Every day, financial institutions process billions of card, ACH, and wire transactions across rails that have barely changed since the 1970s and the data that passes through those rails is notoriously difficult to use. Raw transaction strings shed merchant context as they move through multiple intermediary systems, leaving banks and fintechs with cryptic identifiers that drive high dispute volumes, weaken rewards attribution, and block the AI-powered workflows their businesses urgently need to build. Spade takes a fundamentally different approach: rather than training models on noisy transaction data, the method every incumbent has relied on, the company built a proprietary database of verified merchant records and treats enrichment as a search problem, matching each transaction to a real business in real time. The platform delivers 99.9% coverage of US and Canadian merchants with greater than 99% accuracy at P99 latency under 40 milliseconds, performance that unlocks mission-critical use cases like authorization decisioning, fraud prevention, and real-time rewards attribution that traditional enrichment vendors have never been able to support reliably. As banks and fintechs race to deploy AI agents and automate complex financial workflows, the quality of underlying transaction data has become a board-level concern and the structured, verified intelligence Spade delivers sits at the center of that shift.

AlleyWatch sat down with Spade Cofounder and CEO Oban MacTavish to learn more about the business, its future plans, its recent funding round that brings the company’s total funding raised to $56.1M, and much, much more…

Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We recently announced our $40M Series B funding round. This marks a significant milestone in our mission to be the data and AI platform for financial services turning messy transaction data into structured intelligence that banks, fintechs, and institutions can build on.
The round was led by Oak HC/FT, with participation by Andreessen Horowitz, Flourish, Gradient, NAventures, National Bank of Canada’s corporate venture arm, and Y Combinator.

Tell us about the product or service that Spade offers.
Spade is a data and AI platform that turns messy transaction strings into structured, verified records — and gives teams the tools to act on them. Banks, fintechs, and financial institutions come to Spade when they’re ready to treat their transaction data as an asset.
Spade Foundation provides the merchant metadata layer: matching raw card, ACH, and wire transactions to verified businesses in our proprietary database, with 99.9% coverage of US and Canadian merchants and P99 latency under 40 milliseconds. The platform that sits on top lets banks leverage that asset across authorization decisioning, rewards attribution, analytics, AI initiatives, and user experience — without rebuilding for each use case. It’s about enabling them to do more with our data, faster.

What inspired the start of Spade?
We founded Spade in 2021 based on the realization that the transaction data banks depend on is too messy and inconsistent to use effectively. Every day, billions of transactions are processed, yet the underlying data remains notoriously difficult to use because it passes through multiple systems that strip away context. We saw that this was the primary bottleneck preventing banks from delivering modern user experiences. We started Spade to build the default intelligence layer that turns messy transaction data into structured, verified intelligence.

How is Spade different?
We’re a data company at heart, born with the idea that by starting with a view of businesses and verified merchant data, you could treat the problem less like a cleansing problem and more like a search problem. We take transactions, match them in real time to verified, accurate merchant data, and use transaction data not to train a model to detect a merchant but to further hydrate our merchant database.
Our unique approach results in the fastest product in the market – P99 latency of under 40 milliseconds – and a coverage and accuracy standard that unlocks use cases traditional enrichment vendors can’t support.

What market does Spade target and how big is it?

We target the global financial services ecosystem — primarily Tier 1 banks, neobanks, and fintech leaders. We see enrichment alone as a $10B+ market globally. But the larger opportunity is the shift happening across financial services right now: AI adoption is driving top-down investment in data quality, institutions are moving to the cloud, and banks are increasingly replacing software components previously managed by their cores. That shift expands what Spade can do well beyond enrichment.

What’s your business model?
Spade generally operates on a usage-based model: customers are billed based on the volume of transactions enriched, with a platform fee for automated workflows.

How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
Our product is built for efficiency, which is a priority regardless of the economic climate. In a slowdown, financial institutions look to reduce operational overhead. By automating manual processes like dispute investigations and merchant mapping, Spade helps financial institutions move faster with the teams they have.
We’ve focused on becoming core infrastructure embedded across authorization, attribution, and analytics workflows, which means when budgets tighten, Spade remains an essential vendor.

What was the funding process like?
We’ve known Allen Miller at Oak HC/FT since 2023, so when we reengaged late last year,  we weren’t starting a relationship from scratch. He expressed interest in going deeper, and the team ended up being more eager than we expected. Previously, we’d planned to raise toward the end of Q1, but Oak had other ideas. This funding came together quickly at the start of the year.

What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?

Having relationships with investors is important (don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t).  Because we’d planned to raise later in Q1, some of that relationship-building wasn’t as far along as we would have hoped, and we need to be more nimble.

