#15: (7/22/24) Early & Growth Stage Tech Startup Funding Recap!
Check Out This Week's Venture Capital Investment Summary Spanning Early & Growth-Stage US Based Environmental Technology & Enterprise Software Startups!
Every Monday, the team here at Bearhug Recruiting aggregates, researches, and publishes a recap of the prior week's fundraising activity within the early and growth-stage Environmental Technology & Enterprise Software startup ecosystem.
This research not only allows us to keep our finger on the pulse of the markets we serve, but also benefits others who, like us, enjoy analyzing the latest trends that signal investor confidence AND startup growth within what we believe are the most exciting and impactful segments!
We also hope the people and companies we feature enjoy both a virtual fist bump from the team at Bearhug, plus benefit from some additional free market exposure to amplify their mission. Make sure you reach out to any that are interesting/relevant that you might be able to help!
Here’s this week’s startup funding recap:
Jacobi Robotics, led by Max Cao, has raised a $5 million Seed funding round. Jacobi Robotics is commercializing AI-powered motion planning technology to improve the programming time and performance of robot solutions. The funds will be used to expand operations and its development efforts. The round was led by Moxxie Ventures (Alex Roetter) with participation from Foothill Ventures, Humba Ventures, The House Fund, and existing investors Swift Ventures, Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, LDV Partners, and Courtyard Ventures. [Link] #Robotics #Computer Vision #Robotic Arm #AI Powered Robot Programming #Artificial Intelligence #Environmental Technology
Alvys, led by Nick Darman, has raised a $20.5 million Series A funding round. Alvys provides a logistics operating platform designed to empower logistics and supply chain management by integrating modern, cloud-based solutions to streamline processes and improve operational efficiency. The funds will be used to accelerate its growth, further enhance the development of its platform, and expand its team. The round was led by Titanium Ventures (Saad Siddiqui), with participation from RTP, Bonfire (Jim Andelman), and Picus Capital. [Link] #Transportation Management System #Supply Chain Management Software #Logistics Software #Environmental Technology #Fleet Management Software
Halo Industries, led by Andrei Iancu, has raised an $80 million Series B funding round. Halo Industries has developed a laser manufacturing technology platform for the semiconductor industry, replacing traditional mechanical and thermal processes with novel light-based equivalents that provide higher quality, lower cost, and enhanced functionality. The funds will be used to scale the commercialization and reach of its technology. The round was led by Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund (Thomas Tull, Peter Tague) with participation from 8VC and SAIC. [Link] #Lazer Manufacturing #Semiconductor Manufacturing #Environmental Technology #Silicon Carbide Wafers #Sustainable Electrification
Coast, led by Daniel Simon, has raised a $40 million Series B funding round. Coast offers a smart way for companies in the United States to manage fuel and fleet spending. The funds will be used to accelerate its product and partnership development, expand to other financial services needs of its business customers, and grow its team, including at its newly established second headquarters in Utah. The round was led by ICONIQ Growth (Yoonkee Sull), with participation from existing investors Accel, Insight Partners, Vesey Ventures, and Avid Ventures, as well as new investors Thomvest. [Link] #Fleet Spending #B2B Payments Infrastructure #FinTech #Environmental Technology
Adaptive, led by Matt Calvano, has raised a $19 million Series A funding round. Adaptive provides a financial automation platform for the construction industry, aiming to bring financial clarity through advanced automation and AI. The funds will be used to expand its product into an integrated financial ecosystem that connects developers, general contractors, and subcontractors, delivering payments across the construction value chain. The round was led by Emergence Capital (Kevin Spain) with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Definition, Exponent, 3kvc, Box Group, and Gokul Rajaram. [Link] #Finance Automation #Construction #Artificial Intelligence #FinTech #Environmental Technology
Peak Energy, led by Landon Mossburg, has raised a $55 million Series A funding round. Peak Energy provides Sodium-Ion battery systems, developing low-cost, giga-scale energy storage technology for the grid. The funds will be used to expand operations and its development efforts, including launching the first full-scale production of sodium-ion storage in the U.S. The round was led by Xora Innovation (Phil Inagaki), with participation from existing investor Eclipse, TDK Ventures, and new investors Lachy Groom, Tishman Speyer, TechEnergy Ventures, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, and DETV-Scania Invest. [Link] #Energy Storage #Sodium-Ion Battery Systems #Environmental Technology
Earthshot Labs, led by Troy Carter, has raised a $5.5 million Series A funding round. Earthshot Labs provides a carbon development platform for nature restoration and conservation projects, using carbon as the primary financing mechanism. The funds will be used to expand its platform for nature-based carbon project development and financing. The round was led by Acorn Pacific Ventures (Derek Chau) with participation from Earth Foundry, Future Ventures, Resilient Earth Capital, One Small Planet, Parameter Ventures, Sand Hill Angels, and Orca Capital. [Link] #Carbon Development Platform #Reforestation #ClimateTech #Conservation #Agroforestry #Environmental Technology
Marathon Fusion, led by Kyle Schiller, has raised a $5.9 million Seed funding round. Marathon Fusion is developing fuel processing technology for the fusion industry to improve fuel processing efficiency, allowing fusion power plants to operate with less tritium inventory and enabling smaller facilities and improved operational expenses. The funds will be used to expand operations and its development efforts. The round was led by 1517 Fund (Danielle Strachman) and Anglo American, with participation from Übermorgen Ventures, Shared Future Fund, Malcolm Handley, and other investors. [Link] #Fusion Power Plants #Fuel Processing #Fusion Technology #Environmental Technology
