Funding Signals Confidence in New Category Making Global Travel More Accessible and Community-Driven

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 3, 2026 — Kindred, the global home swapping platform, today announced it has raised $125 million to scale its growth as a community-driven travel alternative to hotels and short-term rentals.

The investment reflects growing momentum behind Kindred’s give-to-get model powering its next phase of growth as the product evolves from one home swapping community to a platform of interconnected sub-communities, enabling people to swap homes with friends-of-friends or existing trusted networks.

“Travel has long been dominated by two options: hotels and short-term rentals,” said Justine Palefsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Kindred. “Peer-to-peer home swapping is emerging as the third option, and it’s no longer niche. Our momentum signals that home swapping has become a global movement, and this funding allows us to build Kindred not just as a product, but as a social travel platform rooted in trust, generosity, and belonging.”

Founded in 2021, Kindred was built to make travel more accessible at a time when rising costs and housing pressures have reshaped how people move around the world. Today, the platform has grown to almost 300,000 members across 150+ cities, adding 150,000 members in 2025 alone, with almost 350,000 nights hosted to date. Top destinations on the platform include New York City, London, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Mexico City, and Paris to name a few.

The funding includes a $40 million Series B round co-led by NEA and Dylan Field, CEO of Figma, and an $85 million Series C led by Index Ventures.

“Kindred’s model meets the moment,” Palefsky added. “It radically lowers the cost of travel, often to around a tenth of the cost of traditional accommodations, while easing pressure on local housing markets.”

Kindred facilitates only non-commercial exchanges, meaning nights or credits can’t be bought or sold. As a result, over 90% of homes on Kindred are members’ primary residences, unlike short-term rental marketplaces. While members pay to access the service, no money is exchanged between hosts and guests.

“When travel is built on exchanging nights between peers instead of renting from commercial businesses, travel becomes more human, and homes stay on the market for locals,” Palefsky continues.

The capital will be used to evolve Kindred’s community experiences and offerings, including allowing members to build out new, trust-led sub-communities where they can open their homes to others within their extended networks, or with whom they share common interests or values.

“Kindred is leading a powerful cultural shift in how people choose to travel,” said Vlad Loktev, Partner at Index Ventures. Justine and Tas are a visionary duo with a clear POV on where travel is headed, and they have the momentum to turn that vision into reality. We believe Kindred has everything needed—team, technology, community—to become the defining platform in the home swapping space.”

“Kindred’s rapid growth reflects a growing willingness for people to open their homes to unlock future travel,” said Palefsky. “It’s a real sharing economy in action. The more you give, the more you can explore”.

Over the next year and beyond, Kindred will continue to invest in product, trust and safety infrastructure, as well as its growing ecosystem of sub-communities, further cementing its position as the leading global platform for home swapping.

About Kindred
Founded in 2021, Kindred is a global, members-only home swapping platform of 300,000 members that allows verified members to swap homes through a radically more accessible, responsible, human travel experience – unlocking a more meaningful way to see the world. Kindred revolutionized a third option of accommodation compared to hotels and short-term rentals. 90% of Kindred’s inventory is people’s primary residences, uniquely positioning it within the travel accommodation market. Kindred service fees average $20–45 per night— meaning a stay costs roughly one-tenth of a short-term rental in a comparable home. To learn more, visit livekindred.com.

Media Contacts
Megan Trivelli, The Sway Effect
P: 917-696-3701
Kejal Ashra-Blundell, Kindred
P: +44 7792 109808
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Kindred

Secures $30M in funding to Scale Open Real Estate Marketplace

NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2026 — Orchard, the company delivering the best home buying and selling experience for both agents and consumers, today announced 40% revenue growth in 2025, outperforming the market during one of the industry’s most challenging recent years. This momentum follows the successful launch of 3 new markets in the spring of 2025, and the addition of over 500 agents over the last two years.

To accelerate future growth, Orchard has raised $30 million in a new round of funding. Investors doubled down on the company’s vision, as Orchard successfully transitioned from a “Buy Before You Sell” lender into a comprehensive real estate marketplace.

This new open marketplace model has resonated deeply in the market. Today, Orchard agents are armed with the broadest suite of products and services — including Buy Before You Sell, all-cash offers, unique listing services — allowing them to win more and to provide every customer with a customized solution that best suits their specific needs. All of these services are delivered through Orchard’s digitally integrated Title and Mortgage offerings.