What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Investors were impressed by our growth. Last year, we achieved 470% year-over-year revenue growth, processing as many as 1.9 billion transactions on peak days. Leading financial institutions and companies, including Stripe, Bilt, and Mercury, rely on Spade’s transaction enrichment.
They also recognized the technical depth and commercial discipline of our team with decades of experience in fintech, data and AI.

Investors were impressed by our growth. Last year, we achieved 470% year-over-year revenue growth, processing as many as 1.9 billion transactions on peak days. Leading financial institutions and companies, including Stripe, Bilt, and Mercury, rely on Spade’s transaction enrichment.
They also recognized the technical depth and commercial discipline of our team with decades of experience in fintech, data and AI.What sealed it is where the market is heading. Banks can only move toward fully automated, agentic workflows if those systems are built on detailed, verified, structured transaction data. That’s what Spade delivers.

What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
With this new funding, we are focused on expanding beyond transaction enrichment to provide a full data and AI platform for payments intelligence. We’ll be expanding our team to meet growing demand from financial institutions and fintechs that rely on Spade to power AI initiatives.

What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Really focus on who has bought from you in the past and which other companies look like them. Don’t build tons of new stuff, focus on getting all the customers you can with what you have or something really close to what you have today.

Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
In the near term, we aim to become the default data and intelligence layer for financial services. As banks move toward fully automated, agentic systems, those systems only work if the underlying transaction data is structured, verified, and complete — that’s the problem Spade solves.
We’re focused on becoming core infrastructure for our customers, embedded deeply enough that Spade grows as they grow.

What’s your favorite spring destination in and around the city?

Walking or running in Central Park. It’s genuinely one of the best ways to spend an afternoon in the city!

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AlleyWatch sat down with Patlytics Cofounder and CEO Paul Lee to learn more about the business, its future plans, recent funding round, and much, much more….

Who were your investors and how much did you raise?

We recently closed a $40M Series B led by SignalFire, with participation from N47, Myriad Venture Partners, Relativity, Alumni Ventures, Antiportfolio Ventures, and BAM Corner Point. Total funding now stands at approximately $65M — raised in less than two and a half years.
SignalFire was the right partner for this moment. We wanted more than a capital infusion, but a true partner to fuel our next phase of growth. SignalFire brings infrastructure, relationships, and deep domain experience across the legal tech ecosystem.
Among other participants in this round, we also brought on the former member of the Global Executive Management Committee at Kirkland & Ellis, and Relativity, the market leader in e-discovery. Patlytics is the first startup that Relativity ever invested in.

Tell us about the product or service that Patlytics offers.

Patlytics is the only AI platform purpose-built for the entire patent lifecycle, from invention harvesting and patent application drafting to infringement analysis, invalidity contentions, transactional due diligence, and portfolio management.
The mission from day one has been to eliminate inefficiencies across the full IP lifecycle: from invention, through prosecution and drafting, to licensing, defense, offense, and maintenance. What makes us different architecturally is that we built it ground-up as an end-to-end platform.
The result: 80% reduction in project time, $30,000+ saved per claim chart, and 15+ hours recovered per patent application — all without sacrificing accuracy.

What inspired the start of Patlytics?

I spent a decade in venture capital evaluating thousands of companies. Patent work kept surfacing as the highest-stakes, most time-intensive enterprise workflow,and the most underserved by software. IP professionals were still doing manual, fragmented work across point solutions that only did so much.
When AI changed the premises around what software could do for law, we saw a very clear opening. Today, over 40% of the AmLaw 100 runs on Patlytics, alongside some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Canon, Rivian, Xerox, Asahi Kasei, and TaylorMade.

How is Patlytics different?

Patent work is categorically different. It is not a subset of legal work; it is a company’s most valuable asset, its moat.
Drafting, prosecution, search, infringement and invalidity analysis, claim charting, portfolio management, litigation, licensing – each discipline demands deep domain precision that generalist models cannot replicate. Patlytics is the only end-to-end AI platform for IP.

What market does Patlytics target and how big is it?

AI is driving an explosion in IP creation and IP litigation simultaneously.
The companies building the most consequential technology in the world are now filing patents at high rates, facing infringement exposure they’ve never navigated before, and discovering that IP licensing can become a primary revenue stream. At the same time, AI-assisted inventions are entering examination queues faster than examiners can process them. Cross-jurisdictional disputes are also rising, especially in Europe.
Patlytics is the platform that a Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, Head of IP, law firm attorney, or any team responsible for an organization’s patent portfolio reaches for to run their entire workflow — across top law firms and large and innovative companies across all industries, including semiconductor, pharma, software, auto, chemicals.
The market opportunity is large. Every company building in AI is either creating IP at scale, defending against someone else’s, or both.
We’re in the center of that tailwind.

What’s your business model?

