News•Feb 28, 2026
OpenAI Surpasses 900M Weekly Users, Secures Landmark Funding, and Finalizes Pentagon AI Agreement
OpenAI reported that ChatGPT now serves 900 million weekly active users, including 50 million paying subscribers, adding 100 million users since October 2025. The company closed a historic $110 billion private funding round led by Amazon, with Nvidia and SoftBank contributing $30 billion each, valuing OpenAI at $730 billion pre‑money. Simultaneously, OpenAI secured a Pentagon agreement allowing its models in classified systems under strict safeguards against mass surveillance and autonomous weapon misuse. The developments come amid internal safety debates and a high‑profile lawsuit from Elon Musk.
By The AI Insider
News•Feb 28, 2026
Exclusive: Innoviti Closes Series M Funding Round At ₹104 Cr
Innoviti, the Indian merchant‑facing fintech, closed its Series M round at ₹104 crore ($11.4 million), with both new backers and existing investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners and Patni Family Office doubling down. The capital will be used to reduce debt, boost sales...
By Inc42
News•Feb 28, 2026
UK Startup Founders Must Meet Evolving Investor Expectations to Scale Successfully
UK investors are increasingly demanding market‑pull evidence, shifting away from pure tech‑push narratives, even in deep‑tech sectors. The bar for being "investment ready" now includes demonstrable traction, a strong team, and rapid execution velocity. Digital Catapult’s investment‑readiness workshops helped startups...
By Startups Magazine
News•Feb 28, 2026
Exclusive: Quick Commerce Enablement Startup Inamo To Raise ₹50 Cr
Inamo, a quick‑commerce enablement startup, is raising ₹50 Cr (≈$5.4 M) in a Series A round at a pre‑money valuation of ₹110 Cr. The round is led by Five SB Limited with participation from Shastra VC, Antler and Gemba Capital. Funds will be used to scale...
By Inc42
News•Feb 28, 2026
Africa’s Industrial Future Requires a Different Kind of Capital
In 2024 over 70% of Africa’s equity venture funding went to fintech, leaving defense, industrial automation, climate, health and scientific platforms severely under‑capitalised. The prevailing venture model rewards fast‑scaling, asset‑light platforms and excludes capital‑intensive, long‑horizon projects that are essential for...
By TechCabal
News•Feb 28, 2026
Crypto VC Paradigm Expands Into AI, Robotics with $1.5B Fund: WSJ
Crypto venture firm Paradigm is raising a $1.5 billion fund to invest in AI, robotics and other frontier technologies while maintaining its crypto portfolio. The firm, which manages $12.7 billion in assets, previously launched a $2.5 billion crypto fund in 2021 and an...
By Cointelegraph
News•Feb 27, 2026
Flux Inks $37M in New Investment
Flux, an AI‑powered platform that automates hardware design, announced a $37 million financing round combining a $27 million Series B and a previously undisclosed $10 million Series A. The Series B was led by venture firm 8VC, with participation from existing backers Bain Capital Ventures, Liquid 2...
By VC News Daily
News•Feb 27, 2026
Union.ai Completes $38.1 Million Series A
Union.ai, a Bellevue‑based AI development platform, closed its Series A round with $38.1 million in total commitments, including a previously announced $19.1 million. The round was led by existing backer NEA, with Nava Ventures participating and Mozilla Ventures joining as a new...
By VC News Daily
News•Feb 27, 2026
Momentum Cyber Hosts AIxCYBER on $119B Security Bet
Momentum Cyber announced AIxCYBER, a high‑profile panel in Austin on March 12, 2026, to dissect the forces reshaping cybersecurity. The event highlights a $119 billion investment surge in 2026, driven by record M&A activity and financing across 1,222 transactions. Panelists will...
