🧑‍🚀 Top 3 Deals You Can’t Miss

1️⃣ Chobani – $650M raise at a $20B valuation, fueling a new wave of U.S. manufacturing expansion.

2️⃣ Deel – $300M Series E at $17.3B valuation, expanding its footprint in global HR and payroll software.

3️⃣ Zepto – $450M funding at a $7B valuation, pushing ahead in India’s fast-moving delivery race.

🧠 Dopamine Dealflow

🌳 Series B+ & Growth

• Chobani, a New York-based yogurt and food brand, raised $650 million in equity funding at a $20 billion valuation to fund new U.S. dairy plants. Lead investors participated alongside strategic food backers.

• Zepto, a Mumbai-based quick commerce platform, raised $450 million at a $7 billion valuation. General Catalyst and Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, joined by Glade Brook Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and StepStone Group.

• Deel, a New York-based global HR and payroll platform provider, raised $300 million in Series E funding at a $17.3 billion valuation. Lead investors led the round and were joined by existing backers.

• Vantaca, a Wilmington, North Carolina-based AI-first community management platform, received an over $300 million minority growth investment at a $1.25 billion valuation from growth equity investors.

• Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a Los Angeles-based regenerative medicine biotech, closed a $120 million Series B. Lead investors led the round and were joined by biopharma-focused funds.

• Prisma Photonics, a Tel Aviv-based optical fiber monitoring company, closed a $30 million growth round led by deep tech investors.

• MatrixSpace, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based AI radar and counter-drone sensing startup, raised $20 million Series B led by defense-focused investors.

🚀 Series A

• General Intuition, a San Francisco-based AI company teaching agents spatial reasoning through video game environments, raised $134 million in seed/Series A-equivalent funding. Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst led the round, joined by NVentures (NVIDIA) and M12 (Microsoft).

• Upciti, a Paris-based urban tech company developing integrated hardware and software solutions for cities, closed a $20 million Series A led by European VCs.

• Strella, a New York-based AI-powered customer research platform, raised $14 million Series A funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round and were joined by Decibel, Bain Future Backed Ventures, MVP, and 645 Ventures.

• HyImpulse, a Neckarsulm, Germany-based hybrid orbital rocket company, raised €45 million (~$48 million) in funding, including €15 million Series A equity and €30 million public financing, led by European space investors.

• Launchpad Build, an El Segundo, California- and Edinburgh, UK-based robotics company, raised $11 million Series A funding led by hardware-focused VCs.

🌱 Seed & Early Rounds

• Viven, a Santa Clara-based AI-powered digital twins platform, emerged from stealth with $35 million seed funding. Lead investors led the round and were joined by enterprise partners.

• Telcoin, a Norfolk, Nebraska-based blockchain financial services company, raised $25 million pre-Series A to build the first regulated blockchain bank in the U.S.

• Jack & Jill, a London-based AI recruitment startup, raised $20 million seed funding led by UK angels and HR tech investors.

• Planyear, a San Francisco-based AI-native platform for benefits consultants, raised $12 million seed funding led by HR tech investors.

• Corbel, a New York-based AI-powered OS for industrial equipment manufacturers, raised $6.7 million seed funding led by enterprise angels.

• ego AI, a San Francisco-based character tech startup, raised $6.7 million early seed funding led by entertainment angels.

• Lasso, a Boston-based food tech startup, raised $6.5 million seed funding led by impact investors.

• Woz, a San Francisco-based AI and human collaboration platform for mobile app development, raised $6 million seed funding led by AI founders.

• Aragorn AI, a Dallas-based People Ops operating system, raised $4.3 million seed funding led by work tech investors.

• Graph AI, a San Francisco-based pharmacovigilance startup, raised $3 million seed funding led by health tech angels.

• Allye Energy, a London-based EV battery storage company, raised $2.5 million seed funding led by Elbow Beach Capital with participation from Alpha Future Funds.

• IO Health Technologies, a Pasadena-based health tech startup, raised $2 million seed funding led by early-stage investors.

• Intelo.ai, a New York-based collaborative intelligence retail platform, raised $2 million seed funding led by retail tech investors.

• Nila, a London-based health care management startup, closed a $2.4 million pre-seed led by health care angels.

• Bees & Bears, a Berlin-based renewable energy financing startup, raised €5 million seed funding led by climate investors.

🤝 Strategic, M&A & Undisclosed

• Phocas Software, a Sydney-based BI and FP&A platform, received a majority equity investment from Accel-KKR.

• Moderne Ventures, a Chicago-based multi-stage VC firm, announced its Fall 2025 Passport Accelerator Class.

• Angel Investment Network (AIN), a Singapore-based angel platform, launched its first Chinese-language site to expand across Asia.

💸 VC Funds Raised & Raising

• Town Hall Ventures, a New York-based health care VC, closed its fourth fund with $440 million in commitments.

• SaaS Capital, a Cincinnati- and Seattle-based growth-debt provider for SaaS businesses, closed Fund V at $100 million.

• Vessel Funds, a Montreal-based investor relations platform, received a $1.5 million debt facility from CIBC Innovation Banking.

Founders: Want to be featured on @tradedvc? → traded.co/submit/vc

📚 Read of the Day — Veo 3.1 vs. Sora 2: The AI Video Showdown Begins

🎬 Google Enters the Director’s Chair

Google launched Veo 3.1, its most capable text-to-video model yet, featuring audio generation, scene control, and cinematic realism. The release takes direct aim at OpenAI’s Sora 2, signaling the start of a new era in AI video.

🧩 The Product Pitch

Veo 3.1 lets users create full video sequences with synced sound, dialogue, and camera direction via text prompts. It introduces “story beat” editing for fine-tuned pacing without full re-renders.
Sora 2 delivers unmatched photorealism and long continuous shots but lacks audio and editing flexibility. Veo focuses on workflow and creator control, while Sora leads on raw fidelity.

⚙️ Powered By…

Veo 3.1 runs on Gemini 2 multimodal architecture, combining diffusion and transformer layers for temporal awareness and smoother motion. It supports up to 60-second clips, while Sora 2 leverages OpenAI’s transformer backbone with superior resolution but heavier compute.

💡 Why It Matters

This is a platform race, not just a model update.

• Veo 3.1 targets integration across YouTube and Workspace.

• Sora 2 aims for studio-level realism.
  Together, they mark the rise of AI-native filmmaking, where prompting replaces traditional directing.

👉 Read The Whole Story Here

📰 News You Don’t Want To Miss

🔐 China-Linked Hack Hits F5 — State-backed attackers breached F5, exposing key enterprise vulnerabilities.

🎬 Google Drops Veo 3.1 — New AI video model adds audio, scene control, and realism for creators.

💻 Microsoft Upgrades Copilot — Windows 11 gets voice and vision features for hands-free workflows.

🧬 DeepMind Cracks Cancer Code — Google’s 27B-parameter model finds a new immunotherapy pathway validated in early lab testing.