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A hub for startup news, trends, and insights, covering the global startup ecosystem for founders, investors, and innovators. Community: @startupdis Buy Ads: @strategy (this is our only account).
🎙️ Clearspeed Uses Voice AI to Detect Risk in Seconds
Clearspeed, the San Diego-based voice analytics startup, has raised a $60M Series D led by Align Private Capital, with participation from IronGate Capital, Bravo Victor, KBW Ventures, and retired General David Petraeus. The company’s AI listens not to what you say, but how you say it — flagging risk across sectors from insurance to defense.
🛡️ Fast, language-agnostic risk scoring
• Analyzes vocal stress, cadence, and hesitation in 60+ languages — without using speech content
• Classifies high- vs low-risk individuals in real time for claims, security, or fraud workflows
• Delivered as a lightweight API that integrates into existing calls and systems
📈 Dual-use traction across industries
• Trusted by U.S. military, insurers, banks, and government agencies
• Customers report 30× ROI, 2× faster claims decisions, and 40% more instant payouts
• Now active in over a dozen markets with growing demand in the UK, Middle East, and LatAm
🎯 Scaling trust infrastructure for speech
• Originally built for defense vetting, now expanding to enterprise security and customer screening
• Align’s Anna Nekoranec joins the board; Petraeus calls it “outsized value” for vetting and ops
• Plans to double headcount, enhance real-time speed, and deepen commercial integrations
As AI moves beyond text, Clearspeed is turning voice into a trusted signal — helping organizations assess risk in seconds, not days.
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🎯 Kalshi Brings Real-World Prediction Markets to Scale
Kalshi, the AI-powered prediction market platform, has raised a $185M Series C round led by Paradigm, with backing from Sequoia, Citadel’s Peng Zhao, Bond Capital, Multicoin, and Neo. The round pushes Kalshi’s valuation to $2B as it accelerates its mission to make event forecasting a mainstream financial instrument.
📱 A regulated exchange for real-world events
• Offers tradable contracts on events like elections, inflation, Fed decisions, and weather
• Fully regulated by the CFTC — a key differentiator from crypto-native prediction markets
• Targets individuals and institutions looking to hedge or profit from macro volatility
📊 Growth fueled by election cycles and market volatility
• Saw massive traction during U.S. midterms and 2024 election run-up
• Positioned as a data-rich alternative to polls and analyst forecasts
• Riding a wave of renewed interest in predictive markets, alongside players like Polymarket
⚖️ From MIT to Wall Street — with a legal edge
• Founded by MIT alums Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara in 2018
• Recently won a major court battle vs. the CFTC to enable political event trading
• Paradigm’s backing signals confidence in Kalshi’s long-term regulatory defensibility
Prediction markets are evolving into serious financial infrastructure—and Kalshi is building the rails for institutional-grade forecasting.
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⚖️ Harvey Builds AI Infrastructure for the Legal World
Harvey, the AI startup transforming legal workflows, has raised a $300M Series E co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Coatue, with participation from Sequoia, OpenAI Startup Fund, DST, and others. The round doubles its valuation to $5B, reinforcing its lead as the go-to AI platform for legal professionals.
🛸 AI-native tools for legal teams
• Offers tools like Assistant, Workflows, Vault, and Knowledge for research, drafting, and document review
• Built on top of models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google
• Used by top global law firms and in-house legal departments to cut hours of manual work
📈 Rapid growth and rising demand
• Run-rate revenue surged from $50M to $75M in just one quarter
• Headcount at ~340, with plans to double over the next 12 months
• Serves over 330 enterprise clients in law, corporate, and regulatory environments
🚀 Expanding into adjacent professional services
• Now integrating legal research via LexisNexis and REV for deeper domain expertise
• Plans to expand product suite into accounting, tax, and compliance workflows
• New capital to fuel R&D, hiring, and global expansion
Harvey is quietly becoming the AI operating system for professional services—starting with law, but scaling far beyond it.
