LA Tech Updates: Apple Podcast Vet Joins QCODE, Amazon Reportedly in Talks to Buy Wondery, Pharrell's New Black Ambition Incubator

LA Tech Updates: Apple Podcast Vet Joins QCODE, Amazon Reportedly in Talks to Buy Wondery, Pharrell's New Black Ambition Incubator

Here are the latest updates on news affecting Los Angeles' startup and tech communities. Sign up for our newsletter and follow dot.LA on Twitter for more.

Today:

  • Apple Podcast Veteran Steve Wilson Joins Startup QCODE
  • Amazon in Exclusive Talks to Buy Podcast Studio Wondery, Wall Street Journal Reports
  • Pharrell Launches Black Ambition Incubator

      Apple Podcast Veteran Joins Startup QCODE

      qcodewww.sonos.com

      QCODE, a Los Angeles podcast startup run by a former Creative Artists Agency talent agent, snagged longtime Apple podcast executive Steve Wilson. The 15-year veteran will become QCODE's chief strategy officer.

      QCODE, which last month raised $6.4 million in a Series A round led by Sono, is positioning itself as a funnel for Hollywood.

      Founded by Rob Herting, a former agent who had represented largely writers and filmmakers, the company has produced eight shows since 2019. Several have been auctioned for film and television, including "Dirty Diana." Amazon picked up the 6-part erotic drama for a TV series.

      Wilson, who most recently ran marketing for Apple Podcasts, brings insights from the behemoth platform as the industry sees revenues soar. Advertising brought in near $1 billion this year, according to Interactive Advertising Bureau's podcast report prepared by PwC.

      Amazon Reportedly in Exclusive Talks to Buy Wondery

      Hernan LopezHernan Lopez started Wondery with the belief that in-depth, narrative audio stories were poised to bloom.

      Amazon is in "exclusive talks" to buy podcast company Wondery and subsume its 30 hit shows and over 8 million monthly listeners into its empire, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

      The talks reportedly value Wondery above $300 million, in line with previous estimates from analysts, when Apple and Sony were said to have expressed interest.

      Wondery has produced dozens of original series including "Dr. Death" and "Business Wars," and has 19 shows currently in development to become television series.

      The company does not publicly disclose its financials, but chief executive Hernan Lopez has previously said the company is profitable. About three-quarters of Wondery's revenue comes from advertising, but Lopez has said the company's revenue share from content licensing is growing (Wondery owns the intellectual property for all of its originals). It also launched a subscription service, Wondery Plus, in June and is currently looking to expand its international footprint.

      Wondery, the West Hollywood-based company with the largest audience of any independent podcast producer, has been the subject of swirling rumors that several suitors are interested in acquiring it.

      After a pandemic-induced decline that struck much of the podcasting industry, Wondery's audience has surpassed its pre-COVID levels. Its Q3 revenue was about double year-on-year and its Q4 performance has been strong, Lopez previously told dot.LA.

      Podcasting overall now attracts over 100 million monthly listeners, according to Edison Research. The Interactive Advertising Bureau projects podcasting revenues to exceed $1 billion by 2021.

      That growth has spurred somewhat of an arms race, most evident in Spotify's spending spree, which also has helped that company diversify from its reliance on streaming. Amazon Music is one of Spotify's biggest competitors along with Apple Music, and recently expanded into podcasts as well.

      Acquiring Wondery would give Amazon more content to slide into Amazon Music, a scaled-down version of which is free for Amazon Prime subscribers. Combining that content with its Alexa smart speaker also could empower the company to capture more eyes and ears in the increasingly competitive attention economy.

      The talks are reportedly ongoing and no deal has been confirmed.

      Pharrell Launches Black Ambition Incubator

      Pharrell WilliamsPharrell Williams Launches Black Ambition Incubator

      Rapper and producer Pharrell Williams released "Entrepreneur" with Jay-Z earlier this summer, a song that became an anthem for Black ambition. Now, Williams is launching an incubator to put money behind his message.