By AI-TechPark
News•Feb 27, 2026
Multitude Insights Raises $10M Series A Police Intel Platform
Multitude Insights announced a $10 million Series A round, led by Primary Venture Partners and joined by several other investors. The funding will accelerate deployment of its AI‑powered BLTN platform, a secure system for creating, sharing, and analyzing police intelligence across jurisdictions....
By Just AI News
News•Feb 27, 2026
ICYMI Fintech Funding Round-Up: Confido, WafR, Burst, and More
Fintech investors continued to pour capital into niche infrastructure this week, with Confido securing $9 million to expand its legal‑tech payment platform, and Morocco‑based WafR raising $4 million to grow a digital network for corner stores. In the U.S., health‑spending paytech Burst...
By Fintech Futures
News•Feb 27, 2026
Amazon Joins $110B OpenAI Funding Round
OpenAI closed a record‑breaking $110 billion funding round, with Amazon contributing $50 billion—$15 billion now and $35 billion later. The deal also ties OpenAI to Amazon Web Services, committing $100 billion in cloud spend over eight years and integrating Amazon’s Trainium chips. A new Stateful...
By MediaPost
News•Feb 27, 2026
Handl Health Raises $14.2M to Optimize Employer-Sponsored Health Plans
Handl Health announced a $14.2 million Series A round led by Arthur Ventures, aimed at scaling its unified health‑plan platform for brokers, carriers, and TPAs. The solution aggregates pricing, utilization, benefit, and quality data to let employers model and continuously...
By HIT Consultant
News•Feb 27, 2026
Deepinder Goyal’s New Startup Temple Raises $54 Mn at a $190 Mn Valuation
Deepinder Goyal’s new venture Temple closed a $54 million friends‑and‑family round, valuing the stealth‑mode startup at roughly $190 million post‑money. Goyal contributed ₹104.07 crore, while Steadview Capital, Dharana Fund, Peak XV Partners and Aaroh Fund led the institutional side. More than 30 Temple employees...
By Entrackr
News•Feb 27, 2026
Dash0 Targets $1bn Valuation with Balderton-Led Funding Round, Reports Say
Dash0, an AI‑native cloud‑monitoring platform founded in 2023, is in talks with Balderton Capital to lead a new funding round that would value the company at $1 billion, elevating it to unicorn status. The New‑York‑based startup, which retains a strong operational...
By Sifted
News•Feb 27, 2026
Old Well Labs Raises Funding
Old Well Labs, a Charlotte‑based AI fintech, announced it has closed a new funding round. The round was led by Nellore Capital and included TFJ Capital, Capital Allocators, Teamworthy Ventures and Hammoud Ventures, though the amount remains undisclosed. The capital...
By FinSMEs
News•Feb 27, 2026
Handpickd Expands Into Flour and Spices Category, Plans New Cities Entry
Handpickd, the farm‑to‑home fresh food platform, is extending its product line into freshly milled flours and pounded spices, aiming for the segment to generate 20% of its revenue by the end of the next fiscal year. The company currently operates...
By ETRetail (India)
News•Feb 27, 2026
Investment in UK Legal Tech Soars to Record High, Report Finds
The UK legal‑tech sector secured a record £188.8 million in 2025, a 35% increase over the prior year, according to LawtechUK’s Investment Snapshot. Twenty home‑grown firms raised £42 million in the second half of the year, with an average raise of £2.1 million,...
By Legal Cheek (UK)
News•Feb 27, 2026
Voice AI Startup Origa Raises $450K Led by Antler Singapore
Origa, a voice‑AI startup focused on consultative pre‑sales conversations, closed a $450,000 funding round led by Antler Singapore, bringing its total capital to $1 million. The company will use the capital to grow its engineering team, enhance product capabilities, and scale...
By Entrackr
News•Feb 27, 2026
Spintly Raises $8 Mn From Accel, ENRISSION India and Others
Proptech startup Spintly announced an $8 million Series A round, led by Accel with participation from ENRISSION India, Chakra Growth Fund, Alumni Ventures and Spyre VC. The financing follows a Rs 3.5 crore seed extension last year and an earlier $5.36 million round, underscoring investor confidence...
