Molly x Rogan

$500B for AI, DC, Davos, Stoke Space, Colossal Biosciences, Harvey AI, Shield AI, Eve, Raspberry AI, Shippeo

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Hello from Washington DC

Where I’m about to get on a plane and head to another secret location. This past week we had the fortunate pleasure to attend the Inauguration, tagging along with the most important crowd in Silicon Valley, attending Ball after Ball, one fancy event to another. Although it was as cold as what I’d assume the 1900s felt like, it was incredible. Truly a historic moment, especially between the private and public sectors.

We also vote to make Black Tie a regular staple in society. Let’s see top hats, furry jackets, men in suits, beautifully fitted fashion. America should be regal. Because, why not? The relaxed casualness of LA and VC gets a bit uninspiring, let’s normalize the high society of NYC, Paris, and London. Crypto is back anyways.

👀 The highlight? I met Joe Rogan, and then the photo went viral on X.

Highlighted Deal of the Week

Kaya AI, $5.3M Pre-Seed

Kaya AI, an advanced construction supply chain intelligence platform, has officially launched out of stealth with $5.3 million in pre-seed funding led by 53 Stations, Suffolk Technologies and Soma Capital, with additional backing from Zeal Capital Partners (BBFI), RXR, Mantis VC, Virta Ventures and other top investors.

Kaya AI is a global construction supply chain intelligence company that delivers the world's first native AI-enabled solution that interconnects all stakeholders within the industry. Kaya AI’s core software platform is designed to eliminate data silos by integrating within existing workflow tools and facilitates consolidated procurement tracking from submittal to delivery. Its mission is to transform the construction industry by providing real-time insights and predictive analytics to make supply chains more efficient, transparent and sustainable

Musings

Macro

• Tech's $370B Paradox: Why Cash-Rich Giants Might Not Lead 2025's M&A Race [Tomasz Tunguz]

• Venture Capital Unbundled, A Revolution Years In The Making [Kyle Harrison]

• See the parties where Silicon Valley's elite and DC insiders celebrated Trump's inauguration [Business Insider]

• Trump effect, crypto vibes, and more from Davos 2025 [Yahoo! Finance]

AI

• Trump highlights partnership investing $500 billion in AI [AP]

  • Masa really showed up.

• Legal AI Startup Harvey Set to Double Valuation to $3 Billion [Yahoo! Finance]

• Elon Musk JUST Dropped Massive Bombshell on Tesla Bots, Neuralink and Major Tesla Updates [CES 2025]

Hard Tech

• Silicon Valley defence start-up Shield AI hits $5bn valuation [FT]

More

• The Origins of Wokeness [Paul Graham]

Top Interviews

Stay tuned for a new top interview dropping soon with Theory Venture’s Tomasz Tunguz. We are SO excited.

• Mental Resilience: Spartan Race CEO Joe De Sena | Lessons from 11M racers & 24 years building one of the hardest businesses

• Cyan Banister & Lee Jacobs Investing in the Magically Weird | SpaceX, Uber, Anduril, Crusoe | Spirituality, Purpose, VC Cynicism, Meaningful Connections

• How Lucy Guo Is Building A Creator Empire with Shaq, Kygo, & Olivia Dunne | Raising $50M in 2 years

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Last Week (1/13-1/17):

Relevant deals include the 70+ deals across stages below. I've categorized the deals below into seven categories, Fintech, Care, Enterprise / Consumer, HardTech, Sustainability, Acquisition/PE, and Fund Announcements, and ordered from later-stage rounds to early-stage rounds.

Highlighted VC Deals include:

Stoke Space, Colossal Biosciences, Harvey AI, Shield AI, Eve, Raspberry AI, Shippeo

Acquisitions & PE

Moonpay/Helio, iCapital/Parallel Markets

Funds

Stepstone, a16z/Eli Lilly

Final Numbers

Annual global buy-out exits

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VC Deals

Fintech:

- LemFi, a Maidstone, England-based financial services provider for immigrant communities, raised $53 million in Series B funding. Highland Europe led the round and was joined by existing investors Left Lane Capital, Palm Drive Capital, and Y-Combinator.

- 1Money Co., a Layer 1 for stablecoins payments, raised $20m from F-Prime Capital, Galaxy Ventures, Hack VC, Tribe Capital, Portage, Ethereal Ventures, CMT Digital, Kraken Ventures, and KuCoin Ventures.

- Nsave, a Swiss savings app for people living in unstable economies, raised $18m in Series A funding. TQ Ventures led, and was joined by Sequoia Capital, YC, ACE Ventures, and Proton Foundation.

- Reshop, a New York City-based refund process platform, raised $17 million in funding. Matrix Partners, Sound Ventures, Woodson Capital, and Touch Ventures led the round and were joined by others.

- Reeco, a Miami-based AI-powered procure-to-pay platform for the hospitality industry, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Aleph VC led the round and was joined by Net Capital Ventures and Joule Ventures.

