Syndication and co-investment for institutional venture capital.

New York-based healthcare AI startup Chromie Health has secured $2 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate the development of its AI-powered hospital workforce management platform. The funding round was led by AIX Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on AI-native startups. Founded in 2024 by Douglas Ford, Scott Tisoskey, and Patricia Ford, Chromie Health is building intelligent AI agents designed to automate hospital staffing, scheduling, and workforce coordination workflows. The company’s flagship solution, Chromie Dispatch, uses SMS-based AI automation to help hospitals rapidly fill open nursing shifts and reduce operational bottlenecks. According to the company, the platform can fill staffing gaps up to 60 times faster than traditional manual scheduling processes. Chromie Health stated that its lightweight infrastructure requires no complex IT integrations and does not expose patient data, making deployment easier for healthcare systems. The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its engineering and AI teams while developing additional AI agents focused on streamlining hospital operations, workforce optimization, and administrative coordination across healthcare networks. The funding reflects the growing momentum behind AI-driven healthcare operations platforms as hospitals increasingly seek automation tools to address staffing shortages, reduce burnout, and improve patient care efficiency.

UK-based AI chip startup Fractile has raised $220 million in Series B funding to accelerate the development and commercialization of its next-generation AI inference hardware. The funding round was co-led by Accel, Factorial Funds, and Peter Thiel-backed Founders Fund, with participation from Conviction, Gigascale, O1A, Felicis, Buckley Ventures, and 8VC. Founded in 2022 by Oxford-trained engineer Walter Goodwin, Fractile is developing specialized AI inference chips designed to dramatically improve the speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of large AI model responses. The company’s architecture focuses on reducing latency while maximizing bandwidth efficiency for advanced AI workloads. Fractile stated that the fresh capital will help scale product development, accelerate deployment of its first AI chips, and expand operations across London, Bristol, San Francisco, and Taipei. Reports also suggest that AI company Anthropic has held preliminary discussions regarding future procurement of Fractile’s inference chips. The funding highlights the growing global race to build high-performance AI infrastructure capable of supporting increasingly complex generative AI and agentic AI workloads, as demand for faster inference systems continues surging worldwide.

US-based fintech equipifi has secured $34 million in Series B funding to accelerate the expansion of its bank-native Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform across financial institutions in the United States. The round was led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from existing investors including Curql and PHX Ventures. Founded by Bryce Deeney, equipifi enables banks and credit unions to embed flexible installment payment and BNPL capabilities directly into their existing digital banking platforms. The company aims to help traditional financial institutions compete with standalone fintech lenders while maintaining ownership of the customer relationship. The latest funding brings equipifi’s total capital raised to approximately $49 million. The company plans to use the new investment to expand partnerships with financial institutions, strengthen product capabilities, and scale product and engineering operations. The funding highlights continued investor confidence in embedded finance infrastructure and the rapid growth of institution-led BNPL ecosystems integrated directly into digital banking experiences.

South Korean robotics startup WIRobotics has secured approximately $68 million in Series B funding to accelerate the development and commercialisation of its humanoid robotics platform, ALLEX, marking a major step forward in the rapidly growing global humanoid robotics industry. The funding round was led by JB Investment and included participation from InterVest, Hana Ventures, Smilegate Investment, SBVA, NH Investment & Securities, Company K Partners, GU Investment, and FuturePlay. Founded in 2021, WIRobotics initially focused on wearable robotics technologies before expanding into advanced humanoid systems. The company is now positioning ALLEX as its next-generation robotics platform capable of human-like object manipulation, interaction, and mobility powered by Physical AI technologies. The company stated that the newly raised capital will support humanoid robotics R&D, global expansion initiatives, AI-powered control systems, and mass-production readiness. WIRobotics is also collaborating with NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services on Physical AI technologies and has joined NVIDIA’s Physical AI Fellowship initiative. WIRobotics plans to launch a research-focused humanoid robotics platform later this year while expanding partnerships with research institutions and industrial manufacturers globally. The company is also reportedly discussing proof-of-concept deployments with a global automotive manufacturer for factory-based robotics applications. Its humanoid robotics ambitions are being built on years of real-world movement and gait data collected through its wearable walking-assist robot “WIM,” which has surpassed 3,000 cumulative unit sales across international markets including Europe, China, Türkiye, and Japan. The latest funding highlights growing investor confidence in humanoid robotics, Physical AI, and intelligent automation systems as companies worldwide race to commercialise next-generation robotics platforms for industrial, healthcare, and consumer applications.

🇺🇸 Defense technology startup Anduril Industries has raised $5 billion in a massive Series H funding round, pushing the company’s valuation to approximately $61 billion as investor demand surges around AI-powered defense infrastructure and autonomous military systems. The round was led by Founders Fund, with participation from major institutional investors and strategic backers focused on defense, AI, and national security technologies. Founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey, Brian Schimpf, Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm, and Joseph Chen, Anduril develops autonomous defense systems, AI-powered surveillance platforms, military drones, autonomous underwater vehicles, and advanced battlefield operating systems for U.S. and allied defense agencies. The company has rapidly become one of the world’s most valuable defense technology startups amid growing geopolitical tensions and rising government spending on AI-enabled military capabilities. Anduril’s flagship Lattice platform integrates artificial intelligence, sensor fusion, autonomous systems, and real-time battlefield intelligence into a unified defense operating environment. The company currently works with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, allied governments, and major defense agencies globally across surveillance, border security, autonomous warfare, and maritime defense applications. The newly raised capital will be used to expand manufacturing infrastructure, accelerate autonomous weapons and drone development, strengthen AI capabilities, scale production facilities, and deepen partnerships with government and defense customers. Anduril has been investing heavily in vertically integrated manufacturing and software-defined defense systems as it competes with traditional defense contractors. The funding comes during a major shift in the global defense sector where venture-backed defense startups are increasingly challenging legacy military contractors through faster innovation cycles, AI-native architectures, autonomous systems, and software-centric warfare technologies. Defense technology has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments within venture capital over the last two years, driven by increasing geopolitical instability, AI advancements, and rising NATO and allied defense budgets.

🇬🇧 London-based fintech startup Adfin has raised $18 million in a Series A funding round led by Index Ventures as the company scales its AI-powered finance automation platform designed to simplify payment collection and accounts receivable workflows for businesses. Founded by Raph Crouan and Julien Villemonteix, Adfin develops embedded financial operations software that helps companies automate invoicing, payment reconciliation, collections, and cash flow management. The startup is focused on eliminating manual finance administration tasks through API-driven workflows and artificial intelligence. The company’s platform integrates directly with accounting systems, CRMs, and payment providers, allowing businesses to automate back-office financial operations and improve payment efficiency. Adfin says its software is already being used by fast-growing SMEs and enterprise customers seeking to modernize finance teams and reduce operational complexity. The newly raised capital will be used to expand engineering and product teams, strengthen AI automation capabilities, accelerate go-to-market operations, and deepen integrations across the broader financial software ecosystem. The company also plans to scale internationally as demand rises for embedded finance infrastructure and automated business operations tools. The funding reflects growing investor interest in enterprise fintech startups building automation layers for business finance workflows. As companies increasingly adopt AI-driven operational tooling, startups focused on receivables automation, payments infrastructure, and financial operations are becoming one of the fastest-growing segments within B2B fintech.