We’re an AI platform used by enterprises and SMBs. Law firms and corporate IP teams license Patlytics to run their entire patent workflow, from first invention disclosure through litigation and portfolio management.
We started with the Am Law 100 and once we had a critical mass there, penetration into mid-sized and smaller firms followed naturally.

The ROI case has been concrete and immediate: 80% reduction in project time, $30,000+ saved per claim chart, and 15+ hours recovered per patent application.
But efficiency is only part of the story. We’re also helping firms outright win business, as well as optimize non-billable work, and go deeper on the cases that matter.
When you’re operating in a domain where a single patent can define a company’s competitive position for decades, speed and precision aren’t operational metrics.

How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?

Our value proposition gets stronger in a downturn, IP teams under budget pressure don’t have the luxury of slow, expensive outside counsel for every claim chart or invalidity analysis.
Patlytics lets a lean team do more with less,  at higher quality, in less time, without sacrificing the precision that patent work demands. That’s not a nice-to-have when margins compress. That’s essential infrastructure.
And frankly, IP litigation doesn’t slow down in a recession. If anything, companies lean into assertion and defense more aggressively when growth slows, protecting what they’ve built and monetizing what they own.

What was the funding process like?

Disciplined. We’ve raised on results. Nearly 1,000% year-over-year revenue growth.
An 18x expansion in our customer base, with an intention to reach thousands of customers by year’s end.
Every round has been preempted — we have never had to go looking for capital.  Those numbers created real urgency on the investor side, and they spoke for themselves.

What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?

The legal AI space has gotten noisy. There are a lot of companies pitching some version of “AI for law,” and investors have gotten appropriately skeptical of broad positioning.
The challenge was making clear, quickly, that we’re not in that category. In addition to requiring deep specialization, patent work is categorically different, in domain complexity, in stakes, in the precision required at every step of the workflow.
An inadequately managed patent portfolio doesn’t create a billing dispute. It creates a decade of competitive exposure. Once that reality landed, the traction data closed the argument: with over 40% of the Am Law 100 run, hundreds of corporate IP teams, and nearly 1,000% year-over-year growth.

The legal AI space has gotten noisy. There are a lot of companies pitching some version of “AI for law,” and investors have gotten appropriately skeptical of broad positioning.
The challenge was making clear, quickly, that we’re not in that category. In addition to requiring deep specialization, patent work is categorically different, in domain complexity, in stakes, in the precision required at every step of the workflow.
An inadequately managed patent portfolio doesn’t create a billing dispute. It creates a decade of competitive exposure. Once that reality landed, the traction data closed the argument: with over 40% of the Am Law 100 run, hundreds of corporate IP teams, and nearly 1,000% year-over-year growth.

What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?

First, the logos: over 40% of the Am Law 100 run on Patlytics — Quinn Emanuel, Foley & Lardner, Susman Godfrey, Canon, Rivian, Xerox, Asahi Kasei, and TaylorMade.
At our stage, that’s tremendous traction in the best way, and it proved the market was real.
Second, the timing: the AI-driven explosion in patent filings and IP litigation is not a future trend — it’s happening now, and Patlytics is already the infrastructure layer for it.
Third, the architecture: we’re the only platform built ground-up as a unified system. Breadth without precision is a feature, not a platform. A purpose-built, end-to-end IP system with this traction, this customer quality, and this compounding architecture has an entirely different ceiling.

What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?

Some of these milestones have already been in motion, this raise accelerates their scale.
On product: we’re launching a Collaboration suite that gives law firms and corporate IP teams a shared workspace to draft, review, and iterate together in real time, replacing the email-and-tracked-changes loop that has defined how firms and clients operate for decades.
It will be infused with AI Agents that complete end-to-end tasks autonomously across drafting, research, and portfolio triage,  and a judgment engine that predicts a practitioner’s next decision, directing agents to execute once the attorney confirms.
We’re also going deeper into life sciences, where customer demand has been particularly strong, from startups that file their first patents at Series A all the way to public companies managing complex portfolios.
On expansion: our London office is open, extending our EMEA presence for the first time. And we’re growing coverage across APAC, where IP activity has been traditionally strong and rising.

What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?

Win something you can prove. The fundraising environment rewards specificity – a specific ICP, a specific use case, a specific wedge into a specific market.

Where do you see the company going now over the near term?

The category is forming fast . We have the infrastructure, the traction, and the tailwind. We’re deepening our position as the integration layer for the IP ecosystem,  partnering exclusively with category leaders in e-discovery, file systems, licensing platforms, and litigation tools, because the attorneys and IP professionals we serve live inside those systems and want a seamless experience.
Near term: international expansion, deeper life sciences penetration, enterprise go-to-market, and cementing our position as the default platform for IP work that actually matters.

What’s your favorite spring destination in and around the city?

I like to keep things simple. Playing basketball at the local courts, enjoying the restaurants and overall change of season is a blessing here in NYC.