- Reown (fka WalletConnect), an onchain UX ecosystem, raised $13m in Series B funding. USV and 1kx co-led, and was joined by Global Digital Asset Holdings, Shopify Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Crypto.com Capital, Figment, Kiln, Everstake, BitGo Ventures, and Fenbushi.

- Nilus, a New York City-based treasury management AI-powered platform, raised $10 million in funding. Felicis and Vesey Ventures led the round and were joined by existing investor Bessemer Venture Partners.

- HYPERLINE, a Paris-based revenue management platform, raised $10 million in a seed extension round. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by Adelie.vc and existing investors.

- Vasco, a Montreal-based revenue architecture strategies platform, raised $8 million in seed funding. Inovia Capital led the round and was joined by BY Venture Partners, FRAMEWORK Venture Partners, and angel investors.

- Tapestry, a social infrastructure protocol for the Solana ecosystem,raised $5.75m in Series A funding. USV and Fabric Ventures co-led, and were joined by Stellation Capital, Slow, and Foresight Ventures.

- Daash Intelligence, a San Francisco-based commerce intelligence predictive AI platform for retail brands, raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Bullpen Capital led the round and was joined by GFT Ventures and existing investors Silicon Road Ventures and Red Bike Capital.

- Nevermined, an AI-to-AI payment protocol, raised $4m. Generative Ventures led, and was joined by Polymorphic Capital, NEAR, Halo Capital, Factor Capital, Lyrik Ventures, and Arca.

- Open Ledger, a San Francisco-based accounting automation services provider and embedder for small businesses, raised $3 million in seed funding. Kindred Ventures led the round and was joined by Blank Ventures, Adventure Fund, Johnathan Chang, and others.

- Arva AI, a San Francisco-based business verification solutions provider for banks and fintechs, raised $3 million in funding. Gradient led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, Amino Capital, Olive Tree Capital, and angel investors.

Care:

- Truveta, a Bellevue, Wash., health data platform that's building a genetics database, raised $320m at more than a $1b valuation from Regeneron, Illumina and 17 U.S. health systems.

- Tune Therapeutics, a Seattle-based epigenetic editing biotech, raised $175 million in Series B funding. New Enterprise Associates, Yosemite, Regeneron Ventures, and Hevolution Foundation led the round and were joined by others.

- Cera, a U.K. in-home healthcare startup, raised $150m in debt and equity funding (it didn't provide the split) co-led by BDT & MSD Partners and Schroders Capital.

- Nelly, a Berlin-based administrative automation platform for the healthcare sector, raised €50 million ($51.6 million) in Series B funding. Cathay Innovation led the round and was joined by Notion Capital and existing investors b2venture, Lakestar, Motive Ventures, and arc investors.

- Solera Health, a Phoenix-based digital healthcare solutions provider, raised $40 million in funding. Health Care Service Corporation co-led the round and was joined by Adams Street, Cobalt Ventures, and Horizon Mutual Holdings.

- Clear Labs, a San Carlos, Calif.-based next-generation sequencing platform, raised $30 million in Series D funding from Counterpoint Global, Felicis, GV, and others.

- Robeauté, a Paris-based neurosurgical microbots developer, raised $28 million in funding. Plural, Cherry Ventures, and Kindred Ventures led the round and were joined by Brainlab.

- Labviva, a Boston-based AI procurement platform for the life sciences industry, raised $25 million in Series B funding. 53 Stations led the round and was joined by existing investors Biospring Partners, B Capital Group, and Glasswing Ventures.

- Conceivable Life Sciences, a New York City-based automated IVF lab developer, raised $18 million in Series A funding. ARTIS Ventures led the round and was joined by Atlantic Health Venture Studio, Muse Capital, Scrub Capital, existing investors ACME Capital, Black Opal Ventures, Cadence Healthcare Ventures, and others.

- hc1, an Indianapolis-based lab data intelligence provider, raised $6.3 million in funding. Existing investor Health Cloud Capital led the round and was joined by A1 Health Ventures.

- Arva AI, an SF-based platform for automating AML and KYB verification processes, raised $3m in seed funding. Gradient Ventures led, and then was joined by YC, Amino Capital, and Olive Tree Capital.

- Parambil, a New York City-based AI-powered medical record analysis for the legal industry, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding. Daybreak Ventures led the round and was joined by angel investors.

Enterprise/Consumer:

- Eve, an AI legal platform, raised $47m in Series A funding. A16z led, and was joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures.

- Prophecy, a Palo Alto-based data copilot services provider, raised $47 million in a Series B extension. Smith Point Capital led the round and was joined by HSBC and existing investors Berkeley SkyDeck, DallasVC, Insight Partners, and others.

- Bioptimus, a Paris-based AI foundation model developer, raised $41 million in funding. Cathay Innovation led the round and was joined by Sofinnova Partners, Bpifrance, Andera Partners, angel investors, and others.

- Orchid Security, a New York City-based identity security company, raised $36 million in seed funding. Team8 and Intel Capital led the round and were joined by CapitalOne, Jeff Williams, Dror Davidoff, and Zohar Alo.

