Traded: Venture Capital

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and co‑CEO of the AI company Project Prometheus, is in early discussions to raise about $100 billion for a new investment vehicle aimed at acquiring and transforming manufacturing companies using advanced AI and automation. Project Prometheus, which Bezos co-leads, recently secured at least $6.2 billion in funding to develop AI tools that simulate and optimize complex physical processes, enhancing productivity and modernizing industrial operations. The combined effort positions Bezos to accelerate AI-driven automation across sectors such as chipmaking, aerospace, and defense, reflecting his broader vision of reshaping manufacturing at scale. FOUNDER: Jeff Bezos AMOUNT: $100,000,000,000 #VentureCapital #JeffBezos #ProjectPrometheus #TradedVC

RunSybil, an AI cybersecurity startup co-founded in 2023 by Ari Herbert-Voss and Vlad Ionescu, has raised $40 million in a funding round led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from S32, the Anthology Fund from Anthropic, Menlo Ventures, Conviction, Elad Gil, and several angel investors including Nikesh Arora, Amit Agarwal, and Jeff Dean. The company’s AI agent, Sybil, performs continuous autonomous penetration testing on live software, identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities without human intervention, effectively automating “ethical hacking.” RunSybil aims to embed security testing as a permanent capability within software development, helping startups, major financial institutions, and Fortune 500 companies detect critical flaws that traditional methods often miss. FOUNDERS: Ari Herbert-Voss & Vlad Ionescu INVESTORS: Khosla Ventures, S32, Anthology Fund, Menlo Ventures, Conviction, Elad Gil, Nikesh Arora, Amit Agarwal & Jeff Dean AMOUNT: $40,000,000 HQ: San Francisco, California #VentureCapital #RunSybil #AriHerbertVoss #VladIonescu #TradedVC

Video Rebirth, an AMD-backed AI video startup founded by Dr. Wei Liu, has completed the final closing of an $80 million funding round, which includes a $30 million extension on its initial $50 million raised in November. The round attracted top-tier strategic investors from Asia, including AMD Ventures, Hyundai, and others across entertainment, mobility, and technology. The new capital will accelerate commercialization of Video Rebirth’s Bach series and support its global expansion, as the company builds industrial-grade AI video generation tools capable of producing consistent, commercial-ready digital realities. Co-founders Dr. Wei Liu and Dan Kong emphasize that their technology is designed not just for demos but for creating high-fidelity, interactive worlds that reshape entertainment and simulation industries. FOUNDER: Dr. Wei Liu INVESTORS: AMD Ventures, Hyundai, Feedback Ventures, ZER01NE & HIVEN AMOUNT: $80,000,000 HQ: Singapore #VentureCapital #VideoRebirth #DrWeiLiu #TradedVC

The Walt Disney Company is undergoing a major leadership transition rather than a funding raise, as longtime executive Josh D’Amaro officially becomes CEO, succeeding Bob Iger following a nearly three-year succession process. The change, effective March 18, comes alongside a broader executive reorganization, including Dana Walden stepping into a newly created chief creative role and Thomas Mazloum taking over Disney Experiences. While no new capital raise was announced, D’Amaro inherits a company investing heavily in growth initiatives such as a $60 billion expansion across parks and experiences, positioning Disney to navigate industry shifts in AI, streaming, and global tourism. HQ: Burbank, California #VentureCapital #TheWaltDisneyCompany #JoshDAmaro #TradedVC

Edra, founded by Yannis Karamanlakis and Eugen Alpeza, has emerged from stealth with a $30M+ Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital, 8VC, A*, and HubSpot Ventures. The platform tackles one of enterprise AI’s hardest problems: teaching AI agents how a business actually operates by automatically creating a continuously updated, auditable knowledge library from existing company systems like ServiceNow, Slack, JIRA, and Salesforce. Edra’s technology enables AI agents to execute tasks reliably across IT service management, technical support, and compliance workflows, with early deployments at ASOS, HubSpot, and Ergeon demonstrating significant automation gains while keeping human oversight where needed. FOUNDERS: Yannis Karamanlakis & Eugen Alpeza INVESTORS: Sequoia Capital, 8VC, A* & HubSpot Ventures ROUND: Series A AMOUNT: $30,000,000 HQ: New York #VentureCapital #Edra #YannisKaramanlakis #EugenAlpeza #TradedVC

