In a quarter when nearly two-thirds of global venture capital went to just four companies, it鈥檚 easy to lose track of the many other companies getting funding to tackle interesting problems. Nonetheless, we spotted five companies in just the past month working on issues from cleaner ferries and trains to foundational AI for plants. Let鈥檚 take a closer look.

$55M for a mineral rights-backed credit card

Natural resources can be incredibly valuable financial assets, but you can鈥檛 exactly buy your weekly groceries with oil or water rights.

That鈥檚 an issue that a Dallas-based fintech startup aims to solve. recently raised $50 million in a debt round from to provide a credit card to U.S. households holding mineral rights to natural resources such as oil, natural gas, solar, wind or water.

鈥淔or the millions of mineral rights owners in the United States, these rights are one of the most valuable assets the family owns. But these families are just like the rest of Americans and often are carrying revolving credit card balances at more than 25% [interest],鈥� Frontlands CEO said in a statement. 鈥淗istorically, owners have had few options to access the value trapped inside their mineral rights without selling.鈥�

Its AI system combines machine learning, production data, royalty payment histories, lease terms, commodity price forecasts, geologic data and traditional to automate the underwriting process, the company says. While it鈥檚 historically been difficult for traditional lenders to assess natural resources as collateral, Frontlands says its process typically delivers a same-day credit decision.

The company鈥檚 recent credit facility is in addition to a announced in December from venture investors including , , and .

Frontlands said its average credit line in early markets 鈥� Texas, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, North Dakota, Wyoming and Oklahoma 鈥� is more than $30,000. It plans to launch its credit card product this summer in partnership with Texas-based sponsor bank .

Frontlands said it also expects to raise a Series A round later this year.

鈥淥ur goal isn鈥檛 to pile on more debt,鈥� Cotter said in a statement. 鈥淏ut the opportunity to help our customers move away from high-interest credit card debt 鈥� and provide a path toward greater financial stability 鈥� is compelling.鈥�

Investment in fintech startups hit a multiyear high in 2025, 附近上门 data shows, though remains well below the peak. Many of the best-funded companies in recent quarters have brought AI to bear on traditionally more manual or cumbersome processes in the financial services industry.

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$32M for 鈥榝lying鈥� electric commuter ferries

As of this writing, oil prices are hovering around $100 a barrel 鈥� down from an even greater peak a few weeks earlier, but still among the highest levels seen in years, as the U.S.-Iran war disrupts global energy markets.

So Swedish electric vessel maker 鈥檚 recent funding of 鈧�30 million (about $32 million) seems timely. The Stockholm-based company makes electric 鈥渇lying鈥� boats that are used as commuter ferries. They differ from traditional vessels by using computer-controlled hydrofoils to lift the hull above the water, an approach the company says dramatically reduces drag and cuts energy use by up to 80% 鈥� enabling faster, smoother, zero-emission travel compared to conventional diesel ferries that push through the water.

鈥淔rom a physics perspective, ships have been essentially the same for hundreds of years,鈥� Candela founder and CEO said in a statement. 鈥淲e’re redefining waterborne transport by effectively creating a new category of vessel. This allows cities and municipalities to finally take full advantage of waterways 鈥� while escaping the fossil-fuel cost trap that has long prevented them from being used efficiently.鈥�

Its P-12 vessels have already been deployed as commuter ferries in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo and Trondheim.

The new funding was led by 鈥檚 arm and included previous investors , , and .

The capital will primarily be used to fund a second factory in Poland. Candela says it has more than 65 vessels on order and planned deployments across markets including India 鈥� where a fleet of 10 of its P-12s will reportedly cut travel times from Navi Mumbai Airport to the city center from around two hours to 35 minutes 鈥斕齮he Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The startup鈥檚 funding defies an overall downturn in clean-tech funding. Funding for clean-tech related startups totaled $26.9 billion in 2025, down 23% year over year and the lowest annual amount since 2020, 附近上门 data shows.

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$30M to electrify trains with batteries and microgrids

Let鈥檚 now turn from waterways to train tracks, with another company that recently raised significant funding aimed at giving centuries-old transportation systems a green overhaul.

, a Philadelphia-based startup, said last month that it raised $30 million in seed funding led by Australian mining company and Israeli venture firm to develop a new way of powering freight rail that avoids the high costs of traditional electrification.

The startup positions its technology as a way to decarbonize one of the world鈥檚 most efficient but still fossil-fuel-dependent transport systems. It鈥檚 targeting a major pain point for the rail industry: its heavy reliance on diesel. In North America alone, the six largest freight rail operators spend roughly $11 billion annually on diesel fuel, while full electrification of rail networks could cost more than $1 trillion, according to Voltify.

Instead of relying on overhead wires, Voltify says it鈥檚 building a system that combines battery-equipped railcars with technology that allows trains to recharge while moving. The goal is to help rail operators cut emissions and fuel costs without requiring massive infrastructure overhauls.

Its approach 鈥� using mobile batteries and distributed charging via microgrids 鈥� aims to sidestep those costs by retrofitting existing trains and building localized energy systems rather than rebuilding entire rail networks.

CEO and co-founder that the company has signed a paid pilot agreement with a Class 1 railroad, though she declined to name the customer, citing a confidentiality agreement.

