JetZero Just Raised $175M to Rewrite How We Fly

🔦 Spotlight

Happy Friday, Los Angeles ✈️

While everyone in tech is still busy arguing about the next AI model, one startup based out of Long Beach just raised a whole lot of money to change the shape of the airplane itself.

Image Source: JetZero

JetZero closed a $175 million Series B to build its blended wing body “all-wing” airliner, with B Capital leading the round alongside United Airlines Ventures, Northrop Grumman, 3M Ventures, Trucks VC and RTX Ventures. The company is working toward a full-scale Demonstrator aircraft that targets at least 30% better fuel efficiency than today’s tube-and-wing jets, with a first flight planned for 2027 and a commercial Z4 airliner to follow in the early 2030s.

This is not a small bet. JetZero’s pitch is that airlines and regulators need a way to hit climate targets without waiting on sci-fi batteries or hydrogen infrastructure, and that a radically more efficient airframe is the most realistic path. It is also very much an LA story: deep aerospace talent, strategic money at the table, and a product that looks like a mashup of climate tech, defense tech and old-school manufacturing rather than another SaaS dashboard.

There is still a long way to go. The next few years are about turning simulations and wind-tunnel charts into flight data, working with regulators and proving that a manta-ray-shaped jet can slot into a world built for Boeings and Airbuses. But if JetZero gets anywhere close, it will mean that one of the most ambitious hardware bets in commercial aviation is being engineered out of Long Beach.

Scroll on for the latest LA venture rounds, fund news and acquisitions.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

No Agent List secured $10M in private investment to launch its AI powered real estate platform ahead of a planned Spring 2026 debut. The Los Angeles based company aims to put “agent level” tools directly in the hands of buyers, sellers and vendors, offering direct access to off market properties, FSBOs, distressed assets, foreclosures, tax liens and auctions that have traditionally been gated by agents and insiders. The funding will support product development and rollout of the platform, which promises more control over transactions while using AI to surface opportunities and streamline the deal process. - learn more

Hadrian, the Los Angeles based advanced manufacturing startup, announced new capital led by accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates to accelerate its push to “reindustrialize” American manufacturing. The financing, which also includes Altimeter Capital, D1 Capital Partners, StepStone Group, 1789 Capital, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, a16z, Construct Capital and others, values the company at $1.6B and will be used to expand its high-throughput factories, grow its workforce and deploy more AI, software and automation across its “factories-as-a-service” platform for aerospace, defense and critical infrastructure customers.- learn more

LA Venture Funds

Blue Bear Capital joined Hydrosat’s $60M Series B, backing the thermal infrared satellite data company alongside lead investors Hartree Partners, Subutai Capital Partners and Space 4 Earth. The funding will help Hydrosat expand its constellation beyond its two current satellites, ramp global coverage and deepen its AI-powered “thermal intelligence” products for water resource management, agriculture, civil government and defense customers worldwide. - learn more

Elysian Park Ventures led a $12M growth round for Diamond Kinetics, backing the Pittsburgh-based baseball tech company as it doubles down on youth development. The new capital will help Diamond Kinetics scale sidelineHD, its AI-powered youth baseball and softball live streaming and highlights platform, and expand its broader suite of training tools as MLB’s Trusted Youth Development Platform. - learn more

MANTIS Ventures participated in Depthfirst’s $40M Series A round, backing the San Francisco based applied AI lab alongside lead investor Accel, Alt Capital, BoxGroup, Liquid 2 Ventures and SV Angel. Depthfirst is building an AI-native “General Security Intelligence” platform that uses autonomous agents to detect, triage and remediate software vulnerabilities across code and infrastructure, aiming to outpace a new wave of AI-powered cyberattacks. The fresh capital will fund R&D, go-to-market efforts and hiring as the company scales its security platform for enterprise customers. - learn more

Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures participated in Vista AI’s $29.5M Series B, joining a slate of leading health systems backing the company’s automated MRI scanning software. The Palo Alto-based startup will use the funding to expand its FDA-cleared cardiac MRI platform to additional anatomies like brain, prostate and spine, and to roll out remote scanning services that let hospitals without in-house MRI expertise offer advanced imaging while easing backlogs and technologist shortages - learn more