Advanced Navigation, a Sydney-based leader in inertial navigation and robotics technologies for sea, land, and air, has closed a $158 million Series C funding round led by Airtree Ventures, with participation from Quadrant Private Equity and the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), which contributed $50 million in preferred equity. Co-founded by CEO Chris Shaw, the company is focused on reducing global reliance on GPS, a system increasingly vulnerable to jamming and spoofing attacks. The new funds will accelerate the development of Advanced Navigation’s positioning, navigation, and timing systems, enabling autonomous vehicles, ships, and other systems to operate reliably even in GPS-compromised environments, and supporting the company’s expansion into global markets. FOUNDERS: Chris Shaw & Xavier Orr INVESTORS: Airtree Ventures, Quadrant Private Equity & National Reconstruction Fund Corporation ROUND: Series C AMOUNT: $158,000,000 HQ: Sydney, Australia #VentureCapital #AdvancedNavigation #ChrisShaw #XavierOrr #TradedVC

Fuse, co-founded by Andres Klaric and Marc Escapa, has raised $25 million in a Series A round led by Footwork, Primary Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, and Commerce Ventures to modernize aging loan origination systems (LOS) used by U.S. credit unions. Pivoting from an automotive lending startup, Klaric and Escapa built an AI-native LOS aimed at automating underwriting, increasing loan processing volumes, and reducing operational costs. With over 100 customers already, Fuse is offering the first 50 qualifying credit unions free access to its platform through a $5 million “rescue fund” to help institutions transition from legacy LOS vendors like nCino and MeridianLink. Klaric emphasizes that Fuse’s mission is to equip credit unions with modern technology, enabling them to better serve the American middle class. FOUNDERS: Andres Klaric & Marc Escapa INVESTORS: Footwork, Primary Venture Partners, NextView Ventures & Commerce Ventures ROUND: Series A AMOUNT: $25,000,000 HQ: New York #VentureCapital #Fuse #AndresKlaric #MarcEscapa #TradedVC

Sequen, a New York-based startup, has raised $16 million in Series A funding co-led by White Star Capital and Threshold Ventures, with participation from prior investor Greycroft, bringing its total funding to $22 million. Led by CEO Zoë Weil, the company is building real-time personalization and ranking infrastructure powered by “large event models,” enabling consumer businesses to deploy TikTok-style recommendation systems without relying on invasive tracking like cookies. Sequen’s RankTune platform integrates via APIs and delivers sub-20-millisecond decisions, helping clients—including companies like Fetch Rewards—achieve significant revenue gains, with reported lifts as high as 20% in under two weeks. FOUNDER: Zoë Weil INVESTORS: White Star Capital, Threshold Ventures & Greycroft ROUND: Series A AMOUNT: $16,000,000 HQ: New York #VentureCapital #Sequen #ZoëWeil #TradedVC

VeryAI, the first-ever Proof of Reality platform combining biometrics with AI and deepfake detection, has raised $10 million in seed funding, CEO Zach Meltzer. The startup’s flagship technology enables palm-based identity verification using any smartphone, analyzing principal lines and creases along with randomized hand gestures to prevent AI-generated spoofing. Designed for privacy, VeryAI does not store palm images but keeps an irreversible mathematical representation, and claims a single-hand scan has a false acceptance rate of 1 in 10 million. Led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Berggruen Institute, Anagram, and crypto angels, the funding will help VeryAI expand integrations and fraud detection tools for sectors ranging from crypto platforms—its largest early customer being MEXC—to banks and government agencies. Meltzer, a 25-year-old first-time founder, previously scaled Galxe to over 34 million users while developing identity solutions like KYC and ZK Protocols. FOUNDER: Zach Meltzer INVESTORS: Polychain Capital, Berggruen Institute & Anagram ROUND: Seed AMOUNT: $10,000,000 HQ: San Francisco, California #VentureCapital #VeryAI #ZachMeltzer #TradedPartner #TradedVC

Posh, an events platform building the infrastructure layer for organizers and discovery, raised $37,000,000 in Series B led by FirstMark Capital with participation from Causeway Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Companyon Ventures, and Epic Ventures at a $253,000,000 valuation. Founded in 2019 by Avante Price and Eli Taylor-Lemire after frustrations with legacy tools like Eventbrite, the company puts organizers at the center with a business-first model. Posh generates revenue through ~10% ticket fees plus $0.99 per ticket, producing ~$10M in 2024 revenue on $83M+ in ticket sales. Since inception, it has processed $350M in GMV across 25M tickets and ~50,000 organizers, powering events like Palm Tree Festival and brand activations with Lamborghini, Adidas, the NBA, and HBO. The company is now expanding into a “Netflix-style” discovery feed to surface real-world experiences across users’ social graphs as the global events market approaches $2T. FOUNDER & CEO: Avante Price INVESTORS: FirstMark Capital, Causeway Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Companyon Ventures, Epic Ventures ROUND: Series B AMOUNT: $37,000,000 VALUATION: $253,000,000 HQ: #NewYork #NY #VentureCapital #Posh #TradedVC

