Operating as an 鈥渁ll-in-one鈥� software ecosystem, Scotch provides liquor retailers with point-of-sale hardware, custom software, payment processing and a back-office suite to manage state-by-state regulatory complexities. Customers range from boutique single-register shops to enterprise stores running over a dozen lanes.

led Scotch鈥檚 Series A raise, which included participation from , and . The injection of capital comes on the heels of a growth spurt, with the Denver-based startup reporting greater than 500% year-over-year growth and surpassing $1 billion in processed payment volume.

While the company declined to reveal its valuation, co-founder and CEO said the funding marks 鈥渁 significant step-up鈥� from its $10 million seed round, raised in September 2024 and led by First Round Capital.

Old-school market

Formally incorporated in January 2024, Scotch was born out of a unique industry challenge encountered by Bolling and CRO during their previous venture, . A convenience-store software company that supported 15,000 stores across the U.S., Skupos attracted attention from major consumer packaged goods giants such as , and Budweiser owner .

鈥淏udweiser, in some way, shape, or form, tried to get us not only to continue to grow our C-store business, but to also expand into the liquor store industry,” Bolling told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News in an interview.

Market research conducted in 2022 revealed a striking contrast between the two sectors. While the $650 billion convenience store market is highly fragmented, its point-of-sale technology is heavily consolidated around four major players.

Conversely, the liquor-store industry proved to be an entirely different beast: highly fragmented, intensely regulated and flooded with more than 200 regional, legacy POS systems.

Recognizing that the Skupos business model didn’t align with that level of fragmentation, the founders held off. Following the acquisition of Skupos by in August 2023, the team revisited the concept.

Drawing inspiration from the business model of restaurant tech giant 鈥� with whom the founders frequently shared strategy notes in the mid-2010s 鈥� they recognized the potential to replicate that success in a highly specialized, nuanced retail market.

, former chief architect of (acquired by for more than $1 billion), serves as Scotch鈥檚 CTO.

鈥楤usiness in a box鈥� strategy

The platform鈥檚 business model scales directly with the merchant, driving revenue through a hybrid mix of SaaS fees, charged on a per-device, per-month basis; fintech monetization, or collecting standard interchange fees on its payment volume and hardware sales, providing the modern storefront terminals necessary to run the infrastructure.

While general retail giants like Lightspeed and exist, Scotch markets itself as the only player capable of handling the severe operational and compliance hurdles distinct to alcohol retail.

Customers include The Liquor Store of Jackson Hole, Big Bear Wine & Liquor, Corkdorks and Everest Spirits Superstore.

Eradicating the 鈥榯oil鈥� via AI

With inventory sizes ranging from 2,000 to 12,000 distinct products per store, manual inventory and vendor management can lead to miscalculated ordering and tied-up working capital, noted Bolling.

Scotch says it differentiates itself by building artificial intelligence directly into these back-office workflows. The platform uses AI to eliminate administrative friction, with the company claiming its offering can save business owners over a full day of work per week. It also saves them money by giving them, for example, a more accurate picture of their inventory, according to Bolling.

鈥淲e’ve really focused our AI workflows on the ‘toily’ aspects of running one of these businesses,鈥� Bolling said. “Some of our customers are sommeliers who opened a store because they are passionate about serving their community with the right wine curation. That鈥檚 their creative outlet. We try to take up the parts of the day that suck for these business owners.鈥�

By optimizing supply chains and automating store management, Bolling believes that Scotch鈥檚 AI native architecture is driving 鈥渕easurable鈥� gross margin expansion for its merchants.

Grassroots growth and word of mouth

Because it is targeting an industry historically dominated by 鈥渙ld-school,鈥� family-owned, mom-and-pop operations, Scotch has employed an unconventional go-to-market approach. The company relies on a dual strategy of targeted geographic inside and outside sales reps as well as localized trade association partnerships. The reasoning behind that approach, according to Bolling, is because liquor store owners rarely search for new POS hardware on a whim.

However, the startup’s fastest growth vector over the last six months has been organic word of mouth. Because many state laws cap the number of liquor licenses an individual can own, competitive hostility is low, creating tight-knit networks of friendly competitors.

“They go to the same industry events, they talk to each other, they are in study groups together,” Bolling noted. “When one of them adopts a system like Scotch, they refer a lot of other customers our way.”

Scotch currently has about 45 employees working out of its Denver headquarters. It plans to use its new capital in part to scale its engineering and sales operations across the United States in addition to accelerating product development.

Going after 鈥榯he hard part of the market first鈥�

, general partner at VMG Partners, believes that Scotch is modernizing 鈥渙ne of the last major categories of retail.鈥�

鈥淭he beverage alcohol market is nearly $250 billion and, despite that, is still operating on systems built in the 1970s with on-prem servers,鈥� he wrote via email. 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 an exaggeration to say Scotch is the only player that has solved enterprise-level complexity.鈥�

Most industry startups never moved beyond basic solutions for small businesses, believes Stenmark.

鈥淪cotch went after the hard part of the market first, solving for some of the largest and most complex retailers in the country,鈥� he wrote via email. 鈥淭his approach allowed them to harden their product early, and has translated to them having the only product that can actually solve every business operations and payments problem a retailer might have, whether they be a national brand or a beloved regional storefront.鈥�

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Although the number of women-owned businesses keeps growing, startups led by women continue to fall behind their male counterparts when it comes to raising venture funding.

That’s why former executive teamed up with , a veteran and marketing executive, to found , an -registered, funding portal.

