InsurTech Funding Tops $1bn in February as AI Investment Surges
Global InsurTech funding topped $1 billion in February, propelled by a $703 million debt raise from Howden Group. Excluding Howden, venture‑backed firms secured roughly $376 million across 11 deals, keeping pace with January’s activity. AI‑centric companies dominated the venture pool, with notable rounds such as Lassie’s $75 million Series C, mea’s $50 million growth investment, and Harper’s $47 million seed/Series A. The United States contributed eight of the twelve deals, underscoring its continued leadership in InsurTech capital flows.
Roboze Receives Investment From Rule 1 Ventures Et Al
Italian manufacturing‑technology firm Roboze announced a new financing round backed by Rule 1 Ventures, Privcorp Ventures, Heather Podesta, Gary Ang, Tholus Capital and the Ferrari Family Office, alongside existing shareholders such as Federico Faggin and Rialto Venture Capital. The amount remains undisclosed. The...
NoblQ Receives Majority Investment From Yellow Stripes Capital
Plano‑based IT services firm NoblQ announced that Yellow Stripes Capital has acquired a majority stake, though the transaction value was not disclosed. The capital infusion will fund NoblQ’s expansion of operations and accelerate its AI‑driven engineering and enterprise platform development....
From Idea to Investment: What Venture Capital Actually Sees in AI Startups
Artificial intelligence has transitioned from a novelty to core infrastructure, reshaping venture capital allocations. In early 2026, Fei‑Fei Li’s World Labs secured a $1 billion round and Saudi sovereign fund Humain pledged $3 billion to xAI, while Nvidia pledged support for up...
Sierra Space Closes $550M Series C Funding Round, at $8 Billion Valuation
Defense‑tech firm Sierra Space secured $550 million in a Series C round, valuing the company at $8 billion post‑money. The financing was led by LuminArx Capital Management with participation from General Atlantic, Coatue, Moore Strategic Ventures and others. Sierra Space plans to channel...
Vor Systems Raises $3M Pre-Seed Funding
Vor Systems, a San Francisco AI‑enabled transaction platform for energy deals, secured $3 million in pre‑seed financing. The round was led by Gigascale Capital with participation from Virta Ventures and several angel investors. The capital will accelerate product development and forge...
Science Closes $230M Series C Funding
Science, the Alameda‑based neural engineering firm, closed a $230 million Series C round, raising its total capital to roughly $490 million since 2021. The financing will accelerate commercialization of its brain‑computer interface retinal implant, PRIMA, and expand research, manufacturing, and bio‑hybrid neural platforms....
Axiom Partners Launches with $52M Fund I to Back “AI for the Real World”
Axiom Partners, led by former Khosla Ventures partner Sandhya Venkatachalam, closed an oversubscribed $52 million inaugural fund focused on “AI for the Real World.” The seed‑stage firm aims to back startups that use artificial intelligence to alleviate the global “capacity crunch”...
D2C Brand Bonkers Corner Raises $10.5 Mn at $48 Mn Valuation
Omnichannel streetwear label Bonkers Corner announced a Rs 95 crore ($10.5 million) Series A round, led by India SME Investment Fund and joined by Radhakrishna Ramnarain, Namita Thapar and over 20 angels. The funding values the company at roughly Rs 430 crore ($48 million) post‑money. For FY 2025 the...
Data Quality Automation Startup Validio Raises $30M
Validio, a Stockholm‑based data‑quality automation startup, secured $30 million in Series A funding, bringing its total capital to $47 million after an 800 % ARR surge last year. The round was led by Plural with participation from Lakestar, J12 and several angels. Validio’s AI‑driven...
Cancer Medtech Tops up Series B to $28 Million
Sydney‑based Lumonus secured an additional $3 million, raising its Series B to $28 million. The AI‑powered platform automates radiation‑oncology workflows, already supporting over 280,000 cancer treatments and 75,000 treatment plans across the US, Australia and Europe. Funds will expand U.S. go‑to‑market teams, boost...
Cognito Therapeutics Raises $105M for Neurotechnology Platform for Alzheimer's
Cognito Therapeutics closed an oversubscribed $105 million Series C round, led by Morningside Ventures with new investors such as Apollo Health Ventures. The capital will fund the readout of its HOPE pivotal study, FDA submission preparation, and commercialization of its Spectris neurostimulation...
