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How Bespoke Labs is Building Environments that Enable Reliable Agents
Bespoke Labs, creating AI tools for data curation and post-training LLMs, led by Mahesh Sathiamoorthy and Alex Dimakis, has announced its Seed and Series A. Series A round was led by Wing VC, with participation from Mayfield, The House Fund, dbt Labs CEO Tristan Handy, and angels from Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, and others. The $8.25 million seed round was led by 8VC, with participation from Jeff Dean, Resolve AI CEO Spiros Xanthos, DevRev CEO Dheeraj Pandey, and others. Why Bes
7 hours ago
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Y Combinator Launches of the Week
(This round-up is for informational purposes only, and in order of the date/time of the launch, from earliest to latest.) 1) Nitrode: Founded by Ben Kim, Sejoon Chang, and Brian La, Nitrode is a research company focused on improving game development with AI. Know More At: nitrode.com 2) Verdant: Founded by Aidan Ng and Jason Yi, Verdant is an AI-native land-use permit management platform for local government. Know More At: verdantapp.com 3) Stillwind: Founded by Linus Meierhö
4 minutes ago
Expeditions Closes €197M for Fund II to Shape the Future of European Security
Expeditions, investing in the future of European security, led by Mikołaj Firlej and Stanisław Kastory, has announced the final close of its second fund at €197M. Expeditions’ Fund II is investing in the technologies and founders that are shaping the future of European defence and strengthening its sovereignty, helping to define Europe’s role in the world over the next century. Founded in 2021 by defence technology and autonomous warfare experts Dr. Mikolaj Firlej and Stanis
3 hours ago
Norm AI Raises $120 Million at a $1.2 Billion Valuation Led by Khosla Ventures
Norm AI, setting the norms of agentic law, led by John Nay and the team, has raised a $120 million Series C at a $1.2 billion valuation, led by Khosla Ventures, the first institutional investor in OpenAI. Blackstone, Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), Craft Ventures, Coatue, Vanguard, New York Life, TIAA, Tony James (former President, Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Vice Chairman of Blackstone), Jeff Hammes (former Chairman of Kirkland & Ellis), and Fenwick LLP also particip
4 hours ago
Y Combinator Launches of the Week
(This round-up is for informational purposes only, and in order of the date/time of the launch, from earliest to latest.) 1) Lamina Labs: Founded by Sudip Rokaya and Kartikesh Mishra, Lamina Labs is building infrastructure for near-real-time structured video generation. They have launched Simi - The fastest AI whiteboard explainer video generator. Know More At: laminalabs.ai 2) 6thSense: Founded by James Baek, Ronak Agarwal, Alex Hyungwoo Noh, and Matt Wulff, 6thSense is buil
4 hours ago
How Tangos is Scaling Financial Crime Investigations with Autonomous AI
Tangos, building investigation intelligence for risk and financial crime, led by Eyal Azoulay and the team, has raised a $20 million seed financing round led by Red Dot Capital Partners, with participation from Leaders Fund, Clarim Ventures, Ventureisrael, Signal Fire, Clutch Capital, and Selah Ventures, and a strategic investment by Bright Data. Founded in 2025 by serial entrepreneur Eyal Azoulay, Tangos brings together expertise across financial crime investigations, sancti
6 hours ago
AI & Robotics
Norm AI Raises $120 Million at a $1.2 Billion Valuation Led by Khosla Ventures
Norm AI, setting the norms of agentic law, led by John Nay and the team, has raised a $120 million Series C at a $1.2 billion valuation, led by Khosla Ventures, the first institutional investor in OpenAI. Blackstone, Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), Craft Ventures, Coatue, Vanguard, New York Life, TIAA, Tony James (former President, Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Vice Chairman of Blackstone), Jeff Hammes (former Chairman of Kirkland & Ellis), and Fenwick LLP also particip
4 hours ago2 min read
Norm AI Raises $120 Million at a $1.2 Billion Valuation Led by Khosla Ventures
Norm AI, setting the norms of agentic law, led by John Nay and the team, has raised a $120 million Series C at a $1.2 billion valuation, led by Khosla Ventures, the first institutional investor in OpenAI. Blackstone, Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), Craft Ventures, Coatue, Vanguard, New York Life, TIAA, Tony James (former President, Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Vice Chairman of Blackstone), Jeff Hammes (former Chairman of Kirkland & Ellis), and Fenwick LLP also particip
