Top Startup and Tech Funding News – March 17, 2025

It’s Tuesday, March 17, 2026, and we’re back with today’s top startup and tech funding news. Today’s rounds highlight accelerating investor interest in embedded fintech, automated cybersecurity, programmable therapeutics, and AI-native infrastructure for personalization and compliance. From reshaping how enterprises manage vendor payments to advancing novel therapies in oncology and dialysis care, investors are backing platforms that reduce friction in critical systems across finance, healthcare, and security.

A strong showing in Series A and C rounds underscores confidence in startups that are streamlining federal cloud adoption, modernizing pension infrastructure, and automating defenses against AI-driven cyber threats. Meanwhile, founders tackling pricing opacity in healthcare, infrastructure for on-chain advertising, and AI model orchestration at sub-20ms latency are drawing meaningful early-stage support. Today’s deals span AI infrastructure, digital health, cybersecurity, blockchain, fintech, and biotech—signaling a continued shift toward platforms engineered for automation, compliance, and high-trust execution.

Tech Funding News

Funding Highlights

• Upvest raises $125M to expand European pension investing platform
• R1 Therapeutics launches with $77.5M Series A to treat dialysis-related disease
• Surf AI launches with $57M to automate enterprise cybersecurity
• Turquoise Health raises $40M Series C to streamline U.S. healthcare payments
• Mestag Therapeutics secures $40M to advance fibroblast-targeting cancer drugs
• Candex extends funding to $40M to streamline corporate vendor payments
• Knox Systems lands $25M Series A to accelerate federal cloud adoption
• Gency AI gathers $20M to build a decentralized ad network with blockchain and AI
• Conduit Health lands $17M Series A to simplify home medical equipment access
• Sequen snags $16M Series A to bring real-time AI personalization to any app

Investor Activity

Today’s capital came from a global mix of top-tier venture firms and strategic corporate investors doubling down on core infrastructure across sectors. Sapphire Ventures, F-Prime, and Accel made large bets on fintech rails, security automation, and healthtech, while Microsoft, Okta, MongoDB, and TikTok backed platforms with compliance, identity, and AI distribution at the core. Johnson & Johnson Innovation, DaVita, and BlackRock signaled sustained confidence in biotech and retirement ecosystems. Across the board, funding reflects growing demand for infrastructure that makes essential systems programmable, compliant, and resilient by default.

Venture Funding News

Upvest secures $125M in funding to expand European pension investing platform

Berlin-based fintech Upvest has raised a combined $125 million in fresh financing – $90 million in equity plus a $35 million debt facility – to accelerate its expansion into European pension markets. Upvest provides an investment API that enables financial institutions to offer fractional investing in ETFs, funds, and stocks. With this new funding, the company will roll out localized, tax-advantaged retirement products such as self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) in the UK and AltersvorsorgeDepot accounts in Germany.

Upvest also plans to integrate AI-driven investment engines to help banks and fintechs deliver “autonomous, hyper-personalised advisory services” to retail investors at scale. The latest raise nearly doubles Upvest’s valuation to about €640 million, reflecting investor confidence in its vision of modernizing Europe’s fragmented pension and long-term savings landscape. By building out an “investment operating system” for retirement savings, Upvest aims to position itself at the nexus of Europe’s shift toward more transparent, user-friendly pension infrastructure.

Startup: Upvest (Germany – investment API for pensions)
Investors: Sapphire Ventures and Tencent (co-leads); continued support from Bessemer Venture Partners, BlackRock, Earlybird, HV Capital, and others
Amount Raised: $125 million (equity + debt)
Total Raised: ~$200 million (estimated, including prior rounds)
Funding Stage: Growth financing (Series C extension)
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

R1 Therapeutics launches with $77.5M in Series A funding to treat dialysis-related disease

R1 Therapeutics, a Redwood City-based biotech startup, has emerged from stealth with a $77.5 million Series A financing aimed at tackling complications of end-stage kidney disease. The company is developing a first-in-class therapy for hyperphosphatemia – dangerously high blood phosphate levels – in patients on dialysis, a condition linked to bone and cardiovascular problems. R1 used the funding to acquire global rights to AP306, a novel phosphate transport inhibitor originally developed by Chugai and later licensed by China’s Alebund Pharmaceuticals.