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🔺 Tadaweb Turns “Small Data” into a Scalable OSINT Engine
Tadaweb, the Luxembourg-based open-source intelligence (OSINT) startup, has raised $20M in growth funding from Arsenal Growth, Forgepoint Capital, and Wendel. The platform helps security and intelligence teams rapidly turn public data into actionable insights—focusing on accuracy over volume.
🔍 Precision-first OSINT for real-world missions
• Extracts high-value “small data” from open sources to reduce analyst workload
• Fully auditable: users see what data was used, when, and how
• Trusted by national security, cyber, and enterprise users across Europe and the U.S.
📊 Strong momentum across government and security
• ~120 employees with 30% revenue growth last year
• Total funding now $40M after an earlier round in 2023
• Used by defense, law enforcement, and threat intel teams in mission-critical environments
🧭 Scaling transparent intelligence infrastructure
• Founded in Luxembourg with a growing U.S. and UK footprint
• Arsenal Growth’s Jason Rottenberg and Forgepoint’s Damien Henault join the board
• New funds will go to hiring, product development, and international go-to-market
Tadaweb is redefining open-source intelligence by making it faster, more precise, and more accountable—exactly what modern security teams need.
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🏥 Commure Builds the AI Operating System for Healthcare
Commure, the SF-based healthtech platform transforming hospital operations, has secured $200M in growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund. The company is rolling out AI-powered tools across revenue cycle, clinical documentation, and practice management—aiming to streamline how providers work from front desk to exam room.
🤖 AI for healthcare workflows
• Automates the entire RCM stack—from intake to collections and posting
• Ambient AI captures clinical notes, codes visits, and reduces after-hours documentation
• Cloud-based platform powers intelligent scheduling, referrals, and patient engagement
📈 Rapid scale across U.S. health systems
• Serves 130+ health systems, with deployments at giants like HCA Healthcare
• Facilitates billions in RCM automations annually
• ARR has doubled three years in a row, now in the high hundreds of millions
🧭 Strategic infrastructure for care delivery
• Led by CEO Tanay Tandon, a former Palantir product leader
• Designed to be the “atomic infrastructure” of modern care systems
• CVF structure gives growth capital without equity dilution
Commure is fast becoming the nervous system for U.S. hospitals—automating the back office and bringing AI directly into clinical care.
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🌍 Tensec Rebuilds Cross-Border Payments
Tensec, a Palo Alto-based fintech, has raised $12M in seed funding to modernize how global businesses move money. With a sleek, AI-powered platform, Tensec helps trading firms embed treasury, FX, and payments directly into their workflows—without touching legacy banking rails.
💸 Embedded finance for global trade
• Offers instant KYB onboarding, smart compliance, and no-code FX infrastructure
• Built on real-time rails, with U.S. banking powered by Stearns Bank (FDIC member)
• Traders access hedging, multi-currency wallets, and real-time settlements out of the box
📈 Early traction, massive market
• Supporting ~$10B in trade volume with plans to scale to $30B+
• Targeting SMBs in physical goods trade—40% of a $25T market
• Positioned for APAC and EU expansion as global payments hit $250T by 2030
👥 Veteran team meets modern infrastructure
• Founded by ex-Rapyd, Goldman Sachs, and Meta execs with deep trade and fintech roots
• Backed by Costanoa, Quiet Capital, WillowTree, and Cambrian Ventures
• Aims to be the “Stripe for cross-border B2B” by eliminating friction in trade flows
Tensec is giving modern exporters and traders the infrastructure big banks never built—and doing it with speed, compliance, and scale.
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💳 Ramp Expands from Corporate Card to All-in-One Finance OS
Ramp, the NYC-based fintech streamlining company spending, has raised a $200M Series E led by Founders Fund, pushing its valuation to $16B. Once known for its corporate card, Ramp now offers an AI-powered platform for every part of the finance stack—from expenses to procurement and treasury.
