Syndication and co-investment for institutional venture capital.

German-American fusion startup Focused Energy has secured $240 million in Series A funding to accelerate commercialization of laser-driven fusion energy systems aimed at delivering large-scale carbon-free electricity. The round included support from strategic energy, industrial, and deeptech investors alongside major public funding partnerships connected to Germany’s national fusion energy initiatives. Founded by Scott Mercer and Prof. Markus Roth as a spinout from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Focused Energy is developing inertial confinement fusion systems that use high-powered lasers to compress fusion fuel targets and generate controlled fusion reactions. The company’s architecture is inspired by scientific advances achieved at the US National Ignition Facility (NIF), where researchers demonstrated net energy gain from fusion ignition. Focused Energy is working on advanced target manufacturing systems, laser optimization technologies, and high-repetition fusion reactor designs intended to support commercially viable fusion power plants. The startup says its approach could provide stable baseload electricity without long-lived radioactive waste or carbon emissions associated with fossil fuels. The company plans to use the fresh capital to scale engineering operations, expand US and European research facilities, develop fusion fuel target production systems, and accelerate demonstration milestones required for commercial deployment. Germany has increasingly emerged as a major hub for private fusion investment amid Europe’s broader push toward energy independence and next-generation clean energy technologies. Investors globally are pouring billions into fusion startups as AI infrastructure growth, hyperscale data centers, electrification, and industrial decarbonization dramatically increase long-term global energy demand. Fusion is increasingly viewed as one of the few technologies capable of supplying near-limitless clean baseload power at global scale. Focused Energy joins a rapidly expanding group of fusion companies including Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Helion Energy, TAE Technologies, and Marvel Fusion racing to commercialize practical fusion reactors over the coming decade.

Texas-based biotechnology company Secretome Therapeutics has secured $30 million in Series A funding to accelerate development of its lead cardiac cell therapy candidate STM-01 for Duchenne muscular dystrophy-associated cardiomyopathy (DMD-CM). The round was fully led and financed by RA Capital Management, one of the world’s most influential healthcare and life sciences investment firms. Founded by Vinny Jindal and based in Plano, Secretome Therapeutics is developing regenerative therapies derived from neonatal cardiac progenitor cells (nCPCs). Its lead candidate STM-01 is designed to reduce inflammation, limit fibrosis, and support heart muscle repair in severe cardiomyopathy conditions linked to neuromuscular diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The company stated that the fresh capital will support pivotal Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical development of STM-01, which could potentially become one of the first disease-modifying therapies specifically targeting cardiac complications in Duchenne patients. Cardiomyopathy remains one of the leading causes of mortality among individuals suffering from DMD. As part of the financing, biotechnology veteran David Lubner joined Secretome’s Board of Directors, while RA Capital Partner Matthew Hammond will serve as Board Observer. Lubner previously held senior leadership roles at Ra Pharmaceuticals, Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, and PharMetrics, and currently serves on multiple biotech company boards including Dyne Therapeutics and Crescent Bio. RA Capital’s investment signals growing institutional confidence in regenerative medicine, cardiac cell therapies, and next-generation biologics addressing rare diseases with major unmet medical needs. The company is also advancing additional nCPC-derived therapies including STM-21 targeting inflammatory and cardiovascular conditions. The funding comes amid renewed investor interest in advanced cell therapies, precision biologics, and regenerative medicine platforms capable of treating chronic degenerative diseases through tissue repair and immune modulation technologies.

Bengaluru-based semiconductor startup C2i Semiconductors has extended its Series A funding round to $16.7 million with participation from TDK Ventures alongside existing investor Peak XV Partners and several semiconductor industry leaders. The company is building next-generation power delivery infrastructure designed specifically for AI data centers and hyperscale computing systems. Founded by Ram Anant, Vikram Gakhar, Preetam Tadeparthy, Dattatreya Suryanarayana, Harsha S. B, and Muthusubramanian N. V., C2i develops software-defined voltage regulator (VR) platforms and intelligent power management systems that optimize electricity flow from the grid all the way to AI processors and GPUs. As AI infrastructure rapidly scales worldwide, power efficiency has emerged as one of the largest bottlenecks for hyperscale data centers. C2i claims its technology can deliver more than 96% power conversion efficiency, reduce processor temperatures by up to 4°C, and potentially save approximately $12 million annually in a 100MW AI data center environment. The company’s proprietary architecture includes the Manas Controller, a software-defined voltage control system, and the Sarayu Power Stage, designed to improve reliability and efficiency for high-current AI accelerator workloads. C2i says its modular architecture can scale for next-generation AI processors projected to require significantly higher power loads over the coming years. TDK Ventures President Nicolas Sauvage described power delivery as one of the “critical thermal and efficiency constraints of the AI era,” highlighting the strategic importance of infrastructure-level semiconductor innovation as global AI compute demand explodes. The fresh capital will support global expansion, product commercialization, silicon validation, and customer deployments across AI data center ecosystems in the US, Taiwan, and international hyperscale markets. C2i expects its first silicon designs to return from fabrication during 2026.

