From Retro Cool to AI Convenience: LA’s New Tech Normal

🔦 Spotlight

Hello LA,

What do you get when you cross a 1950s diner, robot-powered retail, and apps trying to do the right thing? A very Hollywood week in LA tech.

Image Source: Tesla

Let’s start with the most literal: Tesla’s long-awaited retro-futuristic diner just opened on Sunset, complete with drive-in movie screens, EV charging bays, and a neon glow that practically begs to be Instagrammed. It’s a mashup of Elon-style nostalgia and innovation, where your burger might take longer to arrive than your Model 3 finishes charging. While the menu sticks to diner classics (yes, there's a milkshake bar), the real flex is how Tesla is rebranding waiting as an “experience.” In a city where parking is currency, Tesla has turned it into a destination.

Image Source: VenHub

Just down the street, VenHub’s smart convenience store quietly opened its doors, but this is no 7-Eleven. The Pasadena-based startup is betting on AI-powered, cashier-free retail hubs that can be dropped anywhere, anytime. Think vending machine meets Apple Store. Investors are buying in on the promise of 24/7 access to snacks, essentials, and even meds. No human required. In a city of hustle, VenHub wants to make “convenient” even more convenient. Check out their locations here.

Uber also rolled out new "Women Rider Preferences" in LA, letting women and nonbinary drivers opt to pick up women riders. It's a long-requested feature aimed at improving safety and comfort, especially for those driving at night. And while it’s opt-in for now, it’s a significant move toward rethinking trust and transparency in ride-hailing, starting with the people behind the wheel.

Image Source: Snap

And finally, Snap launched "Home Safe Alerts" to quietly keep you safer on the move. You can now send automatic updates to trusted friends when you're heading out or getting home. It’s a subtle yet powerful shift toward making tech feel more protective and less performative. Snap’s way of saying, "Text me when you get home," but without the follow-up guilt.

So whether you're grabbing a burger under the glow of a Tesla screen, scanning a QR code at a robot-run bodega, or just getting home a little safer, this week reminded us that LA doesn’t just build the future. It makes it weird, wonderful, and just a little more user-friendly.

Catch you next week ✌️

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

Nevoya has raised $9.3M in seed funding, led by Lowercarbon Capital, to transform the American trucking industry with its advanced freight platform. The company aims to modernize logistics by optimizing routes, improving efficiency, and better connecting shippers and carriers. The funding will help Nevoya expand its technology and scale operations to redefine how goods move across the country. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

Pinegrove Capital Partners joined Armada’s $131M Series B round to support the San Francisco-based edge computing startup in its mission to bring secure, modular data centers to remote and infrastructure-poor environments. Armada builds rugged, containerized units like its flagship Galleon and newly unveiled Leviathan, designed to enable real-time AI and compute at the edge. The funding will accelerate the deployment of these solutions globally and scale development for critical defense, energy, and industrial use cases. - learn more

Rebel Fund joined Lyra’s $6M seed round, supporting the San Francisco startup that’s redefining video conferencing with its AI-native platform. Lyra transforms traditional meetings into interactive workspaces with real-time collaboration and auto-generated summary notes. The capital will bolster infrastructure and support rapid growth as the company scales its go-to-market operations. - learn more

Plassa Capital participated in Bloom’s $1.6M pre-seed round to support the startup’s mission of building an all-in-one hub for the crypto trading community. Based in Miami, Bloom offers a social platform that combines trading tools, real-time news, and community-driven insights for crypto traders. The funding will help the company grow its team, enhance its product, and expand its user base. - learn more

Embark Ventures participated in TRIC Robotics’ seed funding round to support its development of autonomous robots that help farmers manage pests and plant diseases without chemicals. Based in Delaware, TRIC uses ultraviolet light and computer vision to treat crops like strawberries in a sustainable, labor-efficient way. The funding will help the company expand deployments, grow its team, and scale its technology to more farms across the U.S. - learn more

