Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Ramp projects $1.4 billion ARR as it gears up for IPO
Fintech startup Ramp says it will reach a $1.4 billion annual recurring revenue run rate this quarter, up from the $1 billion reported in September. The company cites a 70% year‑over‑year increase in its customer base and expects about $125 million in free cash flow for the year.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Beeline Medicines raises $300M Series A
Finnish Zenniz Raises $6 Million to Scale Smart Tennis Courts Globally, Establishes U.S. HQ in Atlanta
Finnish sport‑tech firm Zenniz secured a $6 million financing round to accelerate its global rollout of all‑in‑one smart tennis courts. The round, led by Butterfly Ventures with participation from Superhero Capital, Seventure Partners, Bromélia Capital and angel investor Miki Kuusi, will fund the launch of a North‑American headquarters in Atlanta. Zenniz’s platform blends electronic line calling, AI‑driven performance analytics, live streaming and gamified training, and is already deployed in over 25 countries. The capital will boost production, distribution and feature development ahead of its 2025 second‑generation hardware launch.
AI Startups Accelerate Growth, Redefine VC Strategies
I just published How AI-Enabled Startups Are Moving Faster — and Rewriting the VC Playbook https://t.co/q79JMDzaab
Quantcore Secures £2.5M ($3.4M USD) to Establish Sovereign Niobium-Based Quantum Hardware Manufacturing
Quantcore, a University of Glasgow spin‑out, closed a £2.5 million seed round led by PXN Ventures, Blackfinch Ventures and Scottish Enterprise. The funding will be used to build a sovereign niobium‑based quantum hardware manufacturing line at the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre,...
Budapest’s Turbine Secures $25M to Simulate Lab Experiments
The latest AI biotech raise comes not from the Bay Area or Boston, but out of Budapest Turbine has closed a $25M Series B, planning to build AI models that can simulate more and more lab experiments: https://t.co/Q31DVENA9G
Wishlink Raises $17.5 Million To Expand Creator Commerce Platform
Wishlink secured $17.5 million in a Series B round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, bringing its total funding to $27.5 million. The platform now supports over 40,000 active creators who produce more than 300,000 pieces of content each month, driving...
AI Chip Startup MatX Raises $500 Million to Compete With Nvidia
AI chip startup MatX, founded by two former Google semiconductor engineers, announced a funding round exceeding $500 million to accelerate development of GPUs that challenge Nvidia’s market dominance. The round was led by Jane Street and Situational Awareness, with participation from...
Nimble Raises $47M to Give AI Agents Access to Real-Time Web Data
Nimble announced a $47 million Series B round led by Norwest to scale its AI‑driven web‑search platform. The service uses autonomous agents to query the internet in real time, validates results, and outputs them as structured tables that can be queried like...
Slate Secures $130M, Launches Chinese Headache Drug
Slate starts up with $130M and a headache drug from China https://t.co/6DEltQAI8s by @gwendolynawu #biotech #startups $HLUBF
Exclusive: Newtrace to Raise Pre Series A Funding Led by HDFC Bank
Climate‑tech startup Newtrace announced a Rs 28 crore pre‑Series A round, led by HDFC Bank with participation from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and existing backers. The funding, issued via 2,541 convertible preference shares, keeps the post‑money valuation flat at Rs 237 crore ($26 million). Proceeds will fund product...
From ‘Prompt-and-Pray’ to Production: Straion Raises €1.1M to Govern AI Coding at Scale
Straion, a governance layer for AI‑generated code, closed a €1.1 million seed round led by Marathon VC. The startup aims to replace the “prompt‑and‑pray” development model by centralising organisational rules and validating AI‑generated plans before execution. Its platform integrates with tools...
Arctic15 Turns 15, Anniversary Edition Opens with Exclusive Early-Bird Pricing
Arctic15 is marking its 15th anniversary with a June 11‑12, 2026 conference in Helsinki, featuring a curated showcase of 100 breakthrough startups, dedicated experience zones, and new LP‑GP and Defence Tech summits. The event emphasizes high‑quality, one‑to‑one matchmaking between founders...
