Citra Space Raises $15 Million Series A to Expand Platform for Identifying Objects in Orbit
Citra Space announced a $15 million Series A round led by Washington Harbour Partners to scale its space‑domain‑awareness platform. The Colorado startup, founded by former U.S. Space Force officers, aggregates data from ground and space sensors to create persistent fingerprints of orbital objects. With over 35,000 tracked items and roughly 10,000 lacking clear identification, Citra aims to deliver actionable insight for military and commercial users. The capital will accelerate product development and expand the company’s market reach.
How to Fix Canadian VC
The BetaKit Podcast returned to dissect the sharp contraction of Canadian venture capital that began in 2023, erasing a decade’s worth of capital raised and deployed. A panel of senior venture figures attributes the slump to a thin limited‑partner base...
The New Seed Filter: What Investors Look for Beyond the Demo
Partech partner Alison Imbert says polished AI demos mean little at seed stage; investors now demand gritty customer research, clear distribution plans and technical depth. Managing the €53 million (≈$57 million) Paris‑Saclay Seed fund, she backs engineering‑centric B2B SaaS startups that can prove...
STACKUP: The Stack's Weekly Tech Startups and Funding Wrap
The Stack’s weekly roundup highlights a surge of AI‑centric funding across Europe and Asia‑Pacific, with the largest raises coming from those regions. Notable deals include a $100 million‑plus round for a data‑centre startup, a similar-sized investment in RISC‑V chip designer SiFive,...
China Leads Asia’s Startup Funding To Its Highest Level In More Than 3 Years
Asia’s venture capital market rebounded in Q1 2026, with investors deploying $27.4 bn across seed to growth stages—a 20% rise from the previous quarter and nearly double year‑over‑year. China led the surge, accounting for $16.5 bn (60% of the region’s total) driven...
Finnish Venture Capital Fundraising Reaches Record €678 Million
Finnish venture capital (VC) investors raised a record €678 million (≈ $746 million) in 2025, while Finnish startups secured a historic €1.9 billion (≈ $2.09 billion) in total investments. Lifeline Ventures led the fund‑raising wave with a €425 million (≈ $468 million) vehicle, the largest ever in Finland. About...
Zell Raises €500K to Scale AI-Powered Sales Management
Berlin‑based AI startup Zell announced a €500,000 (approximately $550,000) funding round co‑led by P3 Ventures, SkyDeck Europe, UC Berkeley SkyDeck and others. The capital will accelerate the rollout of its platform that layers automated coaching on top of CRM and...
Nesto Raises €11m From Expedition to Scale AI Workforce Management for Restaurant Groups
Karlsruhe‑based Nesto Software raised €11 million (≈$12 million) in growth equity from Expedition Growth Capital to accelerate its AI‑driven workforce‑management platform. The round, Nesto’s first institutional financing after bootstrapping to over €5 million ARR, will fund product development, sales expansion, and the evolution...
Eka Ventures Launches £80m Fund to Back Health and Sustainability Startups
Early‑stage impact VC Eka Ventures has closed a second fund of £80 million (about $102 million) to back UK‑founded health, wellbeing and sustainability startups. The British Business Bank is committing £40 million (~$51 million), matching its support for the firm’s first fund. The fund...
Finnish Proptech Jaakko.com Secures €500K to Scale Beyond Domestic Market
Finnish proptech startup Jaakko.com secured €500,000 (about $545,000) in a mixed angel‑institutional round to accelerate product development and push beyond Finland. The marketplace already hosts over 2,000 hidden properties and 3,000 active buy‑sell listings, with seller activity more than doubling...
Round Raises $6M to Automate the Finance Workflows that Still Require a Human to Press a Button
London fintech Round announced a $6 million seed round led by Alstin Capital, with participation from Backed VC, Love Ventures, and several angel investors including Indeed co‑founder Paul Forster. The funding backs the launch of two new products—a natural‑language Agentic Workflow Builder and an...
UK Impact VC Eka Ventures Closes Second Fund at $107M
Eka Ventures announced the close of its second fund at $107 million (£80 million), bringing total assets under management to $200 million and making it the UK’s largest early‑stage impact‑focused venture capital firm. Fund II will back up to 30 pre‑seed and seed...
