Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Updated 2h ago
Plazza eyes $15M raise to expand hyper‑local medicine delivery
Bengaluru‑based quick‑medicine delivery startup Plazza is in advanced talks to raise about $15 million, with roughly $4 million each expected from Accel, Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners and $3 million from existing backers. The funding would value the company near $50 million and support the expansion of its inventory‑led, hyper‑local fulfilment network.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Beeline Medicines raises $300M Series A
Drug Discovery Platform Peptris Raises Rs 70 Cr in Series A Round
Peptris, a Bengaluru‑based AI drug‑discovery startup, closed a Rs 70 crore ($7.7 million) Series A round co‑led by IAN Alpha Fund and Speciale Invest. The capital will accelerate its pipeline, moving novel chemical entities and repurposing programs toward clinical readiness within 24 months. Peptris’ platform combines generative chemistry with predictive models to cut pre‑clinical failure rates. The company pursues B2B collaborations across pharma, biotech and select FMCG partners in rare diseases, oncology, inflammation and women’s health.
Is Australia’s Secondaries Market the Solution to Delayed Exits and Liquidity Pressure?
Australia’s venture ecosystem is confronting a liquidity crunch as exits stretch and companies remain private longer. Secondary transactions have moved from occasional fixes to a structural component, with analysts estimating a US$2.6 billion pool of liquidity in tech firms over the...
Fabless Semiconductor Startup Vervesemi Raises $10 Mn in Series A Round
Fabless semiconductor startup Vervesemi announced a $10 million Series A round co‑led by Ashish Kacholia and Unicorn India Ventures, with participation from Roots Ventures, Caperize Fina, and MAIQ Growth Scheme. The funding will accelerate commercialization of its machine‑learning‑enhanced analog signal‑chain ICs, expand...
Zest Equity Launches Zest Arrange and Zest Escrow Following FSRA Authorisation
Zest Equity, backed by Morgan Stanley and regional investors, launched two new FSRA‑regulated services—Zest Arrange and Zest Escrow—expanding its private‑market infrastructure platform. Zest Arrange digitizes end‑to‑end deal‑making workflows, while Zest Escrow provides a regulated escrow function with segregated UAE bank...
Artociti Raises Rs 1 Cr on Shark Tank India at Rs 13.33 Cr Valuation
Artociti, a Bokaro‑based 3D wall‑art startup, secured Rs 1 crore on Shark Tank India in exchange for a 7.5% stake, placing its post‑money valuation at roughly Rs 13.33 crore. The funding, provided by investors Namita Thapar and Vineeta Singh, will finance a new manufacturing...
SatVu Raises £30M to Accelerate Its Constellation
UK‑based thermal‑imaging firm SatVu announced a £30 million equity raise, bringing its total financing to £60 million. The funding, sourced from the NATO Innovation Fund, British Business Bank and existing backers, will accelerate the deployment of its HotSat constellation after the on‑orbit...
Early-Stage Biotechs Suffer in 2025 As VC Shuns Risk: PitchBook
Venture capital in biopharma rebounded in 2025, delivering $33.8 billion across 1,171 deals, but the capital is increasingly concentrated in late‑stage companies. Early‑stage startups received only 32% of the funding, down from over 40% during the pandemic surge, while median deal...
India’s AIF Industry Crosses Rs 15 Lakh Crore as Domestic Capital & Liquidity Reshape Private Markets
India’s alternative investment fund (AIF) sector has crossed the ₹15.05 lakh crore mark, underscoring rapid scale and emerging maturity. Equity‑oriented AIFs have delivered roughly 8.7 % alpha over the BSE Sensex across multiple cycles, highlighting consistent outperformance. Domestic investors now contribute about 55 %...
Caterpillar VC Funds ElevenEs' 1GWh LFP Factory in Serbia
Caterpillar VC backs startup ElevenEs as it builds 1GWh LFP cell factory in Serbia #energysky -- via Energy Storage News: https://t.co/lb6SNWjg1K
Wildlight Secured Multiple Funding Rounds, Stayed Silent
It is of course not at all surprising that Wildlight raised money through multiple rounds of investment. The unusual thing is that unlike many other studio startups in the last five years it never publicized the initial investment or subsequent funding...
