Newsletter #57

This Week's Good Reads

Physical Intelligence - A Steerable Model with Emergent Capabilities - Physical Intelligence's pi 0.7 shows a general-purpose robot model matching fine-tuned specialists on dexterous tasks while beginning to compose learned skills for unseen appliance use, language-coached behavior, and cross-embodiment laundry folding. Physical Intelligence
Genesis AI - GENE-26.5: Advancing Robotic Manipulation to Human Level - Genesis argues manipulation is a full-stack robotics problem, not just a model problem, and demonstrates one shared system across cooking, lab automation, Rubik's Cube solving, wire harnessing, and other contact-rich tasks while tying progress to human-centric data, dexterous hardware, low-latency control, and simulation. Genesis AI
IEEE Spectrum - DAIMON Robotics Wants to Give Robot Hands a Sense of Touch - DAIMON is pushing tactile sensing into the foundation-model stack with Daimon-Infinity, a large omni-modal manipulation dataset, arguing that high-resolution touch data is needed for dexterous robots to handle fragile objects, tight spaces, and real-world contact uncertainty. IEEE Spectrum

Robotics and AI Companies Funding

Pre-seed / Seed

Vita Dynamics - nearly RMB 500M, Pre-A round led by Orient Jiafu, Huatai Zijin, and Fosun RZ Capital, with Shangqi Capital, Today Capital, Hillhouse Ventures, and Baidu Ventures also participating. Vita Dynamics builds the Vbot companion quadruped and is using consumer robot deployment as a bridge toward humanoid R&D.
FloMobility - $2.5M, pre-Series A round co-led by Mela Ventures and Arali Ventures, with ARTPARK, VentureGarage, JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation, and DEVX Ventures also participating. FloMobility builds autonomous material-movement robots for construction sites, including the Flo Hauler for uneven and multi-floor job sites.
General Autonomy - INR 32 Cr, Seed round led by Elevation Capital and IndiaQuotient, with Blue Ashva Capital, FBC, Spearhead Capital, and Ishendra Agarwal also participating. General Autonomy develops robot dogs, humanoid systems, and autonomous mobile robots for labor-intensive workflows in India.
ReFiBuy.ai - $13.6M, Series Seed round led by NewRoad Capital Partners, with Ridge Ventures, Silicon Road Ventures, Incubate Fund, Vela Partners, G20 Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Knoll Ventures, NC Tweener Fund, and Dan Rua also participating. ReFiBuy.ai builds an agentic commerce optimization platform that helps brands make product catalogs understandable to AI shopping agents.
Corvera - $4.2M, Seed round led by 6 Degrees Capital, with 20VC, Rebel Fund, Duke Capital Partners, Multimodal Ventures, Y Combinator, and angel investors also participating. Corvera builds AI agents that operate across CPG supply chain, demand planning, finance, and back-office workflows.
Altara - $7M, Seed round led by Greylock Partners, with Neo, BoxGroup, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Jeff Dean also participating. Altara builds a scientific intelligence layer for fragmented physical-science data across batteries, semiconductors, advanced materials, and manufacturing.
Nace AI - $21.5M, Seed round led by Walden Catalyst Ventures, with General Catalyst also participating. Nace AI builds specialized enterprise agents and small workflow-specific language models for finance, audit, compliance, and expert-validated business processes.
District - $14.7M, Seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Kindred Ventures, with Greylock Partners, SV Angel, 20VC, and commerce operators also participating. District lets creators and sellers launch AI-built commerce platforms for live selling, auctions, communities, payments, moderation, and fulfillment.
SageOx - $15M, Seed round led by Canaan, with A.Capital Ventures, Pioneer Square Labs, and Founders Co-op also participating. SageOx builds context infrastructure for AI-native teams so agents can preserve decisions from discussions, design reviews, Slack threads, and engineering workflows.
RadixArk - $100M, Seed round led by Accel and co-led by Spark Capital, with NVentures, Salience Capital, AMD, MediaTek, Walden Catalyst Ventures, and individual AI infrastructure leaders also participating. RadixArk commercializes the SGLang ecosystem for training, fine-tuning, reinforcement learning, and large-scale model inference.
CodeWords - $9M, Seed round led by Visionaries Club, with firstminute capital, sequel, Illusian, and angel investors also participating. CodeWords builds Cody, an AI agent that turns plain-language requests into deployed business workflows.
Pit - $16M, Seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Lakestar, the founders, strategic tech executives, and Nordic family investors also participating. Pit builds AI-generated custom software for back-office, support, logistics, finance, and operations workflows.
FotoNation - Undisclosed, Pre-A round led by Enterprise Ireland and Silicon Gardens, with unnamed angels also participating. FotoNation is developing TriSilica, an ultra-low-power perception AI chip platform for always-on sensing and edge AI systems.
Jetty - more than $2M, Pre-seed round led by AQC Capital and Hidden Layers Capital, with Mila Ventures, Akinox, and strategic AI angels also participating. Jetty builds infrastructure for reliable agentic AI applications, including structured runbooks, sandboxed execution, audit trails, and evaluation loops.
Herd Security - $3M, Seed round led by Aspiron Ventures, with Team Ignite Ventures, /capital, Forum Ventures, Right Side Capital Management, and YPO also participating. Herd Security builds an agentic AI platform for continuous cybersecurity training, simulations, assessments, and microlearning.
Subquadratic - $29M, Seed round backed by Javier Villamizar, Justin Mateen, Grant Gittlin, Jaclyn Rice Nelson, Coalition, Lasagna, and unnamed early investors in major AI and fintech companies. Subquadratic is developing SubQ, a long-context AI model architecture that claims subquadratic sparse attention and lower long-context compute.
Davis AI - $5.5M, Pre-seed round led by Heartcore Capital and Balderton, with Entrepreneurs First, Yellow, Evantic Capital, and AI and real-estate angels also participating. Davis AI uses generative AI and architect review to accelerate feasibility studies, volumetrics, floor plans, unit mix, and space planning for real estate development.
WaiV Robotics - $7.5M, Seed round from undisclosed investors. WaiV Robotics builds a gyro-stabilized maritime landing pad and AI-controlled recovery system for VTOL drones operating from moving vessels.
XCaliber Health - $6.5M, Seed round led by ManchesterStory, with BGV and Arka Venture Labs also participating. XCaliber Health builds AI orchestration for healthcare administrative workflows such as prescription refills, referral tracking, lab notifications, patient outreach, and record updates.