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New York City’s startup ecosystem posted one of its strongest months on record in March 2026, raising $3.94 billion across 97 deals — a 293.6% surge year-over-year compared to the $1.0 billion raised in March 2025 and a 55.6% increase month-over-month from February 2026’s $2.53B. The exceptional performance was driven by a concentration of mega-rounds at the late stage, with eight companies raising $100M or more accounting for more than half of total capital deployed. Kalshi’s $1 billion late-stage round — the largest NYC deal in recent memory — anchored the month and signaled investor conviction in prediction markets as a category with durable defensibility.

New York City Startup Funding — March 2026

March’s headline number was dominated by Kalshi’s $1 billion late-stage round, the prediction market platform’s capital raise representing 25.4% of the month’s total and the largest NYC deal in recent memory. The 55.6% capital increase over February alongside a 27.6% rise in deal count signals broad-based ecosystem momentum rather than concentration in a single mega-round. Beyond Kalshi, March saw major rounds from Grafana Labs ($250M), Grow Therapy ($150M), Cents ($140M), and ScaleOps ($130M) — all proven companies scaling rapidly in their respective categories.

The fintech and financial services sectors had an outstanding month, paced not only by Kalshi’s raise but also by Theo ($100M) and OpenFX ($94M), reflecting New York’s continued dominance in financial innovation. Infrastructure also stood out: Grafana Labs’ $250M late-stage round reinforced the city’s position in cloud data services and observability, while ScaleOps ($130M) captured investor attention in the AI infrastructure and cloud optimization space.

NYC Funding by Round Type — March 2026

The stage distribution reveals a market driven by late-stage capital but supported by robust activity across all tiers. The 15 late-stage rounds averaged $141.3M each and captured 53.9% of total capital — a pattern consistent with investor appetite for companies that have demonstrated product-market fit and are now scaling aggressively. Series A activity was particularly strong with 43 deals raising $1.05B combined, representing the largest deal count of any stage and signaling a healthy pipeline of companies progressing through NYC’s venture ecosystem.

Series B remained steady at 14 deals totaling $592M, with an average round size of $42.3M reflecting mid-stage companies scaling their go-to-market motions. Early-stage activity, while representing just 4.4% of capital ($173.2M across 25 deals), continues to form the foundational layer of the ecosystem — these companies will represent the Series A and B pipeline of 2027 and beyond.

Top 10 NYC Venture Capital Deals — March 2026

AI and Emerging Sectors

AI companies raised $1.27B across 44 deals in March 2026, representing 32.2% of total capital. While this is a significant share, it marks a notable shift from the AI-dominated narratives of recent months. The capital is flowing to applied AI infrastructure — companies like ScaleOps (cloud optimization), Dash0 (agentic AI for IT infrastructure), and Normal Computing (AI infrastructure) — rather than frontier model development.

Beyond AI, March saw meaningful activity in financial services and fintech (Kalshi, Theo, OpenFX), healthcare (Grow Therapy, Sage, Waiv), and cybersecurity (Oasis Security). The diversification of capital across sectors is a healthy sign for the ecosystem — it suggests that the market is backing a wide range of business models and not overly concentrated in a single theme.

NYC vs. US National Comparison by Round Type — March 2026

NYC’s share of national venture capital varies significantly by stage. The city captured 21.9% of all US Series A capital and an impressive 39.8% of Series A deals in March 2026, reflecting NYC’s position as a dominant force in early-scale company formation. Late-stage activity showed similar strength, with NYC accounting for 23.8% of late-stage capital across 33.3% of deals — driven by mega-rounds like Kalshi’s $1B and Grafana Labs’ $250M that demonstrate the city’s ability to support companies scaling to market leadership. The city’s 20.7% overall share of classified US venture capital (up from 13.8% in February) underscores the ecosystem’s momentum.

National Context

While NYC posted one of its strongest months on record, the national US venture market saw $19.06B raised across 630 classified deals in March 2026 (with an additional $4.02B across 177 unclassified rounds). This represents a significant year-over-year decline from March 2025’s $53.5B total, which was heavily influenced by OpenAI’s $40B raise. Excluding that single mega-deal, the national market is effectively flat year-over-year, signaling stabilization rather than contraction.

The March performance underscores New York’s position as the nation’s second-largest venture hub and its ability to generate outsized deal activity independent of West Coast mega-rounds. The city’s share of national venture capital continues to grow, driven by concentration in financial services, healthcare, and applied AI infrastructure — sectors where NYC has both talent density and regulatory expertise.