Alexandria Venture Investments participated in Dispatch Bio’s $11.2M seed funding round. Based in San Diego, Dispatch Bio is developing a novel immunotherapy platform that aims to deliver a universal treatment for solid tumors by reprogramming immune cells at the tumor site. The funds will support further development of its platform and expansion of preclinical studies. - learn more

Mucker Capital led Vaudit’s $7.3M seed round, reinforcing its belief in the San Francisco Bay Area-based startup. Vaudit delivers an AI-powered media audit platform that automates real-time validation of ad spend, detecting discrepancies before payments are processed. The funding will enable Vaudit to enhance its platform, expand its team, and scale its global reach across web and mobile channels. - learn more

Morpheus Ventures participated in xLight’s $40M Series B funding round to support its mission of transforming semiconductor manufacturing. The Palo Alto-based company develops advanced laser-based lithography technology designed to make chip production faster, more precise, and more cost-effective. The new funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand the team, and scale operations to meet growing demand. - learn more

Magnify Ventures participated in Alix’s $20M Series A funding round to help the company modernize the estate settlement process. Based in New York, Alix offers a digital platform that simplifies and streamlines estate administration for families and professionals. The funds will be used to enhance the platform, grow the team, and expand its reach to meet increasing demand. - learn more

Untapped Ventures participated in Nexxa AI’s $4.4M seed round to support the company’s mission of bringing specialized AI solutions to heavy industries like manufacturing, logistics, and energy. Based in Sunnyvale, Nexxa’s platform enables domain-specific AI deployment tailored to industrial operations. The funding will help the company expand its engineering team, accelerate product development, and onboard new enterprise customers. - learn more

LA Exits

Exverus Media, a Los Angeles-based media agency known for its data-driven approach to brand growth, has been acquired by global marketing firm Brainlabs. The acquisition strengthens Brainlabs’ U.S. presence and adds strategic media planning and measurement capabilities to its portfolio. Exverus will continue operating under its brand while gaining access to Brainlabs’ global resources and infrastructure. - learn more

Generous Brands is set to acquire Health-Ade Kombucha, the Los Angeles-based beverage company known for its premium, gut-healthy drinks. The deal marks Generous Brands’ push into the fast-growing functional beverage market and adds a high-profile name to its portfolio. Health-Ade will continue operating with its existing team while benefiting from expanded resources and distribution capabilities. - learn more

Launch Potato has acquired OnlyInYourState, a travel discovery platform known for spotlighting hidden gems across the U.S. The acquisition expands Launch Potato’s portfolio of digital brands and supports its goal of using AI to personalize trip planning experiences. OnlyInYourState will continue to operate while integrating with Launch Potato’s performance marketing and content strategy capabilities. -learn more

Vilore Foods has acquired Tia Lupita Foods, a better-for-you Mexican food brand known for its hot sauces, chips, and tortillas made with simple, sustainable ingredients. The acquisition expands Vilore’s portfolio into the health-conscious and culturally authentic food space. Tia Lupita will continue to operate under its brand while gaining access to Vilore’s distribution network and resources. - learn more

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Observable Space Raises $90M to Build Beyond Rockets

Grace Lee

🔦 Spotlight

Hello Los Angeles,

Space infrastructure is having a week.

Los Angeles-based Observable Space closed a $90M Series A and announced a $94M U.S. Space Force contract to scale its optical sensing and laser communications platforms. The round was led by Lux Capital and co-led by Upfront Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Island Green Capital and RTX Ventures, with participation from BRV Capital, Fathom Fund and Venrex.

Observable Space is building advanced optical systems across three areas: laser communications ground stations, ground-based optical sensing and in-space payloads. In simpler terms, the company is working on the infrastructure that helps satellites and spacecraft see, track, navigate and communicate more effectively.

Image Source: Observable Space

The Space Force contract gives Observable Space an early $22M in task orders under a larger $94M award to deploy mobile, off-grid optical sensing stations for space domain awareness. These systems are designed to help track objects in orbit with more resilient, lower-cost and geographically distributed ground infrastructure.