🧠 AI for finance automation
• Automates expense reports, bill pay, approvals, and accounting workflows
• Acquired Venue to power smarter procurement decisions
• New features include Ramp Treasury (2.5% yield) and Priceline-powered travel booking
📈 Rapid scale across enterprise finance
• Serves 40,000+ customers, including Shopify, Notion, and Anduril
• Processes tens of billions in annual transactions
• Shipped over 270 product updates in 2025 alone
🧭 Strategic focus beyond cards
• Founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneurs Eric Glyman and Karim Atiyeh
• Backed repeatedly by Founders Fund, Thrive, and General Catalyst
• Only ~1.5% market penetration in the U.S.—with runway for much more
Ramp is evolving into the operating system for modern CFOs—automating not just spending, but how finance teams work.
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🧠 Thinking Machines Wants to Make AI Safer, Smarter—and Open
Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has emerged from stealth with a $2B seed round and a $10B valuation. The San Francisco-based company aims to build general-purpose AI that is more interpretable, open, and aligned with human values.
🔬 Research-first, open-science approach
• Public benefit corporation focused on transparency and reproducibility
• Committed to open-sourcing code, datasets, and research outputs
• Prioritizes human-AI collaboration and alignment with democratic norms
💥 Massive funding, elite team
• $2B seed round led by a16z and Conviction, with $50M+ minimum checks
• Advisors include top AI talent from OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind
• ~30 researchers from Meta, Mistral, Google Brain, and others onboard
🧭 Murati’s mission with majority control
• Murati retains majority board voting power to protect long-term vision
• Company still in R&D phase—no product yet, but heavy investor conviction
• Strategy mirrors Anthropic’s playbook: bet big on frontier science and safety
Thinking Machines is making an audacious bid to reshape how frontier AI is built—openly, securely, and with human benefit at the center.
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🌍 Glyde Disrupts FX Market with Pre‑Seed Round
Glyde, the London-headquartered FX startup aiming to shake up cross-border payments, has raised £450,000 in a pre-seed round led by Fuel Ventures. The capital will fuel engineering growth, global expansion, and sharpen its transparent FX tools.
💱 Transparent, user‑centric currency exchange
• Enables users—freelancers, global earners, SMEs—to send, receive and convert 50+ currencies without hidden markups
• Users select their own exchange rates, cutting costs up to 3× compared to Revolut and brokers
• Launching a public FX calculator that highlights the real cost of traditional providers—no sign-up required
📈 Momentum and backing
• Backed by Fuel Ventures alongside 16 angel investors including former Nomura FX head Danny Kinnear
• Funds directed toward product development, building the engineering team, and user acquisition in the UK and abroad
🧭 Built for the globe-trotting workforce
• Founded by brothers Ellis and Nathan Taylor with deep FX customer insights
• Targets digital nomads, freelancers billing in different currencies, ecommerce businesses paying suppliers
• Positioned to bring transparency and automation to FX workflows for modern global professionals and small businesses
Glyde flips the FX model—putting exchange rate control back in users’ hands. With early traction, public tools, and a capital boost, it’s poised to redefine cross-border payments for a new generation.
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🤖 Typedef Turns AI Prototypes into Production-Ready Pipelines
Typedef, an AI infrastructure startup founded by ex-Facebook and Google engineers, has emerged from stealth with $5.5M in seed funding. Its mission: help developers turn AI experiments into production-grade software with reliability, traceability, and scale.
🧩 Built for real-world AI deployment
• Typedef provides a data engine optimized for AI inference and deterministic pipelines
• Converts unstructured model output into structured, auditable, and observable systems
• Helps teams avoid the common pitfalls of brittle, one-off AI implementations
📈 Backing and founding team strength
• Seed round backed by The General Partnership and a group of top-tier angels
• Founders previously led AI platform work at Meta, Google, and Scale AI
• Described as a “world-class team” with deep infra and developer tools experience
🧭 Closing the AI production gap
• Targets teams moving from AI PoCs to enterprise-grade products
• Offers traceability, monitoring, and reliability from day one
• Early traction with devs building mission-critical AI systems
Typedef isn’t another AI model company — it’s the scaffolding that makes real-world AI actually work at scale.
