#17: (8/5/24) 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:
Leaf, led by G. Bailey Stockdale, has raised a $11.3 million Series A funding round. Leaf makes a unified farm data API and farm data processing platform that provides food and agricultural companies and their software teams with access to user-permissioned data from a wide variety of sources. This saves time and resources and helps these companies deliver farm data-related products without the hassle of creating multiple API connections or working with different file types. The team expects to use these funds to expand their suite of product offerings and partnerships. The round was led by Spero Ventures (Andrew Parker) with participation from all existing investors. [Link] #AgTech #Farm Data Processing Platform #Farm Data API #Agriculture #Data Infrastructure #Environmental Technology
Applied Carbon, led by Jason Aramburu, has raised a $21.5 million Series A funding round. Applied Carbon designs automated biochar production machines that convert in-field agricultural crop waste into biochar. These machines provide a mobile, in-field solution that collects agricultural crop residue left after harvesting and converts it into biochar in a single pass. The resulting biochar is deposited back onto the field, enhancing soil health, improving agronomic productivity, reducing lime and fertilizer requirements, and providing a durable carbon removal and storage solution. The company intends to use the funds to deploy a fleet of biochar machines across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, delivering high durability carbon removal and agricultural services. The round was led by TO VC (Joshua Phitoussi), with participation from Congruent Ventures, Grantham Foundation, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, S2G Ventures, Overture.vc, Wireframe Ventures, Autodesk Foundation, Anglo American, Susquehanna Foundation, US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good, and Elemental Excelerator. [Link] #Automated Biochar Production Machines #Carbon Capture #Soil Regeneration #Waste Management #Environmental Technology
Matereal, led by Jacqueline Ros Amable, has raised a $4.5 million Seed funding round. Matereal makes a chemical platform, Polaris™, that offers a sustainable and safe alternative to traditional polyurethane. Matereal’s approach combines the desirable attributes of traditional polyurethane—versatility, durability, and cost-effectiveness—with innovative chemistry to eliminate petrochemicals and toxic isocyanates, which are the primary culprits behind workplace-related asthma. The Matereal™ scalable platform leverages artificial intelligence to optimize the utilization of renewable feedstocks alongside captured CO2. The company intends to use the funds to continue developing its technology. The round was led by Collaborative Fund (Sophie Bakalar) with participation from Better Ventures (Wes Selke), Alante Capital, One Small Planet, Climate Capital, Sandy Spring Climate Partners, Pachamama Ventures, and PDS Ventures. [Link] #Plastic Replacements Technology #Renewable Feedstocks #Advanced Materials #Environmental Technology #Artificial Intelligence #Sustainability
Graphyte, led by Barclay Rogers, has raised a $30 million Series A funding round. Graphyte makes Carbon Casting technology that sequesters carbon-containing biomass waste underground, allowing the company to offer low-cost removals to carbon credit buyers and help address climate change. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the deployment of its technology, enabling the launch of an additional four carbon removal facilities over the course of 2025 and 2026 on its path towards removing 5+ million tCO2/year by 2030. The round was co-led by Prelude Ventures (Matt Eggers) and Carbon Direct Capital (Mayank Kapoor), with participation from existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) and Overture. [Link] #Durable Carbon Removal #Carbon Dioxide Removal #ClimateTech #Environmental Technology
Sybill, led by Gorish Aggarwal, has raised an $11 million Series A funding round. Sybill makes an AI assistant designed for sales teams to automate and streamline tasks such as taking meeting notes, generating call summaries, and drafting follow-up emails. The system understands the details of B2B sales calls, including verbal and non-verbal cues, and combines this with deal context and buyer information to craft insightful notes, clone the seller’s voice for relevant follow-ups, write process-aware CRM updates, summarize buyer intent, and share information with GTM and product teams for visibility and forecasting. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach. The round was led by Greycroft (Mark Terbeek) with participation from Neotribe Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures, and Uncorrelated Ventures, along with angels like Ashish Gupta, Kathleen Estreich, Bryce Winkelman, and Tanuj Thapliyal. [Link] #SalesTech #AI Assistant #Sales Intelligence Software #Sales Acceleration Software #Artificial Intelligence
