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Exclusive: Fintech Decacorn Ramp Acquires Jolt AI to Help Its Engineers ‘Build Faster’

Expense management startup Ramp has acquired the team of a three-person startup called Jolt AI with the intent of making its engineers “as productive as possible,” the company tells Crunchbase News exclusively. While a relatively small acquisition, the deal is significant in that it’s representative of the role that artificial intelligence is playing in many of the fastest-growing venture-backed startups — even those that aren’t necessarily strictly AI companies.  New York-based fintech Ramp is definitely among that rapidly growing bunch, having achieved a valuation of $22.5 billion, as well as annualized revenue of $1 billion, in 2025. That’s up from a valuation of $13 billion just a few months earlier in March, as well as an increase from annualized revenue of $700 million as of January.  The company says it began “generating cash flow” earlier this year. Jolt AI has raised just under $2.5 million in funding since its 2022 inception from investors such as Alumni Ventures, 8-Bit Capital and Engineering Capital. The startup initially was a load-testing platform before pivoting in 2024 to launch an AI coding assistant for large production-scale code, according to CEO and founder Yev Spektor. More startups buying startups Besides being strategic for Ramp, the acquisition is also representative of an uptick in the number of startups buying other startups. In the first three quarters of 2025, there were 647 reported M&A deals globally in which startups bought other startups, according to Crunchbase data. That compares to 539 in the same period last year, a 20% increase. For comparison’s sake, in the full years 2021 and 2022, there were nearly 1,000 deals in which startups bought other startups, per Crunchbase data. ‘Making engineers radically more productive’Yev Spektor (left) and Karim Atiyeh. [courtesy photo] “The need for both of those is even more important now with AI and agentic work taking hold in finance,” he said.  He claims that thanks in part to AI, Ramp customers can get 3x more done in Ramp today than they could just two years ago.  “And in the next two years we want that to be 30x,” Atiyeh said. “We think the way to get there is by focusing on AI and agentic workflows, making Ramp’s platform dramatically more powerful. We’re focused on hiring the best engineering talent there is to make this happen and then, importantly, making our engineers as productive as possible.” That’s what got him so excited about the Jolt team. Their entire focus, Atiyeh said, “is on making engineers radically more productive — helping them ship faster.” Jolt AI’s 2024 pivot proved to be the right move. So much so in fact that the CEO of one of its early customers introduced the small startup to Atiyeh and Ramp earlier this year. And the rest, as they say, is history. Ramp’s purchase, notably, involved only the company’s three-person team, and not its product. “Jolt is a team of world-class engineers who have spent years solving some of the hardest problems in developer productivity,” Atiyeh said. “They’re now bringing that expertise to Ramp’s developer tools and beyond. I’m most excited to see what their team can do within Ramp, so that’s what this deal was focused on.” Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Ramping up Today, Ramp has more than 45,000 customers, up from over 30,000 in early March. Those customers include Shopify, Anduril Industries, Notion, Cursor, CBRE, Stripe, Poshmark, ZipRecruiter, Olipop, Glossier and Construction One, among others. Presently, Ramp has 1,200 employees. The Jolt team — made up of Spektor, Jon Reynolds (CTO) and Carlos Kelly (principal engineer) — will integrate into Ramp’s engineering platform team with a “core focus on helping engineers build faster.” “They’re going to do this by strengthening our core AI platform and infrastructure, supercharging our dev experience, and transforming product and tooling with applied AI,” Atiyeh said.  The trio is also going to be working on Ramp’s AI and agentic products for its customers, he added. It’s not the first time that Ramp has acquired AI-related companies. In 2023, it picked up Cohere in an effort to accelerate AI-powered customer support. And in 2024, it acquired Venue to automate procurement workflows. “From a talent perspective, Ramp’s engineering team is made up of founders, math olympiads, and AI researchers,” Atiyeh told Crunchbase News. “… My goal is to hire elite technical talent, and then get out of their way.” For his part, Jolt’s Spektor admitted in an interview that he didn’t expect to get acquired by a company like Ramp, but that he’s “extremely happy” it is where his team landed. The trio will be working on a number of things including Ramp’s internal engineering platform. “Some of that does involve AI tooling. Our whole goal is to make sure engineers are as fast and effective as possible,” Spektor said. “And on the customer-facing side of things, there’s a lot of development around bringing AI agents and features to financial workflows. So we’ll be helping out in that department as well.” Bottom line, according to Atiyeh, AI is changing the way Ramp uses and builds software.  “With the Jolt team on board, we’re doubling down on both fronts,” Atiyeh wrote in a blog post, “building the internal AI devtools that help our engineers ship at high velocity, and creating products that save finance teams time and money at scale.” Over the years, Ramp has built a name for itself in the corporate card and expense management space. It’s branched out into travel, bill pay, and, in January, released a new treasury product that had it encroaching into digital bank territory.  Its latest acquisition is in line with what experts are seeing in 2025. Earlier this year, Lindsey S. Mignano, co-founder of SSM Law, noted an interesting trend she’s seeing: more asset acquisitions plus acqui-hires.  She said one reason for that increase is a rush to market, most particularly in the extremely competitive AI field and with companies who have incorporated AI in their offerings.. Indeed, Ramp operates in an extremely competitive space against the likes of Navan – which recently filed an S-1 to go public despite being far from profitable – Mercury and Brex. In an Oct. 2 blog post, Brex CEO and co-founder Pedro Franceschi wrote that his company “was operating cash flow positive for the first time in history.”  Since its 2019 inception, New York-based Ramp says it has raised a total of $1.9 billion in equity funding. Investors include Iconiq Capital, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Stripe, Citi, Lux Capital and Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV (formerly Google Ventures), T. Rowe Price and Operator Collective. Related Crunchbase queries: Related reading:  Illustration: Dom Guzman