How Tangos is Scaling Financial Crime Investigations with Autonomous AI
Tangos, building investigation intelligence for risk and financial crime, led by Eyal Azoulay and the team, has raised a $20 million seed financing round led by Red Dot Capital Partners, with participation from Leaders Fund, Clarim Ventures, Ventureisrael, Signal Fire, Clutch Capital, and Selah Ventures, and a strategic investment by Bright Data. Founded in 2025 by serial entrepreneur Eyal Azoulay, Tangos brings together expertise across financial crime investigations, sancti
Agave Announces $15M Series A
Agave, building AI financial operations for contractors, led by Tom Reno, Pooria Azimi, and John Zucchi, has announced a $15M Series A led by Accel, with continued participation from Y Combinator, bringing the total funding to over $20M. With 500+ customers, 2+ years of profitability, and nearly 3x year-over-year recurring revenue growth, Agave is scaling AI for construction financials, deeply integrated with the systems contractors use today. Construction Runs on Decades-Old
How Bespoke Labs is Building Environments that Enable Reliable Agents
Bespoke Labs, creating AI tools for data curation and post-training LLMs, led by Mahesh Sathiamoorthy and Alex Dimakis, has announced its Seed and Series A. Series A round was led by Wing VC, with participation from Mayfield, The House Fund, dbt Labs CEO Tristan Handy, and angels from Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, and others. The $8.25 million seed round was led by 8VC, with participation from Jeff Dean, Resolve AI CEO Spiros Xanthos, DevRev CEO Dheeraj Pandey, and others. Why Bes
Katalyze AI Raises $10.5M to Build the Agentic Operating System for Pharmaceutical Companies
Katalyze AI, the agentic operating system for pharmaceutical companies, led by Reza Farahani, Shreyas Becker, has raised $10.5 million in seed funding led by Bonfire Ventures, along with Inovia Capital, Ripple Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and leading angel investors including Gokul Rajaram and Farzad Soleimani. Katalyze’s platform lets any scientist, engineer, or analyst in a biopharma company build teams of agents that take on real engineering, scientific, and manufacturing wo
Alqem Raises €8 Million to Scale its AI-Driven Materials Discovery Engine, Built on the Largest Known Materials Database
Alqem, a German-Portuguese deep-tech start-up revolutionizing the discovery of high-impact materials through advanced AI and intelligent synthesis, led by Hanh Nguyen, Tiago Cerqueira, and Milan Allan, has raised €8 million in pre-seed funding co-led by UVC Partners and Union Square Ventures. Founded by the team behind Alexandria, one of the world's leading open materials databases, alqem is building an AI-powered materials discovery platform on two proprietary assets: a vas
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Fintech
How Tangos is Scaling Financial Crime Investigations with Autonomous AI
Tangos, building investigation intelligence for risk and financial crime, led by Eyal Azoulay and the team, has raised a $20 million seed financing round led by Red Dot Capital Partners, with participation from Leaders Fund, Clarim Ventures, Ventureisrael, Signal Fire, Clutch Capital, and Selah Ventures, and a strategic investment by Bright Data. Founded in 2025 by serial entrepreneur Eyal Azoulay, Tangos brings together expertise across financial crime investigations, sancti
How Tangos is Scaling Financial Crime Investigations with Autonomous AI
Tangos, building investigation intelligence for risk and financial crime, led by Eyal Azoulay and the team, has raised a $20 million seed financing round led by Red Dot Capital Partners, with participation from Leaders Fund, Clarim Ventures, Ventureisrael, Signal Fire, Clutch Capital, and Selah Ventures, and a strategic investment by Bright Data. Founded in 2025 by serial entrepreneur Eyal Azoulay, Tangos brings together expertise across financial crime investigations, sancti
6 hours ago
How LinqAlpha is Building the Alpha Intelligence Layer for Global Public Markets