Breakthrough Victoria Scores 5x Uplift on Investment in US Quantum Startup Listing on the NYSE
Breakthrough Victoria’s A$29 million stake in US‑based Infleqtion has generated a five‑fold value increase after the company listed on the NYSE via a SPAC merger. Infleqtion raised US$550 million, debuting at US$14.25 per share and closing at US$15.59, a 14% first‑day gain....
Anticipate Investor Attacks with a Rude Q&A
When I started WP Engine, I thought I was pretty good at pitching. I had sold millions of dollars of software at Smart Bear, and I’d helped other companies with their pitches and fundraising. But of course it’s different when someone...
Temporal
Temporal announced a Series D financing round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, bringing new capital to the open‑source durable execution platform. The round includes Lightspeed partners Anoushka Vaswani, Ravi Mhatre, Bucky Moore and Justin Shen. Temporal’s technology underpins mission‑critical services at...
QuadSci Receives $8M Series A Funding Round
QuadSci announced an $8 million Series A round led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from Alumni Ventures, Correlation Ventures, and several angel investors. The startup’s AI platform uniquely ties product usage telemetry to revenue outcomes, enabling firms to predict churn, uncover growth,...
ChipAgents Completes $50M Series A1 Round
ChipAgents announced the close of an oversubscribed $50 million Series A1 round, raising its total capital to $74 million. The round was led by Matter Venture Partners, a TSMC‑backed HardTech VC, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Micron, MediaTek and Ericsson. ChipAgents’ Agentic...
AI Power, Compute, Algorithms Multiply to Shift Leverage
I have a simplified conjecture about AI progress. Your mileage may vary but here it is. f(i) = p × c × a where i=intelligence, p=power, c=compute, a=algorithms, multiplied together. This means neglecting any variable creates a ceiling and any breakthrough compounds...
Dragonfly Raises $650M for Crypto Venture Fund IV
Dragonfly Capital announced the close of its fourth crypto venture fund with $650 million in commitments, topping the original $500 million target. The fund will back early‑stage blockchain projects across infrastructure, DeFi, stablecoins and tokenized real‑world assets. Recent allocations include...
Meridian Closes $17M Seed Round to Bring Agentic AI to Financial Modeling
Meridian, an AI‑driven financial modeling startup, emerged from stealth with a $17 million seed round at a $100 million post‑money valuation. The funding was led by Andreessen Horowitz and The General Partnership, joined by QED Investors, FPV Ventures, and Litquidity Ventures. Meridian...
Dragonfly Raises $650M for New Fund to Back DeFi, Prediction Markets and Stablecoins
Dragonfly Capital announced the close of its fourth venture fund, raising $650 million to back projects in decentralized finance, stablecoins and prediction markets. The fund marks the firm’s largest commitment yet, reflecting confidence that the crypto sector remains in an early...
Joining Benchmark: Passion for Series A Venture Investing
I’m really excited to share that I’m joining Benchmark. The past two years as a full time investor have been the most rewarding of my career. I really love venture capital, which is not something I ever imagined I’d say when...
Onshore Secures $31M Series B for AI Tax Automation
Congrats to Onshore on their $31M Series B! Onshore is building an AI-native platform that replaces manual CPA workflows with continuous, automated tax intelligence. Instead of relying on spreadsheets and fragmented documentation, Onshore automates data collection and analysis while keeping expert...
Sphinx Raises $7M Seed Round for AI Compliance Agents
Sphinx announced a $7 million seed round, led by Cherry Ventures with participation from Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Deel Ventures and Singularity Capital. The San Francisco‑based startup builds browser‑native AI agents that embed directly into existing case‑management systems, third‑party portals and internal dashboards...
Boston Trains AI Founders; SF Steals Them—Others Beware
Boston has the schools. SF has the companies. 21 of the Forbes AI 50 founders went to school in Boston—then left for San Francisco. If SF doesn’t learn from this cautionary tale, Austin and Miami will. https://t.co/pmYxLaYXWy
Bay Relocation Signals Founder Seriousness, Not Random Investor Bias
The hardest core founders have always moved to the Bay -- living in this area is an indication of seriousness. Investors are not drawing from a random sample.