Q3 Venture Funding Jumps 38% As More Massive Rounds Go To AI Giants And Exits Gain Steam 

Global venture funding gained significantly in Q3 2025, closing up 38% year over year, Crunchbase data shows, as massive funding deals, particularly for giants in the AI sector, continued to lead. All told, Q3 venture investment reached $97 billion, up from $70 billion in Q3 2024, per Crunchbase data. Quarter-over-quarter  funding was up slightly from $92 billion in Q2.  In each of the past four quarters, global startup funding has been above $90 billion — quarterly amounts not seen since Q3 2022 — Crunchbase data shows.  Startup investment has also now posted a year-over-year increase for the past four quarters, driven by megarounds of $500 million or more, largely to AI-related companies.  Table of Contents Capital concentration As funding has increased this year, so has capital concentration.  Over the past four quarters, venture investment has concentrated into rounds of $500 million or more, an analysis of Crunchbase data shows, with more than 30% of funding each quarter going toward such megarounds.  The three largest venture rounds in Q3 2025 were raised by foundation model companies Anthropic ($13 billion), xAI ($5.3 billion) and Mistral AI ($2 billion). Billion-dollar-plus funding deals also went to Princeton Digital Group, Nscale, Cerebras Systems, Figure, Databricks and PsiQuantum. All in all, a third of all venture investment in Q3 went to just 18 companies that raised funding rounds of $500 million or more each. That is well above historical proportions before Q4 2024. Megaround funding also gained steam as the quarter progressed, with 11 of the 18 companies raising funding in September. AI leads In another blockbuster quarter for AI funding, $45 billion — or around 46% of global venture funding — went to the sector, with 29% invested in a single company, Anthropic.  Hardware was the second-largest sector, with large rounds raised by robotic, semiconductor, quantum and data infrastructure companies in the third quarter totaling $16.2 billion, per Crunchbase data. The healthcare and biotech sector raised $15.8 billion in venture funding in Q3, making it the third-largest sector for the quarter.  Financial services, the fourth-largest sector, raised $12 billion in total.  Along with a greater concentration of capital in larger companies, the U.S. predominated, with $60 billion — or just under two-thirds of global venture capital — going to U.S.-based companies in Q3.  Late-stage funding up YoY Most of the third quarter’s year over year gains were in late-stage funding. Late-stage investment in Q3 totaled $58 billion, up more than 66% year over year, and slightly higher quarter over quarter, Crunchbase data shows.  (The peak quarter for late-stage funding in 2025 was Q1, with the $40 billion round for OpenAI significantly boosting the numbers.)  Early stage slightly up Early-stage funding totaled nearly $30 billion for more than 1,700 companies in Q3, Crunchbase data shows. That’s up just over 10% quarter over quarter and year over year.  Larger Series A and B rounds were raised by companies working on AI data workloads, energy, quantum, robotics, biotech and AI applications.  Seed increases Seed funding reached $9 billion in Q3 across more than 3,500 companies. Seed funding was up slightly from $8.5 billion invested a year ago. (Seed funding totals also typically increase over time, as many seed rounds are added to the Crunchbase dataset after the close of a quarter.) Strong exit activity in Q3 2025 For the second quarter in a row, IPO activity increased year over year. The largest venture-backed IPOs in Q3 by value were Chery Automobile, Figma, Klarna and Netskope.  On a global basis, 16 venture-backed companies went public above $1 billion in Q3, collectively valued north of $90 billion at their IPO prices. That compares to 18 companies in Q2 with a collective $60 billion in value. Both quarters were up significantly from 2024.  In Q3 2025, M&A dollar volume reached $27.5 billion in reported exit value for venture-backed companies, Crunchbase data shows. That’s down from $43.6 billion in Q2.  Nine companies were acquired for more than $1 billion each in Q3, Crunchbase data shows. Four of the companies were in healthcare and biotech. The remainder were in sectors including cybersecurity, AI, financial services, product development and sports betting. Notable among these was OpenAI’s acquisition of Statsig and Workday’s acquisition of Sana.   Methodology The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Oct. 2, 2025.  Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year. Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price. Glossary of funding terms Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. Crunchbase also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less. Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. Crunchbase includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million. Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the “Series [Letter]” naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.  Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a “venture” round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.) Illustration: Dom Guzman

