Technology Private Placement and M&A Transactions Review Week Ending August 17, 2025

Cognition AI: The company raised an estimated $500 million of Series C venture funding in a deal led by Founders Fund on August 14, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $9.3 billion. Khosla Ventures, Soma Capital and other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. The company is a developer of an applied AI lab that develops autonomous AI software agents, with a primary focus on building tools that act as collaborative teammates for software engineers.

Cohere: The company raised $500 million of venture funding in a deal led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital on August 14, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $6.3 billion. Salesforce Ventures, AMD Ventures, Nvidia, PSP Investments and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan also participated in the round. The company is a developer of large language models for regulated industries, particularly the finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and energy fields, as well as the public sector.

Capacity: The company raised $132.4 million of Series D venture funding in a deal led by TVC Capital and Toloka on August 15, 2025. Staley Capital, Inveready Asset Management, Pari Passu Venture Partners, Equity.com, and JAM FINTOP also participated in the round. The company is a developer of an AI-powered automation platform for the modern workplace.

xLight: The company raised $51.6 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Playground Global on August 11, 2025. Morpheus Ventures, IAG Capital Partners, Marvel Capital, and Boardman Bay Capital Management also participated in the round. The company is a developer of particle-accelerator–driven free-electron lasers designed for semiconductor manufacturing.

Plancraft: The company raised EUR 38 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Headline on August 13, 2025. High-Tech Gründerfonds, Creandum and Xdeck Ventures also participated in the round. The company is a developer of business management software designed to plan, organize, and track projects.

Giga ML: The company raised $40 million of venture funding in a deal led by Redpoint Ventures on August 11, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $310 million. The company is a developer of an open artificial intelligence application programming interface compatibility platform designed for fine-tuned AI models.

Squint: The company raised $40 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by TCV and The Westly Group on August 12, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $225 million. Menlo Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. The company is a developer of a manufacturing intelligence platform designed to optimize factory procedures and workforce organization.

Profound: The company raised $35 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Sequoia Capital on August 12, 2025. Khosla Ventures, Saga Ventures, South Park Commons, and Kleiner Perkins also participated in the round. The company is a developer of a search engine tool designed for artificial intelligence search optimization.

Fundamental Research Labs: The company raised $33 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Prosus Ventures and MiH Ventures on August 15, 2025. Patrick Collison also participated in the round. The company is a developer of an applied research lab developing digital human agents.

Topline Pro: The company raised $27 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Northzone Ventures on August 14, 2025. BBG Ventures, TMV, Bonfire Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Flybridge, Tactile Ventures and Industry Ventures also participated in the round. The company is a developer of a business marketing platform for offering home service businesses.

GoodShip: The company raised $25 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Greenfield Partners on August 12, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $100 million. Fuse (Seattle), Ironspring Ventures, Chicago Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. The company is a developer of an all-in-one freight orchestration and procurement platform designed to let shippers digitally handle carrier management and transportation procurement.

Hyphen: The company raised $25 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Chipotle Mexican Grill on August 13, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $249 million. Cava Group (Restaurants and Bars), and other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. The company is a developer of food preparation automation technology for the foodservice industry.

Shrapnel: The company raised $19.5 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Gala Games on August 13, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $1.1 billion. Beam Interface, London Real Ventures, Varys Capital, Hash#CIB, Digital Consensus Fund, Griffin Gaming Partners, Polychain Capital, Tess Ventures, Yunt Capital, BasedVC, Global Blockchain Innovative Capital, Flying Falcon, CSP DAO, RW3 Ventures, Contango Digital Assets, No Limit Holdings, Comma3 Ventures, Zephyrus Capital, IOSG Ventures, Blizzard Avalanche Fund, Bing Ventures, Dennis Fong, Brian Lee, Stephen Lim, Matthew Sanders, Keith Nunziata, Jason Zhao, Daedalus Angels, Brevan Howard Asset Management, Franklin Resources, Spartan Group, and other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. The company is a developer of a gaming platform.

EverTune AI: The company raised $15 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Felicis on August 12, 2025. Eniac Ventures and 8 other investors also participated in the round. The company is a developer of a AI-based brand monitoring and analytics platform for businesses.

NorthBeam: The company raised $15 million of Series A venture funding from HighPost Capital, and other undisclosed investors on August 11, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $205 million. The company is a developer of a marketing intelligence system designed to offer brands data-driven insights.

Dashtoon: The company raised $12.8 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Peak XV Partners on August 12, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $36.2 million. Z47 and Stellaris Venture Partners also participated in the round. The company is a developer of a storytelling platform intended for curating comics and graphic novels.

Helm.ai: The company raised $10 million of venture funding from KPIT Technologies on August 11, 2025. The company is a developer of an artificial intelligence-based driving technology intended to facilitate autonomous driving and robotics.