Fourward Ventures is leading a new strategic growth investment in Mermaid Gin, backing the Isle of Wight–based premium spirits brand as it accelerates expansion in the U.S. market. The round brings Fourward’s founder Will Ward onto the board as lead investor and is paired with a national distribution partnership with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, plus the appointment of longtime Moët Hennessy veteran Jim Clerkin as CEO for the U.S. push. The capital and partnership are aimed at scaling Mermaid Gin in the fast-growing U.S. super-premium gin segment while preserving its sustainability-focused, Isle of Wight roots. - learn more

Hyperion Capital joined Haiqu’s $11M seed round, backing the quantum software startup alongside Primary Venture Partners, Collaborative Fund, Alumni Ventures, Qudit Ventures, Silicon Roundabout Ventures, Harlow Capital, Toyota Ventures and MaC Venture Capital. Haiqu is building a hardware-aware quantum operating system and middleware layer that boosts the performance of today’s noisy quantum hardware, with the new funding going toward productizing its platform and enabling near-term commercial use cases in areas like finance, cybersecurity and scientific computing. - learn more

Sound Ventures led WitnessAI’s $58M strategic funding round, backing the Mountain View based AI security and governance platform alongside investors including Fin Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Ventures and Forgepoint Capital Partners. The company will use the capital to accelerate global go-to-market efforts and expand its platform, which secures AI agents and models by monitoring agent activity, linking human and agent actions, and blocking prompt injection and other attacks in real time. WitnessAI also unveiled new agentic AI governance tools that give enterprises deeper observability and policy control as they scale AI agents across their operations. - learn more

Alexandria Venture Investments joined Proxima’s oversubscribed $80M seed financing, backing the newly rebranded AI-native biotech (formerly VantAI) alongside lead investor DCVC, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture arm), Braidwell, Roivant and others. Proxima is building a generative AI driven platform for “proximity-based medicines” that modulate protein protein interactions, including molecular glues and PROTACs, to go after historically undruggable targets in oncology, immunology and beyond. The new capital will accelerate its NeoLink structural proteomics and Neo AI model stack, and advance a pipeline of first-in-class proximity-modulating therapeutics toward the clinic. - learn more

Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in WeatherPromise’s oversubscribed $12.8M Series A, backing the weather-guarantee startup alongside lead investor Maveron, 1Sharpe, Lerer Hippeau, Commerce Ventures, MS Transverse, Start Ventures, 1Flourish and others. WeatherPromise partners with major travel brands like Marriott, Expedia and JetBlue to offer “weather guarantees” that automatically refund trips when conditions are worse than promised, driving demand for travel, events and outdoor experiences. The new capital will accelerate product development, expand strategic partnerships and scale the platform across more consumer categories. - learn more

MANTIS Ventures participated in Sandstone’s $10M seed round, backing the AI-native legal tech startup alongside lead investor Sequoia Capital and others. Sandstone is building an operating system for in-house legal teams that uses AI agents to route requests, draft and review contracts, and surface answers directly inside tools like email, Slack and Salesforce, turning institutional legal knowledge into reusable workflows. The new capital will help the Brooklyn-based company scale its product and grow its customer base of corporate legal departments. - learn more

Strong Ventures participated in Hupo’s $10M Series A round, backing the Singapore-based AI sales coaching startup alongside lead investor DST Global Partners, Collaborative Fund, January Capital and Goodwater Capital. Hupo’s platform uses AI to coach frontline banking, insurance and financial services sales teams in real time, helping them ramp faster and close more deals across highly regulated markets in APAC and Europe. The new funding will support product development, expansion of its coaching features and scaling enterprise deployments as the company eyes broader international growth. - learn more

Freeflow Ventures joined Vivere Oncotherapies’ more than $10M funding round, backing the UC Berkeley spinout alongside YK Bioventures, Pillar, Berkeley Frontier Fund and the National Cancer Institute. Vivere is developing targeted immunotherapies for “cold” solid tumors like colorectal and ovarian cancers, aiming to activate the immune system against tumors that typically evade detection and resist existing treatments. The new capital will support advancement of its proprietary bioengineering platform and pipeline of therapies for patients with few effective options today. - learn more