The platform, also called AQi, gives women-led businesses 鈥� those that are at least 50% women-owned 鈥� a way to raise capital through , a securities framework aimed at opening up startup investing.

Launched in 2024, AQi seeks to help female entrepreneurs reach everyday investors by simplifying regulatory disclosures and business documentation. As a member of the , the platform has passed a rigorous federal vetting process and agrees to operate under strict oversight to protect investors and ensure transparency.

小蓝视频色情网页版 News recently spoke with Huyck and Konwinski to hear more about what led them to start AQi, why they think women don鈥檛 need to give up board seats early on, and how they want to help female entrepreneurs raise and hold on to more equity.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

小蓝视频色情网页版 News: What is your platform鈥檚 mission and what led you to launch this company?

Huyck: I spent 21 years at PayPal, where I mentored women through a partnership with the . It was there I learned about the $5 trillion gap in global GDP resulting from women entrepreneurs lacking access to capital.

In the U.S., while women start nearly half of all businesses, they receive only 2% of venture capital and less than 20% of small business loans. I wanted to build an innovative system to solve this. I considered starting a fund, but many already exist. Instead, I wanted to create a crowdfunding platform exclusively for women, providing an additional avenue to raise money. The economic irony is that women entrepreneurs earn 78 cents for every dollar invested, compared to 31 cents for men. It simply didn鈥檛 make sense, and I wanted to build a system that truly enables women.

Konwinski: To add to that, we are a very distinct entity. We are not a broker-dealer; we are an SEC-registered and FINRA-member crowdfunding platform. Following the 2012 JOBS Act, Reg CF (Regulation Crowdfunding) was created to allow nonaccredited investors to invest in private, early-stage companies. There are about 50 active platforms in the U.S., but we are the only one founded by women, owned by women, and exclusively serving women-owned businesses.

Beyond just providing a neutral platform, we act as a “quarterback.” We help entrepreneurs navigate the process 鈥� whether they are just starting or ready for a “glow-up” 鈥� by providing access to accountants, lawyers and marketing firms. We are creating a community where women can get the resources they need to build their businesses without competing for attention in male-dominated tech circles.

How does your platform differ from sites like ?

Konwinski: Kickstarter and are for charitable gifting. We are not asking for charity; we are facilitating investments. We are on par with platforms like or , but our fee structure is more founder-friendly. On platforms like Kickstarter, you might only keep about 60% of the funds raised. Our success fee is only 6.5%. When investors invest in these businesses, they receive equity in return. Furthermore, there is a clear social return: Studies show that for every dollar a woman earns in her business, she creates significant economic benefit for her community and family.

How many businesses have you helped raise capital for thus far?

Huyck: We spent our first year building the technology and another six months on the rigorous SEC and FINRA registration process. We believe this high level of regulation is critical to ensuring investor trust. We currently have a pipeline of 20 businesses. We closed our first campaign earlier this month and have two more launching in the coming weeks.

Since Reg CF has a $5 million cap per 12-month period, how do you position yourselves for high-growth startups? And do you view this as a permanent alternative to traditional venture capital, or a bridge?

Huyck: I don鈥檛 see the VC space changing soon because it is heavily reliant on 鈥減attern matching,鈥� where investors look for people and paths that resemble previous successes. Until that breaks, women founders face significant barriers. Crowdfunding is a vital, viable alternative.

Konwinski: I would challenge the notion that $5 million isn’t enough. For many of the companies we work with, that is a strong runway for 18 to 24 months. Because Reg CF allows for rolling raises, a company can raise up to $5 million every 12 months. We see companies use this to reach a significant milestone and then potentially pursue a Series A later. We aren’t trying to be a broker-dealer for Series A deals. We are here for those who get “ghosted” by VCs or don’t want to leverage their homes to secure an SBA loan.

Does a distributed ownership structure with many unaccredited investors create a “messy” cap table that scares off traditional VCs?

Huyck: We utilize special-purpose vehicles. This consolidates all Reg CF investors into a single line item on the company鈥檚 cap table, often with a lead investor managing voting rights. This keeps the cap table clean.

Konwinski: Additionally, one of the greatest benefits of our model is that founders retain autonomy. VCs often demand board seats, veto rights and up to 20% equity. With us, founders usually give up only 5%-10% equity, allowing them to maintain control of the company they built from the ground up.

Without the pressure of a VC board, how do you help founders maintain operational discipline? And what do exit horizons look like?

Konwinski: Women entrepreneurs are natural 鈥渉ustlers鈥� who are inherently self-motivated. They are also excellent at collaborating and leveraging their community rather than operating with ego. Many of the founders we work with are Gen X, balancing business with family, and they have developed an incredible ability to multitask and execute.

Huyck: We also encourage founders to bring on advisers rather than giving up board seats too early. As for exit strategies, many women founders are mission-driven and haven’t historically been forced to consider an exit. We provide the guidance to help them think through those horizons 鈥� whether that鈥檚 acquisition or long-term growth 鈥� so they can make informed decisions rather than being forced into a timeline by traditional VC pressure.

Finally, how does your platform compare to other equity crowdfunding sites like Wefunder?

Konwinski: It is apples-to-apples in terms of our SEC/FINRA licensing. Where we differ is our value proposition: we provide a “concierge” service. On many larger platforms, you are processed through an AI-driven, automated checklist. We are building relationships, talking to our founders, and acting as their partner throughout the process.

