MENLO TIMES

Neural Frames , a Berlin-based leading platform to create AI music videos, founded by Dr. Nicolai Klemke, uses 8-stem deep audio analysis to allow songs to guide how music videos are structured, edited, and visualized. They have recently released Autopilot 2.5. Neural Frames is an AI music video platform used by 10,000+ artists, offering Autopilot, Frame-by-Frame, and Text-to-Video creation modes. With 8-stem audio analysis, visuals sync seamlessly with music, alongside featu

Juno , the tax prep automation platform built by CPAs for tax professionals, led by Dave Hasse, has announced $12 million in seed funding led by  Bonfire Ventures , along with  Impression Ventures  and X Fund .  Juno automates tax return preparation, review, and advisory workflows, reducing time spent per return by up to 50% while keeping humans actively involved in the process. Tax preparation remains highly manual, while opaque AI tools introduce unacceptable risk in regula

Mastra , a Typescript AI agent framework & platform, led by Sam Bhagwat, Shane Thomas, Abhi Aiyer, and the team, has raised  a $22M Series A led by Spark Capital , bringing total capital raised to $35M. Great frameworks are defined by attention to detail, spanning primitives, APIs, documentation, integrations, and onboarding. Strong foundations enable systems that are powerful, extensible, and intuitively structured. Effective frameworks provide the right tools with clear ext

Modus , the right partner for ambitious accounting firms, led by Arush Jain, Vinay Kasat, Pranav Pillai, and the team, has raised  $85 million in Seed & Series A funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners , with participation from Comma Capital  and Garry Tan. The capital will accelerate Modus’s technology development and support its strategy of investing in and partnering with audit-first accounting firms. Modus is building an AI-native accounting platform that combines pro

INXY , your bridge to crypto payments, led by Ruslan Zholik and the team, has raised $4 million in a new funding round led by Flashpoint Capital , following a $3 million raise  in 2025, bringing its total seed funding to $7 million. The capital will support product expansion, secure additional regulatory licences, and scale presence across key international markets. In 2026, demand for stablecoin payment infrastructure increased fivefold year-on-year, with active usage rising

WholeSum , helping you get deeper insights from your richest data, led by Emily Kucharski  and Adam Kucharski , has brought its total pre-seed funding to $1.3 million, adding new investment from Love Ventures , Beamline, and strategic angels, following its initial $965k raise led by Twin Path Ventures  announced earlier this year. The round reflects rising demand from high-trust sectors, where existing AI tools often fail to deliver reliable and auditable insights from large

Backbone , an AI platform built for the realities of food & beverage quality, led by Siska Lannoo , Louis Opsomer , and the team, has announced its launch. Backbone closed a seed round several months ago, with backing from the 100IN  fund of serial entrepreneurs Gilles Mattelin and Jorn Vanysacker, at a pre-product stage. A recipe change at a food manufacturer triggers a cascade of quality checks, as stricter food safety regulations now require compliance across the entire or

Valar Atomics , a nuclear energy startup backed by Palmer Luckey and Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, led by Isaiah Taylor and the team, has raised  fresh capital at a $2 billion valuation, a total of $450 million in the deal, including $340 million in equity and $110 million in debt. The latest round follows Valar’s $130M raise in November 2025, led by Snowpoint Ventures, with backing from Palmer Luckey, Shyam Sankar, and John Donovan. Founded in 2023 by Isaiah Taylor, Valar Atomi

TENEX.AI , the first leading AI-native, human-led SOC that triages every alert, investigates every threat, and frees your team for strategic work, led by Eric Foster, Venkata Koppaka, Ryan Shreve, Edwin Solis, Jan Grzymala-Busse, Elias “Lou” Manousos, and the team, has raised  $250M in Series B funding led by Crosspoint Capital Partners .  Nearly one year since entering the market, TENEX has achieved rapid growth, generating $25M+ in contracted revenue, scaling headcount by 3

Cognichip , builders of ACI® Artificial Chip Intelligence, led by Faraj Aalaei, Ehsan Kamalinejad, Simon Sabato, and the team, has raised  $60 million in new funding led by Seligman Ventures , with notable participation from Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who will be joining Cognichip’s board. Umesh Padval, a managing partner at Seligman, will also join the board. Cognichip is developing a deep learning model to assist engineers in designing next-generation chips, tackling a long-stan

