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It’s Friday, October 31, 2025, and we’re back with the top startup and tech funding news stories spanning the U.S. and around the globe. From billion-dollar AI infrastructure deals to fintech, legal-tech, and sustainability breakthroughs, investors continued to deploy capital across every stage of innovation. This week’s coverage spans Monday, October 27, through Friday, October 31, spotlighting both deep-tech leaders and rising early-stage disruptors shaping the next wave of the digital economy. AI infrastructure once again dominated headlines. Poolside drew global attention with up to $1 billion from Nvidia, signaling how strategic capital is redefining the compute race. Fireworks AI followed with a $250 million Series C to scale enterprise AI-inference platforms, while Synthesia secured $200 million at a $4 billion valuation to expand its AI video-generation suite. Legora’s $150 million Series C underscored the rapid adoption of AI in legal workflows, and Mem0 added $24 million to build the memory infrastructure underpinning intelligent agents. Beyond AI, fintech and industry tech saw major traction. FAKTUS raised €56 million to become Europe’s first neobank for construction SMEs, Saturn Fintech secured €12.9 million to grow its embedded-finance platform, and Archy closed a $20 million Series B to automate dental-practice management. Meanwhile, sustainability-focused Hydgen landed $5 million for its modular hydrogen systems, and PACT collected £16 million to bring lab-grown biomaterials to fashion and automotive markets. At the seed and early-growth stage, startups like The Prompting Company ($6.5 million) and The Mobile-First Company ($12 million) highlighted the shift toward AI-native consumer interfaces and productivity tools. Europe also remained active with Grasp’s $7 million Series A for AI-driven financial workflows and iPNOTE’s €857K to automate IP management across legal markets. Funding Highlights Poolside secured up to $1 billion from Nvidia, setting a new benchmark for strategic AI financing. Fireworks AI raised $250 million in Series C funding to power enterprise-grade model inference. Synthesia landed $200 million at a $4 billion valuation to expand its AI video platform. Legora pulled in $150 million in Series C funding to transform legal-tech automation. FAKTUS raised €56 million to digitize construction-sector finance. Archy closed a $20 million Series B to automate dental practices. PACT, Hydgen, and EnduroSat drew strong backing for biomaterials, clean-energy, and space-tech innovation. Early-stage standouts Mem0, The Prompting Company, and Grasp continued to attract investor confidence in AI infrastructure and productivity. Investor Activity Leading investors this week included Bessemer Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Peak XV Partners, Index Ventures, Lakestar, and GV, joined by strategic backers such as Nvidia and Sequoia Capital. From early-stage accelerators like Y Combinator to late-stage giants funding enterprise AI, the capital flow revealed a market increasingly focused on infrastructure, intelligence, and industry-specific automation. Together, these financings underscore that venture appetite for AI, fintech, and sustainability remains as strong as ever — bridging deep-tech innovation with real-world applications that define the future of work, industry, and automation. Here’s the full breakdown. Until next week, have a great weekend. Legora Raises $150M in Series C Funding to Accelerate Legal AI Growth Sweden-based legal-AI platform Legora raised a $150 million Series C funding round at a valuation of $1.8 billion, marking one of the largest legal-tech rounds in Europe to date. The company’s platform helps law firms and corporate legal departments with AI-powered research, drafting, and collaboration — and the fresh capital will support its global expansion and product roadmap. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from ICONIQ, General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Benchmark, and Y Combinator. Since May 2025, the startup’s customer base has reportedly grown from 250 to over 400 law-firm clients, and geographic markets have doubled from 20 to 40. Founded in 2023 by Max Junestrand and Sigge Labor out of the Stockholm School of Economics’ Business Lab incubator, Legora has built a platform that automates tedious legal work without cutting lawyers out of the loop. Funding Details: Startup: Legora Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners (lead), ICONIQ, General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Benchmark, Y Combinator Amount Raised: $150 million Total Raised: Not disclosed Funding Stage: Series C Funding Date: October 30, 2025 The Prompting Company Snags $6.5M Seed Funding to Help Brands Be Discovered in AI Interfaces Based in the U.S., The Prompting Company raised $6.5 million in a seed round to launch its “generative-engine optimization (GEO)” service — essentially helping brands ensure their products are surfaced inside AI chat assistants rather than traditional search engines. The move signals the shift in marketing toward AI-driven discovery rather than conventional browser search. The round was backed by Peak XV Partners and Base10, among others, including Y Combinator, as the company already counts large enterprise clients and is prepping for the holiday season surge in AI chat-driven shopping. Funding Details: Startup: The Prompting Company Investors: Peak XV Partners (lead), Base10, Y Combinator, others Amount Raised: $6.5 million Total Raised: Seed (first disclosed round) Funding Stage: Seed Funding Date: October 30, 2025 PACT Raises £16M in Funding to Scale Sustainable Biomaterials Cambridge-UK-based biomaterials startup PACT announced a £16 million funding round to commercialize its collagen-based leather alternative. The material is aimed at high-end fashion, interiors, and automotive use cases and seeks to replace fossil-fuel-derived synthetic leather like PVC and faux leather. The funding will bankroll the build-out of a 20-metre production line (vs. typical 100-metre lines) and support expansion into factories across France, Italy, and Asia next year. Founder Dr Yudí Ding says the tactile quality of the material is a differentiator in the luxury market. Funding Details: Startup: PACT Investors: Forbion, HV Capital (lead) Amount Raised: £16 million Total Raised: £9 million prior (per previous round) Funding Stage: Series A Funding Date: October 30–31, 2025 Poolside Poised for Up to $1B Investment from Nvidia as Valuation Soars French AI startup Poolside is reported to be raising a massive round of up to $2 billion at a pre-money valuation of about $12 billion, with Nvidia committed to invest up to $1 billion. The deal would mark one of the largest single private investments into an AI startup this year. Nvidia is expected to begin with a ~$500 million investment, scaling to a full $1 billion based on performance and milestones. The size and structure of the deal reflect how AI infrastructure and platform companies are commanding blockbuster funding and strategic backing. Founded in 2023 by Jason Warner, the former CTO of GitHub, and Eiso Kant, Poolside builds AI assistants that help engineers generate code, debug projects, and automate repetitive development tasks. The company has grown quickly, positioning itself as one of the most ambitious startups in the “AI-for-software” space—a sector drawing massive investor attention as companies look for ways to speed up development cycles. Funding Details: Startup: Poolside Investors: Nvidia (lead commitment), others undisclosed Amount Raised: Up to $1 billion (from Nvidia) in a larger ~$2 billion round Total Raised: Not publicly disclosed Funding Stage: Growth / strategic investment Funding Date: October 30, 2025 Mem0 Raises $24M in Funding to Build Memory Infrastructure for AI Agents Mem0, a San Francisco startup focused on memory infrastructure for AI agents, announced a $24 million funding round led by Basis Set Ventures, with participation from Peak XV Partners, Kindred Ventures, GitHub Fund, and Y Combinator. The startup’s mission: to enable AI systems to store and retrieve memory more effectively, giving agents longer-term context and continuity. The funding will allow Mem0 to scale its R&D and product development as demand for advanced agent infrastructure (beyond model inference) ramps up in the broader generative-AI ecosystem. The round underscores investor interest in the underlying plumbing of AI, not just models. Funding Details: Startup: Mem0 Investors: Basis Set Ventures (lead), Peak XV Partners, Kindred Ventures, GitHub Fund, Y Combinator Amount Raised: $24 million Total Raised: Not disclosed Funding Stage: Seed / early growth Funding Date: October 29, 2025 Hydgen Raises $5M in Pre-Series A Funding for On-Site Green Hydrogen Deep-tech startup Hydgen, which develops on-site green hydrogen solutions for