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• The Portion Of US VC Funding That Went To Female Founders Hit A New Peak In 2023, Thanks To Massive AI Deals
• How Female Founders Can Access Capital In A Tight VC Funding Market
• Is There A Gender Bias in Funding? Yes. Here鈥檚 How Female Founders Can Overcome

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The amount includes previously announced corporate-led rounds by ($) and (), bringing the new funding in the latest raise to a still-staggering $50 billion.

Anthropic’s new valuation also means the San Francisco-based startup has now surpassed its closest rival, on that metric. In February, OpenAI announced it had closed a $110 billion round at an $840 billion post-money valuation. That financing marked the largest raise ever, according to .

, , and led Anthropic鈥檚 latest raise. , , , , and co-led the round. The financing also included $15 billion of previously committed investments from hyperscalers, $5 billion from , which, interestingly, also participated in OpenAI鈥檚 most recent round of funding.

Anthropic鈥檚 massive round comes just over three months after the startup raised $30 billion in a Series G that valued it at $380 billion post-money. It has now raised around $125 billion since its 2021 inception, .

Since that round, Anthropic says it has grown its enterprise customer base. Its run-rate revenue crossed $47 billion earlier this month, according to the company.

鈥淐laude is increasingly indispensable to our growing global community of customers, and we work tirelessly to make tools like Claude Code and Cowork more helpful, more powerful, and more adaptable to their needs,鈥� said , chief financial officer of Anthropic, in . 鈥淭his funding will help us serve the historic demand we are experiencing, stay at the research frontier, and bring Claude to more of the places where work happens.鈥�

Correction: This article has been updated to correct Anthropic’s total funding amount to date and the amount of new, previously announced capital in its Series H.

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• The 小蓝视频色情网页版 Unicorn Board

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• OpenAI鈥檚 New $110B Raise At A $840B Valuation Marks The Largest Venture Deal Ever
• Anthropic Raises $30B At $380B Valuation In Second-Largest Venture Funding Deal Of All Time

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The share of U.S. venture funding going to companies with Black founders in 2025 remained low, even as overall startup investment ticked slightly higher, 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows.

Only around $942 million 鈥� or just 0.32% of total U.S. venture funding 鈥� went to startups with a Black founder or co-founder last year, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. That鈥檚 one of the lowest shares in years, and down more than two-thirds from just three years prior.

This year has started off on a slightly rosier note, with $643 million raised by U.S.-based startups with a Black founder or co-founder as of May 20. The majority of that was raised in the first quarter, marking the most raised in a single quarter since Q2 2022, when $653 million was raised by a Black founder or co-founder.

It鈥檚 important to note that the relatively robust quarter was in large part due to an outsized round 鈥� a February $350 million Series E raise by Palo Alto, California-based . Co-founded in 2017 by chief technologist , the AI chip startup has raised a total of $1.5 billion in known funding. and co-led its latest raise.

As such, it鈥檚 not surprising that the $643 million raised so far this year was secured across just 34 deals, signaling larger deal sizes overall.

It鈥檚 important to note that the total funding raised by startups with a Black founder or co-founder so far this year is still a small percentage of the $252 billion raised by U.S.-based startups in 2026.

Last year鈥檚 total also represents a sharp decline from the record venture funding year of 2021, when investment in Black startup founders hit a high of $5.2 billion in the wake of the 2020 racial justice movement. Still, even during the peak year, investment in Black founders represented just 1.5% of U.S. venture funding, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data.

, managing partner at said the decline in venture funding to Black entrepreneurs coincides with a marked shift in the political environment. 鈥淭here are fewer conversations on the topic as many are afraid to speak on it directly, which is concerning,鈥� he told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News via email.

Overall, Pierre-Jacques believes venture capital is about finding outliers. 鈥淭hat isn’t going to change for any group,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 focus on what we can do as a firm and then advocate for underserved founders.鈥�

Notable rounds

Similar to 2025, much of the funding tally for Black-founded startups in 2026 came from a few larger rounds. Standouts include:

• SambaNova, the AI hardware and software company mentioned above. It specializes in providing infrastructure for AI and machine learning applications. Notably, tech giant reportedly in SambaNova to 8.2% following its investment in the Series E round.
• , a New York sweepstakes-based sports prediction market, picked up $75 million in a February Series B round led by at a $500 million post-money valuation. The platform has users participate in peer-to-peer wagering on sporting events.
• San Francisco-based , which is building an AI-native insurance brokerage for SMBs, also raised in February, a $47 million Series A led by . It is an alumnus of the prestigious startup accelerator .
• Live events platform in March raised a $37 million Series B led by .
• , which sells AI-driven government contracting software, raised $30 million in a January Series B round co-led by and.

Relationships and networking

Investors and founders who spoke with 小蓝视频色情网页版 News on the topic said that in the current AI-centric funding environment, relationships and networking have only become more important for startup founders, particularly Black and other historically overlooked entrepreneurs.

鈥淚n an age of AI, who you know matters more than ever,鈥� Pierre-Jacques said. 鈥淭here are fewer deals getting done by firms and partners. You have to build personal relationships in order to make it to the top of the stack. It isn’t just about KPI comparisons.鈥�

is a two-time startup founder currently raising capital for his fintech startup, . He agrees with Pierre-Jacques on the importance of Black founders widening their networks as much as possible.

Spearman urged younger or Black founders who are building and raising for the first time to gain as much insight and inside knowledge as possible from other founders.