That matters because space is getting more crowded, more commercial and more strategically important. Satellites are no longer just sitting quietly above us handling GPS, weather and communications. They are becoming part of a much larger network for national security, AI, connectivity and future space-based infrastructure.

Observable Space’s work sits in the less flashy, but increasingly critical layer of the space economy. Rockets may get the liftoff footage, but the next phase of space competition will also depend on who can track what is in orbit, move data quickly and keep communications reliable from space to ground.

The company says its platform has already executed 2.6M automated tasks, identified more than 20M targets and completed 84,000 hours of continuous orbital monitoring. It is also expanding manufacturing across Detroit and Los Angeles, with spacecraft, engineering and design labs based in LA.

For Southern California’s space ecosystem, Observable Space adds another signal that the region’s advantage is not just launch. It is the full stack around space: optics, software, sensing, communications, payloads and the infrastructure needed to make orbit more usable.

Now onto this week’s LA venture deals, fund announcements and acquisitions.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

Fragrance brand ’Ôrəbella closed a Series A growth equity investment led by Silas Capital, with participation from existing investor Celebrands, which incubated the brand. The funding will support global expansion, product innovation and retail growth as ’Ôrəbella scales beyond its Ulta Beauty base into international markets including Douglas, Selfridges and Ulta Beauty Middle East. The company also named Anish Agarwal, formerly CEO of T3 Micro, as CEO. - learn more

Ember LifeSciences added new strategic investments from Amgen Ventures and TDF Ventures, bringing its total Series A funding to $27M. The company makes reusable, temperature-controlled cold chain technology for transporting medicines and vaccines, and recently announced full commercial availability of its Ember Cube 2, which provides real-time monitoring and cloud-based tracking for healthcare logistics. Financial terms of the new investments were not disclosed. - learn more

Iconic raised $6M to build its AI-enabled M&A advisory platform for small business owners. The company combines AI software with human advisors to help owners sell businesses that are often too small for traditional investment banks to support, especially those valued under $20M. Iconic is aiming to modernize the small-business sale process as millions of baby boomer-owned businesses prepare to change hands. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

Capital Group participated in Anthropic’s $65B Series H, which was led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital, valuing the company at $965B post-money. Anthropic said the new funding will support continued AI safety research, expanded compute capacity and broader product development as demand for Claude grows across enterprise customers and developers. - learn more

WndrCo participated in Reactor’s $59M seed and Series A funding, which was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with backing from Amplify Partners, Sky9 Capital, FPV Ventures and others. San Francisco-based Reactor is building a developer platform for real-time generative video and “world models,” giving developers SDK and API access to create interactive AI applications across media and entertainment, physical AI and robotics. The company was co-founded by former Apple Vision Pro technical leads Alberto Taiuti and Bryce Schmidtchen, and WndrCo founding partner Jeffrey Katzenberg will join as a board observer. - learn more

Upfront Ventures led Kubera Health’s $6.5M seed round, with participation from Company Ventures, Dria Ventures and SemperVirens. Kubera is building a contract-to-payment system of record for healthcare, helping providers translate complex payer contracts into auditable payment logic so they can better identify underpayments, reimbursement gaps and administrative inefficiencies. The funding will support product development and growth as the company works to modernize healthcare’s payment infrastructure. - learn more

Sound Ventures participated in Polsia’s $30M round, alongside True Ventures, Offline Ventures, Adjacent, Tekton Ventures, Drysdale Ventures, VaynerFund and angel investors. Polsia is building an AI operations platform designed to run company workflows across coding, research, sales, customer support, ads and investor diligence, with founder Ben Cera saying the company is approaching $10M in annual run rate with one founder and no employees. The round valued Polsia at $250M. - learn more

Blue Bear Capital participated in Lastwall’s $16M Series A extension, which was led by BDC Capital’s StrongNorth Fund, with additional backing from New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, Frostbite Capital, BlueWing Ventures and 18West. Fredericton-based Lastwall builds identity-first, quantum-resilient cybersecurity software for defense, government and critical infrastructure environments, with the funding going toward expanded deployment across North American municipal utilities, defense infrastructure and public sector cloud portals. - learn more