Methodology

All data sourced from Crunchbase. Deal counts and funding totals reflect announced and disclosed venture capital transactions with a last funding date in March 2026. Round type classifications follow a standardized four-category taxonomy: Early-Stage (pre-seed through seed), Series A, Series B, and Late-Stage (Series C and beyond, including growth and corporate rounds). AI company identification was applied using pattern matching across company descriptions, industry tags, and organization names. Year-over-year comparisons reference March 2025 figures of $1.0B. Month-over-month comparisons reference February 2026 figures of $2.53B across 76 deals. US national figures reference March 2026 classified totals of $19.06B across 630 deals. NYC figures represent companies headquartered in the New York City metropolitan area.

Crosby – $60M

Insurance Tech

Crosby, an AI-native law firm that pairs licensed attorneys with proprietary AI software to review commercial contracts at fixed per-document pricing, has raised $60M in Series B funding led by Lux Capital and Index Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil, 01 Advisors, and Bain Capital Ventures. Founded by Ryan Daniels and John Sarihan in 2024, Crosby has now raised a total of $85.8M in reported equity funding.

Blossom Health – $20M

Healthcare

Blossom Health, an AI operating system for psychiatry that pairs licensed clinicians with clinical copilots and autonomous agents for scheduling, billing, and documentation, has raised $20M in Series A funding led by Headline. Blossom Health was founded by John Zhao in 2024.

Create Wellness – $20M

Healthcare

Create Wellness, a creatine supplement brand known for popularizing the creatine monohydrate gummy, has raised $20M in Series B funding led by Alliance Consumer Growth, with participation from Impact Capital and Unilever Ventures. Founded by Dan McCormick and Sienna McCormick in 2022, Create Wellness has now raised a total of $27.3M in reported equity funding.

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Avo – $10M

Healthcare

Avo, an EHR-integrated clinical AI platform that synthesizes patient data, care guidelines, and payer policies to guide clinicians through documentation, diagnosis, and care management, has raised $10M in Series A funding led by Noro-Moseley Partners, with participation from AlleyCorp, Las Olas Venture Capital, MedMountain Ventures, Epsilon Health, and Scrub Capital. Founded by Dr. Yair Saperstein, Dr. Joongheum Park, and Laurence Coman in 2018, Avo has now raised a total of $18M in reported equity funding.

The Better Money Company – $10M

Fintech

The Better Money Company, a stablecoin clearinghouse building the connectivity layer that enables businesses and developers to send and receive any supported dollar-backed stablecoin at par, has raised $10M in Seed funding led by a16z Crypto, with participation from BoxGroup, Sunflower Capital, Dorm Room Fund, The Fintech Fund, Art Levy, Michael Tannenbaum, Patrick McHenry, Sean Neville, Charlie Songhurst, Will Manidis, Packy McCormick, and Adi Goel. The Better Money Company was founded by Sam Broner and Adam Zuckerman in 2025.

Cara – $8M

Healthcare

Cara, an AI platform that automates sales and servicing workflows for insurance brokerages and agencies, has raised $8M in Seed funding led by Kearny Jackson, with participation from Claire Hughes Johnson, Kevin Mahaffey, Sam Hodges, and Colin Evans. Cara was founded by Vic Yeh, Nikhil Kansal, and Jonathan Patel in 2024.

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Maisonette – $5.9M

E-commerce

Maisonette, a curated online marketplace for children’s clothing, furniture, toys, and home décor from boutique and designer brands worldwide, has raised $5.9M in funding according to a recent SEC filing funding from investors that include . The filing indicates that the round comes from a sole investor. Founded by Sylvana Ward Durrett and Luisana Mendoza de Roccia in 2016, Maisonette has now raised a total of $53.6M in reported equity funding.

Keda Robotics – $4M

Robotics

Keda Robotics, a stealth robotics startup founded by Opentrons executives, has raised $4M in funding according to a recent SEC filing funding from investors that include . The filing indicates that the total offering is for $10M and this close comes from a sole investor. Keda Robotics was founded by Jonathan Brennan Badal and Will Canine in 2026.

23 Broadway – $3M

Fintech

23 Broadway, an AI-powered user acquisition financing platform serving growth-stage gaming companies, has raised $3M in Seed funding led by Betty Ventures and Will Ventures, with participation from 359 Capital, CEAS Investments, and Dave Bartman. 23 Broadway was founded by Jordan Tuch in 2026.

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Pocket – $1.35M

Fintech

Pocket, an AI platform that automates insurance eligibility verification for physical therapy and rehab clinics, has raised $1.35M in Pre-Seed funding led by 2048 Ventures. Pocket was founded by Hannah Kim and Ben Quachtran in 2025.

Pumpcade – $1M

Gaming

Pumpcade, a livestream-embedded prediction markets platform that auto-resolves bets in under 30 minutes via direct API connections to official data sources, has raised $1M in Pre-Seed funding led by Pump.fun, with participation from Foundation Capital and RadioSolace. Pumpcade was founded by Harrison Leggio in 2025.

