdale, Western...
Last Week Ignite - 4/19/2026
Anthropic rejected unsolicited bids that would have valued the company at roughly $800 billion, underscoring its confidence in long‑term growth. Cerebras announced a fresh IPO filing after abandoning a 2024 attempt, signaling renewed capital market appetite. TSMC’s most advanced chip fabs...
Airwallex Rejects $1.2B Stripe Offer, Turns Rival in Global Payments
Airwallex declined Stripe's $1.2 billion purchase proposal and is now targeting the same markets, reporting $1.3 billion in annualized revenue, 85% YoY growth, and $300 billion in transaction volume. The split highlights divergent leadership visions in fintech.
Loop Secures $95 Million to Deploy AI That Predicts Supply‑Chain Disruptions for E‑commerce
Loop announced a $95 million financing round to accelerate its AI platform that predicts supply‑chain disruptions. The capital will be used to expand the service for e‑commerce merchants seeking more reliable fulfillment and inventory management.
Kustomer Raises $30 Million to Accelerate AI‑First CX Platform
Kustomer announced a $30 million funding round to power its AI‑native customer‑experience platform, marking a decisive pivot from interface‑centric design to embedded intelligence. The capital infusion follows the company’s 2023 spin‑off from Meta and underscores a broader industry push toward predictive,...
Founders Stay Home as AI and New Capital Shift Startup Geography
Forbes reports that founders are choosing to build companies in their hometowns rather than relocating to Silicon Valley, citing AI-enabled tools and a surge of new capital. The trend could redistribute venture funding and talent across the United States and...
The 12-Month Window
AI investors Sarah Guo and Elad Gil say most companies enjoy a roughly 12‑month peak‑value window before valuations tumble. They point to Lotus, AOL and Broadcast.com as firms that timed exits at the top and captured generational returns. Gil advises founders to...
The Humanoid Robot IPO Wave Nobody Is Ready For — And 4 Stocks Positioning For It Right Now
Unitree Robotics filed a $610 million IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market, valuing the company at $7 billion as its entry‑level humanoid robot now sells for $5,900. Prices for humanoid robots have collapsed 85% in two years, enabling mass deployment in factories such...
VC Is Being Rewired by AI
Artificial intelligence is rapidly rewiring venture capital, moving the industry from a manual, relationship‑driven model to data‑centric automation. Firms such as Hustle Fund now review up to 700 deals a month using tools like Zapier and Airtable, while others employ...
I Replaced My SDR With an AI Agent
In 2024 Andreessen Horowitz and Benchmark invested $76 million in 11x.ai, promising an autonomous AI agent named Alice to replace entire SDR teams. Leaked data revealed 70‑80% of its customers churned within three months, with actual ARR closer to $3 million despite...
Report: Lululemon Founder Chip Wilson Starting Athletic-Brand Venture
Chip Wilson, founder and major shareholder of Lululemon Athletica, announced a new venture to invest in and support small, founder‑led athletic apparel brands. The initiative, backed by an operating partner, will target both existing niche labels and brand‑new technical‑wear startups....
IndiGo Invests $1.2 M in Bengaluru eVTOL Startup Sarla Aviation Ahead of Commercial Launch
IndiGo Ventures has invested ₹10 crore ($1.2 million) in Bengaluru‑based eVTOL startup Sarla Aviation, accelerating the company's plan to launch a six‑passenger air‑taxi service for middle‑distance travel across India. The funding, part of a round led by Accel and Nikhil Kamath, positions Sarla...
OpenAI Loses Three Senior Leaders as It Pivots to Enterprise AI, Raising Investor Concerns
OpenAI announced that three senior executives—Kevin Weil, Bill Peebles and Srinivas Narayanan—departed on April 17, 2026 as the company sharpens its focus on enterprise AI. The exits follow the shutdown of side‑projects like Sora and OpenAI for Science, and come...
The Anthropic Question Has Replaced the Google Question
Anthropic has vaulted from near‑zero revenue in early 2024 to a $30 billion ARR run‑rate, eclipsing most Fortune 500 firms and achieving an unprecedented revenue‑per‑employee ratio. Its four flagship offerings—Mythos/Project Glasswing, Claude Code, Claude Cowork, and the newly launched Claude Design—are reshaping cybersecurity, software development, productivity,...
VC Pursuit: 1% Glory vs 99% Stable Life
Choosing VC over bootstrapping is choosing the 1% chance of glory over the 99% chance of just building a good life.
Tadawulcom Real Estate Secures $400K Seed Round to Accelerate Saudi PropTech
Tadawulcom Real Estate, a Saudi‑based SaaS platform for brokers and agencies, closed a $400,000 seed round from an angel investor. The capital will fund new market‑intelligence tools, dynamic mapping, and regional expansion, positioning the firm at the forefront of the...
Indian Startup Funding Plummets 83% to $60.4M in Week Ending Apr 18, 2026
Inc42 reports that Indian startups raised just $60.4 million in 15 deals during the week ending April 18, 2026 – an 83% decline from the previous week. The sharp slowdown follows months of rapid capital inflows and may herald a brief cooling...
Allbirds Abandons Shoes, Rebrands as NewBird AI with $50 Million Funding
Allbirds announced it will sell its shoe IP to American Exchange Group, rename itself NewBird AI and launch a GPU‑as‑a‑service platform. An unnamed institutional investor is providing a $50 million convertible financing facility, and the stock surged more than 500% on...
Rhea Space Activity Raises $6 Million to Develop GPS-Free Spacecraft Navigation
Rhea Space Activity, a Washington, D.C. startup, secured $6 million Series A to develop AutoNav, a GPS‑free visual navigation system. AutoNav uses onboard optical sensors to locate spacecraft by imaging celestial bodies, a technology originated at NASA JPL. The funding will accelerate...
Ride AI Conference Signals Robotaxi Market Maturity as Industry Shifts to Commercialization
Ride AI hosted its second autonomous‑vehicle conference in San Francisco, drawing more than 300 attendees and a theme of “It’s time to market.” Executives from Mobileye, Toyota’s Woven Capital and Wayve underscored a pivot from pure technology hype to viable business...
Cerebras Systems Files US IPO After Delayed 2024 Offering, Targets Nasdaq Listing
Cerebras Systems, the wafer‑scale AI chip startup, filed a Form S‑1 to list on Nasdaq under the ticker CBRS, marking its return to the market after a postponed 2024 filing. The company, valued at $23 billion after a $1 billion Series H round,...
Expo Secures $45 Million Series B to Accelerate Cross‑Platform Ecommerce Apps
Expo announced a $45 million Series B funding round led by Georgian, earmarked for expanding its React Native‑based cloud platform. The capital will help ecommerce developers streamline cross‑platform mobile releases, a growing priority as retailers chase faster time‑to‑market.