鈥淭his can save significant headaches, time and limited resources, especially during the early stages,鈥� he said. 鈥淏lack people in America have defined, and continue to shape, what it means to be in community, and I’m thankful to play a small role in that ecosystem.鈥�

Having worked at , an Austin analytics software company, Spearman said that he built a network over time that included exited founders whom he was able to turn to as 鈥渁dviser-investors.鈥�

鈥淭hese advisers can write checks, make intros and think like operators, which is sometimes better than seeking advice from VCs who haven’t been operators during the zero-to-one stages,鈥� he said. He also recommends that new founders, particularly those in focused sectors such as fintech or insurance tech, consider attending industry-specific conferences like Money 20/20 or ITC to make connections with VCs 鈥渕onths and sometimes years before you’re ready to raise.鈥�

Spearman also said Black founders should be open to sources of funding other than traditional venture capital, particularly when first starting out. Many are steered toward accelerators at the early stages, he noted.

鈥淚 don’t think this is bad counsel,鈥� he told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News via email, 鈥渆specially if it involves an accelerator like the one offers annually.鈥� TenYour participated in that accelerator in 2025, which resulted in both an investment and industry connections, he said.

Looking forward, not back

The startup funding landscape has drastically changed in the span of just five years. In 2021, the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, a heated 2020 presidential election, and the high-profile killings of Black Americans including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery spurred many of the largest startup investors to make high-profile pledges to back more Black and other underrepresented founders.

Now, 鈥渨e are so far from 2020, not only in the pledges made but also in the social and venture landscape,鈥� Spearman said.

Still, 鈥渞ather than looking back,鈥� he said, 鈥淚’d recommend we collectively continue to push forward to envision and co-create the world we want. For founders, that often starts with their ventures and the choice to solve a meaningful problem that other founders (and investors) may overlook.鈥�

, co-founder of and an investor with , is frustrated that funding to Black-founded startups relative to overall venture investment funding has fallen in the past few years. That鈥檚 especially disheartening, she said, given research indicating that Black Americans are more active consumers of AI tools than the general population, with a reported 53% using such tools daily or weekly, versus 39% of people overall.

鈥淭o me, this shows early signals that the investment cycle creating wealth from AI is not flowing back to the communities using AI the most,鈥� she said.

In 2021, Lal and started VC Unleashed, a nonprofit, to increase access to the venture capital world for both founders and aspiring investors. While the organization is open to all, Lal said, Unleashed uses its platform 鈥渢o uplift underrepresented founders as much as we can to help them access capital and build their network,鈥� including through its upcoming conference.

When asked if she could change one structural aspect about how venture capital operates to improve outcomes for Black founders, Lal said it would be moving the conversation upstream from general partners at VC firms to those firms鈥� limited partners.

鈥淕Ps deploy capital that LPs give them, and if a pension fund or endowment isn’t asking its VC managers about founder portfolio composition with the same rigor it applies to sector concentration or stage exposure, that absence gets transmitted all the way down to the founder level,鈥� she wrote via email. 鈥淨uestions on founder demographics, asked consistently and at scale, would do more to shift behavior than anything else.鈥�

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Related reading:

• Share Of Startup Funding For Black Founders Hits Multiyear Low
• Funding To Black Startup Founders Quadrupled In Past Year, But Remains Elusive

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 小蓝视频色情网页版, and is based on reported data provided by our partners, venture partners, our community network and news sources. The data in this report is focused on the U.S. market for underrepresented minorities, namely Black-/African-American-founded companies.

小蓝视频色情网页版鈥檚 dataset is constantly expanding, but there are gaps. A company may not have founders listed, or the Diversity Spotlight data may not be updated on its 小蓝视频色情网页版 profile.

We do believe we are missing companies, especially at the early stages of funding.

If you notice missing data, please reach out to spotlight@crunchbase.com or verify with your company email to update your company鈥檚 Diversity Spotlight tags directly onsite.

小蓝视频色情网页版, like all databases of private-market transactions, experiences some reporting delays. The data for 2025 and 2026 will increase over time relative to previous years. As data is added to 小蓝视频色情网页版 over time, some of the numbers in this report may shift.

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led the round, which included participation from , , , , and others.

Founded in 2020, New York-based Capchase initially made a name for itself by providing revenue-based financing for SaaS companies. However, by late 2022, the company began to evolve into its current iteration: a vendor-financing technology platform. Capchase embeds itself directly into the sales workflows of companies such as original equipment manufacturers, software vendors and cybersecurity providers.

It has entirely discontinued its revenue-based financing, and instead now focuses on B2B buy now, pay later tools that help software and hardware vendors offer flexible payment terms while getting paid upfront.

The concept addresses a longstanding friction point in enterprise sales: vendors want cash immediately, while buyers want to preserve capital. Rather than forcing a buyer to pay $1 million upfront in 30 days, Capchase allows a sales rep to offer more flexible terms 鈥� say, $15,000 per month for up to five years. When the deal is signed, Capchase pays the vendor the full amount upfront, net of a financing fee.

鈥淲e started to see that there was a very big pull in the market,鈥� , co-founder and CEO of Capchase, said in an interview. 鈥淲e saw that sales cycles were expanding, CAC was going up, and all of this was driven by the high interest rates. Buyers wanted to pay as late as possible and pay installments.鈥�

He added: 鈥淲e shipped a product quickly to solve that need, and we started to get very strong market pull to the point that that ended up eclipsing the other product lines, and we decided to focus everything there.鈥�

Displacing a legacy market with AI

The pivot has unlocked impressive growth. Capchase says it has a 400% growth rate over the past 12 months and forecasts another 200% growth in the upcoming year. Its workforce has scaled alongside this momentum, expanding to 75 employees, up from 50 a year ago.

While legacy banks, independent financing firms and captive financing arms have dominated the $1.3 trillion equipment financing market for decades, Capchase says it differentiates itself by replacing 1980s-era workflows with real-time automation.