Sierra Space and Vast Detail Their Series C Investment Rounds
Sierra Space closed a $550 million Series C round, lifting its valuation to roughly $8 billion and marking a strategic pivot toward national‑security satellite programs. The funding will support new product development and expanded production capacity, including contracts worth up to $1.19 billion with...
Fashion Startup Founder Pleads Guilty in $300 Million Fraud
Christine Hunsicker, founder of fashion‑rental tech firm CaaStle, pleaded guilty to securities fraud for inflating the company’s revenue and cash position. Over six years she misrepresented financials, showing a $24 million operating profit that was actually under $30,000 and a $50 million...
GenFlux Closes $4.2M as Brands Race to Own the AI Answer
GenFlux announced a $4.2 million seed round led by Symbolic Capital to scale its AI‑search optimization platform. The startup monitors brand visibility across eight generative answer engines, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, and provides tools for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and...
Psychedelics Are Placeholders for More Traditional Depression Therapies: Analysts
Psychedelic antidepressants are poised for FDA review this year, driven by strong investor and patient interest. William Blair analysts note that while Johnson & Johnson’s Spravato generated $1.7 billion in 2025 sales, psychedelics are unlikely to capture the entire treatment‑resistant depression market. Companies...
Inside a Startup Building Tools for AI Agents
Circuit & Chisel, a New York startup founded by former Stripe crypto executives, raised $19.2 million to launch ATXP, an agent transaction protocol that enables AI agents to navigate and execute payments autonomously. The company’s backers include Stripe, Polygon Labs, and Samsung Next, signaling strong...
Validio Closes $30M Series A to Address Enterprise Data Quality Challenges
Validio secured a $30 million Series A round led by Plural, bringing total funding to $47 million, to scale its AI‑focused data‑quality platform. The solution automates monitoring, anomaly detection, and lineage cataloguing, replacing thousands of manual checks for enterprises in regulated sectors. Customers...
SaaSpocalypse: What’s Next for Europe’s SaaS Scaleups and Investors?
A new Claude AI tool for the legal sector triggered a sell‑off in major SaaS stocks, reviving fears that AI‑native startups could displace traditional software giants. The Sifted podcast examines whether Europe’s VC‑backed SaaS scale‑ups can survive this “SaaSpocalypse” and...
Exclusive: Founded By 2 Brothers In Their 20s, YC-Backed Denki Raises $4.1M To Automate Financial Audits
Denki, a YC‑backed AI startup founded by two brothers, raised $4.1 million to automate financial audits for public companies. The funding, led by Base10 Partners and Shine Capital, comes as fintech AI investment surged 27 % in 2025. Denki’s platform replaces manual,...
Swedish Agaton Raises $10 Million Seed to Turn Customer Conversations Into Revenue Intelligence
Swedish AI startup Agaton secured a $10 million seed round led by Inception Fund and Alstin Capital to scale its agentic AI platform that transforms everyday customer conversations into real‑time revenue intelligence. The software detects buying intent, sentiment shifts and churn...
Science Corp. Raises $230M as It Races to Bring Its Brain Implant to Market
Science Corp., founded by former Neuralink president Max Hodak, closed a $230 million Series C round that lifted its post‑money valuation to $1.5 billion. The funding will accelerate commercialization of PRIMA, a rice‑grain‑sized chip implanted in the eye that pairs with camera‑glasses to...
Cheer Raises $4.5M for Next-Generation Mobile Puzzle Studio
Cheer Games, a mobile puzzle studio with Turkish roots operating out of Barcelona, secured a $4.5 million funding round to develop next‑generation puzzle titles. The raise follows a $4 million round by fellow Turkish‑based Vento Games, highlighting regional investor enthusiasm. Cheer plans...
Lio Raises $30M From Andreessen Horowitz and Others to Automate Enterprise Procurement
Lio announced a $30 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, bringing its total funding to $33 million. The startup’s AI‑agent platform automates the entire procurement workflow, from contract review to supplier negotiation. Early customers report that processes once taking weeks now...
