Top Startup and Tech Funding News – March 24, 2025

It’s Tuesday, March 24, 2026, and we’re back with today’s top startup and tech funding news. Today’s rounds highlight investor appetite for AI infrastructure, smart mobility, and precision therapies. As capital concentrates around systems that automate physical environments, treat chronic disease, and scale intelligent coordination, venture and growth investors are prioritizing defensible platforms with real-world deployment.

Significant Series A through E financings reflect confidence in AI inference orchestration, next-gen biotech, and insurance platforms built on real-time data. Meanwhile, emerging leaders in traffic management, livestock automation, and enterprise AI agents are drawing fresh capital to extend their operational footprints. Today’s deals span agtech, insurtech, mobility, AI SaaS, and biotech—offering a window into how capital is shaping the next generation of automated, intelligent systems.

Tech Funding News

Funding Highlights

• Halter raises $220M Series E to transform livestock management
• NoTraffic raises $90M Series C for AI traffic infrastructure
• Immutrin raises $87M Series A to advance amyloidosis antibodies
• Gimlet Labs raises $80M Series A for multi-silicon AI inference
• Mirage raises $75M growth round for generative video editing
• Shepherd raises $42M Series B to automate insurance underwriting
• Highlight AI raises $40M Series A for enterprise AI coordination
• Oryon Cell Therapies raises $21M Series A for cell reprogramming
• Laigo Bio raises $19.7M Seed for next-gen immunotherapy
• Talino raises $7.5M Series A for cross-border fintech infrastructure

Investor Activity

Today’s funding rounds drew active participation from top-tier VCs and strategic backers focused on foundational AI platforms, automated infrastructure, and breakthrough biotech. Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and Menlo Ventures led key deals across livestock automation, AI operating systems, and cloud inference. Meanwhile, biotech specialists Frazier, F-Prime, and Biovance doubled down on next-gen protein therapeutics, and General Catalyst backed video-first content tools. The day’s activity signals broad conviction around deep-tech platforms that rewire traditional industries through software, sensors, and science.

Halter Raises $220M in Series E Funding to Transform Livestock Management

Halter, a New Zealand–born agtech startup, announced it has raised $220 million in a Series E round at a $2 billion valuation. Halter’s GPS-enabled “virtual fencing” collars use AI, GPS, and gentle audio cues to let ranchers remotely herd cattle from a smartphone without physical fences. The founders say this capital will expand Halter’s operations in the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, and new markets while continuing to scale its rancher-facing software and hardware platform.

This round was led by Founders Fund, with participation from existing investors Blackbird, DCVC, Bond, Bessemer, and the venture arms of Silicon Valley giants. Halter reports it has already sold a million collars and is working alongside thousands of ranchers worldwide. The Series E capital will let Halter hire hundreds of new staff and drive deeper integration of AI-based tracking and animal-health monitoring into its virtual fencing system.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Halter
• Investors: Founders Fund (lead), Blackbird, DCVC, Bond, Bessemer, NewView, Ubiquity, Promus, Icehouse Ventures
• Amount Raised: $220 million
• Total Raised: $220 million
• Funding Stage: Series E
• Funding Date: March 24, 2026

NoTraffic Raises $90M in Series C Funding for AI Traffic Management

NoTraffic, an Israeli–U.S. startup building AI-powered traffic-light systems, announced a $90 million Series C funding round led by PSG Equity. Its AI-driven MobilityOS platform connects directly to existing traffic signals to continuously adapt signal timings to real-time conditions, reducing congestion. The company has deployed its system in over 400 city intersections across 40 U.S. states and Canada. With this funding, NoTraffic plans to scale deployments in North America and expand its platform’s “Mobility Store” of traffic management apps.

The round was led by growth-equity firm PSG Equity, alongside M&G Investments, Grove Ventures, LifeX Ventures, Meitav Investment House, and Next Gear Ventures. It brings NoTraffic’s total funding to about $165.5 million since 2017. Industry observers note that NoTraffic’s use of AI to digitize traffic control taps into growing smart-city initiatives. The new capital will support the rapid expansion of its hardware and software, and targets an eventual IPO by 2028 as cities seek to digitize stubbornly analog infrastructure.