Traditional financing approvals often require an email-driven back-and-forth that can take four to 17 days, according to Fernandez. Capchase claims to compress that timeline into seconds.

Capchase uses artificial intelligence and machine learning agents across its platform. For example, an 鈥渙rder generation agent鈥� parses uploaded quotes or purchase orders to create flexible payment links in under 60 seconds 鈥� down from a manual process that typically took eight hours 鈥� according to Fernandez. As another example, an AI email agent automatically handles multiparty coordination between vendors, resellers and buyers, all without human intervention.

鈥淲hat makes us different is that we are both the lender and the technology. And AI is what makes the combination work at the speed enterprise tech sales demands,鈥� Fernandez told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News in an interview. 鈥淲e built the credit decisioning engines that allow us to look at all the data these other players look at as well, but we were able to do it and infer it in just seconds.鈥�

Moving upmarket and expanding globally

The new capital will primarily support Capchase’s rapid transition into the enterprise space.

鈥淚n the past 24 months, we went from serving vendors in the tens of millions of revenue to in the last 12 months in the hundreds of millions in revenue, and now in the multiple billions of revenue,” Fernandez said.

The startup鈥檚 platform now underwrites more stable, established borrowers. The average buyer utilizing Capchase has roughly $80 million in annual revenue, has been operating for over 20 years, and is profitable, he added. This profile has allowed Capchase to maintain a highly controlled risk environment and what he described as a “spectacular” default rate.

Capchase currently supports hundreds of tech vendors and tens of thousands of buyers. Its customer roster features enterprise tech giants, public cybersecurity firms and massive distributors, including , , , and .

Though Capchase keeps its specific financials, valuation and cumulative funding figures confidential, Fernandez confirmed that the latest capital injection represents a valuation step up from its 2021 $80 million Series B round. At the time of that raise, the company had raised more than $400 million in equity and debt.

Looking ahead, Capchase will use its fresh capital to scale beyond its core markets in North America 鈥� the U.S. and Canada 鈥� and Europe, including the U.K., Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, the Nordics and Spain. Driven by direct demand from its enterprise partners, the company is officially entering the Australian market this year.

Reducing friction with flexible terms

, co-founder and managing partner of 01 Advisors, said he was drawn to Capchase primarily because of how AI has helped it disrupt traditional vendor financing.

Incumbents possessed plenty of capital but 鈥渉ave never been forced to build real technology because their customers had nowhere else to go,鈥� he wrote via email.

AI fundamentally shifts this dynamic, allowing Capchase to “underwrite a buyer and create accurate docs in 30 seconds,鈥� he said.

This solution hits close to home for Bain, who previously ran the sales team at and says he intimately understands the friction Capchase aims to eliminate. In traditional enterprise sales, momentum frequently stalls when a ready-to-buy customer hits a roadblock over payment terms, forcing sales leaders to either “discount to close, wait for the next budget cycle, or spend weeks negotiating.”

Those outcomes drain margin or time. Capchase completely removes that friction, Bain said, by offering instant approvals and flexible terms.

Fintech startups, particularly those that apply AI to traditionally manual or burdensome processes, have benefited from increased investment in recent quarters. Global funding to VC-backed financial technology startups totaled $53.8 billion in 2025, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 . That鈥檚 a more than 29% increase from 2024鈥檚 total of $41.6 billion raised.

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• Fintech Startups Globally Raise More Money In Far Fewer Deals In Q1 2026
• Exclusive: Capchase Raises $80M Series B To Give Startups Alternatives To Venture

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That鈥檚 up 49% from the $3.5 billion valuation it achieved when announcing its $300 million Series C 鈥� which included primary and secondary funding 鈥� in March of 2025. The latest capital infusion brings San Francisco-based Mercury鈥檚 total primary and secondary funding to approximately $700 million since its 2017 inception.

led the latest financing, which included participation from returning backers , , , , and .

Mercury counts more than 300,000 companies as customers, including startups and larger entities such as , , , , and .

Interestingly, Mercury recently received from the banking regulator, the OCC, to establish its own bank. This is in contrast to many fintechs, which typically work with a sponsor bank but are not banks themselves.

The company hit $650 million in annualized revenue as of the 2025 third quarter, and claims to have achieved four consecutive years of profitability on both a GAAP net income and EBITDA basis.

AI鈥檚 effects

鈥淎I is collapsing the friction between an idea and a company faster than anything I have seen in my career,鈥� , co-founder and CEO of Mercury, said in a press release. 鈥淲e are going to see more founders in the next five years than in the last twenty. But legacy banking in 2026 still works the way it did when I started my first company in 2006. I started Mercury because banking should do more than be a vault, it should help customers run the best business possible.鈥�

Fintech startups, particularly those that apply AI to traditionally manual or burdensome processes, have benefited from increased investment in recent quarters. Global funding to VC-backed financial technology startups totaled $53.8 billion in 2025, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 . That鈥檚 a more than 29% increase from 2024鈥檚 total of $41.6 billion raised.

Disclosure: The author of this article is a freelance writer who also writes for Mercury鈥檚 independent magazine, Meridian.

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When and his wife were navigating the complex world of fertility treatment, the process was marked by stress and financial strain. But after finally achieving a successful outcome, AlSalim recognized how different his experience was from many others in his position.

Despite the ordeal, he noted, having a child afterward “is much better than a load of people who don’t have anything to show for it.”

The experience sparked a business idea to help others in the same situation his wife and he were in. “My son was 1 week old,” he said, recalling the exact moment the concept took hold.

