MENLO TIMES

Autolane , developing hardware & software infrastructure for autonomous commerce, led by   Ben Seidl and Andy Seidl, has secured  $7.4 million in funding co-led by Draper Associates  and Hyperplane , with participation from LAUNCH and Feld Ventures . The funding will accelerate Autolane’s expansion across retail, restaurant, and commercial properties. Supporting autonomous ride-hailing and delivery vehicles, its infrastructure has demonstrated up to 50% reductions in curbside

Shield AI , a deeptech company protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems, led by Gary Steele, Ryan Tseng, ex-Navy Seal Brandon Tseng, Nathan Michael, and others, and Sedaro , powering the future of aerospace & defense with mission simulation at scale, led by Daniel Martin, Robbie Robertson, PhD, and others, have announced  a strategic partnership to advance autonomous operations in orbit. The partnership designates Shield AI’s Hivemind Pilot as the pri

Donna , eliminating the admin burden for field sales, led by Nicolas Christiaen, Jonas Deprez, Xander Berkein, and others, has secured $4.8 M seed round, led by Frontline Ventures , with participation from existing funds: Pitchdrive , Fortino Capital , WeLoveFounders , Syndicate One , New School , Everywhere Ventures , and a group of seasoned angel investors. The funding will be used to deepen Donna’s product leadership and scale go-to-market operations across Europe and the

Orq.ai , the all-in-one platform to build reliable LLM apps, led by Sohrab Hosseini  and Anthony Diaz , has secured raised €5 million in seed funding, led by  Seed + Speed Ventures  and  Galion exe , with continued support from  Curiosity VC ,  Spacetime ,  XO Ventures ,  xdeck ventures ,  Waves Capital , and  GoldenEggCheck , bringing the total funding to €7.3 million since the company’s founding in 2022. Strategic advisors joining include industry leaders such as Sam Bourto

Ricursive Intelligence , the first frontier AI lab addressing the most fundamental constraint in AI progress: chip development timelines that can’t keep up with algorithmic advancement, led by Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini, announced  its launch and a $35 million seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital( Stephanie Zhan ), along with other investors, including Modern Capital( Suhail Nimji , Jennifer Campbell ), 49Palms( Madhavan Ramanujam , Joshua Bloom ), and Striker ( M

Female Founders Fund , investing in the exponential power of exceptional female talent, led by Anu Duggal, Julie Cerick, Zabreen Khan, and Layla Alexander, has raised  its fourth fund at $29 million, raised between November 2023 and this month. It brings Female Founders Fund’s total capital under management to $140 million across five funds, including a $14 million opportunity fund. LPs in the newest fund include firms headed by notable women: Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ve

PermitFlow , the leading AI pre-construction platform built for construction and trades, led by Francis Thumpasery and Samuel Lam, has secured  a $54 million Series B funding round, led by  Accel  with participation from  Kleiner Perkins ,  Felicis ,  Initialized Capital ,  Altos Ventures ,  Y Combinator , and other existing investors. Since its 2021 launch, PermitFlow has scaled its construction platform and AI agents to manage over $20 billion in construction value nationwi

Moonshot Space , an Israeli startup building an affordable, on-demand delivery system for space infrastructure, led by Hilla Haddad Chmelnik, Fred Simon, and Shahar Bahiri, has emerged  from stealth with $12 million in funding to continue the development of a launch system, powered by electromagnetism. Moonshot plans to offer A&D primes its technology as a hypersonic test platform, while progressively developing capabilities to provide orbital launch services for companies se

Antares , building purpose-designed modular power for defense-critical assets, led by Jordan Bramble  and  Julia DeWahl , has secured $96 million in Series B led by Shine Capital  with participation from Alt Capital , Caffeinated , 53 Stations , Industrious Ventures , and others. The capital provides the momentum and discipline needed to achieve a milestone not seen in the United States for decades: the ability to design, build, and test nuclear reactors within a few years ra

Titan OS , a technology company headquartered in Barcelona, specializes in developing software and solutions to unleash the full potential of Connected TV, led by Jacinto Roca, Tim Edwards, Daan Van Baars, Jim Collins, and others, has secured  €50 million in Series A funding, led by Highland Europe , with participation from Mangrove Capital Partners  and other investors. Founded in 2023 by entrepreneur Jacinto Roca, previously the founder of Wuaki.tv , later acquired by Rakut

