MENLO TIMES

Firgun Ventures , the first VC firm focusing on Series A/B quantum companies, led by Kris Naudts, MD, PhD and Zeynep Korutürk, has launched  a $250 million venture capital fund dedicated entirely to early-growth-stage quantum companies and announced its first close at $70 million.  Backed by the Qatar Investment Authority, the fund is structured to support quantum companies in advancing from early pilot phases to deployable products positioned for use across sectors and regio

Arrived , helping you build wealth through modern real estate investing, led by Alejandro Chouza, Kenny Cason, Ryan Frazier, Sue Korn, and others, has raised  $27 million in new funding, led by Neo  and supported by Forerunner Ventures , Bezos Expeditions , Core , and others. The company has officially launched the Arrived Secondary Market, a first-of-its-kind platform that allows investors to buy and sell shares of individual rental homes across the U.S. with just a few clic

Orbit Fab , building in-space fuel delivery infrastructure, led by Daniel Faber, Shawn Hendricks, and others, has announced  its latest milestone toward refuelling satellites in orbit. The company will deliver the Advancing Satcom Technology with Refuelling and Logistics (ASTRAL) project with a total UK funding of up to $3.8m (€3.3m). The contract for the first stage of the mission, worth £1.3m (€1.1m), has now been awarded to Orbit Fab by ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommu

Sortera , the market-leading aluminum sorting company with an upcycling platform powered by artificial intelligence, data analytics, and advanced sensors, led by Michael Siemer, Curt Sacks, Benjamin Pope, Dr. Nalin Kumar, and others, announced  the close of $45 million in funding led by accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates  and VXI Capital , with participation from Yamaha Motor Ventures  and Overlay Capital , with an additional equipment funding from Trinity Capital .

Redwire , a global leader in space and defense technology solutions, led by Peter Cannito, Jonathan Baliff, Al Tadros, and others, has been awarded  a $44 million phase 2 contract to advance the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA)  Otter  Very Low Earth Orbit ( VLEO ) mission to demonstrate the world’s first air-breathing spacecraft and advance next-generation orbital capabilities. The Phase 2 contract funds the completion of manufacturing and the delivery of

Point One Navigation , a leader in high-precision location technology, led by Aaron Nathan, Mike Kurdziel, Karen Leineweber, and Ryan Dougherty, has announced  a $35 million Series C oversubscribed funding round led by  Khosla Ventures , with participation from existing investors including IA Ventures , UP Partners , and Alumni Ventures .  The capital will drive infrastructure expansion, accelerate software innovation, and advance OEM integration, while also enabling team gro

PolyModels Hub , optimizing pharma process in one place, led by Antonio Benedetti, Harry Christodoulou, PhD, and Antonio Yankey, has secured  £7 million in a Series A round led by  Molten Ventures , with participation from  Marathon Venture Capital , to accelerate the digital transformation of biopharma process development. The technology to truly automate AR didn’t exist until recently. Stuut now executes AR end-to-end, from outreach to payment collection, using AI that main

Stuut AI , an AI coworker that autonomously handles collections, cash application, payments, and deductions across SMS, email, and voice, led by Tarek Alaruri, Miraj Mohsin, and Ben Winter, has secured $29.5M in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz , with participation from Activant Capital , Khosla Ventures , 1984.vc , Page One Ventures , Vesey Ventures , Carya Venture Partners , and Valley Ventures. Companies lose up to 5% of EBITDA to manual AR tasks. Traditional so

NcodiN , the deep-tech startup pioneering optical interposer technology with integrated nanolasers, led by Francesco Manegatti, Bruno Garbin, Fabrice Raineri, Yacine Halioua, and Carlo Guareschi, has secured  €16 million in an oversubscribed Seed financing round led by MIG Capital , with participation from Maverick Silicon , PhotonVentures , and Verve Ventures , alongside continued support from existing backers Elaia , Earlybird , and OVNI . To strengthen its foundation, Ncod

Suno , building a revolutionary creative platform powered by the world's best music model, led by Mikey Shulman, Martin Camacho, and Georg Kucsko, has secured  $250M Series C at a $2.45B post-money valuation, led by Menlo Ventures , with participation from NVentures  (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Hallwood Media , Lightspeed , and Matrix.  Music has always been humanity’s most powerful form of expression, yet creating it has often been inaccessible. Suno is changing that: ov