]]> https://www.alleywatch.com/2026/04/the-weekly-notable-startup-funding-report-4-5-26/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:27:52 +0000 https://alleywatch.com/?p=162340 The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report takes us on a trip across various ecosystems in the US, highlighting some of the notable funding activity in the various markets that we track. The notable startup funding rounds for the week ending 4/4/26 featuring funding details for Saronic, Starcloud, Coder, and twenty other deals representing $4.3B in new funding that you need to know about.

Acurion – $4.3M

San Diego-based Acurion develops AI-driven diagnostic solutions that extract actionable genomic biomarker insights from standard pathology images. Founded by Francois Ferre, Ludmil Alexandrov, Magda Marquet, Rick Fultz, Scott Lippman, and Webster Cavenee in 2021, Acurion has now raised a total of $6.4M in total equity funding and is backed by Asian Fund For Cancer Research, Bootstrap Venture Partners, Mesa Verde Venture Partners, National Foundation for Cancer Research, and TK & Partners.

Alcatraz AI – $35.0M

Cupertino-based Alcatraz is an AI company that leverages the enterprise access control environment by enabling touchless and secure entry. Founded by Vince Gaydarzhiev in 2016, Alcatraz AI has now raised a total of $78.1M in total equity funding and is backed by Almaz Capital, BlackPeak Capital, Cogito Capital Partners, EBRD Venture Capital, and Ray Stata.

Also – $200.0M

Palo Alto-based Also is an electric micromobility company that provides electric cargo bikes, commuter bikes, and trail bikes. Founded by Chris Yu in 2025, Also has now raised a total of $505M in total equity funding and is backed by DoorDash, Greenoaks, and Prysm Capital.

Ambient Clinical Analytics – $5.0M

Rochester-based Ambient Clinical Analytics is a provider of clinical analytics solutions to health systems and hospitals,. Founded by Al Berning, Deb Sutherland, and Drew Flaada in 2013, Ambient Clinical Analytics has now raised a total of $17.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Mairs & Power Venture Capital.

Antaris – $28.0M

Los Altos-based Antaris develops cloud-based software platforms that support the design, simulation, and operation of satellite missions. Founded by Govindhasamy Karthik, Rupesh Gandupalli, Shankar Sivaprakasam, and Thomas Barton in 2021, Antaris has now raised a total of $35.7M in total equity funding and is backed by Lockheed Martin Ventures and WestWave Capital.

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Censys – $40.0M

Ann Arbor-based Censys provides an internet intelligence platform for threat hunting and exposure management. Founded by Alex Halderman, Brian Kelly, David Adrian, David Corcoran, and Zakir Durumeric in 2017, Censys has now raised a total of $143.1M in total equity funding and is backed by Decibel Partners, Google Ventures, Greylock, Intel Capital, and Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital.

Coder – $90.0M

Austin-based Coder provides open-source tools and an enterprise platform that makes it easier to configure, secure, and scale development environments. Founded by Ammar Bandukwala, John Andrew Entwistle, John Andrew Entwistle, and Kyle Carberry in 2017, Coder has now raised a total of $172.8M in total equity funding and is backed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Qube Research & Technologies, and Uncork Capital.

Cognichip – $60.0M

Redwood City-based Cognichip is an AI-first deep tech company focused on transforming the semiconductor industry by revolutionizing how chips are designed. Founded by Ehsan Kamalinejad, Faraj Aalaei, and Mehdi Daneshpanah in 2024, Cognichip has now raised a total of $93M in total equity funding and is backed by Candou Ventures, FPV Ventures, Lip-Bu Tan, Lux Capital, and Mayfield Fund.

Crosby – $60.0M

New York-based Crosby is an AI-powered legal services company that accelerate contract review and negotiation processes. Founded by John Sarihan and Ryan Daniels in 2024, Crosby has now raised a total of $85.8M in total equity funding and is backed by 01 Advisors, Bain Capital Ventures, Elad Gil, Index Ventures, and Lux Capital.

daydream Labs – $15.0M

San Francisco-based Daydream Labs develops a SaaS platform that automates programmatic search engine optimization from end to end. Founded by Shravan Rajinikanth and Thenuka Karunaratne in 2023, daydream Labs has now raised a total of $23.7M in total equity funding and is backed by Basis Set Ventures, First Round Capital, and WndrCo.

EnerVenue – $300.0M

Fremont-based EnerVenue provides metal-hydrogen batteries for large-scale renewable and storage applications. Founded by Yi Cui in 2020, EnerVenue has now raised a total of $720.1M in total equity funding and is backed by Aramco Ventures, Full Vision Capital, and Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited.

