Every month we take a look at a handful of rounds that maybe weren鈥檛 the biggest or spotlighted the most, but caught our attention for being a little different or unique.

We鈥檝e covered everything from 鈥檚 boozeless cocktails to bread robots.

Now that the end of the year is fast approaching, let鈥檚 cull the list down even a little further and look at the five most interesting rounds of the year 鈥� at least in our eyes.

Pleistocene Park

: The Dallas-based company closed a $60 million Series A led by and in March. What caught our eye is that this isn鈥檛 just a normal bioscience firm battling disease 鈥� it鈥檚 trying to solve de-extinction. Yes, like resurrection biology. (Which Hollywood has shown always turns out poorly, i.e., the whole Jurassic Park franchise.)

The company, which launched in 2021, is using genome engineering technologies to find a practical working model of de-extinction that will focus on the goal of the 鈥渞estoration and rewilding of functional woolly mammoths to the tundra.鈥� Colossal said bringing back mammoths would allow for a better understanding of evolutionary change in other species, and that genetic engineering applications also will help enhance food production and reduce environmental impact.

The other thing that piqued our interest about this were the investors: Thomas Tull of (speaking of movies) and investment firm fame; gaming company ; ; and several other names from a variety of areas. A pretty eclectic bunch 鈥� but then again, maybe that fits in with the mission.

Mining space

: Asteroids are known to hold valuable minerals like platinum and gold. The only problem is they鈥檙e in space 鈥� obviously 鈥� so mining them can be an issue.

This is where Huntington Beach, California-based AstroForge comes in. The company locked up a $13 million seed round led by in May to make such mining a reality.

The company has not shared much of its technology publicly, other than to say it enables in-space material refinement and that it has procured a rideshare launch on a Falcon 9 vehicle. AstroForge also said it鈥檚 already looking at potential mining targets as it prepares for a demonstration flight as early as January 2023.

While asteroid mining has been attempted before, the space economy as a whole really seems to be taking off, and space mining will get you on the list any day.

Fair鈥檚 fair

: Doing what is fair sounds simple, but society has proven through history it鈥檚 difficult for many. Now just like most things, we can have it 鈥渁s-a-service.鈥�

Los Angeles-based FairPlay is a 鈥渇airness-as-a-service鈥� provider solution for algorithmic decision making. The startup landed a $10 million Series A led by in July.

The company uses AI to help reduce algorithmic bias for people of color, women and other historically disadvantaged groups. The company already has launched two APIs that analyze loan applications and lending.

FairPlay will use the new proceeds to move its services into the insurance coverage, advertising and fraud industries.

Chicken is the new pizza

: We鈥檝e had cheese in crust, pepperoni in crust, cauliflower crust, cornmeal crust and any combination of all of those and more.

What is seemingly a little new is chicken as crust. But that鈥檚 what ZeroCarb LYFE does and what attracted a $1.5 million seed round from investors in June.

The Evansville, Indiana-based company produces what it calls 鈥済uilt-free innovation for pizza lovers looking for a delicious grain-free, high-protein option.鈥� It creates a pizza crust made of only olive oil, spices, salt and, of course, chicken breast meat.

The crust reportedly has 37 grams of protein and zero carbohydrates 鈥� hence the company鈥檚 name.

ZeroCarb LYFE clearly sees a large and growing market, as it announced as part of closing the seed round it will soon begin a seed-plus round of funding to keep up with the pace of its expansion. The company鈥檚 crusts are already available for purchase in more than 150 restaurants and select supermarkets.

Accent bias

: Startups are always looking for ways to improve conversation and communication, be it through data, artificial intelligence or machine learning.

Speech AI firm Sanas is one of the latest, but it鈥檚 taking a unique twist. The Palo Alto, California-based startup has developed real-time accent 鈥渢ranslation鈥� software, where the user chooses the accent they want to use.

While Sanas says users have said there are a variety of reasons they may want to manipulate their accent 鈥� including it allowing them better fluency in a foreign language 鈥� the unfortunate issue of is also one of the driving forces.

The company announced a $32 million Series A in June, which it said was the largest Series A for any speech technology company. The round was led by with participation from other investors such as and .

Sanas says their software 鈥渁llows for deeper personal choice鈥� when it comes to people鈥檚 voices and addresses communication challenges between global teams and customers. In announcing the round, the company also said 鈥� a large business process outsourcing firm 鈥� has signed a strategic partnership with Sanas to use its tech with its 100,000 employees.

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