“We are dedicated to building the future of real estate by putting the power back in the hands of consumers and the agents who support them,” said Court Cunningham, CEO and Founder of Orchard. “With Orchard, customers have the broadest choice of sale options, great local agents to guide them, and superior closing technology. We’re proud to be delivering the best consumer experience out there today. This funding allows us to continue innovating on behalf of our customers to ensure the process of finding and securing a home is as seamless as possible.”

This new round of equity funding will support Orchard’s continued growth and innovation, including market expansion. Orchard plans to launch two additional markets this year.

By marrying local expertise with the broadest range of financial and sale options, Orchard continues to define the future of the industry by removing the friction, uncertainty, and stress traditionally associated with the home buying and selling process.

About Orchard

Orchard is transforming the way people buy and sell their home, offering a modern real estate marketplace that provides homeowners with certainty and convenience. Through its innovative suite of services, exceptional local agents, and unified digital commerce platform, Orchard offers a seamless, tech-driven experience from search to close. It’s the new way to home. Orchard is headquartered in New York City and offers its services in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. Learn more at https://orchard.com/

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Orchard

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 2, 2026 — Principle, a Strategic Foresight AI platform that enables companies to simulate competitive futures before committing resources, today announced $2 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by SMRK VC and SMOK VC, with participation from RideHome AI Fund, a16z Scout Fund, Bain Capital Scout Fund, and Unpopular Ventures.

Strategic decisions at most companies are made with outdated information, gut instinct, and static planning documents that become obsolete the moment market conditions shift. While oil majors like Shell pioneered sophisticated scenario planning decades ago, this capability has remained locked inside organizations with deep pockets and long time horizons.

“Every Fortune 500 company we talk to has the same pattern,” said Artur Kiulian, co-founder and CEO of Principle. “They misread market signals, they react too slowly to structural shifts, and by the time something obvious in hindsight becomes clear, it’s already too late.”

From Static Strategy to Living Simulations

Principle creates digital twins of companies, competitors, regulators, and market forces, then runs adversarial simulations across hundreds of strategic directions. Unlike generic AI tools that provide stateless answers to one-off questions, Principle maintains persistent models that continuously update as new market intelligence arrives – competitor moves, regulatory changes, pricing shifts, M&A activity.

The platform is already in pilots with multiple Fortune 500 companies, governments, leaders in the energy market, and established technology companies exploring M&A pathways.

“Principle helps us build that muscle: turning strategy into an iterative process where we explore scenarios, learn quickly, and decide based on evidence, not intuition alone.” said Oleksandr Kosovan, CEO & Founder of MacPaw.

Origin: From National AI Models to Strategic Foresight

Principle emerged from work with governments navigating AI adoption. In 2025, the founding team signed an MOU with Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation to develop national AI capabilities – work that produced collaborative research on sovereign models recognized in the best data journalism picks of 2025. That engagement expanded to the Middle East: benchmarking AI models with Doha Graduate Studies University as part of Qatar’s sovereign AI initiative, and collaborating with Dubai Health Authority on population health strategy.

A consistent gap emerged: organizations could deploy powerful AI models, but struggled to translate them into strategic decisions.

“Governments and enterprises would invest heavily in AI infrastructure, then face a utilization problem,” said Kiulian. “That’s when we realized the real opportunity wasn’t building more AI — it was building the decision layer on top of it.”

Working alongside Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DCAI) and Dubai Future Foundation, Principle developed scenario modeling for health system resilience.

“The future belongs to those who ask the most important questions,” said Khalfan Juma Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation.

LLMs as World Models

Recent advances in large language models have unlocked a new capability: the ability to simulate not just environments, but the logic of how markets, competitors, and organizations actually behave. Principle’s founding team – with backgrounds spanning Google’s behavioral simulation research, physics modeling at CERN, and strategic technology work for the White House – recognized that LLMs could finally make strategic foresight scalable.

“Every major platform shift creates new primitives for human interaction,” said Chris Messina, General Partner at Ride Home AI Fund and inventor of the hashtag. “The common objection we hear is ‘I can just use ChatGPT for this,'” said Kiulian. “But a generic LLM is stateless — no memory of your company, no persistent model of your competitors. We’re running continuous simulation engines that learn from outcomes.”

