MENLO TIMES

Parallel Web Systems , building the web infrastructure for AI, led by Parag Agrawal and Travers Nisbet, has secured $100 million Series A at a $740 million valuation co-led by Kleiner Perkins  and Index Ventures , with participation from Spark Capital  and support from existing investors Khosla Ventures , First Round Capital , and Terrain . Mamoon Hamid of Kleiner Perkins joins Vinod Khosla, Shardul Shah, and Josh Kopelman on the board. Two years ago, when the company was fou

Zilch , the consumer payments platform powering the future of commerce, led by Philip Belamant, Hugh Courtney, Desmond McNamara, Kirsty Spickett, Ryan Mendy, Sean Hederman, Boriana Tchobanova, and others, has secured  over USD $175 million ($176.7m) in debt and equity led by KKCG  with participation from BNF Capital , and several other strategic investors. The raise also includes the expansion of its securitization led by Deutsche Bank . The successful raise follows the launc

Vendep Capital , a B2B SaaS VC in the Nordics and Baltics, led by Sakari Pihlava, Tanja Alanen, Jupe Arala, Sami Ahvenniemi, Taru Wahlroos, and others, has announced  a €80 million Fund IV. The fund has already reached its €80 million target, with fundraising open until April 2026. Since 2013, Vendep Capital has built one of the strongest SaaS track records in the Nordics, backing breakout companies such as AlphaSense , Hostaway , Leadfeeder , and Happeo . The new fund is str

Litmus , simplifying Industrial Data complexity and making it more accessible, led by Vatsal Shah, John Younes, Sacha Sawaya, Vishvesh Shah, Parth Desai, and others, has secured  additional strategic investment led by Insight Partners , with participation from Munich Re Ventures . Manufacturers are striving to move from AI pilots to large-scale, multi-site deployment, but progress is limited by data, not models. Machine data is often siloed, inconsistent across plants, and ha

Backed VC , a London-based venture capital fund, led by Andre de Haes, Alex Brunicki, Tom Hopkins, Clare Hunter, and others, has closed its third fund, Backed 3, at its $100 million cap, alongside making its 100th investment.  Backed partners with outlier founders building generational frontier technology companies rooted in fundamental technological or conceptual breakthroughs. After two high-performing funds, including a top-decile first fund, Backed is expanding with Backe

CommerceClarity , building AI agents that turn raw data into intelligent retail automation, led by Alessandro Angelini, Daniele Vella, Federico Sargenti, and Michele Sampieri, has secured  a €2.7 million ($3.1M) oversubscribed pre-seed round, led by  IFF (Italian Founders Fund)  and  Entourage , with participation from  Euregio+ (Alpine VC) ,  Redstone ,  Vento (Exor) ,  Ithaca Investment , and Vesper Holding . The funding will accelerate the growth of the AI-driven e-commerc

Attentive AI , the company behind Beam AI, led by Shiva Dhawan, Rishabjit Singh, Shikhar Tripathi, and others, has announced  a $30.5 million Series B funding round led by Insight Partners , with participation from Vertex Ventures , Tenacity Ventures , and InfoEdge Venture Fund . As large-scale infrastructure, industrial, and data center projects surge across the U.S., construction firms face mounting pressure to build faster and more efficiently. While AI has revolutionized

Relixir , an inbound Engine for AI Search, led by Sean Dorje and Dennis Zax, has raised  $2 million in a seed round from Y Combinator , z21 Ventures , 468 Capital , DG Daiwa Ventures , Vijay Krishnan (Founder of Turing), and others. The funding will help Relixir scale its platform that enables brands to generate qualified leads through ChatGPT and other AI-powered search engines. Since its launch in early 2025, Relixir has generated over 10,000 inbound leads from AI search fo

Finnable , a Bangalore-based credit technology company, led by Nitin Gupta, Amit Arora, Sandeep Koul, and others, has closed  a ₹500 crore equity raise led by Z47  and TVS Capital .  The funding marks a key step in Finnable’s mission to make credit inclusive and accessible for India’s new-age professionals. Targeting the mid-income salaried segment (₹15,000–₹50,000 monthly earners), Finnable bridges the gap between formal banking and informal credit, enabling millions to borr

Self.co , a Lithuania-based company, helping you uncover the true cause of your symptoms and guide you toward the right path to better health, led by Tautvydas Gylys, Gintautas Gylys, and Juozapas Zabukas, has secured  €2.56 million in funding, including €1.2 million led by  Iron Wolf Capital , joined by  Coinvest , NGL Ventures , and several angel investors, and a €1.36 million government grant from Innovation Agency Lithuania . Nearly 40% of people worldwide suffer from all