      Called Black Ambition, the nonprofit aims to invest in Black and Latino startup founders, and it's beginning by creating two prize competitions set to close in July 2021. The effort backed by Adidas, Chanel and philanthropic organizations including The Rockefeller Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. Silicon Valley startup investor Ron Conway and Buzzfeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti also contributed.


      The first competition will award up to $250,000 to current students or recent alumni from a historically Black college developing or in the seed stage of a company. Smaller prizes will be awarded to at least nine additional teams.

      The second competition, called the Black Ambition Prize, will give $1 million in seed money to an early-stage company focused on tech, design, healthcare or consumer products and services. Another nine teams will get smaller prizes. Finalists will be connected with and mentored by a network venture capitalists and angel investors.

      "Because we don't have enough of the market share, our kids end up having issues with disproportionate access to healthcare, disproportionate access to education and as a culture, we have disproportionate access as it pertains to legislation and representation," Williams said in a video announcing the news.

      Williams was inspired to pool talent from historically Black colleges and universities and build a new pipeline of investment and resources to young people.

      "We want to lift our HBCUs. They lift so many of us. They deserve to be in lights," Williams said. "We think it's high time that we own more companies.

      In August, Williams published a piece in Time Magazine that accompanied a cover spread on "The New American Revolution." It coincided with his release of "Entrepreneur," the song and music video he produced with Jay-Z as a tribute to Black founders across the nation.

      "Recent events and tragedies have illustrated the always existent stark divisions in the American experience, and while entrepreneurship has long been a tenet of the American dream, marginalized people have faced long-standing barriers to success," Williams said in a statement.


      LA Tech Week 2025: Monday’s Event Lineup

      LA Tech Week 2025 begins Monday, October 13, with a citywide program built to inform and connect. Start with morning coffee meetups, drop into afternoon workshops, then close with evening gatherings that keep ideas flowing. The schedule below is organized by neighborhood to help you navigate Monday efficiently and make the most of Day 1.

      BEVERY HILLS

      8:30 AM

      11:00 AM

      6:00 PM

      6:30 PM

      • Tech for Good: Building Human-Centered Innovation: See Details Here
        Evolving Potential, CoachLabs.ai, Light Dao

      BRENTWOOD

      9:00 AM

      • How Tech Executives Can End Homelessness: See Details Here
        Better Angels United, Inc.

      BURBANK

      1:00 PM

      CENTURY CITY

      6:00 PM

      CULVER CITY

      8:00 AM - 6:00 PM

      3:00 PM - 7:30 PM

      EL SEGUNDO

      10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

      5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

      HAWTHORNE

      6:00 PM

      • Startup seed and pre-seed funding through grants: See Details Here
        Ekvacio Venture Services

      MALIBU

      4:30 PM – 6:45 PM

      MARINA DEL REY

      10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

      2:30 PM – 4:30 PM

      6:00 PM

      • Women in Climate Tech Happy Hour: *Invite Only*
        Sawubona

      MID CITY

      10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

      5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

      • Return to Vision: A Female Founder's Reset for Clarity, Leadership & Growth: See Details Here
        Immersive Impact, Marketing with Mari

      PASADENA

      5:30 PM

      • Beautéverse: Where beauty +fashion Tech meet: See Details Here
        Beaute in Tech, The Foundry at Atelier, Candelitas

      PLAYA VISTA

      5:30 PM – 8:00 PM

      • Perform at your Peak: See Details Here
        Product Advisory Collective (PAC), Swift Insights

      5:00 PM

      • The AI-Powered Storyteller: Making MarComms a Growth Driver for Tech Companies: See Details Here
        Arteria.io, Ketchum

      SANTA MONICA

      6:00 AM

      7:30 AM

      7:30 AM - 3:30 PM

      • Pitch Masters: See Details Here
        iNov8 Capital, Core Family Office, StartupStarter