Student Mobility Startup ZeroMoblt Raises Pre-Seed Round
ZeroMoblt, a student‑mobility platform founded in April 2024, announced a pre‑seed round of ₹1.5 crore co‑led by JioMart CEO Sandeep Varaganti, Ashok Agrawal and high‑net‑worth investors. The capital will accelerate its AI‑native technology, expand operations across key Indian education hubs, and...
Colin Van Ostern: Why Alumni Ventures Is Betting on UK Venture Capital
In this episode, Colin Van Ostern, incoming head of Alumni Ventures' UK operations, discusses the firm’s network‑powered, diversified venture model and its expansion into the UK to tap a growing European startup ecosystem. He shares his unconventional path from politics...
Czech ValkaAI Raises One of the Biggest CEE Pre-Seed Rounds to Date
Czech AI startup ValkaAI closed a €12 million pre‑seed round, one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, led by Rockaway Ventures with participation from J&T Ventures, Tensor Ventures, BD Partners and Fond Naše Česko. The funding will fuel development of...
Tewke Secures £1.5M to Scale AI-Powered Home Energy Platform
London‑based Tewke closed a £1.5 million second‑stage round, backed by JamJar, Cur8, Energy Mix Ventures, Project Ventures and Revolut CTO Vlad Yatsenko. The company’s Tap device, engineered in the UK, retrofits without a neutral wire and can be installed in minutes,...
SecFund Invests in Advanced Composite Manufacturer Arceon
Arceon, a Delft‑based advanced composite maker, received new capital from SecFund and Tenzing Alpha to commercialise its carbon‑based material Carbeon. The single‑step silicon infiltration process makes Carbeon lighter, stronger and faster to produce, targeting rockets, satellites and hypersonic platforms. The...
Stripe, PayPal Ventures Bet on India’s Xflow to Fix Cross-Border B2B Payments
Xflow, a Bengaluru‑based fintech, closed a $16.6 million Series A round led by General Catalyst with participation from Stripe and PayPal Ventures, valuing the company at $85 million post‑money. The startup now has over $32 million in total funding and processes roughly $1 billion in...
Mega‑fund Focus Forces Niche Managers to Specialize
LPs wrote $50 billion in checks to 6 firms. Andreessen Horowitz → $15B Thrive Capital → $10B Lightspeed → $9B General Catalyst → $8B Founders Fund → $4.6B Dragoneer Investment Group → $4.3B Meanwhile, new fund closings dropped nearly 50% in one year from 2,100 to 1,117. LPs...
Top 10 Early‑Stage VC Funds for $250K+
If you're EARLY, 10 pre-seed VC funds to target for $250K+ for your company: - Precursor Ventures - Hustle Fund - Outlander - Y Combinator - Initialized Capital - Pear VC - Zeal Partners - Notation Capital - Liquid 2 Ventures - First Round Capital Connect with the partners of the...
Ubicquia Secures $106 Million To Scale AI Infrastructure Solutions
Ubicquia announced a $106 million Series D round led by 67 Capital and Marunouchi Innovation Partners, aimed at scaling its AI‑driven infrastructure portfolio worldwide. The company already serves more than 1,000 utilities, municipalities and commercial clients across the U.S., Latin America, Europe...
Duetti Secures $200M to Target Undervalued Music Rights
Duetti just raised $200 million. It built the infrastructure to invest in the music rights that other companies may overlook. My latest episode on Trapital sits down with Duetti CEO @ltibon to discuss. Check out our latest episode: "Follow The Money:...
Ubicquia Secures $106 Million in Series D Funding
Ubicquia, a provider of intelligent infrastructure solutions, closed a $106 million Series D round. The financing was led by 67 Capital and Marunouchi Innovation Partners, with participation from Hamilton Lane, ClearSky, GMS and strategic partner Sercomm. The capital will accelerate AI development for...
Ex-Sequoia Capital India Arm Peax XV Raises $1.3bn Across New Fund Trio
Peax XV, the former Sequoia Capital India unit, announced a $1.3 billion raise across three newly launched funds. The capital is allocated to a seed‑stage vehicle, a growth‑stage fund, and a later‑stage continuation fund, enabling the firm to support startups throughout...