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Another Big Week For AI And California Startups

Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2025 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The Crunchbase Megadeals Board. This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here. AI startups and California-based companies have been scooping up an outsized share of venture funding for a while now, and this past week was no exception. Leading the ranks was Cerebras Systems, as the AI processor developer and potential IPO candidate picked up $1.1 in fresh funding. Other large rounds went to companies in areas including AI, enterprise software, cybersecurity, blockchain and biotech. 1. Cerebras Systems, $1.1B, AI hardware: Cerebras Systems, a developer of AI processors, announced that it raised $1.1 billion in Series G funding at an $8.1 billion post-money valuation. Fidelity and Atreides Management led the financing for the Sunnyvale, California-based company, which filed to go public last year.  2. (tied)Periodic Labs, $300M, AI: Silicon Valley-based Periodic Labs launched with $300 million in initial funding to develop AI models for science. Venture backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis, DST, NVentures and Accel.  2. (tied) Vercel, $300M, cloud infrastructure: Vercel, a developer of tools and cloud infrastructure to build websites, secured $300 million in a Series F round co-led by Accel and GIC. The financing sets a $9.3 billion valuation for the 10-year-old company.  4. Crystalys Therapeutics, $205M, biopharma: San Diego-based Crystalys Therapeutics launched with $205 million in Series A financing to support its mission of addressing the unmet medical needs of people living with gout. Novo Holdings, SR One and Catalys Pacific led the financing. 5. Flying Tulip, $200M, blockchain: Flying Tulip, a provider of blockchain financial products, said it raised $200 million in a private funding round. Backers included CoinFund, DWF Labs, FalconX, Hypersphere, and Selini. 6. CyberCube, $180M, cybersecurity: CyberCube, a provider of cyber risk management tools, said it locked up more than $180 million in an investment from Spectrum Equity. Founded in 2015, San Francisco-based CyberCube has raised at least $285 million to date, per Crunchbase data. 7. Star Therapeutics, $125M, antibody therapies: South San Francisco, California-based Star Therapeutics, a developer of antibodies for bleeding disorders and other diseases, picked up $125 million in Series D financing co-led by Sanofi Ventures and Viking Global Investors.  8. Eve, $103M, legal tech: Eve, a San Francisco-based AI platform for plaintiff law firms, landed $103 million in Series B funding at over a $1 billion valuation. Spark Capital led the financing, with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Menlo Ventures. 9. Supabase, $100M, database technology: Postgres development platform Supabase announced that it closed on $100 million in Series E funding at a $5 billion valuation. Accel and Peak XV Partners led the financing for the five-year-old, San Francisco-based company. 10. DualEntry, $90M, accounting software: DualEntry, a provider of AI-enabled business accounting tools, secured $90 million in a Series A round that comes just 18 months after its launch.Lightspeed Venture Partners and Khosla Ventures led the financing for the New York-based company. Illustration: Dom Guzman

