Top Startup and Tech Funding News – December 3, 2025
Nickie Louise
Posted On December 3, 2025
It’s Wednesday, December 3, 2025, and we’re back with the top startup and tech funding news stories spanning longevity biotech, AI-native agents, construction automation, crypto finance, encrypted data infrastructure, and synthetic biology. From pre-seed to Series B, today’s deals reflect sharp investor focus on real-world AI deployment, permissionless finance, and next-gen enterprise automation.
TRIANA Biomedicines led the day with a $120 million Series B to advance its molecular glue degrader therapies targeting cancer. Antithesis followed with a massive $105 million Series A to scale its AI simulation platform for software testing, while PermitFlow raised $54 million to automate building permitting through intelligent agents.
AI agents and agentic platforms dominated early-stage activity. Simular raised $21.5 million for its cross-platform desktop automation assistant, and Gradial closed a $35 million Series B to orchestrate marketing ops using modular AI workflows. Meanwhile, Ostium raised $20 million to bring perpetual swaps onchain, and Fin secured $17 million to power high-speed global payments via stablecoins.
The deep tech frontier also showed momentum: Niobium raised $23 million for encrypted silicon, Aether added $15 million to expand its AI-designed proteins for industrial reindustrialization, and Autolane pulled in $7.4 million to build autonomous vehicle curb infrastructure.
Funding Highlights
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TRIANA Biomedicines raised $120 million in Series B funding to develop epigenetic cancer therapies.
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Antithesis secured $105 million in Series A funding for AI-based software testing simulation.
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PermitFlow closed $54 million in Series B funding to scale AI-driven construction permitting.
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Gradial raised $35 million in Series B funding for AI marketing workflow agents.
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Ostium raised $20 million in Series A funding for onchain perpetual swaps.
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Fin secured $17 million in Series A funding for stablecoin-powered global payments.
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Niobium raised over $23 million in seed funding for FHE-accelerated compute hardware.
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Simular raised $21.5 million in Series A funding for cross-platform personal AI agents.
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Aether Biomachines raised $15 million in new equity funding to develop synthetic protein factories.
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Autolane secured $7.4 million in seed funding for autonomous curbside operations.
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Orq.ai raised €5 million in seed funding to operationalize enterprise AI agents.
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Hachiko raised $2.5 million in seed funding to optimize battery storage infrastructure.
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SereneDB secured $2.1 million in pre-seed funding for real-time analytical search databases.
Investor Activity
Today’s financings brought together global venture leaders, deep tech funds, crypto-native backers, and crossover investors doubling down on foundational systems for compute, biotech, automation, and programmable finance. Startups deploying production-grade agents, privacy-preserving chips, and RWA tokenization protocols attracted serious capital at both early and growth stages.
As Q4 nears its close, momentum is building across frontier sectors where technical defensibility and economic scalability intersect. Here’s the full breakdown of today’s funding stories.
TRIANA Biomedicines Raises $120M in Series B Funding for Cancer Drug Pipeline
TRIANA Biomedicines, a Lexington, Massachusetts-based biotech, has secured an oversubscribed $120 million Series B financing to advance its molecular glue drug programs. The company’s platform focuses on novel protein degraders for difficult cancer targets. TRIANA will use the new capital to push its lead asset (TRI-611, targeting ALK-positive lung cancer) toward clinical proof of concept and to advance additional pipeline candidates.
This funding round, co-led by Ascenta Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners, brings in numerous top-tier investors and reinforces TRIANA’s efforts to accelerate development of its innovative therapies.
Funding Details:
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Startup: TRIANA Biomedicines
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Investors: Ascenta Capital (co-lead), Bessemer Venture Partners (co-lead), YK Bioventures, Regeneron Ventures, Invus, Finchley Healthcare Ventures, with existing backers RA Capital Management, Atlas Venture, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pfizer Ventures, and Citadel’s Surveyor Capital
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Amount Raised: $120 million
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Total Raised: $120 million+
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Funding Stage: Series B
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Antithesis Raises $105M in Series A Funding Led by Jane Street for Software Testing
Antithesis, a New York-based enterprise software startup that automates software testing via large-scale simulation, announced a $105 million Series A round led by Jane Street (the quantitative trading firm). The round also included VC participation from Amplify Venture Partners and Spark Capital, alongside other notable angels like Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison.
