What Got You Here Won’t Keep You Here
Your Monday VC Breakfast Rundown
Success has gravity. It pulls you into routine, into rhythm, into the comforting hum of what’s always worked. But for founders, that pull can be lethal. Because what built your momentum last quarter might be what slows you down this one. And if you're not asking the hard questions about your own playbook, you’re letting the market answer them for you.
In Who Moved My Cheese?, Spencer Johnson distills it into a parable, but the truth hits hard: the maze will move. The cheese will vanish. The moment you assume otherwise, you stop adapting. And in startups, adaptation is survival.
The companies we’re spotlighting today aren’t just innovating externally. They’re evolving internally. They’re led by founders who aren’t coasting on what got them here. They’re rethinking the systems, the signals, and the assumptions baked into their own success.
They know that staying relevant means staying uncomfortable. And that’s how they keep building forward.
BQP raised $5M in seed funding (Monta Vista Capital, Empire State Development, Arc Ventures). Founded by Abhishek Chopra, Rut Lineswala, Jash Minocha, and Aditya Singh, BQP is shipping quantum-accelerated simulation software that runs now on classical HPC and scales into a quantum-native world, already used in aerospace, defense, and semiconductors.
GigaIO locked in $21M in the first tranche of its Series B (Impact Venture Capital, CerraCap Ventures, SourceCode). Alan Benjamin and Joey Maitra are delivering AI inferencing firepower with FabreX, a composable fabric that lets GPUs, CPUs, and accelerators communicate at hyperscale without vendor lock-in.
Empirical Security raised $12M in seed funding (Costanoa Ventures, DNX Ventures - US, HPA). Founders Ed Bellis, Michael Roytman, and Jay Jacobs built an AI-native cybersecurity platform combining real-time global telemetry with local models to prioritize threats with real context, not outdated scores.
AWAKE Chocolate closed $8M CAD (Btomorrow Ventures, BDC Capital). Founders Adam Deremo, Matt Schnarr, Dan Tzotzis, and President Glenn Weeks are scaling functional foods with caffeinated, Fairtrade chocolate already in 18,000+ doors, growing 90% YoY, and targeting $30M in 2025 revenue.
Folio pulled in $14M in Series A (Thrive Capital, Construct Capital). Built by Kate Adamson and Al Hertz, Folio is reengineering hospitality tech with embedded fintech workflows that connect purchasing, invoicing, and payments, already live in hundreds of hotels with $500M+ spend under management.
Confident Security raised $4.2M in seed funding (Decibel, South Park Commons, Ex Ante). Founder Jonathan Mortensen, PhD built a provably private AI inference engine, CONFSEC, using cryptography and zero trust architecture to deliver stateless, auditable AI privacy for regulated sectors.
BiomEdit closed an $18.4M Series B (Anterra Capital, Nutreco, AgriZeroNZ). Aaron Schacht and Kristin Bloink are tackling a $6B poultry gut health problem with engineered probiotics and syntheti cbiology, replacing antibiotics with targeted live biologics at scale.
Streamforge raised $1.2M in seed funding (AQC Capital, Anges Québec). Founders Xavier Constantin and Nick Lombardi are powering the creator economy with an AI-driven business intelligence engine that matches brands to creators based on behavioral signals, not guesswork.
StrongestLayer raised $5.2M in seed funding (Sorenson Capital, Recall Capital). Alan LeFort, Muhammad Rizwan, and Joshua Bass are building the first LLM-native email security stack, TRACE, analyzing tone, emotion, and behavioral signals to shut down AI-driven phishing.
WattCarbon secured a Seed Extension (Cerulean Ventures, City Light Capital). Founders McGee Young and Aaron Gubin built Aristotle, an AI-powered M&V platform that turns clean energy savings into real-time, on-chain EAC transactions, with verified carbon data down to the watt-hour.
Hadrian raised $260M in Series C (Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Andreessen Horowitz). Chris Power and West Owens are scaling defensetech with lights-out automation, software-defined CNC shops, and Factories as a Service building next-gen aerospace, maritime, and munitions parts.
StayTerra received growth investment from Bessemer Venture Partners. Mary Lynn Clark is rolling up luxury vacation rentals into a high-touch, AI-enabled hospitality platform, unifying backend ops and premium guest experience across America’s top travel markets.
EPR FireWorks received strategic growth investment from Frontier Growth. Gilad Preger and team are scaling cloud-native GovTech and public safety RMS software built by first responders, for first responders, already serving 500+ fire and EMS departments in 35 states.
ghSMART received a minority investment from KKR. Founder Dr. Geoff Smart and Jeffrey McLean are leading the leadership analytics game with 17,000+ executive profiles, powering C-suite decision-making for boards and PE firms across sectors.
The Riverside Company closed Riverside Value Fund II at $750M. Co-Béla Szigethy and Stewart Kohl are doubling down on the lower middle market, targeting carve-outs and transitions where operational excellence and equity ownership drive serious value creation.
Hootology raised $1.1M in pre-seed funding. Founder Stefanie Francis is scaling market research with HOOQZ, a GenAI-driven insights platform that blends psychometrics and gamified environments, already used by over half of the Fortune 100.
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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