National Business Capital finds red states dominating the top 10 with lower costs,  stronger growth, and higher survival rates.

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., Nov. 19, 2025 — Great business ideas are like seeds: Where you plant them makes all the difference.  And, according to National Business Capital’s second annual report, “The Best States to Start a Business 2026,” red states across the Midwest and South are providing the most fertile soil for entrepreneurs this year.

This annual study from the business lending platform discovered South Dakota took the top spot, followed by Texas (2nd) and North Carolina (3rd). These states strike the right balance between growth, favorable tax conditions, and strong business survival rates – giving entrepreneurs a more predictable foundation to build on.

Politics appears to play a factor. All of the top the states are “red states.” The highest ranked blue state, Washington (11th), stood out for its labor productivity and first-year business survival rates, while California (14th) remained a hub for innovation despite rising costs.

The full study is available HERE:

Key Findings

• More Startups Are Surviving: The average first-year survival rate rose to 76.8% in 2024 (up from 75.9%), though the five-year rate slipped slightly to 51.2%. This may be due to lingering effects of COVID-related business failures.
• Red States Sweep the Top 10: All top 10 states are red, averaging 53.9 out of 100 versus 45.9 for blue states using the methodology below. Red states also posted stronger Q2 2025 GDP growth (3.6% vs. 3.0%) and better five-year survival rates (51.6% vs. 50.5%).
• Lower Costs vs. Greater Capital: Red states benefit from cheaper energy (11.8¢/kWh vs. 18.6¢) and lighter taxes, while blue states lead in productivity growth (+2.8% vs. +2%) and access to capital, including SBA approvals and venture funding.
• Midwest Remains Most Balanced: With a score of 55.6, the Midwest outperformed all regions thanks to steady growth, modest taxes, and durable businesses – though startup activity remains low, suggesting untapped potential.
• Pacific States Start Fast, Fade Early: The Pacific region leads in first-year survival (78.9%) but lags in five-year success (50.6%), showing strong starts but long-term challenges.

“Starting a business is a nerve-wracking proposition,” said Joe Camberato, CEO of National Business Capital. “Why not start it where you have the greatest chance for success?”

The Top 10 States To Open A Business In 2026

1. South Dakota Score (out of 100): 72.7
   Rank: 1st (+15 from last report)
2. Texas
   Score: 70.2
   Rank: 2nd (+2)
3. North Carolina
   Score: 69.7
   Rank: 3rd (+15)
4. Ohio
   Score: 69.3
   Rank:  4th (+6)
5. Indiana
   Score: 62.2
   Rank: 5th (+3)
6. North Dakota
   Score: 61.5
   Rank:  6th (+11)
7. West Virginia
   Score: 61.1
   Rank: 7th (+41)
8. Utah
   Score: 60.6
   Rank: 8th (-6)
9. Iowa
   Score:  60.0
   Rank: 9th (+24)
10. Michigan
    Score: 58.5
    Rank: 10th (-8)

The Bottom 10 States

41. Virginia (41.8 out of 100; -29):
42. Missouri (41.6; -2)
43. Vermont (40.8; +4)
44. Alaska (40.4; -14)
45. Mississippi (38.9; -21)
46. Oregon (37.9; +0)
47. Kansas (35.7; +3)
48. Alabama (34.6; -12)
49. Maryland (31.2; -11)
50. Hawaii (31.1; -27)

Metrics

• Year One Survival Rates (10%)
• Year Five Survival Rates (14%)
• GDP Change (8%)
• LLC Filing Costs (3%)
• LLC Annual Costs (5%)
• Business Tax Burden (16%)
• Business Applications Per 100,000 (8%)
• Venture Capital Per Capita (8%)
• SBA Loan Approvals Per 100,000 Residents (10%)
• Labor Productivity Change (9%)
• Commercial Electricity (9%)

About National Business Capital :

National Business Capital a pioneer of non-bank financing, provides non-asset-backed financing solutions ranging from $250K to $15MM. Since 2007, the company has financed billions of dollars while innovating how business leaders access growth capital. The team’s approach to each transaction allows clients to maximize financing options.

For more information on this list and this topic, please contact Sarah Johnson.