Principle has already begun building on this foundation, training a custom model on AWS’s Nova architecture to improve plausibility classification of future market events – joining early adopters like Reddit, Sony, and Booking.com in building domain-specific “Nova” models that embed deep vertical expertise.

Built for the Enterprise Blindspot

The company is initially targeting mid-market and Fortune 500 corporate strategy teams – organizations large enough to face complex competitive dynamics but lacking the resources to build in-house foresight capabilities. 

“Enterprise AI has optimized individual productivity — coding assistants, document drafting. Palantir helps companies make their internal data work again. What’s missing is the layer that shapes where the business actually goes. We adopted military wargaming techniques and applied them to corporate strategy,” said Yurii Filipchuk, co-founder of Principle.

Use of Funds

The funding will accelerate Principle’s transition from high-touch pilot delivery to a productized platform, with investment in the simulation core, real-time market intelligence integration, and an interface that allows strategy operators to interact with scenarios directly. The company is also expanding its enterprise pilot program, targeting additional Fortune 500 customers across industrial, technology, and financial services verticals.

About Principle

Principle is the Strategic Foresight Simulation platform that helps companies model competitive futures before committing resources. Founded in 2024 and headquartered in San Francisco. Users can learn more at futureprinciple.com

Contact
Yurii Filipchuk
Principle
[email protected]

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2874888/Principle.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2874887/Principle_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Principle

—Founded by top agent James Harris and Afterpay Co-Founders Nick Molnar & Anthony Eisen, Breezy debuts with a $10M pre-seed round to redefine agent productivity—

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2, 2026 — Breezy—the AI operating system built exclusively for residential real estate professionals—today announced its official launch. The platform represents a breakthrough for the $500B residential real estate services industry, bringing AI-powered workflows and client-ready tools to one of the world’s largest yet most underserved professional sectors.

To accelerate product development and prepare for launch, Breezy raised an oversubscribed $10M pre-seed led by Ribbit Capital—a global investment firm known for backing founders who challenge the status quo—with meaningful participation from Fifth Wall, DST Global, Liquid 2 Ventures, Eyal Ofer’s O.G. Venture Partners, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications Fidji Simo, and Lightspark’s Co-Founder & CEO David Marcus, amongst others.

Built by Agents, Backed by Entrepreneurs

Founded in early 2024 by top-producing agent James Harris, Afterpay Co-Founders and seasoned technology entrepreneurs Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen, and leading venture capitalists the Khalili Brothers, Breezy was created to give agents back control of their time and deal flow. Despite being the backbone of every transaction, agents remain chronically underserved by technology—many still rely on notes and spreadsheets to manage multimillion-dollar businesses.

From day one, Breezy has been shaped by a curated community of more than 200 highly influential real estate agents across the country, representing a cross-section of brokerages and production levels. Their real-time feedback as active practitioners has been embedded directly into the platform’s functionality, ensuring the product reflects how agents actually work—not how technologists think they should.

“I wanted a tool that could think like I do—adjust comps, track client needs, and automate repetitive tasks—so I could focus on delivering the best experience for my clients and growing my business. That wish became Breezy’s mission,” said Harris.

“After 25 years in luxury real estate, I was still burning hours bouncing between half a dozen tools to prepare for one client meeting. None of them were built with agents in mind. That was the spark for Breezy. From that moment, I became obsessed with building a platform entirely for agents—one that gives them back their time, helps them win more business, and becomes their ultimate competitive advantage.”

Underbuilt: Turning Insight into Advantage

As part of this commitment, Breezy is launching Underbuilt, a proprietary data platform that reveals the true building potential of residential properties. The platform has been incubated by Harris for nearly two years inside his own real estate practice, developed alongside his active brokerage work, and refined through continuous use across live client engagements.

“One of the biggest unlocks in this business is being able to create opportunity where others don’t see it,” said Harris. “When an agent can show a client how underbuilt a property is—when they can uncover real, buildable potential—that agent becomes irreplaceable. They’re not just opening doors; they’re opening possibilities. That kind of insight creates trust, loyalty, and value in a way no generic pitch ever could.”