The MVPs Of The Startup World Are Still Getting More Valuable

At $500 billion, OpenAI’s latest valuation is higher than the individual GDPs of more than three-fourths of all nations on Earth. We won’t opine on whether the business’s fundamentals merit that pricetag. However, we will note that it’s the most dramatic example of a broader trend: Hot private companies posting huge and often sharply rising valuations. For now, OpenAI has clinched first place as the most valuable private company. But, per Crunchbase data, there are also at least five more private, venture-backed U.S. companies with valuations exceeding $100 billion. Below, we’ve ranked the top five other companies, including a look at how their valuations have risen in recent quarters Private valuations taking cues from public markets Given that many large cap public tech companies have seen large share-price hikes in recent months, particularly for those perceived as leaders in AI, it’s not entirely a shocker to see the most high-profile private companies getting valuation boosts as well. Still, it’s worth noting that these are unusually large gains in the space of a few months, particularly for GenAI leaders. At current levels, they’re certainly priced with high expectations for future performance. Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman

A Growing Backlog Of Biotechs Haven’t Raised Funding Since The Boom

As biotech startup funding continues to decline, the backlog of funded, private companies that haven’t raised capital in several years has grown quite large. Per Crunchbase data, more than 200 private U.S. biotechs with $50 million or more in funding to date secured their last reported financing between three and five years ago. The list includes at least 15 biotech unicorns and emerging unicorns that haven’t raised known funding for at least the past three years.  From boom to not Part of the reason for the backlog of companies with long funding lags is the shift in investor appetite for biotech. During the boom years from 2020 through 2022, startup investors put an average of $40 billion per year into the space — well above current levels.  Some of those were truly huge financings as well. The largest, in early 2022, went to Altos Labs, a San Francisco startup focused on cellular rejuvenation that launched with $3 billion in committed capital. The biotech IPO market was also quite happening then compared to now. This offered companies yet another avenue to raise capital to fund research and clinical trials. This year, by contrast, is on track to come in much lower. So far in 2025, only about $17 billion has gone to U.S. biotechs, per Crunchbase data. And of that, roughly half has gone to seed and early stage startups — leaving a smaller portion for late-stage financings for well-funded companies.  High profile companies see funding lag times A number of the companies that have gone three-plus years without a round were fairly high-profile startups as well. Many are still chugging along, likely helped by having secured large commitments when funding flowed more freely. For example Insitro, a startup focused on applying machine learning to drug discovery and development, raised $643 million between 2018 and 2021 but hasn’t raised a known round since. This spring, the company announced a 22% workforce cut in a move it said “extends our runway into 2027.” Agtech unicorn Pivot Bio, which develops  microbial nitrogen for farms, also hasn’t secured known financing in more than four years, per Crunchbase data. However, it should be noted that its last round — a $430 million Series D in 2021 — was pretty big. The company has a number of open positions and this spring announced plans to relocate a significant portion of its operations from Berkeley, California, to the Midwest.  Ultima Genomics, developer of a low-cost sequencing platform, is another company that had a big round a few years ago and hasn’t raised since. The Newark, California-based startup launched in May 2022 with $300 in initial funding from backers including Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures. Of late, it’s been steadily announcing new partnerships.  Collectively, it’s a huge sum of commitments If we look at all the well-funded biotechs in our query, they’ve collectively raised a tremendous amount of money. In total, the 204 companies in our sample 1 that haven’t raised for three-plus years previously pulled in $17.9 billion. That’s roughly equivalent to all the venture money that’s gone into biotech this year.  Will investors eventually see some return on investment for these commitments? Despite having some preternatural disposition toward pessimism, I’d say the outlook is reasonably positive.  For one, while the biotech IPO market has been quiet lately, cycles do turn. And when this one does, it looks like there’s a strong pipeline of compelling companies that could pursue listings. An uptick in M&A could also be in the cards.  Of course, not all these well-funded companies will prove successful, and some will likely fold in coming quarters and years. But hopefully, some of those that do make it will succeed in a big way. Related Crunchbase lists: Related reading:

OpenAI’s $6.6B Secondary Share Sale Gives It Record $500B Startup Valuation, Topping SpaceX

OpenAI on Thursday completed a secondary share sale amounting to $6.6 billion, Bloomberg reported. The sale gives current and prior employees the ability to sell stock at a $500 billion valuation. The transaction and resulting valuation also grant OpenAI the distinction of now being the world’s most valuable private, venture-backed company, surpassing SpaceX, which was reportedly valued at $400 billion after its own secondary share sale this summer. According to CNBC, OpenAI had authorized up to $10.3 billion in shares for sale, which was up from its original $6 billion target. But only about two-thirds of what it had authorized ultimately got sold. Besides OpenAI and SpaceX, several other high-valued private companies have turned to secondary sales, which are often used to reward employees and as a retaining tool for companies not ready to go public. In February, fintech giant Stripe announced a tender offer in which investors would buy shares from past and present employees at a valuation of $91.5 billion. Last December, Databricks raised $10 billion at a $62 billion valuation in a deal that included a secondary share sale aimed at providing liquidity for current and former employees.  In April, OpenAI also made headlines for an investment of up to $40 billion from Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank in a deal that marked the largest startup financing ever and valued it at $300 billion. Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman

Navigating IPOs In 2025: Managing Timing, Risk And Opportunity

By Carl Niedbala  In 2024, slightly less than half of planned IPOs were postponed, highlighting significant disruptions in the startup ecosystem due to market volatility and economic uncertainty. Traditionally, IPOs have been pivotal exit strategies for venture-backed companies, enabling them to access liquidity and fuel growth. However, current market conditions have challenged their reliability, forcing many companies to reevaluate their paths to public markets. That’s why I’d like to delve into why companies are facing these challenges, but also how to adapt and explore alternative strategies. Navigating delayed IPOsCarl Niedbala Delayed IPOs significantly impact businesses, investors and employees. Market volatility, economic downturns and geopolitical tensions all create uncertainty, prompting companies to reconsider IPO timing and compressing the IPO window. Valuation challenges also deter IPO launches, as market corrections and heightened investor caution lead to diminished startup valuations. Regulatory scrutiny, with its evolving standards and stringent reporting requirements, adds another layer of complexity. Lastly, investor sentiment, whether bullish or pessimistic, directly influences IPO activity. Stakeholders across the spectrum feel the pinch of delayed IPOs. Late-stage startups face funding shortfalls, while venture capital firms encounter extended timelines for their exits, complicating future fundraising. Employees face consequences as well, as delayed IPOs affect stock option values, which are often central to their compensation packages. Emerging risk profiles: valuation and financial risks Delayed IPOs create a cascade of interconnected risks for startups. One of the primary concerns is valuation risk, where companies unable to meet their target IPO valuations may be forced into accepting down rounds. A down round means new financing occurs at a lower valuation than previous funding rounds, which can severely damage investor confidence. This problem is compounded by a lack of liquidity; with IPOs delayed, investors face prolonged illiquidity, limiting their ability to capitalize on investment gains. This reduced liquidity strains investor patience and can pressure venture capitalists to seek alternative exit strategies, sometimes leading to hastened decisions. Unfortunately, illiquidity also leads to significant financial risks. Startups reliant on IPO proceeds often face funding shortfalls and increasingly turn to debt financing. While this approach can temporarily ease cash flow pressures, it heightens financial vulnerability by increasing leverage and interest obligations, which may limit a company’s financial flexibility in the long term. Moreover, these conditions can expose weaknesses in startups with unsustainable business models. Companies heavily dependent on continuous external funding may find their operational weaknesses starkly exposed when the IPO route is closed, risking insolvency or forced mergers and acquisitions at unfavorable terms without rapid adjustments. IPO alternatives and risk management solutions In this challenging environment, despite several companies kicking off roadshows, alternative exit strategies are becoming essential for startups. Mergers and acquisitions have gained prominence, with companies strategically aligning with larger entities to benefit from synergies, immediate financial returns and reduced market uncertainty. Beyond M&A, other options have also emerged as viable paths to liquidity. For example, a direct listing allows a company to go public without issuing new shares, providing liquidity to existing shareholders without the typical IPO fanfare. Private equity buyouts also offer an IPO alternative by allowing a private equity firm to acquire a controlling stake in the company, providing an immediate exit for founders and investors. Robust risk management solutions are also critical. Startups can proactively manage cash flow and anticipate funding shortfalls through accurate financial planning and forecasting. Streamlining operations, optimizing resource allocation and controlling costs can strengthen financial resilience, while detailed contingency plans ensure agility. Additionally, comprehensive insurance solutions, such as directors and officers and errors and omissions coverage, protect startups and their leadership from financial and legal liabilities, maintaining stakeholder confidence amid uncertainty. Best practices to avoid legal pitfalls Directors and officers have fiduciary duties, which legally oblige them to prioritize the best interests of the company and its shareholders, ensuring responsible decision-making. Simply put, accuracy and transparency are crucial. Regulatory compliance must be a priority. Failure to adhere to these regulations can result in significant legal and financial repercussions, undermining investor confidence and potentially jeopardizing the company’s future viability. Companies should prioritize long-term sustainability and value creation, resisting pressures for short-term gains. By adopting these best practices, businesses foster investor confidence, de-risk the IPO journey, and ultimately position themselves for sustained success. Carl Niedbala is the COO and co-founder of Founder Shield. Previously, he spent the first years of his career in roles across the venture ecosystem. From venture due diligence at Originate Ventures to growth hacking and modeling for portfolio companies at Dreamit Ventures to M&A negotiations at Pepper Hamilton, he’s seen how companies succeed (and fail) from all angles. Niedbala is energized by the possibility of rethinking the way the insurance industry works through technology, best-in-class customer service, and cutting-edge marketing and branding. In 2021, Founder Shield joined The Baldwin Group, where Niedbala now leads digital product strategy and innovation. Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman

Flood Insurer Neptune Insurance Buoyed Higher In First-Day Trading

Shares of Neptune Insurance Holdings closed up 24% in first-day trading Wednesday, as the market tides delivered a rise for the flood insurance policy provider. The St. Petersburg, Florida-based company priced shares at $20 a piece Tuesday afternoon,  the top of the projected range. The offering raised $368 million for Neptune and set an initial valuation around $2.76 billion. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “NP.” Founded in 2018, Neptune bills itself as an AI-enabled platform for insurers to offer flood coverage to residential and commercial customers. The company underwrites policies but does not handle claims or take balance sheet insurance risk, opting instead to work with other insurance providers. So far, it’s working out profitably, with business growing as well. In the first half of this year, Neptune reported revenue of $71.4 million — up 34% year over year. The company posted net income of $21.6 million, more than doubling from the same period last year. Neptune cites climate change as a driver of future growth in its platform, noting that “areas with low perceived flood risk today (e.g., non-coastal regions) could face increased frequency and intensity of flooding due to additional rainfalls and storms.”  Additionally, it foresees the possibility of more areas with severe inland flooding being designated as mandatory flood insurance zones for policyholders with federally-backed mortgages. Today, per Neptune, the largest U.S. provider of flood insurance and the holder of the majority market share is the National Flood Insurance Program, a government-run entity that it cites as its main competitor. Per Neptune, however, “its limited product offerings often fail to meet policyholder needs.” Neptune’s growth to date has been funded in part through private investors.The company lists Bregal Sagemount and FTV Capital as its largest holders of Class A shares, with 28.9% and 25.4% stakes, respectively. Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman

Here Are Some Of The Newer Investors Entering The AI And Megaround Race 

Lead investors in large venture rounds are usually familiar names in the startup world. But lately, we’ve seen newcomers writing some big checks as well. In sectors from spacetech to fusion to enterprise AI, several of the larger venture financings of the past few months have featured lead investors who only recently began investing in the space.  So who are the newcomers scaling up? Using Crunchbase data, we put together a sample list of 15 recently launched venture investors that are leading good-sized rounds, most of which have a unicorn or two in their portfolios. Some were founded this year, while others have been at it a couple of years. Out of the sample, we picked out six that particularly warranted some closer inspection, based on factors like founding team, investment pace, round size, and willingness to lead deals. Unsurprisingly in the current funding environment, it’s an AI-centric list.  Below, in no particular order, are some of the firms that might warrant an especially close watch: No. 1: Maverick Silicon, a prolific dealmaker  Founded in 2024, Maverick Silicon focuses on private semiconductor growth companies and related investments. It’s been an active investor in that short timespan, with 11 known investments, including four lead rounds. Its largest co-lead round was also one of its most recent: a $100 million September seed financing for Palo Alto, California-based Upscale AI, a high‑performance AI networking company. In August, Maverick also financed a $20 million equity investment for Celera Semiconductor, a Silicon Valley startup working on analog design automation. Maverick Silicon, with offices in Northern California and New York,  is a division of Maverick Capital, a $10 billion asset manager  It lists Andrew Homan, who led tech investment for Maverick Capital, as its founder and managing director, alongside nine other listed team members. No. 2, Interlagos Capital: A SpaceX alums’ investment vehicle Los Angeles-based Interlagos Capital, founded last year by SpaceX alums Achal Upadhyaya and Tom Ochinero, has also been scaling up. The firm has at least five known investments to date, including a high-profile role last month as lead investor in space tech unicorn Apex’s $200 million Series D. Earlier this year, Interlagos also co-led Series A deals for two other startups: a $20 million round for seafood-focused robotics company Shinkei Systems and a $50 million financing for space solar startup Aetherflux. Upadhyaya, former SpaceX engineer and investor at venture firm Cantos, is listed as CEO at Interlagos while Ochinero, formerly SpaceX’s senior vice president of commercial business, is chairman. No. 3: Marathon Management Partners, a well-connected newcomer Marathon Management Partners launched in 2025 under the leadership of co-founders Gokul Rajaram, a prolific angel investor with board seats at multiple prominent companies, and Michael Gilroy, a former general partner at Coatue. So far this year, Marathon has led or co-led four financings, including a $31 million Series A this summer for AI payroll and benefits platform Niura and $15.5 million Series A for AI-enabled freight booking provider Boon. The firm also participated in a $300 million Series C for business banking provider Mercury. Cupertino, California-based Marathon was targeting a $400 fundraise for its first fund, per an April securities filing. No. 4 Leitmotif: Decarbonization with a side of hard tech  Leitmotif, a hard tech-focused venture firm reportedly backed by Volkswagen, is one of the busier newcomers on the startup funding scene. Led by managing partners Matt Trevithick and Jens Wiese, Leitmotif says its first fund leans will focus on decarbonization and a “soft spot for hard tech.”  Its portfolio certainly reflects that mindset. The firm joined a long list of co-investors this summer in a Series A for Munich-based fusion startup Proxima Fusion. As for lead rounds, its most prominent deal was a $100 million January Series B for electric truck startup Harbinger. No. 5 Intrepid Growth Partners: An emerging AI powerhouse in Toronto Toronto-based Intrepid Growth Partners was launched by former Canada Pension Plan Investment Board chief Mark Machin and former head of OMERS Growth Equity 1 Mark Shulgan. The firm describes its model as “growth capital to support the AI revolution.” Per Crunchbase data, Intrepid made its first investments this year, backing three companies. The largest round it backed was a $235 February financing for StackAdapt, an AI-enabled advertising platform, followed by a $122 million August round for AI tax research platform Blue J. No. 6: Vanara Capital: Off to a bold start San Francisco-based Vanara Capital just made its official launch in August, with private equity giant TPG’s TPG Next fund as an anchor investor. Since then, the firm, which focuses on growth-stage technology businesses, is off to a brisk start. In September, it led its first round: a $100 million financing for Invisible Technologies, a provider of technology for improving enterprise AI efficacy.  Vanara’s founders, Neil Kamath and Hayden Lekacz, are both former technology investors at TPG. Spicing up the funding scene It remains to be seen, of course, to what extent these newcomers continue backing and leading high profile rounds. For now, however, it’s a welcome reminder that, even as well-known firms continue to dominate the most active investor rankings, there are some fresh investors in the mix. Related Crunchbase list: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman
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