Google Spinout Aalyria Achieves $1.3 Billion Valuation in Series B Round
Aalyria, a Google spin‑out focused on space‑based networking, closed a $100 million Series B round that lifts its valuation to $1.3 billion. The funding, led by Battery Ventures and J2 Ventures, will fund a one‑third staff increase and accelerate rollout of its Spacetime...
Aalyria Raises $100 Million Series B
Aalyria, a Livermore‑based aerospace communications firm, closed a $100 million Series B financing round, bringing its valuation to $1.3 billion. The round was led by Battery Ventures and J2 Ventures, with participation from DYNE and other investors. The funding will be used to...
Guggenheim Brothers Media Wants To Institutionalize The Creator Economy’s Middle Market
Guggenheim Brothers Media has launched a $75 million fund, anchored by Abu Dhabi’s Ethmar International, to fill the middle‑market funding gap in the creator economy. The Los Angeles‑based firm will invest $1‑5 million in 20‑25 early‑ to growth‑stage media and entertainment companies...
Humand Secures $66 Million Series A to Revolutionize the “Deskless” Workforce with AI
Humand announced a $66 million Series A round, co‑led by Kaszek and Goodwater Capital, to accelerate its AI‑powered platform for the 2.7 billion deskless workers worldwide. The San Francisco‑based startup positions its mobile‑first operating system as a social‑network‑style hub where frontline employees can request...
AI Sample Generator Just 4 Noise Raises $1M From BADideas.fund, Sound Hub Denmark and More
Berlin‑based Just 4 Noise, an AI‑driven audio sample generator, closed a $1 million pre‑seed round backed by BADideas.fund, SoundInvest and Sound Hub Denmark. The platform lets producers type a text prompt and receive unique, royalty‑free sounds that can be dropped directly into a...
The BIG Summit Meets at the Intersection of Patient Advocacy and Venture Investment
At the BIO Investor Growth (BIG) Summit, IBD Ventures’ associate director Nicole Schwerbrock discussed how venture philanthropy and patient advocacy are reshaping investment in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) research. She explained that patient‑driven funding models complement traditional venture capital by...
Exclusive: Practo In Talks To Raise $100 Mn In Pre-IPO Round
Practo is in advanced talks to raise between $100 million and $125 million in a pre‑IPO round that will combine equity and debt, led by a global private‑equity firm and joined by existing backers. The financing values the health‑tech platform at roughly...
VC10X - The Consumer AI Opportunity Nobody Is Chasing Ft. Ankur Sethi, Founder, Winner Capital
In this episode, Ankur Sethi, founder of Winner Capital, explains why he believes consumer AI is the present, not the future, and why it remains vastly underfunded compared to enterprise SaaS. He highlights the democratization of large language models that...
UK Government-Backed Cyber Security Programme Alumni Raise £47.4m in Follow-On Investment
Innovate UK’s Cyber Security Academic Startup Accelerator (CyberASAP) alumni have attracted £47.4 million in post‑programme funding over the past nine years, with private capital accounting for 68% of that amount. The accelerator, funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology,...
Beltone Holding Launches Growth-Stage Private Equity Platform
Beltone Holding, an Egypt‑based investment group, has launched a private equity platform to complement its existing venture arm. The new platform targets growth‑stage companies, offering a structured path from early‑stage venture funding to institutional‑scale capital. Ali Mokhtar, CEO and Managing...
Goldman Sachs’ Petershill Targets $5bn for Fifth Flagship Fund
Goldman Sachs’ alternative investment arm Petershill is launching its fifth flagship fund, aiming to raise about $5 billion, equal to the size of its 2020 fund. The fund will continue the firm’s strategy of taking minority stakes in private‑market managers in...
Victoria Takes Venture Capital Crown From NSW in $2.2 Billion Funding Surge
Victoria’s venture capital ecosystem surged in 2025, raising $2.2 billion across 134 deals – a 2.9‑times increase year‑on‑year and the state’s second‑largest funding year on record. The growth was driven by a sharp rise in mid‑size ($20‑49.9 million) and large ($50 million‑plus) rounds,...
The Government Wants VCs to Co-Invest in a $1 Billion Defence Industry Fund
The Australian federal government is preparing to contribute up to $500 million as co‑investment alongside venture capital firms into one or more Advanced Capabilities Investment (ACI) funds aimed at defence and dual‑use technologies. A Request for Expressions of Interest on AusTender...