Top Investors Back Agent-First AI Platform

“James has lived and breathed real estate at the highest level for over two decades. His obsession with elevating agents and improving the way that they work is exactly why Breezy is going to change the game,” stated Micky Malka, Founder of Ribbit Capital. “This isn’t just another PropTech tool—it’s founder-market fit meets cutting-edge technology: James’ lived experience, reimagined through AI, to solve problems agents have battled for years.”

“AI is transforming every corner of the built world—and residential real estate agents are no exception,” shared Brendan Wallace, CEO & Chief Investment Officer, Fifth Wall. “With over 2M residential agents in the U.S. alone and nearly 20M globally, this is one of the largest professional categories on the planet and among the most underserved by technology. Breezy is the first true vertical AI platform for agents. Its purpose-built OS can unlock productivity across a $500B industry, reshaping how agents work from the palm of their hand.”

AI Takes Center Stage in a $500B Market

The launch comes as residential real estate reaches an AI inflection point. MLS data is now standardized enough to power reliable insights, consumers are already using AI in their home search process, and brokerages report accelerating adoption among agents. Yet most tools stop at chat. Breezy’s suite of tools—including development opportunity analysis, personalized lead nurturing, and branded comps on the go—is designed to deliver the speed, intelligence, and presence today’s clients expect.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Breezy will use the capital to strengthen its product and data foundation, expand its engineering and design teams, and invest in security, go-to-market, and brokerage-wide rollout readiness. An exclusive waitlist opens today, with a broader U.S. launch slated for H1 2026. The platform is being built with international expansion in mind, with near-term opportunities in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Dubai.

About Breezy

Breezy is the AI workspace redefining how real estate gets done. In one clean interface, Breezy turns weeks of admin into seconds: auto-creating on-brand comps, capturing conversations so no detail or follow-up is missed, keeping pipelines updated automatically, and revealing development opportunities others overlook. Co-founded by industry leader James Harris, entrepreneur Nick Molnar, and the Khalili Brothers, Breezy pairs lived-in workflow design with AI precision and effortless elegance—giving agents time back to win more business. Learn more and join the waitlist at Breezy.com.

About Ribbit

Ribbit is a global investment firm that partners with visionary entrepreneurs revolutionizing traditional markets. For over a decade, Ribbit has partnered with founders challenging the status quo and building transformative companies across six continents, including Coinbase, Credit Karma, Crusoe, Decagon, Groww, Harmonic, Listen Labs, Nubank, QuintoAndar, ONE, Revolut, Robinhood, and others.

About O.G. Venture Partners

O.G. Venture Partners (OGVP) is a global, single-LP venture capital fund founded in 2017 and backed by Eyal Ofer’s Ofer Global. Focused primarily on early growth-stage investments, typically in Series B and C rounds, OGVP manages ~$2 billion in AUM. Its active portfolio includes companies such as Peregrine, Neko Health, Superplay, SSI, Coralogix, IVIX, Dandy, Buildots among others.

SOURCE Breezy

VIENNA, Va., Feb. 2, 2026 — DC Capital Partners (“DC Capital”), a private equity investment firm with deep expertise in Government and Engineering markets, announced today that it has made a majority investment in Knexus, a provider of applied artificial intelligence (“AI”) capabilities supporting complex, mission-critical government programs.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, Knexus is a trusted partner to U.S. defense and civilian agencies, designing, building, and operating enterprise-grade AI systems that enable secure adoption of next-generation AI in production environments. The Company maintains long-standing client relationships across defense and civilian agencies and has tremendous expertise in deploying Google enabled AI solutions. Knexus is a Google Public Sector Premier Partner, implementation partner for Gemini for Government and received the 2025 Google Cloud Partner of the Year Award for Business Applications in Government, reinforcing its role as a trusted bridge between leading commercial AI technologies and federal mission requirements.

“The U.S. Government’s focus on artificial intelligence continues to accelerate as agencies seek to modernize operations, improve readiness, and enable faster, more informed decision-making,” said Thomas J. Campbell, Founder and Managing Partner of DC Capital Partners. “Knexus has built a differentiated capability at the intersection of AI and mission execution. We are excited to partner with the Knexus team to support the next phase of growth through investment in business development, technology, and operations, consistent with DC Capital’s systematic approach to building durable, mission-focused government technology platforms.”