Amenitiz , an all-in-one platform that helps independent properties manage operations, boost bookings, and deliver outstanding guest experiences, led by Alexandre Guinefolleau, Emmanuelle Guinefollea, and Frédéric Cadet, has raised  $45 million in Series B funding. Amenitiz began from firsthand experience in the Swiss Alps, where running a small hotel revealed how outdated and fragmented hospitality technology had become. Existing systems were built for large chains, leaving

Digitail , an AI-powered practice management software for veterinary clinics, led by Sebastian Gabor and Ruxandra Pui, has secured  a $23 million USD Series B investment led by  Five Elms Capital  with participation from existing investors Atomico , Partech , Byfounders , Gradient , and others. The investment will drive Digitail’s growth across the veterinary industry and enhance its AI capabilities to better serve veterinarians and pet owners. Digitail was founded on the bel

Magic Patterns , an AI-powered design tool, led by Alex Danilowicz and Teddy Ni, has raised $6 million in Series A led by  Standard Capital , with participation from Y Combinator , Essence VC , Pioneer Fund , Twenty Two Ventures , and several angels. Over 1,500 product teams now use Magic Patterns to bring features to life through its AI design tool, serving both fast-growing startups and AI-native enterprises. Customers consistently highlight Magic Patterns’ speed and high-q

Gamma , an AI-powered platform to transform and share your thoughts as beautiful presentations, websites, and social posts, led by Jon Noronha, James Fox, and Grant Lee, has secured  $68 million in Series B funding at a $2.1B valuation led by Andreessen Horowitz , with participation from Accel , Uncork Capital , South Park Commons , Script Capital , and others. The round includes a secondary component that provides liquidity for early employees. In an era of AI hype and unsus

Aily Labs , a real-time enterprise decision intelligence platform for every employee, led by Bianca Anghelina, Kristina Walcker-Mayer, Bettina Vogel, Pau Ferrer Puig, and others, has secured  $80 million in funding, led by  FPV Ventures  with participation from existing investor  Insight Partners , J.P. Morgan , and other strategic investors. The funding will fuel Aily’s global expansion, strengthen its autonomous AI ecosystem, and deliver rapid, measurable impact for Fortune

YQuantum , a Swiss startup developing innovative hardware components, unleashing the full potential of quantum computing, led by Dr. Christian Jünger, Dr. Johannes Herrmann, and Prof. Christian Schönenberger, has secured  €161,000 (CHF 150,000) from  Venture Kick . YQuantum develops compact, high-performance cryogenic hardware to enhance the scalability of quantum systems. Its technology supports high-fidelity superconducting and spin-qubit operations, enabling larger and mor

Dotega , software for homeowners' associations that rethinks self-management, led by Niklas Mocker and Lina Albert, has raised €1.3 million in a pre-seed round from High-Tech Gründerfonds  (HTGF) and experienced proptech investors, including the founders of Casavi. Germany has around 10 million residential and commercial units under homeowners’ associations (WEGs), a market still largely offline. Dotega fills this gap with a scalable web platform that enables small associatio

Inversion Space , building autonomous, highly-maneuverable re-entry vehicles to deliver cargo and effects from space, led by Justin Fiaschetti, Austin Briggs, Jackson Kemper, III, Collin Corey, and others, has unveiled  the design of Arc, a spacecraft intended to deliver critical cargo from space to any point on Earth within an hour, landing on water, snow or soil with a precision of around 50 feet. The concept targets the defense sector, aligning with the U.S. military’s lon

Leil , developing infinite file storage without cloud, led by Aleksandr Ragel, David Gerstein, Piotr Modrzyk, and Werner Paulus, has secured  €1.5 million in seed funding led by Karma Ventures , with participation from Specialist VC . The $22 billion enterprise storage market is growing nearly 20% annually as global data generation surpasses 330 million terabytes per day, set to triple by 2030. Storing and scaling this data on traditional hard drives is becoming costlier and

Cambridge Photon Technology , transforming high-energy photons into silicon-optimised infrared light, led by Dr Claudio Marinelli, Prof. Akshay Rao, Adrian Watson, and others, has secured  £1,556,000, comprising £926,000 in equity investment from Cambridge Enterprise Ventures , Spectrum Impact , Tybourne Capital, Providence Investment Company, and SourceSquared and £630,000 Clean Energy and Climate Technologies grant from the UKRI Innovate UK  Investor Partnerships, enabled b