Mave Health, a San Francisco and Bengaluru-based neurotech startup, has raised $2.1 million in seed funding led by Blume Ventures, with participation from Stanford Angels, Dhaval Shroff, Raymond Russell, and other investors. Founded in 2023 by Dhawal Jain, Jai Sharma, and Aman Kumar, Mave Health has developed a non-invasive wearable headset designed to improve focus, elevate mood, and regulate stress in just 20 minutes a day. The company recently completed a 500-person beta, with users reporting significant gains in productivity, mood, and stress reduction. Mave’s device leverages transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a technology studied for over 25 years, and is now available for pre-order ahead of its U.S. and India launch in April 2026. FOUNDERS: Dhawal Jain, Jai Sharma & Aman Kumar INVESTORS: Blume Ventures, Stanford Angels, Dhaval Shroff & Raymond Russell ROUND: Seed AMOUNT: $2,100,000 HQ: San Francisco, California #VentureCapital #MaveHealth #DhawalJain #JaiSharma #AmanKumar TradedVC

RoboForce, a Milpitas, CA-based AI robotics startup led by CEO and Founder Leo Ma, raised $52M in a funding round led by Zi Labs with participation from Jerry Yang, Myron Scholes, Gary Rieschel, and Carnegie Mellon University. The company plans to use the capital to accelerate its robot foundation model, scale general-purpose physical AI robots, and advance manufacturing readiness, with its flagship mobile manipulator, Titan, designed for high-precision, durable, and versatile deployment across industries ranging from solar energy and infrastructure to heavy industry and space. FOUNDER: Leo Ma INVESTORS: Zi Labs, Jerry Yang, Myron Scholes, Gary Rieschel & Carnegie Mellon University AMOUNT: $52,000,000 HQ: Milpitas, California #VentureCapital #RoboForce #LeoMa #TradedVC

Anduril Industries is strengthening its position as a key U.S. defense partner following a major government award, even as broader tensions reshape the AI and military landscape. The U.S. Army granted Anduril a 10-year contract worth up to $20 billion on March 14, consolidating more than 120 procurement actions into a single enterprise deal and effectively elevating the company’s role in Pentagon operations. Founder Palmer Luckey has publicly backed the Pentagon’s decision to sideline Anthropic over its restrictions on military use, arguing such limitations are incompatible with national defense needs, underscoring Anduril’s alignment with government priorities at a time of shifting defense tech alliances. FOUNDER: Palmer Luckey AMOUNT: $20,000,000,000 HQ: Costa Mesa, California #VentureCapital #AndurilIndustries #PalmerLuckey #TradedVC

GridBeyond, a Dublin-based energy technology company, has raised €12 million ($13.8 million) in a funding round led by Samsung Ventures to expand its virtual power plant platform, which coordinates electricity supply and demand across batteries, renewables, and large commercial operations. CEO and co-founder Michael Phelan said the company currently manages about 1 gigawatt of energy and several gigawatts of demand-side resources across multiple countries, with marquee projects including the 200-megawatt Big Rock battery in California. The investment comes as GridBeyond rides rising electricity demand from AI-powered data centers and electrification, building on a rapid growth trajectory that has seen annual revenue increase by roughly 70% per year. FOUNDERS: Michael Phelan & Padraig Curran INVESTORS: Samsung Ventures, ABB, Act Venture Capital, Alantra Energy Transition, Constellation Technology Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Enterprise Ireland, Klima, Mirova & Yokogawa AMOUNT: $13,800,000 HQ: Dublin, Ireland #VentureCapital #GridBeyond #MichaelPhelan #PadraigCurran #TradedVC