“The partnership with DC Capital represents a pivotal milestone for Knexus,” said Adam Lurie, Chief Executive Officer of Knexus. “Over the last several years, our team has made meaningful progress building a modern applied AI platform purpose-built for government missions. We have had a front row seat to witness how AI can be leveraged for the public good and this partnership with DC Capital will accelerate our ability to scale and put AI Solutions in the hands of our customers.”

“Knexus stands out for its ability to move AI from concept to production in environments where reliability, security, and trust are paramount,” said Jerry Chernock, Partner at DC Capital Partners. “The Company’s combination of technical depth, disciplined delivery, and strong customer relationships aligns well with DC Capital’s focus on building scalable, execution-driven platforms and positions Knexus well as AI adoption continues to expand across the federal government.”

DC Capital has a long-standing investment focus on government services and defense technology; themes the firm and its principals have pursued for more than three decades in support of the government’s most critical missions. Recent investments in these sectors include C5MI, Rivencore Global Solutions, Valkyrie Enterprises, SiOnyx, Hill Technical Solutions, Digital Force Technologies, Revenue Solutions, and Owl Cyber Defense Solutions with past successful investment exits including National Interest Security Company (“NISC”), SC3 and QRC Technologies.

About Knexus

For two decades, Knexus has worked with dozens of agencies across the US Government as a trusted partner to deliver tailored AI solutions to mission-critical problems. With three patents and over 100 peer reviewed scientific papers, the scientists and engineers of Knexus are routinely advancing the frontier between human and machine intelligence. As a Google Cloud Premier Partner and 2025 Google Cloud Partner of the Year for Business Applications in Government, Knexus offers its customers expertise in working with Google Cloud’s AI products, such as the Vertex AI platform and Gemini models, to deliver AI solutions to the public sector.

Learn more at www.knexus.ai.

About DC Capital Partners

DC Capital Partners is a private investment firm headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, that partners with founder-led and management-owned businesses in U.S.-based Government and Engineering markets. The firm makes control investments in differentiated middle-market companies and takes an active ownership role, drawing on deep sector knowledge to build enduring, high-quality platforms. The firm’s disciplined, repeatable investment process has supported a track record of successful exits and long-term partnerships.

For more information, visit www.dccp.com.

SOURCE Knexus; DC Capital Partners

Nyca Partners led the round and Osama Bedier, former Google and GoDaddy executive, will join the company’s board

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 2, 2026 — Loop AI, the enterprise-grade AI platform purpose-built for the restaurant and retail back office, today announced its $14M Series A funding round. The round was led by Nyca Partners with participation from prominent investors Gokul Rajaram, Base10, Afore Capital, Converge, Alumni Ventures, Data Tech Fund, John Pepper, 9Yards Capital and Operators Studio. As part of the financing, Osama Bedier, investment partner at Nyca Partners and former Google and GoDaddy executive, will join Loop AI’s Board of Directors. 

“Loop sits at the intersection of several transformative trends in the restaurant industry, including the rise of AI, a growing focus on customer experience and the drive for greater operational efficiency. These will be essential pillars shaping the future of dining,” said Bedier. “Anand and Sundar are building a remarkable company and transformative technology that will be indispensable for restaurant operators. I’m thrilled to join them on this journey and to contribute to the company’s next phase of growth.”

As of 2025, the U.S. delivery market is valued at approximately $140B with a 10% market share. However, this is projected to surge to $1T with a 30% market share by 2035. As the fastest-growing channel in the industry, delivery is transforming restaurant operations from traditional back-of-house production models to dynamic, consumer-centric businesses. 

“Delivery is the new drive-thru, and it is poised to fuel the next decade of growth for the restaurant industry. As consumer behavior continues to shift towards takeout and delivery, our mission to make delivery more profitable for restaurant operators has never been more vital,” said Anand Tumuluru, co-founder and CEO of Loop AI. “We are incredibly grateful for the support from both new and returning investors in our Series A raise. Their backing empowers us to continue equipping restaurants with the essential tools they need to thrive amid shifting consumer preferences and industry dynamics.”

The shift towards delivery impacts everything from site selection and channel strategy to margins and overall efficiency. Loop AI’s technology empowers restaurant operators to embrace delivery as a growth engine, leveraging agentic workflows to maintain in-store level margins while scaling off-premise revenue.

