Fundraising

CityRock announced on Wednesday the close of a $24 million Fund II to invest in founders from diverse backgrounds. The fund, which is part of H/L Ventures, will seek to back companies in areas such as climate, healthcare and the future of work. The firm has numerous legs to it, ranging from a vent

Farmers have got to do something about pests. But nobody really likes the idea of using more chemical pesticides. Thomas Laurent's company, Micropep, thinks the answer might already be in the plants themselves. Micropep is exploring how naturally occurring compounds known as micropeptides migh

Ashish Nagar, an engineer by trade, was working at Amazon’s Alexa org on the conversational AI team when he realized that AI had the potential to greatly bolster productivity in contact centers. “Frontline workers, like customer service workers, are the biggest human capital in the wo

Cybersecurity firm Protexxa has closed a $7.2 million (CA$10 million) Series A, led by a family office, for its AI-powered tech that helps companies address cybersecurity concerns by identifying issues and offering solutions. The Canada-based company was founded by former cybersecurity executive C

Among her friends, Lindsay Dorf is the one with the superpower of being able to understand retail investing. So much so that she became the go-to person for advice. “I had a lot of friends come to me asking for investing advice,” Dorf told technewss. “There were two things I really saw: One

Funding to women-founded companies overall (including mixed-gender teams) has declined in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023, picking up $15.5 billion out of $93 billion — 17% — compared to the $24.8 billion out of $87.7 billion — 28% — in the first ha

SmartHR, a cloud-based human resources and labor management software startup, said on Monday that it has raised $140 million in a funding round led by KKR and Teachers’ Ventures Growth, an investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, with participation from existing investors. Th

Welcome to our 100th pitch deck teardown! This week, I’m taking a look at MegaMod’s seed-stage pitch deck. MegaMod seems to be the latest darling of the gaming industry and just pocketed a cool $1.9 million, bumping its post-money valuation to $27 million. With a mission to revolutioniz

These days, when you hear about students and generative AI, chances are that you're getting a taste of the debate over the adoption of tools like ChatGPT. Are they a help? (Yay! Great for research! Fast!) Or are they a harm? (Boo! Misinfo! Cheating!). But some startups are taking the arrival of

Outside of AI, few startups have drawn venture investments like climate tech. And like AI, companies in the sector need large infusions of cash, sometimes well beyond what a typical venture investor might offer, to reach a size where they’ll be able to make a mark. A new deal involving

"">The generative AI boom is driving the demand for AI chips, which are purpose-built to train and run generative AI models. And major players, from VCs to startups, are scrambling to get in on the ground floor. SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son is reportedly looking to raise $100 billion for a chip i

Older adults increasingly want to age in their homes rather than nursing facilities. A study by the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) found that nearly 90% of people over 65 want to stay in their homes as they grow older. That means there is plenty of work for home care agencies whose

AI-powered language learning app Speak is on a tear. Since launching in its inaugural market of South Korea in 2019, Speak has grown to over 10 million users, CEO and co-founder Connor Zwick told technewss. Its user base has doubled every year for the last five years, and Speak now has customers

When people think about the water they use, they tend to think about drinking water out of the tap or maybe their daily shower. But about 70% of the water we use goes toward growing the crops that feed us, a number that swells to as high as 90% in low-income countries. Finding water for other uses