Upfront Ventures participated in Itera’s $12M seed round, alongside Costanoa Ventures and Colle Capital, as the deep tech company emerged from stealth with its real-time electronics prototyping platform. Itera has developed a fluid circuit board that uses glass and liquid metal to let engineers rewire and test real electronic designs in under a minute, aiming to cut traditional PCB prototyping cycles from weeks to days. The funding will support the launch and commercialization of its first product. - learn more

Rebel Fund participated in Didit’s $7.5M seed financing, alongside Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund, Orange Collective, Founders Future, Phosphor Capital, SaaSholic and angel investors including Tomer London and Taro Fukuyama. San Francisco-based Didit is building AI-native identity and fraud infrastructure for verifying people, businesses, wallets, transactions and AI agents, with the new funding going toward global go-to-market growth, product expansion and hiring across sales and customer success. - learn more

Fifth Wall participated in NavigateAI’s $25M seed round, which was led by Elad Gil and backed by investors including Khosla Ventures, Lennar, Tishman Speyer and Helix Electric. Founded by Opendoor co-founder Eric Wu, NavigateAI is building an AI coach for construction workers that helps answer job-site questions, troubleshoot issues and improve field productivity across construction teams. - learn more

Strong Ventures participated in K-Zone’s 6.3B won Series B, alongside TimeWorks Investment, BonAngels Venture Partners and Singapore-based Guardian Fund. K-Zone is building a global reverse logistics platform for returned, overstocked and obsolete inventory, using its REMEX platform and AI agents to automate buyer matching, deal proposals, sales workflows and market analysis as it expands further into the U.S. market. - learn more

LA Exits

Comscore Movies, the box office data business used by studios and exhibitors to track theatrical performance, was acquired by Advaya Capital in a $70M cash deal. The business will be renamed Rentrak, reviving the brand Comscore acquired in 2016, and former Paramount domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson will join the board. - learn more

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From Rocket Motors to Consumer AI

Grace Lee

🔦 Spotlight

Happy Friday,

This week, one company moved deeper into rocket propulsion while another pushed further into consumer AI. Different industries, different stakes, same underlying shift: technology is moving further into the infrastructure of defense and entertainment.

In defense, Mach Industries acquired Exquadrum, a 24-year-old rocket and propulsion company based in Victorville. The deal was worth $50M in cash and equity and brings Exquadrum’s IP, facilities, business lines and 85 employees into Mach’s operation.

Mach, based in Huntington Beach, has raised nearly $200M and is building autonomous aircraft and weapons systems. Exquadrum gives the company deeper control over solid rocket motors, propulsion testing and one of the more constrained parts of the defense supply chain. The company will now operate as Mach Energetics.

For companies building unmanned systems, hypersonics and missile-defense technology, the hard parts are still very physical: propulsion, testing, manufacturing and production capacity. Mach’s deal shows how much of the defense tech race now depends on owning more of that stack.

In entertainment, Paramount brought in former Google executive Barak Turovsky as EVP and Head of Consumer AI. In his LinkedIn post announcing the move, Turovsky said AI is beginning to reshape how consumers discover, engage with and experience content, especially across platforms like Paramount+ and Pluto TV.

The hire comes as Paramount pushes deeper into AI, product and streaming technology under David Ellison. It also reflects a broader shift in Hollywood: studios are no longer just competing on content libraries. They are competing on discovery, personalization, engagement and the consumer experience around that content.

The common thread is infrastructure. In defense, that means propulsion, testing and supply chain control. In entertainment, it means AI, product leadership and smarter consumer platforms. Both stories show how quickly traditional industries are becoming more technical, more integrated and more dependent on teams that can modernize the systems underneath them.