Series A

OpsMill - $14M, Series A round led by IRIS, with BGV, Serena, and Partech also participating. OpsMill builds Infrahub, an infrastructure data platform that turns fragmented network and IT data into a governed source of truth for automation and AI agents.
Tessera Labs - $60M, Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Foundation Capital, Myriad Venture Partners, and Osage University Partners also participating. Tessera Labs builds a vendor-agnostic multi-agent platform for ERP modernization, migrations, testing, and governed enterprise system changes.
Nova Intelligence - $40M, Seed and Series A financing led by Accel and Chemistry, with Conviction and SAP.iO also participating. Nova Intelligence builds agentic AI for SAP teams handling custom-code analysis, fit-to-standard planning, migration, testing, documentation, and production support.
Fazeshift - $17M, Series A round led by F-Prime, with Gradient, Y Combinator, Wayfinder Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Ritual Capital, and angel investors also participating. Fazeshift builds AI agents for invoice-to-cash work across invoicing, collections, payment matching, reconciliation, and finance system updates.
Basata - $21M, Series A round led by Basis Set Ventures, with Cowboy Ventures, PHX Ventures, Zenda Capital, Victoria Treyger, and healthcare operators also participating. Basata builds AI agents for specialty-care operations including referrals, intake, scheduling, follow-up, and call center workflows.
Dandelion Health - $14M, Series A round led by Healthier Capital, with Colle Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Moxxie Ventures, and Convergent Ventures also participating. Dandelion Health builds a multimodal clinical AI platform for life sciences teams using linked notes, images, waveforms, claims, and EHR data.
Ethos - $22.75M, Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with General Catalyst, XTX Markets, Evantic Capital, and Common Magic also participating. Ethos uses AI voice agents, interviews, public work, and other signals to map professional expertise for investors, labs, consultancies, and recruiting teams.
CopilotKit - $27M, Series A round led by Glilot Capital, NFX, and SignalFire. CopilotKit builds app-native AI agent infrastructure around AG-UI, an open protocol for connecting agents to front-end application state, tools, and interactive components.
eleQtron - EUR 57M, Series A round led by Schwarz Digits, with European Innovation Council Fund, Earlybird Venture Capital, Ankaa Ventures, Precitec, NRW.BANK, and IFB Hamburg also participating. eleQtron builds trapped-ion quantum computers using microwave-based MAGIC control for industrial and cloud-accessible quantum systems.

