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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February was the biggest month on record for venture funding. And while the vast majority of that capital went to just three companies 鈥� , and 鈥� a whole host of under-the-radar startups also drew investor checks.

Among those that most piqued our interest: A phlebotomy robot, a company that aims to revive precision manufacturing in the U.S. and Europe with a small-business franchise model, and a health beverage made from seaweed. Let鈥檚 dive in.

$70M for robotic blood draws

If you鈥檙e squeamish about needles or blood, you might want to stop reading now.

This week, Dutch startup raised $70 million in Series B funding for its phlebotomy robots, which are designed to autonomously perform diagnostic blood draws.

Vitestro was founded in 2017 and has raised more than $104 million to date, . Its Series B investors include , and , among others.

The new funding will be used to advance its Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device, to seek regulatory approvals in the U.S. and to scale commercialization.

Blood draws are one of the most routine and important processes in healthcare, investors noted, but have undergone little to no technical innovation, despite chronic industry staffing shortages.

Vitestro鈥檚 device is designed to be installed in phlebotomy departments and combines imaging technology, AI and advanced robotics to identify suitable veins for a blood draw, guide needle insertion and collect blood samples, according to the company.

鈥淰itestro is redefining one of the largest and most under innovated clinical workflows with a first-of-its-kind autonomous robotic platform for diagnostic blood collection addressing an enormous unmet global market need,鈥� Dr. , co-founder and partner at Sonder Capital and former co-founder and CEO of and , said in a statement. “I believe this technology has the potential to establish a new standard of care, much as robotic surgery did in its early days.”

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$50M for a franchise model for precision manufacturing

Two of the hottest startup industries right now are defense and space tech. At the same time, domestic manufacturing in the U.S. and Europe, particularly for military and defense applications, has come under renewed focus amid global trade tensions and intensifying wars.

Against that backdrop, manufacturing startup said earlier this week that it raised a $50 million Series A, less than a year after its seed round. The London-based company says it plans to open 25 factories by the end of 2026 and launch into Germany, France and Ukraine.

Isembard makes technology to manufacture precision components that are used in the defense, aerospace, energy and robotics sectors. Interestingly, it operates as a franchise model that lets existing machine shops and new businesses use its proprietary software and AI system.

It noted that component manufacturing is a $1.8 trillion a year industry. Yet, 95% of production is done by small businesses. The typical owner of one of those small machine shops is more than 65 years old and 40% plan to retire within five years, according to the company.

led Isembard鈥檚 Series A investment, which included participation from聽, , , , and individual investors , and .

鈥淚sembard is redefining the process of owning and running a factory,鈥� , managing partner at Union Square, said in a statement. 鈥淏y embedding deep operational expertise into an agentic OS, MasonOS lowers the barrier to operating high-performance manufacturing businesses and enables a networked, capital-efficient path to scale. At a moment when demand for advanced manufacturing is accelerating and interest in SMB ownership is rising, Isembard brings both forces together.鈥�

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$13M for seaweed beverages

While overall funding to food and beverage startups has plummeted since their pandemic-era heights, products that offer unique health benefits do still attract investor attention.

One recently funded company in that space is , a Torrance, California-based startup that makes wellness-oriented drinks from seaweed. The company secured $13 million in seed funding led by with participation from and .

Founded in 2019 by , Aqua Theon鈥檚 first product is OoMee, a seaweed-based beverage marketed as supporting gut health and satiety. Its star ingredient, agar-agar, has reportedly seen a surge in social media interest.

Beverages marketed as healthful or beneficial are to be a more than $192 billion market by the end of this year.聽 Among funded startups, that has included a heavy emphasis on products that orient themselves around offering protein, fiber or an energy boost, a review of 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows.

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$6M for an email provider for AI agents

They grow up so fast, don鈥檛 they? Less than four years into the AI boom, AI agents are already asking for their own email addresses.

That鈥檚 the premise behind , a San Francisco-based startup that this week said it has raised $6 million in seed funding from a long list of investors to build the tech stack for software agents, starting with their inboxes.

鈥淎I agents are already starting to function as virtual employees across industries,鈥� , partner at , said in a statement. 鈥淭hese agents need their own identity and email is the heart of identity on the internet. Traditional identity services were not built with agentic use cases in mind, and AgentMail is building that part of the stack, starting with email.鈥�

To that end, AgentMail said it鈥檚 launching its onboarding API to let AI agents get email addresses without human assistance.

“The next billion users of the internet will be AI agents,” AgentMail co-founder said in a statement. “We’re building infrastructure that treats agents as first-class citizens, starting with email. The demand is so intense that the agents themselves are finding us and signing up.鈥�

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$1.3M for AI for wastewater treatment

, an AI software company that helps the wastewater industry manage complex systems and make critical decisions, raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding. The deal exemplifies a common theme among funded AI startups: Many operate in very niche industries and promise to automate process-heavy workflows.

Nyad said its tool is designed to help plant operators in the wastewater industry, which faces a looming labor shortage as nearly half of the sector鈥檚 U.S. workforce is expected in the next decade.

The round for the Birmingham, Alabama-based startup was led by and included participation from , , , , and angel investor .

Nyad was founded in 2024 by British entrepreneurs (CEO) and after the two reportedly experienced poor water quality during triathlon training in the U.K. They later moved the company to the U.S. after seeing early customer demand through pilot programs in the Birmingham area.

Nyad鈥檚 technology helps plant operators maintain compliance and troubleshoot issues. 鈥淥perators are the final line of defense for public health and the environment,鈥� Szepietowski said in a statement. 鈥淎s experience retires out of the industry, we need tools that support operators in the moment when decisions matter most.鈥�

Related reading:

• Massive AI Deals Drive $189B Startup Funding Record In February While Public Software Stocks Reel
• Startups Are Serving Up Drinks With Protein, Caffeine And A Shot Of Wellness

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