Newsletter #52

This Week's Good Reads

Bloomberg - OpenAI Is Falling Out of Favor With Secondary Buyers — Secondary-market demand for OpenAI shares has cooled sharply even as the company closed its massive $122 billion financing, with some large holders reportedly unable to place roughly $600 million of stock. At the same time, marketplaces are seeing surging demand for Anthropic, as investors bet the gap between OpenAI's $852 billion valuation and Anthropic's $380 billion valuation leaves more near-term upside in Anthropic despite Anthropic's own recent security and policy setbacks. Bloomberg
TechCrunch - In Japan, the robot isn't coming for your job; it's filling the one nobody wants — TechCrunch argues Japan is becoming one of the clearest real-world proving grounds for physical AI, driven less by hype than by a shrinking workforce and the need to keep factories, warehouses, infrastructure, and services running. The piece highlights how Japan's strength in actuators, sensors, and motion control is now being paired with more investment in orchestration software, digital twins, and autonomous deployment systems, suggesting the next wave of robotics value may sit in integration and continuous improvement rather than hardware alone. TechCrunch

Robotics and AI Companies Funding

Pre-seed / Seed

Miravoice – $6.3M, Seed round led by Unusual Ventures with Neo, 25madison, and angels including Karim Atiyeh, Rajeev Goel, and Amar Goel. AI voice agents for long-form quantitative phone surveys with strict branching logic for market research and polling.
Nexus – $4.3M, Seed round led by General Catalyst with Y Combinator, Transpose Platform, Twenty Two Ventures, Phosphor Capital, and angels including Gokul Rajaram, Raphael Schaad, and Jake Mintz. Enterprise AI agent platform that lets non-technical teams deploy autonomous agents across core business systems.
Soma Energy – $7M, Seed and Pre-seed round led by Category Ventures with Haystack, RRE Ventures, TO VC, Uncork Capital, Panache Ventures, and Walter Kortschak. AI control layer helping data centers and power producers coordinate generation, storage, and large loads in real time.
Numos – $4.25M, Seed round led by General Catalyst with Operator Collective. AI agents for finance teams focused on explainable workflows across reconciliations, variance analysis, quote-to-cash, and close.
Anvil Robotics – $5.5M, Seed round led by Matter Venture Partners with Humba Ventures, DNX Ventures, Vivek Sodera, Spacecadet Ventures, and Position Ventures. Open-source robot devkits that compress physical AI prototyping from months to days.
Gander Robotics – $1.1M, Pre-seed round co-led by Impellent Ventures and Underscore VC. Autonomous rescue swimmer system using AI-powered sonar to locate and support overboard victims in low-visibility water.
PAVE Space SA – $40M, Seed round led by Visionaries Club and Creandum with Lombard Odier Investment Managers, Atlantic Labs, SISTAFUND, b2venture, ACE Investment Partners, Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital, and Pareto & Motier Ventures. Orbital transfer vehicles designed to move satellites from LEO to operational orbit in under 24 hours.
myStoria – $1.625M, Seed round led by Graphite Ventures with Conexus Venture Capital, Adrenaline Fund, Phoenix Fire Fund, and angel investors. AI-powered reproductive health platform built around a patient-owned context engine for fertility, PCOS, endometriosis, and perimenopause care.
Nomad – $2M, Seed round from undisclosed investors. AI operating system for North American trucking fleets starting with fuel optimization and real-time operational analysis.
NomadicML – $8.4M, Seed round led by TQ Ventures with Pear VC and Jeff Dean. Vision-language platform that turns autonomous vehicle and robotics fleet footage into structured, searchable datasets.
OpenBox AI – $5M, Seed round led by Tykhe Ventures. Enterprise AI trust platform that enforces governance, audit trails, and risk controls at the point of agent execution.
Cleavr – €1M, Pre-seed round from Kima Ventures, Better Angle, another.vc, Aonia Ventures, and SuperCapital. AI coworker for accounts receivable automation across follow-ups, dispute resolution, and payment matching.
Interloom – $16.5M, Seed round led by DN Capital with Bek Ventures and Air Street Capital. Enterprise AI memory platform that captures frontline decision-making into a reusable context graph for agents.
Hamilton AI – $7.5M, Seed round led by TTV Capital with Bling Capital, Cambrian Ventures, FJ Labs, Weekend Fund, Mintaka Ventures, Correlation VC, and HF0. Deterministic AI execution platform for private aviation quoting, pricing, payments, and operations.
Sycamore – $65M, Seed round led by Coatue and Lightspeed Venture Partners with Abstract Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, 8VC, Fellows Fund, and E14 Fund. Trusted agent operating system for enterprises with auditability and staged autonomy built in.
Riplo – £2.3M, Pre-seed round led by Cherry Ventures with Blue Lion Capital and consulting-industry angels. Agentic operating system for consulting workflows that replaces slide-and-spreadsheet centric delivery.
Jimini Health – $17M, Seed round led by M13 with Town Hall Ventures, LionBird, Zetta Venture Partners, and One Mind. Supervised behavioral health AI platform that keeps clinicians in control of patient support between sessions.