CONTACT

Sarah Johnson
[email protected]

SOURCE National Business Capital

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 19, 2025 — Intersignal, the developer of an open, next-generation communication layer for distributed artificial intelligence, announced today the expansion of its Florida operational base as interest accelerates in the company’s “Mesh Cache” system, a lightweight, hardware-agnostic indexing layer designed to connect local AI models across multiple devices.

The company’s South Florida presence has grown rapidly in recent months, with new personnel onboarding, expanded studio and compute space, and dedicated test environments for multi-node local inference. This expansion supports Intersignal’s mission to make high-integrity, privacy-preserving AI accessible without dependence on centralized cloud infrastructure.

“Intersignal was founded on a simple premise: intelligence works best at the edge,” said David Seaman, cofounder of the AI lab. “Our Mesh Cache architecture gives everyday users the ability to link their local models, whether on laptops, mini PCs, or workstations, into a coherent cognitive mesh. We believe this is the missing substrate for the next era of AI.”

The Mesh Cache system enables unified memory referencing, cross-device state awareness, and persistent local context without requiring identity accounts or cloud tethering. Early testers have used the system to synchronize workspaces across multiple AI models, from creative nodes to research nodes to analytical nodes, demonstrating significant improvements in responsiveness, autonomy, and cross-model coherence.

“Cloud AI will always have a role, but the momentum is shifting back to local compute,” Seaman added. “People want sovereignty, privacy, and full-stack control. Mesh Cache is designed to give them that in a way that is simple, resilient, and hardware flexible.”

The company’s Florida expansion coincides with increased inbound interest from developers, researchers, and small teams seeking alternatives to cloud-dependent AI workflows. Intersignal plans to continue building out its Florida node as a testing ground, development hub, and training center for distributed AI practices.

A public technical brief outlining Mesh Cache’s operational principles will be released later this quarter, followed by additional tooling and open-source modules.

For additional information, media inquiries, or partnership discussions, please contact:

Yulia K.
Operations Lead, Florida
Intersignal
7206886110
[email protected] 

US Press Office
Intersignal
[email protected]

SOURCE Intersignal

Good Growth Capital together with Meach Cove Capital and other Global Investors Support Next Commercial Milestone Following Successful Honeybee Vaccine Launch; Dalan’s European Subsidiary Receives Additional €250K Grant for Pan European Surveillance of Honeybee Diseases

ATHENS, Ga., Nov. 19, 2025 — Dalan Animal Health, Inc., the pioneering bioscience company that developed the world’s first vaccine for invertebrates, today announced the successful closure of a $3 million SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) funding round. The round included Good Growth Capital together with Meach Cove Capital and other global investors, marking increased international recognition of Dalan’s breakthrough Innate Immunity Platform technology.

The new funding will advance the commercialization of Dalan’s first-in-class shrimp vaccine, addressing one of the most significant disease challenges in global aquaculture and representing the company’s next major milestone following the successful launch of its honeybee vaccine. In parallel, Dalan will continue to expand its platform across new species, exploring novel applications for poultry, and other aquaculture species where its technology has the potential to enable broad-spectrum disease prevention and reduce dependence on antibiotics.

“This funding round represents a pivotal moment as we advance from our proven success in honeybees to commercializing our groundbreaking shrimp vaccine,” said Dr. Annette Kleiser, CEO and Founder of Dalan Animal Health. “The participation of sophisticated global investors like Good Growth Capital and Meach Cove Capital validates both our immediate commercial opportunity in aquaculture and the broader potential of our Innate Immunity Platform to address disease prevention challenges across multiple species.”

As part of the investment, Harris Komishane, General Partner at Meach Cove Capital, will join Dalan’s Board of Directors as an observer, bringing valuable strategic insight to support the company’s commercialization and growth. “We believe Dalan’s pioneering approach to protecting vital animal species through its cutting-edge vaccination technology is game changing,” said Mr. Komishane.

Advancing Shrimp Vaccine Commercialization

The funds will primarily support the commercialization of Dalan’s shrimp vaccine, which addresses a critical gap in health management practices in the global aquaculture industry. With the shrimp industry facing up to $4 billion in annual losses from diseases like White Spot Syndrome Virus, Dalan’s vaccine represents the first viable prevention solution for one of the world’s most valuable seafood sectors.

Recent breakthrough results from clinical trials have demonstrated the vaccine’s efficacy against major shrimp pathogens, positioning the company to advance toward regulatory approval and commercial launch. The funding will support manufacturing scale-up, regulatory pathway completion, and market development activities necessary for successful commercial deployment.

