Set List for the Soul
Your Sunday VC Breakfast Rundown
Some founders chase quiet to find focus. Others find it in sound. Not in distraction, but in alignment. That’s the power of music, especially for the builders in this week’s rundown. Their clarity didn’t come from silence. It came from rhythm. From movement. From the unspoken discipline of beat-driven momentum.
These teams move like great tracks, intentional, layered, and built to carry people somewhere new. Their work has pacing. Pulse. Texture. Not just features for the sake of shipping, but moments that land. That feel right because they sound right. And that kind of instinct only comes when you’ve learned to build in flow, not friction.
You can hear it in how they lead. You can feel it in what they’ve made. These aren’t chaotic drops, they’re clean transitions. Controlled builds. Thoughtful pauses that create space for what matters next. The rhythm is real. And so is the clarity it brings.
This isn’t background noise. It’s how focus moves. And how great companies hit their stride.
Klutch AI just sealed an $8M seed round (Bain Capital Ventures, Bling Capital, Brick & Mortar Ventures) to inject AI into construction’s analog chaos. Xu Rui and Tanin Na Nakorn are embedding agents into SMS and WhatsApp to automate site ops without SaaS headaches. Their AI field agents, Bob, Hailey, Archie, and Petra, handle bid leveling, safety capture, and issue resolution like veteran supers. Already live in Seattle and Chicago, Klutch is eliminating manual workflows without changing how contractors work.
Clearspeed secured a $60M Series D (Align Capital Partners). Alex Martin, a Marine-turned-tech-leader, built voice analytics that reads risk in 60+ languages, no content, just cadence. Validated by the United States Department of Defense with 97%+ accuracy, Clearspeed is used by Zurich Insurance, Allianz, and SOCOM to reduce fraud and speed up claims. With General David H. Petraeus, US Army (Ret.) on the cap table, this platform is becoming the gold standard in AI-powered risk screening.
Kalshi closed a $185M Series C led by Paradigm, hitting a $2B valuation. Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara Lara built the only CFTC-regulated event market, where politics, climate, and inflation become tradable contracts. With over $1B in volume on the 2024 Trump-Harris contract alone, Kalshi isn’t playing in hypotheticals, they’re monetizing real-world uncertainty. They’ve raised $415M to date and are now staffing up for global scale across trading, design, and compliance.
Niural locked in $31M Series A (Marathon Management Partners, M13). Nami Baral and Nabin Banskota built an AI-native global PEO automating payroll, compliance, and benefits across 150+ countries. Their AI coworker EMMA detects anomalies, handles onboarding, and slashes payroll errors by 90%. With Gokul Rajaram now on the board, this isn’t just HR tech, it’s the ERP backbone for high-growth finance teams.
Ubie crossed $125M in total funding with AI that’s HIPAA-compliant, medically vetted, and used by 12M monthly. Kota Kubo and Yoshinori Abe turned healthcare navigation into a data-driven diagnostic engine trusted across Japan and expanding fast in the U.S. With Mayo Clinic access and a 4M+ U.S. user base, Ubie’s reach is growing alongside its accuracy. Their 50-person medical team ensures the AI doesn't guess, it delivers results providers trust.
Castle raised a $1M pre-seed (Boost VC, Winklevoss Capital) to build bitcoin treasury tools for SMBs. Stephen Cole and João Almeida are turning crypto volatility into quiet, reliable balance sheet resilience. Castle integrates directly into SMB finance stacks, think Stripe, PayPal, Intuit QuickBooks, and automates BTC allocations based on business thresholds. It’s crypto without the noise, built for Main Street, not moonshots.
Xona Space Systems locked down $92M Series B (Craft Ventures, SpaceWERX) to replace GPS with its PULSAR satellite system. Brian Manning and Tyler Reid are launching centimeter-accurate, spoof-proof nav systems already backed by the U.S. Space Forces – Space (S4S). Huginn and Pulsar-0 are already in orbit, proving this isn’t vapor, it’s operational. With timing precision and resilience built for drones, EVs, and defense, Xona’s signal is the future’s positioning layer.
Foresight Data landed a $5.5M seed ( New Enterprise Associates (NEA), KDX Ventures) to connect private markets with real data infrastructure. Jason Miller and Adam Devine are syncing CRMs, cap tables, and fund ops into an AI-driven decision layer. Already used by Forerunner Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, Foresight’s system turns deal chaos into clarity. Madison Faulkner joining the board signals this isn’t a prototype, it’s go-time.
Galaxy Asset Management closed its $175M debut VC fund, GVF I, to build Web3 rails, middleware, and tokenization infra. Mike Novogratz , Will Nuelle, and Mike Giampapa are turning Wall Street precision into crypto-native scale. 120+ investments precede this raise, this fund is a continuation, not a bet. The focus? Infrastructure, not speculation, stablecoin plumbing, on-chain compliance, and digital asset primitives.
Traction Capital launched Fund II with $30M+ to scale Midwest startups. Shane Erickson’s operator-led model is EOS® meets early stage velocity, half venture, half acquisition. Kwikly’s 32× growth and TroutRoutes’ exit prove the blueprint works. This isn’t just capital, it’s Midwest muscle with operating rigor.
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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