      7:30 AM

      • LA Tech Week Surfing and Tech Networking Meetup: See Details Here
        Cake Equity, Stifel Bank, DLA Piper, TenOneTen, Progression

      8:15 AM – 10:30 AM

      • HIIT the Ground Running: Founder + Investor Bootcamp @ Barry’s: See Details Here
        Fenwick

      8:00 AM

      • 7500 sq ft venue & speakeasy available: *Invite Only*
        Sportsfest

      8:00 AM

      9:00 AM

      10:00 AM

      • Ganas Ventures Coffee
        Ganas Ventures

      10:00 AM - 9:00 PM

      • STARTUP WORLD CUP REGIONAL PITCH 25: See Details Here
        Syndicate AI, Startup World Cup, Alumni Ventures, Hustle Fund

      10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

      • 🇧🇷 Brazil Tech for Earth - Innovation & Sustainability: See Details Here
        Brazil California Chamber of Commerce

      11:00 AM

      • 2nd Annual LADYDAYDAO #buildinpublic event LA TECH WEEK: *Invite Only*
        TYME INC., SilverDoor / AZOS

      12:00 PM

      • Investors at the Cutting Edge Luncheon: See Details Here
        Actuate Ventures, Mercury

      12:15 PM

      12:30 PM - 2:30 PM

      2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

      2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

      4:00 PM

      4:00 PM

      4:00 PM - 6:30 PM

      • Mission 008: WhizGirls Academy x Two Bit Circus present : The Great LA Tech Week Mystery 2025: See Details Here
        PlayWerks Inc presents WhizGirls Academy, Two Bit Circus, Startup Starter

      4:00 PM - 8:00 PM

      • The Wealth Salons Presents: OGs & LPs.: See Details Here
        The Wealth Salons, DVRGNT Ventures, Musa Capital

      4:00 PM

      • Ask a Psychic Medium: Tapping Into your Intuition in Tech: See Details Here
        What to Where

      5:00 PM

      • The Wealth Salons Presents: OGs & LPs - LA: *Invite Only*
        The Wealth Salons, DVRGNT Ventures, Musa Capital

      5:00 PM - 7:30 PM

      5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

      • The Future of Developer Experience: See Details Here
        Deskree, Arthur AI, Grafana Labs, Runware

      5:00 PM

      • Unlock Apple's Corporate Advantage for your Startup!: See Details Here
        iStore by St. Moritz

      5:00 PM

      • Founders' Happy Hour at Esters: See Details Here
        Objective, AllianceBernstein, Law Office of Langston A. Tolbert

      5:30 PM

      • OBLIVIOUS: DEATH OF A JOB....The Movie Premiere: See Details Here
        AI Music Video Show, Death of a Job

      5:30 PM

      • Techstars Startup Weekend: Consumer x AI by DigitalOcean: See Details Here
        Catalyst Bay, Empat, Techstars

      5:30 PM – 8:00 PM

      • AI Builders & Innovators in Healthcare: See Details Here
        Product Advisory Collective (PAC), Coalition for Health AI (CHAI)

      5:30 PM - 8:30 PM

      • Mission Matters: AI’s impact on Entertainment Investing: See Details Here
        Mission Matters

      6:00 PM

      6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

      6:00 PM

      • Speed Networking for Tech Professionals: See Details Here
        Feathr, Los Angeles Fun Events

      6:00 PM

      6:00 PM

      6:00 PM

      6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

      6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

      • Cinema 2.0: Technology, Storytelling, and the Future of Film: See Details Here
        Strelitzia Entertainment Syndicate

      6:00 PM

      6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

      6:30 PM

      • Black LA Tech Week Mixer: See Details Here
        Tech Circles: The Gathering Spot, Tec Leimert, NSBE| LA, Black Professional Network

      6:30 PM

      7:00 PM

      • Decoded: The Tech Behind Music
        HITMKR

      7:30 PM

      • Comedy- Tech Pitch Roast Show- Oct. 13: See Details Here
        Tech Pitch Roast Comedy LLC