By Entrackr
News•Feb 27, 2026
Defence-Tech Startup Constelli Raises $20 Mn Led by General Catalyst
Defence‑tech startup Constelli announced a $20 million Series A round led by General Catalyst, with participation from 360 One Asset Management and existing backer Pravega Ventures. The capital will fund R&D for next‑generation electronic warfare and communication payloads across drones, ground systems, naval...
By Entrackr
News•Feb 27, 2026
Third Way Health Receives $15M Series A
Third Way Health announced an oversubscribed $15 million Series A round led by Health Velocity Capital, with Kristin Torres Mowat as the lead investor. The new capital lifts the company’s total funding to $22.5 million, earmarked for product development and scaling operations. The...
By VC News Daily
News•Feb 26, 2026
Emerging Opportunities in Venture Capital Ecosystem Analyzed in New Report
PitchBook’s new VC Emerging Opportunities report analyzes over 25,000 early‑stage firms across 12 technology verticals, combining machine‑learning exit predictions with macro indicators. Deal value rose 17.5% year‑over‑year while median pre‑money valuations jumped 28.8%, though first‑time financings fell 19%. SaaS leads...
By Crowdfund Insider
News•Feb 26, 2026
Podcast: ADP’s Usman Khan on How Big Companies Use Investment to Enhance Product Lines
In a recent podcast, Usman "Oz" Khan, senior vice president of ADP Ventures, explained how the unit operates as both an incubation lab and a venture‑investment arm to surface emerging workplace technologies. ADP Ventures runs recurring ideation cycles that align...
By HRTechFeed
News•Feb 26, 2026
NODA AI Raises $25M Series A for Defense AI
Defense AI startup NODA AI announced a $25 million Series A round, led by Bessemer Venture Partners and joined by Booz Allen Ventures, Draper Associates, Bloomberg Beta and Alumni Ventures. The Austin‑based company builds AI software that orchestrates mixed fleets of autonomous...
By Just AI News
News•Feb 26, 2026
A VC and some Big-Name Programmers Are Trying to Solve Open Source’s Funding Problem, Permanently
Prominent open‑source developers and venture investor Konstantin Vinogradov have launched the Open Source Endowment, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) aimed at creating a permanent funding source for critical open‑source projects. The initiative has secured over $750,000 in commitments from more than 50...
By TechCrunch Venture Feed
News•Feb 26, 2026
SHINE Raises $240 Million in Funding to Advance Commercial Fusion Technology
SHINE Technologies announced a $240 million equity raise led by NantWorks, bringing its total funding above $1 billion. The round adds Dr. Patrick Soon‑Shiong to the board, linking the fusion firm with a serial biotech entrepreneur. SHINE will use the capital to...
By POWER Magazine
News•Feb 26, 2026
Trace Raises $3M to Solve the AI Agent Adoption Problem in Enterprise
Trace, a Boston-based workflow orchestration startup, announced a $3 million seed round led by Y Combinator and several venture firms. The company builds a knowledge graph from enterprise tools such as email, Slack and Airtable to give AI agents the contextual...
By TechCrunch Enterprise
News•Feb 26, 2026
Latino-Founded Applevel Reports $40M Valuation, Integrating WhatsApp Into GoHighLevel CRM and OpenAI
Latino‑founded startup Applevel announced a $40 million valuation after scaling its platform that syncs WhatsApp conversations into the GoHighLevel CRM and adds OpenAI‑driven response automation. The solution now serves over 4,500 active users in more than 36 countries and has recruited...
By MarTech Series
News•Feb 26, 2026
Single-Speciality Hospitals and Clinics Surge, Driven by Patient Demand and Investor Interest
India’s healthcare landscape is rapidly pivoting from multi‑speciality hospitals to single‑speciality providers such as eye‑care, fertility and dialysis clinics. The shift is fueled by rising health‑insurance coverage, an ageing population and strong private‑capital appetite. While the overall market is projected...
