Rare in the Rubble
Your Saturday VC Breakfast Rundown
Control is a myth, comfort is a trap, and the idea that your company is immune to chaos is the fastest way to get blindsided. Mark Manson’s Chapter 3: You Are Not Special — Things Fall Apart in The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck strips away the ego and leaves you with the truth: the market doesn’t care who you are.
The founders we’re featuring today aren’t insulted by that, they’re fueled by it. They build knowing that setbacks aren’t a sign of failure, they’re the cost of playing. They’ve traded the fantasy of being untouchable for the reality of being unstoppable. They know products will break, customers will churn, and funding will slow. What matters is how quickly you can adapt when it does.
These aren’t vanity builds. These are companies engineered for turbulence. They’re led by people who understand that special isn’t a birthright, it’s earned, again and again, in the middle of the mess.
If you’re looking for founders who can take a hit and keep moving, you’ll find them here.
August raised $7M seed (New Enterprise Associates, Pear VC, Afore Capital) to arm midsize law firms with AI that fits their workflow, not just BigLaw budgets. Founders Rutvik Rau, Thomas Bueler-Faudree, and Joseph Parker built an orchestration platform that adapts to jurisdiction, discovery, and legal nuance. The returns? Faster doc review, real savings, and stolen market share.
Mission Bio secured new equity financing (Ally Bridge Group) to push tri-omics deeper into clinical oncology and cell therapy. CEO Brian Kim and co-founders Dr. Adam Abate and Dr. Adam Sciambi built the Tapestri Platform, 1,600+ labs, DNA/RNA/protein from one cell, and a moat you can’t replicate.
First Due locked in $355M strategic growth (JMI Equity, TCV, Serent Capital) to centralize public safety software. Founders Andreas Huber and Rami El-Choufani transformed tragedy into a unified ops platform for 3,000+ agencies. With CTO Chin Kuo, they’re scaling smart tools where failure isn’t an option.
Docyt raised $12M Pre-Series B (Pivot Investment Partners, Lobby Capital, Dallas Venture Capital) to automate accounting at enterprise speed. Sidharth Saxena, Sugam Pandey, and Baglan Rhymes Gürel paired AI with deep vertical data, real-time P&Ls, ledger reconciliation, and accounting copilot agents. Manmeet Kaur keeps global ops humming.
Asylon Robotics raised $24M Series B (Insight Partners, Veteran Ventures Capital, Allegion Ventures) to scale perimeter security robots that walk, fly, and feed intelligence to 24/7 ops centers. Founders Damon Henry, Adam Mohammed, and Brent McLaughlin aren’t just automating, they’re hardening infrastructure.
Positive Development raised $51.5M Series C (aMoon Fund, B Capital, Flare Capital Partners) to deliver autism therapy that’s effective and affordable. CEO Mike Suiters and Executive Chairman John Banta built a developmental care model that scales, 50% lower cost than ABA, 1,200 families served, and AI-enhanced logistics via their Stanley platform.
Stavtar Solutions raised $55M Series A (Elephant Partners) to become the command center for alternative asset CFOs. Founders Steven Petersen and Avtar Batth turned chaos into clarity, 1,300% revenue growth, $10B+ expenses processed, and real-time spend automation across hedge funds, PE, and multi-entity portfolios.
Chai Discovery raised $70M Series A (Menlo Ventures, DST Global Partners, Thrive Capital) to program molecular biology with AI-native precision. CEO Joshua Meier and his all-star founding team are building the rails biotech will run on, foundation models, antibody design in days, and clinical board seats with Pfizer's former chief scientist.
Elion closed $9.3M seed (New Enterprise Associates, Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures, TMV) to become the research brain of healthcare tech. Founders Bobby Guelich, Matthew Weinberg, and Lily Huang built a structured intelligence platform already used by 60% of U.S. health systems. Procurement? Meet precision.
Ten Thousand received a new Series B investment (Forza Capital) to scale its elite men's activewear line. Founders Keith B. Nowak and Eugenio Labadie built for the ones who actually train, 50K five-star reviews, Life Time Athletic exclusives, and profitable growth since 2020. This isn’t hypewear, it’s engineered heat.
Menos AI raised $5.2M seed (Undisclosed top-tier VCs and family offices) to give institutional investors AI-native research tools that whisper alpha. Founders William Wu, Chris Yang, and Xiang Pan built Sonar, 40+ intelligent agents, 30+ alpha strategies tracked, and a platform built for hedge funds, not weekend traders.
Oxmiq Labs raised $20M seed (MediaTek Inc.) to reinvent GPU IP with a software-first approach. Founder Raja Koduri left Intel to build OXCORE and OXPython, modular GPU engines and CUDA-compatible stacks that free developers from silicon lock-in. This isn’t the next GPU startup, it’s the future of compute, licensed.
Let’s connect and keep the momentum going across the tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a founder shaping the future, a leader driving change, a VC backing bold ideas, or an investor spotting the next big thing—together, we’re pushing boundaries. Proud to be building the future with you.
Let’s connect on LinkedIn and Twitter (X), and keep the conversation going.
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