Now onto this week’s LA venture deals, fund announcements and acquisitions.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

Clouted raised a $7M seed round led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Gold House Ventures, Weekend Fund, LINE-Yahoo’s Z VC, Gondor Capital, Iterative, AppWorks, Peak XV’s Surge and a16z Speedrun. The company is building a “Distribution Intelligence” platform that uses AI agents to help consumer and entertainment brands plan, execute and optimize viral marketing campaigns across UGC, clipping, fan pages, influencer seeding, paid ads and social platforms. Clouted says the new funding will support its AI infrastructure, creator network growth and expansion into gaming and streaming. - learn more

El Segundo-based Amca raised a $300M Series B led by Caffeinated Capital, with major participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and continued backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Lux Capital, Construct Capital and House Capital, valuing the aerospace and defense manufacturer at more than $1B. The company builds critical aerospace and defense components by combining engineering, qualification testing, technical data and certified manufacturing into one platform, and plans to use the funding to expand its AI-powered RAPID system, acquire and build more factories nationwide and increase production capacity for major defense and aviation customers. - learn more

Kin Health raised a $9M seed round led by Maveron, with participation from Town Hall Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Flex Capital, Foundry Square Capital, Pear VC, The Family Fund and several individual investors, including GoodRx co-founders Doug Hirsch and Trevor Bezdek. The company is building a free AI-powered notetaker for healthcare visits that records appointments and turns them into plain-language summaries, next steps and shareable context for patients and caregivers. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in Robbin’s $8M seed round, which was co-led by Canary, Atlântico and Caravela, with additional backing from AB Seed, Norte Ventures and Tomorrow Capital. Brazil-based Robbin is building an AI-native B2B payments and credit platform that lets large industrial companies offer co-branded virtual cards and credit products to retailer networks, using Pix rails instead of traditional card networks. The company also structured a separate $100M FIDC credit facility with Augme, an XP Investimentos asset manager, to finance retailer purchases through the platform. - learn more

Upfront Ventures led CVRD Health’s $5M seed round, joined by Waterline Ventures and Distributed Ventures. CVRD helps government contractors manage employee benefits, fringe-dollar compliance and audit readiness under Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon requirements, with the funding going toward platform development, compliance and member advocacy teams, and national expansion across federal contractors. - learn more

Sum VC participated in Hellbender’s $12.5M seed round, which was co-led by Magarac Venture Partners and Veredas Partners, with additional backing from Mana Ventures, Gaingels and the Active Angels Network. Pittsburgh-based Hellbender builds physical AI infrastructure and edge computer vision systems for autonomous and industrial applications, with the new funding going toward launching its on-edge AI camera line, expanding product and growth teams, and scaling domestic hardware manufacturing. - learn more

Rebel Ventures participated in Leadbay’s $4.2M seed round, alongside Y Combinator, Roosh Ventures, Inovexus Ventures, TS Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Bright Ventures, Transpose Platform, Deel Ventures and founders and executives from Deel, Gusto and Pennylane. San Francisco-based Leadbay is building an AI-powered sales intelligence platform that helps sales teams discover and qualify small and mid-sized businesses with little or no digital footprint, especially in data-scarce sectors like construction, hospitality, manufacturing, retail and B2B services. The funding will support its U.S. go-to-market expansion in San Francisco, AI research partnership with Sorbonne University and engineering growth. - learn more

Overture Ventures participated in Recheck’s $2M pre-seed round, alongside ReGen Ventures, Jetstream and MCJ. Recheck is a trust and compliance platform for residential solar that verifies sales reps, assigns portable Recheck IDs and has now launched Recheck Certified, a credential that combines ethical sales training, a code of conduct, background checks and ongoing monitoring to help installers and finance companies identify trustworthy sales professionals. Since launching, the company says it has verified more than 50,000 sales reps and 700 installers and dealers. - learn more

CIV co-led Calibre’s $3.3M pre-seed round alongside Vicus Ventures, with participation from I2BF Global Ventures, 9Yards Capital, Jigeum and angel investors including Nikesh Arora. London-based Calibre is building AI infrastructure for the testing, inspection and certification industry, helping automate certification workflows that still depend heavily on manual audits and document review across regulated sectors. - learn more