Zap Energy , building a seriously cheap, compact, scalable fusion energy technology, led by Benj Conway, Brian A. Nelson, and Uri Shumlak, has achieved  plasmas with electron pressures as high as 830 megapascals (MPa), or 1.6 gigapascals (GPa) total, comparable to the pressures found deep below Earth’s crust. The results are the highest-pressure performance to date in a  sheared-flow-stabilized Z pinch  and an important marker on the path to scientific energy gain, or Q>1. Fu

Jiga , an AI-native platform transforming the entire sourcing workflow, led by Adar Hay, Assaf Geuz, and Yonatan Wolowelsky, has closed a $12M Series A led by Aleph , with participation from Symbol  and Y Combinator . The team has spent years solving sourcing challenges, streamlining RFQ workflows, standardizing drawings, and enabling direct manufacturer communication, to ensure custom parts procurement no longer slows innovation in rockets, robots, satellites, and other cutt

Maxima , maxizing every company’s long-term financial performance by making their financial data accurate, accessible, and actionable through real-time accounting, led by Yogi Goel, Akshaya Srivatsa, and Jack Liao, has announced $41 million in Seed and Series A funding, led by Redpoint , Kleiner Perkins , and Audacious Ventures . The accounting function is under unprecedented strain: record-high restatements, record-low talent inflow, and rising complexity across standards an

Revolv Space , redefining small satellite capabilities through reliable and affordable space mechanisms and power systems, led by Marco Sala, Michal Grendysz, Filippo Oggionni, and Aleksander Fiuk, has announced  the launch of MARA, its next-generation Solar Array Drive Assembly (SADA) for medium-sized platforms and constellations. MARA delivers up to 5.2 kW per unit, bridging the gap between basic body-mounted arrays and costly legacy SADAs with a fully integrated, reliable,

Automat , simplifying business process automation, led by Gautam Bose and Lucas Ochoa, has raised  a $15.5M Series A led by  Felicis , with participation from  Initialized ,  Khosla Ventures , and  Y Combinator , with follow-on from K5 Global  and Input Capital , bringing the total capital raised to $19.25M. Automat delivers a simple way to build AI agents that operate computers like humans, offering a modern alternative to legacy RPA tools. Operators can demonstrate workflow

Doppel , defending your brand and people from social engineering attacks, led by Kevin Tian , Rahul Madduluri, Mike Ferrari, Bobby Ford, and others, has secured $70M Series C, led by returning investors Bessemer Venture Partners  alongside Andreessen Horowitz , South Park Commons , Script Capital , 9Yards Capital , Sozo Ventures , and Strategic Cyber Ventures . In addition, new investors include George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Aurum Partners, the invest

Condukt , the next-generation compliance platform for financial services, led by Paulo Guichard and Bhasker Rao, has secured  US$10 million in funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners  and MMC Ventures , with participation from Cocoa Ventures . The funding will accelerate Condukt’s mission to reinvent KYB and make compliance a driver of growth. Launched in 2023, Condukt already powers compliance for leading fintechs like Wise, Tide, Mollie, Rakuten, Shift4, Flatpay, and myP

Agentio , the AI-native platform for creator advertising, led by Jonathan Meyers , Arthur Leopold , Catherine Etter Bailey , Hilary Anne Hyman , and others, has raised a $40 million Series B led by Forerunner, with continued backing from Benchmark , Craft Ventures , AlleyCorp  and other leading investors, bringing the total funds raised to $56 million and valuing the company at $340 million, just 2 years after launching the platform and following 5x year-over-year growth. Cre

Guardio , protecting your entire digital world by securing every account and interaction, led by Amos Peled, Michael Vainshtein, Daniel Sirota, Meital Baruch, Sharon Cohen, and others, has raised  $80 million in a funding   round led by ION Crossover Partners , with participation from existing investors, including Union Tech Ventures , Vintage Investment Partners , and Emerge . The funding follows Guardio’s recent partnership with Lovable , the fast-growing AI software compan

Quindar , bringing cloud-native thinking to space operations, led by Nate Hamet, Sunny Bhagavathula, David Lawrence, Zach Meza, Shaishav Parekh, and Matt Regan, has secured $18M in Series A funding led by  Washington Harbour Partners  with continued investment from  Booz Allen Ventures , FUSE , FCVC , and Y Combinator . The new funding will support the development of a state-of-the-art classified facility in the Denver area, expand commercial integrations, and grow the workfo