“Loop AI has become an essential technology driving the explosive growth of our delivery segment,” said Robert Linder, CFO of California-based casual dining concept Lazy Dog. “By harnessing its powerful capabilities, we’re able to meet customers where they are and scale our delivery strategy with greater efficiency and precision.” 

This funding will be used to expand Loop AI’s product suite and grow headcount for their offices in New York, San Francisco, Tampa, and Bangalore. Since 2024, Loop AI has grown 6x to support thousands of restaurants. Using Loop AI’s agentic workflows, customers such as Lazy Dog and Starbird grew ~10% while growing their flow through.

“Over the past several years, Loop has helped us look at third-party delivery as a profitable growth channel,” said Aaron Noveshen, founder of The Culinary Edge and CEO of fast casual brand Starbird. “Loop’s technology has deepened our insights into customer behavior and preferences, helping us refine the way we serve them. We are excited to continue building on this strong partnership.”

About Loop AI
Founded in 2022 by a team of engineers and restaurateurs, Loop AI is the enterprise-grade AI platform purpose-built for the restaurant and retail back office. Operating as an agentic co-worker, Loop AI empowers brands to drive profitable growth by automating complex tasks across finance, operations and marketing. Loop AI is trusted by 300+ brands — both public and private — powering thousands of locations in the U.S. Learn more at LoopAI.com. 

Media Contact
Alexa Borislow
[email protected]

SOURCE Loop AI

Funding led by Lightspeed follows $60 million in EV sales since launch

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 2, 2026 — Plug, the marketplace built for buying and selling electric vehicles, today announced $20 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed with participation from Galvanize and existing investors Autotech Ventures, Leap Forward Ventures and Renn Global. 

Plug is emerging as a core infrastructure layer for the rapidly expanding used EV market. Since its 2024 launch, the marketplace has facilitated more than $60 million in used EV sales, and in Q4 2025, the company sold more electric vehicles than it did during all of 2024.

This acceleration is fueled by a significant supply shift. More than 1.1 million EV lease returns, valued at an estimated $30B, are expected to enter the U.S. market over the next three years. As a result, dealers and commercial sellers need faster, more accurate and more predictable ways to process EV inventory, which is fundamentally different than internal combustion engine vehicles.

“The used EV wave isn’t coming, it’s here and building fast,” said Jimmy Douglas, founder and CEO of Plug. “Dealers are staring at a massive flux of off-lease EVs that could become their next major profit center. But you can’t manage EV valuations with petroleum-fueled vehicle assumptions. This is where Plug comes in.”

Built for EV transactions, not retrofitted for them

The Plug marketplace was built specifically for EV transactions. The platform provides: wholesale valuations based on its proprietary insights, real-time market and pricing signals, battery health intelligence and VIN-level vehicle data. 

As a result, most listings receive market-rate offers within 24 hours. This sales velocity enables the 600+ dealers and commercial consignors active on the marketplace to transact quickly and with confidence, while managing residual risk as EV volumes rise.

“The growth of the used EV market is driving a fundamental shift in how vehicles are valued and transacted,” said Justin Overdorff, Partner at Lightspeed. “Plug recognized early that electric vehicles require a fundamentally different approach and built a business around this need. With disciplined execution, EV-native data and an active marketplace, the company is well positioned to support dealers and commercial partners as EV volumes continue to rise.”

Leadership and board expansion

To further support its next phase of growth, Plug has expanded its leadership team and board. 

• Overdorff has been appointed to the board of directors, bringing deep marketplace and fintech experience with a track record of scaling platform businesses and supporting category-defining companies. 
• Kat Zhang, a partner at Lightspeed who works closely with the firm’s early-stage fintech founders, has also joined as a board observer.
• Andrew Maddox has joined Plug as head of finance, overseeing financial operations as the company scales, bringing experience from beatBread and TikTok. 
• Alexandra Yorke has joined the company as head of marketing, where she leads brand, positioning, and go-to-market strategy. She previously led marketing and growth initiatives at the dealer platform Signal Technologies.

The new capital will be used to exponentially grow Plug’s supply pipelines, develop more proprietary technology to evaluate EVs condition and capability and expand go-to-market capacity across wholesale and retail channels.