Ema, led by Surojit Chatterjee, has raised a $36 million addition to its Series A funding round, now totaling $50 million. Ema makes an agentic AI system designed to enhance the workplace by performing complex tasks with a collection of AI agents, improving efficiency and productivity across organizations. The company intends to use the funds to continue iterating its technology and expand its investments in R&D and GTM. The round was led by Section 32 (Andrew Harrison) and Accel Partners (Subrata Mitra), with participation from Prosus Ventures, Sozo Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, Wipro Ventures, SCB 10X, Colle Capital, and Frontier Ventures. [Link] #Universal Employee of the Future #Generative AI #AI Agents #Artificial Intelligence
Tezi, led by Raghavendra Prabhu, has raised a $9 million Seed funding round. Tezi makes Max, an autonomous AI employee trained to manage the end-to-end recruiting process, including scheduling, sourcing, and screening candidates. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and development efforts, with a launch set for Fall 2024. The round was led by Audacious Ventures (Nakul Mandan) and 8VC (Bhaskar Ghosh), with participation from Liquid 2, Afore, Prime Set, and South Park Commons, as well as angel investors including the founding CEOs of Instacart and Thumbtack. [Link] #Autonomous AI Recruiter #Recruiting Tech #AI agents #Artificial Intelligence
unspun, led by Walden Lam, has raised a $32 million Series B funding round. unspun makes Vega™, a 3D weaving technology platform designed to help brands realize a low-inventory, nearshore, and automated supply-chain for woven products. The company intends to use the funds to develop its 3D weaving technology and expand its operations in Europe and North America. The round was led by DCVC (Milo Werner), with participation from Lowercarbon Capital, E12, Decathlon, and SOSV. [Link] #3D Weaving Tech #Automated Supply-Chain #On Demand Manufacturing #Sustainability #Environmental Technology
Haus, led by Zach Epstein, has raised a $20 million Additional Financing round. Haus makes decision science and marketing measurement solutions, bringing causal science and experimental rigor to the global advertising industry. The company intends to use the funds to deepen their marketing measurement and experimentation tools, expand causal inference analytics, and launch a new product, Causal Attribution. The round was led by 01 Advisors (David Fischer, Dick Costolo), with participation from Rahul Mehta, Gokul Rajaram, Insight Partners (Jonathan Rosenbaum), Baseline Ventures, Haystack Ventures, Octave, and Mantis Venture Capital. [Link] #Marketing Science & Experimentation Platform #Data Science Tools #MarTech #AdTech
Trio Mobil, led by Nevzat Atakli, has raised a $26.5 million Growth Financing round. Trio Mobil makes AI and IoT solutions for workplace safety and efficiency, offering advanced solutions for intralogistics in facilities and warehouses, as well as highway operations. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach. The round was led by NewSpring (Hart Callahan), with participation from existing investors 212 (Numan Numan) and TIBAS Ventures. [Link] #Intralogistics Safety #Fleet Management #Workplace Safety #Internet of Things #Environmental Technology #Artificial Intelligence
Credo AI, led by Navrina Singh, has raised a $21 million Series B funding round. Credo AI makes an AI Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance platform to measure, monitor, and manage AI risks, ensuring compliance with global regulations and standards. The company plans to use the funds to expand strategic GTM efforts, intensify product innovation in governance intelligence, and enhance its capability as the central hub for AI governance. The round was led by CrimsoNox Capital, Mozilla Ventures (Mohamed Nanabhay), and FPV Ventures (Pegah Ebrahimi), with participation from Sands Capital, Decibel VC, Booz Allen Hamilton, and AI Fund. [Link] #AI Governance Software #AI Risk Management #AI Compliance Platform #Artificial Intelligence
Onepak, led by Steve Andon, has raised a $20 million Private Equity funding round. Onepak makes the ReturnCenter platform, a digital supply chain and reverse logistics solution for returning, recycling, reselling, or relocating IT devices. The platform allows seamless management of used electronic devices from businesses and consumers. The round was led by Nuveen (Ted Maa). [Link] #Supply Chain and Reverse Logistics Platform #E-Waste Repurposing #Recycling Tech #Sustainability #Circular Economy #Environmental Technology
AeroShield, led by Dr. Elise Strobach, has raised a $5 million Seed add-on funding round. AeroShield makes transparent silica aerogels that can be added inside double-pane windows and doors to improve energy performance by up to 65%. The company intends to use the funds to scale its business and expand its team. The round was led by Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (Emily Reichert) and MassVentures (Charles Hipwood), with participation from new investor MassMutual Ventures (Karl Beinkampen). [Link] #Glass Manufacturers #Energy Performance #GreenTech #Sustainability #Environmental Technology #ClimateTech
*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!