Startup Funding: Q1 2026
Q1 2026 saw private semiconductor startups raise over $8 billion across 80 companies, with 18 rounds exceeding $100 million and two mega‑rounds—Cerebras and Rapidus—reaching $1 billion each. AI‑centric chip designs for inference and high‑bandwidth interconnects dominated the capital, while photonics and agentic EDA...
Humyn Labs Commits $20M to Build Physical AI Systems for Infrastructure
Humyn Labs, an AI startup focused on human data infrastructure for physical AI, announced a $20 million capital commitment to accelerate its mission of organizing and validating human intelligence at scale. The funds will be allocated across three strategic pillars to...
Smart Garage Raises Rs 2.4 Cr in Pre-Series A Round
Smart Garage, an AI‑driven auto‑service marketplace, closed a pre‑Series A round raising Rs 2.4 crore (about $290,000). The startup aims to raise a total of Rs 15 crore (~$1.8 million) to fund expansion and hit an Rs 80 crore (~$9.6 million) revenue run‑rate by FY27. Proceeds will enhance...
VC Activity in LatAm Region Exhibited Renewed Strength in Q1 2026 : Research
Venture capital activity in Latin America rebounded in Q1 2026, with startups securing $1.03 billion—a 12% year‑over‑year rise. Late‑stage and growth‑equity deals drove the surge, delivering $761 million, more than two‑and‑a‑half times the prior year’s Q1 amount. Mexico emerged as the regional leader,...
The Making Of A Lending Tech Unicorn
KreditBee became India’s 128th unicorn after a $280 million Series E round valued it at $1.5 billion, marking the country’s second unicorn of 2026. The raise was oversubscribed despite a 26% YoY drop in overall startup funding, underscoring investor confidence in data‑driven, digital...
What a 21% Decline in UK Fintech Investment Reveals About Macroeconomic Pressures
UK fintech funding fell 21% in 2025, driven by the Bank of England’s base rate reaching 5.25%. Higher rates made government bonds more attractive, pulling capital from venture funds and limiting limited‑partner contributions, especially from pension schemes. The squeeze also...
Seeds | Henan State-Owned Assets + Luxshare Precision Jointly Invest in a 10-Billion-Yuan Robotics Company
EngineAI Robotics Technology Co. closed a $200 million Series B round, lifting its valuation above 10 billion yuan (≈$1.4 billion). The round was co‑led by Henan Investment Group’s Huirong Fund and Luxshare Precision, with participation from numerous state‑backed platforms and family offices. Henan plans...
Announcing SOSV’s VC-Founder Physical AI Matchup May 6-11
SOSV is hosting a free, virtual VC‑Founder Physical AI Matchup from May 6 to May 11, pairing more than 250 startups with an equal number of investors for one‑on‑one meetings. Participants will schedule 20‑minute sessions via the Grip platform, with...
Fibrosis Company Avalyn Seeks NASDAQ Listing Amid Volatility: Finance Report
Avalyn Pharma, a Boston biotech focused on inhaled treatments for pulmonary fibrosis, filed a prospectus to list on NASDAQ despite ongoing market volatility. The company’s pipeline includes two Phase II programs: AP01, an inhaled pirfenidone in the Phase IIb MIST trial, and...
AI Training Data Startup AfterQuery Nabs $30M Investment
AfterQuery, a San Francisco‑based AI training‑data provider, closed a $30 million round led by Altos Ventures, valuing the 14‑month‑old startup at $300 million. The company reports annual recurring revenue exceeding $100 million and serves leading AI labs with datasets that embed step‑by‑step reasoning...
SEC Targets Backswing Ventures over Inflated Fees and False Portfolio Claims
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against Florida fund manager Kyle James Asman and his firm Backswing Ventures GP LLC, alleging they overcharged management fees by roughly sevenfold and misrepresented portfolio holdings. The SEC says Asman...
Harvard’s Kreiman Seeks $100 Million to Build AI Memory Tech
Harvard spin‑out Engramme is seeking roughly $100 million in funding to develop AI‑driven memory augmentation technology. The company, founded by former Harvard Medical School professor Gabriel Kreiman and Ph.D. Spandan Madan, aims to create systems that enable humans to recall information...
Ratio Lands $15.8M Financing Round
Ratio, an AI‑driven fintech platform serving B2B technology scale‑ups, closed a $15.8 million venture financing round and added $100 million of lending capacity. The funding follows the company’s achievement of GAAP profitability in August 2025, underscoring its capital‑efficient growth model. Ratio’s solution links...