      7:30 PM - 9:30 PM

      8:00 PM

      • AfterHours.LA - The Official Unofficial LA Tech Week Nightcap: See Details Here
        Salesbricks, StreetStop, Trinet

      VENICE

      9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

      9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

      10:00 AM

      10:00 AM

      11:00 AM

      5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

      • The Human House: Connect By Design: See Details Here
        Human To Human, House of Coda

      5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

      6:00 PM

      • Product & Design Happy Hour: *Invite Only*
        Product Managers Association of Los Angeles

      6:15 PM - 9:00 PM

      6:30 PM

      VIRTUAL LA

      8:00 AM

      8:00 AM

      8:00 AM

      9:00 AM - 9:30 AM

      WEST HOLLYWOOD

      8:30 AM

      • AI that Amplifies Human Connection: See Details Here
        Wildwood Ventures, Entrepreneur VC, Mostest

      5:30 AM – 8:00 PM

      • Hollywood’s New Golden Age: Thriving in an Age of Disruption: See Details Here
        Workday, Boston Consulting Group, Globalization Partners

      6:15 PM

      • ElevenLabs - Cocktails & Convos: *Invite Only*
        ElevenLabs

      7:00 PM

      • Apply to Pitch Influencers -Influence Meets Venture Dinner: See Details Here
        Bulletpitch, Justworks, UBS

      WESTSIDE

      2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

      Each session is a chance to learn, connect, and explore the ideas shaping LA’s tech ecosystem. For full details, RSVP information, and any venue specifics, visit the official Tech Week calendar. Enjoy the kickoff to LA Tech Week 2025!

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      California Passes Landmark AI Law as Russell Westbrook Backs Eazewell

      🔦 Spotlight

      Good Morning Los Angeles,

      What do a new California law and Russell Westbrook’s latest startup have in common? AI at its most powerful and most personal.

      California has officially passed the nation’s first AI safety law (SB 53). Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, the measure requires companies developing large scale AI models to disclose risk assessments and safety testing. On the surface, it sounds procedural. But in practice, it is a potential reset on how quickly AI companies ship new products. For years, the narrative has been “innovation first, oversight later.” With this law, California is betting that transparency can move in tandem with progress. Whether it becomes a model for federal policy or a cautionary tale depends on how the industry responds.

      Meanwhile, Eazewell, a newly launched startup co-founded by NBA All Star Russell Westbrook, is tackling one of the most difficult spaces in tech: end of life planning. The company offers an AI platform designed to guide families through complex care transitions. It is not the kind of space most founders rush into. It is emotional, often uncomfortable, and full of fragmented systems. But precisely because of that, the potential impact is significant. By blending AI with healthcare navigation, Eazewell is aiming to make one of life’s hardest processes less overwhelming. Westbrook’s involvement draws attention, but the real story is a startup willing to bring technology into conversations many people would rather avoid.

      Taken together, these stories capture the stretch of AI right now. On one end, lawmakers are moving to contain its risks. On the other, founders are pushing it into the most intimate corners of our lives. It is not often that state legislation and end of life care land in the same conversation, but that is the reality of AI in 2025.

