Top Startup and Tech Funding News – September 9, 2025

It’s Tuesday, September 9, 2025, and we’re back with the latest wave of startup and tech funding news from across the globe. From billion-euro AI megadeals and frontier semiconductor bets to early-stage pushes in fintech, healthtech, and clean energy, capital kept flowing across every stage and geography.

Today’s coverage spans the U.S., Europe, and beyond, spotlighting both late-stage standouts and early innovators. Mistral AI led headlines with a colossal €1.7 billion Series C, more than doubling its valuation to $13.8 billion, while Scintil Photonics raised $58 million to accelerate optical AI chips. Speedchain pulled in $111 million in equity and debt to expand its fintech platform, ReOrbit secured €45 million to scale sovereign satellites in Europe, and Higgsfield raised $50 million to reimagine video creation with AI.

Funding Highlights

• Mistral AI closed a record-breaking €1.7B Series C, vaulting to a $13.8B valuation and cementing its position as Europe’s OpenAI rival.

• Speedchain secured $111M in equity and debt to fuel growth in fintech automation.

• Scintil Photonics raised $58M Series B with Nvidia and top VCs backing its optical chips for AI data centers.

• ReOrbit landed €45M (~$53M) Series A to build software-defined satellites for defense and communications.

• Higgsfield brought in $50M Series A to expand its AI-native video creation engine.

• Other significant rounds included Sapphire Technologies ($18M Series C), LightSpun ($13M Series A for AI dental platform), and Runware ($13M seed to cut AI infra costs).

Investor Activity

Today’s rounds drew participation from leading global investors and strategics. ASML anchored Mistral’s megadeal with a €1.3B check, Nvidia appeared in both Scintil and Mistral, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries backed Sapphire’s clean energy push. Top VCs like Insight Partners, GFT Ventures, Lightspeed, Translink Capital, and Base10 were active across seed to growth stages, while corporate venture arms from IBM, Bloomberg, and Equinor also leaned in.

The spread showed strong barbell dynamics: outsized late-stage financings in capital-intensive AI and hardware balanced by a steady stream of seed and Series A rounds across fintech, healthtech, and enterprise software. Together, these deals highlight enduring conviction in ambitious founders reshaping software, science, and core infrastructure.

Here’s the full breakdown. Until tomorrow, stay tuned for more.

Speedchain Secures $111M in Equity and Debt Financing to Expand Fintech Platform

Atlanta-based Speedchain, a fintech provider of commercial card programs and expense management, has secured a combined $111 million in strategic equity and debt financing. The infusion – which includes debt from Community Investment Management and equity from fintech-focused VCs – will fuel Speedchain’s expansion of its AI-driven platform that helps businesses automate spend management and streamline financial operations. The company plans to accelerate go-to-market efforts, drive product innovation, and scale nationally with the new funding.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Speedchain (Atlanta, GA)

• Investors: Community Investment Management (debt); GTM Fund, Village Global, TTV Capital, K5 Global, Tandem, Emigrant Bank (equity)

• Amount Raised: $111 million (equity and debt)

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Growth financing (strategic equity & debt)

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Higgsfield Raises $50M in Series A Funding for AI “Click-to-Video” Platform

San Francisco-based Higgsfield has raised a hefty $50 million Series A round to advance its AI-native video creation platform. Led by GFT Ventures with participation from BroadLight Capital, NextEquity, Menlo Ventures, and others, the funding will allow Higgsfield to scale its “video reasoning engine” that condenses ideation, editing, and post-production into a single workflow.

The former head of generative AI at Snap, CEO Alex Mashrabov, co-founded Higgsfield to help creators and enterprises produce high-quality short-form videos in minutes rather than weeks.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Higgsfield (San Francisco, CA)

• Investors: GFT Ventures (lead); BroadLight Capital, NextEquity Partners, AI Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, Alpha Square Group

• Amount Raised: $50 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Series A

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Atolio Lands $24M in Series A Funding to Scale Enterprise AI Search

Atolio, a San Francisco-based startup providing an AI-powered enterprise search platform, closed a $24 million Series A round to expand its private, on-premise search solution for large organizations. The financing – led by Translink Capital with participation from IBM Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Acorn Pacific, and Parameter Ventures – brings Atolio’s total funding to $24 million.

