Top 10 Startup and Tech Funding News – August 20, 2025

It’s Wednesday, August 20, 2025, and we’re back with today’s top startup and tech funding news from the U.S. and around the globe. From AI web agents and nuclear-powered data centers to fintech breakthroughs and cybersecurity automation, today’s lineup reflects strong investor conviction in sectors reshaping the global economy.

Funding Highlights

Capital flowed into late-stage AI leaders like EliseAI, which secured $250 million to scale healthcare and housing automation, and FieldAI, which landed $405 million to build universal robot brains. Energy innovation was on display with Aalo Atomics raising $100 million to bring modular nuclear reactors to data centers, while fintech momentum surged as Turkey’s Midas grabbed $80 million for its commission-free stock trading platform.

Early-stage activity was equally dynamic. TinyFish pulled in $47 million to advance AI web agents, Seemplicity raised $50 million to automate cybersecurity remediation, and Convoke closed $8.6 million to accelerate AI-native drug development. Seed and pre-seed deals included BetterPic’s $2.5 million for its AI photo studio, ChatBlu’s $500,000 to simplify e-commerce inventory, and Yamify’s $100,000 to build Africa’s AI infrastructure.

Investor Activity

The day’s deals featured heavyweights such as Andreessen Horowitz, Bezos Expeditions, Valor Equity Partners, and QED Investors, alongside specialist funds and notable angel backers. The spread of investments—from billion-dollar AI automation to scrappy pre-seed AI infrastructure in Africa—shows that in 2025, capital is chasing both scale and frontier innovation.

Here’s the full breakdown. Until tomorrow, stay sharp and keep building.

FieldAI Raises $405M in Funding to Build Universal Robot Brains

FieldAI, an Irvine, CA-based robotics startup, has closed a massive $405 million in funding across consecutive funding rounds at a valuation of $2 billion. The company develops “foundational embodied AI” – essentially universal robot brains – that can be installed on various robots to help them adapt and operate safely in new environments.

FieldAI’s software-centric approach enables robots to perform monitoring and surveying tasks in dirty, dull, and dangerous industrial settings, with plans to expand into more complex action-based capabilities.

The oversubscribed financing, co-led by Jeff Bezos’s venture arm and other top funds, will allow FieldAI to scale up its team and deployment contracts globally. Notably, the startup is backed by tech luminaries including the investment offices of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, as well as Nvidia’s venture capital unit, underlining strong investor enthusiasm for AI-driven robotics.

Funding Details:

• Startup: FieldAI

• Investors: Bezos Expeditions, Prysm, and Temasek (co-leads); with Khosla Ventures, Nvidia’s NVentures, Intel Capital, Canaan Partners, Gates Frontier, and others participating.

• Amount Raised: $405 million

• Total Raised: $405 million

• Funding Stage: Series A & A1

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

EliseAI Raises $250M in Series E Funding to Automate Healthcare and Housing

New York-based EliseAI, an enterprise AI software startup, has raised $250 million in a Series E round led by Andreessen Horowitz to expand its automation tools for the healthcare and housing industries. The funding doubled EliseAI’s valuation to over $2.2 billion and comes as the company surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue earlier this year.

“EliseAI is built on the belief that AI can dramatically improve how critical industries operate,” said Minna Song, Co-Founder and CEO of EliseAI. “For an average American, healthcare and housing represent approximately 40% of household spending. These two systems are notoriously complex, outdated, and painful to navigate. And we’re here to fix it with agentic AI. We’re excited to partner with both new and returning investors to supercharge our growth and accelerate solutions that reduce costs and increase efficiency in the industries that matter most.”

EliseAI’s platform uses vertical-specific AI to fully automate customer service and operational workflows – from handling apartment rental inquiries to managing outpatient clinic appointments – rather than relying on general-purpose models. With this new capital, EliseAI plans to fuel product innovation and hire aggressively (doubling its ~300-person team across New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago) to meet rising demand. The raise underscores investor appetite for “vertical AI” solutions that tackle costly, complex tasks in major sectors like real estate and healthcare.

Funding Details:

• Startup: EliseAI

• Investors: Andreessen Horowitz (lead), Bessemer Venture Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Navitas Capital, and other existing investors.

• Amount Raised: $250 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Series E

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

Aalo Atomics Secures $100M in Series B Funding to Power Data Centers with Nuclear Energy

Aalo Atomics, an Austin, Texas-based nuclear energy startup, has closed a $100 million Series B round led by Valor Equity Partners to accelerate the build-out of its modular microreactors designed for powering data centers. The raise brings Aalo’s total funding to over $136 million to date. The fresh capital will help Aalo finish construction of its first 50 MW reactor (“Aalo-X”) by next summer at Idaho National Laboratory – an aggressive timeline as part of a U.S. Department of Energy pilot program for advanced nuclear deployment.