Antithesis’s platform runs massively parallel, AI-driven simulations of complex software systems to uncover bugs and edge-case failures. The new funding will accelerate product development and global go-to-market expansion, as Antithesis scales its automated testing technology for large software teams.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Antithesis
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Investors: Jane Street (lead), Amplify Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Tamarack Global, First In Ventures, Teamworthy Ventures, Hyperion Capital, plus angels including Patrick Collison (Stripe co-founder)
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Amount Raised: $105 million
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Total Raised: $105 million (Series A)
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Funding Stage: Series A
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
PermitFlow Raises $54M in Series B Funding for AI Construction Permitting
PermitFlow, a New York-based construction tech startup, closed a $54 million Series B round (led by Accel) to expand its AI-driven platform for automating building permits and inspections. The company’s SaaS platform uses AI agents to streamline pre-construction workflows, reducing delays and paperwork for homebuilders and developers.
Valued at $500 million after the round, PermitFlow plans to use the new capital to expand its agent suite (e.g., adding permit inspections and licensing) and to hire additional engineering and product talent. This will help meet growing demand as builders nationwide adopt AI to speed up project delivery.
Funding Details:
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Startup: PermitFlow
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Investors: Accel (lead), Kleiner Perkins, Felicis, Initialized Capital, Altos Ventures, and Y Combinator
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Amount Raised: $54 million
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Total Raised: $54 million+
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Funding Stage: Series B
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Gradial Raises $35M in Series B Funding for AI Marketing Platform
Gradial, an AI enterprise software startup in Seattle, announced a $35 million Series B round (led by VMG Partners) to scale its marketing operations platform. The company builds “agentic” AI assistants that automate marketing workflows and content creation, effectively managing the enterprise marketing content supply chain.
With this new funding, Gradial will expand its engineering and go-to-market teams to accelerate product development. Existing investors Madrona Ventures and Pruven Capital also participated, bringing Gradial’s total funding to about $55 million. The fresh capital will help the startup grow its customer base and refine its generative AI agents for content orchestration.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Gradial
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Investors: VMG Partners (lead), Madrona Ventures, Pruven Capital, plus others
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Amount Raised: $35 million
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Total Raised: $55 million
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Funding Stage: Series B
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Niobium Raises $23M in Funding to Advance Fully Homomorphic Encryption Hardware
Niobium, a U.S. hardware startup focused on secure computing, secured over $23 million in a seed follow-on round to accelerate its next-generation fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) silicon. The company’s FHE chips enable computation on encrypted data, providing end-to-end privacy. Niobium will use the funding to move its prototype FHE accelerator into production-ready ASIC form, including ongoing hardware/software co-design and compiler optimizations.
The round was led by returning investors (Fusion Fund, Morgan Creek Capital, Rev1 Ventures, Ohio Innovation Fund). It included new strategic backers (Analog Devices’ ADVentures, Blockchange Ventures, KDB, JobsOhio, Rev1 Angels, Silicon Catalyst). This capital injection signals strong confidence in Niobium’s mission to build the hardware foundation for encrypted, quantum-resilient data processing.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Niobium
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Investors: Fusion Fund (returning), Morgan Creek Capital (returning), Rev1 Ventures (returning), Ohio Innovation Fund (returning), and new investors ADVentures (Analog Devices’ VC arm), Blockchange Ventures, Korea Development Bank, JobsOhio Ventures, Rev1 Angels, Silicon Catalyst Ventures
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Amount Raised: $23 million+
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Total Raised: $23 million+
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Funding Stage: Seed (follow-on)
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Simular Raises $21.5M Series A for Cross-Platform AI Agent
Simular, a Silicon Valley startup developing AI “agent” software for personal computers, raised $21.5 million Series A led by Felicis. The company’s agents automate complex tasks on Mac (and soon Windows) by literally controlling the screen and inputs. Co-founded by former DeepMind researchers, Simular just launched its Mac OS agent and is building its Windows version in partnership with Microsoft.
