The Ice Is Fresh Again
Your Tuesday VC Breakfast Rundown
Every NHL season begins with the same truth, everyone’s undefeated. The ice is clean, the jerseys crisp, the scoreboard blank. For a brief moment, hope feels infinite. But hockey isn’t a game that rewards optimism. It rewards endurance. The season is a marathon of pain, perseverance, and trust, 82 games that demand not just skill, but stamina, chemistry, and belief. By the time the playoffs come, every player is carrying bruises, stitches, or something worse. Yet they lace up anyway.
Founders know this feeling. Every new year, every new quarter, every fresh launch carries that same clean-ice energy: hope, anticipation, possibility. But startups, like hockey, test what happens when the hits start coming. The product bugs. The missed quarters. The sleepless nights. The hard conversations that decide whether your team stays united or splinters under pressure. Founders don’t need perfection; they need recovery. The best ones play through pain and keep moving forward because the mission matters more than the fatigue.
And just like a championship team, the strongest startups aren’t defined by talent alone. They’re defined by chemistry, by trust built in the trenches, by communication that holds under pressure, by the shared belief that no one’s skating this shift alone.
Today’s startups are entering their own new seasons, fresh ice, clean slate, endless possibility. But the ones that will still be standing come June? They’re the ones who can handle the grind. Who show up when they’re sore, adapt when the ice shifts beneath them, and keep their focus locked on the Cup.
Here are the teams, the companies, already skating toward it.
Currier Plastics received its first-ever institutional investment from Sheridan Capital Partners. Founded by WWII fighter pilot turned engineer Raymond Currier and now led by John Currier and Andrew McLean, the Auburn, NY-based manufacturer scaled from a two-machine shop to 287,000 sq. ft. of vertically integrated precision molding. With Sheridan’s backing, Currier plans to expand cleanroom capacity, ramp automation, and pursue strategic M&A to strengthen its healthcare manufacturing dominance.
The Plug raised $5M in equity and debt funding (Mucker Capital, Chingona Ventures, Techstars). Built by Korean-American brothers Raymond Kim and Justin Kim, alongside Peter Kim, this Los Angeles-based company is redefining liver health with a clinically proven, plant-based recovery formula rooted in South Korean herbal science. With over one million bottles sold and distribution in 3,500+ retail locations including Total Wine, GNC, and 7-Eleven, The Plug is scaling production, expanding DTC channels, and establishing itself as a serious player in functional wellness.
Moonlake AI raised $28M in Seed funding (AIX Ventures, Threshold Ventures, NVIDIA Ventures). Created by Fan-Yun Sun and Sharon Lee, this San Francisco-based AI lab is turning natural language into live, interactive 3D worlds. Their multimodal reasoning models merge simulation, code synthesis, and logic into a single interface, enabling creators to build complex virtual environments instantly. Backed by top-tier angels from YouTube, AngelList, and DeepMind, Moonlake AI is positioning itself at the intersection of imagination and engineering.
Fidus Systems received a majority investment from Catchment Capital. Founded by Michael Wakim and led by Alan Coady, this Ottawa-based engineering firm specializes in FPGA, ASIC, and embedded system design. After more than 20 years and 4,000+ completed projects, Fidus is now set for global expansion. Catchment’s investment will accelerate hiring, deepen technical capabilities, and extend its reach across high-growth sectors such as aerospace, defense, and edge AI.
SafeHill raised $2.6M in pre-seed funding (Mucker Capital, Chingona Ventures, Techstars). Built by Mike Pena, Nicholas Gonzalez, and Hector Monsegur, this Chicago-based cybersecurity startup is reimagining continuous threat exposure management. SafeHill’s SecureIQ platform blends AI automation with human ethical hackers to map and mitigate vulnerabilities in real time. The company already serves over 100 enterprise clients and is scaling rapidly to meet enterprise demand.
Cookiy AI raised $7M in pre-seed funding (Liquid 2 Ventures, Converge VC, GoAhead Ventures). Created by Davin YC Dong, this Palo Alto-based company is pioneering Agentic Voice AI to revolutionize market research. Cookiy’s technology turns natural conversations into structured, decision-grade insights within 48 hours, merging empathy with automation to deliver what traditional research can’t: real-time understanding at scale.
Bee Maps raised $32M in Series A funding (Pantera Capital, LDA Capital, Borderless Capital). Built by Ariel Seidman and Evan Moss, this San Francisco-based decentralized mapping network captures real-world data through AI-powered dashcams called “Bees.” With contributors across 90+ countries and major partners including Volkswagen, Lyft, and TomTom, Bee Maps is building the infrastructure backbone for the autonomous future, where real-time data powers navigation, safety, and automation.
MediView XR raised $24M in Series A funding (GE HealthCare, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic). Founded by John Black and Adam E. Rakestraw, and led by Mina Fahim, this Cleveland-based AR medtech company developed the XR90 system, which gives surgeons real-time “X-ray vision” by overlaying CT and ultrasound images as 3D holograms. With FDA clearance and integration into GE HealthCare’s OmnifyXR suite, MediView is pushing surgical precision into the next dimension.
Bettani Farms (formerly Climax Foods) raised $6.5M in initial Series A funding (S2G Investments, At One Ventures, Gratitude Railroad). Created by Oliver Zahn and led by Sandeep Patel, this Berkeley-based food tech company is reengineering dairy with Caseed™, a plant-based protein that replicates the melt and texture of dairy casein at a molecular level. Michelin-starred chefs and global dairy giant Bel Group are already partners, proving the tech and the taste are ready for prime time.
Avenue Sports Fund closed $1B in commitments (Avenue Capital Group). Built by Marc Lasry and Sonia Gardner, the fund is turning sports into a global asset class, investing in organizations including TGL (Tiger Woods & Rory McIlroy), Trackhouse Entertainment, Cosm, and Mercury/13’s women’s football platform. By merging capital with culture, Avenue is transforming passion into performance and building sports infrastructure for the modern era.
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.
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