Startups

Bye-bye bots: Altera’s game-playing AI agents get backing from Eric Schmidt

Gaming /

Autonomous, AI-based players are coming to a gaming experience near you, and a new startup, Altera, is joining the fray to build this new guard of AI agents. The company announced Wednesday that it raised $9 million in an oversubscribed seed round, co-led by First Spark Ventures (Eric Schmidt’s deep-tech fund) and Patron (the seed […]

Bye-bye bots: Altera’s game-playing AI agents get backing from Eric Schmidt Read More »

Human composting and timber marketplaces: talking “industrial” VC with investor Dayna Grayson

Venture /

While the venture world is abuzz over generative AI, Dayna Grayson, a longtime venture capitalist who five years ago co-founded her own firm, Construct Capital, has been focused on comparatively boring software that can transform industrial sectors. Her mission doesn’t exclude AI, but it also doesn’t depend on it. Construct recently led a seed-stage round,

Human composting and timber marketplaces: talking “industrial” VC with investor Dayna Grayson Read More »

Amae Health is building an in-person approach to mental healthcare in an increasingly digital space

Biotech & Health /

When Sonia García and Stas Sokolin decided to launch Amae Health to solve the broken care system for people with severe mental illness, they were already intimately familiar with the industry’s issues. “I started thinking about this problem a very long time ago,” said Sokolin, Amae’s CEO. “I grew up with a sister who had

Amae Health is building an in-person approach to mental healthcare in an increasingly digital space Read More »

Musk raises $6B for AI startup. Also, is TikTok dodging Apple’s commissions?

Startups /

Welcome to Startups Weekly — Haje’s weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. Musk’s 10-month-old baby, xAI, is closing in on a whoppin’ $6 billion funding round. The social network X, née Twitter — also part of Elon’s tech

Musk raises $6B for AI startup. Also, is TikTok dodging Apple’s commissions? Read More »

Despite recent successes, IPO market still won’t fully open until 2025

Venture /

This year already proved that startups are willing to go public in a less-than-ideal market — and get rewarded for it, too. But bankers, lawyers and investors said the recent IPO successes aren’t enough to foster more than a dozen tech IPOs this year. “I don’t think we will have the floodgates open like I

Despite recent successes, IPO market still won’t fully open until 2025 Read More »

Midi is building a digital platform for an oft-overlooked area of women’s health

Startups /

When Joanna Strober was around 47, she stopped sleeping. While losing sleep is a common symptom of perimenopause, she first had to go to multiple providers, including driving 45 minutes out of San Francisco to pay $750 out of pocket, to get that diagnosis and proper treatment. “That feeling of wow, I’ve really been suffering

Midi is building a digital platform for an oft-overlooked area of women’s health Read More »

Givebutter is turning a profit making tech for nonprofits

Venture /

Givebutter started in a George Washington University dorm room in 2016 as a software solution to make nonprofit fundraising more transparent and fun. Eight years later, the company is profitable and it just raised $50 million to scale as momentum for nonprofit-focused startups appears to be growing. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Max Friedman, fundraised

Givebutter is turning a profit making tech for nonprofits Read More »

Rubrik’s shares end trading up almost 16% on the company’s public debut

Security /

Rubrik shares hit the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, debuting at $38 a share. The cybersecurity company priced its shares at $32 apiece Wednesday night, just a hair over its initial target range of $29 to $31 after raising $752 million. This share price gives Rubrik a fully diluted valuation of $6.6 billion, up 88%

Rubrik’s shares end trading up almost 16% on the company’s public debut Read More »

RevenueCat raises $12M Series C as it expands its subscription management to the web

Fundraising /

RevenueCat, a top subscription management platform for apps that monetize via in-app purchases, is now flush with new capital as it expands to the web. The company has closed on a $12 million Series C led by Adjacent, following the launch of a new product, RevenueCat Billing, that allows web app developers to integrate subscription

RevenueCat raises $12M Series C as it expands its subscription management to the web Read More »