Orthofuse Raises £2.2m for 3D-Printed Implants
Orthofuse announced a £2.2 million seed round to accelerate its 3D‑printed orthopaedic implant platform. The company targets trauma and spinal‑degenerative surgeries, where poor bone quality and time‑sensitive procedures demand more adaptable solutions. Using additive manufacturing and novel implant architectures, Orthofuse aims...
Robinhood Ventures Backs Boom Supersonic, Democrat
Super cool to have @boomsupersonic as one of the first companies in the @RobinhoodApp Ventures fund—democratizing investor access to private companies.
Ex-Altera CEO Leads Vsora to Challenge Nvidia, AMD
Former Altera CEO Sandra Rivera has joined French AI chip startup @vsora_dsp as chair of the board. I had a chat with her about raising Vsora's profile, raising funding, and competing with Nvidia, AMD and the entire landscape of startups...
Announcing Our Investment in Temporal: Agents Make Mistakes. Your Workflows Can’t.
Lightspeed announced a strategic investment in Temporal’s $300 million Series D, positioning the durable‑execution platform as essential infrastructure for AI‑driven agents. Temporal’s technology lets agents recover from failures, maintain state, and run for extended periods without manual intervention. The company reports 380%...
Nvidia, Khosla Invest $200M to Power Instant Multilingual AI Agents
Nvidia and Khosla just put $200M into @polyaivoice, and looking at the stats, it makes sense. They already handle 500M+ calls for giants like Marriott & PG&E. Now, you can build a 45-language agent in 5 mins just from a URL. Massive...
Chinese AI Firms Double, Hitting $35B—West Should Follow
china’s two ai model company minimax and zai have grown 2x in public markets in the last month they’re now $30-35b companies surely that should prompt western labs to go public already
AI-Powered Worksite Safety Startup Fyld Raises £32m Series B
London‑based AI startup Fyld has closed a £32 million Series B round, led by Energy Impact Partners with participation from Partech’s Growth Impact Fund. The funding will fuel the expansion of its real‑time safety and compliance platform for frontline workers into the...
Cloud Startup Render Raises Funding at $1.5 Billion Valuation as AI-Built Apps Boom
Render announced a $100 million financing round that lifts its valuation to $1.5 billion, reflecting the surge in AI‑generated applications. The San‑Francisco startup reports revenue growth exceeding 100 percent and a developer community of more than 4.5 million users. It runs on AWS and...
How the Uninvestable Is Becoming Investable
Venture capital is moving into traditionally “hard” sectors—government, defence, energy, manufacturing—after years of avoidance. Rapid growth in public‑sector tech spending, which more than doubled between 2021 and 2025, and the rise of AI‑first solutions are reshaping procurement cycles and lowering...
Daffodil Health Raises $16.3M for AI Claims Automation
Daffodil Health announced a $16.3 million Series A round, bringing its total capital to $20.9 million. The San Francisco startup uses AI and large‑language models to automate health‑plan administration, focusing on out‑of‑network pricing and payment‑integrity workflows. Funds will accelerate product development and expand...
Building a Quantum Ecosystem From Scratch with Martin Laforest
In this episode, Sebastian talks with Martin Laforest, a physicist‑turned‑VC at Quantacet, about the practical challenges of building a quantum ecosystem from the ground up. Laforest explains how Quebec turned a 1970s academic gamble into a $400 M quantum hub, emphasizing...
Side Letter: M&G’s Liquidity Play
M&G has introduced a side‑letter that leverages the secondary market to provide liquidity for its private‑equity commitments, allowing investors optional redemption windows while preserving long‑term value. The move comes as Q4 private‑equity exit volume fell below expectations, highlighting a slowdown...
37 | Why Retention Is Now Driving Software Company Valuations
In this episode, managing director Mike Lyon and senior associate Sarabeth Sandweiss discuss how retention metrics have become a pivotal factor in software company valuations, detailing the heightened scrutiny buyers now apply. They explain the investor framework for assessing retention,...
SatelliteVu Secures $40M Funding, $8M Preorders
Thermal imaging satellite builder @satellitevu raises GBP 30M ($40.9M) in funding led by @NATOinnovation @BritishBBank @SpaceFrontier #PrestoTechHorizons, bringing total equity raise to $80M. Co has booked pre orders of $8M for HotSat-2, to be launched this yr w/ HotSat 3....