Antaris , simplifying and automating the design, simulation, and operation of satellite missions, cutting time-to-orbit by 2X and reducing lifetime cost by 10X, led by Thomas Barton, Karthik Govindhasamy, John Trionfo, and the team, has announced  the first close of a $28 Million Series A funding round led by WestWave Capital  with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures , other insiders, and new investors. The fundraise follows a breakout year for Antaris, driven by stro

Centivax , a clinical-stage company on a mission to accelerate the world’s transition to a post-pathogen humanity, led by Jacob Glanville , and the team, has announced  the closing of a $37 million oversubscribed financing led by Structure Fund, with participation from  Meiji Seika Pharma Co. , Ltd., Sigmas Group, Kendall Capital Partners , and Patrick(Stripe) and John Collison. Meiji Group holds the No. 1 market share for influenza vaccines in Japan.  This financing builds o

ScaleOps , innovators in cloud resource automation, led by Yodar Shafrir and the team, has raised  $130M in Series C funding led by Insight Partners , with participation from all of the existing investors, Lightspeed Venture Partners , NFX , Glilot Capital Partners , and Picture Capital . This round brings the total funding to $210M and values the company at more than $800M. This milestone underscores ScaleOps’ market leadership, having pioneered the Autonomous Cloud and AI I

Starcloud , building data centers in space, led by Philip Johnston, Ezra Feilden, and Adi Oltean, has raised  $170 million in Series A  led by Benchmark  and EQT Ventures , valuing the company at $1.1 billion.  Starcloud has raised $200 million to date and launched its first satellite equipped with an Nvidia H100 GPU in November 2025. Later this year, Starcloud 2 will deploy a more powerful satellite featuring multiple GPUs, including an Nvidia Blackwell chip, an AWS server b

TerraSpark , powering Earth from space, led by Jasper Deprez, Dr. Sanjay Vijendran, Matthias Laug, and the team, has completed  its pre-seed financing round, raising over five million euros from Daphni , Sake Bosch, angel investor alliance better ventures, the Hans(wo)men Group , and other strategic business angels. The financing will be used to further develop the technology and prepare for initial pilot applications and live tests. Europe’s Energy Challenge Europe’s power g

Midas , the standard for onchain investment products, led by Dennis Dinkelmeyer, Fabrice Grinda, Romain Bourgois, and the team, has announced  a $50M Series A led by RRE and  Creandum , with participation from  Framework Ventures ,  HV Capital ,  Ledger Cathay ,  North Island Ventures ,  Coinbase Ventures ,  Franklin Templeton , GSR, and others across crypto-native, institutional, and venture capital. Alongside this, Midas is launching Midas Staked Liquidity (MSL), the core

IQM , building full-stack superconducting quantum computers for HPCs, researchers, and enterprises, led by Dr. Jan Goetz, and the team, has secured  a €50 million financing package from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. The facility will accelerate IQM’s technology roadmap, strengthen R&D, enable expansion into new markets, and reinforce its leadership in quantum computing. The facility was secured ahead of IQM’s planned merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp (RAAQ) t

Zalos , automating repetitive finance workflows, without having to change your finance systems, led by William Fairbairn and Hung Hoang, has raised a $3.6 million in seed led by 14 Peaks  with participation from Cohen Circle , 20VC , and notable angels. Finance teams rely on complex ERPs, yet still manage manual, repetitive work across disconnected systems. Zalos automates these workflows using computer agents, without requiring system replacement. Modern finance teams operat

Mountly , a food ordering and discovery platform for mountain resort tourists, founded by Katia Sogreeva, begins a pilot in three French Alps locations, backed by a €600,000 investment from Amitours . The app launches with hot meals from local restaurants and pre-assembled grocery boxes across Chamonix, Portes du Soleil, and Les Trois Vallées, targeting a tourism market that attracts over 80 million visitors to the Alps annually. The platform aims to unify fragmented local re

Xona Space , unlocking the potential of tomorrow’s technologies by providing the most robust and accurate navigation and timing services on Earth, led by Brian Manning , Tyler Reid , Jay Wakenshaw , Christina Youn , Adrien Perkins , and Allison Hampel , has raised  a $170 million Series C round led by Mohari Ventures Natural Capital with additional support from Craft Ventures , ICONIQ , Woven Capital , NGP Capital , Samsung Next , Hexagon , and other new and existing investor