#19: (8/19/24) 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:
UptimeAI, led by Jagadish Gattu, has raised a $14 million Series A funding round. UptimeAI provides AI-based plant monitoring software via its AI Expert OEx platform, which supports industrial firms in sectors such as chemical, oil and gas, and utilities. The platform helps companies understand the relationships between asset performance and process anomalies to drive operational excellence. The company plans to use the funds to expand operations and accelerate development. The round was led by WestBridge Capital (Rishit Desai, Sumir Chadha) with participation from Emergent Ventures (Ankur Jain) and Aditya Birla Ventures. [Link] #Industrial Plant Monitoring Platform #Oil & Gas Monitoring Tech #Chemical Monitoring Tech #Utility Monitoring Tech #Environmental Technology
ITpipes, led by Ned Bebawy, has raised a $20 million funding round. ITpipes offers advanced pipeline inspection technology that empowers municipalities to efficiently manage waste and stormwater systems. Its AI and cloud-based solutions streamline the collection, analysis, and management of pipeline inspections, offering data integration, user-friendly interfaces, and reporting tools. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate innovation for municipalities and enhance client offerings. The round was led by Trilogy Search Partners (Aaron Perrine) and Miramar Equity Partners. [Link] #Pipeline Inspection Software #Waste Water Tech #Storm Water Tech #Artificial Intelligence #Environmental Technology
Guidewheel, led by Lauren Dunford, has raised a $31 million Series B funding round. Guidewheel provides the AI-powered FactoryOps platform that clips onto any machine, turning its real-time “heartbeat” into a connected, active learning system. This platform empowers teams to reduce lost production time, increase efficiency, and improve performance over time. The company plans to use the funds to expand operations and development efforts. The round was led by Decarbonization Partners (Meghan Sharp) with participation from Ecolab, Rethink Impact, and GSBackers. [Link] #Factory Ops Platform #Internet of Things #Artificial Intelligence #Environmental Technology
Quantum Circuits, led by Ray Smets, has raised a $60 million Series B funding round. Quantum Circuits develops quantum computers designed to scale, integrating high-fidelity qubits with intrinsic error detection and handling to reduce the number of physical qubits needed. This innovation accelerates the timeline to fault-tolerant quantum computing and real-world applications. The company plans to use the funds to commercialize its quantum systems. The round was led by ARCH Venture Partners (Corey Ritter), F-Prime Capital (Stephen Knight), Sequoia Capital (Bill Coughran), and Hither Creek Ventures (Zander Farkas) with participation from Canaan Partners, Fitz Gate Ventures, In-Q-Tel (IQT), Osage University Partners, Connecticut Innovations, Tao Capital Partners, and Tribeca Venture Partners. [Link] #Quantum Computers #High-Fidelity Quibits Error Detection #Environmental Technology
DevRev, led by Dheeraj Pandey, has raised a $100 million Series A funding round at a $1.1 billion valuation. DevRev provides an AI-native platform that unifies customer support and product development through a knowledge graph. The platform integrates data from legacy systems, powering search, analytics, and workflows to transform customer service and product management experiences. The company plans to use the funds to expand operations and development efforts. The round was led by Khosla Ventures (Vinod Khosla), Mayfield Fund (Navin Chaddha), and Param Hansa Values (Amit Kumar), with participation from accelerators and family offices of tech CEOs and VCs. [Link] #Generative AI #AgentOS #Knowledge Graph Tech #Customer Support Tech #Product Development Tech #Artificial Intelligence
Ragie, led by Bob Remeika, has raised a $5.5 million Seed funding round. Ragie offers a fully managed RAG-as-a-Service platform for developers, originally developed as a solution for the chat application Glue. It implements a data ingest pipeline and retrieval API, enabling developers to sync applications with data in Google Drive, Notion, and Confluence. The company plans to use the funds to expand operations and development efforts. The round was led by Craft Ventures (Brian Murray) with participation from Saga VC, Chapter One, and Valor. [Link] #RAG-as-a-Service #AI Developer Platform #AI Applications #Artificial Intelligence
Heatmap, led by Dylan Ander, has raised a $4 million Seed funding round. Heatmap provides an on-site analytics platform for e-commerce websites, combining revenue data with pixel-level tracking on every page. This enables users to optimize for buyer behavior instead of site traffic. The company plans to use the funds to drive growth and launch a custom-built AI model for website improvement recommendations. The round was led by Vine Ventures (Eric Reiner) with participation from Hawke Ventures, Pari Passu Venture Partners, and others. [Link] #On-Site Analytics Platform #Data Analytics #MarTech #AdTech #Ecommerce Tech
Livly, led by Alex Samoylovich, has raised a $10 million Private Equity funding round. Livly provides technology-driven residential management platforms that streamline operations for developers, property operators, and third-party management companies. Their platform enhances resident experiences by offering tools for managing community events, communication, maintenance, and more, all within a centralized digital hub. The new funding will enable Livly to expand its market presence and develop cutting-edge technology solutions, including increased IoT integrations and advanced AI functionalities for maintenance and sentiment analysis. The round received strong support from institutional and strategic investors, including backing from Guardian Capital (Brian Duggan), further solidifying Livly's position as a leader in the prop-tech industry. [Link] #Residential Management Platform #AI-Powered Maintenance Tech #Data Analytics #PropTech #Real Estate Tech
Spline, led by Alejandro León, has raised a $10 million Series A funding round. Spline provides a collaborative 3D design platform that allows designers to create interactive 3D content without coding. The platform integrates real-time API and Webhooks, enabling designers to connect with AI models and control 3D scenes based on real-time data. The company plans to use the funds for ongoing product development and to bring AI tools to 3D designers. The round was led by Third Point Ventures (Dan Moskowitz) with participation from Gradient Ventures, Y Combinator, and others. [Link] #Generative AI #No-Code Design Tech #3D Design Platform #Web-Based Collaboration #Artificial Intelligence
ArborXR, led by Brad Scoggin, has raised a $12 million Series A funding round. ArborXR provides an enterprise-grade extended reality (XR) mobile device management platform for managing VR and AR devices. Its software is used by Fortune 500 companies to install apps remotely, manage devices, and secure the user experience. The company plans to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach. The round was led by Mercury Fund (Adrian Fortino) and Cortado Ventures with participation from Impact Venture Capital and Lewis & Clark Ventures. [Link] #Virtual Reality Tech #Augmented Reality Tech #Extended Reality Tech #Mobile Device Management Software #Content Management Tech #Content Distribution Tech
Encord, led by Eric Landau, has raised a $30 million Series B funding round. Encord offers an AI data development platform that consolidates data management, curation, annotation, and model evaluation into one system, helping companies build better AI models. The platform supports AI models in images, videos, medical imagery, and more. The company plans to use the funds to expand its business reach and automate AI data curation. The round was led by Next47 (TJ Rylander) with participation from Y Combinator, CRV, and Crane Venture Partners. [Link] #AI Data Curation #AI Data Management #AI Developer Platform #Advanced Vision #Artificial Intelligence
Goodfire, led by Eric Ho, has raised a $7 million Seed funding round. Goodfire develops tools that enable developers to debug AI systems by providing deep insights into their internal workings. The product allows for practical understanding and editing of AI model behavior, reducing the need for expensive retraining. The company plans to use the funds to scale up the engineering and research team and enhance its core technology. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners (Nnamdi Iregbulem) with participation from Menlo Ventures (Debarghya Das, Tim Tully), South Park Commons, and others. [Link] #AI Debugging Tech #DevTools #Generative AI #Artificial Intelligence
*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!