Alexandria Venture Investments joined Precede Biosciences’ $63.5M Series B equity round, part of an $83.5M total financing package that also includes a $20M strategic, non-dilutive credit facility. The Boston based precision diagnostics and data company is scaling its blood-based platform, which measures target expression and pathway activity to support next-generation cancer therapies like drug, radio and immune conjugates. The new capital will help Precede meet growing demand from biopharma partners developing these precision medicines and accelerate commercialization and health system adoption. - learn more

Alexandria Venture Investments participated in Recludix Pharma’s new equity financing round alongside Access Biotechnology, NEA and Westlake BioPartners, with additional strategic investment from Eli Lilly. The San Diego based, clinical-stage biotech will use the $123M in total equity raised to advance clinical development of its novel SH2 domain inhibitor pipeline for inflammatory diseases and to tap Lilly’s TuneLab AI/ML platform to accelerate discovery across its broader SH2 domain program. - learn more

BOLD Capital Partners participated in MagicCube’s $10M funding round, backing the Cupertino-based software security company alongside strategic investor Verifone and other existing backers. MagicCube plans to use the capital to expand beyond its core tap-to-phone payments offering into biometrics, identity verification and AI-driven device security, while scaling its Software Defined Trust platform that delivers hardware-grade protection through software on standard mobile and IoT devices.- learn more

LA Exits

Webalo is being acquired by Prometheus Group, which is folding the Los Angeles based “no-code for the frontline” platform into its enterprise asset management software suite. The deal will combine Webalo’s mobile, real-time workflows for frontline workers with Prometheus Group’s planning and scheduling tools, aiming to create a closed-loop digital execution platform that connects shopfloor actions directly back into systems of record like SAP and Oracle. - learn more

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How Replify Found Its Niche and an Acquirer

Grace Lee

🔦 Spotlight

Hello LA,

This week’s startup story began three years ago with an AI assistant built for almost any small business. It ended, or perhaps graduated, with an acquisition by one of the fitness industry’s largest technology providers.

ABC Fitness has acquired Replify, an AI platform that manages customer communication for gyms and wellness businesses across phone, text, email and chat. Its virtual agents can answer questions, qualify leads, schedule tours and classes, follow up on missed calls and run outbound campaigns. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Before Replify found its footing in fitness, it was HeyLibby, a general-purpose AI assistant founded in 2023 by former Zillow colleagues Spencer Rascoff, Tony Small and Anna Rodriguez. The company was incubated inside Rascoff’s 75 & Sunny Labs and initially set out to help small businesses turn incoming messages into qualified leads.

That broad vision gave HeyLibby a large potential customer base, from real estate agents and contractors to hairstylists and event planners. But as the team searched for product-market fit, one industry’s problem stood out. Gym and wellness employees were often too busy helping customers in person to answer every call, text or email, leaving prospective members waiting and potential revenue on the table.

That insight reshaped the company. HeyLibby narrowed its focus to fitness and wellness, raised a $4.5M seed round in 2025 and later rebranded as Replify. It went on to work with brands including Gold’s Gym and UFC Gym, proving that its AI agents could do more than answer routine questions. According to the company, customers have captured up to 10 times more leads and shortened sales cycles from roughly 30 days to as little as three to five days.

ABC Fitness became a natural next step. The company provides software to more than 30,000 fitness businesses serving over 40 million members worldwide. By adding Replify to its platform, ABC can offer gyms an always-available AI front desk while bringing Replify’s technology to a much larger global customer base.

Replify’s journey offers a useful lesson amid the rush to build AI products for everyone. The company began with a broad promise, identified a customer with a specific and expensive problem, and built deeply around that need. Gym owners did not need another flashy chatbot. They needed someone to answer the phone when the front desk could not.

Sometimes the smartest AI strategy is simply picking up the call.