      🤝 Venture Deals

          LA Companies

          • Midi Health raised $50M in a Series C round led by Advance Venture Partners. The women’s health startup, which focuses on perimenopause, menopause, and midlife care, claims a $150 million revenue run rate and is now building its own AI powered search engine tailored for women’s health. The funding will support scaling operations, expanding the longevity and care services it offers, and investing in AI and infrastructure to advance its platform. - learn more
          • PINC Technologies, a Caltech spinout, announced a $6.8M Seed+ round led by Quantonation, with backing from investors including Wilson Hill Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, Hamamatsu Ventures, Qubits Ventures, Santec, and the Caltech Seed Fund. The company develops integrated nonlinear photonic devices and circuits aimed at making scalable nonlinear photonics practical for real-world applications. The funding will be used to accelerate commercialization, scale the team, and bring the technology built in Caltech’s Nonlinear Photonics Lab into broader markets. - learn more
          • Swan announced a Series C financing to support the launch of Swan International, expanding its concierge Bitcoin wealth services globally under U.S.-regulated custody. The company also added a Head of Private Wealth to its team to lead this expansion into new markets. This move aims to position Swan as a high-touch, cross-border wealth platform anchored in crypto. - learn more
          • Vatom announced a strategic investment led by the Hilton Family Office, supporting its mission to power next-generation digital finance engagement. The funding will help Vatom deepen its infrastructure for tokenized assets, NFTs, and blockchain experiences across Web3 ecosystems. This injection positions the company to expand its reach and build tools that make digital finance more immersive and user-centric. - learn more

          LA Venture Funds

          • Powerhouse Capital led a growth funding round for Five Iron Golf UAE’s franchisees, backed by a network of investors and professional athletes. The capital is targeted to fuel expansion, new venues, and enhanced operations across the UAE market. This investment reflects confidence in pairing tech-driven sports entertainment with scalable hospitality models. - learn more
          • MTech Capital remains a backer as CyberCube announces a fresh infusion of more than $180M led by Spectrum Equity. The cyber risk analytics firm is using the capital to accelerate product innovation, expand globally, and deepen its presence across insurance, reinsurance, and broking markets. The investment will help CyberCube scale solutions that quantify cyber risk at portfolio levels and power smarter underwriting decisions. - learn more
          • Helena participated in Phaidra’s $50M Series B round, joining lead investor Collaborative Fund and backers like Index Ventures and NVIDIA. Phaidra builds AI systems to optimize energy, cooling, and operational efficiency in data centers, striving to help infrastructure run smarter. The new funding will be used to scale its platform, deepen customer deployments, and expand its reach in facility control and AI automation. - learn more
          • Lasagna joined DeepWork Capital, Florida Opportunity Fund, and Lookout Ventures in backing Circuitry.ai’s seed financing round. Circuitry.ai offers a Decision Intelligence platform that powers “Autonomous Service Journeys” for manufacturers, layering AI advisors, agents, and analytics to optimize service operations. The funding will help scale engineering and go-to-market teams, deepen integrations with service platforms, and expand the solution across industries like automotive, industrial systems, and medical devices. - learn more
          • B Capital led a $64M seed round in Axiom Math, the startup founded by a Stanford dropout aiming to build an AI system that not only solves the hardest math problems, but also invents new ones. Axiom has pulled talent from top places like Meta to push toward next-gen mathematical reasoning. The funds will support scaling research, expanding the team, and accelerating their vision of AI that thinks deeper in pure and applied math. - learn more
          • Alexandria Venture Investments and Wedbush Healthcare Partners joined the $205M capital raise for Crystalys Therapeutics, which emerged from stealth mode to fund late-stage trials of its gout treatment. The San Diego based biotech is pushing forward dotinurad, a once-daily oral drug being tested across U.S. and European trials for patients who don’t respond to first-line therapies. With this backing, Crystalys aims to fast-track clinical development and bring a needed second-line gout treatment to market. - learn more
          • GordonMD Global Investments joined new and existing backers in Star Therapeutics’ oversubscribed $125M Series D financing round. The biotech, co-led by Sanofi Ventures and Viking Global, is deploying the capital to push forward its lead program VGA039, a monoclonal antibody targeting bleeding disorders. The funds will help accelerate its clinical trials and advance its pipeline toward commercialization. - learn more
          • Hawke Ventures joined a funding round in Tie, which raised $10M in Series A to support its AI identity platform for e-commerce brands. Tie helps retailers reclaim hidden website visitors by identifying and enriching anonymous traffic to build better marketing audiences. The capital will go toward scaling the team, deepening integrations with commerce and marketing stacks, and expanding reach among D2C brands. - learn more
          • Foxhog Ventures led a ₹44.37 crore (~$5.3M USD) seed investment in Assessli, a Kolkata deep-tech startup developing what it calls “Large Behavioural Models” (LBMs) that combine genomics, psychology, and digital life data into highly personalized AI twins. The funding will support Assessli’s expansion into the U.S. and U.K., accelerate product commercialization, and increase its technical hiring to scale out its platform. - learn more
          • Bonfire Ventures participated in Alvys’ $40M Series B round, alongside RTP Global, Alpha Square Group, Titanium Ventures, Picus Capital, and others. Alvys offers an AI powered transportation management system (TMS) that streamlines freight operations including dispatch, load management, billing and analytics by automating workflows and integrating across platforms. The funding will help the company build out enterprise features, scale engineering, deepen integrations, and accelerate growth in the logistics and freight sector. - learn more
          • M13 participated in an $11M Series A round for Anything, an AI platform that turns natural-language prompts into production-ready mobile and web applications. Rather than just generating prototypes, Anything’s backend includes infrastructure like authentication, payments, and storage under the hood. With this funding, the company will scale development, expand its user base (now over 700,000), and deepen its platform capabilities to support full app deployment. - learn more
          • Halogen Ventures closed a $30M Fund III and has committed to invest in early stage startups in Alabama, becoming the first out of state VC to partner with Innovate Alabama’s InvestAL program. They have already begun deploying capital into the state, backing startups like Moxi, Auditocity and Croux, and are actively running pitch events to build a local pipeline. - learn more