Hypersonics and Space Venture Investment Rounds to Note
Hypersonic aircraft maker Hermeus raised $350 million in a Series C round to accelerate production, add prototypes and shift its headquarters to El Segundo, California, while retaining existing backers and adding new investors. Spacecraft developer Portal Space Systems secured $50 million in Series A funding...
Oricell Therapeutics Secures $110 Million to Take on One of Oncology's Most Vexing Problems
Oricell Therapeutics closed a pre‑IPO financing round exceeding $110 million, led by Vivo Capital and a slate of international investors. The capital will fund global clinical expansion and further development of its proprietary CAR‑T platform targeting solid tumors. Oricell’s lead candidate,...
Blackstone’s Galakatos on Scaling Deals with $6.3B Fund: ‘Broader, Further’
Blackstone’s Galakatos team announced a new $6.3 billion private‑equity fund aimed at scaling the number and size of its transactions. The fund will pursue a broader geographic footprint and deeper sector coverage, focusing on later‑stage growth and buy‑and‑build opportunities. Galakatos plans...
Oricell Closes a ‘Pre-IPO’ Megaround to Aim CAR-T at Solid Tumors
Oricell Therapeutics, a Shanghai‑based biotech, closed a pre‑IPO financing round of more than $110 million to accelerate its CAR‑T programs targeting solid tumors, starting with liver cancer. Its lead candidate, Ori‑C101, targets the GPC3 protein and has shown a 60% response...
Vivatides Gets $54M; Wegovy Drops Cold Chain in EU; Gilead Takes Kymera Option
Vivatides Therapeutics announced a $54 million Series A round to accelerate its pre‑clinical siRNA and antisense oligonucleotide programs, with Sequoia Capital leading the investment. In Europe, Novo Nordisk confirmed that its obesity drug Wegovy will drop the costly cold‑chain requirement, simplifying distribution. Meanwhile,...
Global FinTech Funding Tops $2bn as RegTech Deals Run Rampant
Global FinTech funding surged to $2.17 billion across 23 deals in the past two weeks, driven largely by RegTech and AI‑security investments. RegTech accounted for over a third of transactions, while the largest single deal was German insurer Talanx’s €1 billion ($1.09 billion)...
US$25M for Aerospace & Defence Composite Manufacturer Hybron
Hybron Technologies closed an oversubscribed $25 million seed round led by Marque Ventures, with participation from a slate of venture firms and angel investors. The company says its carbon‑fiber process can produce composites up to 100 times faster and at a fraction...
Biotech VCs Ramp up Checks on New Bets After Years of Focusing on Existing Portfolios
Biotech venture capitalists are shifting back to high‑risk, high‑reward investing, with 65% of Q1 2026 capital directed at new startups. Total venture funding in the sector rose to roughly $2.1 billion, up from $1.5 billion a quarter earlier, and average deal size climbed...
Where $1bn Is Entry-Level
ADD Partners’ Rupesh Chatwani is urging UK integrated‑circuit startups to aim for billion‑dollar IPOs rather than modest $100 million exits. He argues that semiconductor ventures now require roughly $30 million of seed funding, and only a handful need to achieve $1 bn valuations...
Food Tech Faces Funding Reset as Investors Demand Profits over Promises
Food‑tech funding is shrinking; Q4 2025 VC investment fell 8.6% to $2.5 billion across 128 deals, down 16.3% from a year earlier and far below the 2021 peak. Exits also stalled, with only 85 transactions worth $287.7 million versus $12.8 billion in 2024....
Alan – Now Worth $7.8 Billion – Comes to Canada as It Accelerates Global Expansion
Digital health insurer Alan, now valued at $7.8 billion after a €100 million funding round, is accelerating its Canadian expansion. The company has secured nationwide licensing and is serving over 1,600 members from its Toronto office, with plans to open a Montreal...
UK Tech Funding Roundup: This Week’s Deals From MillTech to Fieldwork Robotics
UK tech investment slipped to £52.8 million (≈$68 million) this week, a 63% drop from the prior week, across three disclosed rounds. London‑based fintech MillTech led the pack with a £44.8 million (≈$57 million) raise to fuel its North American expansion. AI‑driven SaaS platform...