More from this week’s LA startup and venture scene below.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

Dimension raised a $1.65M seed round backed by Science Inc., UpscaleX, OpenSky, Long Run Capital, 1864 Fund and others. The profitable social-commerce company will use the funding to launch Seller OS more broadly, an agentic AI platform that automates TikTok Shop operations for brands and agencies. - learn more

Procode raised a $10M Series A led by Health Velocity Capital, bringing its total funding to $14M. The AI-powered medical billing company will use the capital to acquire two additional billing businesses and expand its platform beyond plastic surgery and dermatology into all surgical specialties and ambulatory surgery centers. - learn more

Antares raised $470M in Series C financing, including $370M in equity and $100M in debt, in a round co-led by Paradigm and Caffeinated Capital. The nuclear energy company will use the capital to commercialize its autonomous microreactors, with an electricity-producing model planned for 2027 and initial deployments at U.S. military installations beginning in 2028. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

Wilshire Lane Capital participated in Ellis’ more than $10M seed round, which was led by First Round Capital and included Kearny Jackson, 645 Ventures, Harlem Capital, Khosla Ventures and others. Founded by Cadre founder Ryan Williams, Ellis has emerged from stealth with an AI-native operations platform that helps private credit managers reconcile fragmented data and automate workflows such as portfolio monitoring, investor reporting and compliance; the funding will support team growth and further product development. - learn more

Rebel Fund participated in Dili’s $15M Series A, led by Khosla Ventures, bringing the AI compliance company’s total funding to $21.7M. Dili helps energy, construction, infrastructure and manufacturing companies identify compliance issues by reviewing project data in real time, and will use the funding to expand its team and broaden its platform into additional audit and waste-detection workflows. - learn more

B Capital led ChipAgents’ $60M Series A2, which brought the semiconductor AI startup’s expanded Series A financing to $134M. ChipAgents will use the funding to scale customer deployments, expand its engineering and go-to-market teams and further develop its AI platform, which automates complex chip design and verification workflows. - learn more

StoryHouse Ventures participated as a returning investor in Henry AI’s $16.5M Series A, led by FirstMark Capital with backing from Thomson Reuters Ventures, Y Combinator and others. The commercial real estate AI company will use the funding to expand its engineering and product teams and scale Henry Deal, a platform that automates underwriting, offering materials and other back-office work throughout a transaction. - learn more

Walkabout Ventures and Bungalow Capital co-led Discern’s $10M Series A, bringing the company’s total funding to $17.5M. Discern provides a software-based registered agent service that automates state filings and compliance tasks, and will use the capital to scale its platform following fourfold annual recurring revenue growth in 2025. - learn more

Starshot Capital participated in Quercus Biosolutions’ oversubscribed $5M seed round, which was led by Serra Ventures and included several climate, agriculture and grower-backed investors. The agtech startup will use the funding to expand its pipeline of AI-designed proteins for fighting herbicide-resistant weeds, begin regulatory work and explore applications targeting fungi, insects and other crop pests. - learn more

B Capital co-led Flourish Health’s $26M Series A alongside F-Prime and Cherryrock Capital, bringing the youth mental health provider’s total funding to $46M. Flourish will use the capital to expand its psychiatrist-led, in-home care model nationwide, hire and train clinicians and further develop its AI-enabled platform for coordinating care. - learn more

Powerhouse Capital participated in European Technology Network’s $1.6M seed round alongside Axel Springer, a LADbible co-founder and angel investors from OpenAI and DeepMind. The London-based tech media startup will use the funding to open a larger studio, expand its team, launch a newsletter and increase its livestreamed programming from two shows per week to five. - learn more

LA Exits

Saltair, the Los Angeles body-care brand founded by model and entrepreneur Iskra Lawrence, is selling a majority stake to private equity firm TSG Consumer. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal will support Saltair’s expansion across e-commerce, retail and new products, while Lawrence transitions into the role of chief community advocate. - learn more

Digital marketing agency GR0 plans to acquire Ultimate AI’s enterprise deployment division and use the team’s technology to launch a new company called GR0 AI. The platform will deploy AI agents across brands’ customer data, commerce and marketing systems to personalize outreach, recover abandoned sales and generate measurable revenue; financial terms were not disclosed. - learn more

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From Uber to Atoms: Travis Kalanick’s $1.7 Billion Return

Grace Lee

🔦 Spotlight

Hello LA,

Nine years after his turbulent exit from Uber, Travis Kalanick is back with a new company, an enormous war chest and, apparently, some unfinished business.