Platform Expansion and Future Applications

While prioritizing shrimp vaccine commercialization, Dalan will also use the funding to continue expanding its platform across new species. The company’s proprietary Innate Immunity Platform leverages conserved pattern recognition receptors found across all animal species—immune system components that have remained highly conserved through millions of years of evolution.

The platform expansion will explore applications in poultry, and additional aquaculture species where broad-spectrum disease prevention could address significant unmet medical needs and reduce reliance on antibiotics in food production.

“Dalan’s vaccine is already proving transformative in the protection of bees, critical to our food sources. Adding the shrimp vaccine, addressing the world’s largest seafood protein, is not only a huge market, but is proving Dalan’s platform technology is applicable to many species,” said Maureen Stancik Boyce, PhD, Founder and Managing Partner of Good Growth Capital.

European Operations Strengthened with Research Grant

In addition to the SAFE round, Dalan announced that its European subsidiary, Dalan Bio SL, has been awarded a €250K Grant for Pan European Surveillance of Honeybee Diseases by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Center for the Development of Industrial Technologies and Innovation (CDTI – E.P.E.). This grant will support European market entry, demonstrating growing international recognition of Dalan’s technology.

The European grant, combined with the global investor participation in the SAFE round, reflects increasing worldwide interest in Dalan’s approach to disease prevention and the platform’s potential for international market applications.

About Good Growth Capital

Good Growth Capital is a global investment firm focused on companies developing sustainable solutions for major global challenges. The firm invests in innovative technologies addressing food security, environmental sustainability, and human health.

About Meach Cove Capital

Meach Cove Capital is an investment firm focused on supporting innovative biotechnology companies developing transformative solutions for global health and sustainability challenges.

About Dalan Animal Health

Dalan Animal Health (www.dalan.com) is dedicated to bringing the world transformative animal health solutions to support a more sustainable future. As the pioneer in invertebrate vaccines, Dalan developed the world’s first USDA-approved vaccine for honeybees and is advancing the first vaccine for shrimp using its proprietary Innate Immunity Platform technology. The company’s platform leverages conserved immune pathways to provide broad-spectrum disease protection across multiple animal species. Dalan’s biotech innovation has been recognized through numerous international awards including TIME’s Best Inventions, Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech, and SVG THRIVE Global Impact Challenge winner (2025).

For more information about Dalan’s vaccines and animal health solutions, visit www.dalan.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding shrimp vaccine commercialization, platform expansion, species applications, and market opportunities. These statements are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially due to regulatory requirements, technical challenges, market conditions, and other factors beyond the company’s control.

SOURCE Dalan Animal Health, Inc.

Led by Bessemer Venture Partners, the round reflects 3x increase in valuation in six months and adds new investors, including CrowdStrike’s George Kurtz

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 19, 2025 — Doppel, the AI-native social engineering defense (SED) platform, today announced a $70 million Series C funding round, just six months following its Series B. Led by Bessemer Venture Partners, this brings the total amount raised to $124M and the company’s valuation to over $600M. First-time investors include George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Aurum Partners – the investment fund affiliated with the owners of the San Francisco 49ers and other strategic LPs – and a group of athlete investors led by WNBA players Nneka Ogwumike, Breanna Stewart, and Kelsey Plum, who joined the round through the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund. Returning investors include venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, South Park Commons, Script Capital, 9Yards Capital, Sozo Ventures, and Strategic Cyber Ventures.

Technological advancements in AI are arriving at a near-constant pace, creating powerful new capabilities while also introducing sophisticated attack vectors for cybercriminals. Generative AI now enables hyper-personalized social engineering attacks across domains, social media, messaging apps, paid ads, the dark web, and more, increasing demand for solutions that can keep pace and protect businesses. Doppel is the leading platform delivering true multi-channel SED. Using agentic AI and a real-time threat graph, Doppel detects and unifies threats and automates takedowns, while strengthening employee defenses through next-generation, deepfake-driven simulations and training, cementing its position as the go-to solution to defend what’s real and disrupt what’s not.