ICYMI Fintech Funding Round-Up: Trent AI, Kulipa, Octostar and More
FinTech Futures’ weekly ICYMI roundup highlights six recent funding events across AI security, crypto payments, and digital identity. UK‑based Trent AI emerged from stealth with a $13 million seed to develop autonomous security agents, while European AI‑security firm Octostar closed a...
Elorian Raises $55M to Scale Visual Reasoning AI
Elorian announced a $55 million seed round that lifts its valuation to $300 million, with participation from Striker Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Altimeter and strategic backing from NVIDIA and AI luminary Jeff Dean. The capital will fund expansion of research teams, engineering hires,...
Oricell Therapeutics Raises $110 Million to Advance Global Cell Therapy Development
Oricell Therapeutics announced a $110 million pre‑IPO financing round aimed at accelerating its global cell‑therapy program. The capital will fund expanded clinical trials, manufacturing upgrades, and a broader market rollout, especially for its lead liver‑cancer therapy that is nearing pivotal studies....
BIDSO Raises Rs 63 Cr in Series A Round Led by Blume Ventures
BIDDO, a design‑first manufacturing platform for toys and consumer goods, closed a Rs 63 crore ($6.8 million) Series A round led by Blume Ventures, with participation from Peer Capital, Sadev Capital and Alteria Capital. The capital will fund an IP‑led product pipeline, global expansion...
Fintech Startups Globally Raise More Money In Far Fewer Deals In Q1 2026
Global venture capital poured $12 billion into fintech startups in Q1 2026, but the number of deals fell 31.5% to 751, indicating larger checks per transaction. Late‑stage and growth rounds surged to $6.9 billion, an 8% year‑over‑year rise, even as total funding slipped...
How to Navigate the Investment Opportunity in Climate Tech Sector
Global climate‑tech funding hit a record $100 billion in 2021 and topped $50 billion in the first three quarters of 2022, underscoring a rapid scaling of capital. Investment is shifting from early‑stage pilots to mid‑size growth deals as business models mature, especially...
DOWNLOAD: Q1 Fundraising Continues at a Snail’s Pace
Venture capital firms worldwide raised $21 billion in the first quarter of 2024, matching the amount collected in Q1 2025. The flat figure underscores a continuation of the sluggish fundraising environment that has persisted since 2022. Investors remain cautious amid higher...
PeakMetrics Raises Series A to Bring AI-Powered Narrative Intelligence to Organizations Worldwide
PeakMetrics announced a $6 million Series A round led by Moneta Ventures, bringing its total capital to $16.3 million. The company reported a three‑fold year‑over‑year revenue increase as demand spikes for tools that can identify AI‑generated and manipulated online narratives. Its AI‑driven platform...
What Investors Find when They Google Your Startup (and How to Control It)
Investors now begin due‑diligence by Googling founders and using AI tools like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Copilot. A weak or invisible digital footprint can cause a startup to be passed over before a pitch deck even arrives. The article advises founders...
Xoople Raises $130 Million in Funding to Gather Optical Data Of Earth For AI
Xoople, a Spanish data‑infrastructure startup, closed a $130 million Series B round led by Nazca Capital, MCH Private Equity, CDTI, Buenavista Equity Partners and Endeavor Catalyst. The funding will finance the development of its own optical‑satellite constellation in partnership with U.S. defense...
Maggu AI Raises $3.7M to Scale Its AI Platform for Pharmacies
Maggu AI, a Brazilian AI platform for pharmacy retail, secured $3.7 million in a round led by DGF Capital. The startup integrates real‑time recommendation tools into existing pharmacy management systems, helping staff suggest products and care instructions without workflow disruption. Its...
Aurascape Raises $50M to Secure Enterprise AI Applications
Aurascape emerged from stealth after closing a $50 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures and Mayfield Fund. The startup, founded by cybersecurity veterans from Zscaler, Palo Alto Networks and Netskope, is building an AI‑native security platform that monitors and controls...
SiFive Announces $400M Series G Round
SiFive announced a $400 million Series G financing that lifts its valuation to $3.65 billion. The round was led by Atreides Management and attracted marquee backers such as NVIDIA, Apollo Global Management, Point72 Turion and T. Rowe Price. SiFive says the capital will speed development...