Funding Details:

• Startup: NoTraffic
• Investors: PSG Equity (lead), M&G Investments, Grove Ventures, LifeX Ventures, Meitav, Next Gear Ventures
• Amount Raised: $90 million
• Total Raised: $165.5 million
• Funding Stage: Series C
• Funding Date: March 24, 2026

Immutrin Raises $87M in Series A Funding for Amyloidosis Antibodies

Immutrin, a Cambridge, UK biotech, announced a $87 million Series A to advance its antibody therapies targeting amyloidosis. The company’s lead programs aim to clear protein aggregates that damage heart tissue in ATTR (transthyretin) amyloidosis. The funding round was co-led by Frazier Life Sciences and F-Prime Capital. Immutrin’s management says the proceeds will take its lead candidate through clinical proof-of-concept in ATTR cardiomyopathy.

This financing underscores intense investor interest in rare disease therapies. Immutrin’s approach is backed by decades of pioneering research – including work by its co-founders Sir Gregory Winter (Nobel laureate) and Daniel Christ – in using novel antibodies to recruit the immune system to clear amyloid proteins. Executives note that few treatments can dissolve existing amyloid deposits, so a successful therapy would meet a critical unmet need in cardiology. The Series A also brings a global syndicate of biotech investors on board, reflecting confidence in Immutrin’s science and its bid to address a multi-billion-dollar market of amyloid diseases.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Immutrin (UK)
• Investors: Frazier Life Sciences (lead), F-Prime, Qiming Ventures, SR One, among others
• Amount Raised: £65 million ($87 million)
• Total Raised: $87 million
• Funding Stage: Series A
• Funding Date: March 24, 2026

Gimlet Labs Raises $80M in Series A Funding for AI Inference Platform

Gimlet Labs, an AI infrastructure startup based in San Francisco, raised $80 million in a Series A led by Menlo Ventures. Gimlet’s technology allows enterprise customers to run AI models (for example, computer vision and LLMs) across a mix of accelerators – NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, ARM, and custom AI chips – via a cloud-based inference engine. By abstracting this “multi-silicon” compute layer, Gimlet seeks to alleviate the bottleneck companies face when deploying AI workloads across varied hardware.

The new capital, which included previous seed investor Factory as well as Eclipse Ventures and others, brings Gimlet’s total funding to about $92 million. The company says it already has eight-figure annual revenues from customers using its inference cloud. The Series A proceeds will support R&D to further optimize multi-chip deployments and scale commercial operations. With demand surging for efficient AI deployment, Gimlet’s approach has gained attention for bridging incompatibilities among popular AI chips. The startup plans to grow its engineering and customer success teams to support wider market adoption of its “AI orchestration” platform.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Gimlet Labs
• Investors: Menlo Ventures (lead), Factory, Eclipse Ventures, Prosperity7, Triatomic, others
• Amount Raised: $80 million
• Total Raised: $92 million
• Funding Stage: Series A
• Funding Date: March 24, 2026

Mirage Raises $75M in Growth Funding Round for AI Video App

Mirage (formerly Captions), a San Francisco startup behind an AI-driven mobile video-editing app, raised $75 million in growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund. Mirage’s flagship product automatically edits short videos (for example, pacing and framing clips) using machine learning models. The company rebranded from “Captions” to Mirage to position itself as an “AI lab” developing multiple generative video models for content creation.

General Catalyst’s CVF fund led the round to help Mirage continue building and deploying new AI models for video creation. Mirage’s CEO says past upgrades (like preserving accents in generated video) have driven strong engagement – Captions has over 3.2 million downloads and nearly $30 million in in-app revenue in the last year. The funding will primarily be used to train additional AI models (beyond editing, to creative video assembly) and to support product growth. Investors highlight Mirage’s track record in a competitive space of video and social media apps, noting the company’s quick pivot to a freemium model and expansion into web editing suites.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Mirage (San Francisco)
• Investors: General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (lead)
• Amount Raised: $75 million
• Total Raised: $75 million
• Funding Stage: Growth (Series unknown)
• Funding Date: March 24, 2026

Shepherd Raises $42M in Series B Funding to Modernize Insurance Underwriting

Shepherd, a U.S. insurtech startup, announced a $42 million Series B led by Intact Private Capital. Shepherd’s cloud platform uses AI and real-time construction project data (from builders’ field software) to automate underwriting of commercial insurance. For example, it dynamically prices and issues policies for industries such as data centers and renewable energy construction by integrating software-generated safety and progress metrics into its risk models.