          LA Exits

          • Griffin Club has been acquired by Bay Club, deepening Bay Club’s footprint in Los Angeles. Griffin Club is a legacy athletic, aquatic, and social club in West LA, known for features like tennis and pickleball courts, pools, wellness classes, and high-end amenities. Bay Club intends to bring Griffin into its LA campus and integrate it into its broader network of fitness and lifestyle clubs. - learn more
          • Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Center has been acquired by Motivant, with Sarah Gabriel installed as its new CEO. The deal brings the med spa franchise into Motivant’s portfolio, aligning it with a growth-focused investment platform. Gabriel’s appointment signals a strategic push to leverage new leadership and scale operations under Motivant’s guidance. - learn more

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                Salt AI Secures $10M to Untangle Healthcare’s Toughest Workflows

                🔦 Spotlight

                Hello Los Angeles,

                Not every startup raise deserves the spotlight, but this week’s news from Salt AI is worth paying attention to. The LA based company just closed a $10 million round led by Morpheus Ventures with participation from Struck Capital, Marbruck Investments and CoreWeave. The goal is to expand what it calls “contextual AI,” and if it works, it could quietly change how some of the most complex corners of healthcare get untangled.

                Healthcare is notorious for slow, clunky systems. Even the smallest workflow, like drug trial data, clinical documentation, or compliance reviews, can drag on for weeks because the tools were never built for speed. Salt AI is betting that the fix is not flashy consumer apps or billion parameter models, but something more practical: AI that slots directly into the day to day grind of life sciences. Their platform lets non technical teams visually build and deploy workflows that would normally take months of coding. Drag, drop, done.

                It sounds simple, but the implications are not. Imagine a biopharma team testing a new drug, able to cut through compliance hurdles in days instead of months. Or clinical researchers spinning up experiments and seeing usable results in real time. Salt AI’s pitch is not about replacing scientists, it is about giving them back time in an industry where time can literally mean lives.

                The new capital will help scale engineering, grow its customer footprint, and push further into healthcare and biopharma. But more importantly, it gives Salt AI the chance to prove that “contextual AI” is more than a buzzword. If they succeed, the company will not just chip away at bottlenecks, it could reshape how innovation itself moves through one of the world’s most heavily regulated and mission critical industries.