AP306 is the only drug designed to block active phosphate uptake (current drugs only bind phosphate passively), and it’s poised to enter Phase 2b trials later this year. By targeting the root cause of mineral imbalance in dialysis patients, R1’s therapy could fill a 60-year innovation gap in kidney care – existing phosphate binders require high pill burdens, leading to poor adherence. The sizable Series A and R1’s exclusive license indicates strong investor belief that the startup can accelerate a long-awaited breakthrough for dialysis patients worldwide.

Startup: R1 Therapeutics (USA – biotech for kidney disease)
Investors: Abingworth, F-Prime Capital, and DaVita Venture Group (co-leads); with Curie.Bio, SymBiosis, and U.S. Renal Care participating
Amount Raised: $77.5 million
Total Raised: $77.5 million (Series A debut)
Funding Stage: Series A
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

Surf AI launches with $57M in funding to automate enterprise cybersecurity

Surf AI, an Israeli-founded cybersecurity startup, has debuted with $57 million in funding to help enterprises operationalize their security programs through AI-driven automation. The company’s platform employs “agentic” AI – specialized autonomous agents under human oversight – to continuously scan and close security gaps across complex corporate IT environments.

Surf’s technology pulls in data from identity systems, cloud infrastructure, SaaS apps, and more, building a live “context graph” of all assets, permissions, and vulnerabilities. It then uses AI agents to prioritize risks by business impact and orchestrate fixes, allowing security teams to remediate issues in minutes that previously lingered for weeks. The startup is led by veterans of Israel’s cyber industry – its founders have scaled prior companies to hundreds of millions in revenue.

Investors see Surf AI as timely amid a surge in AI-driven cyberattacks: by automating routine defense tasks, Surf aims to “fundamentally change how security teams operate”, boosting productivity and resilience against faster, more sophisticated threats. The sizeable seed and Series A funding underscore confidence in Surf’s AI-powered approach as essential infrastructure for modern cyber defense.

Startup: Surf AI (USA/Israel – AI platform for security operations)
Investors: Accel (lead); Cyberstarts and Boldstart Ventures (participating)
Amount Raised: $57 million
Total Raised: $57 million (combined seed + Series A)
Funding Stage: Series A
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

Turquoise Health raises $40M in Series C funding to streamline U.S. healthcare payments

San Diego-based Turquoise Health has closed a $40 million Series C round to build what it calls the “operating system” for healthcare pricing and payments. Turquoise is known for its platform that brings transparency to hospital prices and payer contracts, a mission supercharged by recent U.S. rules mandating price disclosure. With the new funding – led by Oak HC/FT with participation from Andreessen Horowitz – Turquoise plans to centralize the $1 trillion maze of healthcare billing into a unified, AI-enabled system.

The company’s platform aggregates real-time rates for procedures, automates insurance contract workflows, and helps providers and insurers settle claims more efficiently. By replacing error-prone manual processes with software, Turquoise aims to reduce administrative waste (a major driver of U.S. healthcare costs) and accelerate payments. CEO Chris Severn says the goal is to move the industry beyond static spreadsheets and PDFs toward “connected, auditable” pricing data and instant reimbursement decisions.

This Series C brings Turquoise’s total funding to roughly $100 million and positions the startup as a leading player in healthcare fintech, helping payers and providers transition to a more transparent, value-driven era.

Startup: Turquoise Health (USA – healthcare pricing & payments platform)
Investors: Oak HC/FT (lead); Andreessen Horowitz (participant); existing backers include GV (Google Ventures) and Benchmark (prior rounds)
Amount Raised: $40 million
Total Raised: ~$100 million
Funding Stage: Series C
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

Mestag Therapeutics secures $40M in funding to advance fibroblast-targeting cancer drugs

UK-based Mestag Therapeutics has raised $40 million in new financing to advance its novel immuno-oncology treatments into clinical trials. Mestag is pioneering therapies that target cancer-associated fibroblasts – cells in the tumor microenvironment that can drive immune suppression and tumor growth. By reprogramming these often-overlooked cells, Mestag aims to make stubborn tumors more vulnerable to the immune system and improve outcomes in solid cancers where current immunotherapies have limited effect.

The funding was backed by top-tier biotech investors, including SV Health Investors, Forbion, Northpond Ventures, and Google’s GV, and it included a strategic investment from Johnson & Johnson’s innovation arm (JJDC). Their involvement signals confidence in Mestag’s approach to modulate the tumor environment, a cutting-edge strategy in oncology. The capital will support a Phase 1 trial of Mestag’s lead program, MST-312 (a bispecific antibody), in patients with cancer later this year.