Founded in 2023, Aalo is developing fully modular “Aalo Pod” nuclear plants composed of five small reactors driving a single turbine; the system is air-cooled (requiring no external water) and aims to deliver power at about $0.03 per kWh, competitive with gas or solar. With surging power needs from AI data centers, Aalo plans to double its 60-person team and scale up manufacturing, positioning itself to rapidly roll out safe, mass-produced nuclear units that can be co-located with data centers.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Aalo Atomics

• Investors: Valor Equity Partners (lead); Fine Structure Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, NRG Energy, Vamos Ventures, Tishman Speyer, Kindred Ventures, 50Y, Harpoon Ventures, and others joined.

• Amount Raised: $100 million

• Total Raised: $136 million+

• Funding Stage: Series B

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

Midas Secures $80M in Series B Funding for Commission-Free Investing Platform

Istanbul-based fintech startup Midas secured an $80 million Series B investment – marking the largest-ever fintech funding in Turkey. Midas’s popular brokerage app allows 3.5 million users to invest in U.S. and Turkish stocks with zero commissions, fundamentally democratizing access to equity markets in Turkey. The record-breaking round was led by QED Investors and joined by new investors including IFC (World Bank Group) and H Capital (formerly Sequoia China), as well as existing backers like Spark Capital, Portage Ventures and others who doubled down.

Midas will use the funds to fortify its platform’s security and compliance to international standards and to roll out advanced trading features for power users – including launching derivatives trading (U.S. stock options) in the coming months. Since its 2020 founding, Midas has rapidly grown by offering a seamless, low-cost trading experience, saving its customers nearly $50 million in fees and unlocking a new wave of retail investors in Turkey.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Midas

• Investors: QED Investors (lead); International Finance Corporation (IFC), H Capital (Sequoia China), QuantumLight (Nik Storonsky), Spice Expeditions, Spark Capital, Portage Ventures, and others.

• Amount Raised: $80 million

• Total Raised: $140 million+

• Funding Stage: Series B

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

Seemplicity Grabs $50M in Series B Funding to Automate Cybersecurity Remediation

Seemplicity, a fast-growing startup in the cybersecurity “remediation ops” space, has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round to scale its AI-powered vulnerability management platform. Headquartered in Tel Aviv with a Palo Alto-based US arm, Seemplicity’s platform aggregates and prioritizes security findings, then automatically routes and tracks remediation tasks – streamlining what are typically manual, time-consuming processes for IT and DevOps teams.

The new funding, announced Wednesday, will be used to enhance the product’s AI capabilities (including developing AI agents that deliver personalized risk insights and automated fixes) and to expand Seemplicity’s go-to-market presence in the US, UK, and Europe. The Series B was led by Sienna Venture Capital with participation from Essentia VC, alongside existing investors Glilot Capital, NTTVC, and S Capital. Founded in 2020 by veteran security entrepreneurs, Seemplicity has seen remarkable traction – growing annual recurring revenue by 800% since its $26M Series A in 2022, and now processing over 1.5 billion security findings daily for its customers.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Seemplicity

• Investors: Sienna Venture Capital (lead), Essentia Venture Capital; existing backers Glilot Capital, NTTVC, S Capital also participated

• Amount Raised: $50 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Series B

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

TinyFish Lands $47M Series A to Scale AI Web Agents

AI startup TinyFish has raised $47 million in a Series A round led by ICONIQ Capital to grow its platform for AI-powered web agents. Based in Palo Alto, TinyFish builds “autonomous web agents” that can simulate human browsing to automate complex online tasks – for example, dynamically monitoring competitors’ prices, promotions, and inventory in real time for retail or travel companies.

Founded in 2024, TinyFish has about 25 employees and says the new funding gives it a healthy 3–4 year runway to invest in product development and expand its go-to-market operations. The Series A saw participation from USVP, MongoDB Ventures, and Sheryl Sandberg’s SBVP fund alongside ICONIQ. TinyFish’s technology is part of a broader “AI agent” gold rush – its early pilots with clients (including Google) have shown it can reliably turn the messy, dynamic internet into analyzable data, potentially saving enterprises time and money.

Funding Details:

• Startup: TinyFish

• Investors: ICONIQ Capital (lead); USVP, MongoDB Ventures, and Sandberg & Bernthal Ventures (Sheryl Sandberg’s fund) participated.