Series A

Glimpse – $35M, Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz with 8VC and Y Combinator. AI system of action for CPG and retail operations spanning deductions, revenue recovery, and cash application.
daydream – $15M, Series A round led by WndrCo with First Round Capital and Basis Set Ventures. AI-native SEO agency combining agents with human operators across strategy, technical fixes, and programmatic execution.
Wearable Robotics – €5M, Series A round led by CDP Venture Capital SGR with MITO Technology, LIFTT, SIMEST SpA, RoboIT, and Toscana Next. Rehabilitation robotics company building wearable neurorehab systems, exoskeletons, and VR-assisted recovery tools.
Cognichip – $60M, Series A round led by Seligman Ventures with SBI Investment, Mayfield, Lux Capital, FPV Ventures, and Candou Ventures. Physics-informed AI platform for chip design that automates and parallelizes semiconductor development workflows.
Acclaim AI – $34M, Series A round led by Ratmir Timashev. Voice-first AI customer experience platform for regulated industries including banking, insurance, and healthcare.
Nuvilab – Undisclosed, Series A bridge round from NAVER D2SF. Multimodal AI nutrition analytics platform that scans food trays and automates meal verification in hospitals, schools, and care settings.
JAAQ – $17M, Series A round from Meridian Health Ventures, Fuel Ventures, Bolt Angels, and Guinness Ventures. Behavioral health platform combining clinically governed AI with expert-led video content and personalized care pathways.
ThinkLabs AI – $28M, Series A round led by Energy Impact Partners with nVentures, Edison International, GE Vernova, Powerhouse Ventures, Active Impact Investments, Blackhorn Ventures, and Amplify Capital. Physics-informed AI for grid planning that compresses month-long power studies into minutes.

Series B

Alcatraz – $50M, Series B round led by BlackPeak Capital, Cogito Capital Partners, and Taiwania Capital with Almaz Capital, EBRD, and Ray Stata. Privacy-first facial authentication platform for physical access control across data centers, airports, and enterprise sites.
Galaxea – $290M, Series B+ round from industrial investors, long-term funds, and state-backed capital alongside Baidu Venture, GSR Ventures, IDG Capital, and Cathay Innovation. Chinese embodied AI startup building real-world-data-driven vision-language-action and world-action models for robots.
Linx Security – $50M, Series B round led by Insight Partners with Cyberstarts and Index Ventures. Identity governance platform covering human users, machine accounts, and AI agents with real-time monitoring and remediation.
Sona – $45M, Series B round led by N47 with Felicis, Northzone, Gradient, and Italian Founders Fund. AI-native workforce management platform spanning scheduling, HR, payroll, compliance, and analytics.
TENEX.AI – $250M, Series B round led by Crosspoint Capital Partners with Andreessen Horowitz, Shield Capital, DTCP, DeepWork Capital, and Florida Opportunity Fund. AI-native managed detection and response platform combining sub-minute alert triage with human-led security operations.
Manna Air Delivery – $50M, Series B round led by ARK Investment Management LLC with Schooner Capital, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Coca-Cola HBC, and Molten Ventures. Commercial drone delivery platform operating regulated consumer flights for food and medicine.
SPARK Microsystems – C$17M, Series B follow-on round co-led by Idealist Capital and Real Ventures with Cycle Capital, ND Capital, and Export Development Canada. Ultra-low-power wireless semiconductor company positioning LE-UWB as a connectivity layer for edge AI, robotics, and AR/VR devices.
Qodo – $70M, Series B round led by Qumra Capital with Maor Investments, Phoenix Venture Partners, S Ventures, Square Peg, Susa Ventures, TLV Partners, Vine Ventures, Peter Welinder, and Clara Shih. AI code verification platform focused on review, testing, and trust for machine-generated software.