Los Angeles-based Atoms announced this week that it has secured a $1.7 billion equity investment led by Andreessen Horowitz, with a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz joining its board. Bain Capital, Fifth Wall, Uber and several other investors participated, while a roster of major banks, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Bank of America, are listed as debt partners.

Yes, Uber itself is now backing the comeback of its famously ousted cofounder. Silicon Valley may preach disruption, but it has always appreciated a good redemption arc.

Atoms is the culmination of the company Kalanick has spent the past eight years building largely out of public view. Formerly known as City Storage Systems, the parent company behind CloudKitchens, it is now bringing its businesses together under one ambitious umbrella: Atoms Food, Atoms Mining and Atoms Transport.

The premise is that AI’s next major frontier will not be confined to screens, chatbots or software. Atoms wants to build what Kalanick calls a “computer for the physical world,” using software, sensors, robotics and AI to automate how physical goods are produced, stored and moved.

That means tackling decidedly unglamorous but enormous industries such as mining, construction, food production and heavy transportation. Rather than betting on humanoid robots that can theoretically do everything, Atoms is focused on specialized machines designed to perform specific, economically useful jobs.

In other words, the robot does not need a face. It needs a business model.

For a16z, the investment is as much a bet on Kalanick as it is on industrial AI. In an essay bluntly titled “Travis Is Back,” Horowitz argues that Kalanick possesses the rare mix of technical range, endurance and sheer force of will required to drag old-line industries into a new technological era. The firm’s broader thesis is that robotics will eventually handle much of the repetitive work involved in making, moving and storing physical goods, creating a market potentially as consequential as computing itself.

There is also some history being settled. Kalanick, Horowitz and Marc Andreessen nearly partnered during Uber’s early days but never completed the deal. In a new conversation about Atoms, Kalanick and Horowitz revisit that missed opportunity and the long road that brought them back together. Sixteen years later, the check is considerably larger.

The scale of the investment is remarkable, but so is its location. Atoms is headquartered in Los Angeles, giving the city a front-row seat to one of tech’s boldest industrial AI bets. It also reinforces something increasingly evident across LA’s startup ecosystem: the next era of AI will not only be written in code. It will be built in kitchens, warehouses, mines, vehicles and factories.

Whether Atoms becomes the operating system for the physical world or simply proves that even $1.7 billion cannot make atoms behave like bits remains to be seen. But Kalanick is taking another enormous swing, and this time, Los Angeles is where the comeback story begins.

More from this week’s LA startup and venture scene below.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

Hawthorne-based Andrenam raised an $18M Series A led by Upfront Ventures, with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Also Capital, First Round Capital and Long Journey Ventures, bringing its total funding to $30M. The maritime defense startup will use the capital to scale production of its sonar-equipped buoys and expand its AI-powered platform for detecting and tracking underwater activity. - learn more

Long Beach-based Bluecore Energy emerged from stealth with approximately $10M in oversubscribed financing led by Slauson & Co., with participation from Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, Hartbeat Ventures and others. The company is developing small modular nuclear reactors that can operate aboard floating barges and deliver zero-emission power to ports, data centers and other critical infrastructure. - learn more

Vikk AI raised $4.2M across a $700K pre-seed and $3.5M seed round, with backing from MagnaSci Ventures and several angel investors. The legal AI startup will use the funding to expand its consumer assistant, document tools and advertising platform that connects users with lawyers based on their needs and location. - learn more

Final Boss Sour raised $4M in strategic funding from Evolution VC Partners, The Angel Group, Mondelēz International’s SnackFutures Ventures and others, bringing its total funding to $12M. The gaming-inspired real-fruit snack brand will use the capital to expand into major retailers, including Walmart, Kroger, Target and 7-Eleven, while developing new products and collaborations. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

Overture Ventures participated in Fluxco’s $26M seed round, led by 8VC and Congruent Ventures, alongside Trust Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies and others. The Austin startup uses AI to help companies source electrical transformers from more than 150 manufacturers, reducing a procurement process that can take months to just days. - learn more