D2C Lifestyle Brand DailyObjects Posts Rs 110 Cr Revenue in FY25
DailyObjects, the Indian D2C tech‑accessories brand, posted Rs 110 crore revenue for FY25, a 31% increase over the prior year. The surge in sales was offset by a 60% jump in net loss, which rose to Rs 16 crore as total expenses climbed 30%...
Early Belief Fuels Tiny Startups Into Big Success
there will be MANY minnows that become VERY successful firms we at Lux once had a few $ M 1st fund from 1 amazing person who believed in us (a pledge fund) + then a $100M second fund that we couldnt...
Open Cosmos Seeks $200M for European Ka‑band Broadband
.@Open_Cosmos seeks ~$200M in financing ahead of June & Sept deployment deadlines for its Liechtenstein-licensed Ka-band broadband constellation. Co says Europe should rally around it. @defis_eu @aee_gob. https://t.co/0cbcoHxGVq https://t.co/OZBFODhK9v
Marco Pierre White-Backed EatClub Raises $27 Million in Series B
Melbourne‑based restaurant marketplace EatClub has closed a $27 million Series B round, led by Marbruck, pushing its valuation above $200 million. The funding follows a rapid UK rollout that has signed more than 1,000 restaurants and tripled order volumes since its London debut...
AI Forces Preseed Focus on Demos, Not Ideas
AI moves the goalposts for raising preseed capital: less “tell me your product idea” more “show me what you built and how customers react” In the 1990s people raised $5m+ just to build the v1 of their website. In 2000s that...
Clarity of Vision Beats Labels in Startup Investing
I had the privilege of moderating a panel with a Midas List VC a few months back. One insight she shared has changed my view on investing. She said the number one thing she looks for is clarity of vision. That sounds...
Salt Lake City-Based Jump, a Provider of AI Tools for Financial Advisors to Automate Meeting Prep and More, Raised an...
Jump, a Salt Lake City fintech that provides AI‑driven tools for financial advisors, announced an $80 million Series B round led by Insight Partners. The capital will accelerate development of its meeting‑preparation, research, and compliance automation platform and expand its sales force....
Show $50K MRR, VCs Will Chase You
Entrepreneurs: NEVER beg a VC for a check, it tickles their ego and rewards disrespect. Grow to $50K MRR, watch them come begging.
Foresite Capital’s Key Criteria for Investing in Biotech Startups
22February: What does @ForesiteCapital look for in the therapeutics and instrument startups in which it invests? Read founder & CEO @JTananbaum MD's response + more insights from him and the firm's Michael Rome PhD in my latest Q&A interview for...
Sansoni Management Grows $250m+ Under Management, Backing High-Potential Operators and Scalable Ventures
Sansoni Management now oversees more than $250 million in assets, targeting founders and operators rather than pure ideas. The firm’s portfolio showcases rapid wins, including a national marketplace with $200 million of deal‑ready inventory, a 25 percent stake in NBL’s Melbourne United, and...
Unusual Retention Curve Mirrors the Hype Cycle
Does a hype cycle have a retention curve that looks like this? Literally never seen a retention cohort graph like this https://t.co/BwMCDv7eIY
California's Wealth Tax Threatens Innovation, Yet I Stay
The California wealth tax as currently written would be really bad for the state and its innovation economy. That said, even if it passes I'm not going anywhere. California has helped me create more wealth than I could imagine growing up on...
Tom Hayes – USC Marshall School of Business Talk – 2/11/26
Tom Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital, delivered a keynote at USC Marshall School of Business on February 11, 2026. He outlined the firm’s recent $5 billion assets‑under‑management expansion and its disciplined risk‑management framework. Hayes highlighted macro opportunities in emerging markets...
Jeff Bezos Reveals the Brutal Fundraising Fight Behind Amazon’s Origin Story
Jeff Bezos recalled that raising Amazon’s first seed round in 1994 was his toughest challenge. He met roughly 60 angel investors, many of whom needed convincing about the nascent internet. Forty of those angels flat‑out rejected the pitch, forcing Bezos...