Row64 raises $4M to revolutionize business intelligence

Public sector sales are getting a long-overdue upgrade. Starbridge is modernizing how the public sector buys technology, unifying fragmented government data into one AI-powered platform that helps vendors identify, prioritize and act on real opportunities. Congratulations to Justin Wenig and the Starbridge team on raising a $42M Series A led by Craft Ventures, with participation from Autotech Ventures, Owl Ventures and Commonweal Ventures. Public-sector innovation has always been viewed as slow and complex. Starbridge is proving it doesn’t have to be. Check out the TechCrunch story link in the comments for details.

Sifted Mimi Billing: Why investors are going gooey-eyed over 'Chrome killer' Strawberry Browser. Inside the ‘self-driving browser’ which won backing from big-name investors EQT Ventures and General Catalyst. And Charles Maddock has made investors go gooey-eyed. As EQT Ventures partner Gustav Von Sydow says, “He’s an exceptional founder – super charismatic, with infectious energy, and immensely good at speaking to people, regardless of how tech-savvy they are.” EQT Ventures was one of the lead investors in Strawberry’s recent €6m seed round, alongside General Catalyst and founders from Lovable, Hugging Face and Supabase. The announcement of the round coincided with the release of the limited beta version of its agentic platform.

Dragonfly Secures £2.6 Million Pre-Seed to Empower Businesses with Smarter Software Decisions. Dragonfly, the AI-powered tech companion that helps businesses identify and implement tailored software recommendations instantly, led by Sean King and Sven Sabas, has secured a £2.6 million pre-seed round led by Episode 1 Ventures, joined by Dreamcraft Ventures and Portfolio Ventures, with angels including QuantumBlack founder and CTO Sam Bourton, and Bolt founder and CEO Markus Villig. Read More At: https://lnkd.in/gFirsm_m X: https://lnkd.in/gqJ-CAbx Source: https://lnkd.in/ghMxNh7B

Dragonfly Secures £2.6 Million Pre-Seed to Empower Businesses with Smarter Software Decisions. Dragonfly, the AI-powered tech companion that helps businesses identify and implement tailored software recommendations instantly, led by Sean King and Sven Sabas, has secured a £2.6 million pre-seed round led by Episode 1 Ventures, joined by Dreamcraft Ventures and Portfolio Ventures, with angels including QuantumBlack founder and CTO Sam Bourton, and Bolt founder and CEO Markus Villig. Read More At: https://lnkd.in/gSf7WDxR X: https://lnkd.in/gSRbmsgC Source: https://lnkd.in/gstUerZj

Glue, a San Francisco-based provider of an agentic team chat platform, has raised $20 million in funding led by Abstract Ventures, with participation from Chapter One, Goldcrest Capital, and Craft Ventures. Led by CEO Evan Owen, Glue enables teams to integrate and control workflows across thousands of apps using the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing AI to take context-aware actions directly within chat. The funding will be used to expand product development, scale infrastructure, and grow teams in engineering, design, and go-to-market functions. INVESTORS: Abstract Ventures, Chapter One, Goldcrest Capital & Craft Ventures AMOUNT: $20,000,000 HQ: #SanFrancisco #California #VentureCapital #Glue #AbstractVentures #ChapterOne #GoldcrestCapital #CraftVentures #EvanOwen #TradedVC

When RIFD’s co-founder reached out, the challenge was clear: Their strategic position wasn’t landing with investors — and the checks weren’t being written. With little to no budget for a large-scale campaign, we sat down for an intense strategy session. The result? A lean, curated PR campaign that clarified RIFD’s story, highlighted its true strengths, and generated a traffic value of $175,191. The outcome was not only a flood of new investor interest, but even investors who had gone quiet started calling back. 👉 If your startup has the vision but struggles to turn it into investor traction, let’s build the strategy that gets you funded.

Planera, Inc, cofounded by Nitin Bhandari, raises $8M in New Funding from Sorenson Capital, SIERRA Ventures, and other investors! The company has also developed new AI tools to help these customers to identify potential project delays early and find opportunities to accelerate their project schedules. Read more in the news section on https://lnkd.in/exq3JyWK

🧠 Nerd Hack: Don’t Chase Every Market 🚫 Expanding everywhere at once looks ambitious but usually backfires. It burns capital, stretches teams, and dilutes focus. 🎯 The companies that scale best win by owning one wedge of the market first. That wedge proves product–market fit, builds credibility, and funds the next move. 📈 Expansion isn’t the first step. It’s the outcome of focus. #NerdHack #NerdsKnowBest #StartupWisdom

"We started on Excel spreadsheets because you could count orders on two hands. Then it was thousands a week. Finance kicked us: 'No more V-lookups. You need to figure your shit out.' We were 12 weeks behind." - Andrew Miner Ever outgrown your systems way faster than expected? Discover what happens when scrappy startups hit scale in the full episode: https://lnkd.in/eKAs6qwe

Got some funding and a big idea? You’re not alone. Most early-stage founders we speak to are working within budget and terrified of backing the wrong thing. The good news? You don’t have to choose between moving fast and building smart. You can build something flexible, scalable, and investor-ready, even on a fixed budget. We’ve written a blog that shows you what you should be thinking about. 👇 Read it here: https://ow.ly/35nv50X4Qre #StartupTips #EarlyStageFounders #ProductDevelopment #StartupAdvice #FlexibleProduct #InvestorReady #BudgetFriendly #ScalableSolutions