Alexandria Venture Investments and Wedbush Healthcare Partners participated as returning investors in Crystalys Therapeutics’ oversubscribed $130M Series B, which was led by Frazier Life Sciences. The San Diego biotech will use the funding to advance Phase 3 trials and commercialization preparations for dotinurad, its once-daily oral treatment for gout. - learn more

Rebel Fund participated in Klaimee’s $5.5M seed round, led by FundersClub’s Alexander Mittal and backed by ex/ante, Pioneer Fund, Y Combinator and others. The San Francisco insurtech startup certifies and insures autonomous AI agents, helping businesses manage financial and liability risks that traditional cyber and technology policies may not cover. - learn more

M13 participated in Skyfall AI’s undisclosed funding round alongside Fidelity, Inovia Capital, Touring Capital, NextView Ventures and Garage Capital. Founded by former Microsoft researchers, the San Francisco startup is developing AI systems capable of making long-term decisions across finance, operations, marketing and other business functions, with the goal of building an autonomous enterprise. - learn more

Interlagos Capital led Beyond Reach Labs’ $10M seed round, with participation from TerraForge Capital, Off-Piste Capital, Y Combinator and Augur VC. The startup will use the funding to scale production of its deployable solar-array hardware for satellites at a new 16,000-square-foot facility in Brooklyn, with plans to achieve flight qualification by the end of 2026. - learn more

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LA’s New Defense Startup Comes Out Swinging

Grace Lee

🔦 Spotlight

Happy Friday LA,

A new defense startup just emerged from stealth with one of the week’s biggest funding rounds and a mission built for the realities of modern warfare.

Los Angeles-based Singularity raised an oversubscribed $80M Series A at a $400M valuation to develop low-cost air defense systems at scale. Khosla Ventures and Felicis led the round, with participation from AE Ventures, NEA, Long Journey, Harpoon, Menlo Ventures, Y Combinator and others.

The company is targeting an increasingly lopsided problem: inexpensive drones and munitions can be produced quickly and deployed in large numbers, while the systems used to intercept them are often costly and difficult to manufacture at comparable scale.

Singularity’s answer is to borrow from the automotive industry. Its manufacturing team, which includes talent from Tesla and Toyota, is building an assembly line designed to rapidly produce interceptors, while developing the hardware and software in-house. The broader team also includes veterans of SpaceX, Anduril and Lockheed Martin, along with military operators who have deployed air defense systems in combat.

The company is already conducting multiple flight tests each month. Now it has $80M to prove that air defense can be manufactured more like cars and less like traditional military hardware.

Whatnot Wants AI to Find Your Next Obsession

The thrill of Whatnot is not always finding what you came for. It is stumbling into a live show and discovering something you suddenly need to own.

Now the Marina del Rey-based marketplace is investing in AI to make those moments happen more often.

Whatnot acquired Shaped, a machine-learning startup that builds real-time recommendation and search systems. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Shaped founder and CEO Tullie Murrell and nearly a dozen engineers and researchers will join Whatnot, where Murrell will create and lead a new applied AI research group focused initially on discovery and personalization.

The acquisition comes as Whatnot’s marketplace becomes much larger and more complicated. The company launched more than 35 new categories last year and over 45 during the first half of 2026. Cross-category purchasing is also up 170% year over year, suggesting users are increasingly willing to venture beyond the products that first brought them to the platform.

Unlike a traditional online store, Whatnot’s inventory shifts constantly as sellers start and end live shows. That makes recommending the right product or stream in real time a particularly difficult AI problem.

Whatnot is betting Shaped can help solve it. Because the longer shoppers keep discovering new interests, sellers and communities, the less likely they are to close the app.

