Startups

Navy Moves To Co-Invest With VCs, Forcing Startups To Mature Before Sales

The Navy is shifting toward co-investment and buying commercial technology at later stages, prioritising Series D, F companies and updated tech areas.

Vantora Raises $100M and Lets Corporate Partners Keep Its Physical AI Startups

Vantora, formerly UP.Labs, secured $100 million to build hardware-focused AI ventures for corporate partners who can fold them into their businesses.

Mazama Energy Raises $135M to Drill Superhot Rock, Targets 15 MW Wells

Mazama Energy closed a $135 million Series B to build horizontal wells into superhot rock, aiming for continuous 15 MW output per well.

Evvy Raises $40 Million Led by Catalio to Scale Vaginal Microbiome Research

The Series B will fund expansion of Evvy’s CLIA and CLEP at‑home vaginal microbiome testing, research dataset and clinical partnerships.

Deep-Tech Startups Gain Investor Attention After Y Combinator Demo Day

VCs flagged nine startups from Y Combinator’s summer cohort, favouring energy-efficient compute, robotics and novel power solutions.

Mark Wahlberg Reveals Investment Playbook to Startups at Disrupt 2026

Wahlberg will sit with Bruce K. Lee on the Disrupt main stage to explain how he built an institutional investing approach and where he’s focusing.

Pocket FM Doubles Revenue Run Rate to $500M as AI Makes Production 80x Cheaper

AI now creates 99% of new shows and 93% of the catalog, cutting production costs about 80x and pushing the platform to a $500M run rate.

PressOne Turns Fast Sign-Ups Into Paying Cloud Telephony For Nigerian SMEs

PressOne moved beyond rapid sign-ups to build a subscription business that gives small Nigerian firms enterprise-grade phone systems.

Miro Sells to Bending Spoons for $1.36 Billion, Collapsing 2021 Valuation

Bending Spoons will buy Miro for $1.36 billion in cash, a steep fall from the whiteboard startup's $17.5 billion peak valuation in 2021.

European Founders Demand Lawmakers Preserve EU Inc to Unlock Investment

Founders and leading VCs warned in an open letter that EU Inc must not be watered down, arguing the statute could cut fragmentation and unlock

ZeroBionic Builds Robotic Hands, Lets Deaf Students Learn Alongside Peers

ZeroBionic's $350 mechanical hand converts teachers' speech into sign language on the fly, deployed in 78 Kenyan schools with 92% accuracy.

Accel Moves to Lead $1B Round for Thinking Machines at $40B Valuation

Accel is in talks to lead a $1 billion round for Thinking Machines at a $40 billion valuation. The startup’s revenue run rate tops $100 million.

Bolt’s Survival Hinges On Breslow’s $27M Pay-To-Play Bridge

Ryan Breslow is putting $5 million of his own money into a pay-to-play convertible bridge of up to $27 million to stabilize Bolt.

Young Founders Gain Ground as AI Speeds Startup Timelines, Silicon Valley’s Welcome Turns Conditional

AI tools have lowered barriers and accelerated company building, letting more young people launch successful startups.

Marcia Kilgore Built Five Beauty Businesses, Her Five Rules For Founders

Beauty Pie founder Marcia Kilgore turned a Columbia dropout into a global brand. Her five rules stress expertise, testing and sacrifice.