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💳 Ramp Reinvents Corporate Spend with AI-Driven Finance Tools
Ramp, the New York-based fintech streamlining business spend, has raised $200M in a round led by Founders Fund, pushing its valuation to $16B. The company is doubling down on AI to automate everything from expense management to bill pay.
🧠 AI-powered finance automation
• Ramp’s platform covers corporate cards, expense tracking, bill pay, and procurement
• AI handles expense categorization, policy enforcement, and workflow automation
• Designed to replace legacy tools like Concur with smarter, faster systems
📈 Scale and investor backing
• Ramp now generates over $300M in annualized revenue
• Total funding exceeds $1B, with support from Founders Fund, Stripe, Khosla, and Thrive
• Valuation more than doubled since early 2024
🧭 From card startup to CFO platform
• Founded in 2019 by Eric Glyman and Karim Atiyeh
• Evolving into a full finance operating system for modern companies
• Long-term bet: AI-native finance will give CFOs strategic leverage, not just cost savings
Ramp’s AI-first strategy positions it as a category-definer in modern finance infrastructure.
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🧠 Sword Health: The AI therapist expanding from pain to mental health
Sword Health just raised $40M to push beyond physical therapy into AI-powered mental health care, hitting a $4B valuation as it bets on full-spectrum digital treatment.
🎯 From muscle strain to mental strain
• Initially built for musculoskeletal (MSK) pain, using sensors + AI for at-home therapy
• Now expanding into mental health with CBT-based tools and AI-powered coaching
• Targets conditions like anxiety and depression with integrated physical-mental support
🚀 Scaling quietly, executing globally
• Serves patients in 4 continents, with partnerships from employers to NHS trusts
• Acquired UK-based Surgery Hero in Jan 2025 to expand pre/post-op care
• Grew to $340M+ in total funding, maintaining operational efficiency through tech-first care
🗣️ Led by a mission-driven founder
• CEO Virgílio Bento founded Sword after his brother’s accident showed gaps in rehab access
• Blends clinical expertise with aggressive product and M&A strategy
• Pushing toward a unified AI care stack that delivers across body and mind
Sword isn’t just adding a mental health tab—it’s building a full-service, AI-native care platform from the inside out.
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🧾 Execo Brings Agentic AI to Procurement Workflows
Execo, a New York-based enterprise AI startup, has raised an undisclosed bridge round led by Unlock Partners to accelerate go-to-market growth and expand profitability. The company builds agentic AI systems for contract and supplier management, and now counts over 100 enterprise clients globally.
🛸 Agentic AI for contracts and supply chains
• Automates contract lifecycle management and supplier performance workflows
• Focused on risk mitigation, cost reduction, and supply chain resilience
• Combines generative AI with human-in-the-loop design for ROI and compliance
📊 Growing team, global footprint
• 500 employees across six countries, including teams in Europe and Asia
• Serving Fortune 500 and mid-market companies in procurement-heavy sectors
• Unlock’s Patrick Cao (ex-Tokopedia President) joins the board to support scaling
🧭 Strategic push toward profitability
• Bridge funding supports GTM acceleration and revenue per employee expansion
• Positioning as “the enterprise-grade AI layer” for procurement operations
• Prioritizing sustainable growth before next institutional raise
Execo’s disciplined, applied approach gives it an edge in turning language models into enterprise utility.
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🧠 OpenRouter Builds the Universal API for AI Models
OpenRouter, the one-stop routing layer for large language models, has raised a $40M combined Seed and Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures, with backing from Sequoia and prominent angels. Now valued at $500M, OpenRouter is emerging as core infrastructure for multi-model AI development.