The three-year-old company will use the capital to accelerate product development and hiring, as it helps clients securely search and leverage knowledge across siloed internal data.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Atolio (San Francisco, CA)

• Investors: Translink Capital (lead); IBM Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Acorn Pacific Ventures, Parameter Ventures

• Amount Raised: $24 million

• Total Raised: $24 million (to date)

• Funding Stage: Series A

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Palm Tree Crew Raises $20M in Funding to Grow Entertainment & Investment Empire

Miami-based Palm Tree Crew, the lifestyle, entertainment, and investment holding company co-founded by DJ Kygo (Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll), has raised $20 million in fresh funding at a $215 million valuation to accelerate its next stage of growth. The round was led by WME (William Morris Endeavor) and included both new and existing investors.

Palm Tree Crew operates music festivals, hospitality ventures, and an investment arm, and it will use the Series A proceeds to expand its global events, hospitality footprint, and early-stage investment platform that backs consumer and tech startups.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Palm Tree Crew (Miami, FL)

• Investors: WME (lead); existing and new strategic investors (undisclosed)

• Amount Raised: $20 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Series A

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Teton.ai Raises $20M in Series A Funding to Transform Elder Care with AI

Teton.ai, a Copenhagen-based healthtech startup, secured a $20 million Series A round to expand its AI-powered predictive care platform for nursing and senior living facilities. Led by Plural and joined by Bertelsmann Investments, Antler Elevate, Nebular, and PSV Tech, the funding will help Teton.ai grow operations and development.

The company’s computer vision technology monitors and analyzes patient conditions in real time, enabling healthcare staff to anticipate issues and improve outcomes in senior care settings.

Founded in Denmark, Teton.ai builds technology that observes and interprets what happens inside care facilities—residents, staff, and the environment—then feeds those insights back as actionable data. Think of it as a “digital twin” for care homes, one that doesn’t rely on wearables or intrusive video feeds but instead uses AI and computer vision to anticipate issues and guide decisions.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Teton.ai (Copenhagen, Denmark)

• Investors: Plural (lead); Bertelsmann Investments, Antler Elevate, Nebular, PSV Tech

• Amount Raised: $20 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Series A

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Scintil Photonics Raises $58M in Series B Funding for Optical AI Chips

Grenoble, France-based Scintil Photonics closed a $58 million Series B round to scale its photonic semiconductor technology for AI “factory” data centers. Co-led by Yotta Capital Partners and NGP Capital, the round included strategic participation from Nvidia as well as BNP Paribas Développement, Supernova Invest, Bpifrance, Innovacom, Bosch Ventures, and Applied Ventures.

Scintil’s integrated photonic chips enable high-bandwidth, low-power optical interconnects for AI infrastructure, and the company plans to use the funds to expand hiring in France and internationally and ramp up production of its light-engine chips.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Scintil Photonics (Grenoble, France)

• Investors: Yotta Capital Partners (co-lead), NGP Capital (co-lead); Nvidia (strategic); BNP Paribas Développement, Supernova Invest, Bpifrance Digital Venture, Innovacom, Bosch Ventures, Applied Ventures

• Amount Raised: $58 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Series B

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Sapphire Technologies Gets $18M in Series C Funding to Scale Clean Power Generators

California-based Sapphire Technologies raised $18 million in Series C financing to ramp up production of its clean energy power generation systems. The round included a strategic investment from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and follow-on participation from existing backers Equinor Ventures, Cooper and Company, and Energy Capital Ventures.