“We’re thrilled to double down on our partnership with Doppel, as their world-class team is truly unparalleled,” said Elliott Robinson, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “In my 20 years of working with startups, Doppel stands out with its incredible speed, massive ambition, and laser focus on execution, which is a clear recipe for success. We believe these qualities will solidify Doppel as the unquestioned leader in social engineering defense for years to come.”

“I’m excited about what Doppel is delivering to combat social engineering attacks,” said George Kurtz, CEO and Founder of CrowdStrike. “Cybercriminals are using AI, conducting increasingly sophisticated attacks to manipulate and deceive users. Doppel’s traction with Fortune 500 enterprises illustrates market need for social engineering defense (SED) and impressive momentum.”

The new funding will accelerate product innovation across Doppel’s Digital Risk Protection product portfolio and expand its Human Risk Management offerings, including Simulation and Security Awareness Training, to help organizations turn awareness into measurable risk reduction. Following its launch in August, Doppel’s new Simulation product has achieved rapid traction – already accounting for a material share of new bookings in Q3 and underscoring strong early market demand for the expanded platform. 

Doppel has sustained record growth this year, achieving 3x ARR growth YoY and more than 5X increase in Fortune 500 customers. Today, Doppel protects dozens of the Fortune 500, notable brands including Coinbase, Ramp, Commerce, and Orrick, and over 200 total customers in industries such as financial services, energy & utilities, technology & software, industrial & manufacturing, healthcare & life sciences, and media. To support this momentum, the company has more than doubled its team year over year and continues to hire aggressively across engineering, product, sales, and marketing, while also expanding internationally.

“As a global, publicly traded company, protecting our business and customers is vital,” said Cayden Larkin, Security Analyst at Commerce, the parent company of BigCommerce and Feedonomics. “Doppel is a core layer of our security program, helping us to reduce risk by taking down impersonations across channels, and ultimately safeguarding our brand and reputation. We’re excited by Doppel’s pace of innovation and the impact it will continue to have on our customers and brand.”

“As a global brand with highly visible executives, protecting our leadership team is paramount,” said a CISO from a Fortune 500 agriscience leader. “Doppel has been a game-changer for our corporate security, driving a 93% reduction in exposed executive PII and proving vital to minimizing our risk profile. We are proud to call Doppel a great partner in ensuring our leadership’s safety, and look forward to the continued innovation and impact.”

Doppel’s latest work with OpenAI marks a major milestone in AI-driven security. By fine-tuning OpenAI’s models with thousands of expert cybersecurity decisions, Doppel built an autonomous AI agent capable of detecting and neutralizing complex social engineering threats in real time.

“We’re proud to have the continued support of returning investors and to welcome new partners to our roster,” said Kevin Tian, CEO and co-founder of Doppel. “Their support validates the strength of our vision and the work our team has accomplished. This signals confidence in the path we’re on and reinforces our commitment to driving rapid growth. With this backing, we are positioned to continue scaling aggressively and creating meaningful impact in the market.”

To match the pace and acceleration of Doppel’s growth, the company has unveiled a refreshed brand identity. Discover the new look and learn how its AI-native SED platform helps protect organizations from modern social engineering threats at www.doppel.com. Follow the company on X and LinkedIn, and explore career opportunities at https://www.doppel.com/careers. 

About Doppel
Doppel is an AI-native platform designed for social engineering defense. Doppel protects individuals and brands from AI-powered impersonation, phishing, fraud, and social engineering by dismantling attacker infrastructure and building resilience through training and simulation. Doppel’s comprehensive Digital Risk Protection solution detects threats across multiple channels, links alerts into a real-time threat graph, and offers AI-driven infrastructure disruption. These threats inform phishing simulation campaigns and security awareness training to offer robust Human Risk Management capabilities that strengthen employee defenses through next-generation training and testing.

SOURCE Doppel

Delivers mission-critical AI to 22,000+ federal, state, local agencies;  200+ tech companies, including 50% of US Fortune 10 

NEW YORK, Nov. 19, 2025 — RapidSOS, the public safety AI company, has raised a $100 million financing round led by the Apax Digital Funds. This investment brings the unicorn’s total capital raised to over $450 million, making it the highest-funded emergency response AI company.