🛸 Unified access to 400+ AI models
• Connects to models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Google, Meta, and more via a single API
• Automatically routes requests based on latency, cost, or performance preferences
• Offers transparent pricing and usage tracking across providers with just a 5% platform fee
📈 Surging demand from devs and enterprises
• $100M+ inference run rate as of May 2025 — up 10× since October
• Over 1M developers using the platform, handling trillions of tokens weekly
• Runs on 50+ cloud hosts with edge latency as low as 25ms
🔗 Building the AI infrastructure backbone
• Integrates with Zapier, VS Code, Cloudflare, PostHog, and more
• Partnered early with OpenAI for GPT-4.1 rollout and usage insights
• Offers enterprise-ready tools for routing, analytics, and failover protection
As the AI stack fragments, OpenRouter is stitching it back together—offering developers and enterprises a unified gateway to the future of multi-model AI.
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🩺 Abridge Turns Doctor-Patient Talks into Real-Time Clinical Notes
Abridge, a Pittsburgh- and San Francisco-based startup, has raised a $300M Series E led by Andreessen Horowitz to scale its AI that turns medical conversations into structured documentation. Now valued at $5.3B, Abridge aims to eliminate clinician burnout by automating the most tedious part of healthcare: note-taking.
🛸 Real-time AI for medical documentation
• Transcribes and summarizes clinician–patient conversations using ambient AI
• Extracts structured data like ICD-10 and HCC codes at the point of care
• Integrated with EHRs like Epic to support billing, referrals, and medical orders
📈 Rapid growth across U.S. health systems
• Deployed in 150+ systems, processing over 50M conversations annually
• Covers 55 specialties and 28 languages; >90% clinician retention after onboarding
• Reduces documentation time by 60–70% across clinical workflows
👨⚕️ Mission-led team with deep healthcare roots
• Founded by cardiologist Dr. Shiv Rao and backed by top-tier VCs including Khosla Ventures
• Now over 100 employees across engineering and clinical operations
• Expanding into inpatient settings and deeper EHR integrations post-funding
As hospitals face soaring admin costs and clinician burnout, Abridge is betting that listening—then writing—can be the most valuable AI skill in medicine.
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🛸 Pangram Builds AI to Spot Machine-Written Text
Pangram, an AI startup founded by former Tesla and Google engineers, has raised a $4M seed round to detect AI-generated content. The company’s active learning model outperforms traditional detectors like Turnitin and is already being used by Quora and NewsGuard.
🧪 Smarter detection through active learning
• Uses a feedback loop to generate hard-to-classify examples for training
• Built on open-source models, offering better performance at lower cost
• Research shows a 38x error reduction vs. standard detection tools
📊 Early traction with power users
• Clients include Quora and media verification firm NewsGuard
• Subscription pricing for individuals, pros, and developers (starts at $15/month)
• Raised from ScOp, Script Capital, Cadenza, Haystack VC, and others
🧬 Stanford roots, big ambitions
• Founded by Bradley Emi and Max Spero, Stanford grads with stints at Tesla and Google
• Currently 8 engineers, aiming to grow post-funding
• Plans to expand beyond enterprise into consumer tools for AI integrity
As AI content floods the internet, Pangram wants to be the backbone of trust—quietly verifying what’s real and what’s synthetic.
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🧮 Qualytics Brings AI-Grade Data Quality to the Enterprise Stack
Atlanta-based Qualytics has raised a $10M Series A led by BMW i Ventures to scale its platform for augmented data quality. The startup helps enterprises monitor, validate, and trust their data in real time—automatically and at scale.
🛸 Augmented data quality for modern data stacks
• Auto-generates thousands of quality rules across source systems, warehouses, and lakehouses
• Low-code workflows and anomaly detection help teams catch issues early
• Designed to empower both business users and data engineers with continuous observability
📈 Growing demand from data-driven enterprises
• 5× revenue growth over the past year, with wins in financial services and healthcare
• Oversubscribed round with participation from Conductive Ventures, The Hill Fund, and others
• Trusted by companies that rely on real-time, high-integrity data pipelines
🚀 Building the next layer of trust in AI and analytics
• Founded by Gorkem Sevinc and Eric Simmerman with deep roots in data infrastructure
• Funds will go toward scaling engineering, accelerating onboarding, and expanding enterprise go-to-market
• Positioned as a foundational layer for AI workflows and governed analytics
As businesses rush to adopt AI, Qualytics is tackling the invisible risk: dirty data. Their platform ensures the insights you build are only as good as the data behind them.