Irish-Founded Startup Evervault Raises €21 Million to Advance Encrypted Data Orchestration
Irish‑founded Evervault announced a €21 million Series B round, led by Ribbit Capital with Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures participating, bringing its total financing to €39 million. The developer‑first platform encrypts and orchestrates sensitive data, chiefly for card‑payment workflows, and now processes over...
Active Investors Spent More On Fewer Deals In February
Active venture investors concentrated capital on a handful of mega‑deals in February, with generative‑AI heavyweights dominating the landscape. OpenAI secured a record‑breaking $110 billion round, the largest startup financing ever, while overall deal count remained flat. Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz and...
BrewDog Investors Have Lost Everything - Are There Better Ways to Back Small Firms?
BrewDog’s EquityPunk crowdfunding scheme raised £75 million from 200,000 investors before the brand entered administration and was taken over by Tilray, wiping out those investors entirely. The collapse underscores the liquidity constraints and limited transparency inherent in equity‑crowdfunding platforms compared with...
CVCA and NACO Offer Competing Visions for Feds’ $750-Million Venture Envelope
The Canadian government has earmarked $750 million to bridge early‑growth funding gaps, complementing a $1 billion Venture and Growth Capital Catalyst Initiative. The Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) urges the money be directed toward Series B‑plus companies to address a...
QFEX Launches with $9.5m Seed Round to Disrupt Global Trading
QFEX, a Cambridge‑backed trading exchange, launched after closing a $9.5 million seed round that values the startup at $95 million. The platform offers 24/7 direct trading of traditional assets, perpetual futures with no expiry, and up to 50× leverage, eliminating brokers and...
Exclusive: Rainmatter Leads InfinityBox’s Pre-Series A Round
InfinityBox, a Jaipur‑based reusable packaging startup, closed a pre‑Series A round of ₹14.1 crore, led by existing backer Rainmatter. The round also saw participation from AAR EM Ventures, Capital‑A and an individual investor, bringing the post‑money valuation to roughly ₹87 crore. Revenue surged 3.1‑fold...
After Raising $5.5 Million for Hyperbridge, Polytope Labs Wants to Build for Nigerian Fintechs Too
Polytope Labs, fresh from a $5.5 million raise, is building an on‑chain stablecoin infrastructure to streamline foreign‑exchange settlement for Nigerian fintechs. The product sits atop its Intent Gateway, part of the Hyperbridge protocol, which has already processed roughly $500 million in cross‑chain...
Mezcla Raises the Plant-Based Protein Bar with $9.5M in Series B Funding
New York‑based Mezcla closed a $9.5 million Series B round led by Bluestein Ventures to accelerate product development and broaden distribution. The funding brings total capital to $16.5 million and follows a 128 % compound annual growth rate since 2022. Mezcla’s plant‑based bars, built...
Exclusive: Venture Giant A16z Crypto Targeting Around $2 Billion for Its Fifth Fund Amid Blockchain Market Downturn, Sources Say
Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm, a16z crypto, is raising its fifth venture fund targeting about $2 billion, with a planned close by mid‑2026. The raise is smaller than the 2022 $4.5 billion fund but follows a faster, shorter fundraising cycle to match crypto’s...
JetStream Security Inks $34M Seed Funding
JetStream Security announced a $34 million seed round, marking one of the largest early‑stage financings in the cybersecurity sector this year. The round was led by Redpoint Ventures and featured strategic participation from the CrowdStrike Falcon Fund. Angel investors included George Kurtz...
HawkEye 360 Adds $23M to Series E Funding
HawkEye 360 announced a $23 million addition to its Series E round, attracting new investors Ghisallo, Principia Growth and Sixty Degree Capital alongside existing backer Strategic Development Fund. The infusion follows a $150 million debt‑equity package used to acquire Innovative Signals Analysis (ISA)...
Create Music Group Completes $450M Fundraise
Create Music Group announced the close of a new financing round that raised more than $450 million in equity and debt, pushing its post‑money valuation to $2.2 billion. The round was led by institutional investors Ares Management, 2 Mile and Flexpoint Ford, while...
Sats Terminal Scores Funding
Sats Terminal, a Bitcoin‑native financial super‑app, secured a strategic investment from Gate Ventures, though the amount remains undisclosed. The partnership follows a $1.7 million pre‑seed round led by Coinbase Ventures and Draper Associates in late 2025. Sats Terminal provides a modular...