This Series B brings Shepherd’s total funding to about $67 million. In the past 24 months, the company’s revenues and policy volume have surged ~7×, as it underwrites projects for 600+ builders and major construction firms. The new funds will help Shepherd expand its technical and underwriting teams as demand for faster, more accurate commercial insurance grows. Insurers see Shepherd’s data-driven approach as a competitive advantage: its platform can price risk up to 10× faster than traditional methods by replacing manual forms with real-time data. Investors say Shepherd exemplifies “software-defined insurance” and will use the capital to support scaling into new verticals and geographies as it partners with major insurance carriers.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Shepherd (USA)
• Investors: Intact Private Capital (lead), Costanoa Ventures, Spark Capital, others
• Amount Raised: $42 million
• Total Raised: $67 million
• Funding Stage: Series B
• Funding Date: March 24, 2026

Highlight AI Raises $40M in Series A Funding for Enterprise AI Coordination

Highlight AI, an “intelligent OS for teams and AI agents,” raised $40 million in a Series A round led by Khosla Ventures. Highlight provides a SaaS platform that embeds AI agents into workplace tools (like Zoom, Slack, and Gmail) and centralizes communications and alerts to reduce information overload. In effect, it aims to be a “shared intelligence layer,” so teams don’t lose knowledge in scattered conversations.

The investors’ enthusiasm reflects the trend of AI assistants entering enterprises. Highlight’s CEO (a former Discord exec) says this funding will accelerate development of cross-application AI coordination features. The Series A brought in a broad syndicate including 359 Capital, General Catalyst, Valor Equity, Collaborative Fund, and others. The company will use the proceeds to scale its engineering team and deepen AI capabilities (multi-agent workflows, enterprise integrations) as businesses seek to automate routine tasks. By helping workers focus on the right information, Highlight’s platform addresses the growing “coordination tax” problem of dispersed knowledge – and the new capital positions it to capture a share of the emerging market for productivity-focused AI agents.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Highlight AI
• Investors: Khosla Ventures (lead), 359 Capital, General Catalyst, Valor Equity, Collaborative Fund, Arcadia Ventures, SV Angel, and others
• Amount Raised: $40 million
• Total Raised: $40 million
• Funding Stage: Series A
• Funding Date: March 24, 2026

Laigo Bio Raises $19.7M in Seed Funding for Cancer Immunotherapy Platform

Laigo Bio, a UK biotech spinout, closed an $19.7 million oversubscribed seed round to develop its SureTACs dual-target antibody platform. Laigo’s technology aims to simultaneously target cancer and immune cells to trigger the destruction of diseased cells. Portugal’s Biovance Capital led the funding with a £4 million ($4.6M) contribution, joining earlier investors.

The capital will fund the expansion of Laigo’s research on antibodies that degrade disease-causing proteins in cancer and autoimmune conditions. Biovance noted that Laigo’s novel bispecific antibody approach (SureTACs) could unlock therapies for targets previously considered “undruggable”. Laigo plans to advance its lead oncology programs toward clinical development. Investors say this seed round validates strong data from Laigo’s founders and sets up Series A later in 2026 to propel these next-generation biotherapeutics forward.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Laigo Bio (UK)
• Investors: Biovance Capital (lead, Portugal), European Life Sciences Venture Partners, and other life-science investors
• Amount Raised: $19.7 million
• Total Raised: $19.7 million
• Funding Stage: Seed
• Funding Date: March 24, 2026

Talino Raises $7.5M in Series A Funding for Cross-Border Fintech

Talino, a fintech infrastructure startup serving the Philippines–U.S. corridor, closed a $7.5 million Series A led by Chemonics International. Talino originally operated as a venture studio but is now positioning itself as a “fintech foundry” providing an API platform for cross-border payments. Its technology enables startups and enterprises to bypass fragmented legacy rails by connecting to stablecoins and modern APIs for fast remittances and lending.

In the new round, Chemonics (a global development firm) led the investment; Mt. Sinai Capital and Gulf Blvd. also participated. The funds will allow Talino to pivot fully to a software platform that banks and money-transfer companies can build on. Talino’s CEO says the vision is to break down regulatory and technical barriers between the U.S. and emerging markets. For example, Talino already powers local fintechs like BayaniPay (zero-fee remittances) and provides crypto rails to Gulf-based SMEs. With this Series A backing, Talino will accelerate its roadmap of ISO 20022 and Mojaloop-based payment infrastructure, targeting a wider global market for digital inclusion.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Talino (Philippines/U.S.)
• Investors: Chemonics International (lead), Mt. Sinai Capital, Gulf Boulevard Ventures
• Amount Raised: $7.5 million
• Total Raised: $7.5 million
• Funding Stage: Series A
• Funding Date: March 24, 2026

Tech Funding Summary Table