MENLO TIMES

Merge Labs , a Brain Computer Interface Research Lab, founded by Mikhail Shapiro, Tyson Aflalo, and Sumner Norman, complemented by technology entrepreneurs Alex Blania, Sandro Herbig, and Sam Altman in a personal capacity, has announced  its launch and support  and collaboration from OpenAI. The goal centers on advancing a new class of brain-computer interfaces with high bandwidth, deep AI integration, and broad accessibility. Human experience emerges from billions of neurons

Slingshot Aerospace , powering the future of space, led by Tim Solms, Julio Pekarovic, Andrea Powers, Kelli Furrer, Erik Ekwurzel, Dr. Adrian Thompson, and others, has earned  a $27 million contract to modernize scenario training activities.   Under the contract, Slingshot will advance the Space Force’s Operational Test and Training Infrastructure (OTTI) program by integrating existing training capabilities with AI-native technology designed to accurately replicate today’s ra

AlphaLum , building the world's most efficient AR displays & optical sensors, led by Markus Rossi, Eric Tremblay, Tim De Reyck, Tanja Koch, Carlos Macias, and Volker Zagolla, has announced  the successful close of its CHF 3.4 million seed financing round led by Vsquared Ventures . The funding accelerates AlphaLum’s shift from advanced engineering to a core supplier for next-generation smart glasses and spatial-computing products, establishing it as a leading European provider

Aule Space , building the robotic workforce for the space economy, led by Jay Panchal, Nithyaa Giri, and Hrishit Tambi, has secured  $2 million in pre-seed funding led by pi Ventures , with participation from a clutch of angel investors, including Eash Sundaram, former Board Member of Intelsat and Founder of Utpata Ventures, and Arvind Lakshmikumar, CEO of defence tech company Tonbo Imaging , among others. Aule Space has been part of the Entrepreneurs First  accelerator progr

Skild AI , building omni-bodied intelligence, led by Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta, has raised  $1.4 billion in Series C funding, led by SoftBank  with participation from NVentures  (NVIDIA), Macquarie Capital  (entities administered by Macquarie Capital), and Jeff Bezos(via Bezos Expeditions ), valuing the company at over $14 Billion. Lightspeed , Felicis , Coatue , and Sequoia Capital  have doubled down on their investments. Several strategic investors have also come on b

ThinkOrbital Inc. , constructing and defending the critical infrastructure required for a thriving space economy, led by Colonel Lee Rosen, USAF, Ret. and Vojtech Holub, Ph.D., has announced  the successful close of its Seed Round, led by TFX Capital .   The new funding accelerates development of technologies that will shape on-orbit defense and operations, from spacecraft inspection using Space-to-Space X-ray to asset servicing and large-scale orbital infrastructure. With na

SkyFi , an AI-first Earth intelligence platform, led by Luke Fischer, Bill Perkins, and others, has raised  a $12.7 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round co-led by Buoyant Ventures  and IronGate Capital Advisors , with new participation from DNV Ventures , TFX Capital , Beyond Earth Ventures , Nova Threshold , and Chris Morisoli, and existing investors RSquared VC  and J2 Ventures . The investment will fuel faster product development and strengthen SkyFi’s techn

Cerebras , the world’s fastest AI inference and training platform, led by Andrew Feldman and others, has signed  a multi-year agreement with OpenAI  to deploy 750 megawatts of Cerebras wafer-scale systems to serve OpenAI customers. This deployment will roll out in multiple stages beginning in 2026, making it the largest high-speed AI inference deployment in the world. A decade of parallel ambition brought OpenAI and Cerebras together, two companies founded at the same time wi

Proxima Bio , unlocking a new chapter in medicine by making protein interactions programmable, led by Zachary Carpenter, Luca Naef, and others, has secured an oversubscribed $80M seed financing led by DCVC , with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Braidwell , Roivant , AIX Ventures , Yosemite, Magnetic Ventures , Alexandria Venture Investments, Modi Ventures , and additional strategic and institutional investors. As part of the financing, the compan

Diffraqtion , an MIT and University of Maryland spinout building the next generation of visual AI hardware and software to make satellites and machines see further and think faster, led by Johannes Galatsanos, Christine Yi-Ting Wang, Saikat Guha, Mark Michael, and others, has raised its pre-seed funding round, led by QDNL Participations , with participation from milemark•capital , Aether VC , ADIN, Offline Ventures , and a non-dilutive DARPA SBIR Direct-to-Phase 2 contract su