The new funding (also backed by Nvidia’s NVentures and seed investor South Park Commons) will support engineering hires and product rollouts. Simular’s platform lets AI agents perform repeatable tasks on a user’s computer (e.g., copying data, managing apps), enabling enterprises to boost employee productivity with one-click automation.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Simular
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Investors: Felicis (lead), NVentures (Nvidia Ventures), South Park Commons, and others
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Amount Raised: $21.5 million
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Total Raised: $21.5 million
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Funding Stage: Series A
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Ostium Raises $20M in Series A Funding for Onchain Perpetual Swaps Platform
Ostium Labs, a New York crypto-finance startup, raised $20 million in a Series A round (co-led by General Catalyst and Jump Crypto) to further develop its onchain perpetual swaps protocol for traditional markets. Ostium’s decentralized platform enables trading of global stocks, commodities, currencies, and indices directly on blockchain via self-custodial wallets. Including a prior $4 million seed, the new funding brings Ostium’s total raised to about $27.8 million.
The capital will expand asset coverage, scale infrastructure for higher trading volumes, and deepen the platform’s onchain liquidity and transparency. Ostium was founded by former Harvard classmates and leverages real-world asset pricing to deliver decentralized perpetual futures, with all trades auditable on-chain.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Ostium
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Investors: General Catalyst (co-lead), Jump Crypto (co-lead), LocalGlobe, SIG Susquehanna, GSR, Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Nick Van Eck, and others
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Amount Raised: $20 million (Series A, plus a prior $4 million strategic round)
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Total Raised: ~$27.8 million
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Funding Stage: Series A
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Fin Raises $17M in Series A Funding for Stablecoin-Powered Payments
Fin, a next-generation fintech startup, has closed a $17 million Series A round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Samsung Next. Fin was founded by former Citadel quant analysts and is building a payment network that combines the speed of cryptocurrency (via a proprietary stablecoin) with the trust and compliance of the traditional banking system.
The startup’s platform aims to enable near-instant, high-value cross-border transactions with the security of regulated rails. The new funding will be used to launch Fin’s stablecoin product, hire engineering and compliance teams, and expand its global payments infrastructure.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Fin
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Investors: Pantera Capital (lead), Sequoia Capital, Samsung Next
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Amount Raised: $17 million
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Total Raised: $17 million+
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Funding Stage: Series A
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Aether Biomachines Raises $15M in Funding to Develop AI-Designed Proteins
Aether Biomachines, a San Francisco biotech startup, announced an additional $15 million in funding (led by Tribe Capital) to accelerate its work on AI-designed protein molecules. The company uses AI to create novel bio-based materials and manufacturing processes (“reindustrializing America” by replacing petrochemicals with biotech).
This latest round brings Aether’s total funding to about $64 million. Investors include natural resource funds and industrial partners (Natural Capital, Henkel, Resilience Reserve) alongside venture backers (Shrug Capital, 4DX Ventures, Unless Partners, Radicle Impact). The capital will help expand Aether’s research team and scale its commercialization of custom-engineered proteins for applications in materials, chemicals, and beyond.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Aether Biomachines
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Investors: Tribe Capital (lead), Natural Capital, Henkel, Resilience Reserve, Shrug Capital, 4DX Ventures, Unless Partners, Radicle Impact
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Amount Raised: $15 million
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Total Raised: $64 million
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Funding Stage: Equity funding (Series unknown)
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Outlier Raises $11M in Series A Funding to Expand Sports Betting Analytics
Outlier, a New Orleans-based sports betting technology company, raised about $10.7 million in a Series A round led by Discerning Capital (often rounded to $11 million). Outlier’s platform provides bettors with real-time sports statistics, historical trends, and odds comparisons, enabling more data-driven wagering decisions.