MeitY, IVCA Mobilise ₹500 Cr VC Commitments For AI Startups
At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, MeitY and the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) announced a collective ₹500 crore VC commitment from 16 member funds to accelerate Indian AI startups. Sixteen investors, including Accel, Antler and Prosus, pledged...
WSJ X A16z: The Next 25 Years of Defense Innovation
In this WSJ Invest Live episode, Andy Serwer interviews a16z general partner Katherine Boyle about the firm’s American Dynamism practice, which she launched to focus on defense and national‑security tech. They explore how openly championing "America" sparked debate in Silicon...
From Client to Cap Table: Shakudo Converts Customers Into Investors with $7-Million USD Raise
Toronto‑based AI infrastructure startup Shakudo closed a $7 million USD Series A2 round, led by Wittington Ventures, adding investors from its client base such as Loblaw and CentralReach. The round brings total funding to roughly $18 million and places Wittington managing partner...
Kenya’s Arc Ride Secures $5 Million IFC Commitment for Regional Expansion
Kenyan e‑mobility startup Arc Ride has secured a $5 million equity commitment from the International Finance Corporation to fuel its Series A round and regional rollout. The funding will accelerate the deployment of battery‑swapping stations across East Africa, complementing earlier debt deals...
Emirates NBD Leads $31 Million Round in Real Estate Investment Platform Stake
Stake, a fractional real‑estate investment platform, closed a $31 million financing round led by Emirates NBD, bringing its total capital to $58 million. The raise backs Stake’s rapid expansion beyond Saudi Arabia into the United States and supports its regulated offering in the Kingdom....
Danish Fintech Pluto Secures New Funding From Seed Capital and Unicorn Founders to Scale Commission-Free Investing Across Europe
Copenhagen‑based fintech Pluto announced a €5 million funding round led by Seed Capital and a syndicate of ten Danish unicorn founders, including executives from Pleo, Synthesia and Zendesk, with footballer Thomas Delaney also participating. The capital will fuel the launch of “Pluto...
AI Consulting Startup Navikenz Raises $7.5 Mn Led by Sekar PRC and Sudip Nandy
Navikenz, a Noida‑based AI consulting firm, closed a $7.5 million funding round led by Sekar PRC and Sudip Nandy, adding to a prior $8 million raise. The capital will fund team expansion and further development of its AI platforms, including RetailBOT and...
Google Maps Co-Founder Lars Rasmussen and Lefteris Katsiadakis Are Turning Athens Into a Startup Magnet
Google Maps co‑founder Lars Rasmussen and Panathēnea CEO Lefteris Katsiadakis are turning Athens into a Southeast European startup hub. The nonprofit festival attracted investors such as Sequoia, Index Ventures, NVIDIA and OpenAI, and featured over 3,000 attendees from 44 countries...
Paket Mutfak Raises $3.8M to Grow Multi-Brand Cloud Kitchen Model
Turkish cloud‑kitchen software startup Paket Mutfak announced a $3.8 million financing round, bringing its total capital to $12.3 million. The round was led by existing backers Nokta Yatırım Holding, Ünlü & Co, and Fırat İşbecer, with new investors including Ali Sabancı and...
CraftifAI Raises $3 Mn To Build AI Tools For Embedded Software Development
CraftifAI announced a $3 million seed round, led by Ankur Capital, to accelerate its AI-driven platform for embedded software development. The startup’s Orbit platform uses multi‑agent generative AI to automate code generation, hardware optimization, and AI/ML deployment for edge, IoT and...
Equirus InnovateX Fund Announces Final Close of B2B Tech Fund at Rs 166 Cr
Equirus InnovateX Fund (EIF) announced the final close of its maiden B2B tech fund at Rs 166 crore, a SEBI‑registered Category I AIF targeting seed to pre‑Series A investments. The fund focuses on deep‑tech, SaaS and fintech startups that have a product but are...
Udtara Ventures Announces Rs 250 Cr Growth Fund
Udtara Ventures has launched a Rs 250 crore Udtara Growth Fund aimed at taking sizable ownership stakes in defence, deep‑tech and frontier engineering firms. The fund will back 8‑10 growth‑stage companies with proven product‑market fit and existing order books, using a blend...