AlSalim officially registered the company name, , in 2019, but the business’ true inception came later, as the founder refined the idea and sought investors.

Gaia is working on building what AlSalim believes is a fundamentally new category in the . The company uses artificial intelligence and machine learning 鈥� trained on millions of anonymized historical data points and fertility outcomes 鈥� to better understand risk and probability for fertility treatment.

The platform analyzes variables such as age, hormone levels, ovarian response, treatment protocols, embryo development and clinical outcomes to direct patients to 鈥渙ptimal鈥� clinics based on their data profiles, and to generate personalized forecasts around fertility success. It also uses AI and machine learning to underwrite personalized outcome-based 鈥渇lexible鈥� financing plans for IVF, egg freezing and embryo transfer procedures.

鈥淲e tell you where to go, we protect your path, we finance your treatment, we support you,鈥� AlSalim said in an interview with 小蓝视频色情网页版 News. 鈥淣o one else today bundles care, capital and financial protection into a single product.”

And today, the New York-based startup 鈥� led by AlSalim as its sole founder 鈥� tells 小蓝视频色情网页版 News exclusively that it has secured a $100 million debt facility from to scale its operations across the United States.

The credit facility follows a $14 million Series A round raised in January 2025, led by , that brought Gaia鈥檚 total equity funding to $37 million across three rounds. Other backers include and .

Fertility remains a relatively niche area for healthcare startup investment. Last year, venture investors put $194.8 million toward startups in 小蓝视频色情网页版鈥檚 fertility categories. Since the peak year of 2021, when $229.6 million went to fertility-related startups globally, annual investment in the sector has ranged between about $100 million and roughly $200 million, .

Treatment with 鈥榦utcome protections built in鈥�

Today, the fertility industry operates almost entirely on a “fee-for-service” model. Patients pay thousands of dollars per individual procedure, regardless of whether that procedure actually results in a baby. If a cycle fails, the patient is left with heartbreak and a depleted bank account.

Gaia flips this dynamic on its head by pricing the probability of success rather than the number of procedures, its founder said.

鈥淲e are not just a financing company,鈥� AlSalim told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News. 鈥淲e use data in order to create unique plans that are individualized with outcome protections built in.鈥�

For an IVF cycle, which has a nationwide median cost of $22,000, Gaia says it offers complete predictability. If a member’s first IVF cycle fails, Gaia covers the next cycle at no extra cost. For embryo transfers, the plan includes unlimited transfers until a live birth is achieved.

The model works across other endpoints, too. For example, if a 30-year-old woman wants to freeze her eggs, Gaia uses its predictive engine to guarantee a target number of retrieved eggs based on her specific biomarkers. If she does not hit that number in the first round, Gaia funds a second cycle at no extra cost. Patients can choose to pay the fixed cost upfront or use Gaia’s financing to spread the cost over five years with monthly payments.

Closed-loop model

By owning the data and the risk from initial consultation to live birth, Gaia aims to build a closed-loop data asset that it believes will serve as a massive competitive moat.

Its model is resonating. Over the past 15 to 16 months, Gaia has experienced a significant growth inflection, according to AlSalim. The company has surpassed 1,100 memberships, with over 1,000 active members in the U.S., and has partnered with 200 clinic locations across 40 states.

The founder declined to provide hard revenue figures when asked about growth, saying that the company is 鈥渘ow developing a baby every 18 hours鈥� while maintaining a of 85, which is considered 鈥渆xceptional鈥� in the healthcare industry by , creator of the customer loyalty benchmark.

Building a village

To sustain this velocity, Gaia has expanded its distribution channels beyond direct-to-consumer marketing to include local partnerships with acupuncturists and pharmaceutical companies, as well as direct clinic integrations.

Last year, the company launched an enterprise benefit product, marketing and selling directly to employers who want to offer comprehensive, risk-insulated fertility coverage to their workforce.

The corporate product has scaled rapidly, said AlSalim. Gaia鈥檚 enterprise client roster spans diverse sectors 鈥� from tech professionals in Silicon Valley to blue-collar manufacturing workers in Denver.

, managing director and head of U.S. Investments at Viola Credit, said his firm was drawn to Gaia because it believes the startup is addressing 鈥渁 deeply important and underserved problem鈥� with a model that is 鈥渂oth commercially compelling and mission-driven.鈥�

Chen believes that Gaia stands out also because it is not 鈥渟imply a financing product.鈥�

Its approach, he said, 鈥渁ligns incentives across patients, clinics, and financing in a way that feels genuinely differentiated,鈥� he wrote via e-mail, 鈥渁nd we believe it can meaningfully improve access to fertility care.鈥�

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Just through mid-May, China-based robotics companies this year have raised $5.6 billion across 176 deals, 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows. That sum matches total investment to the nation鈥檚 robotics companies in all of 2021, the peak of the funding cycle. Investment in the sector has also already eclipsed the $4.3 billion raised by China-based robotics companies in all of 2025.

Startup funding in Asia overall surged to $27.4 billion in Q1, its highest level in over three years, with China capturing $16.5 billion 鈥� 60% 鈥� of that total, according to recent 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. Robotics contributed meaningfully to that $16.5 billion total, with startups in the sector raising $3.3 billion across 126 deals.

Embodied AI boom

A review of 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows that investors now are no longer funding mostly pre-programmed hardware, but increasingly backing China-based startups working on embodied AI 鈥斕齩r artificial intelligence with a physical body that interacts with the real world in real time.