The funding comes as RapidSOS recently crossed one billion emergencies supported. RapidSOS HARMONY, the first purpose-built AI for public safety, is designed to save critical time by automatically detecting emergencies, unifying real-time data and video streams, and coordinating a faster, more effective response. HARMONY is powered by the world’s largest safety network:   

• 600 million devices, apps, sensors, and integrated cameras
• 200+ global enterprises, including half of the US Fortune 10 
• 22,000+ federal, state, and local public safety and defense agencies
• 1 million first responder users globally

“We’ve had the extraordinary privilege of learning from the heroic work of first responders across over one billion emergencies,” said Michael Martin, Founder and CEO of RapidSOS. “This funding further accelerates our work to support first responders. We’re accelerating R&D efforts into our AI with the aim to prevent one million emergencies by 2030.”

One of these prevented emergencies came out of rural Michigan where the 911 telecommunicator was able to dispatch first responders just 13 seconds after the RapidSOS-enabled crash detection was initiated. The heroism and quick thinking of the emergency response team, supported by RapidSOS technology, ensured that the survivor was pulled out of a crashed vehicle seconds before it was engulfed. 

“RapidSOS’s data infrastructure underpins much of modern safety, security, and disaster response,” said Patrick Kane, Partner at Apax Digital. “As we diligenced the platform, it became clear that this foundational data layer, operationalized through the company’s AI, plays a critical role in powering emergency management in agencies across a dozen countries, covering nearly 700 million people. We are excited to support the team as they continue delivering and advancing essential capabilities for public safety stakeholders worldwide.”

With this investment, RapidSOS will continue to invest in scaling its safety network, deepening interoperability across 911 and field-response workflows, and advancing its suite of AI tools that transform how emergencies are triaged, analyzed, and resolved. The company also plans to continue to expand internationally, partnering with governments and global technology providers to modernize emergency infrastructure in collaboration with the public safety community.

About RapidSOS 

RapidSOS is the leading public safety AI company that unlocks mission-critical intelligence for emergency response. It harnesses artificial and human intelligence to fuse life-saving data from the world’s largest safety network, which includes over 600 million connected devices and 200+ global technology companies. This intelligence is delivered to 22,000+ federal, state, local, and defense agencies, serving one million first responders. RapidSOS has supported over one billion emergencies in a dozen countries, powering RapidSOS HARMONY, the first purpose-built AI for public safety, designed to save critical time by automatically detecting emergencies, unifying real-time data and video streams, and coordinating a faster, more effective response. Learn more at www.RapidSOS.com.

About The Apax Digital Fund 

The Apax Digital Funds specialise in growth equity in high-growth enterprise software, consumer internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. The Apax Digital team leverages Apax’s deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialised operating experts, to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit http://digital.apax.com.  

For over 50 years, Apax has worked to inspire growth and ideas that transform businesses. The firm has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of nearly $80 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.   

SOURCE RapidSOS

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 18, 2025 — Jiga, the AI-driven sourcing platform used by NASA, Siemens, as well as hundreds of companies across aerospace, defense, and robotics today announced a $12 million Series A led by Aleph, with participation from Symbol which led the Seed round, and Y Combinator.

According to the team, a software engineer deploys an autonomous agent in 3 hours. The mechanical engineer down the hall waits 3 weeks for a quote on a custom robot chassis. This isn’t an edge case; it’s how hardware companies operate today. While software moves at AI speed, sourcing the physical parts needed to build breakthrough products is stuck in 2005. The result: AI development is constrained by hardware procurement cycles that can’t keep pace.

The problem was never talent. It was tedious, unstructured coordination that couldn’t be automated. – until Jiga.

Founded by Adar Hay (CEO), Yonatan Wolowelsky (CTO), and Assaf Geuz (COO), Jiga solved this by bringing the entire sourcing workflow into an AI-native manufacturing platform. Engineers upload drawings and specs, get matched to vetted manufacturers, and order parts directly through Jiga, which serves as the vendor of record. The platform’s AI extracts requirements from drawings, pulls context from communications, detects risks before delays escalate, and structures all documentation into one transparent view with direct supplier communication channels. Humans control the decisions that matter, while Jiga automates the administrative burden and owns the outcomes using its manufacturing AI platform.

What once took weeks now takes hours—at a fraction of the cost. 