If successful, Mestag’s fibroblast-targeted therapies could open a new front in the fight against treatment-resistant cancers, potentially working alongside T-cell-focused immunotherapies to overcome tumor defenses.

Startup: Mestag Therapeutics (UK – fibroblast-focused biotech)
Investors: SV Health Investors, Forbion, GV, Northpond Ventures (venture investors); Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC (strategic pharma investor)
Amount Raised: $40 million
Total Raised: ~$95 million to date
Funding Stage: Series B financing
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

Candex extends funding to $40M to streamline corporate vendor payments

Candex, a New York–based fintech startup, has raised additional capital, bringing its Series C funding to over $40 million and bolstering its platform for fast, compliant vendor payments. Candex acts as an intermediary “master vendor” for large enterprises, enabling them to pay small or one-time suppliers without the usual onboarding headaches. Instead of requiring every minor vendor to undergo lengthy setup for tax forms and compliance checks, companies using Candex can simply pay Candex, which then handles the payouts and paperwork to the actual vendor.

This solution tackles the long-standing problem of “tail spend” – the hundreds of low-volume suppliers that collectively cause big administrative burdens. The latest funding saw HSBC – one of Candex’s longtime clients – come on board as an investor to help scale the platform globally. They join prior backers like 9Yards Capital, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and American Express Ventures. With the fresh infusion, Candex plans to expand into Asia and the Middle East and further automate its AI-driven compliance and payment processing engine.

The vote of confidence from a major bank-turned-investor underscores how critical Candex’s service has become for simplifying procurement: the startup reports its system processed over $1 billion in transactions last year, demonstrating demand for more efficient B2B payment workflows in large organizations.

Startup: Candex (USA – enterprise vendor payment platform)
Investors: HSBC (new strategic investor); 9Yards Capital (lead investor in earlier round); Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, American Express Ventures (existing investors)
Amount Raised: $40 million (Series C total, incl. recent extension)
Total Raised: $120+ million since inception
Funding Stage: Series C extension
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

Knox Systems lands $25M in Series A funding to accelerate federal cloud adoption

Knox Systems, a New York City startup offering a FedRAMP-as-a-service platform, has raised $25 million in Series A funding to help cloud software companies secure U.S. government approvals faster. Knox’s AI-managed cloud environment streamlines the process for SaaS vendors to achieve FedRAMP authorization – a rigorous cybersecurity certification required to sell into federal agencies. The company’s platform automates compliance controls and monitoring, enabling even small tech firms to get a FedRAMP Moderate or High authorization in as little as 90 days (versus 1-2 years traditionally) and at a fraction of the usual cost.

By lowering this barrier, Knox aims to unlock innovation in the public sector, allowing government customers access to cutting-edge cloud apps without lengthy delays. The Series A was led by B Capital (the growth fund backed by Boston Consulting Group) with participation from Microsoft’s M12 venture fund, Okta Ventures, and MongoDB Ventures. Their backing reflects both the lucrative opportunity in the government IT market and confidence that Knox’s solution can become the “easy button” for SaaS compliance.

The funding will go toward scaling Knox’s platform and pursuing FedRAMP High accreditation for its own systems, so that more cloud providers – from startups to large enterprises – can rapidly meet federal security standards and win government contracts.

Startup: Knox Systems (USA – FedRAMP cloud compliance platform)
Investors: B Capital (lead); M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund), Okta Ventures, MongoDB Ventures (participating)
Amount Raised: $25 million
Total Raised: $25 million (Series A)
Funding Stage: Series A
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

Gency AI raises $20M in funding to build a decentralized ad network with blockchain and AI

San Francisco-based Gency AI has raised $20 million in early funding to develop a “sovereign advertising network” that runs on blockchain and privacy-preserving AI. The startup is building infrastructure to verify and settle digital ad transactions on-chain, rather than relying on today’s centralized ad platforms. By using smart contracts and encryption techniques, Gency’s network will allow advertisers, publishers, and ad agencies to automatically reconcile ad impressions, clicks, and revenue shares with transparent, tamper-proof records.