Series B

Vori - $22M, Series B round led by Cherryrock Capital, with Greylock Partners and Factory also participating. Vori builds an AI operating system for grocery stores covering checkout, payments, inventory, ordering, pricing, promotions, and supplier coordination.
Lunar Outpost - $30M, Series B round led by Industrious Ventures, with Type One Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Promus Ventures, Reliable Equity, and others also participating. Lunar Outpost builds robotic mobility and infrastructure systems for lunar, cislunar, and in-space operations.
Astrocade - $56M, Series B and Series A financing led by Sequoia Capital and Sea, with Google's AI Futures Fund, NVIDIA, LG Technology Ventures, Dentsu Ventures, and others also participating. Astrocade builds an AI-native platform for creating and playing interactive games from simple user prompts.
Corgi - $160M, Series B round led by TCV, with Kindred Ventures, Leblon Capital, and First Order Fund also participating. Corgi builds full-stack business insurance for technology companies, including instant quotes, direct underwriting, cyber coverage, tech coverage, and AI liability products.
ANELLO Photonics - $25M, Series B-2 round led by MESH, with Washington Harbour Partners, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Catapult Ventures, New Legacy, One Madison Group, IronGate Capital Advisors, and Mana Ventures also participating. ANELLO Photonics builds silicon photonics optical gyroscopes and GPS-denied navigation systems for autonomous platforms.
LINKERBOT - Undisclosed, Series B+ round backed by Ant Group, HSG, Zhongguancun Science Park Fund, Bank of China Asset Management, and Fosun Capital. LINKERBOT builds high-degree-of-freedom robotic hands and manipulation skill systems for humanoids and industrial robots.
QuantWare - $178M, Series B round joined by Intel Capital, IQT, ETF Partners, FORWARD.one, Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, InnovationQuarter, Ground State Ventures, and Graduate Ventures. QuantWare builds superconducting quantum processors and is scaling QPU production through its VIO chiplet architecture and KiloFab facility.
Enter - more than $100M, Series B round led by Founders Fund, with Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital, ONEVC, Atlantico, and KASZEK also participating. Enter builds AI agents for legal operations in high-volume litigation markets, including lawsuit analysis, evidence organization, fraud detection, settlement recommendations, and defense drafting.
Smartness - EUR 47M, Series B round led by United Ventures and CDP Venture Capital SGR, with Partech also participating. Smartness builds a lodging industry platform spanning dynamic pricing, CRM, payments, property management, guest communication, and operational AI.

Series C and beyond

XBOW - $35M, Series C extension round from Accenture Ventures, DNX Ventures, Liberty Global Tech Ventures, NVentures, Samsung Ventures, and SentinelOne S Ventures. XBOW builds an autonomous application-security platform that continuously probes software like an attacker and validates exploitable vulnerabilities.
Nyobolt - $60M, Series C round led by Symbotic, with IQ Capital, Latitude, Scania Invest, and CBMM also participating. Nyobolt builds high-power battery systems for warehouse robots, humanoids, industrial automation, AI infrastructure, and other uptime-sensitive physical AI deployments.