Sapphire manufactures FreeSpin turboexpander generators that capture wasted pressure energy (such as from natural gas pipelines) and convert it into electricity, helping industrial facilities reduce emissions. The new funding will boost capacity at Sapphire’s Cypress, CA, factory and support deployments in key markets like Japan.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Sapphire Technologies (Cypress, CA)

• Investors: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; Equinor Ventures, Cooper and Company, Energy Capital Ventures (existing)

• Amount Raised: $18 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Series C

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

LightSpun (32Health) Secures $13M in Series A Funding for AI Dental Platform

LightSpun (formerly 32Health), a Boston-based startup automating dental insurance administration with AI, has raised $13 million in a Series A funding round. Led by Brewer Lane Ventures and joined by Virtue, Cambrian Ventures, and Industry Ventures, the investment brings LightSpun’s total funding to $18 million.

The company’s platform streamlines claims processing, provider credentialing, and benefits management for dental insurers. LightSpun will use the capital to accelerate its AI platform development, expand engineering and product teams, and onboard more dental insurance partners as it modernizes back-office operations for the industry.

Funding Details:

• Startup: LightSpun (Boston, MA)

• Investors: Brewer Lane (lead); Virtue, Cambrian, Industry Ventures

• Amount Raised: $13 million

• Total Raised: $18 million

• Funding Stage: Series A

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Runware Raises $13M in Seed Funding to Cut AI Infrastructure Costs

San Francisco’s Runware has raised a $13 million seed round to grow its performance-focused AI-as-a-Service platform. Insight Partners led the financing, with participation from previous investors including Andreessen Horowitz’s Speedrun fund, Begin Capital, and Zero Prime.

Runware’s proprietary Sonic Inference Engine provides a cost-efficient API for AI media generation – spanning images, video, audio, and more – aimed at helping AI companies reduce expensive GPU usage.

The new funding will allow Runware to broaden its capabilities to support all types of generative AI workloads and onboard more developers as it pursues its mission of lowering infrastructure costs for AI applications.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Runware (San Francisco, CA)

• Investors: Insight Partners (lead); a16z Speedrun, Begin Capital, Zero Prime

• Amount Raised: $13 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Seed

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

ReOrbit Raises €45M (~$53M) in Series A Funding to Build Satellites in Europe

Helsinki-based ReOrbit closed a €45 million Series A round (approximately $53 million) to scale its manufacturing of software-defined satellites for defense and communications. Led by Finnish investor Springvest, the sizable round is being hailed as a milestone for Europe’s space sector. New and existing investors – including pension funds Varma and Elo, plus Icebreaker.vc, Expansion VC, 10x Founders, and Inventure – participated in the financing.

Founded in 2019, ReOrbit provides satellites and proprietary platforms (Silta and Ukko) that give nations more control over secure communications and surveillance from space. The funds will accelerate production to meet growing demand from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East for sovereign satellite systems.

Funding Details:

• Startup: ReOrbit (Helsinki, Finland)

• Investors: Springvest (lead); Varma, Elo, Icebreaker.vc, Expansion VC, 10x Founders, Inventure VC

• Amount Raised: €45 million (~$53 million)

• Total Raised: ~€52.4 million (including prior seed)

• Funding Stage: Series A

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Mistral AI Closes €1.7B in Series C Funding, Hits $13.8B Valuation

Mistral AI, the two-year-old Paris-based AI startup, has secured a massive €1.7 billion (~$1.8 billion) Series C funding round, more than doubling its valuation to about €11.7 billion (approximately $13.8B). The raise was anchored by Dutch chipmaker ASML, which invested €1.3B to become Mistral’s largest shareholder (~11% stake). A roster of top global investors also joined the round, including DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Bpifrance, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, and Nvidia.