Launched initially as a social sports app, Outlier pivoted to a subscription-based analytics service and now serves users across the US, UK, and Australia. The new funding will drive product development (enhancing predictive analytics and user experience) and grow the subscriber base internationally. CEO Evan Kirkham says the capital will advance the underlying models and expand the product suite in the rapidly growing global sports betting market.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Outlier
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Investors: Discerning Capital (lead), with additional support for user acquisition initiatives
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Amount Raised: ~$11 million ($10.7M Series A)
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Total Raised: ~$11 million
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Funding Stage: Series A
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
COGNNA Raises $9.2M in Series A Funding for AI Cybersecurity Platform
COGNNA, a Saudi Arabia-based AI cybersecurity startup, announced a $9.2 million Series A funding round led by Impact46 (IMPACT46), with BNVT Capital co-leading and participation from Vision Ventures and Tali Ventures. COGNNA’s platform provides an “agentic SOC” (Security Operations Center) that uses AI and automation to anticipate cyber threats rather than react to them.
The company will use the new funding to expand globally (beyond MENA), strengthen R&D in its AI detection capabilities, and grow its operations team. Founded in 2022, COGNNA aims to redefine enterprise security by combining automated threat-hunting agents with human experts to simplify compliance and improve real-time defense.
Funding Details:
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Startup: COGNNA
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Investors: Impact46 (lead), BNVT Capital (co-lead), Vision Ventures, Tali Ventures
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Amount Raised: $9.2 million
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Total Raised: ~$11.5 million (including prior seed)
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Funding Stage: Series A
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Autolane Secures $7.4M in Funding for Autonomous Vehicle Curbside Infrastructure
Autolane, a Palo Alto startup building curbside infrastructure for self-driving vehicles, announced $7.4 million in new funding co-led by Draper Associates and Hyperplane. The company has developed an autonomous “curbside operating system” now being piloted at Simon Property Group’s shopping centers in Texas and California.
Autolane’s platform coordinates autonomous ride-hailing and delivery vehicles at the curb (authenticating, directing, and managing stalls) via a cloud-based dashboard. The funding will accelerate Autolane’s expansion into additional retail and commercial properties, supporting both passenger ride-hails (Waymo, etc.) and delivery bots. Participating investors include LAUNCH and Feld Ventures, validating Autolane’s vision of retrofitting parking lots for the autonomous vehicle era.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Autolane
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Investors: Draper Associates (lead), Hyperplane (co-lead), LAUNCH, Feld Ventures
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Amount Raised: $7.4 million
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Total Raised: $7.4 million
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Funding Stage: Seed (equity funding)
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Orq.ai Lands €5M in Seed Round to Deploy Enterprise AI Agents
Orq.ai, an Amsterdam-based AI startup, has raised €5 million in seed funding to help enterprises deploy AI agents at scale. The round was led by Seed+Speed Ventures and Galion.exe, with returning and new investors Curiosity VC, Spacetime, XO Ventures, xdeck ventures, Waves Capital, and Golden Egg Check.
Orq.ai’s platform provides a unified interface for the entire AI agent lifecycle – from experimentation and evaluation to governance and runtime – to bridge the gap between AI prototypes and production systems. The new capital will allow Orq.ai to expand its 25-person team (hiring across engineering, enterprise sales, and support) and deepen its presence in Europe and North America as companies integrate AI into business processes under strict compliance requirements.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Orq.ai
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Investors: Seed+Speed Ventures (lead), Galion.exe (co-lead), Curiosity VC, Spacetime, XO Ventures, xdeck ventures, Waves Capital, Golden Egg Check
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Amount Raised: €5 million (approximately $5.4M)
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Total Raised: €7.3 million (with prior funding)
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Funding Stage: Seed
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Hachiko Raises $2.5M in Seed Funding Round to Optimize Industrial Battery Storage
Hachiko, an Australian energy-tech startup, announced a $2.5 million seed round led by Archangel Ventures. Hachiko’s software optimizes industrial battery energy storage systems (BESS) by improving operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The startup will use the funds to build out its technical team and expand go-to-market operations as renewable energy projects increase battery usage.
Other investors in the round include Twynam, Investible, Motion Capital, Electrifi Ventures, and Wattle Hill Capital. Hachiko believes its platform will help many battery storage facilities ramp up faster and more reliably, addressing the $4.5 billion in BESS projects currently in development in Australia.