Growth / Strategic / Other

Jurisphere.ai - $2.2M, Funding round from Info Edge Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Antler, and 8i Ventures. Jurisphere.ai builds an outcome-based legal AI platform that combines research, document review, drafting, collaboration, and lawyer matching.
Lithosquare - $25M, Funding round co-led by World Fund and Kindred Capital, with daphni, Omnes, and OVNI Capital also participating. Lithosquare applies AI, field data, and geology expertise to accelerate mineral exploration for copper, rare earths, lithium, and other critical materials.
ROBOTERA - more than $200M, Financing round led by SF Group, with HSG, IDG Capital, Hillhouse Investment, CICC Capital, Jingming Capital, SparkEdge Capital, industrial backers, and financial investors also participating. ROBOTERA builds humanoid robot platforms, dexterous hands, actuators, and embodied intelligence systems for logistics, industrial, and commercial deployment.
Kodiak AI - $100M, PIPE financing from existing investors including an Ares Management affiliate and new institutional investors. Kodiak AI develops autonomous trucking and industrial autonomy systems already logging paid driverless operating hours in customer-owned trucks.
Skeleton Technologies - EUR 33M, Pre-IPO first close backed by Axon Partners Group, SmartCap, and Taiwania Capital. Skeleton Technologies builds high-power energy storage and grid power systems for AI data centers and other power-constrained infrastructure.
Modicus Prime - $4.5M, Funding round led by Frist Cressey Ventures, with Silverton Partners and Oncology Ventures also participating. Modicus Prime builds AI compliance infrastructure for pharma teams operating in regulated GxP environments.
Kimi (Moonshot AI) - about $2B, Funding round led by Long-Z Investments and Meituan's venture arm, with China Mobile, CPE Yuanfeng, and other investors also participating. Moonshot AI develops the Kimi open-weight LLM family and is competing in China's frontier model market.
Blitzy - $200M, Growth funding led by Northzone, with PSG, Battery Ventures, Jump Capital, Morgan Creek Digital, Defiant, Flybridge, Link Ventures, NFX, Picus Capital, Venture Guides, and strategic insurance investors also participating. Blitzy builds autonomous software development agents that reverse-engineer large enterprise codebases and coordinate multi-agent implementation work.
Village - $9.5M, Funding round led by Upfront Ventures, with Bling Capital, GTMfund, and Perceptive Ventures also participating. Village builds an AI-powered coordination layer for specialty pediatric care across families, providers, pediatricians, payers, documentation, scheduling, billing, and care matching.
LiveEO - more than EUR 28M, First closing backed by HELANTIC, b2venture, EISMEA, NordicNinja VC, DTCF, Matterwave Ventures, MMC Ventures, Segenia Capital, and Greencode Ventures. LiveEO builds AI-powered geospatial intelligence for infrastructure, defense, and security, including satellite monitoring and its Twinspector constellation.
Fathom - Undisclosed, Strategic investment from CVS Health Ventures. Fathom uses deep learning and natural language processing to automate medical coding across healthcare revenue cycle workflows.
Qutwo - EUR 25M, Angel round from PostScriptum, Yuri Milner, Xavier Niel, Nico Rosberg, Dieter Schwarz, Niklas Zennstrom, Andreas Tallberg, Chad Edwards, and Heikki Herlin. Qutwo builds an orchestration layer for AI workloads across classical, quantum-inspired, hybrid, and future quantum hardware.
Moritz - $9M, Oversubscribed round led by Y Combinator and 20VC, with Urban Innovation Fund and Inception Fund also participating. Moritz operates as an AI-native law firm, using AI for drafting and research before a network of lawyers reviews and approves flat-fee legal work.

Robotics and AI News

Figure AI - Helix-02 Bedroom Tidy - Figure showed two Helix-02 humanoids resetting a bedroom in under two minutes with one learned Vision-Language-Action policy and no central planner, extending its work from single-robot skills into collaborative humanoid locomanipulation. Figure AI
VentureBeat - Anthropic says it hit a $30 billion revenue run rate after 'crazy' 80x growth - Anthropic said demand has pushed it to a $30B annualized revenue run rate, with Claude Code driving enterprise adoption while compute shortages force large infrastructure deals such as the Colossus 1 partnership. VentureBeat
Pulse 2.0 - Wisdom Ventures Closes $77.7 Million Fund II, Which Is Focused On AI And Wellbeing - Wisdom Ventures closed a $77.7M second fund to back early-stage companies at the intersection of AI, health, wellness, resilience, and human connection, with former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy joining as a senior venture partner. Pulse 2.0
xAI - New Compute Partnership with Anthropic - xAI said SpaceXAI will provide Anthropic access to Colossus 1, a 220,000-plus GPU AI supercomputer, and framed the deal as a near-term compute capacity boost plus a possible path toward orbital AI compute. xAI
Google Blog - Accelerating Gemma 4: faster inference with multi-token prediction drafters - Google released multi-token prediction drafters for Gemma 4, using speculative decoding to deliver up to 3x faster inference without changing output quality, especially for local development, edge devices, and agentic workflows. Google Blog
Tech Funding News - Peter Thiel's Founders Fund raises record $6B to back late-stage AI startups: report - Founders Fund reportedly raised a record $6B growth vehicle, signaling continued demand for concentrated late-stage private capital as AI and defense startups stay private longer and raise at public-market scale. Tech Funding News
TechCrunch - OpenAI's cozy partner Cerebras is on track for a blockbuster IPO - Cerebras is preparing to sell 28M shares at $115 to $125 each, potentially raising $3.5B and testing public-market appetite for AI infrastructure companies closely tied to OpenAI demand. TechCrunch

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