Top Startup and Tech Funding News – June 25, 2025
Nickie Louise
Posted On June 25, 2025
It’s Wednesday, June 25, 2025, and the midweek tech funding push is strong. Today’s deals reveal where the smartest money is going—AI infrastructure, prediction markets, developer tools, and privacy-first encryption.
From bold Series C plays to scrappy seed rounds, startups are attracting capital to rewire everything from how we bet on global events to how developers handle user login. And yes, privacy-preserving tech is finally getting its time in the spotlight.
Funding Highlights
Kalshi made waves with a massive $185 million Series C to turn public opinion into tradable contracts. Zama raised $57 million to push homomorphic encryption into the blockchain mainstream, while OpenRouter banked $40 million to help devs route AI prompts more intelligently across top models. Better Auth, built by a self-taught Ethiopian programmer, pulled in $5 million to simplify app authentication, and ZestyAI secured a $15 million credit facility to expand its AI risk engine for insurers.
Investor Activity
Heavyweights like Andreessen Horowitz, Pantera, Paradigm, and Sequoia doubled down on infrastructure and frontier tech, while banking partners like CIBC stepped in to fuel growth with non-dilutive capital. Across the board, there’s a clear theme: investors want startups with a technical edge and real-world use cases.
From AI routing to encrypted smart contracts and weather risk analytics, today’s funding slate proves that deep tech is having a moment—and it’s getting funded.
Here’s the full breakdown of today’s startup funding activity.
Kalshi Raises $185M Series C for Prediction Market Platform
Kalshi, the prediction market platform where users trade on real-world events, has secured a $185 million Series C funding round that values the company at $2 billion post-money. The San Francisco-based startup (founded in 2018) lets users place bets on outcomes ranging from elections and economic indicators to weather and sports.
The round was led by crypto-focused investment firm Paradigm, with participation from top backers including Sequoia Capital, Multicoin Capital, Neo, Bond Capital, and Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao. The fresh capital will help Kalshi expand its markets and product offerings as it continues to grow its event contracts business.
Funding Details:
- Startup: Kalshi
- Investors: Paradigm (lead), Sequoia Capital, Multicoin Capital, Neo, Bond Capital, Peng Zhao
- Amount Raised: $185 million
- Total Raised: Not disclosed
- Funding Stage: Series C
- Funding Date: June 25, 2025
OpenRouter Raises $40M for Unified AI Model Platform
OpenRouter, an AI infrastructure startup, has raised $40 million in combined seed and Series A funding to build a unified API for accessing dozens of large language models. The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2023 by former OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah and Louis Vichy, helps developers route AI prompts to the most efficient models based on speed, cost, and other factors.
The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures, with backing from Sequoia Capital and a group of prominent angel investors. This injection of capital will allow OpenRouter to add more models, enhance its developer tools, and scale its infrastructure to serve its rapidly growing user base of AI developers.
Funding Details:
- Startup: OpenRouter
- Investors: Andreessen Horowitz (lead), Menlo Ventures (lead), Sequoia Capital, notable angel investors
- Amount Raised: $40 million
- Total Raised: $40 million
- Funding Stage: Seed & Series A
- Funding Date: June 25, 2025
ZestyAI Raises $15M Credit Facility to Expand AI Risk Analytics
ZestyAI, a California-based insurtech startup that uses AI and climate data to assess property risk, has secured a $15 million credit facility from CIBC Innovation Banking. Founded in 2017 by Attila Toth and Kumar Dhuvur, ZestyAI’s platform blends property and climate data to give insurers a clearer picture of risk (such as wildfire and storm damage) at the individual-property level.
The new debt financing gives the company additional runway to expand its AI risk models into new states and meet rising demand for advanced underwriting tools. ZestyAI has already performed millions of property risk assessments for insurers; this infusion will help it deepen partnerships and serve more carriers as insurtech adoption grows.
Funding Details:
- Startup: ZestyAI
- Investors: CIBC Innovation Banking (lead lender)
- Amount Raised: $15 million
- Total Raised: $15 million
- Funding Stage: Debt Financing
- Funding Date: June 25, 2025
Better Auth Raises $5M Seed for Developer Authentication Tool
Better Auth, a developer-focused authentication startup founded by self-taught Ethiopian programmer Bereket Engida, has raised about $5 million in seed funding to accelerate its growth. The company offers an open-source TypeScript framework that simplifies how developers implement user sign-up, login, permissions, and roles in their applications.
The seed round included Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India & Southeast Asia) as a lead investor, along with Y Combinator, P1 Ventures, and Chapter One. With this funding, Better Auth plans to expand its user community and enhance its feature set to meet strong developer demand for easy-to-integrate authentication solutions.
Founded 10 months ago by two Ethiopian entrepreneurs, Better Auth was selected in March for Y Combinator’s Spring 2025 cohort. Alongside its acceptance, the team secured $500,000 in seed funding to build an open-source authentication framework for TypeScript developers looking for a simpler, more flexible way to manage login and user access.
Funding Details:
- Startup: Better Auth
- Investors: Peak XV (lead), Y Combinator, P1 Ventures, Chapter One
- Amount Raised: $5 million
- Total Raised: $5 million
- Funding Stage: Seed
- Funding Date: June 25, 2025
Zama Raises $57M Series B to Advance Homomorphic Encryption
Zama, a French open-source cryptography startup specializing in fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), has raised a $57 million Series B funding round to advance privacy-preserving blockchain applications. The round was co-led by blockchain-focused venture firms Blockchange Ventures and Pantera Capital, bringing Zama’s total funding to over $150 million and its valuation above $1 billion.
Zama’s technology enables computations to be performed on encrypted data without decrypting it, allowing sensitive information to remain secure in applications. The new capital will be used to launch Zama’s mainnet and FHE protocols (including its FHEVM), enabling developers to build confidential smart contracts for finance, identity, and other on-chain use cases.
Founded in 2024 by Dr. Pascal Paillier and Dr. Rand Hindi, Zama’s technology powers a wide range of privacy-focused applications—from confidential financial transactions to Web3 platforms and emerging network states.
Funding Details:
- Startup: Zama
- Investors: Blockchange Ventures (co-lead), Pantera Capital (co-lead)
- Amount Raised: $57 million
- Total Raised: >$150 million
- Funding Stage: Series B
- Funding Date: June 25, 2025
Funding Summary Table
| Startup | Investors (Lead and notable investors) | Amount Raised | Total Raised | Funding Stage | Funding Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalshi | Paradigm (lead); Sequoia Capital; Multicoin; Neo; Bond Capital; Peng Zhao | $185 M | Not disclosed | Series C | June 25, 2025 |
| OpenRouter | Andreessen Horowitz (lead); Menlo Ventures (lead); Sequoia Capital; angel investors | $40 M | $40 M | Seed & Series A | June 25, 2025 |
| ZestyAI | CIBC Innovation Banking (lead) | $15 M | $15 M | Debt Financing | June 25, 2025 |
| Better Auth | Peak XV (lead); Y Combinator; P1 Ventures; Chapter One | $5 M | $5 M | Seed | June 25, 2025 |
| Zama | Blockchange Ventures (co-lead); Pantera Capital (co-lead) | $57 M | >$150 M | Series B | June 25, 2025 |
🚀 Want Your Story Featured?
Get in front of thousands of founders, investors, PE firms, tech executives, decision makers, and tech readers by submitting your story to TechStartups.com.
Get Featured