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Linx Security – $50.0M

New York-based Linx Security provides an AI-powered platform for identity security, governance, and administration. Founded by Israel Duanis and Niv Goldenberg in 2023, Linx Security has now raised a total of $83M in total equity funding and is backed by Cyberstarts, Index Ventures, and Insight Partners.

OpenFX – $94.0M

New City-based OpenFX provides a real-time cross-border payment infrastructure that provides liquidity across different trading pairs. Founded by Prabhakar Reddy in 2024, OpenFX has now raised a total of $117M in total equity funding and is backed by Accel, Atomico, Faction, Flybridge, and Hash3.

Patientory – $500K

Atlanta-based Patientory is a patient data platform that empowers individuals to control their health data and earn personalized rewards. Founded by Chrissa McFarlane in 2015, Patientory has now raised a total of $9.2M in total equity funding and is backed by EthAum Venture Partners.

Saronic – $1.8B

Austin-based Saronic designs and manufactures unmanned surface vehicles for maritime security and domain awareness. Founded by Dino Mavrookas, Doug Lambert, Rob Lehman, and Vibhav Altekar in 2022, Saronic has now raised a total of $2.6B in total equity funding and is backed by 8VC, Advent International, Andreessen Horowitz, BAM Elevate, and Bessemer Venture Partners.

ScaleOps – $130.0M

New York-based ScaleOps automates Kubernetes resource optimization, helping organizations reduce cloud costs and enhance operational efficiency. Founded by Guy Baron and Yodar Shafrir in 2022, ScaleOps has now raised a total of $209.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Glilot Capital Partners, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, NFX, and Picture Capital.

Starcloud – $170.0M

Redmond-based Starcloud develops space-based data center infrastructure designed to support computing and data processing beyond Earth environments. Founded by Adi Oltean, Ezra Feilden, and Philip Johnston in 2024, Starcloud has now raised a total of $193.9M in total equity funding and is backed by 3C AGI Partners, Adjacent, Benchmark, Carya Venture Partners, and Dennis Muilenburg.

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Sycamore – $65.0M

Palo Alto-based Sycamore provides an operating system for enterprises to build, deploy, and manage autonomous AI agents. Founded by Sri Viswanath in , Sycamore has now raised a total of $65M in total equity funding and is backed by 8VC, Abhinav Gupta, Abstract Ventures, Ali Ghodsi, and Anu Bharadwaj.

TENEX.AI – $250.0M

Sarasota-based TENEX.AI is a cybersecurity company that combines human expertise with artificial intelligence to protect digital assets. Founded by Edwin Solis, Eric Foster, Ryan Shreve, and Venkata Koppaka in 2024, TENEX.AI has now raised a total of $277M in total equity funding and is backed by Crosspoint Capital Partners, DeepWork Capital, Florida Opportunity Fund, and Shield Capital.

Valar Atomics – $340.0M

El Segundo-based Valar Atomics develops nuclear energy systems designed to supply industrial-scale power and produce energy-derived products. Founded by Isaiah Taylor in 2023, Valar Atomics has now raised a total of $464M in total equity funding and is backed by Palmer Luckey and Shyam Sankar.

Variance – $21.5M

San Francisco-based Variance is a software company that builds AI agents for compliance and risk. Founded by Karine Mellata and Michael Lin in 2023, Variance has now raised a total of $25.1M in total equity funding and is backed by 645 Ventures, Okta Ventures, Ten Eleven Ventures, Urban Innovation Fund, and Y Combinator.

Via Separations – $36.0M

Watertown-based Via Separations is a technology company that develops membrane materials for modular and resource separation solutions. Founded by Brent Keller and Shreya Dave in 2016, Via Separations has now raised a total of $78.8M in total equity funding and is backed by Aramco Ventures, Climate Investment, Embark Ventures, Grantham Foundation, and Marathon Petroleum.

WHOOP – $575.0M

Boston-based WHOOP provides wearable fitness technology and a subscription platform that tracks physiological data for health and performance insights. Founded by Aurelian Nicolae, John Capodilupo, and William Ahmed in 2012, WHOOP has now raised a total of $979M in total equity funding and is backed by 2PointZero, Abbott, Accomplice, Affinity Partners, and B-FLEXION.