• Amount Raised: $47 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Series A

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

Convoke Raises $8.6M in Funding to Accelerate AI-Powered Drug Development

San Francisco-based Convoke, an AI software startup for the biopharma industry, raised $8.6 million in seed funding to expand its “AI-native” operating system for drug development. The round was co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Dimension, with participation from a roster of tech investors including ACME, Not Boring Capital, Lux Capital, Liquid2 Ventures, and angels like Qasar Younis and Erik Torenberg.

Convoke’s platform helps pharmaceutical teams unify their internal data silos and external research, automate analytical workflows, and generate critical documents – allowing even small biotech teams to accomplish in-house what once required large staffs or costly consultants.

Customers ranging from startups to top-20 pharma companies use Convoke to speed up tasks across competitive intelligence, clinical planning, and regulatory filings. The new funding will be used to grow Convoke’s development team and bring its AI-driven tools to more biopharma organizations seeking to streamline the drug lifecycle from idea to market.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Convoke

• Investors: Kleiner Perkins (lead), Dimension Capital; joined by ACME, Comma Capital, Liquid2 Ventures, Not Boring Capital, Audacious Ventures, Lux Capital, and prominent angels Qasar Younis and Erik Torenberg.

• Amount Raised: $8.6 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Seed

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

BetterPic Raises $2.5M in Seed Funding Round for AI Photo Studio Platform

BetterPic, an Estonian startup specializing in AI-powered image processing, has raised $2.5 million in a seed round to scale its virtual photo studio service. Co-led by MOC Capital and Shilling VC, the funding also included several notable angel investors from Europe’s tech and fashion scenes. BetterPic’s platform uses generative AI to create professional-quality 4K headshots and product photos in under an hour – saving businesses the time and cost of traditional photoshoots.

The company had impressively reached over $3 million in annual revenue as a bootstrapped, profitable business before taking any external capital. With the new investment, CEO Ricardo Ghekiere says BetterPic will expand its operations and double down on its B2B offerings, which allow anyone to get studio-grade portraits or fashion images on demand via AI.

Funding Details:

• Startup: BetterPic

• Investors: MOC Capital and Shilling VC (co-leads); with angel investors including Louis Jonckheere (Showpad co-founder), Matthias Geeroms, Joris Van der Gucht, and Severine Nijs.

• Amount Raised: $2.5 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Seed

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

ChatBlu Snags $500K in Pre-Seed Funding for AI E-Commerce Agent

ChatBlu, a London-based AI startup, has secured $500,000 in pre-seed funding to develop an autonomous e-commerce inventory management agent. The round was led by Matador Venture Capital and will support the upcoming launch of ChatBlu’s product in September 2025.

The company’s AI agent is designed to help online retailers automatically track and synchronize stock across multiple marketplaces and storefronts, reducing the manual effort of updating product listings. Founded by Kristian Lukauskis, Alexander Dillon, and Sairam Vangapally, ChatBlu is initially targeting English-speaking markets, with plans to expand into the Hispanic e-commerce sector by 2026. This early investment highlights growing investor interest in niche AI tools that streamline everyday business operations like inventory and supply-chain management.

Funding Details:

• Startup: ChatBlu

• Investors: Matador Venture Capital (lead); plus several angel investors (undisclosed).

• Amount Raised: $500,000

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Pre-Seed

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

Yamify Secures $100K in Pre-Seed Funding to Launch Africa’s AI Infrastructure Platform

Yamify, a Democratic Republic of Congo-based startup, has raised an initial $100,000 in pre-seed funding to kickstart its AI infrastructure platform in Africa. The investment comes from angel investor Felix Anane (an early backer of Paystack) and will accelerate the rollout of Yamify’s flagship Model Context Protocol (MCP), which lets users spin up AI tools via a simple chat interface. By abstracting away the complexity of deployment, MCP can reduce the time to provision AI models from days to minutes. Aimed at freelancers, startups and agencies across the continent, Yamify offers one-click access to open-source AI applications running on GPU clusters in Nigeria, Congo, and South Africa – with usage billed in local currencies. Billed as an “app store for AI” with built-in compute, Yamify’s platform seeks to lower barriers to AI adoption and drive the African AI ecosystem forward. (The company is continuing to raise an additional $100K to complete the round.)

Funding Details:

• Startup: Yamify

• Investors: Felix Anane (angel investor, early Paystack investor)

• Amount Raised: $100,000

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Pre-Seed

• Funding Date: August 20, 2025

Tech Funding Summary Table