By YourStory
News•Feb 26, 2026
How This GV Investor Looks For The Next Stripe And Other ‘Compounding’ Startups In Fintech And AI
Elena Sakach, partner at GV, leverages her fintech background to back growth‑stage, “compounding” startups such as Stripe, Ramp and emerging AI‑driven firms. She emphasizes that successful fintechs build trust‑based relationships, expansion economics, and core infrastructure roles, while AI is reshaping...
By Crunchbase News AI
News•Feb 26, 2026
NationGraph Raises $18M to Expand AI Public Sector Platform
NationGraph announced an $18 million Series A round, led by Menlo Ventures, to scale its AI‑native platform that helps companies navigate the fragmented U.S. government procurement market. The solution aggregates data from roughly 110,000 state, local and education agencies across four million...
By Ventureburn
News•Feb 26, 2026
Prayaan Capital Raises Rs 110 Cr in Series A Round Led by Peak XV
Prayaan Capital announced a Rs 110 crore Series A round led by Peak XV Partners. The funding will fuel the build‑out of a technology‑enabled lending platform, expand its team and deepen presence in key Indian MSME markets. Founder Rangarajan Krishnan, who recently took a controlling...
By Entrackr
News•Feb 26, 2026
Space Tech Investor Exceeds $100m for Close of Its Latest Fund
Seraphim Space, a UK‑based venture capital firm dedicated to space technology, closed its latest early‑stage fund at over $100 million, backing 17 companies that blend advanced space tech with artificial intelligence. The portfolio targets sectors such as defence, climate mitigation, life‑science...
By UKTN (UK Tech News)
News•Feb 26, 2026
Nail Care Brand Nailinit Raises Pre-Seed Round
Nailinit, an Indian nail‑care brand, secured a pre‑seed round of Rs 2.5‑3 crore. The round was co‑led by Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund and Marsshot VC, with participation from several angel investors including Razorpay co‑founder Shashank Kumar. The capital will fund expansion across...
By Entrackr
News•Feb 26, 2026
Tassie Cybersecurity Scaleup Upguard Pockets $105 Million Series C
UpGuard, the Hobart‑based cybersecurity firm, closed a $75 million Series C round led by Springcoast Capital, with participation from August Capital, Square Peg and Pelion Venture Partners. The capital will accelerate development of its AI‑powered cyber‑risk posture management (CRPM) platform, expand go‑to‑market operations,...
By Startup Daily (ANZ)
News•Feb 26, 2026
What VCs Actually Mean when They Say Your Startup Is “Too Early”
Venture capitalists increasingly label pitches as “too early,” a phrase that often masks deeper concerns about product validation, market readiness, or fit rather than pure timing. At a Melbourne Growth Summit, Rampersand’s Paul Naphtali explained that the comment can be a...
By SmartCompany » StartupSmart (AU)
News•Feb 26, 2026
Gushwork Bets on AI Search for Customer Leads — and Early Results Are Emerging
Gushwork, an India‑founded startup, closed a $9 million seed round that values it at $33 million post‑money. The company’s AI‑driven platform creates search‑optimized content, builds backlinks, and tracks leads to help businesses appear in AI‑powered search results such as ChatGPT and Gemini....
By TechCrunch AI
News•Feb 25, 2026
World Labs Inks $1 Billion in New Funding
World Labs, a San Francisco‑based spatial intelligence firm, announced a $1 billion financing round on February 25, 2026. The round attracted a roster of strategic backers including AMD, Autodesk, Emerson Collective, Fidelity Management & Research, NVIDIA and Sea. The capital will accelerate development of...