industrial firms, announced a $5 million pre-Series A round structured as an equity-and-debt mix. The funds will enable Hydgen to deploy its modular hydrogen generation and storage units into heavy-industry and manufacturing sites, supporting clients’ decarbonisation efforts in a transition-critical sector. The Round was led by Transition Venture Capital, with participation from Cloudberry Pioneer Investments (Europe), Moringa Ventures (Singapore), and strategic family offices based in India and Singapore. The move signals growing investor appetite for scalable hydrogen tech, bridging clean-energy infrastructure and industry applications. Funding Details: Startup: Hydgen Investors: Transition Venture Capital (lead), Cloudberry Pioneer, Moringa Ventures, strategic family offices Amount Raised: ~$5 million Total Raised: Not disclosed Funding Stage: Pre-Series A Funding Date: October 27, 2025 The Mobile‑First Company Raises $12M Seed Round, Relocates US HQ to Miami The Mobile-First Company, a French-origin startup building AI-powered mobile productivity tools for small teams, closed a $12 million seed round led by Base10 Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The startup simultaneously announced relocating its U.S. headquarters to Miami to support its expansion into North America, leveraging a growing base of 5,000 businesses using its core “Allo” product. The raise reflects a trend: AI tools built for “everyday business users” (not just large enterprises) are attracting capital, and location moves like Miami signal an appetite for U.S. growth while retaining European product heritage. The funding will accelerate hiring across design, sales, product, and engineering, and drive rollout of two new mobile apps targeting invoicing and expense claims. Funding Details: Startup: The Mobile-First Company Investors: Base10 Partners (co-lead), Lightspeed Venture Partners (co-lead) Amount Raised: $12 million Total Raised: Seed (first major institutional round) Funding Stage: Seed Funding Date: October 30, 2025 Saturn Fintech Ltd. Scores €12.9M in Series A Funding for European Fintech Platform European fintech platform Saturn Fintech Ltd. announced it has raised €12.9 million in a Series A round (roughly $13–14 million) led by Singular, with additional investors participating to support its growth and market expansion. The funding will aid its rollout of embedded finance and digital banking tools across Europe, as regulatory and customer pressures accelerate adoption of fintech infrastructure. Positioning itself to serve banks, neobanks, and fintech challengers, the company aims to deepen product integrations and scale its operations across multiple markets. Funding Details: Startup: Saturn Fintech Ltd. Investors: Singular (lead) Amount Raised: €12.9 million Total Raised: Not disclosed Funding Stage: Series A Funding Date: October 2025 iPNOTE Raises ~€857K in Seed Funding to Automate IP Management with Legal-AI Madrid-based iPNOTE, an AI platform focused on helping corporations manage intellectual property portfolios and automate legal workflows, closed a seed round of approximately €857,000 (around ~$900,000). Targeting cost reduction (claimed ~30% lower IP costs) and faster turnaround for legal teams, iPNOTE capitalises on the rising wave of LegalTech and AI-enhanced compliance platforms in Europe. The funding will support product refinement, hiring of legal-tech specialists, and go-to-market efforts across Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking jurisdictions. Funding Details: Startup: iPNOTE Investors: Undisclosed Amount Raised: ~€857,000 Total Raised: Seed stage Funding Stage: Seed Funding Date: October 28, 2025 Grasp Raises $7 M Series A to Bring AI to Financial Workflows Stockholm-based Grasp, which builds multi-agent AI systems designed to automate work in finance and consulting firms, announced a $7 million Series A round led by Octopus Ventures with participation from Yanno Capital. Founded by former management-consulting and telecom/AI engineers, Grasp’s platform is aimed at bridging high-end financial analytics, modelling, and advisory workflows with generative-AI agents. The new capital will drive further product development, hire AI researchers, and expand into the wider European financial services market. Funding Details: Startup: Grasp Investors: Octopus Ventures (lead), Yanno Capital Amount Raised: $7 million Total Raised: Not disclosed Funding Stage: Series A Funding Date: October 28, 2025