Series C and beyond

Coder – $90M, Series C round from KKR, Qube Research & Technologies, and Uncork Capital. Governed development environment infrastructure for safely deploying AI coding tools and agents inside large enterprises.
Censys – $70M, Series D equity and debt financing led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital with Decibel Partners, Greylock Partners, GV, and Intel Capital. Internet intelligence platform expanding AI-driven security and attack-surface management capabilities.
Saronic Technologies – $1.75B, Series D round led by Kleiner Perkins with Advent International, Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth, BAM Elevate, 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Elad Gil, and Franklin Templeton. Company building autonomous surface vessels and expanding U.S. shipbuilding capacity.
WHOOP – $575M, Series G round led by Collaborative Fund with 2PointZero Group, Qatar Investment Authority, Mubadala, Abbott, Mayo Clinic, Macquarie Capital, Glade Brook Capital Partners, IVP, Foundry, Accomplice, Affinity Partners, Bullhound Capital, and athlete investors. Wearable health platform using large-scale biometric data and AI to deliver recovery, sleep, and healthspan coaching.

Growth / Strategic / Other

Long Tail Health Solutions – Undisclosed, Strategic growth investment from Eir Partners Capital. AI-native utilization management and physician advisory platform designed to improve reimbursement outcomes for health systems.
Covalo – €3.5M, Funding extension led by Hi inov with HTGF and seed + speed Ventures. Ingredient discovery marketplace evolving into a data backbone for personal care R&D, compliance, and supplier workflows.
Moonbounce – $12M, Launch funding led by Amplify Partners and StepStone Group with PrimeSet and Josh Leslie. Runtime control plane for AI behavior that enforces policies across chat, image, and user-generated content systems in real time.
StairMed – RMB 500M, Funding round led by Alibaba with Tencent, FountainBridge Capital, OrbiMed, Oriza Seed, Qiming Venture Partners, Lilly Asia Ventures, Source Code Capital, and SDIC Unity Capital. Brain-machine interface company advancing invasive BMI systems, surgical robotics, and neuromodulation therapies.
Xianglu Robotics – RMB 300M, Funding round led by the Industrial Upgrading Fund managed by Yizhuang State-owned Investment with Hupo, Jiuan, Haitang, Source Code Capital, IDG Capital, Tencent, JD.COM, and Genesis Capital. AI chef and robotic kitchen company building recipe-generation and food-execution infrastructure for restaurant operators.
NGen Canada – $79.5M, Project funding from the Government of Canada with $50.3M from industry partners. Advanced manufacturing initiative backing 20 new AI projects across robotics, digital twins, quality inspection, and industrial automation.
OpenAI – $122B, Committed capital from SoftBank Group Corp., Andreessen Horowitz, Amazon, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and other strategic and financial backers. Frontier AI company scaling compute, enterprise distribution, and a broader consumer-agent platform strategy.
ContractorHUB – Undisclosed, Strategic SAFE investment from Mast Roofing & Construction, Nelson Roofing, and Eco Paving. AI-enabled operating system for home services and contracting businesses that unifies CRM, accounting, job management, and marketing workflows.