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⚙️ Snowcap Bets on Superconductors to Reinvent AI Infrastructure
Snowcap Compute has raised $23M in seed funding to build superconducting chips that could dramatically outperform today’s silicon-based AI hardware. The round was led by Playground Global, with participation from Cambium Capital and Vsquared Ventures. Their goal: solve AI’s growing power problem with a fundamentally different architecture.
⚙️ Cryogenic chips with radical efficiency gains
• Uses niobium titanium nitride to enable near-zero resistance at cryogenic temps
• Promises up to 25× better performance per watt vs. current AI chips
• Designed to work in tandem with industrial cooling systems for total energy savings
📈 Early momentum and heavyweight backers
• Led by former Cadence executive Michael Lafferty, with PhDs from Northrop and Imec
• Backed by Pat Gelsinger (former Intel CEO), now a GP at Playground
• First chip expected in 2026, with system builds to follow
🌐 A bold shift beyond Moore’s Law
• Targets hyperscale data centers strained by Nvidia-powered compute demand
• Compatible with 300mm fabs—easing future manufacturing scale
• Materials sourced from Brazil and Canada to support global supply chain
Snowcap isn’t chasing incremental gains—it’s betting on a new paradigm where superconductors make AI compute radically faster and cleaner.
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🌐 Vietnam’s SSI Digital backs U2U Network to power national Web3 infrastructure
Vietnam’s leading financial institution SSI is going all-in on blockchain, with its tech arm SSID leading U2U Network’s Series A to build the country’s foundational digital infrastructure.
🧠 From brokerage to blockchain
• SSI started in 1999 with 13 employees — now one of Vietnam’s biggest financial players with over $3B in assets
• SSID (SSI Digital) was spun out to focus on blockchain, AI, and digital transformation across finance, healthcare, education, and agriculture
• Runs a $200M+ venture arm with plans to co-invest up to $500M in Web3 and deep tech
🚀 U2U Network as a national backbone
• A Vietnam-built Layer-1 blockchain using DAG architecture and Subnet scaling
• Focused on real-world use: DePIN, RWAs, and enterprise adoption
• Already integrated with major exchanges (KuCoin, Bitget, Gate, etc.) and used by 1M+ users
📣 Not just capital — community
• SSID built a massive retail education engine:
• 262 episodes of “Café Chứng”, a finance TV show
• “Moneyverse” project reaching 8,800+ young investors through talkshows and training
• Hosted 600+ global investor meetings with Citi, Goldman Sachs, and more
SSI isn’t just investing in crypto — it’s helping architect Vietnam’s digital future from the ground up.
🏭 Pelico Powers AI-Driven Orchestration for Industrial Supply Chains
Pelico, the Paris- and Miami-based startup helping manufacturers respond to supply chain disruptions in real time, has raised a $40M strategic round led by General Catalyst. Its AI-powered platform connects factory teams with operational data to reduce parts shortages, cut lead times, and improve delivery performance.
🧠 AI for factory decision-making
• Transforms siloed data into real-time, actionable insights for planning, logistics, and shop-floor teams
• Cuts parts shortages by 40% and improves on-time delivery by 15%
• Fast 12-week deployments for global manufacturers like Airbus, Safran, and Daikin
📈 Traction across complex industries
• Used in 15+ countries by 1,000+ factories, with 300% YoY revenue growth
• Adopted by 5 of the top 10 global aerospace & defense companies
• North American revenue tripled in just 6 months
🧭 Scaling with Agentic AI and U.S. expansion
• Founded in 2019 by Tarik Benabdallah, Mamoun Alaoui, and Jonathan Hickson
• Backed by General Catalyst, 83North, Serena, and Microsoft’s M12
• Investing in “Agentic AI” for intelligent supply chain self-orchestration
Pelico is becoming the nervous system for industrial ops—giving manufacturers the agility to respond to disruptions before they cascade.