That shift toward artificial intelligence-driven robotics mirrors a global surge in investment into robotics and other physical AI startups. It鈥檚 also thanks to the rise of advanced, open-source reasoning models that have fundamentally changed how robots operate. Startups are moving away from coding robots line-by-line toward Vision-Language-Action models that allow physical machines to observe, reason and execute physical tasks end-to-end.

In China, robotics startups at the intersection of the software and hardware integration are drawing the largest checks in the space and often back-to-back funding rounds. They include:

• , a 1-year-old humanoid robotics company that integrates embodied intelligence that last month raised a massive $513 million seed round led by and . The Shanghai-based company was valued at $1.9 billion.
• , which develops robotic systems and automation solutions for industrial and service applications, closed a $140 million Series A extension round in January from investors including . Then just three months later, it raised $293 million in a massive Series B round co-led by and
• In February, Beijing-based , which says it鈥檚 building a 鈥渦niversal brain鈥� for robots, raised a $290 million Series A led by and . The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion. Then in April, it announced a $145 million Series A extension financing, bringing the total round to $435 million.
• Humanoid robotics company in February raised a $145 million Series B led by . The 2-year-old China-based company was valued at $1.4 billion. In April, it announced a $290 million extension to that round, bringing its total to $435 million
• Shenzhen-based , a builder of humanoid and quadruped robots, raised a $200 million Series B last month led by and . The 2-year-old company鈥檚 robots will be deployed for traffic, security and retail. It was valued at $1.5 billion.

Top investors

小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows the most active investors in the space are largely Asia-based. The busiest this year has been Hong Kong-based , taking part in six deals, including a $200 million round last month for humanoid robotics and embodied intelligence developer .

Among lead or co-lead investors, three China-based firms 鈥� , and 鈥� have each taken part this year in deals totaling $290 million or more.

Exits gain steam

Venture investors are likely feeling confident as the sector notches notable liquidity events, including IPOs and acquisitions.

The of , targeting a $3 billion to $7 billion valuation, is a milestone for the industry. The company in March filed for an to list on the , and its IPO would likely spur other startups in the space to pursue their own public-market debuts.

The sector has already seen some notable exits.

They include Hong Kong-based ,听 a Shanghai-based startup that makes lightweight industrial robots. The company on May 18 listed on the , raising about $86 million. And it did not disappoint. Robotphoenix closed its first full day of trading at HK$53.75 ($6.86 U.S.), up nearly 80%. (Interestingly, Chinese robotics firms as their primary liquidity hub.)

On the M&A front, in what is widely considered a historic first for China鈥檚 embodied artificial intelligence sector, AI robotics unicorn in July 2025 engineered a two-stage consortium takeover to in legacy manufacturer for about $290 million. AgiBot鈥檚 co-founder formally stepped in to chair Swancor, effectively turning the publicly traded shell into a direct extension of AgiBot.

Ultimately, it seems that 2026 is the year China鈥檚 robotics companies are pivoting from raising early venture rounds to mass production, as a domestic market that currently accounts for more than 43% of global robotics venture investment, per 小蓝视频色情网页版.

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Existing backer (KIP) led the financing, which is described as a bridge round. (KBIC) also participated. The raise brings Santa Fe Springs, California-based Xpanner鈥檚 total funding to $38 million since its 2020 inception.

Xpanner turns construction equipment that customers already own into automated assets 鈥渨ithout replacing a single machine,鈥� according to , the company鈥檚 co-founder and CEO.听

鈥淭here鈥檚 no upfront investment, no rip-and-replace,鈥� Lee added. 鈥淟ike a smartphone gaining new capabilities through app updates, customers expand their automation through simple software updates.鈥�

The benefits for its customers include significant cost savings and shorter project durations, according to Lee.

Originally founded in South Korea, Xpanner moved its headquarters to the U.S. in 2023. Today, , , and are among its customers.听

Notably, all of Xpanner鈥檚 co-founders have deep industry experience. Lee spent two decades in executive positions at and , driving unmanned construction projects and corporate venture initiatives in the heavy equipment world. CFO spent over 12 years working in heavy equipment at Bobcat, followed by eight years in venture capital at Korea鈥檚 largest commercial bank. CTO led robotics and automation at for 20 years, becoming the first in the industry to commercialize semi-automation features for construction machinery.

Growth and a path to profitability

Xpanner is refreshingly transparent about its financials. The company grew revenue from $3 million in 2023 to $7 million in 2024 to $21 million in 2025, according to Park. It saw $8 million in revenue and $1 million in EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) in the first quarter of 2026.

The startup is targeting $60 million in ARR by year鈥檚 end.

Impressively, the company says it maintains a gross margin above 80%, thanks mostly to its subscription-based AaaS model. It achieved monthly break-even in 2025, and Park said Xpanner is on track for full-year profitability this year.

鈥淥nce hardware is deployed, incremental subscription and service revenue flows at near-zero marginal cost,鈥� he said.听

The company plans to use its new capital in part to strengthen its development capabilities by advancing its next-generation physical AI hardware and software platform, deepening its core component engineering, and expanding its data and AI infrastructure.听

Some of its customers are still on a perpetual modular model, which includes the one-time purchase of its X1 Kit hardware paired with its software. Looking ahead, Xpanner expects to be fully on its subscription model by the end of the year.听

The company is also actively expanding into adjacent verticals, including battery energy storage systems (BESS) and AI data center construction.

鈥楽trong gross margins, near-zero churn鈥�

, managing director at KIP, told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News via email that his firm was impressed by Xpanner鈥檚 commercial traction and unit economics.