By VC News Daily
News•Feb 25, 2026
Baba Emerges From Stealth with $6.5M to Launch Medicare Advocacy Platform
Baba, a patient‑advocacy startup for seniors, announced its emergence from stealth with a $6.5 million seed round led by General Catalyst. The platform blends dedicated nurses and social‑workers with an AI companion to resolve insurance denials, scheduling gaps, and other operational...
By HIT Consultant
News•Feb 25, 2026
ElastixAI Scored $18M in Seed Funding.
ElastixAI announced an $18 million seed round, backing its mission to cut the high costs of generative‑AI inference. The Seattle‑based startup was founded by former Apple and Meta machine‑learning researchers. Its flagship software converts off‑the‑shelf FPGA servers into high‑efficiency AI supercomputers....
By VC News Daily
News•Feb 25, 2026
Autodesk Invests $200M in AI Startup
Autodesk announced a $200 million investment in World Labs, marking the largest startup deal in its history. The funding pushes World Labs' total capital to $1 billion and backs its Marble platform, which creates 3D environments from images, video, or text. Autodesk...
By Construction Dive
News•Feb 25, 2026
Heron Power Snares $140 Million Series B
Heron Power announced a $140 million Series B round to launch gigawatt‑scale production of solid‑state transformers for data centers and the electric grid. The round, led by Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, follows a $38 million Series A raised in...
By VC News Daily
News•Feb 25, 2026
ZaiNar Emerges From Stealth With $100M Funding
ZaiNar has emerged from nine years of stealth with a Physical AI platform that transforms any wireless network into a continuous, low‑power sensing system, eliminating the need for satellites, cameras, or dedicated beacons. The technology provides precise, real‑time location data...
By VC News Daily
News•Feb 25, 2026
Why Venture Capital Is Moving Into African Solar Microgrids
Venture capital in Africa is pivoting from fintech to solar microgrid projects as investors chase more predictable, asset‑backed returns. After a fintech boom between 2016‑2021, market saturation, rising customer‑acquisition costs and tighter regulation have eroded margins. Solar microgrids, backed by...
By Techpoint Africa
News•Feb 25, 2026
NationGraph Raises $18M in Series A Funding
NationGraph, an AI-native intelligence platform helping businesses win government contracts, announced an $18 million Series A round. The financing was led by Menlo Ventures and included Perplexity’s Fund, XYZ Venture Capital, Reach Capital, and several angels. The capital brings the company’s total...
By FinSMEs
News•Feb 25, 2026
Patientdesk AI Raises $1M Pre-Seed Backed by Y Combinator to Modernize Dental Front Desks
Patientdesk AI, a Y Combinator W26 startup, secured a $1 million pre‑seed round led by Y Combinator and E2VC to build an AI‑powered front‑desk system for dental practices. The platform automates the entire patient intake flow—answering calls, qualifying prospects, scheduling appointments,...
By The AI Insider
News•Feb 25, 2026
Billionaire Alan Howard’s Crypto Incubator WebN Closes Down
WebN Group, the blockchain incubator backed by billionaire Alan Howard, is shutting down after seeding a portfolio that includes KAIO, Twinstake, TruFin and Geometry. The venture studio also received backing from Nomura’s Laser Digital and has moved several staff members...
By CoinDesk
News•Feb 25, 2026
Have Hard-Won Scaling Lessons to Share? Take the Stage at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026
TechCrunch is calling seasoned founders, investors, and operators to speak at its Founder Summit 2026 in Boston on June 9. The event will host over 1,000 founders and investors, featuring 30‑minute, discussion‑only roundtables where speakers share real scaling experiences without slides....
By TechCrunch Venture Feed
News•Feb 25, 2026
Guidde Raises $50M in Series B Funding
Guidde, an Israeli AI‑driven digital adoption platform, announced a $50 million Series B round. The financing was led by PSG Equity and included strategic investors monday.com, Norwest, Entrée Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, and Inkberry Ventures. The capital will accelerate the company’s global rollout...
By FinSMEs