WHAT’S INSIDE

• Tech Companies to Watch: Startup news and deals from the last week

• Big Movers: The Big tech movers, shakers and partnerships this week

• Making Waves: Companies making a buzz in the Tech world

• Open Deals: Startups raising capital this week

• In The Money: Significant raises last week and why they matter

• Exit Watching: Mergers & Acquisitions and IPOs

• The Funding Buzz: VC & PE Activity To Watch

BIG MOVERS

Big tech moves, movers and trends to watch this week

Humain — Saudi Arabia's new sovereign PIF-founded AI company aims to bolster the nation's AI infrastructure was announced during a U.S.-Saudi forum with tech leaders like Musk, Altman, and Zuckerberg.

AWS — Partnered with Saudi Arabia-backed Humain to invest over $5B in an AI Zone in Saudi Arabia to provide infrastructure and support for local AI startups.

Apple — The tech giant is contemplating price hikes for its new iPhone lineup, claiming it’s unrelated to tariffs. Apple shares surged 7% after the China tariff reduction agreement.

Google — Showcasing an AI agent for software development to assist engineers. Plans to integrate Gemini with Android XR devices and Android Auto.

OpenAI — OpenAI and Microsoft are renegotiating their partnership, potentially paving the way for an IPO. Microsoft may reduce its equity stake for extended access to OpenAI's tech.

X — Is set to launch its XMoney payment service in 2025. CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed the move aligns with Elon Musk's aim to develop a comprehensive financial and social ecosystem.

Eli Lilly — The pharma giant saw a 2% stock dip following Trump's executive order to lower drug prices despite promising trials on its weight loss drug Zepbound.

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MAKING WAVES

Startups, trends and signals to watch in the USA this week

The Boring Company — Elon Musk's tunneling firm is consulting on a multibillion-dollar Amtrak project and just achieved zero-people-in-tunnel autonomous tunneling.

Classiq — An Israeli quantum computing startup, raised $110M. It has tripled its customer base and revenue, collaborating with BMW and Microsoft to develop essential software for quantum applications.

AI21 Labs — Israeli AI startup focused on enhancing LLMs by reducing hallucinations is raising a $300M Series D round with $636M raised, and backed by Google and Nvidia.

Slate Auto — The EV company has exceeded 100,000 refundable reservations for its affordable electric pickup truck shortly after launch. It aims to produce up to 150,000 vehicles by 2027.

InventWood — The Maryland startup specializing in sustainable building materials is preparing to mass-produce Superwood, a wood-based material stronger than steel.

US Nuclear Startups Funding Trend

Realta Fusion — The NY-based fusion energy startup raised $36M to advance its Anvil prototype reactor design aiming for $100 per mw-hour initially and $40 as it evolves.

The Nuclear Company — The U.S. nuclear power firm raised $51.3M to build large-scale nuclear plants using existing designs aiming for 6GW of capacity.

[OPEN DEALS] RAISING DOLLARS:

Startups, firms or funds raising capital this week

Perplexity — The AI Search startup is close to securing a $500M funding round, elevating its valuation to $14B. The round is led by Accel, highlighting growing investor interest in the AI space.

Harvey AI — The legal tech startup is raising $250M at a $5B valuation, up from $3B months ago. This follows a 50% revenue increase to a $75M annual run rate. Backed by Kleiner Perkins, Coatue, and Sequoia Capital.

ZeroAvia — The hydrogen-electric powertrain developer is seeking $150M to sustain operations through 2028. With over 2,000 orders, it targets commercial production by 2026 or 2027.

IPOs are back…baby

Chime — The U.S. digital banking firm has filed for an IPO to raise $1B+. It reported $1.67B in ARR for 2024 and secured a $33M sponsorship with the Dallas Mavericks. Boasts 8.6M active users.

Voyager Technologies — The U.S. defense and space tech firm is gearing up for a US IPO. It saw revenue up to $144.2M in 2024 and tapped Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan as lead underwriters.

eToro — The Israeli social trading and multi-asset brokerage company debuted with a $52 IPO, raising $310M at a $4.2B valuation from BlackRock and others. It saw strong growth in net income, crypto-related revenue.

CATL — A leading Chinese battery manufacturer, will raise at least $4B through its Hong Kong listing priced at HK$263, commencing on May 20. The proceeds will fund a new battery production factory in Hungary.

IN THE MONEY

Companies that raised money in the past week and why they matter

Massive Deals

AHub International — The insurance broker raised ~$1.6B at a $29B valuation, led by T Rowe Price and Temasek. The funding may delay its public market return.

Pathos AI — The AI-driven oncology drug development company raised $365M in a Series D round at a $1.6B valuation to advance its multimodal data platform for clinical trial design and therapeutic innovation.

Addepar — The California-based wealth management platform raised $230M in a Series G at $3.25B from Vitruvian and WestCap. It has $7T+ AUM for 1,200+ clients worldwide.