She noted in a that raising funding for a transportation company in the current market was difficult. 鈥淪ecuring capital in the hardware space and traditional industries is challenging,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淚t is not the 鈥榠n鈥� space; there is no FOMO at play, so we need to focus on metrics and execute quickly. With some of the top 5 largest rail companies globally and a large order pipeline, we are determined to keep moving at lightning speed.鈥�

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$7M for foundation AI for biology

Funding to foundational model AI startups surged last quarter, reaching $178 billion, per 附近上门 data. But the vast majority of that funding went to AI giants like and that are building general-purpose GenAI models.

Such models are fundamentally lacking for hard sciences, argues , a startup based in Paris and Berkeley, California, that last month raised $7 million in seed funding to develop foundation AI for biology trained on DNA, RNA and data from other 鈥溾�� fields, rather than human text.

The company鈥檚 first family of transformer models is called Botanic and is trained on data from 43 plant species. Living Models noted that it鈥檚 starting with the commercial crop industry, a massive global market that has abundant data, well-established research infrastructure, and fewer regulatory concerns and faster commercialization timelines than the pharmaceutical industry.

鈥淧lant biology combines three properties that make it an ideal first domain for biological foundation models: genomic data is abundant and largely unrestricted, the commercial need is acute and quantifiable, and the feedback loop between computational prediction and real-world validation is well established through existing breeding infrastructure,鈥� the company said in a statement.

The global seed industry is also dominated by a handful of incumbents, it noted: , , , and 鈥斕齝ompanies that already spend billions of dollars a year on breeding research.

鈥淏iology is an information problem at every scale, from a single cell to an entire ecosystem. The genomic data exists across many domains; what’s been missing is a model architecture capable of learning from it at scale,鈥� , Living Models鈥� CTO and co-founder, said in a statement. 鈥淲e start with plants because the data is rich and the breeding cycle is a clear bottleneck, but the same approach applies wherever sequence data meets slow, empirical discovery.鈥�

The company鈥檚 recent funding was led by , , and . Other included and

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$2.1M for a brain-stimulating consumer wearable

Billions of dollars a year are spent on therapy and other mental-health treatments, yet measuring progress can be elusive.

That鈥檚 one of the issues that San Francisco-based aims to take on with a neuromodulation wearable headset that it says can reduce stress, improve attention span and mood, and more quantitatively measure mental health scores.

Mave鈥檚 device uses transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, a noninvasive technique that delivers a low electrical current to the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp, with the aim of modulating neural activity. The technology is when used by adults as directed in controlled settings.

The company last month raised $2.1 million in seed funding led by , with participation from individual investors including Autopilot AI lead .

Crucially, Mave says it does not plan to pursue medical-device approval for its product, which sells for $495. Instead, it is positioning the gadget as a wellness tool that consumers can use on a daily basis to improve their mental well-being and better measure the outcomes of talk therapy or other treatments.

鈥淚f you ask a psychologist how do you know if a person is making progress, their response to it is very standard, which is that it鈥檚 not about progress. It鈥檚 about process [鈥 But for somebody with depression who is spending a lot of time in therapy, progress is important. So how do you know whether they鈥檙e making progress or not? And even these basic questions were not being answered,鈥� co-founder .

Mave鈥檚 funding comes amid an overall downturn in investment for wellness and fitness-related companies, although select wearables makers including and have raised significant funding in recent years.

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This month, funded startups that caught our eye included a company aiming to make a better wireless monitor for heart disease, another using AI-designed antibodies for home health tests, a startup using AI to improve airplane turnaround times, and a company developing AI-designed proteins for industrial, manufacturing and defense purposes.

$29M for at-home hormone health testing

, a startup that offers popular at-home fertility tests, this month raised $29 million in Series B funding to expand its platform beyond fertility monitoring for women trying to conceive, to a broader slate of at-home diagnostics.

The Palo Alto, California-based startup was founded in 2015. Since 2021, it has analyzed more than 30 million fertility hormone data points, per the company. That data will be useful as it aims to use its new funding to expand beyond fertility monitoring to a range of hormone-related health markers.

Key to that expansion is the development of AI-engineered antibodies, or synthetic proteins created by computer models that predict how antibody molecules should fold and bind to specific targets.

鈥淲e predict how proteins fold in 3D, design synthetic antibodies using AI, and test millions of variants virtually before making a single one in the lab,鈥� Inito co-founder and CTO via email. 鈥淭his produces antibodies that are far more sensitive, consistent, and stable than anything developed through traditional methods.鈥�

Inito says that innovation will enable it to build new, accurate at-home health tests for a wider range of biomarkers. This capability is central to the startup鈥檚 plan to grow from fertility tracking into a broader at-home health diagnostics platform that could be used to track pregnancy progression, menopause, broader endocrine markers like testosterone, and other hormonal health indicators.

鈥淭he endgame is to redefine diagnostics altogether,鈥� CEO and co-founder told TechCrunch. 鈥淚f you want to understand what鈥檚 happening inside your body at every life stage and health need, you shouldn鈥檛 be limited by clinic appointments, lab schedules, or rigid testing systems. You should be able to measure, track, and get insights about your body from home, with lab-grade confidence.鈥�

and led the company鈥檚 Series B funding. The startup has now raised $42.5 million total, .