About Plug

Plug is the marketplace built for buying and selling electric vehicles. Through an EV-specific platform, Plug connects buyers and sellers across consumers, dealers, and commercial partners, supporting wholesale and retail transactions. Built for EVs, Plug uses real-time vehicle data and rapid inventory velocity to bring clarity, speed, and confidence to how electric vehicles move through the market. Learn more at www.plugmotors.com.

SOURCE Plug

20-year solar operator launches crowdfunding raise as grid strain and rising costs push homeowners toward energy independence

Fullerton, Calif., Feb. 2, 2026 — GigaWatt Inc. is making its next phase of growth available to public investors as the residential solar market faces a critical inflection point.

With federal tax credits phasing down and residential electricity costs up nearly 40% since 2021, homeowners are caught between expensive turnkey installers and bare-bones DIY kits that leave them stranded. GigaWatt has spent nearly two decades building the infrastructure to solve that gap, and now it’s accelerating development of its own branded hardware and software to scale a leaner alternative.

The raise is being conducted under Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) and is open to both accredited and non-accredited investors, subject to applicable regulations. The offering is available through StartEngine, with a minimum investment of $500 and a maximum raise of up to $1,235,000 in non-voting Class B Common Stock. 

What the Capital Will Fund

GigaWatt plans to use the new capital to speed up development and certification of its Real Goods branded inverters, batteries, panels and the Real Goods Hub, a centralized software platform that connects hardware, streamlines support, and will integrate artificial intelligence to enhance diagnostics, system performance, and customer support. In the DIY solar market, where post-sale service is often a critical bottleneck, AI tools are expected to make expert assistance faster, smarter, and more scalable.

Additional funding will be directed toward expanding research & development, engineering, sales and marketing teams. The aim is to deliver fully integrated solar-plus-storage kits that are permit-ready and code-compliant, giving homeowners and small installers more confidence in setting up and using their systems. 

Track Record

“Over the past twenty years, we’ve quietly built the infrastructure that makes solar and storage accessible and reliable for everyday homeowners and small installers,” said Deep Patel, Founder & CEO of GigaWatt Inc. “This raise allows us to scale our integrated hardware and software platform faster, so more people can take control of their energy and build long-term resilience for their homes.”

Founded in 2006, GigaWatt has expanded into a multi-brand platform serving DIY and prosumer customers across the U.S. through well-known names such as Unbound Solar, GoGreen Solar, AltE Store and Real Goods. Since 2019, the company has installed thousands of kits nationwide, generated over $64 million in revenue, maintained strong gross margins and reported positive net income in both 2023 and 2024.

The Real Goods brand, which GigaWatt acquired in 2023, has deep roots in American renewable energy and sold the first solar panels directly to the public in 1978.

Investment Details

Additional investment details are available on StartEngine. 

As a Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) offering, investments are speculative, involve risk and may result in the loss of capital. Prospective investors should review the full Form C and offer materials before making an investment decision. 

About GigaWatt Inc.

GigaWatt, Inc. is a California-based solar and battery storage platform dedicated to making energy independence affordable and accessible. Founded in 2006, the company focuses on providing high-quality solar kits and battery solutions for homeowners, DIYers, small businesses and contractors. With a family of trusted brands including GoGreenSolar, Unbound Solar and AltE Store, GigaWatt simplifies every step—from system design and permitting to installation and interconnection—helping users reduce energy costs and develop resilient, off-grid capable power systems. GigaWatt’s mission is to promote distributed energy adoption nationwide by offering reliable, scalable alternatives to traditional utility dependence. 

Media Contact
Daniel Ziolkowski
[email protected]
414-380-8602

SOURCE GigaWatt Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 2, 2026 — GrubMarket, the AI-powered technology enabler and digital transformer of the American food supply chain industry, as well as one of the largest private food technology and eCommerce companies globally, announced today that it has raised around $50 million in Series H financing from Future Food Fund, Portfolia Funds, Liberty Street Funds, RD Heritage Group, Flume Ventures, MY Securities, and other unnamed participants. This significantly up round values GrubMarket at a pre-money valuation of $4.5 billion.