Qnetic Raises $7.1 Million
Qnetic, a leading provider of long‑duration flywheel energy storage, closed a $5 million financing round, its biggest to date. Combined with a $2.1 million equity crowdfunding effort last year, the company has raised $7.1 million over the past twelve months. Early RegCF investors...
Mutable Tactics Raises $2.1 Million for AI Drone Coordination in Satellite-Denied Environments
Mutable Tactics, a British AI startup, secured $2.1 million in pre‑seed funding to build software that lets swarms of military drones operate autonomously when satellite navigation and communications are unavailable. The round was led by Seraphim Space, with participation from the...
Turkish Mobile Developer Vento Games Secures $4m in Seed Round Funding
Google announced a major overhaul of its Play Store fee structure following its settlement with Epic Games. The standard in‑app purchase commission drops from 30% to 20%, with an extra 5% service charge applied in the EEA, UK and US....
UnityAI Secures $8.5M to Scale Agentic AI for Healthcare Operations
UnityAI announced an $8.5 million Series A round led by Third Prime, bringing its total capital to $15 million. The startup deploys an agentic AI workforce that autonomously manages patient scheduling, referrals, and staff shift coordination across hundreds of care sites. It already...
Hunter Point CEO: Japan’s Emerging GP Landscape Ripe for Future Stakes Deals
Hunter Point CEO Avi Kalichstein told Private Equity International that Japan’s general‑partner (GP) ecosystem, though still nascent, is gaining momentum. He highlighted a growing talent pipeline and an increasing appetite for partnership among Japanese firms. Kalichstein believes these dynamics will...
ARQ Raises $70M To Expand Stablecoin Banking In Latin America
ARQ, formerly DolarApp, raised $70 million in a Series B led by Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. The funding will fuel a rebrand, team expansion, and rollout of new financial products beyond its core stablecoin remittance service. With more than two million...
Intersection Of Biosecurity And AI Sees Seed-Stage Spike
Seed‑stage investors are betting on the convergence of artificial intelligence and biosecurity, with two startups raising sizable early rounds. Valthos closed a $30 million seed round and Red Queen Bio secured $15 million, both counting OpenAI among investors. A nonprofit, SecureBio, also...
RegTech Firm Vivox AI Secures £1.3m Funding
RegTech startup Vivox AI announced a £1.3 million first‑round funding to scale its compliance‑focused AI platform for banks and other regulated financial institutions. The round attracted high‑profile backers such as former German central bank president Axel Weber, former Google UK MD...
UK Venture Funding Surges Into AI, NatWest’s ‘Future of UK Innovation’ Report Finds
UK venture capital hit £17.5 bn in 2025, with AI startups alone securing more than £6 bn – over a third of all funding. Large, later‑stage rounds now dominate, as deals above £25 m accounted for more than 70% of total investment, the...
Diligent AI Raises $2.5M to Support KYC and AML Teams with AI Agents
London‑based Diligent AI, a Y Combinator‑backed startup, has closed a $2.5 million seed round led by Speedinvest with participation from fintech investors and strategic angels. The company builds autonomous AI agents that automate repetitive KYC and AML tasks such as risk...
AI-Music Artists Get Their Own Accelerator From Prose Ventures
Prose Ventures has launched the AI Music Creators Accelerator, an eight‑week program that supports human musicians using generative AI tools. The inaugural cohort presented a diverse demo day on February 27, streamed publicly on Twitch and later on YouTube. Founder...
Create Music Group Scores $450 Million Raise at $2.2 Billion Valuation
Create Music Group announced a $450 million financing round that lifts its valuation to $2.2 billion. The capital structure blends debt and equity, while the founding team retains majority ownership. Minority investors include Ares Management, Flexpoint Ford and 2 Mile Capital. The raise follows...
Best Nights VC Invests in Mad Monkey with EXS Capital
Best Nights VC, the venture arm of Jägermeister, has invested in socially‑responsible hostel chain Mad Monkey alongside lead investor EXS Capital. The deal supports Mad Monkey’s expansion across Southeast Asia and Australia, where it already delivers over one million bed‑nights to more...