$26.6M for smoother airport operations

A startup that promises to make air travel less of a headache is always going to catch our attention. So it was with , a Zurich-based startup that this month raised $26.6 million in Series B funding for its AI-driven airport operations platform.

The company says its technology 鈥� already in use at New York鈥檚 JFK, London鈥檚 Heathrow, Dubai International and Toronto Pearson airports 鈥� helps to streamline the commercial aircraft turnaround process at major air travel hubs, many of which are facing increased traffic, tighter operating margins and staffing constraints.

A portion of Assaia鈥檚 new capital will be used to further develop StandManager, its AI software module that helps optimize gate and stand assignments before aircraft land, the company says.

Assaia鈥檚 Series B was led by , alongside existing investors. 鈥淲e focus on investing in resilient business models that demonstrate a distinct technological advantage, and Assaia exemplifies that,鈥� , managing partner at Armira, said in a statement. 鈥淚ts AI platform is already transforming airport operations and helping the aviation industry navigate some of its most complex challenges.鈥�

$15M for AI-designed proteins for manufacturing

announced $15 million in new funding this month, promising to manufacture novel new materials using AI-developed proteins and biological processes.

The Menlo Park, California-based startup says it has raised $64 million in total funding, including this latest round, which was led by with participation from new and existing investors including , , , , , and

Aether says it combines 鈥減urpose-built AI and high-throughput robotics to design proteins that act like molecular assemblers, tiny machines that build one atom at a time.鈥�

These 鈥渘anoscale machines have the precision and sophistication of massive chemical factories, but at a fraction of the size, enabling Aether to make new products faster, more affordably, and more sustainably,鈥� according to the company.

Its first product is RapidPrint, which it describes as a high-performance 3D printing polymer filament line that uses AI-optimized materials to enable dramatically faster manufacturing of aerospace, defense and industrial parts.

The company says overall, it has developed seven new classes of proteins that have the potential to be used in defense, aerospace, pharmaceutical manufacturing, carbon capture and other applications.

鈥淥ne of the things we have got very good at is targeting a novel molecular species and making it very quickly,鈥� Aether CEO and founder told .

Tribe Capital Chairman said his firm invested because it was excited about the real-world applications for Aether鈥檚 technology. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen many AI companies focus on discovery, but no one has taken the leap from designing proteins to delivering physical, market-ready products until Aether,鈥� he said in a funding announcement. 鈥淎ether is proving that its approach isn鈥檛 just innovative in theory; it鈥檚 faster, more cost-effective, and higher-performing than traditional methods, setting the standard for what AI-driven chemistry can achieve in the real world.鈥�

$14M for a wireless heart monitor

Heart disease is ., claiming nearly a million American lives in 2023, per the . But despite the disease鈥檚 prevalence, accessible technology to monitor for heart issues is not as common as you may think.

, a San Francisco-based startup that offers a wireless heart monitor that it says offers hospital-grade monitoring at home, this month announced a $14 million Series A. The company says its product offers patients and cardiologists hospital-level heart data from anywhere.

鈥淎t home, most devices track heart rate rather than the electrical rhythm,鈥� the company said in a press release. 鈥淗eart rate alone can鈥檛 catch many arrhythmias or the subtle changes that signal rising risk. In hospitals, wired telemetry is bulky and brief, and single-lead patches often miss intermittent events. The result is a system where patients take devices off, doctors order repeat tests, and heart disease continues to claim millions more lives.鈥�

The company says its device is used in 75 cardiology units and by thousands of patients a month, and that it鈥檚

Wearlinq said it will use the new funding to 鈥渄ramatically scale鈥� and expand its reach into hundreds of additional clinics. Its funding was led by .

A long list of other investors participated: , , , , , , , , , , and Alongside the equity round, the company also raised $5 million in venture debt.

$6M to analyze commercial real estate portfolios in minutes

Commercial real estate doesn鈥檛 immediately strike us as an area ripe for innovation, which helps to explain why investment into proptech startups overall has plummeted in recent years.

But given the trillions of dollars held in commercial real estate portfolios, a platform that promises to drastically streamline real estate investments and financial modeling does seem like a savvy bet.

To that end, , a London-based startup used by commercial real estate investors for financial modeling and analysis, this month announced $6 million in seed funding to expand into the massive U.S. commercial real estate market. The company says its platform has already been used to analyze $70 billion worth of investment opportunities in the U.K. and Europe. It鈥檚 now hoping to get a foothold in the estimated $22 trillion U.S. commercial real estate market.

Its seed round was led by , with participation from , , and 鈥渟everal angel investors and property sector veterans.鈥�

Built AI says its platform uses machine learning to extract and analyze building data to help clients manage their portfolios and underwrite new investment opportunities. The platform can analyze single properties or entire portfolios, and looks at variables such as lease terms, valuation, tenant profiles and local market data. It reduces analysis time by 90%, from hours or days to minutes, according to the company.

The company was founded in 2020 by , who previously held roles at , and and , previously director at . It has raised $8.5 million to date, .

