Startups & Venture Capital

Encouragingly stepping forward toward redefining finance operations, Danish business Light has raised $30 million in a Series A financing round supported by major investors, early supporters of Revolut, including Balderton Capital. Through artificial intelligence, the fresh capital will help Light's goal of automating accounting, reporting, and expense operations and quicken its entry into new markets.  Built from scratch as an AI-native financial system rather than a retrofit on existing infrastructure, Light’s platform was created in 2022 by Jonathan Sanders, together with co-founder Filip Kozjak. The business says it can handle over 280 million records in under a second, a performance baseline many legacy ERPs find difficult to equal. According to Light, clients changing from...

Cognition, the artificial intelligence company that bought Windsurf in July, said on Monday it had successfully finished a $400 million investment round. reaching a valuation of $10.2 billion, which includes the fresh capital. Two months ago, Cognition, the inventor of Devin, an artificial intelligence software engineer, grabbed notice shortly after the Founders and top scientists of startups moved to Google. Windsurf had been in negotiations with OpenAI over a possible multibillion-dollar acquisition; however, those talks fell through, therefore opening the door for the agreement with Google, which required the tech behemoth to make a $2.4 billion payment for licensing royalties and other compensation. OpenAI decided to tap into Thinking Machines as its first APAC services partner. ...

Thoma Bravo is set to acquire Verint, a major development that demonstrates the growing interest of private equity in software firms. This includes debt and is valued at about $2 billion. With this all-cash deal, Verint stockholders will get $20.50 per share, an average premium of about 4% over its pre-takeover negotiations value. Based in Melville, New York, Verint Systems focuses on AI-driven customer engagement and analytics solutions. However, its stock price fell, making for a difficult year. by about 25% because of competitive pressures and reduced income. Verint’s stock first shot up in early trade after the news of the acquisition, but then leveled off, eventually falling somewhat 1–1.2% and settling at a trade price of $20.24. Reuters claims the transaction values Verint’s e...

AI startup Aurasell has raised $30 million in a seed funding round as part of a bold project meant to disrupt the CRM (customer relationship management) industry. With the ambition of replacing heavy, San Francisco-based companies, it is creating what it says is the first AI-native go-to-market (GTM) platform. Multi-tool sales pile with a logical, sophisticated alternative. Next47 led the financing round, with assistance from Menlo Ventures and Uncommon Ventures. Experienced technologists with backgrounds at major companies like VMware, Twilio, Cisco Meraki, Nutanix, and Harness, Jason Eubanks and Srinivas Bandi co-founded Aurasell. Inspired by their own direct experience with complex sales processes, they developed a simplified solution beginning with the ground. Jason Eubanks said ...

The judging panel for Start-up Battlefield 2025 is getting more and more powerful. The first set of venture capitalists contributed a lot of knowledge, and now we are augmenting our team with more top-tier investors who will thoroughly query entrepreneurs, investigate important problems. They will help choose this year’s $100,000 winner at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, which will take place at the Moscone West in San Francisco on October 27–29. Like the honored investors who have contributed in earlier years, this incoming group has the knowledge, skills, and instinct to greatly change the path of the founder in only one Q&A session. Presenting the following cohort of investors ready to ask their most penetrating questions on the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 Stage. Experience the pitch-off li...

The medtech sector of Nebraska is outpacing those of its coastal competitors. Startups in the Cornhusker state showed a resiliency beyond predictions as healthtech ecosystems around the nation changed in response to the collapse of venture capital market funding in 2022. Unlike bigger markets where inflated valuations and an investor retreat hampered innovation, Nebraska's smaller, more prudent ecosystem has successfully managed the obstacles. The state’s university spinoff pipeline, strong support networks, and a founder culture placing customer needs first have let it escape the worst effects of the recession. Said Michael Dixon, president of the University of Nebraska technology transfer office (UNeMed): “When I started two decades ago, 90% of our transactions involved established...

In a major boost for Louisiana's innovation economy, 1834 Ventures has introduced a $20 million venture fund intended to help early-stage companies with close links to Tulane University. With the goal of creating a strong pipeline connecting Tulane alumni, faculty, staff, and students’ talent to the larger startup environment, this fund is particularly aiming at companies founded or directed by them. Named for the year Tulane University first opened, 1834 Ventures operates independently, although its objectives are intimately related to the university's aim of fostering entrepreneurship. From 30 investors spread over 11 different states, the fund has safely obtained its initial $4.4 million. This money has already helped two businesses; further investments are expected soon. The Loui...

The specialized venture capital company ‘Uncovered Fund’ has formed a $20M strategic alliance and joined forces with the corporate investment arm of Monex Ventures. It is a noteworthy development highlighting Japan’s mounting involvement in Africa’s brisk technology scene. Through this partnership, there is an intention to set up an investment vehicle of ¥3 billion (about $20 million) focused on investing in early-stage companies in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region and further into Africa. The newly created investment vehicle, called ‘Uncovered Monex Africa Investment Partnership,’ joins conscious investments into a startup developing digital and physical infrastructure solutions on the African scene. The $20M to African startups fund has identified four main investment areas:...

As it seeks to grow its India development team to encourage North American expansion, Keychain, an American startup helping consumer brands find manufacturing partners, has successfully closed $30 million in fresh financing. Keychain runs as a distributed company even if its headquarters are in New York, with most of its engineering and product development efforts concentrated in India.  With this new funding, the startup is dedicated to improving this operating model, aiming to grow its engineering, product design, and analytics staff in Gurugram from 35 to 70 in the next months. Accounting for half of Keychain’s overall workforce of 70, which also includes roughly 20 workers in New York and the rest in Austin, this team based in India manages partnerships, go-to-market tactics, a...

Aligning with their father’s protectionist economic policies geared toward the same goal, President Donald Trump’s oldest sons are launching a new firm with a business project that is partially focused on ‘revitalizing American manufacturing.’ New America Acquisition I Corp, a blank-check business backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., asked for an initial public offering (IPO) of up to $300 million on August 4. According to their filing, this special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which the family has previously used to create firearms shops and media businesses, will combine with companies that are either based in the United States or mostly operate within the nation. The filing states that the launched new firm would want to merge with one or more companies valued at ...