LA Exits

32 Flavors, the production company founded by Alex Baskin and known for unscripted franchises including Vanderpump Rules, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, The Real Housewives of Orange County and The Valley, was acquired by Sony Pictures Television, which took a majority stake in the company. Baskin will remain CEO, and the deal expands Sony’s premium nonfiction portfolio while keeping 32 Flavors’ existing leadership team in place. - learn more

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Heaviside Raises $28M for Autonomous Precision Munitions

Grace Lee

🔦 Spotlight

Hey Los Angeles,

For years, Southern California’s defense tech story has largely been told through satellites, rockets, drones and software. This week, another category stepped into the frame: autonomous precision munitions.

Los Angeles-based Heaviside Industries emerged from stealth with a $28M Series A led by Interlagos, with participation from Menlo Ventures, Flume Ventures, Cantos, Anorak Ventures and several individual defense and technology investors. The company, founded in 2024, is building autonomous precision munitions for U.S. and allied special operations and conventional forces.

The round will help Heaviside accelerate development, production and delivery of its multi-domain munitions platforms, including its first aerial and underwater systems. According to the company, its products are designed to operate in jammed and GPS-denied environments, where legacy systems can degrade or fail.

That detail matters. Modern warfare has been reshaped by unmanned systems, contested communications and the growing need for weapons that are not only precise, but affordable enough to be produced and deployed at scale. In other words, the defense tech race is not just about building more advanced systems. It is about building systems that can actually survive the battlefield they are designed for.

Heaviside has been operating in stealth for more than two years and says it has built a team of more than 50 engineers and operators across Los Angeles and Oslo, Norway. The company also says it already has a roster of U.S. and allied customers, with the new funding going toward expanding production and accelerating deliveries domestically and abroad.

For LA’s hard tech ecosystem, Heaviside adds to a growing defense-tech cluster that is less about splashy software and more about applied engineering. The company’s work sits at the intersection of autonomy, manufacturing and national security, where Southern California’s aerospace and robotics talent has become increasingly relevant.

Now onto this week’s LA venture deals and fund announcements.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

Furientis emerged from stealth with a $5M pre-seed led by Silent Ventures, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, SV Angel and other investors. Founded in 2025, the defense technology startup is developing cost-effective, ship-based interceptor systems designed for scalable production, with the funding going toward initial production, expanded testing and hiring across engineering, manufacturing and operations. - learn more

Rogue raised a $2.5M pre-seed led by Science Inc., with participation from Uncommon VC, Simple Food Ventures and strategic investors, to accelerate its national retail and digital commerce strategy. Built by the team behind Dollar Shave Club and Liquid Death, Rogue makes high-protein chips and puffs with active probiotics, no seed oils and no artificial ingredients, and will launch in 2,800 Walmart stores nationwide in July. - learn more

Develo raised $14M led by Blueprint Equity, with participation from Villain Capital, Z21 Ventures and Bienville Capital, to grow its AI-native operating system for pediatric practices. The platform unifies clinical, billing and family engagement workflows beyond the traditional EMR, with the new capital going toward R&D and customer success as Develo expands across pediatric providers nationwide. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

Kinship Ventures participated in Nectar Social’s $30M Series A, which was led by Menlo Ventures and its Anthology Fund, with participation from True Ventures and GV. Nectar Social is building an agentic social operating system for modern marketing, helping brands manage social intelligence, community engagement, creator workflows and conversational commerce across platforms like Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Reddit and X. The new funding will support engineering and applied AI hiring, deepen platform partnerships and expand Nectar Agent into more brand workflows. - learn more

Alexandria Venture Investments participated in CREATE Medicines’ $122M Series B, which was co-led by existing investors Newpath Partners, ARCH Venture Partners and Hatteras Venture Partners. The Cambridge-based biotech is developing in vivo CAR therapies for autoimmune disease and oncology using an mRNA-LNP platform that engineers immune cells directly inside the body, with the funding going toward advancing its CD19-targeted autoimmune program into the clinic, expanding its dual CAR CD19 x BCMA program and continuing work across its oncology pipeline. - learn more