鈥淩eal estate is the world鈥檚 largest asset class and yet the tools used to appraise deals have barely evolved in the last 40 years. Billions of dollars worth of investment deals are still screened every year using outdated, error-prone processes leading to over $185 billion in annual losses because of incorrect valuation metrics or missed opportunities,鈥� Lempert, the company鈥檚 CEO, said in a statement. 鈥淕enerative AI is becoming increasingly embedded in financial decisions, to translate data at scale and automate underwriting,鈥� he said.

The company鈥檚 client list includes real estate giants , and .

鈥淭he future of software requires three essential attributes: domain expertise, AI skills, and ingenuity. These founders have all three and seek to fundamentally reimagine the real estate investment process,鈥� , co-founder and general partner of Work-Bench, said in a statement.

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It鈥檚 what reporters like to see. Finally, a chance to peek under the hood of the buzziest unicorns to see their revenue, growth rates and largest shareholder stakes. And while most of those companies lose money, an IPO filing provides a glimpse of gross margins and a sense of when a company might reach profitability.

All this is to say that the mere possibility of a public offering 鈥� as was teased for in a late Tuesday 鈥� is an exciting development for those of us lamenting the paucity of unicorn IPOs in recent months.

Of course, no company goes public just to satiate the curiosity of that negligible portion of the population that lives for S-1 filings. The primary reasons are far more pragmatic: To raise money, benefit from a higher profile and potential valuation boost that comes with a public listing, and听 offer a path to liquidity for founders, employees and early investors.

The draws are big enough that it behooves the most high-profile private companies to have preparations in place for a public listing, even if they do end up delaying or scrapping it. In a similar vein, a few weeks ago that is laying the groundwork for a potential IPO of its own.

The valuations are enormous

The valuations the generative AI giants are seeking would sound fantastical were they not backed up by both private markets and ever-climbing stocks of already public AI behemoths.

OpenAI is reportedly eyeing an initial public valuation of up to $1 trillion 鈥� double its last reported private valuation of in a secondary share sale last month. It is reportedly eyeing a public filing as early as the second half of 2026.

Anthropic is currently said to be pursuing fresh funding at a private valuation of more than $300 billion. So, it would presumably seek an even higher market cap in a public offering, although it鈥檚 yet unclear how high.

I won鈥檛 opine on what valuations seem sensible for these iconic yet still deeply unprofitable companies. However, for context, it鈥檚 worth pointing out that no American venture-backed company that鈥檚 ever gone public has notched an initial valuation even close to these levels.

, which went public on as Facebook in 2012, is still the record-holder, per 附近上门 data. It went public at an initial valuation of $104 billion 鈥� barely over one-tenth what OpenAI is said to be seeking.

Next on this list is , at $86 billion, followed by at $82.4 billion. Only six VC-funded companies have debuted at $40 billion or more, per 附近上门, listed below.

Significantly, these numbers reflect the valuations at which companies priced shares, not how much they were worth in first-day trading. When went public this summer, for instance, shares more than tripled in first-day trading, which took it to well over the $40 billion mark even though it priced below that.

Could 2026 finally be the IPO year?

If public investors are ready and willing to buy into OpenAI at its talked-about valuation, it sounds like an effort worth undertaking for the company. Ditto for Anthropic, particularly if it manages to get to market first, thus diminishing some of the spotlight perpetually shined on its rival.

Ever since the startup IPO boom period of 2020-2022 came to a conclusion, market watchers keep trying to predict when we鈥檒l see another. Hopes that 2025 would be the year are now fading. Although we鈥檝e seen a few big, well-received startup IPOs, activity has remained muted.

Maybe 2026 will be the year. Record-setting offerings from the biggest GenAI names certainly wouldn鈥檛 hurt in turning up the volume.

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In an with the , Wealthfront says it plans to raise $485 million in the IPO by selling 34.6 million shares, including stock offered by existing shareholders, at a price range of $12 to $14 each.

The company is targeting a valuation of $2.05 billion and will list on the exchange under the ticker WLTH. It had filed confidentially for a U.S. initial public offering in June. Wealthfront was set to be acquired by before that $1.4 billion deal fell apart in September 2022.

The fintech startup is profitable, according to its filings. As of July 31, 2025, Wealthfront reported net income of $123 million on 26% higher year-over-year revenue growth of $339 million.

It has raised more than $274 million in funding since its 2008 inception, per 附近上门 . Investors include , , , , and , among others.

It鈥檚 been a busier-than-normal year, at least compared to recent years, for fintech IPOs. Since the beginning of 2025, several companies in the fintech space have either gone public or filed to do so. Although many had impressive debuts, shares have since settled down some.

• In early June, shares of closed up 168% at $83.29 in their first day of trading on the minting the stablecoin issuer with a market cap of around $16.7 billion and renewing hopes for an IPO market rebound. As of mid-July, the stock had more than doubled from its first-day closing 鈥� trading at more than $200 per share, but has since fallen sharply with shares trading at just under $78 as of Dec. 2.
• Digital bank went public on June 12 and came out swinging. Its shares shot up 37% in first-day trading on , closing at $37. But as of Dec. 2, the stock was trading at around $22.
• went public on Sept. 10, with shares climbing about 16% on its first day of trading and closing at $46.40. But as of Dec. 2, shares of the Stockholm-based company, which has evolved its model to offer more than just buy now, pay later plans, were trading at around $31.
• Shares of closed at $20, down 20%, in first-day trading on Oct. 30, indicating lackluster investor demand for the long-awaited debut. Navan, which operates an enterprise expense management platform with an emphasis on business travel, has since seen its shares drop even further. The stock was trading at just above $15 on Dec. 2.