More from this week’s LA startup and venture scene below.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

Senra Systems raised a $65M Series B co-led by Lowercarbon Capital and Interlagos, with participation from CIV and several other investors, bringing its total funding to more than $112M. The aerospace and defense manufacturer will use the capital to expand production of its software-enabled wire harnesses and open a third factory, following a recent expansion expected to increase monthly output from 1,000 harnesses to 10,000 by next year. - learn more

Intrinsic Power announced the first close of its seed round, with backing from Kyocera Ventures, Drive Catalyst, Boost VC and RPV Global; the company did not disclose the amount raised. The funding will support product development, engineering hires and customer deployments as Intrinsic commercializes its AI-powered platform for optimizing electricity use across commercial buildings, critical infrastructure and data centers. - learn more

Pasadena-based Linker Finance raised an additional $5M in seed funding, bringing its total seed financing to $8.7M. Existing investors Chingona Ventures, Ten One Ten Ventures, Audaz Capital and Angeles Investors returned for the round, alongside new strategic investor 22nd State Banking Company, with the funding earmarked for product development, agentic AI and expanded payment capabilities. - learn more

Corner Health raised $32.5M across seed and Series A financing, with its latest round led by Oak HC/FT and participation from First Round Capital and Zigg Capital. The company, which helps nurse practitioners launch independent primary care practices using an AI-powered operating platform, will use the funding to expand its team, improve its technology and enter additional states. - learn more

Cognify Health raised a multimillion-dollar seed round led by Game Changers Ventures, with participation from Westbound Equity and several individual investors. The company, which provides youth athletes with virtual concussion care within 24 hours, will use the funding to grow its team and enhance its platform and medical services. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

Act One Ventures participated in logcat.ai’s $2.55M pre-seed round, which was led by Founders’ Co-op and included TheFounderVC, Shorewind Capital, Clayoquot Capital and Alumni Ventures. The startup is building an AI platform that helps engineering teams diagnose and fix complex software issues across Android and Linux-powered devices, including phones, vehicles and robots. - learn more

Plus Capital participated in Fora’s $60M Series D, which was led by Forerunner and Tactile Ventures and valued the travel platform at $1B. Fora will use the funding to expand its AI capabilities, enter new markets, grow into categories including cruises and flights, and continue hiring. - learn more

M13 led Rime’s $24M Series A, with participation from Corazon Capital, Unusual Ventures, Cadenza Ventures and Twilio Ventures. The AI startup will use the funding to develop faster, more natural voice models for enterprise applications, while M13 partner Morgan Blumberg will join its board. - learn more

Calibrate Ventures participated in Walden Robotics’ $300M seed round, co-led by Toyota and Deviation Capital, which valued the company at $1.1B. The robotics startup emerged from stealth with general-purpose robots designed to learn on the job and work alongside people in manufacturing and logistics environments. - learn more

Lasagna Ventures participated in Cyclops’ $20M Series A, which was led by Nava Ventures and also included Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Circle and Global PayTech Ventures. The stablecoin infrastructure company will use the funding to accelerate product development, expand its teams and global licensing, and grow its go-to-market operations. - learn more

MaC Venture Capital participated in Pure’s $8M seed financing, raised across multiple rounds led by Hidden Capital. The company will use the funding to expand its engineering and compliance teams and further develop its platform for verified, real-money peer-to-peer games. - learn more

Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in Feathery’s latest financing, which brought the company’s total funding to $30M, including its recently completed Series A. The AI platform, used by insurance and wealth-management firms to automate workflows and improve decision-making, plans to expand its products and grow its engineering and go-to-market teams. - learn more

Matter Venture Partners led TYLsemi’s oversubscribed $43M early-stage funding round, with participation from Viola Ventures, GHOVC, Egis Technology and other strategic investors. The semiconductor startup emerged from stealth with a full-stack chiplet platform designed to cut the time and cost of developing custom AI silicon by as much as 50%. - learn more

Lasagna participated in Pact Labs’ $7M Series A, which was anchored by a strategic investment from Tether and also included Blockchange Ventures. The company will use the funding to expand infrastructure that brings Tether’s U.S.-regulated USA₮ stablecoin to payroll, earned-wage access, credit and payment platforms. - learn more

LA Exits

Communications startup TextPlus has agreed to be acquired by Truecaller for $15M in cash. TextPlus, which provides app-based phone numbers, messaging and internet calling to roughly 1.5M monthly active users, will help Truecaller expand its U.S. presence and add second-number and VoIP services to its platform. - learn more

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