As the U.S. works to reindustrialize, this speed gap has become a strategic bottleneck. Advanced manufacturing companies- whether building rockets, satellites, jets, or drones- outsource 80-90% of their custom parts. Hardware demand is exploding: the robotics market is forecast to grow from $90 billion in 2024 to $206 billion by 2030, according to GlobalData, while the space economy reached $570 billion with projections approaching $2 trillion by 2040, per the Space Foundation. Every AI company ultimately runs on atoms: servers, enclosures, cooling systems, precision components. Yet the supply chain behind them remains stuck in unstructured chaos—technical drawings buried in PDFs, specs scattered across emails, quotes in incompatible formats.

“Hardware can’t keep pace if engineers chase quotes instead of design, and supply chain teams are buried in spreadsheets instead of strategy,” said Adar Hay, co-founder and CEO. “We’re eliminating the administrative burden so teams can move at AI-era speed. The capital will allow us to support the exponentially growing market demand.”

Teams across aerospace, defense, and robotics—the sectors building physical AI—already rely on Jiga-native manufacturing platform. The platform now processes thousands of RFQs each month for the world’s most demanding hardware organizations.

“Hardware moves only as fast as its supply chain,” said Eden Shochat, Equal Partner at Aleph. “For decades, custom parts procurement couldn’t be automated—buried in PDFs, emails, spreadsheets. Jiga is finally cracking it. What took three weeks now takes three hours. This is the hardware manufacturing pipeline rebuilt for software speeds.”

Despite already being profitable, Jiga raised the Series A to meet surging demand from aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing companies that can no longer afford weeks-long procurement cycles. The capital will expand the platform’s premium production capabilities, deepen AI-driven quality assurance for mission-critical parts, and scale enterprise infrastructure to support larger deployments across new manufacturing categories.

About Jiga

Jiga is an AI-native manufacturing platform where engineers source and buy custom mechanical parts from vetted suppliers at AI-era speed. The platform automates the administrative chaos of custom parts procurement: coordinating communication, finding the right suppliers, managing documentation, ensuring transparent pricing, and guaranteeing that parts arrive accurately and on time. This advanced capability enables teams to complete sourcing processes in hours instead of weeks, while maintaining full control and efficiency.

Contact

PR
Orian T.
Jiga.io
[email protected]

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2826374/Jiga_Photo.jpg

SOURCE Jiga

Chargeflow’s AI-powered platform prevents and combats illegitimate chargebacks – delivering up to 80% success rate against friendly fraud, helping merchants reclaim billions in lost revenue

NEW YORK, Nov. 18, 2025 — Chargeflow, the leading AI-powered chargeback automation platform, today announced a $35 million Series A funding round — including a $10 million debt facility, led by Viola Growth, with participation by existing investors OpenView Venture Partners, bringing the company’s total funding to $49 million.

The new capital will fuel Chargeflow’s AI-driven product innovation and complete its end-to-end chargeback automation suite, while scaling global go-to-market operations to meet accelerating enterprise demand. Chargeflow has tripled revenue year over year and now powers over 15,000 merchants worldwide.

Originally meant to protect consumers, chargebacks have become a major source of loss for merchants. Mastercard projects chargeback volume to rise 24% by 2028, reaching 324 million chargebacks annually, with nearly 80% driven by “friendly fraud.” Merchants now lose over $100 billion each year to disputes. Chargeflow’s AI platform automates the process end-to-end — preventing disputes before they occur and recovering lost revenue with up to four times higher win rates.

Each chargeback requires merchants to manually gather and submit evidence across fragmented systems, consuming valuable time and resources. Chargeflow eliminates this friction through full automation, integrating with over 100 leading payment, data, and eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce, Adyen, and Afterpay, to detect, manage, and prevent chargebacks at scale.

The platform automatically collects and analyzes transaction data, builds and submits evidence, and tracks dispute outcomes in real time. Powered by AI-driven fraud detection, Chargeflow also proactively identifies and prevents friendly fraud before it occurs, alerting merchants the moment a potential chargeback is detected and giving them a decisive advantage.

“Chargebacks were designed to protect consumers, but over time the system has become unbalanced, favoring buyers and leaving merchants powerless,” said Ariel Chen, CEO and Co-founder of Chargeflow. “We’re on a mission to redefine the chargeback system itself, using AI to shift the balance of power back to merchants and create a truly fair, transparent, and automated future for digital commerce. With our industry-leading technology, we prevent nine out of ten disputes before they even occur and recover more revenue from the rest, restoring billions in fairness to the ecosystem. This funding enables us to expand globally, launch additional products that complete the Chargeflow AI ecosystem, and realize our vision for what chargebacks should be: intelligent, automatic, and equitable for every business.”