Given that volatility, it will be interesting to see how Wealthfront performs once it hits the public markets.

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The startup has also secured $16 million of debt and credit via . The equity portion of the raise was led by . Other participants included , , , (which counts large hotels as LPs), the Fund of Operators Guild, and . Several individual investors also wrote checks into the round, including MLB All-Star , former President , and other Silicon Valley founders.

With the latest financing, San Francisco-based BoomPop has raised a total of just under $56 million in funding since its 2020 inception. The company declined to reveal valuation, saying only that it was a 鈥済ood up round.鈥�

BoomPop started as a research entity called BoomBox during the COVID pandemic, planning virtual events, before transitioning into its current iteration in 2023. It was born out of the Atomic venture studio.

The startup essentially aims to function as a 鈥渢rusted event planner,鈥� making it easier for companies to plan offsites and events for employees.

鈥淢ost people don’t realize that when it comes to corporate travel, almost 60% of it involves groups,鈥� said CEO and co-founder in an interview. 鈥淎nd most people don鈥檛 know that if you need to book more than 10 hotel rooms, you cannot do that online.鈥�

The demand is apparently there. BoomPop said it has more than 450 clients, including , , , and , and has seen impressive growth. It ranked No. 115 on the most recent , reporting 3,073% three-year growth. It currently has a revenue run rate of over $75 million. Cypher projects the company should cap just over $100 million in total gross revenue this quarter. (The company makes 12% to 14% of gross for net revenue, he said.)

BoomPop’s raise is one of the largest so far this year for events-related startups, . All told, startups in the category globally have raised just under $252 million year to date, including BoomPop’s funding deal, marking a down year for the sector. That compares with more than $361 million in all of 2024, $435.6 million in 2023 and $2.1 billion in the peak year of 2021.

How it works

BoomPop is powered by AI, but it operates on the premise that 鈥渘othing replaces authentic human connection,鈥� Cypher told 附近上门 News.

It works as a companion to employees working to plan offsites or events for a company, with both self-serve and full-service options. For those who want more hand-holding, BoomPop employs a 35-person professional planning team that handles planning and on-site support 鈥渇or higher end, more complex events,鈥� according to Cypher. Presently, BoomPop has about 110 employees.

A staffer could tell BoomPop that his or her company wants to plan a 100-person founder summit within a three-hour drive from San Francisco with a lot of fun activities. The system would then analyze 鈥渕illions鈥� of data points in real time, such as weather, hotel and venue pricing, flights, citywide events that might also be taking place, and past itineraries. It would then offer event options, with a range of variations.

Based on preferences, the AI then takes over execution, booking 鈥渧etted鈥� vendors, reviewing contracts, building event websites, managing RSVPs and coordinating directly with hotels 鈥渢o ensure guest preferences 鈥� such as dietary restrictions 鈥� are met.鈥� The company claims that its AI can accomplish tasks in minutes that 鈥渙nce required entire teams weeks to complete.鈥�

BoomPop鈥檚 AI is trained on a proprietary database of curated, vetted vendors, including hotels, spaces, restaurants, activities, facilitators, caterers and photographers.

It can do things like message employees if there鈥檚 a last-minute change in dinner venues. It can also get sizes for any swag and compile any dietary restrictions, in addition to planning minute-by-minute itineraries, among other things.

To date, BoomPop has helped book over 60,000 hotel nights for its customers. Its fastest-growing segment is company offsites and retreats.

Interestingly, the startup doesn鈥檛 just help plan events for employees. It also helps them plan events for clients.

鈥淚 did deep research and found that the number one marketing channel for the scaled AI companies is client events,鈥� Cypher said.

Making group events scaleable

, founding partner at Wing Venture Capital, notes that in a post-pandemic world with more remote and hybrid work models, companies are investing more resources into bringing their employees together. But the process behind planning and executing these gatherings 鈥渋s still painfully manual,鈥� in his view.鈥淏oomPop brings together what used to be a patchwork of tools into a single intelligent product,鈥� he told 附近上门 News via email.

鈥淎t Wing, we believe the next generation of enterprise software will be AI-native: deeply intelligent, vertically focused, and obsessed with user experience. BoomPop embodies that thesis perfectly. It鈥檚 transforming an outdated, service-heavy industry into a digital, automated ecosystem that鈥檚 built for the way modern teams actually work and travel.鈥�

BoomPop makes money in several ways. For one, it charges what Cypher described as a 鈥渞elatively low鈥� SaaS fee for its offering that allows internal staffers to plan events. It also offers an optional premium product, which acts as a boutique agency to help plan events or offsites, that are billed per attendee, per event. BoomPop primarily makes its money from vendors who pay it a finder鈥檚 fee.

In late September, also with BoomPop that allows companies to book private dining and sports suites using Brex points.

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Navan, which operates an expense management platform with an emphasis on travel, had priced shares for its offering at $25 each late Wednesday. It was formerly called TripActions, with the company pivoting to a broader platform when revenue reached zero right after the COVID pandemic hit.