This investment round follows a series of major milestones for the company. In June 2025, GrubMarket made its largest acquisition in history, acquiring Coast Citrus, a major provider of tropical produce in the U.S. In July 2025, GrubMarket launched the first-ever Inventory Management AI Agent for the food supply chain industry, which streamlines and automates critical inventory workflows. In September 2025, GrubMarket released the Reporting AI Agent, which automates AI-powered business analysis on custom schedules. In April 2025, the company acquired Delta Fresh Produce, a major produce distributor in Arizona. Furthermore, GrubMarket acquired Procurant, a leading Software-as-a-Service eCommerce and trading platform for the fresh produce industry, which facilitates $5.5 billion in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) annually for over 850 customers across 14 countries.

“GrubMarket has experienced an incredible acceleration in growth over the last 12 months and continues to stand out as the largest private food technology company in the United States. Since we have a self-sustaining business model, this funding round was not a necessity; rather, we saw it as an opportunity to align our company’s valuation with the new level of scale and strength that we have achieved with our eCommerce business growth, our AI-powered tech innovations, and the significant ongoing value we generate for the industry,” said Mike Xu, CEO of GrubMarket. “This Series H funding will turbocharge our AI software and business growth, and extend our eCommerce reach globally. We will increase our investment in people, financial infrastructure, technology, and acquisitions. Above all, we will continue to operate a self-sustaining business as the foundation of this company.”

As the only Enterprise AI solutions provider for the American food supply chain, a first mover in the tech-enabled B2B food eCommerce space, and a pioneer offering cutting-edge, AI-powered software-as-a-service solutions, GrubMarket uses technology to fundamentally transform the American and global food supply chain. GrubMarket was named to the prestigious CNBC Disruptor 50 list for three consecutive years, in 2023, 2024 and 2025 (No. 20).  In April 2025, GrubMarket was named “Inventory Management Solution Provider of the Year” by RetailTech Breakthrough Awards. In November 2025, GrubMarket was selected the winner of the 2025 “Sustainability in the Food Industry Award” by The Shelby Report. Today, GrubMarket operates in all 50 U.S. States and has a global presence in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Spain, with plans to expand further across the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe, Africa, and other parts of the world. The company does business in over 70 countries globally.

GrubMarket’s Sustainable California initiative has been actively running since 2023, serving as a multi-faceted, company-wide initiative with a mission to preserve California’s farming environment, empower farmers, and reinvigorate the state’s fragile agricultural ecosystem. Since its inception, this initiative has promoted organic farming practices, supported reforestation, and distributed innovative technologies to support a more resilient and sustainable food system. Sustainable California has sponsored the successful planting of over hundreds of thousands of trees in diverse regions throughout the state; supported California farmers seeking organic certification; and contributed efforts towards protecting the State’s natural habitats, watersheds, and farmlands to ensure future agricultural prosperity. GrubMarket’s Sustainable California initiative for 2025 included partnering with One Tree Planted to plant over 100,000 trees in the Sierra Nevada region, which was severely damaged by the 2013 Rim Fire; providing California farmers with free access to GrubMarket’s AI-powered software for the duration of the year; and partnering with CCOF to continue its sponsorship of 10 socially disadvantaged farmers in California to complete the organic transition program and certification process.

“Portfolia is proud to be a long-time investor in Mike Xu and the GrubMarket team, through multiple funds.  Mike is a brilliant, strategic and persistent executive.  The team’s continued execution success validates our conviction in Mike’s leadership and in GrubMarket’s ability to redefine how food moves to our tables. We are thrilled to continue backing their vision to modernize food supply chains,” said Trish Costello, CEO & Founder of Portfolia Funds.

“As the venture arm of a company that operates a major online platform for fresh produce in Japan, we understand how hard it is to build a long-lasting business at scale, and we are impressed by GrubMarket’s strong execution and profitable growth trajectory. We are excited to support the company’s expansion and help accelerate its next phase of global growth,” said Hiro Hasegawa, Venture Partner of Future Food Fund.

Forward-Looking Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements provide our current expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements include statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. Words or phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “ongoing,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “strive,” “will” or similar words or phrases, or the negatives of those words or phrases, may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Examples of forward-looking statements in this announcement include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our disclosure concerning the Company’s operations, cash flows, and financial position.

For Media Inquiries:

GrubMarket Media Team
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE GrubMarket