LinqAlpha, an AI-powered investment research firm that turns fragmented data from global markets into a real edge, led by Jacob Chanyeol Choi, Subeen Pang, Yongjin Kim, and Hojun Choi, has announced $22 million in Series A funding. The round was anchored by AVP, Atinum Investment, and GFT Ventures, with participation from a global syndicate of strategic financial institutions and venture platforms. Founded by Jacob Choi, Subeen Pang, Jin Kim, and Hojun Choi, LinqAlpha combine
5 days ago
Taxwire Raises $25M to Scale Fully Managed AI Sales Tax Automation Platform
Taxwire, a global sales tax automation platform led by Andrew Rea and Steven Schmatz, has announced $25M in Seed and Series A funding from Headline Ventures, XYZ VC, Vinyl, Recall Capital, and Nomo Ventures. The platform automates the complexities of sales tax collection, allowing businesses of all sizes to save time, reduce financial liabilities, and seamlessly manage compliance in the US and over 100 other countries. Addressing Tax Compliance Complexity. Indirect tax compli
Jul 1
Warp Raises $60 Million Series B from Battery Ventures
Warp, an AI-native payroll, compliance, and benefits platform, led by Ayush Sharma and the team, has announced a $60 million Series B led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Peak XV, Sound Ventures, and Y Combinator, bringing the total funding to $85 million in just under a year. Support and Market Context. The company is backed by leaders from some of the most influential technology organizations of the past two decades, including Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, former Stri
Jun 28
How Taktile is Powering the Agentic Financial Institutions of the Future
Taktile, the agentic decision platform for financial institutions, led by Maik Taro Wehmeyer and Maximilian Eber, has announced its $110M Series C fundraise, led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. The Opportunity. Financial services are undergoing one of the most significant technological transformations in their history. Recent advances in AI have pushed model capabilities to a point where many of the decisions that drive banking and insurance operations can now
Jun 25
Causa Prima Exits Stealth with $10 Million to Build the First Agent-to-Agent AI Network for B2B Finance
Causa Prima, the agent-to-agent network for finance teams, led by Maex Ament, Henrik Gebbing, and Philip Stanislaus, has raised a $10M pre-seed round led by Creandum, with participation from Kfund and HelloWorld, Angel Invest, alongside angel investors from Qonto, Pennylane, SAP, ING, SoFi, LIDL, and DeepMind. On its network, the approvals, disputes, and payment terms that used to bounce between humans and inboxes are handled between AI agents. Building the Financial Network
Jun 17
Venture Capital
Expeditions Closes €197M for Fund II to Shape the Future of European Security
Expeditions, investing in the future of European security, led by Mikołaj Firlej and Stanisław Kastory, has announced the final close of its second fund at €197M. Expeditions’ Fund II is investing in the technologies and founders that are shaping the future of European defence and strengthening its sovereignty, helping to define Europe’s role in the world over the next century. Founded in 2021 by defence technology and autonomous warfare experts Dr. Mikolaj Firlej and Stanis
Expeditions Closes €197M for Fund II to Shape the Future of European Security
Expeditions, investing in the future of European security, led by Mikołaj Firlej and Stanisław Kastory, has announced the final close of its second fund at €197M. Expeditions’ Fund II is investing in the technologies and founders that are shaping the future of European defence and strengthening its sovereignty, helping to define Europe’s role in the world over the next century. Founded in 2021 by defence technology and autonomous warfare experts Dr. Mikolaj Firlej and Stanis
3 hours ago
Climentum Capital Launches Fund II
Climentum Capital, investing in climate hard tech companies shaping a sustainable, resilient, and competitive Europe, led by General Partners Doerte Hirschberg, Dr. Jennifer Jacobs Dungs, Morten Halborg, and Stefan Maard, has announced the close of the first €60 million of Fund II, matching the full size of Fund I. The new fund will continue backing hard tech for a new Europe, investing in climate hard tech companies shaping a sustainable, resilient, and competitive industria
4 days ago
Rick Hao - Ruya Ventures Closes $50 Million Solo GP Debut Fund to Back Europe's Deep Tech
