North America Funding Updates

Othello Raises $8M Seed to Expand Real-Time AI Sales Coaching Platform

$8M·Seed·New York, United States

New York-based Othello is building applied AI models for live sales calls, giving representatives real-time coaching while conversations are underway. Its Hamlet model generates live suggestions in under 500 milliseconds, allowing guidance to appear without interrupting the call. The company has deployed its sales coaching technology at more than 50 large enterprises, including Microsoft, Capital One, and Lyft. Its customer base spans insurance, accounting, financial services, asset management, enterprise software, cybersecurity, healthcare, manufacturing, and professional services. Othello was founded by Jared Zelman and Raphael Assor. The company raised $8 million in seed funding from a16z speedrun, Owl Capital, Long Journey Ventures, and a group of individual investors including Andy Fang, Chris Larsen, Thomas Wolf, David Cramer, Waseem AlShikh, Dean Sysman, Alex Bouaziz, Philippe Bouaziz, and Kevin Stein. Othello will use the financing to expand its engineering team and further develop its AI-powered sales coaching platform. The hiring and product work will support continued development of tools that provide assistance during live customer conversations.

Evolutionary Operating System, Inc. Raises $9M Pre-Seed to Deploy Autonomous Operators in Physical Industries

$9M·Pre-seed·New York, United States

New York-based Evolutionary Operating System, Inc., operating as Evos, is building autonomous software operators for physical industries. Its platform learns how experienced teams make decisions, works within existing business systems, and completes operational tasks rather than simply recommending next steps. Founded by Urav Shah, Evos emerged from stealth with more than $1 million in annual recurring revenue four weeks after going live. The company is targeting small and mid-sized businesses in industries such as logistics, manufacturing, and other parts of the physical economy that have been slower to adopt advanced software. Evos has raised $9 million in pre-seed funding co-led by Uncork Capital and Field Ventures. Crosslink Capital, Utopia Capital Management, Sandwith Ventures, and angel investors also participated. The company’s Workhorse platform is scheduled for a formal launch in the coming weeks. The funding will support hiring and go-to-market efforts as Evos expands access to its operators. In one reported use case, an operator audited nearly 3,500 freight invoices at 97% accuracy over two months, helping close out more than $600,000 in invoice value during the final five weeks of that period.

Zaria Systems Raises $5.2M Seed to Build Structured Finance Infrastructure

$5.2M·Seed·Jackson, United States

Zaria Systems is building real-time infrastructure that helps participants in structured finance and digital asset-backed lending manage credit and collateral. Its services include loan servicing, backup servicing, collateral management, and agency support, giving lenders and other market participants operational tools for mark-to-market credit. The Jackson, Wyoming-based company has raised $5.2 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Founders Emily Barron and Keith Dallara are leading the business as it expands its platform and services for structured-finance markets. The financing also supports Zaria’s pending application to charter Zaria National Trust Bank with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The proposed bank charter is part of the company’s broader build-out of infrastructure for structured finance and digital asset-backed lending. Zaria plans to use the capital to grow its team, extend its technology, and scale its existing services. The company will also invest in go-to-market efforts and continue developing infrastructure for lending and structured-finance participants.

Marklo Raises $5M Seed to Build Agentic Marketing Platform for Shopify Brands

$5M·Seed·Burlingame, United States

Burlingame, California-based Marklo is building an agentic marketing platform that helps Shopify brands decide what to promote next. It connects sales, inventory, campaign history, market signals and marketing tools, then proposes cross-channel campaigns for marketers to review and approve. The company has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Forerunner, with participation from Freestyle Capital. Marklo also opened its public beta as brands prepare for the holiday shopping season, offering a shared workspace for planning calendars, campaigns, tasks and performance. Founded by Jessica Herrin and Scott Royston, Marklo is already used by direct-to-consumer brands including Away, Clare V., Monica + Andy, Maya Brenner and Latico Leathers. The platform integrates with tools such as Shopify, Klaviyo, Attentive, Meta, Google, Slack, Canva and Figma, bringing fragmented commercial and marketing data into one view. Marklo says its system can surface opportunities such as slow-moving inventory or underused products, then help assemble the related campaign work. Latico Leathers used the platform to plan a month of marketing in one day, according to the company. Marklo will use the financing to hire across product and engineering, expand the public beta, and invest in customer success and community programs.

Soufflé Therapeutics Raises $135M Series B to Advance RNA Delivery Platform

$135M·Series B·Watertown, United States

Watertown, Massachusetts-based Soufflé Therapeutics is developing RNA medicines that can reach specific cell types beyond the liver, a longstanding challenge for oligonucleotide therapies. Its REMEDY platform uses targeted delivery approaches to direct these treatments into tissues such as muscle and heart. The company has raised $135 million in an oversubscribed Series B led by Juvia Group. TCG Crossover Management, BB Biotech, Fidelity Management & Research, Balyasny Asset Management, Amgen Ventures and a broad group of existing backers also participated, including ARCH Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Temasek. Soufflé will use the financing to move its first three RNA-delivery programs toward clinical development and continue advancing its pipeline. The programs address facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and muscle and metabolic disorders. The lead program has not yet entered clinical testing, making early human data a key upcoming milestone. The company was founded and is led by Victor Kotelianski, Daniel Anderson, Robert Langer, Marino Zerial, Brad Pentelute and Amir Nashat, who will guide development as Soufflé prepares its first program for the clinic.