Paraform, a San Francisco-based startup building an AI-powered recruiting marketplace that connects companies with expert recruiters, raised $40,000,000 in Series B led by ScaleVP with participation from Felicis, A* Capital, and Liquid 2 Ventures. Founded by John Kim and Jeffrey Li, Forbes 30 Under 30 co-founders who set out to fix broken tech hiring, the company helps teams identify and hire top talent faster using a combination of human expertise and AI. Companies on Paraform typically meet their eventual hire in ~12 days, with candidates earning ~$260,000 on average and recruiters generating over $50,000,000 on the platform. The funding will be used to scale the marketplace, grow recruiter supply, and expand product capabilities. FOUNDERS: John Kim, Jeffrey Li INVESTORS: ScaleVP, Felicis, A* Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures ROUND: Series B AMOUNT: $40,000,000 HQ: #SanFrancisco #CA #VentureCapital #Paraform#TradedPartner JohnKim ScaleVP Felicis AStarCapital Liquid2Ventures TradedVC

Eight-year-old semiconductor startup Frore Systems has raised a $143 million Series D at a $1.64 billion valuation, bringing its total funding to $340 million. Founded by two former Qualcomm engineers, Frore develops liquid-cooling systems for AI chips, initially starting with air-cooling tech for small fanless devices. Inspired by a demo seen by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the company pivoted to liquid cooling for high-performance AI semiconductors and now offers solutions compatible with Nvidia, Qualcomm, and AMD chips. The round was led by MVP Ventures and included Fidelity, Mayfield, Addition, Qualcomm Ventures, and Alumni Ventures. FOUNDERS: Dr. Seshu Madhavapeddy & Dr. Surya P. Ganti INVESTORS: MVP Ventures, Fidelity, Mayfield, Addition, Qualcomm Ventures & Alumni Ventures ROUND: Series D AMOUNT: $143,000,000 VALUATION: $1,640,000,000 #VentureCapital #FroreSystems #DrSeshuMadhavapeddy #DrSuryaPGanti #TradedVC

Apple has acquired MotionVFX, a Warsaw-based developer of visual effects plugins and motion graphics tools for Final Cut Pro, bringing the company’s 70 employees in-house. Founded in 2009 by Szymon Masiak, MotionVFX is known for professional-grade products like the mTracker 3D planar tracking plugin and CineStudio platform, which have become staples for editors seeking advanced effects without leaving Apple’s ecosystem. The move comes shortly after Apple launched its Creator Studio subscription bundle and is expected to strengthen Final Cut Pro’s built-in capabilities, potentially reducing reliance on third-party plugins, though financial terms and the future of MotionVFX’s standalone products were not disclosed. #VentureCapital #Apple #MotionVFX #TradedVC

Expo West 2026: CPG is being rebuilt in real time. What’s breaking out: - Tallow and “real ingredients” replacing seed oils - Dates evolving into full-stack ingredients - Women’s health expanding into daily wellness - Multi-benefit functional products are becoming the norm - Mushrooms going mainstream - GLP-1 driving high protein, high fiber formats - Creatine entering the everyday CPG - Protein showing up everywhere - Gen Z reinventing legacy aisles This isn’t a trend cycle; it’s a shift in how people fuel, perform, and optimize daily life. The new playbook: stack benefits, move fast across formats, and win digitally before retail.

Ramp, the $32 billion financial operations platform, has acquired guest travel startup Juno, marking its second deal in a week following the purchase of Stockholm-based payments firm Billhop. Founded in late 2024 by Devon Tivona and Sam Felsenthal, Juno helps companies manage travel for non-employees such as contractors, job candidates, and business guests, a segment that can account for up to 20% of corporate travel spend. Having raised $2 million in seed funding led by Madrona and Bungalow Ventures, Juno quickly signed Fortune 500 clients and partnered with travel management companies, offering AI-powered workflows for bookings, payments, and reimbursements. The acquisition strengthens Ramp’s travel offerings, integrating guest travel into its broader suite of corporate cards, expense management, and bookkeeping tools. HQ: New York City #VentureCapital #Ramp #Juno #TradedVC

Scanner, a San Francisco-based developer of a security data platform, has raised $22 million in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Mantis VC and strategic angel investors, including the CEO of Vanta and the former GM of Splunk Security. Led by CEO Cliff Crosland, the company plans to use the funding to scale its engineering team, accelerate development of its AI-native search index, and expand its platform to support agentic threat hunting across massive log datasets. Scanner’s specialized security data lake enables sub-second queries across petabytes of historical logs, offering SIEM-level speed at a fraction of the cost, and is already used by high-growth enterprises like Notion, Ramp, BeyondTrust, and Lemonade to detect and investigate complex threats. FOUNDER: Cliff Crosland INVESTORS: Sequoia Capital & Mantis VC ROUND: Series A AMOUNT: $22,000,000 HQ: San Francisco, California #VentureCapital #Scanner #CliffCrosland #TradedVC