Morning VC Brief丨2025.02.13

Morning VC Brief is an expert daily curation of tech and venture news. Feel free to forward; the sign-up is here

01. Venture News

1/ Neutral-atom Quantum Startup QuEra Computing raises $230M

QuEra is the scientific and commercial leader in neutral atoms. This round was backed by Google, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Valor Equity Partners. Link

2/ Soda Startup Olipop raises $50M Series C at $1.85b

Olipop is the clinically backed consumer beverage that meets consumer’s real-world taste preferences in a delicious tonic. The Company is fully profitable while still maintaining incredible triple digit growth according to CEO. This round was led by JPMorgan Private Capital. Link

3/ AI Risk Platform Sardine raises $70M Series C

Sardine provides a unified risk platform designed to help financial services businesses combat fraud, streamline compliance, and enhance customer experiences. Last year, Sardine doubled their customer base and grown their ARR by 130%. This round was led by Activant Capital, with participation from a16z, Google Ventures, Moody’s and more. Link

4/ Generative Media Platform for Developer Fal raises $49M Series B

Fal is on a mission to build the core infrastructure for AI-driven media creation. Fal has onboarded 1M+ developers and 50+ enterprise customers generating billions of assets (image, video, voice, and audio) monthly. This round was led by Notable Capital and a16z, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, and First Round Capital and more. Link

5/ Reforestation Startup Mast Reforestation raises $25M Series B

Mast Reforestation has devised a way to pay for reforestation today, without landowners needing to wait decades to either harvest timber or claim carbon credits. This round was led by Pulse Fund and Social Capital, with participation from Seven Seven Six, Climate Capital and more. Link

6/ Could Marketplace Workflow Automation Startup Sugar raises $15M Series A

Sugar automates the entire quote-to-cash process which streamlines fulfillment for software products, and frees go-to-market teams from engineering and operational burdens. This round was led by Threshold Ventures, with participation from Celero Ventures, GSBackers, Craft Ventures and more. Link

7/ SMS Marketing Software for Restaurant Boostly raises $22M Series A

Boostly mission to gamify marketing in the restaurant industry by leveraging behavioral-based marketing and gamified texting experiences that drive 10x higher engagement rates than standard text marketing. This round was led by PeakSpan Capital, with participation from YC, Trestle Partners and more. Link

8/ AI Virtual Recruiter Startup ConverzAI raises $16M Series A

ConverzAI deploys virtual recruiters that handle the entire recruitment pipeline—from initial candidate sourcing through final placement—using generative AI technology and agent AI principles. This round was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Left Lane Capital, Foundation Capital, Afore Capital and more. Link

9/ Collaborative B2B Support Platform Plain raises $15M Series A

Plain powers high-touch, company-to-company support on channels like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, chat and more. This round was led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Index Ventures, Connect Ventures and more. Link

10/ AI Tax Solution for Tech Professional Fifteenth raises $8.25M Seed

Fifteenth specialize in tax planning and filing for individuals in the tech industry. This round was led by A* Capital and General Catalyst, with participation from SV Angel, Karman Ventures and more. Link

11/ AI Agent for Patent Attorneys &AI raises $6.5M Seed

&AI is mission to transform how attorneys work, providing powerful tools for end-to-end prosecution and litigation workflows. This round was led by First Round Capital, with participation from SV Angel, BoxGroup, YC and more. Link