Anything: The company raised $8.5 million of venture funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Tobi Lütke and Mathilde Collin on August 14, 2025. Wade Foster, Des Traynor, Laura Behrens Wu and Ben Tossell also participated in the round. The company is a developer of AI app builder designed to create apps and websites by simply chatting with an AI without writing any code.

Palabra.ai: The company raised $8.4 million of venture funding from Seven Seven Six, Creator Ventures and Alexis Ohanian on August 14, 2025. Maxwell Mullen, Mehdi Ghissassi, Namat Bahram and Anne Lee also participated in the round. The company is a developer of AI-powered speech interpretation systems designed to facilitate real-time multilingual communication across global audiences.

PlayVS: The company raised $6.2 million of Series A venture funding from undisclosed investors on August 12, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $39.8 million. The company is a developer of an esports platform designed to organize competitions for high schools.

Albi: The company raised an undisclosed amount of Series B venture funding from Frontier Growth on August 12, 2025. The company is a developer of a customer relationship and job management platform designed for the restoration industry to track critical business data.

The Portland Trail Blazers / Individual Investor: The company reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Mr. Tom Dundon for $4 billion on August 13, 2025. The company is an operator of a basketball team in the sports and entertainment industry.

KDHX / Gateway Creative Broadcasting: The company, a subsidiary of Educational Media Foundation reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Gateway Creative Broadcasting for $8.75 million on August 14, 2025. The company is an operator of an independent, listener-supported radio station based in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Campaign Brain / Catalist: The company was acquired by Catalist for an undisclosed amount on August 13, 2025. The company is a developer of an election campaign management platform designed to help candidates reach their voters.

DataTrails / Onid: The company was acquired by Onid for an undisclosed amount on August 15, 2025. The company is a developer of a SaaS-based platform designed to track physical and digital assets securely.

Dise / Minders Studio: The company was acquired by Minders Studio for an undisclosed amount on August 12, 2025. The company is an operator of CRM and sales automation solutions software intended for businesses based in Wilmington, Delaware.

FlowiseAI / Workday: The company was acquired by Workday for an undisclosed amount on August 14, 2025. The company is a developer of a low-code platform intended to build customized LLMs and manage AI agents.

Gala Labs / Creatify: The company was acquired by Creatify for an undisclosed amount on August 15, 2025. The company is a developer of a video ad creation platform intended to test and refine video ads for optimal performance.

JumpCrew / iQor: The company was acquired by iQor, via its financial sponsors Mill Point Capital and Prospect Capital Management, through an LBO on August 11, 2025 for an undisclosed amount. The company is a developer of a sales and marketing platform designed to assist in accelerating business sales, creating pipelines and driving revenue.

Kinly / One Equity Partners: The company entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Yorktel, via its financial sponsor One Equity Partners, through an LBO on August 12, 2025 for an undisclosed amount. The company is a developer of a communication platform focused on video conferencing, collaboration, and communication serving the education, government, corporate, and judicial sectors.

Luceda / Semitronix: The company was acquired by Semitronix for an undisclosed amount on August 12, 2025. The company is a developer of integrated circuit design software intended for use in the design of photonic chips.

Merlin Labs / Bleichroeder Acquisition I: The company reached a definitive agreement to acquire Bleichroeder Acquisition I through a reverse merger resulting in the combined entity trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol BACQ as of August 14, 2025, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $800 million. The company is a developer of an autonomous flight technology designed for advanced air travel with fixed-wing aircraft.

NewsON Media / Zeam Media: The company, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group (NAS: SBGI), was acquired by Zeam Media for an undisclosed amount on August 12, 2025. The company is an operator of a broadcast streaming platform that aggregates local news content from various TV stations across the United States.

Portal Studio / Generation Media: The company was acquired by Generation Media, a subsidiary of Generation Media Enterprises, for an undisclosed amount on August 12, 2025. The company is a provider of marketing and branding services intended for the gaming industry.

Pulsar360 / Clearly IP: The company, a subsidiary of SherWeb was acquired by Clearly IP for an undisclosed amount on August 14, 2025. The company is an operator of a unified communications as a service platform intended to streamline communications into a single network connection for phone service and high-speed Internet.

Scorebird / Nevco Sports: The company was acquired by Nevco Sports, via its financial sponsor Dominus Capital, through an LBO on August 12, 2025 for an undisclosed amount. The company is a developer of a mobile application designed to display and report real-time scores of high school sports activities.

Wide Open Music Publishing / Individual Investor: The company, a subsidiary of Endurance Music Group, was acquired by Mr. Benny Brown for an undisclosed amount on August 11, 2025. The company is a provider of music publishing services intended to support the creation and management of country music compositions.