Nuclera , the biotechnology company accelerating drug discovery by providing rapid, easy access to functional proteins through its benchtop eProtein Discovery™ System, led by Michael Chen, Gordon Mcinroy, and others, announced  a USD $12 million financing extension, bringing the Company’s total Series C funding to USD $87 million, led by  Elevage Medical Technologies  and Jonathan Milner, joined by existing investors British Business Bank  and GK Goh . The investment will acc

Harmattan AI , building the future of autonomous warfare, with speed and intelligence, led by Mouad M'Ghari, Martin de Gourcuff , Jean-Christophe Charlaix , Edouard Rosset , Jean-Patrice Coste , and others, has secured  $200 million in a Series B funding round led by Dassault Aviation. The two companies have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the integration of controlled autonomy and AI technologies into combat aviation systems. Harmattan AI, awarded multiple Pr

Boltz , helping every scientist reshape biology, led by Gabriele Corso, Jeremy Wohlwend, and Saro Passaro, announced  its launch with $28 Million Seed Round from Zetta , Amplify , a16z , and strategic angels, including Clement Delangue (CEO of Hugging Face), Factorial Capital , and Obvious Ventures . AI-powered molecular modeling is advancing rapidly, offering the potential to make biology programmable, digitize experiments, and accelerate drug development. However, emerging

Aegis Aerospace Inc. , a leader in space and defense technology led by Stephanie Murphy , and others, has announced  a groundbreaking partnership with United Semiconductors LLC to pioneer semiconductor manufacturing in space. This collaboration follows Aegis Aerospace’s recent grant from the Texas Space Commission to develop an in-space manufacturing platform for advanced materials in low Earth orbit (LEO). “We’re excited to partner with United Semiconductors,” said Stephanie

Biographica , developing cutting-edge deep learning and knowledge graph technology to identify and prioritise high-value targets for crop gene-editing, led by Cecily Price and Dominic Hall, PhD, has raised £7 million in a funding round led by  Faber VC , with participation from SuperSeed , Cardumen Capital , The Helm , EQT Foundation , and Sie Ventures . The round also included existing investors Chalfen Ventures , Entrepreneurs First , Nucleus Capital , Dhyan Ventures , Sara

Commonwealth Fusion Systems , an MIT spin-out fusion energy company, led by Bob Mumgaard, Dan Brunner, Brandon Sorbom, and Zach Hartwig, has completed  and delivered its first cutting-edge, superstrong magnet — a culmination of years of work to develop and manufacture the foundational technology to  bring fusion energy to the grid .   A 24-ton steel-clad toroidal field magnet was transported to the SPARC facility in Devens, Massachusetts, marking the first of 18 magnets neede

Lyte , an end-to-end integrated perception company for robotics and Physical AI, led by Alexander Shpunt, Dr. Arman Hajati, and Dr. Yuval Gerson, has emerged  from stealth with $107 million in aggregate funding from some of the industry's premier investors, including Avigdor Willenz's group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Atreides Management , Exor Ventures , Key1 Capital , and Venture Tech Alliance . Based in Mountain View, California, Lyte was founded by Alexander

Boston Dynamics , which develops practical robotics solutions designed to tackle today's and tomorrow's toughest automation challenges, and Google DeepMind , the world’s premier AI Lab, have formed  a new AI partnership aimed at bringing a new era of artificial intelligence to humanoid robots. Announced at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, the two teams aim to integrate cutting-edge Gemini Robotics AI foundation models with Boston Dynamics’ new  Atlas ® robots. The strategic partnership

Array Labs , designing, building, and operating the world’s most advanced radar satellites, led by Andrew Peterson, Jose Isaac Robledo, and others, has announced  a $20M Series A financing led by Catapult Ventures , with participation from Washington Harbour Partners , Kompas VC , and other new and existing investors, including Y Combinator , Maiora Capital ,  Animal Capital , Aera VC , Cultivation Capital , and Clearance Ventures , bringing Array’s total funding to $35M sinc

Naxatra Labs , bringing groundbreaking axial and radial flux motor technology to the world of electric mobility, led by Abhilash Maurya , Arnav Biswas , and Piyush Verma , has raised  $3 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Rainmatter with participation from Mohit Tandon (Delhivery), Himanshu Aggarwal (Aspiring Minds), Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm), Aloke Bajpai (Ixigo), Anupam Jalote (iCEM), Narayan (Ather Energy), and others. The proceeds will support product expan