Mistral – founded in 2023 by former DeepMind and Meta AI researchers – is positioned as Europe’s answer to OpenAI, and this massive funding aligns it with one of Europe’s biggest tech companies. The new capital will fuel Mistral’s development of large language models and AI systems as France pushes to build a homegrown AI champion.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Mistral AI (Paris, France)

• Investors: ASML (lead, ~€1.3B); DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Bpifrance, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, Nvidia

• Amount Raised: €1.7 billion (~$1.8 billion)

• Total Raised: ~€1.8 billion

• Funding Stage: Series C

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Sphinx Emerges with $9.5M in Seed Funding to Build AI Data Copilot

New York-based Sphinx raised $9.5 million in seed funding to develop AI “agentic” tools that assist data scientists. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, BoxGroup, K5 Global, Impatient VC, and others.

Sphinx, founded by former hedge fund data scientists Rohan Kodialam and Jamie Bloxham, is creating AI agents that can interface with data and data science workflows – interpreting datasets, generating insights, and accelerating analytics in tools like Jupyter notebooks.

The startup plans to use the seed capital to continue building out its AI platform that acts as a copilot for data professionals and to integrate its technology with enterprise data pipelines.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Sphinx (New York, NY)

• Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners (lead); Bessemer Venture Partners, BoxGroup, K5, Impatient VC, others

• Amount Raised: $9.5 million

• Total Raised: Not disclosed

• Funding Stage: Seed

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Geordie Exits Stealth with $6.5M in Seed Funding to Secure AI Agents

London-based Geordie emerged from stealth with a $6.5 million seed round to help enterprises securely adopt “agentic” AI systems. The funding was co-led by cybersecurity specialist Ten Eleven Ventures and global VC firm General Catalyst, with additional angel investors participating. Founded in 2025 by former Darktrace and Snyk executives, Geordie is developing an agent-native security platform that gives organizations visibility and control over autonomous AI agents running across their workflows.

The platform monitors AI agent behavior, assesses risks, and provides real-time interventions (via its “Beam” engine) to keep AI systems aligned with enterprise policies. The seed funding will support product development and pilot deployments as Geordie addresses growing demand for AI governance tools.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Geordie (London, UK)

• Investors: Ten Eleven Ventures (co-lead), General Catalyst (co-lead); notable angels (undisclosed)

• Amount Raised: $6.5 million

• Total Raised: $6.5 million (seed)

• Funding Stage: Seed

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Parento Grabs $5.9M in Funding to Expand Parental Leave Insurtech

Parento, a New York-based insurtech startup offering paid parental leave insurance and support services, secured $5.9 million in a Seed II round to grow its platform. The financing – led by ResilienceVC and joined by Kapor Capital, Bread & Butter Ventures, Operator Stack, Coyote Ventures, ffVC, Human Ventures, and others – brings Parento’s total funding to $10.3 million.

Founded in 2019, Parento partners with employers to provide insured parental leave benefits, handling leave management and coaching for new parents. The startup will use the new funds to expand product development, sales, and marketing, and to launch additional insurance offerings as it scales support for working parents.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Parento (New York, NY)

• Investors: ResilienceVC (lead); Kapor Capital, Bread & Butter Ventures, Operator Stack, Coyote Ventures, ffVC, Human Ventures, Springbank, Precursor, Cross Impact, K Street, Evidenced, Avesta

• Amount Raised: $5.9 million

• Total Raised: $10.3 million

• Funding Stage: Seed (Seed II)

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025

Metal Raises $5M in Funding to Build AI Platform for Private Investors

New York City-based Metal raised $5 million in seed funding to advance its AI platform for private market investors. The round was led by Base10 Partners and included participation from prominent early-stage backers (including Andreessen Horowitz, Array Ventures, and Y Combinator, according to industry reports).

Metal’s software helps private equity and venture firms streamline research, deal screening, and due diligence by unifying data and institutional knowledge into one AI-powered system. With this initial funding, Metal plans to expand its development team and bring its platform to more investment firms seeking to accelerate decision-making with AI.

Funding Details:

• Startup: Metal (New York, NY)

• Investors: Base10 Partners (lead); and others including a16z, Array Ventures, Y Combinator (existing)

• Amount Raised: $5 million

• Total Raised: $5 million (seed)

• Funding Stage: Seed

• Funding Date: September 9, 2025