Overture Ventures participated in GridCARE’s $64M Series A, which was led by Sutter Hill Ventures with backing from John Doerr, National Grid Partners, Future Energy Ventures, Emerson Collective, Stanford University and other existing investors. Redwood City-based GridCARE is building a physics-based AI platform that helps identify underused grid capacity and accelerate power delivery for AI data centers, compressing interconnection timelines from years to months. The company says it is already engaged in projects across more than a dozen markets representing more than 2 GW of new AI compute capacity. - learn more

Taste Tomorrow Ventures invested in Harken Sweets’ seed round, joining Selva and GRTSHT as the early-stage VC firm continues backing better-for-you snack brands. Founded by Katie Lefkowitz, Harken Sweets makes cleaner-label chocolate bars sweetened with whole-food dates instead of refined sugar or synthetic alternatives, and is already sold through retailers including Sprouts, Whole Foods, Kroger, Costco, Walmart, Albertsons and Wegmans. - learn more

Bonfire Ventures led Ranger AI’s $8.4M seed round, with participation from 25madison, Inovia Capital and Panache Ventures. Ranger AI is building an agentic revenue operations platform for industrial tendering, helping industrial, manufacturing and supply chain companies automate complex RFP, bid and project workflows. The company says its platform is already being used across more than 1,000 projects and can cut industrial tendering time by up to 50%. - learn more

Fika Ventures participated in Outmarket AI’s $17M Series A, which was led by Permanent Capital Ventures, with participation from SignalFire, TTV Capital, Dash Fund and senior insurance industry executives. Outmarket AI builds AI workflow software for insurance agencies and brokers, helping teams automate policy reviews, quote comparisons, renewals, coverage gap analysis, proposal building and other core workflows. The round brings the company’s total funding to $21.7M. - learn more

Wedbush Ventures participated in Secludy’s $4M seed round, which was led by Impression Ventures and also included LAUNCH, The Syndicate, Precursor Ventures, Hustle Fund, Script Capital, Mana Ventures and Chispa VC. San Francisco-based Secludy helps banks, payments firms and fintech companies safely use proprietary customer data to train and evaluate GenAI models by generating privacy-protected synthetic data, with the funding going toward hiring, go-to-market growth and expanding its platform across more enterprise AI workflows. - learn more

Sound Ventures led a new $17M funding round for Anomaly Insights, joined by Alumni Ventures and existing investors Link Ventures, Redesign Health and RRE Ventures. The New York-based company uses AI to help health systems analyze payer behavior, identify denials, underpayments and contract issues, and strengthen how providers engage with insurers across claims management and managed care negotiations. The new funding brings Anomaly’s total raised to $34M. - learn more

B Capital and UP.Partners participated in Havoc’s $100M Series A, backing the company’s push to scale its all-domain autonomous systems for defense operations. Havoc’s autonomy stack is designed to operate across air, sea and land platforms, and the new funding brings its total capital raised to nearly $200M as it expands deployment capacity, engineering and partnerships with defense manufacturers. - learn more

B Capital led Star Catcher’s oversubscribed $65M Series A, with the round co-led by Shield Capital and Cerberus Ventures. The Florida-based company is building what it calls the first power grid in space, using optical power beaming to deliver electricity on demand to satellites and other spacecraft, with the funding going toward orbital demonstrations, engineering and commercial expansion. The round brings Star Catcher’s total funding to $88M. - learn more

Interlagos participated in Cowboy Space Corporation’s $275M Series B, which was led by Index Ventures and valued the company at $2B. Formerly known as Aetherflux, the San Carlos-based company is building vertically integrated orbital infrastructure for the AI era, including low-Earth orbit satellites, purpose-built launch vehicles and in-orbit data centers designed to help meet rising demand for AI compute. - learn more

🔦 Spotlight

🤝 Venture Deals

🔦 Spotlight

🤝 Venture Deals

🔦 Spotlight

🤝 Venture Deals

🔦 Spotlight

🤝 Venture Deals

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