Robotics and AI News

Digital Camera World - Nikon is selling off the robotic camera company it bought up in 2016 — Nikon is divesting UK-based Mark Roberts Motion Control, the robotic camera systems company it acquired in 2016, after what it described as a reconsideration of its business portfolio. MRMC builds robotic motion-control rigs for broadcast, cinema, and product photography, and the sale is notable given Nikon's more recent push into cinema through its RED acquisition. Digital Camera World
Microsoft AI - Today we're announcing 3 new world class MAI models, available in Foundry — Microsoft launched three new in-house models in Foundry and MAI Playground: MAI-Transcribe-1 for speech-to-text, MAI-Voice-1 for expressive voice generation, and MAI-Image-2 for faster image creation. Microsoft says the models are positioned on price-performance, with Transcribe-1 posting a 3.9% average word error rate across the top 25 languages and Voice-1 generating 60 seconds of audio in one second. Microsoft AI
Google Developers Blog - Bring state-of-the-art agentic skills to the edge with Gemma 4 — Google is pushing Gemma 4 beyond chatbots into fully on-device agent workflows, with new Agent Skills in Google AI Edge Gallery and LiteRT-LM support for mobile, desktop, IoT, and robotics. The release highlights multi-step planning, tool use, offline code generation, and audio-visual processing on local hardware, including Raspberry Pi 5 and Qualcomm Dragonwing platforms, signaling a more serious edge-AI push for robotics and embedded systems. Google Developers Blog
Pulse 2.0 - OpenAI Foundation: $1 Billion Investment To Scale AI-Driven Philanthropy Across Health, Jobs, And Safety — The OpenAI Foundation said it will invest at least $1 billion over the next year as part of a broader $25 billion long-term commitment spanning life sciences, economic opportunity, AI safety, and community resilience. Early priorities include AI for disease research, workforce-transition programs, child safety, biosecurity preparedness, and independent model evaluations, showing a parallel effort to shape AI's social impact alongside commercial deployment. Pulse 2.0
Pulse 2.0 - Montis VC: €50 Million Raised For Energy And Industrial Tech Fund — Warsaw-based Montis VC announced a first close of a new €50 million seed fund focused on startups across energy, industrial technology, resilience, and AI. Backed by the European Investment Fund, PFR Ventures, and private investors, the fund plans to write initial checks of €0.5 million to €2 million across Central and Eastern Europe and the broader European market, reflecting growing investor interest in AI-enabled industrial and energy infrastructure. Pulse 2.0
Qwen - Qwen3.6-Plus: Towards Real World Agents — Alibaba's Qwen team launched Qwen3.6-Plus as a new flagship hosted model aimed squarely at agentic coding and real-world autonomous workflows. The model ships with a 1 million-token context window, improved multimodal reasoning, and direct integration guidance for tools like OpenClaw, Claude Code, Qwen Code, Cline, and OpenCode, underscoring how frontier model competition is shifting from chat quality toward long-horizon agent performance and developer toolchains. Qwen
TechCrunch - Rivian spinoff Also will build autonomous delivery vehicles for DoorDash — Micromobility startup Also, which spun out of Rivian last year, is partnering with DoorDash to develop autonomous delivery vehicles. DoorDash joined Also's $200 million Series C round and took a board seat, while the startup expands from e-bikes and pedal-assist cargo vehicles toward autonomy, potentially leveraging technology from Rivian's broader self-driving and robotics stack. TechCrunch
VentureBeat - Claude Code's source code appears to have leaked: here's what we know — Anthropic said an internal source map file was accidentally included in a public npm release of Claude Code, exposing a large portion of the product's TypeScript codebase. The report highlights details around Claude Code's memory architecture, background agent features, and internal model references, offering competitors a rare look at how a high-agency coding agent is orchestrated even though Anthropic said no customer data or credentials were exposed. VentureBeat
Pulse 2.0 - Corazon Capital: $100 Million Fund IV Raised To Back AI-Native Consumer Companies — Chicago-based Corazon Capital closed a new $100 million fund focused on pre-seed through Series A startups, with particular emphasis on AI-native consumer companies built around durable human behaviors. The firm says the thesis is to back founders using AI to amplify rather than replace people, signaling continued investor appetite for consumer AI despite recent attention skewing toward infrastructure and enterprise tooling. Pulse 2.0

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