Funding Details:
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Startup: Hachiko
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Investors: Archangel Ventures (lead), Twynam Investments, Investible, Motion Capital, Electrifi Ventures, Wattle Hill Capital
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Amount Raised: $2.5 million
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Total Raised: $2.5 million
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Funding Stage: Seed
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
SereneDB Raises $2.1M in Pre-Seed Funding for Real-Time Search Database
SereneDB, a Berlin-based database startup, raised $2.1 million in a pre-seed round led by Entourage and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). SereneDB is developing an open-source database that combines real-time search and analytical processing in a single engine within the PostgreSQL ecosystem.
The investment will support the company’s open-source development strategy and product engineering, enabling developers to use a high-speed, unified platform for live data analytics. The founders (experienced in search engine technology) plan to use the funds to accelerate the project and build out the team as they work to redefine modern analytics and eliminate the need to shard data across multiple systems.
Funding Details:
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Startup: SereneDB
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Investors: Entourage (lead), High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF)
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Amount Raised: $2.1 million
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Total Raised: $2.1 million
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Funding Stage: Pre-Seed
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Funding Date: December 3, 2025
Tech Funding Summary Table
| Startup | Investors (Lead and notable investors) | Amount Raised | Total Raised | Funding Stage | Funding Date |
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| TRIANA Biomedicines | Ascenta Capital (co-lead), Bessemer Venture Partners (co-lead), YK Bioventures, Regeneron Ventures, Invus, Finchley Healthcare, RA Capital, Atlas Venture, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pfizer Ventures, Surveyor Capital | $120M | $120M+ | Series B | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Antithesis | Jane Street (lead), Amplify Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Tamarack Global, First In Ventures, Teamworthy Ventures, Hyperion Capital, plus Stripe’s Patrick Collison | $105M | $105M | Series A | Dec 3, 2025 |
| PermitFlow | Accel (lead), Kleiner Perkins, Felicis, Initialized Capital, Altos Ventures, Y Combinator | $54M | $54M+ | Series B | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Gradial | VMG Partners (lead), Madrona Ventures, Pruven Capital, others | $35M | $55M | Series B | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Niobium | Fusion Fund (returning), Morgan Creek Capital (returning), Rev1 Ventures (returning), Ohio Innovation Fund, ADVentures (ADI), Blockchange Ventures, KDB, JobsOhio, Rev1 Angels, Silicon Catalyst Ventures | $23M+ | $23M+ | Seed (extension) | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Simular | Felicis (lead), NVentures (Nvidia), South Park Commons, others | $21.5M | $21.5M | Series A | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Ostium | General Catalyst (co-lead), Jump Crypto (co-lead), LocalGlobe, SIG Susquehanna, GSR, Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute, Balaji Srinivasan, Nick Van Eck | $20M | ~$27.8M | Series A | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Fin | Pantera Capital (lead), Sequoia Capital, Samsung Next | $17M | $17M+ | Series A | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Aether Biomachines | Tribe Capital (lead), Natural Capital, Henkel, Resilience Reserve, Shrug Capital, 4DX Ventures, Unless Partners, Radicle Impact | $15M | $64M | Equity funding | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Outlier | Discerning Capital (lead) | ~$11M | ~$11M | Series A | Dec 3, 2025 |
| COGNNA | Impact46 (lead), BNVT Capital (co-lead), Vision Ventures, Tali Ventures | $9.2M | ~$11.5M | Series A | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Autolane | Draper Associates (co-lead), Hyperplane (co-lead), LAUNCH, Feld Ventures | $7.4M | $7.4M | Seed | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Orq.ai | Seed+Speed Ventures (lead), Galion.exe (lead), Curiosity VC, Spacetime, XO Ventures, xdeck ventures, Waves Capital, Golden Egg Check | €5M (≈$5.4M) | €7.3M | Seed | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Hachiko | Archangel Ventures (lead), Twynam Investments, Investible, Motion Capital, Electrifi Ventures, Wattle Hill Capital | $2.5M | $2.5M | Seed | Dec 3, 2025 |
| SereneDB | Entourage (lead), High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) | $2.1M | $2.1M | Pre-Seed | Dec 3, 2025 |
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