Heimdall Power, led by Jørgen Festervoll, has raised a $25 million Series B funding round. Heimdall Power specializes in power grid optimization, using smart software solutions and industrial devices to increase power grid capacity for utility companies around the world. The funds will be used to expand operations and its development efforts. The round was led by Orlen (Marek Garniewski), Nordic cleantech fund NRP Zero (Andreas Marø), and the Steinsvik Family Office, with additional investments from existing investors, Investinor, Eviny, Hafslund, Lyse, and Sarsia Seed. [Link] #Power Grid Optimization #Smart Grid Tech #ClimateTech #CleanTech #Environmental Technology
OnRamp, led by Paul Holder, has raised a $14.2 million Series A funding round. OnRamp delivers customer onboarding by automating and streamlining the post-sales process, helping B2B companies accelerate revenue growth and enhance customer satisfaction. The funds will be used to enhance the product’s automation and user-friendly capabilities. The round was led by Javelin Venture Partners (Noah Doyle) with participation from Contour Venture Partners, Pear VC, Quiet Capital, Correlation Ventures, Frontier Ventures, J Ventures, and strategic individuals including Claire Hughes Johnson (Stripe), Steve Fredette, and Louis Beryl (Four Cities Capital). [Link] #Onboarding Automation #MarTech #SalesTech #Revenue Acceleration
Thoughtful AI, led by Alex Zekoff, has raised a $20 million Series A funding round. Thoughtful AI is an AI-powered revenue cycle automation company that provides scalable business automation solutions for mid-market healthcare companies. The funds will be used to invest in research and development, enhance its flagship RCM AI products, hire tech talent, and expand its go-to-market strategy and operations. The round was led by Drive Capital (Nick Solaro) with participation from TriplePoint Capital. [Link] #Revenue Cycle Automation #Healthcare #AI Agents #Artificial Intelligence
Shaped, led by Tullie Murrell, has raised an $8 million Series A funding round. Shaped.ai offers an AI recommendation and search platform for marketplaces, e-commerce, and content companies, enabling businesses to create personalized user experiences that drive engagement, conversions, and customer satisfaction. The funds will be used to expand operations and development efforts. The round was led by Madrona Ventures (Karan Mehandru) with participation from Y-Combinator and executives and founders from Clickhouse, DocuSign, Okta, Rippling, and StitchFix. [Link] #AI Marketplace Tech #AI Ecommerce Tech #AI Search & Recommendation #AI Product Discovery #Artificial Intelligence
Exa, led by Will Bryk, has raised a $22 million Series A funding round. Exa is an AI research lab redesigning search for the AI age by training embedding models to convert web pages into embeddings, making search smarter than keyword approaches like Google. The funds will be used to expand operations and development efforts to build the search engine for AI. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners (Guru Chahal), with participation from NVentures, NVIDIA’s venture capital arm, and Y Combinator. [Link] #AI Search Engine #AI Language Models #Artificial Intelligence
Momento, led by Khawaja Shams, has raised a $15 million Series A funding round. Momento makes real-time data infrastructure easy at enterprise scale, with a platform built for scale and a streamlined development and operational experience. The funds will be used to accelerate enterprise sales and expand the platform’s feature set, with a focus on supporting new AI workloads. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures (Aaref Hilaly, Enrique Salem), with participation from The General Partnership (Daniel Portillo, Phin Barnes), Marianna Tessel, Neha Narkhede, Tom Killalea, Don MacAskill, and John Lilly. [Link] #Real Time Data Platform #AI Infrastructure #Artificial Intelligence
Vectara, led by Amr Awadallah, has raised a $25 million Series A funding round. Vectara provides an end-to-end platform for embedding generative AI features into applications, offering a safe and secure entry point for businesses to leverage generative AI capabilities. The funds will be used to advance internal innovations, ramp up go-to-market resources, and expand its offering in Australia and EMEA regions. The round was led by Race Capital (Alfred Chuang) and FPV Ventures (Pegah Ebrahimi), with additional investors including Alumni Ventures, WVV Capital, Samsung Next, Fusion Fund, Green Sands Equity, and Mack Ventures. [Link] #Generative AI #Artificial Intelligence #Retrieval Augmented Generation Platform
aiXplain, led by Hassan Sawaf, has raised a $6.5 million Pre-Series A funding round. aiXplain provides essential infrastructure for accelerated AI development, offering businesses the tools to build, fine-tune, and benchmark AI models. The funds will be used to expand operations and its development efforts. The round was led by Wa’ed Ventures (Fahad Alidi) with participation from Osama Elkady and Kane Minkus. [Link] #AI Infrastructure #AI Model Training #AI Marketplace #Artificial Intelligence
EdgeRunner AI, led by Tyler Xuan Saltsman, has raised a $5.5 million Seed funding round. EdgeRunner AI is building Generative AI for the edge, developing small, task-specific Ultra-Efficient Language Models (UELMs) that operate without needing internet access, improving data privacy, security, and compliance. The funds will be used to build its platform powered by state-of-the-art transparent models designed to operate on any device or hardware. The round was led by Four Rivers Group (Dan Scholnick) with participation from Madrona Ventures and strategic angels. [Link] #Generative AI #Edge Computing #Artificial Intelligence #AI Language Models #Environmental Technology
*Note: The companies we feature in our weekly recap are a very small subset of a much larger batch, carefully chosen based on our team's assessment of how each company aligns with our GTM search practice. It’s worth noting that most startups raise funding rounds privately, often long before the news is announced publicly!
