Morning VC Brief丨2025.11.18

Week47 Highlights丨Sakana AI, Netic AI, Runlayer, Luminal, voize, Span, Mate, Songscription

Author

eric gu
November 18, 2025

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

Table of Contents

01. Venture News

1/ Sakana AI raises $135M Series B at $2.65B

  • Product: Affordable generative AI models optimized for Japanese language and culture, working efficiently with small datasets

  • Highlight: Partnered with major Japanese enterprises like Daiwa Securities and MUFG Bank

  • Investors: MUFG (Lead), Khosla Ventures, Macquarie Capital, NEA, Lux Capital

  • Source

2/ Home Services Automation Netic AI raises $23M Series B

  • Product: Autonomous AI revenue engine that handles client outreach, bookings, marketing, and analytics for plumbers, roofers, and electricians

  • Highlight: "Netic Brain" AI trained on service industry workflows with weather-pattern demand forecasting; first customer was Paschal Air Plumbing and Electric

  • Investor: Founders Fund (Lead)

  • Source

3/ MCP AI Agent Security Platform Runlayer raises $11M Seed

  • Product: All-in-one security solution for Model Context Protocol (MCP), combining gateway, threat detection, observability, enterprise development tools, and granular permissions

  • Highlight: Launched 4 months ago, already signed 8 unicorns/public companies (Gusto, dbt Labs, Instacart, Opendoor); founded by third-time entrepreneur

  • Investor: Khosla Ventures (Lead), Felicis

  • Source

4/ GPU Compiler Optimization Luminal raises $5.3M Seed

  • Product: Optimized compute infrastructure that focuses on compiler optimization between code and GPU hardware, maximizing compute efficiency from existing infrastructure

  • Highlights: Competes with Nvidia's CUDA by building open-source compiler stack for faster, cheaper AI inference

  • Investor: Felicis Ventures (Lead), Paul Graham, Y Combinator

  • Source

5/ AI Nursing Documentation Assistant voize raises $50M Series A

  • Product: Voice-activated AI companion that automates nursing documentation, scheduling, and administrative tasks; runs locally on smartphones without constant internet connection

  • Highlight: 1,100 care facilities in Germany and Austria, 75,000+ nurses save up to 30% of shift time

  • Investor:  Balderton Capital (Lead), HV Capital, Redalpine, Y Combinator

  • Source

6/ AI-Native Developer Intelligence Platform Span raises $25M Seed&Series A

  • Product: Developer intelligence platform that unifies signals across code, tickets, and tools to measure AI's impact on software development

  • Highlight: Launched proprietary model "span-detect-1" to detect AI-generated code at chunk level

  • Investor: Alt Capital, Craft Ventures, SV Angel, BoxGroup

  • Source

7/ AI-powered SOC Automation Platform Mate raises $15.5M Seed

  • Product: AI-powered Security Operations Center solution that learns from top analysts, automates alert investigation and incident resolution

  • Highlight: Makes security teams 10× more effective by dramatically reducing MTTR and false positives

  • Investor: Team8 (Lead), Insight Partners

  • Source

8/ AI-powered Music Transcription Platform Songscription raises $5M

  • Product: "Shazam for sheet music" - AI platform that converts audio recordings into editable sheet music, guitar tabs, or MIDI files

  • Highlight: 150,000+ users across 150 countries since June 2025 launch

  • Investor: Reach Capital (Lead), Emerge Capital, 10x Founders

  • Source