The offering raised $923.1 million for the company, whose shares are trading on the under the ticker NAVN. It set an initial valuation of around $6.2 billion.

The move to the public markets has been a long time coming for Palo Alto, California-based Navan, which first submitted confidential paperwork for a planned offering more than three years ago.

The company had raised $1.2 billion in debt financing and $1 billion in equity funding from venture investors and credit providers, per 附近上门 . Major venture stakeholders include , and .

Growing revenue

Navan had revenue of $329 million in the first half of 2025, up 30% year over year. Growth comes as the company has been investing in developing its agentic AI offering, Navan Cognition, to automate more cumbersome tasks around travel planning and reporting.

Still, the company remains far from profitable. Navan鈥檚 net loss for the first half of this year came in just shy of $100 million 鈥� up about 7% from the year-earlier period. The loss comes amid higher spending on both R&D and sales and marketing 鈥� common for companies on the IPO track 鈥� looking to appeal to growth-hungry investors.

Per its IPO filing, Navan has incurred net losses in each year since its inception in 2015 and 鈥渕ay not achieve or, if achieved, sustain profitability in the future.鈥�

IPO activity has picked up in 2025, with Navan one of several larger recent debuts, including well-received entries by consumer fintech and blockchain lender . We鈥檙e also seeing heightened buzz around potential new market entrants.

Related 附近上门 query:

Related reading:

• Klarna Shares Pop In Long-Awaited Public Market Entry
• Navan Is Finally Going Public For Real

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The old clich茅 says startups are born in garages and dorm rooms. That鈥檚 still true, but there鈥檚 a newer path: founding a startup inside a scale-up.

When you do that, you get the speed of a seed-stage team with the leverage of an established company. Executives and investors should care because this model can unlock new product lines, revenue and talent retention without recreating the wheel.

That鈥檚 how we built , a travel eSIM service launched from inside (the company behind ). In 19 weeks, a seven-person team went from a blank page to a live product. A little over a year later, we had scaled to millions of users with plans offered in more than 200 destinations. We did not invent everything from scratch. We reused what worked and validated everything else fast.

Incubation lowers two risks most founders underestimate

Every new product faces two existential risks: market and execution.

Inside Nord, I鈥檇 helped launch at least half a dozen new products before Saily. The pattern was consistent: Great ideas die when they target the wrong market or underestimate execution. With Saily, timing and infrastructure lined up: eSIM demand was accelerating, pain points were clear, and we could tap Nord鈥檚 backend, payments, app teams and distribution.

That allowed us to move at startup speed without startup fragility.

鈥楶roduct organization fit鈥� beats a great idea

Founders obsess over product-market fit. Inside a scale-up, you also need what I call 鈥減roduct organization fit鈥� or the overlap between a new product and what your company already does well.

When that overlap is high, you ship faster, hire smarter and avoid costly relearning. For Saily, the overlap was obvious: Security tech we knew (virtual location, web protection and ad-blocking), and app development know-how we could bring to travel connectivity.

Competition helped more than it hurt. 鈥淣o competition鈥� usually means 鈥渘o demand.鈥� We treated competitors as free market research, reading hiring signals, product moves and funding announcements to understand where the market was headed.

And we made security the product, not a feature. Travelers don鈥檛 want another app 鈥� they want reliable connectivity that isn鈥檛 risky on unknown networks. Building privacy and protection at the network layer means safety works phone-wide with no tinkering.

Autonomy inside structure

The hard part is not technical, but cultural. Large companies run on process. Startups run on autonomy. We set up Saily as a company within the company: A dedicated product and marketing team with decision speed, plus shared services (legal, finance and design) when needed. Think of it as an internal accelerator, where the platform handles overheads so the team can focus on products.

We kept one rhythm: ship, learn, repeat. Those 19 weeks weren鈥檛 about perfection, but about getting a usable product into the world and compounding feedback.

Experimentation only works if you measure what matters: speed, unit economics and retention. For example, independent third-party testing confirmed Saily鈥檚 network-level ad-blocking reduces data usage by 28.6% 鈥� real money saved for travelers. That is a signal you double down on. If a feature or tool adds complexity without value, cut it quickly.

What founders (and operators) can steal

• Derisk in two tracks: Validate market pull and execution feasibility before you scale spend. If the market isn鈥檛 growing and your organization doesn鈥檛 have overlap, think twice.
• Reuse before you reinvent: Borrow talent, systems and channels where you can. Every overlap removes weeks of risk.
• Measure what matters: Do a simple before/after on ship speed, customer acquisition cost and retention. If the needle doesn鈥檛 move, remove it.
• Build momentum in full sight: Share milestones and learning. It sharpens the team and attracts partners.

Saily is still early, and the market is just getting started, but the model matters as much as the product. Many future founders already work inside growth companies. Give them startup autonomy and scale-up leverage and remarkable things can happen 鈥� in months, not years.

听 is CEO of , a global eSIM app from . A former head of product strategy at , where he helped launch a series of new product lines, Maknickas has turned Saily into a globally successful brand with millions of users and serving more than 200 destinations. An entrepreneur since age 15, Maknickas brings a hands-on, execution-driven approach to building secure, scalable consumer tech.