                🤝 Venture Deals

                    LA Companies

                    • Bonsai Health raised $7M in a seed round led by Bonfire Ventures and Wonder Ventures. The Santa Monica based company builds an agentic AI platform that automates front office healthcare workflows, things like patient outreach, scheduling and clinical follow-ups, working behind the scenes to keep patients connected to care and reduce administrative burden. It plans to use the funding to accelerate its specialty AI agents, expand into new medical specialties, and scale its commercialization nationwide. - learn more
                    • Genstore raised a $10M Seed round led by Weimob, with participation from Lighthouse Founders’ Fund. The Los Angeles based startup is building an AI-native e-commerce platform that lets merchants launch and run online stores using conversational prompts, automating everything from product listings and copywriting to customer service. The funds will go toward accelerating product development, expanding into new markets, and refining features that simplify online commerce for small and midsized sellers. - learn more
                    • TransAstra secured a $5M investment to scale its asteroid capture technology in partnership with NASA. The company aims to advance systems that can snag and repurpose small bodies in space, contributing to sustainable space infrastructure and debris mitigation. With this funding, TransAstra will expand development, deepen its relationship with NASA, and accelerate deployment of its capture hardware. - learn more

                    LA Venture Funds

                    • Fika Ventures led a seed round investing in MaxHome, joining BBG Ventures, Four Acres and 1Sharpe Ventures. MaxHome is building an AI-native platform focused on automating real estate transaction coordination, the messy, manual work that slows deals. Fika backed the team because it sees a huge opportunity in streamlining broker workflows, reducing errors, and improving the experience for agents and homebuyers alike. - learn more
                    • MANTIS Ventures joined NEA, Sequoia, NVIDIA, J.P. Morgan and others in leading a $50M Series B for Factory, valuing the AI coding company at $300 million. Factory builds “droids,” AI agents that automate software development tasks across environments, and claims their platform now tops the Terminal Bench benchmark. With this capital, Factory aims to expand enterprise adoption, deepen integrations, and scale its engineering team globally. - learn more
                    • SafeHill (formerly Tacticly) announced a $2.6M pre-seed round led by Mucker Capital, with participation from Chingona Ventures, Techstars, Chicago Early Growth Ventures, The Source Groups, and others. The Chicago-based cybersecurity startup is launching from stealth with SecureIQ, a continuous Threat Exposure Management platform that blends AI-driven testing with human validation to help organizations find and shore up attack paths. The funding will be used to expand engineering, enhance AI-assisted ethical hacking, deepen enterprise partnerships, and broaden compliance and monitoring capabilities. - learn more
                    • Prototype Capital was among the investors in Nilo Technologies’ $4M seed round, alongside backers like Supercell, a16z Speedrun, KFund, and Flex Capital. Nilo is building an AI native 3D creation platform that makes game development more accessible, letting creators build interactive worlds in their browser without complex tooling. The funding will help accelerate product development, bring in more users as “Founding Builders,” and expand the platform’s capabilities for real time, multiplayer creation. - learn more
                    • Rebel Fund participated in a $7.5M funding round for Indian fintech Gold Firm Gullak backed by Y Combinator. Gullak offers digital gold savings and lending solutions targeted at underbanked consumers in India. Rebel Fund’s investment will help Gullak scale operations, deepen financial inclusion, and expand its product offerings. - learn more
                    • B Capital joined Wellington Management, General Catalyst and others in a $400M funding round for Capital Rx, which is rebranding as Judi Health. The company, which operates a pharmacy benefits management platform, will use the capital to expand into full-spectrum health benefits, integrating medical, dental and vision claims processing with its existing PBM capabilities. The move positions Judi Health as a unified tech backbone for benefits administration across employer and plan clients. - learn more
                    • Supply Change Capital joined a seed funding round that raised $4.7M for Helios AI, a startup building the first AI co-pilot for food and agriculture supply chains. Helios’ platform combines climate modeling, commodity forecasting, and real-time data to help buyers and suppliers make smarter decisions in volatile markets. The funding will be used to scale the product, expand data coverage globally, and bring its AI tools to more players across the agri-food sector. - learn more

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