Entrata — The Utah property management tech company raised $200M led by Blackstone at $4.3B. It aims to enhance its solutions, impacting over 12M worldwide.

Stord — The fulfillment and supply chain company serving 500+ mid-market customers, raised $200M in equity and debt at a $1.5B valuation. It aims to enhance brands' competition with Amazon.

Stash — The NY-based financial services startup secured $146M in Series H funding. The investment will drive AI-driven financial guidance, product innovation, and growth, with their Money Coach AI platform already impacting user behavior.

Large Deals

Bestow — The U.S. Insurtech startup raised a $120M Series D led by Goldman Sachs and Smith Point to enhance its software services and expand abroad.

Owner — The San Fran startup focused on enhancing online visibility for small restaurants, raised a $120M Series C round co-led by Meritech and Headline at $1B.

X-Bow Systems — The CA defense technology firm raised a $105M+ Series B led by Lockheed Martin to accelerate its’ advanced solid rocket motors and energetics.

TensorWave — The SF AI infrastructure company landed $100M to expand its AMD-powered data centers, eyeing a 20x revenue boost to exceed $100M this year.

Cohere Health — The Boston-based health tech company raised a $90M Series C to enhance its AI-powered prior authorization platform for health plans > providers collaboration. 12M requests annually and ~90% auto-approval rates.

Akido Labs — The LA-based healthcare AI startup raised a $60M Series B to expand ScopeAI, its AI system designed to improve healthcare access and AI-driven patient care.

Sprinter Health — The CA-based at-home healthcare startup raised $55M to enhance its preventative care services like blood draws and screenings. ARR is up 6x.

Granola — The AI notetaking app raised $43M at a $250M valuation, driven by user growth and new collaborative features.

Smaller Deals

Cognichip — The semiconductor startup launched with a $33M seed round to develop AI Chip Intelligence (ACI®), aiming to cut design costs by 75% and accelerate development by 50%.

Reflect Orbital — The U.S. on-demand sunlight satellite technology startup raised a $20M Series A led by Lux to support its first launch in Spring 2026 + 260K+ applications globally.

Solestial — The U.S. space photovoltaic manufacturer raised a $17M Series A led by new CEO Margo de Naray. It plans to expand its silicon pv production for multi-kw satellite programs.

Openlayer — The SF-based startup specialized in AI system governance secured a $14.5M Series A led by Race Capital to enhance its platform for testing and monitoring AI systems.

Doji — The virtual try-on startup raised $14M to advance its AI avatars for online shopping, enhancing user engagement and social interaction.

Tern Travel — The travel tech company raised a $13M Series A to streamline advisor workflows by integrating tools into a single platform.

Adopt AI — The AI startup focused on enhancing software applications with AI agents raised $6M to develop its platform by enabling apps to operate independently through NL commands.

EXIT WATCHING

Mergers & Acquisitions and IPOs

Proofpoint — The Sunnyvale-based cybersecurity firm, is acquiring Hornetsecurity for over $1B to enhance its cybersecurity offerings in Europe, focusing on SMBs through managed service providers.

Databricks — The data and AI leader is acquiring open-source database startup Neon for $1B to boost its' AI capabilities by utilizing Neon's serverless database system for AI agent workloads.

WonderFi — Robinhood is acquiring Canadian crypto/exchange firm WonderFi for approximately $179M in cash to strengthen its Canadian market presence.

Cohere — The AI startup acquired Vancouver market research startup Ottogrid to bolster its automation capabilities and address revenue shortfalls, focus on private AI deployments.

IPO WATCH

eToro — The Israeli social trading and multi-asset brokerage company debuted with a $52 IPO, raising $310M at a $4.2B valuation from BlackRock and others. It saw strong growth in net income, crypto-related revenue.

THE FUNDING BUZZ

VC & PE Activity To Watch

Google DeepMind — Launched the AI Futures Fund to support startups with early access to advanced AI models, technical expertise, and funding, to accelerate AI growth and innovation.

Redpoint Ventures — The CA-based VC firm raised a $650M early-stage fund, maintaining its previous fund size. Known for AI investments, it recently had significant exits like NextInsurance for $2.6B.

Work-Bench — The NY-based VC firm has launched a $160M Fund IV to back seed-stage enterprise software startups with $2M - $4M, focusing on close founder partnerships.

Immad Akhund — Mercury's CEO has launched a $26M fund to support early-stage startups. The fund will back founders with proven track records targeting markets valued at $10B+.

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FOR INVESTORS
Open Deals
Investors– request an intro to startups - [email protected].

Before we restart our placements of raising startups, we’re sharing an open call to send in your own company. Just shoot us an email with a deck and we may feature you in this bulletin.

For detailed pitch materials, please email [email protected] with your deck.
🔥 — hot deal!
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