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Finally, however, it looks like it鈥檚 going to happen. On Friday, Navan (formerly TripActions) its first public IPO prospectus. It comes almost precisely three years after the company first submitted confidential paperwork for a planned offering.

Now, after a long wait, the public gets a peek at revenue for the 10-year-old Silicon Valley company, as well as its track record for growth.

At first glance, both look fairly robust. Navan had revenue of $329 million in the first half of 2025, up 30% year over year. Growth comes as the company has been investing in developing its agentic AI offering, Navan Cognition, to automate more cumbersome tasks around travel planning and reporting.

Still, the company remains far from profitable. Navan鈥檚 net loss for the first half of this year came in just shy of $100 million 鈥� up about 7% from the year-earlier period. The loss comes amid higher spending on both R&D and sales and marketing, common for companies on the IPO track, which are looking to appeal to growth-hungry investors.

Per the IPO filing, Navan has incurred net losses in each year since its inception in 2015 and 鈥渕ay not achieve or, if achieved, sustain profitability in the future.鈥� The company also expects its costs and expenses to increase, making future profitability iffy should more customers and higher revenue not follow suit.

Over the years, Navan has also spent quite a bit building up its business. The company has raised $1.2 billion in debt financing and $1 billion in equity funding to date from venture investors and credit providers, per 附近上门 . Major venture stakeholders include , and .

The filing comes amid an increasingly busy period for public offerings of venture-backed companies. Last week, for instance, brought large debuts from ticket marketplace and cybersecurity provider Netskope. And a week earlier, made its somewhat delayed but much anticipated entry onto the .

Related 附近上门 query:

Related reading:

• Klarna Shares Pop In Long-Awaited Public Market Entry

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There鈥檚 never been a better or tougher time to pitch investors. Venture capital funding is on the rise, with North American startups securing $184 billion last year, a 21% increase over 2023. Yet, competition has never been fiercer.

As 附近上门 News has reported, fewer seed-stage startups are reaching Series A fundraising rounds. Investors are more selective, prioritizing businesses with clear differentiation and strong scaling potential.

Unless you鈥檙e a serial entrepreneur with large exits under your belt, the days of funding a great idea alone are over.

For founders, this means one thing: Your pitch must cut through the noise and command investor attention.

Having worked on both sides of the table as a venture investor and now leading accelerator programs, I鈥檝e seen firsthand what separates a compelling pitch from a forgettable one. Too many founders try to check every box instead of telling a compelling, original story.

Years ago, 鈥檚 deck became the gold standard that everyone wanted to copy. Suddenly, we saw the same slide structure, the same flow, the same 10 slides in the same 10 slots.

The result was a sea of pitches that lacked authenticity or uniqueness. Instead of focusing on what makes their company distinct, founders water down their message, attempting to craft a pitch that pleases everyone but excites no one. If blending in was the goal, mission accomplished.

The best founders pitch to find believers. They don鈥檛 seek to convince skeptics who aren鈥檛 aligned with their vision. Instead, they focus on resonating with investors who already see the potential and want to be part of what comes next. It鈥檚 about creating momentum, not just explaining the numbers.

What investors look for

It鈥檚 crucial for founders to understand the perspectives of their potential investors. From reviewing thousands of pitch decks in both venture and accelerator settings, I鈥檝e noticed that founders often misunderstand what different types of investors are actually looking for.

Venture capitalists seek early proof that a market exists. They invest in companies that have demonstrated traction, customers, revenue, or other signals of scalability. VCs want more than a concept; they鈥檙e looking for early validation that your solution addresses a real market need.

Accelerators, by contrast, are often willing to take a bet earlier in the timeline. They invest in founders who deeply understand a problem and have a strong perspective on how to solve it, even if their solution is a few iterations away from being great.

Accelerators can give more grace to companies that are still figuring out product-market fit, especially when the founder has lived the problem they鈥檙e solving. They prioritize three factors: the team鈥檚 background, the technology capabilities and customer traction.

Companies that excel in all three areas are usually past the accelerator stage.

The most successful founders recognize these differences and tailor their pitches accordingly.

The three slides that matter most

Most founders want to talk about themselves, their technology and drop buzzwords like 鈥淎I.鈥澨� But investors lean in when they see the following three elements, ideally in the first three slides:

1. What you do. Express this in clear, simple language without jargon. Airbnb could have described its business using complicated hospitality terminology but instead said, 鈥淲e help you rent an extra room in your apartment or your house.鈥� Simplicity wins.
2. Why the future will be different. Rather than presenting generic market slides, show investors how the world changes if your vision proves correct. How does the future look 12 or 24 months from now if you鈥檙e right? The best founders aren鈥檛 playing in today鈥檚 sandbox, they鈥檙e building tomorrow鈥檚.
3. Proof of traction. This looks different across industries but is universally crucial. For therapeutics, it might be positive clinical data. For hardware, it might be technology that鈥檚 10x better or faster. For software, it might be revenue growth rates. Whatever your sector, showing validation matters.

Remember, investors default to 鈥渘o.鈥� Your job is to get them to say, 鈥淭ell me more.鈥� If you can鈥檛 nail these three points, the conversation rarely progresses.