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7. Eight Sleep $50.0M
Round: Series D
Description: Eight Sleep develops connected sleep systems that use temperature control and biometric tracking to improve sleep. Founded by Alexandra Zatarain, Andrea Ballarini, Massimo Andreasi Bassi, Matteo Franceschetti in 2014, Eight Sleep has now raised a total of $301M in total equity funding and is backed by Founders Fund, HSG, Tether Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Y Combinator.
Investors in the round: Founders Fund, HSG, Tether Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Y Combinator
Industry: Consumer Electronics, Health Care, Wellness
Founders: Alexandra Zatarain, Andrea Ballarini, Massimo Andreasi Bassi, Matteo Franceschetti
Founding year: 2014
Total equity funding raised: $301.0M

7. Normal Computing $50.0M
Round: Venture
Description: Normal Computing develops probabilistic AI software and infrastructure for complex engineering and enterprise applications. Founded by Faris Sbahi, Matthias Tan in 2022, Normal Computing has now raised a total of $84.02M in total equity funding and is backed by ArcTern Ventures, Brevan Howard Asset Management, Celesta Capital, Drive Capital, First Spark Ventures, Galvanize, Micron Ventures, Samsung Catalyst Fund.
Investors in the round: ArcTern Ventures, Brevan Howard Asset Management, Celesta Capital, Drive Capital, First Spark Ventures, Galvanize, Micron Ventures, Samsung Catalyst Fund
Industry: AI Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI, Semiconductor
Founders: Faris Sbahi, Matthias Tan
Founding year: 2022
Total equity funding raised: $84.0M

6. Crosby $60.0M
Round: Series B
Description: Crosby is an AI-powered law firm that helps companies review and negotiate contracts faster. Founded by John Sarihan, Ryan Daniels in 2024, Crosby has now raised a total of $85.8M in total equity funding and is backed by 01 Advisors, Bain Capital Ventures, Elad Gil, Index Ventures, Lux Capital, Sequoia Capital.
Investors in the round: 01 Advisors, Bain Capital Ventures, Elad Gil, Index Ventures, Lux Capital, Sequoia Capital
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Legal, Software
Founders: John Sarihan, Ryan Daniels
Founding year: 2024
Total equity funding raised: $85.8M

5. Sage $65.0M
Round: Series C
Description: Sage Health provides primary care services for seniors through value-based healthcare clinics. Founded by Ellen Johnston, Matthew Lynch, Raj Mehra in 2020, Sage has now raised a total of $124M in total equity funding and is backed by Goldcrest Capital, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, IVP.
Investors in the round: Goldcrest Capital, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, IVP
Industry: Elder Care, Medical, Nursing and Residential Care, Software
Founders: Ellen Johnston, Matthew Lynch, Raj Mehra
Founding year: 2020
Total equity funding raised: $124.0M

4. Cents $140.0M
Round: Series C
Description: Cents provides software, payments, and point-of-sale tools for laundromats and laundry businesses. Founded by Alexander Jekowsky, Gilli Cherrin in 2019, Cents has now raised a total of $214.25M in total equity funding and is backed by Camber Creek, Sumeru Equity Partners.
Investors in the round: Camber Creek, Sumeru Equity Partners
Industry: Business Process Automation (BPA), Enterprise Software, Point of Sale, SaaS
Founders: Alexander Jekowsky, Gilli Cherrin
Founding year: 2019
Total equity funding raised: $214.2M
AlleyWatch’s exclusive coverage of this round: Cents Raises $140M to Build the Operating System for the $60B Laundry Industry

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3. Grow Therapy $150.0M
Round: Series D
Description: Grow Therapy is a mental healthcare platform that connects patients with licensed therapists and psychiatrists who accept insurance. Founded by Alan Ni, Jake Cooper, Manoj Kanagaraj in 2020, Grow Therapy has now raised a total of $298M in total equity funding and is backed by BCI, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Menlo Ventures, Sequoia Capital, SignalFire, TCV, Transformation Capital.
Investors in the round: BCI, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Menlo Ventures, Sequoia Capital, SignalFire, TCV, Transformation Capital
Industry: Health Care, Medical, Mental Health, mHealth, Therapeutics
Founders: Alan Ni, Jake Cooper, Manoj Kanagaraj
Founding year: 2020
Total equity funding raised: $298.0M

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2. Grafana Labs $250.0M
Round: Series E
Description: Grafana Labs provides open-source observability software for monitoring, visualizing, and analyzing metrics, logs, and traces. Founded by Anthony Woods, Raj Dutt, Torkel Ödegaard in 2014, Grafana Labs has now raised a total of $1.06B in total equity funding and is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, K5 Global, Lead Edge Capital.
Investors in the round: 0
Industry: Analytics, Cloud Data Services, Data Visualization, Open Source, Software
Founders: Anthony Woods, Raj Dutt, Torkel Ödegaard
Founding year: 2014
Total equity funding raised: $1.1B

1. Kalshi $1.0B
Round: Venture
Description: Kalshi is a regulated prediction market where users trade contracts on the outcomes of real-world events. Founded by Luana Lopes Lara, Tarek Mansour in 2018, Kalshi has now raised a total of $2.59B in total equity funding and is backed by Coatue.
Investors in the round: Coatue
Industry: Financial Exchanges, Financial Services, FinTech, Prediction Markets, Predictive Analytics
Founders: Luana Lopes Lara, Tarek Mansour
Founding year: 2018
Total equity funding raised: $2.6B

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