Garage Beer Secures $20M Debt Financing to Expand Premium Light Beer Markets

$20M·Debt Financing·Columbus, United States

Garage Beer, a Columbus, Ohio-based premium light beer brand, has secured $20 million in debt financing to support its next phase of growth. The company sells a 4% ABV lager in Classic and Lime varieties, giving consumers a lower-alcohol option within the beer category. Tiger Finance provided the financing through a revolving line of credit. The facility gives Garage Beer additional capital as it expands its product offering and enters new markets. Andy Sauer leads the company. Garage Beer’s stakeholders also include Durational Capital Management and Jason and Travis Kelce, with Durational making a strategic investment in 2025. The company plans to direct the financing toward go-to-market activities and product development. Specifically, Garage Beer will use the facility to grow its product line and extend distribution into additional markets, although it did not disclose details on planned products or locations.

Switched Source Raises $17M in Series Unknown to Expand Grid Automation Manufacturing

$17M·Series Unknown·Chicago, United States

Chicago-based Switched Source develops equipment that helps electric utilities move power more efficiently across distribution networks. Its technologies are intended to improve reliability, add usable grid capacity, and support electrification without requiring equivalent infrastructure spending. The company’s flagship Phase-EQ device dynamically balances power across distribution circuits, helping utilities serve more load from existing assets. Field data from more than 150,000 operating hours across twelve utilities shows load-serving capacity increases of 10% to 25%. Switched Source raised $17 million in a Series Unknown round led by Cubit Capital. ABB, Emerald Technology Ventures, Red Cedar Ventures, Southern States, and Southwire Company also participated. Founders Charles Murray and Lane Nelson lead the company. The funding will support broader North American utility deployments and a growing pipeline of Phase-EQ projects. Switched Source will also expand manufacturing and production capacity, continue developing additional distribution solutions, and add roles across manufacturing, quality, and supply chain as it builds out its go-to-market operations.

Intellivisa Raises $3M Pre-Seed to Build AI Travel Clearance Platform

$3M·Pre-seed·Toronto, Canada

Intellivisa is building an AI-powered clearance engine that helps international travelers determine entry requirements, verify documents, complete forms, and submit visa and travel authorizations before they reach the airport. The Toronto-based company integrates its platform into booking flows used by airlines, travel management companies, and online travel agencies. The startup has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding led by Mu Ventures and Incisive Ventures. Uncommon Denominator, Recursive Ventures, P2S, AltaIR Capital, Smart Partnership Capital, and United Airlines Ventures also participated in the round. Founded by Sudeepa Singh and Srijan Magon, Intellivisa supports travelers across 195 countries and more than 50 document types. Its system combines automated document checks with embassy specialists, handling requirements that vary by passport, destination, and travel purpose. Intellivisa will use the funding to scale its agentic AI platform for end-to-end travel clearance. The product works across business, tourism, and study travel, giving booking platforms a way to connect travelers with compliance workflows immediately after a trip is booked rather than leaving them to navigate fragmented government processes on their own.

Scuba Raises $34M Seed to Build Context Infrastructure for Teams and AI Agents

$34M·Seed·New York City, United States

Scuba is building a productivity service that gives teams and artificial intelligence agents a shared place to store, organize and retrieve work-related information. The New York City startup, officially Flashback AI Inc., describes the product as a context engine for making business data easier to use. The company has raised $34 million across two funding rounds. Accel led the first round and co-led the second with IVP, with participation from BoxGroup, Conviction, Homebrew and Scribble Ventures. Scuba was founded by Noah Desai Weiss and Dolapo Falola, who previously worked together at Google. Weiss was chief product officer at Slack, while Falola led engineering at The Browser Company. Its platform includes Capture, which lets users save articles, chatbot responses, team messages, audio notes, videos and screenshots through a browser extension and iPhone app. Scuba organizes that material into automatically maintained Collections, generates daily Briefing summaries, and makes the information available to tools including Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Slack through an MCP server. The company will use the funding to expand engineering and go-to-market work.

Mdia Raises $3M in Series Unknown Round to Expand Public Innovation Challenges

$3M·Series Unknown·Miami, United States

Mdia connects local government agencies with startups and technology-enabled small businesses to identify, test, and implement solutions to public-sector challenges. Founded in Miami-Dade County in 2023, the Miami-based enterprise software company is building a broader model for helping communities work with emerging providers. Mdia has secured $3 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in a Series Unknown funding round. Leigh-Ann A. Buchanan leads the organization, which will use the capital for go-to-market activities and product development as it expands its public innovation program. The funding will support the launch of Public Innovation Challenges in additional U.S. communities, along with the creation of local challenge programs, city-specific case studies, and shared data, governance, and evaluation infrastructure. Those efforts are intended to give participating communities a consistent way to identify needs, test solutions, and assess results. Expansion begins in Akron, Ohio, in late 2026, with Macon, Georgia, also participating. Mdia is transitioning into a national organization while the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority continues as its flagship operation in partnership with Miami-Dade County.