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🧠 Apple Eyes Perplexity to Supercharge AI Search Ambitions
Apple is in early talks to acquire Perplexity AI, the red-hot search startup reimagining how users find information with conversational AI. With a $14B valuation and rapid user growth, Perplexity could give Apple a serious alternative to Google—and a leap forward in its AI push.
🔍 Rethinking search with AI chat
• Combines multiple LLMs (GPT-4.1, Claude, Gemini) for fast, cited answers
• Over 30M daily queries; ~20% monthly query growth
• Revenue from $20/month Pro plans and publisher rev-share
📱 Strategic fit across Apple’s ecosystem
• Could slot into Safari and Siri to replace or complement Google Search
• Ongoing antitrust scrutiny has Apple seeking more control over search stack
• Also in talks with other AI search players for potential integration
🤖 Big bets on future of AI
• Internally led by Eddy Cue (Services) and Adrian Perica (M&A)
• Would be Apple’s largest-ever acquisition—4x the size of its Beats deal
• Move aligns with broader Apple Intelligence rollout and GenAI upgrades
Perplexity could help Apple reclaim search—and stake a bigger claim in the AI race.
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🥸 Cluely Builds AI That Helps You Cheat—On Everything
Cluely, the viral AI startup helping users “cheat” on job interviews, exams, and sales calls, has raised a $15M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, following a $5.3M seed round just two months ago. Its desktop assistant quietly feeds answers in real time during high-stakes conversations.
🧠 Real-time AI for high-pressure moments
• Watches your screen and listens through your mic during live sessions
• Delivers real-time answers for interviews, tests, and client calls
• Designed to be undetectable and context-aware across workflows
📈 Viral growth meets early revenue
• Hit $3M in ARR and claims early profitability
• Valued at $120M post-money, with $50M+ check sizes from investors
• Growth powered by creator-led marketing and bold online campaigns
🧭 Controversial roots, bold vision
• Founded by Columbia dropouts behind a banned interview-prep tool
• a16z backs it as a “new category” of proactive AI assistance
• Faces scrutiny over ethics, reliability, and legal gray zones
Cluely is betting big that AI-enhanced “performance” is the future of knowledge work—whether the world sees it as cheating or simply evolving.
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💉 Tennr Automates Patient Referrals with AI to Fix Healthcare’s Bottleneck
Tennr, the NYC-based health-tech startup streamlining patient referrals, has raised a Series C round led by IVP, with backing from a16z, Lightspeed, ICONIQ, and GV. Its AI platform is replacing outdated, manual referral systems with real-time coordination.
🧠 AI for referral chaos
• Uses proprietary RaeLM model to interpret faxes, PDFs, and scanned forms
• Automates routing and intake based on payer and provider rules
• Now processes over 10M medical documents monthly
📈 Fast growth and product evolution
• Revenue has tripled since late 2024
• Launching Tennr Network to connect providers, specialists, and patients
• Funds will expand engineering and go-to-market teams
🧭 Built by engineers, shaped by care gaps
• Founded in 2021 by Stanford engineers frustrated by manual workflows
• Designed to work within existing EMRs—no disruption for clinical teams
Tennr is quietly building the digital backbone for how patients get from referral to care—faster, smarter, and with far less friction.
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📊 Sifflet Brings Trust to AI with End-to-End Data Observability
Sifflet, the Paris-based startup tackling data reliability, has raised an $18M Series A led by EQT Ventures and Mangrove Capital. As AI adoption accelerates, Sifflet ensures data pipelines stay clean, observable, and ready for machine learning.