- Shippeo, a Paris-based multimodal transportation visibility company, raised $30 million in funding. Woven Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Battery Ventures, Partech, NGP Capital, and others.

- Vividly, a San Francisco-based trade promotion management platform for consumer packaged goods brands, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Centana Growth Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors.

- Maki, a Paris-based talent acquisition conversational AI agent, raised $28.6 million in Series A funding. Blossom Capital led the round and was joined by DST Global and existing investors Frst, GFC, and Picus Capital.

- Raspberry AI, a New York City-based fashion generative AI platform, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by existing investors Greycroft, Correlation Ventures, MVP Ventures, and angel investors.

- Leap, a New York-based physical retail platform for digital brands, raised $20m co-led by Tribeca Venture Partners and DNX Ventures.

- qbiq, a Tel Aviv-based AI-powered architectural planning automation platform, raised $16 million in Series A funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by JLL Spark, 10D, Ocean Azul, and others.

- Pipe17, a Seattle-based AI-powered order operations solutions and management provider, raised $15.5 million in Series A funding. LFX Venture Partners led the round and was joined by existing investor GLP and others.

- The Snow League, a New York City-based professional snowboarding and freeskiing league, raised $15 million in funding. Left Lane Capital led the round and was joined by Boardroom Sports Holdings, Peter Hirschmann, Kuvare Holdings, and existing investors Will Ventures, Ares Management, Bolt Ventures, and Ryan Sports Ventures.

- Coram AI, a Sunnyvale, Calif., video security startup, raised $13.8m in Series A funding. Battery Ventures led, and was joined by insiders investors 8VC and Mosaic Ventures.

- BforeAI, a New York City-based predictive cyber defense AI platform, raised $10 million in Series B funding. Titanium Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors SYN Ventures, Karista, and Addendum Capital.

- Guidesly, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based outdoor recreation vertical software platform, raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. Aspen Capital Group led the round and was joined by YETI Capital, HalfCourt Ventures, Derive Ventures, and existing investors Elysian Park Ventures and Marquee Ventures.

- Ranger, a San Francisco-based software testing AI automation platform, raised $8.9 million in funding. XYZ Venture Capital led the $2.4 million pre-seed round. General Catalyst led the $6.5 million seed round and was joined by XYZ, Founder Collective, BoxGroup, angel investors, and others.

- Boardy, a New York City-based AI connections and networking agent, raised $8 million in seed funding. Creandum led the round and was joined by Andy Dun, Leah Busque, Sabrina Hahn, Andrew Yeung, and others.

- Thoras.ai, a Washington, D.C.-based data observability platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Wellington Ventures led the round and was joined by Sinewave Ventures, Focal Ventures, Storytime Capital, and others.

- Borderless AI, a Canadian employer-of-record startup, raised US$5m from Cohere.

- StepChange Labs, an Oakland, Calif.-based performance issues monitoring platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Kindred Ventures and The General Partnership led the round and were joined by Ritual Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures.

HardTech:

- Stoke Space, a Kent, Wash., maker of reusable rockets, raised $260m in Series C funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Industrious Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Seven Seven Six, and YC.

- Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based de-extinction company, raised $200 million in Series C funding from TWG Global.

- Loft Orbital, a San Francisco-based space infrastructure and satellite platform developer, raised $170 million in Series C funding. Tikehau Capital and Axial Partners led the round and were joined by Bpifrance, Foundation Capital, Temasek, and Uncork Capital.

- Harbinger, a Garden Grove, Calif.-based electric vehicle company, raised $100 million in Series B funding. Capricorn and Leitmotif led the round and were joined by Tiger Global and existing investors ArcTern Ventures, Ridgeline, Maniv Mobility, and others.

- Amogy, a Brooklyn-based ammonia-fueled power generator, raised $56 million in funding. Aramco Ventures and SV Investment led the round and were joined by Samsung Heavy Industries, BHP Ventures, Hanwha Investment & Securities, existing investors Temasek, MOL Switch, Yanmar Ventures, and others.

- SEEQC, a Elmsford, N.Y.-based digital chips developer for quantum computing systems, raised $30 million in funding. NordicNinja and Booz Allen Ventures led the round and were joined by SIP Capital and existing investors EQT Ventures, M-Ventures, BlueYard Capital, and others.

- Ndustrial, a Raleigh, N.C.-based energy intensity optimization AI platform, raised $19.5 million in Series B funding. ABB and GS Energy led the round and were joined by Southwire and existing investors Clean Energy Ventures and ENGIE New Ventures.

Sustainability:

- Moment Energy, a startup repurposing EV batteries, raised $15m in Series A funding. Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund and Voyager Ventures co-led, and were joined by In-Q-Tel, Version One Ventures, Overture Ventures, WovenEarth Ventures, Fika Ventures, MCJ, One Small Planet, and Climate Capital.

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Acquisitions & PE:

- MoonPay, last valued by VCs at $3.4 billion in 2021, agreed to acquire crypto checkout startup Helio, which previously raised $3.3m from Peak and Lightspeed Faction.