The approach could significantly shorten payment cycles and improve trust in ad metrics, addressing industry pain points around opaque attribution and long billing delays. Gency’s platform also integrates an AI optimization engine that can analyze performance and allocate spend without compromising user data, thanks to on-device and encrypted processing of ad interactions. Investors in the round include a notable strategic backer – TikTok – as well as crypto-focused funds and VCs such as HF0, XYZ, Streamlined Ventures, Arkstream, and ViaBTC. Their support suggests convergence between the AI, blockchain, and digital advertising communities in search of a new model.

As privacy regulations tighten and advertisers demand more proof of effectiveness, Gency AI is betting that a “protocol trust” model can replace the black boxes of Big Tech with a decentralized network where ad delivery and payments are independently verifiable. The fresh funding will fuel product development and global partnerships as Gency aims to bring its blockchain-based ad platform to market across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Startup: Gency AI (USA – blockchain-based digital advertising network)
Investors: TikTok (strategic investor); HF0, XYZ Venture Capital, Streamlined Ventures, Hat-Trick Capital, Arkstream, MH Ventures, ViaBTC Capital, Basics Capital (participating funds)
Amount Raised: $20 million
Total Raised: $20 million (seed/early-stage round)
Funding Stage: Seed/Series A (early-stage)
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

Conduit Health lands $17M in Series A funding to simplify home medical equipment access

Conduit Health, a New York-based digital health startup, has raised $17 million in Series A financing to scale its “end-to-end” platform for ordering home medical equipment (HME) through insurance. Conduit’s vertically integrated service streamlines a process that is often frustrating for patients: obtaining items like CPAP machines, oxygen supplies, or mobility aids that are covered by insurance. The platform connects patients, physicians, and insurance providers, handling everything from obtaining the necessary doctor’s order and prior authorization to coordinating delivery through local equipment suppliers.

By automating paperwork and insurance checks, Conduit dramatically cuts down wait times – the company saw more patients in February 2026 alone than in the entire first half of 2025, reflecting rapid uptake of its solution. This new funding round was led by Drive Capital, with participation from existing seed investors. Conduit plans to use the capital to expand into new regions and broaden the range of services it can facilitate at home.

The investment comes amid a broader shift to home-based care and value-based insurance models. By acting as a one-stop “easy button” for doctors and patients to secure medical equipment through insurance, Conduit Health aims to remove a longstanding barrier in chronic care management – ensuring patients promptly receive the tools they need to stay healthy at home.

Startup: Conduit Health (USA – home healthcare equipment coordination)
Investors: Drive Capital (lead); participation from prior investors (undisclosed)
Amount Raised: $17 million
Total Raised: $17 million (Series A)
Funding Stage: Series A
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

Sequen snags $16M in Series A funding to bring real-time AI personalization to any app

New York-based Sequen has raised a $16 million Series A round to expand its AI platform, which delivers sub-20-millisecond personalization for enterprise apps. Co-founded by veterans of Google DeepMind and Meta, Sequen developed a low-latency ranking infrastructure that enables any consumer-facing company to deliver the kind of in-session, adaptive user experiences previously seen only at tech giants like Amazon or TikTok.

The platform uses proprietary “Large Event Models” to train on live user behavior signals – clicks, scrolls, hovers, conversions – and dynamically re-rank content or product listings for each user in real time. In essence, Sequen’s AI can personalize an app on the fly for millions of users without requiring massive datasets or custom-built client-side infrastructure. This unlocks Big Tech-style AI capabilities for companies that have far less data or engineering resources. The Series A was co-led by White Star Capital and Threshold Ventures, with prior lead investor Greycroft also participating. Under CEO Zoë Weil, Sequen has already deployed with several Fortune 500 clients, delivering double-digit lifts in conversion and revenue within days of integration.

The new funding will go toward hiring and product development, including tools that enable customers to fine-tune Sequen’s AI models to their needs. As major brands race to meet rising consumer expectations for AI-driven experiences, Sequen is positioning itself as the turnkey solution to “turn relevance into a revenue engine” for any large-scale app.

Startup: Sequen (USA – AI personalization infrastructure)
Investors: White Star Capital and Threshold Ventures (co-leads); Greycroft and other existing investors (participating)
Amount Raised: $16 million
Total Raised: $22 million (including seed)
Funding Stage: Series A
Funding Date: Mar 17, 2026

TECH FUNDING SUMMARY TABLE