🧠 AI-ready data, monitored in real time
• Sifflet provides full-stack data observability—from ingestion to dashboards
• Platform detects anomalies, broken pipelines, and quality issues automatically
• Used by data teams to maintain trust in ML models and analytics
📈 Traction and global expansion
• Clients include Penguin Random House, Euronext, and other enterprise users
• New funding will support North America growth and autonomous “data watchdogs”
• Backed by EQT, Mangrove, and Capmont Technology
🧭 From stealth to strategic infrastructure
• Founded in 2021 by Salma Bakouk and the Fathallah brothers
• CEO Bakouk is ex-Goldman Sachs with a vision for trusted AI data stacks
• Positioned as a critical reliability layer in enterprise AI workflows
Sifflet is riding the observability wave as clean data becomes non-negotiable for enterprise AI.
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🧬 Biotope Backs Biotech Founders at the Earliest Stage
Biotope, the Belgian incubator launched by life sciences institute VIB, has secured €5M to support early-stage biotech startups across Europe. The funding will power its unique incubation model blending capital, lab access, and mentorship.
🧪 Structured launchpad for biotech founders
• Biotope selects 2–4 teams per cohort via its biannual “basecamp”
• Each startup gets €250K, 18 months of support, and access to VIB’s scientific and IP infrastructure
• Focus on transforming academic science into investable biotech companies
🌍 Early traction and pan-European reach
• Since 2022, Biotope has backed 13 startups across 5 cohorts
• Alumni span Belgium, UK, Germany, Israel, Denmark, and more
• Startups have raised over €10M in follow-on capital and €10M+ in grant funding
🧭 Bridging the biotech pre-seed gap
• Led by VIB and supported by experienced operators and scientists
• Targets agtech, therapeutics, and bio-based innovation
• Aims to scale to 30 startups with a €9M fund over six years
Biotope is proving that deep science startups don’t just need capital — they need a launch environment built by scientists, for scientists.
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🛡️ Helsing Builds Europe’s Full-Stack AI Defense Platform
German defense AI startup Helsing has raised €600M (~$694M) in a new round led by Spotify founder Daniel Ek’s Prima Materia, doubling its valuation to $12B as it scales from battlefield AI to autonomous drones, jets, and subs.
🎯 From software to strike drones
• Started with real-time AI for battlefield awareness—now building autonomous weapons platforms
• Products include HF-1 and HX-2 drones, AI-piloted fighter jets, and unmanned subs
• Core tech: “vision-language-action” models that help machines make fast decisions in combat
🚀 Backed by Europe’s biggest names
• Already supplying drones to Ukraine; deals with UK, Germany, Sweden
• Partnerships with Airbus, SAAB, Rheinmetall, and French AI lab Mistral
• Total funding now ~€1.37B, with investors like Lightspeed, Accel, and General Catalyst
⚠️ Full-stack means full complexity
• Rapid hardware push adds execution and regulatory risk
• Emphasizes “human-in-the-loop” control amid growing scrutiny of autonomous weapons
With €600M in fresh backing, Helsing is positioning itself as Europe’s Anduril—full-stack, combat-tested, and ready to define the future of autonomous defense.
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🚀 xAI Eyes War Chest to Build the Future of Superintelligent AI
Elon Musk’s xAI is raising $4.3B in equity, on top of a recent $5B debt deal, to scale Grok and its massive Colossus supercomputer as it races against OpenAI and Anthropic in the AGI race.
🛸 AI Built from the Ground Up
• xAI builds Grok, a chatbot focused on reasoning and truth-seeking, now integrated into X.
• It’s also building Colossus, a 100,000-GPU supercomputer under construction in Memphis.
• The company claims Grok-3 competes with GPT-4, and aims for full-stack control from chips to models.
📊 Massive Burn, Bigger Ambitions
• Total raise will hit $9.3B, making xAI one of the most capitalized AI players.
• The company is burning $1B/month with only $4B in cash left, prompting the fresh raise.
• Revenue is projected at $500M in 2025, with hopes of $2B+ by 2026.
⚠️ Strategy or Spend Trap?
• xAI’s deep integration with X and infrastructure focus set it apart—but require enormous capital.
• Environmental concerns and unclear monetization paths pose real risks.
xAI is betting that controlling the full AI stack—chips to chatbot—will justify its $9B+ burn.
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