Munich-based restaurant technology startup allO has secured $14 million in Series A funding to accelerate expansion of its AI-native restaurant operating system across Europe. The round was led by Zigg Capital, with participation from LifeX Ventures, Aperture, Wecken & Cie., 20VC, Keen Venture Partners, and several prominent angel investors. Founded by Cancan Liu, Teodor Rupi, and Benedikt von Lewinski, allO is building a full-stack AI-powered operating system for restaurants that combines point-of-sale systems, payments, reservations, kiosks, delivery integrations, inventory management, and back-office workflows into a single platform. The company currently serves more than 1,000 restaurant locations across Germany. Alongside the funding announcement, allO unveiled its first AI “digital employee” - a Reservation and Ordering Agent capable of autonomously handling customer calls, reservations, and takeaway orders. The company plans to launch more than 10 AI agents over the next 12 to 18 months, including inventory agents and menu optimization systems designed to automate operational workflows for restaurants. CEO Cancan Liu stated that restaurants represent an ideal AI use case because operators want outcomes rather than complex software systems. allO’s AI-native architecture is designed to reduce operational complexity by replacing fragmented restaurant software stacks with autonomous AI-driven workflows. The startup plans to use the fresh capital to expand across Europe, scale engineering operations, and strengthen AI automation capabilities as the hospitality sector increasingly adopts AI-powered operational infrastructure. Investors are betting that AI agents will become a foundational layer in restaurant management and hospitality automation.

San Diego-based precision diagnostics company ClearNote Health has secured $52 million in Series D funding to accelerate commercialization of its noninvasive cancer detection technologies and expand global access to early cancer screening solutions. The round was led by founding investor Mattias Westman alongside a major global long-only active investment manager, with participation from former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill, ClearNote Health co-founder Dr. Stephen Quake, a large Seattle-based family office, and additional institutional investors. Founded around breakthrough research from Stanford University, ClearNote Health develops advanced epigenomic diagnostics capable of detecting difficult-to-diagnose cancers through blood-based testing. The company’s proprietary Virtuoso™ epigenomics platform combines artificial intelligence, genomics, and bioinformatics to identify active biological signals associated with cancer development. ClearNote Health’s Avantect® platform focuses initially on pancreatic and ovarian cancer detection - two cancers where early diagnosis dramatically improves survival outcomes. The company says its blood-based screening systems may enable detection earlier than conventional diagnostic methods in high-risk patient populations. The startup also announced the appointment of clinical diagnostics veteran Kevin Keegan as President and COO. Keegan previously held senior leadership roles at Illumina, BD, and Hologic, where he helped scale major oncology diagnostic platforms globally. According to the company, the fresh capital will support commercial expansion, operational scaling, product development, clinical study execution, and broader deployment of its early cancer detection portfolio. ClearNote Health’s multi-cancer detection platform was recently selected as one of only two blood-based technologies for the US National Cancer Institute’s Vanguard Study. The funding reflects accelerating investor interest in AI-powered precision medicine, liquid biopsy technologies, genomics infrastructure, and preventive healthcare systems capable of improving early cancer detection at population scale.

Paris and New York-based enterprise AI startup Pivot has secured $40 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round to modernize corporate procurement infrastructure with agentic AI. The round was co-led by Forestay Capital and Notion Capital, with participation from Greyhound Capital, Hedosophia, Visionaries Club, Emblem, and multiple senior procurement industry operators including former SAP Ariba executives and EcoVadis founder Pierre-François Thaler. Founded in 2023 by Marc-Antoine Lacroix, Romain Libeau, and Estelle Giuly, Pivot is building an AI-native procurement operating system that automates sourcing, approvals, purchasing, invoicing, payments, vendor workflows, expense management, and reporting. The platform integrates deeply with ERP and finance systems to provide enterprises with real-time visibility into committed spending before invoices are finalized. Unlike traditional procurement software providers such as SAP Ariba and Coupa, Pivot positions itself as a fully AI-native infrastructure layer rather than a legacy workflow tool retrofitted with automation. The company says its architecture enables AI agents to operate directly inside procurement workflows with full contextual financial visibility instead of relying on fragmented spreadsheets, email chains, and disconnected systems. Pivot already counts DoorDash, Lemonade, and Flix among its enterprise customers and reportedly processes billions of dollars in invoices annually across more than 25 countries. The fresh capital will support expansion of its agentic AI capabilities, deeper ERP integrations, enterprise scaling, and international hiring across EMEA and the United States. The funding reflects accelerating investor interest in enterprise AI infrastructure modernizing back-office operations including procurement, finance operations, compliance, and enterprise workflow orchestration. Procurement is increasingly emerging as one of the largest untapped categories for agentic AI deployment globally.