Ruya Ventures, a solo GP fund led by Rick Hao, closes a $50M Solo GP debut fund to back Europe's deep tech. Ruya Ventures: Investment Philosophy. Ruya Ventures was founded to take a deliberate approach to venture investing rather than pursuing the easiest entry point into the asset class. The focus is on deep technology, informed by more than a decade of investing through cycles where long timelines and high capital intensity made the category less conventional for many inves
6 days ago
Menlo Ventures Turns 50 and Announces $3B in Fresh Capital
Menlo Ventures, an early-stage VC firm, marked its 50th anniversary and announced $3 billion in new capital, the largest raise in Menlo’s history, to back the next generation of AI leaders, from infrastructure and frontier models to AI-native applications across enterprise, healthcare, and consumer markets. Two Funds to Go All In on AI. Menlo Ventures XVII focuses on Seed and Series A investments, backing founders at the earliest stages as they develop breakthrough technologi
Jun 24
Seedcamp Announces $320 Million in New Funds
Seedcamp, partnering with Europe’s most exceptional tech founders from day one, led by Reshma Sohoni, Carlos Eduardo Espinal, and the team, has announced $320 million in new funds. Seedcamp was the first believer in Revolut, Wise, UiPath, Synthesia, and Fluidstack, back when those category-defining companies were just ideas. It has backed teams like BioOrbit, Sunrise Robotics, and Dust, building where software meets science and the physical world. Across every technology cycl
Jun 22
Pitchdrive Closes Oversubscribed €60 Million Fund IV to Back Europe's AI-Native Founders
Pitchdrive, backing the boldest founders and build alongside them from day one, led by Boris Bogaert, Koen Christiaens, Wim Derkinderen, Jonas Dhaenens, Lorenz Bogaert, and the team, has announced the closing of its fourth fund at €60 million, strengthening its commitment to the Co-founder Capital model. Fund IV is fully privately backed, with no government or institutional money, unusual for a European fund of this size. Strong Investor Demand. The fund attracted significant
Jun 9
Deep Tech
Expeditions Closes €197M for Fund II to Shape the Future of European Security
Expeditions, investing in the future of European security, led by Mikołaj Firlej and Stanisław Kastory, has announced the final close of its second fund at €197M. Expeditions’ Fund II is investing in the technologies and founders that are shaping the future of European defence and strengthening its sovereignty, helping to define Europe’s role in the world over the next century. Founded in 2021 by defence technology and autonomous warfare experts Dr. Mikolaj Firlej and Stanis
Expeditions Closes €197M for Fund II to Shape the Future of European Security
Expeditions, investing in the future of European security, led by Mikołaj Firlej and Stanisław Kastory, has announced the final close of its second fund at €197M. Expeditions’ Fund II is investing in the technologies and founders that are shaping the future of European defence and strengthening its sovereignty, helping to define Europe’s role in the world over the next century. Founded in 2021 by defence technology and autonomous warfare experts Dr. Mikolaj Firlej and Stanis
Porelio Raises €2.4 Million to Scale Advanced Materials that Recover Precious Metals and Remove PFAS
Porelio, an innovative startup developing novel materials that solve two of today’s most urgent environmental challenges: recovering critical metals for the circular economy, and removing persistent pollutants like PFAS from water, led by Dr. Rhea Machado, Javier Silva Mora, and Nikol Michailidou, has raised €2.4 million pre-seed funding round led by Faber (Portugal) with participation from Polytechnique Ventures (France), alongside Grupo Tecnológica (Spain) and better ventur
Proxima Fusion Raises €411 Million to Build Europe’s Commercial Fusion Champion
Proxima Fusion, building stellarators to power the future, led by Francesco Sciortino, Lucio Milanese, Jorrit Lion, Jonathan Schilling, and Martin Kubie, has raised a €411 million ($468 million) financing round, bringing the company’s valuation to €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) and establishing Proxima as the best-funded fusion company in Europe. The round was led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with RWE and Google as strategic investors. KfW Capital, SPRIND and Burda Princ
TaiSan Raises £4.65M to Bring Sodium-Ion Batteries to the Mass Market