鈥淪trong gross margins, near-zero churn, and rapid account expansion are signals that the value proposition is real and not pilot-driven,鈥� he said.

director at KBIC, believes that most construction automation companies hit a scalability wall because they automate entire machines end-to-end. However, he said that since Xpanner’s task-specific approach scales through software rather than hardware redesign, the company 鈥渃an expand wallet share inside accounts without proportional cost.鈥�

鈥淭hat’s a software-economics business operating in a hardware-dominated market, and it’s rare,鈥� he wrote via e-mail.

Physical AI funding smashes records

Xpanner sits at the intersection of two sectors that have received strong interest from investors in recent years.

Startups working on physical AI 鈥� real-world applications of artificial intelligence, including technologies such as automated hardware and robotics 鈥� have already hauled in more than $37 billion in venture funding globally this year, , shattering the full-year record of $21 billion set in both 2025 and 2021.

At the same time, venture investment in real estate and property-related startups rebounded last year, largely driven by funding to AI-centric companies.

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As Ayoub describes it, while the medical profession was sold to him as a lucrative and stable career, the reality of modern healthcare hit home during a gap between his fellowship and his full-time role at . Living in New York City and unable to afford rent, he attempted to pick up extra shifts at a local urgent care. Despite a clear workforce shortage and his own need for income, he was told he couldn’t start for 90 to 120 days.

The culprit? A fragmented, manual credentialing process that acts as the industry’s primary bottleneck.

鈥淭he bottleneck is not the number of doctors, but the fragmented infrastructure connecting them to where they are needed,鈥� said Ayoub, who also serves as an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine. 鈥淢ost people assume the issue in healthcare staffing is a lack of doctors, but what we鈥檝e seen is something different.听

There鈥檚 a large, underutilized workforce that simply can鈥檛 move between systems efficiently,

So in early 2025, Ayoub and began pondering a solution. Their initial ideas eventually turned into , a startup with an AI-powered platform designed to serve as an “automated Dropbox” for physicians.听

Today, the New York City-based startup is announcing it has raised $2.2 million in a pre-seed round led by , 小蓝视频色情网页版 News reports exclusively. also participated in the round.

AI-driven healthcare takes off

AI-related healthcare has seen a significant rise in venture funding globally, 小蓝视频色情网页版 shows. Investors put an estimated $14.9 billion into seed- through growth-stage funding to companies in AI-powered health tech categories in 2025, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. That鈥檚 up significantly compared to the $8.6 billion raised in all of 2024.

Many of the recently funded healthcare startups are AI-centric, and, like Saile, are focused on streamlining dated processes.听

In the current system, every time a doctor wants to work at a new facility 鈥� whether it be a hospital, a surgery center, or a telemedicine platform 鈥� he or she must manually resubmit a CV, licenses, and board certifications via email. In applying to an urgent care facility, Ayoub realized that while staffing agencies act as gatekeepers, the underlying infrastructure was broken.听

There was no centralized way for a doctor to maintain a compliant status and share it instantly across different job verticals.

Saile aims to solve that problem by storing and tracking all a doctor鈥檚 credentials in one place and providing alerts before documents expire so that a physician can always be compliant. It goes one step further by providing access to a shift marketplace. In a nutshell, the startup serves as a portable credential passport for physicians to be identified and assigned patients at various hospitals.听

The company鈥檚 five modular AI agents automate what currently takes months of manual coordination across recruiting, onboarding, credentialing, staffing and compliance.听

By combining credentialing and staffing into a single infrastructure layer, Ayoub says Saile has shortened the onboarding timeline by roughly 45 days, from about 90 to 120 days, and reduced administrative tasks for healthcare facilities by an estimated 40%.

鈥淥ther solutions either focus on one piece of the problem or offer staffing tied to a single job type,鈥� Ayoub said in an interview. 鈥淪aile owns the entire journey鈥nd facilities get direct access to a pre-vetted pool of local and regional physicians without juggling multiple vendors or paying for the friction in between.鈥�

Investing in the 鈥榠nfrastructure layer鈥�

What began as a bootstrapped project fueled by word-of-mouth in a tight-knit clinician community has quickly gained momentum. The app has grown to nearly 5,000 active user physicians nationwide. Operating with a lean core team of four, the company plans to use its new capital to expand its AI agent infrastructure, grow its marketplace capabilities, and deepen integrations with facility credentialing systems.

Saile has four core revenue streams, with a primary focus on a per-seat SaaS model for facilities. The approach is to offer facilities access to the pool of physicians, and then charge on a per-seat usage basis for the workflow and credentialing infrastructure that supports it.

, founder and partner at Matchstick Ventures, said his firm was drawn to the founder market fit it saw in Saile.

鈥淢arc had felt the pain of this problem and actually had built this more or less for himself out the gate,鈥� Brosher said in an interview with 小蓝视频色情网页版 News. 鈥淲e love those combos where founders aren鈥檛 just randomly seeking out a solution to make a buck. This was very much a personal thing for him in the problem that he was solving.鈥�

The firm also saw a 鈥渂ig鈥� market opportunity in offering an 鈥渁ll-in-one鈥� solution for doctors looking to pick up side jobs.

鈥淧eople have tried to go after this a few different ways. They’ve either gone after credentialing, or they are a staffing agency,鈥� Brosher added. 鈥淎nd when we look at this market, we feel like there needs to be disruption here鈥ltimately, Saile is building the infrastructure layer beneath staffing. We feel like having that all-in-one infrastructure layer is actually where the real value is to be had.鈥�

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