Gradium , building the technological backbone, models, and infrastructure to support all voice applications, led by Olivier Teboul, Alexandre Défossez, Neil Zeghidour, and Laurent Mazaré, has announced its launch with a $70 million seed funding round led by FirstMark Capital  and Eurazeo  with participation from DST Global Partners , Eric Schmidt, Xavier Niel, Rodolphe Saadé, Korelya Capital, Amplify Partners, Liquid2, Drysdale Ventures, and angels including Yann LeCun, Olivi

Synopsys , the leader in engineering solutions from silicon to systems, enabling customers to rapidly innovate AI-powered products, led by Sassine Ghazi, Shelagh Glaser, Ravi Subramanian, Shankar Krishnamoorthy, and others, announced  an expanded, strategic partnership to revolutionize design and engineering across industries. R&D teams across sectors, from semiconductors to aerospace, automotive, and industrial, face growing workflow complexity, rising development costs, and

Expedition Growth Capital , a growth equity firm empowering bootstrapped
software founders, led by Oliver Thomas, Will Sheldon, Steve Twomey, David Olsson, and others, has raised  its third fund of $375 million, continuing its focus on partnering with rapidly growing companies from across Europe that have built high-quality products and customer bases, without venture capital. Since launching in late 2020, Expedition has assembled a portfolio of 17 bootstrapped software leade

Bitstack , helping users invest and save in bitcoin, led by Kabir Sethi & Alexandre Roubaud, has secured  a $15 million Series A funding round led by 13books Capital  and including existing investors AG2R LA MONDIALE, Plug and Play Ventures , Serena, Stillmark , and Y Combinator . Eurozone prices have climbed 23.4% since 2020, eroding purchasing power, according to the ECB. With its capped supply of 21 million, Bitcoin is gaining traction; nearly 4 million people in France no

Saporo , helping security teams reduce attack paths, enforce least privilege, and prevent breaches, led by Olivier Eyries, Guillaume Eyries, and Dr. Eric Blavier, has secured €7 million in Series A funding led by  TIN Capital , with participation from  G+D Ventures ,  CDP  Venture Capital through its Corporate Partners I – ServiceTech fund,  XAnge ,  Lightbird VC , and  Session VC . Each investor will play a targeted role in Saporo’s expansion: TIN Capital in Northern Europe,

Complir , bringing clarity and speed to product compliance, led by Tine Kühnel , Gustav Bang , Marc Kaa Brejner , and Rasmus Lind , has secured €1.7 million in pre-seed funding led by  Vendep Capital , with participation from Likeminded , Plug and Play , Xpress , JHJ Seed Capital, and business angels including Kraen Østergaard Nielsen, Per Thau, and Neil S. W. Murray. Retailers now face a landscape where cross-border selling is both a commercial and compliance challenge. Ever

Sokin , streamlining cross-border accounts payable, receivable, and treasury operations, led by Vroon Modgill, Gaurav Modgill, Tom Steer, and Malcolm Leach, has secured $50 million in Series B funding led by Prysm Capital  (“Prysm”) and joined by Watershed Ventures , with continued participation from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, Aurum Partners, Gary Marino, former Chief Commercial Officer at PayPal and Mark Britto, former Chief Product Officer

Spaceium , building a network of in-space refueling and repair stations, led by Ashi Dissanayake and Reza Fetanat, launched  its first in-space demonstration hardware, a precision robotic actuator for autonomous propellant transfer in orbit on SpaceX’s Transporter-15 mission, hosted aboard D-orbit’s ION spacecraft. Spaceium was founded to make in-space refueling a reality. Orbital fuel replenishment is the key to unlocking a larger, more sustainable space economy. For decades

Raindrop , Sentry for AI Agents, led by Zubin Singh Koticha , Alexis Gauba , and Ben Hylak , has secured  $15M in seed funding from Lightspeed  and leading AI companies, including Figma Ventures, Vercel Ventures , founders of Replit (Amjad Masad and Michele Catasta), Cognition (Walden Yan), Framer (Koen Bok and Jorn van Dijk), Speak (Andrew Hsu), Notion (Akshay Kothari), and YC . Over the past two years, the landscape has shifted from simple chatbots to agent systems capable

Nevis , the first unified AI platform built for wealth management, led by Mark Swan, Philipp Burda, and Ivan Chalov, has secured  $35 million in Series A from Sequoia Capital , ICONIQ , and Ribbit Capital , bringing the total funding to $40 million in under a year. Nevis enables advisors to complete operational work end to end, covering meeting preparation, client follow-ups, account openings, and ongoing service. The goal is straightforward: remove administrative burden so a