TaiSan, building next-gen sodium batteries for micromobility, led by Sanzhar Taizhan and the team, has raised £4.65M co-led by Eos Advisory, and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II through fund manager Mercia Ventures, with participation from AFI Ventures, EverQuest Capital Partners, Adeline Arts & Science, Techmind, angel François Badelon, and existing investors InnoEnergy, TSP Ventures, Exergon, and Heartfelt. Of the total raised, £700,000 came from Innovate UK, which pr
Zurich-based Aylight is Reinventing the Laser Behind AI's Optical Bottleneck
Aylight, the company that developed a fundamentally new optical frequency comb laser architecture- one that delivers unprecedented wavelength stability, energy efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, led by Bahareh Marzban and Dmitry Kazakov, has raised a €4.5M pre-seed financing round, co-led by Elaia and Swisscom Ventures with participation from Verve Ventures and Plug and Play. The funding takes Aylight's laser from a research result to first prototypes, manufactured in a semi
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Security
Dawnguard Launches Platform to Build Secure Cloud Systems from Day Zero, with Fresh Funding and US Office
Dawnguard, building the next-gen platform that makes security easy from day one, led by Mahdi Abdulrazak, Kim van Lavieren, Sarah van Lavieren, and David van der Hoeven, has announced the public launch of its security architecture automation platform, making it available to organizations looking to design, build, and operate secure cloud-native systems from day zero through production. Dawnguard announced the opening of its New York City office and an additional $3.3 million
Dawnguard Launches Platform to Build Secure Cloud Systems from Day Zero, with Fresh Funding and US Office
Dawnguard, building the next-gen platform that makes security easy from day one, led by Mahdi Abdulrazak, Kim van Lavieren, Sarah van Lavieren, and David van der Hoeven, has announced the public launch of its security architecture automation platform, making it available to organizations looking to design, build, and operate secure cloud-native systems from day zero through production. Dawnguard announced the opening of its New York City office and an additional $3.3 million
NeuralTrust Raises $20 Million to Secure the Growing Swarm of AI Agents in the Enterprise
NeuralTrust, the platform for AI & agent security, led by Joan Vendrell and Victor García, has announced a $20 million seed round led by Alstin Capital, with participation from VentureFriends, Seaya, Kibo Ventures, Banc Sabadell, EA Ventures Plug and Play Fund, and Finaves, the venture capital fund of IESE Business School. NeuralTrust is also backed by public funding from the European Innovation Council and Spain's State Research Agency (AEI). The round will fund engineering,
Ent Emerges from Stealth to Bring Prevention Back to Cybersecurity
Ent, the intent-aware security platform powering the AI-native enterprise, extending endpoint security into a real-time layer of prevention across human and AI-driven work, Elias(Lou)Manousos and Brandon Dixon, has emerged from stealth with $100 million in seed financing led by Decibel, with participation from Sequoia, Crosspoint Capital Partners, Craft Ventures, Shield Capital, Felicis, and In-Q-Tel (IQT). Preventing Cyber Threats Before They Become Incidents. Ent is pioneer
NewCore Emerges from Stealth to Rebuild Workforce Identity for the Agentic Era
NewCore, the security-first identity platform built for humans and AI agents, led by Zohar Alon, Amihai Neiderman, and Erez Yarkoni, has emerged from stealth and has raised $66 million from Cyberstarts, Index Ventures, and Evolution Equity Partners. It is led by a founding team of cybersecurity and enterprise-IT veterans whose prior exits include Check Point's acquisition of Dome9. Identity has emerged as the primary attack surface within modern enterprises. Many of the large
Cyera is Building The Trust Layer for Enterprise AI
Cyera, the AI security platform, led by Yotam Segev, Tamar Bar-Ilan, Yonatan Itai, and the team, has announced its Series G: $600 million at a $12 billion valuation, led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Cyberstarts and Temasek, in addition to all existing investors, including Accel, AT&T Ventures, Blackstone, Coatue, Spark Capital, among others. Building The Trust Layer For AI. Cyera was founded to help enterprises understand what sensitive data they hav
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