The founder profile that wins

The best founders have a blind spot for risk. They only see the end game, not the obstacles in between. This selective vision allows them to push forward when others might give up. If founders knew all the hurdles they鈥檇 face, many might never start companies at all.

One of the strongest signals to investors is a contrarian perspective, a unique view of where the market is heading that differs from consensus thinking. This is particularly powerful when combined with solving problems others don鈥檛 want to tackle, the unsexy operational challenges in industries that don鈥檛 get featured in tech publications.

The most successful pitches aren鈥檛 just about companies or products. They鈥檙e about founders who embody their vision so completely that investors can鈥檛 help but see the future through their eyes. While others follow templates, the rare founder who combines genuine market insight with deep conviction gets more than just capital, they create believers.

brings 20 years of experience in venture capital, accelerator leadership and strategic operations to his role as director of accelerator programs at in Pittsburgh. He oversees , AlphaLab Gear, AlphaLab Health and Robotics Factory Accelerate, programs that support early-stage startups with mentorship, resources and capital. His leadership has helped create a connected AlphaLab ecosystem that empowers founders across industries and stages of growth. Earlier in his career, Tainter held roles at and where he led cross-functional initiatives and evaluated early-stage investments. He also teaches at , where his work focuses on funding entrepreneurial ventures.

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The board also reached a new milestone last month: It now includes more than 1,600 unicorn startups, or private companies currently valued at $1 billion or more, according to 附近上门 data.

Among the 13 new companies, six are U.S.-based, two are from Sweden, and one each hail from France, China, Singapore, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Leading sectors for new unicorns in July were AI apps and infrastructure, e-commerce and healthcare.

Five exits

Last month also posted five unicorn exits, signaling that more liquidity could be on the horizon from the board, which still holds a collective valuation just under $6 trillion.

Three unicorns went public in July: San Francisco-based design collaboration platform , Beijing-based autonomous robotics company , and Atlanta-based insurtech .

Two companies were also acquired: California-based 鈥斕�was bought by AI code generation startup for an undisclosed price after an earlier planned $3 billion acquisition by fell apart 鈥斕齛nd Texas-based , which aims to improve payment outcomes for hospitals was acquired by for $1.25 billion.

July鈥檚 newly minted unicorns

New unicorn industries in July ran the gamut from media and entertainment to transportation, to AI. Here are last month鈥檚 13 newly minted unicorns, by sector.

AI

• Vibe coding startup raised a $200 million Series A led by . The 1-year-old Stockholm, Sweden-based company was valued at $1.8 billion. The startup said it reached $75 million in annual recurring revenue, or ARR, in seven months since turning on revenue. After its funding announcement, growth sped up to . Lovable says it has 2.3 million users and 180,000 subscribers.
• Media infrastructure AI provider raised a $125 million Series C led by . The 4-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Multimodal AI solutions lab raised a $110 million Series B from investors and among others. The 3-year-old Sunnyvale, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

E-commerce

• , a tech platform for booking flights, raised a private equity funding led by . The 24-year-old Uppsala, Sweden-based company owns multiple travel brands, and powers flights for . Etraveli, previously acquired by , was valued at $3.1 billion.
• Quick commerce service raised a $254 million funding led by Saudi Arabia-based . The company delivers groceries and essentials across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. The 3-year-old Saudi Arabia-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.

Data and analytics

• , which simplifies management of python and R for data science projects, raised a $150 million Series C led by . The 13-year-old Austin, Texas-based company was valued at $1.5 billion. Anaconda has $150 million in ARR as of July 2025 and says it鈥檚 profitable.

Energy

• , a subsidiary of battery provider , is using AI to reimagine its battery business from materials, oversight and recycling. It raised an undisclosed Series A funding. The Fujian, China-based subsidiary was valued at $1.4 billion.

VR/AR

• , developer of a smart contact lens, raised a $250 million Series A led by Hong Kong-based . Prototypes include smart lenses with biosensors for health monitoring, XR/AR content for gaming, and night vision capabilities. The 4-year-old Dubai-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.

Healthcare

• , a note taking scribe that integrates into clinical workflows, raised a $243 million Series C led by and. The 5-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Professional services

• Employee experience platform merged with Swiss-based mobile-first deskless employee management software . The deal is backed by London-based , a major shareholder in LumApps. The 12-year-old France-based company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Media and entertainment

• Newsletter publishing platform raised a $100 million Series C led by and . The 8-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Networking

• , a digital eSIM听 provider for devices for travelers, raised a $220 million Series C led by . The 6-year-old company operating from Singapore was valued at $1 billion.

Transportation

• spinoff , builder of yet-to-be-launched products in the micromobility and e-bikes sector, raised a $200 million funding led by , after raising from four months earlier.听 The less than 1-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Related 附近上门 unicorn lists:

• (1,602)
• (87)
• (112)
• (102)
• (802)
• (497)
• (211)
• (37)
• (455)

Related reading:

• Startup Funding Stays Flat, But Figma IPO Lights A Spark In The Market
• July鈥檚 Most-Active US Investors: Andreessen, Insight And Y Combinator Top Busy Month
• June Hits 3-Year High In Unicorn Births Across AI, Robotics And More

Methodology

The 附近上门 附近上门 is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on 附近上门 data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations 鈥� such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options 鈥� as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 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 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

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