“As global retail e-commerce has doubled in recent years to reach $7.5 trillion, chargeback volumes have also surged, becoming a significant challenge for merchants,” said Natalie Refuah, General Partner, Viola Growth. “We were highly impressed by how Chargeflow has established itself as the industry’s gold standard, achieving growth-stage revenues with an AI-first product built with remarkable efficiency. Beyond its powerful dispute automation platform, we’re equally excited about the company’s expansion into new products—Chargeflow Connect and Chargeflow Prevent—which will further enhance its value to merchants worldwide.”

Chargeflow’s AI-driven platform applies machine learning and data automation to manage and prevent chargebacks at scale. Using proprietary algorithms and generative AI, Chargeflow automatically compiles and submits dispute evidence, enriches merchant data for accuracy, and continuously learns from millions of resolved cases across its 15,000+ merchant network. This same foundation now powers Chargeflow Prevent, extending the company’s technology beyond chargeback recovery to proactively mitigate post-purchase fraud and friendly fraud disputes before they are initiated.

Having established its leadership among small and medium-sized businesses, Chargeflow is now expanding to serve enterprise-level merchants where transaction volumes – and consequently chargeback risks – are exponentially higher. The company has recently built out a new enterprise sales team headquartered in New York to support this next phase of growth.

About Chargeflow

Chargeflow is the world’s first fully automated chargeback management platform, built by eCommerce entrepreneurs to fight friendly fraud and restore fairness to digital commerce. Powered by generative AI, proprietary automation, and deep payments expertise, Chargeflow enables merchants to recover and prevent chargebacks at scale — completely hands-free.

With industry-leading win rates, a security-first architecture, and a guaranteed ROI model, Chargeflow protects billions in revenue for more than 15,000 merchants worldwide. Learn more at www.chargeflow.io

About Viola Growth

Viola Growth is Israel’s first and largest growth fund, with >$1B AUM. Founded in 2008, The fund specializes in propelling Israeli startups through their growth stages, developing robust growth strategies, scale efficiently, and global partnerships. Viola Growth invested in 36 companies with 12 exits to date.  www.violagrowth.com

Contact:

Jack Mendel
[email protected]

SOURCE Chargeflow

AutoGrid Veterans Unveil Orchestrated Reinforcement Learning (RL) Control Agents to Maximize AI Tokens and Accelerate AI Deployment Without Waiting For The Grid

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 18, 2025 — Today, Hammerhead AI is emerging from stealth with $10 million in seed funding to accelerate AI factory deployment by enabling operators to maximize their power utilization for AI workloads. The oversubscribed seed round was led by Buoyant Ventures, with participation from SE Ventures (the venture fund backed by data center equipment leader Schneider Electric), AINA Climate AI Ventures, MCJ Collective, WovenEarth Ventures, Bombellii Ventures, Clearvision Ventures, Stepchange, Acclimate Ventures, and individual contributions from prominent industry leaders such as Jack Cogen, a member of the Board of Directors at CoreWeave.

As AI factories scale to train and serve models, the sector is colliding with a hard limit: power. GPUs are sitting idle on racks because operators can’t secure enough power. These factories — from colocation providers to hyperscalers — often operate well below their potential, typically running at only 30 to 50% utilization. This gap between peak and average usage leaves vast amounts of power capacity underused, stranding megawatts that could be used for token generation.

Hammerhead’s Orchestrated RL Control Agents (ORCA) platform optimizes token processing capacity and power utilization, boosting output by up to 30%. By dynamically orchestrating workloads within existing power budgets, ORCA enables AI factory operators and colocation providers to deploy workloads faster, improve gross margins and capture revenue from power that currently sits idle. In constrained markets, each additional megawatt of stranded power unlocked using ORCA can be worth more than $20 to $50 million.

While many focus solely on power utilization efficiency, ORCA targets system-wide token productivity. Its software-first solution optimizes on-site generation and storage, non-IT equipment such as chillers and cooling distribution units, IT equipment including racks, servers and GPUs, and if required, AI workloads themselves. ORCA’s autonomous, power-aware RL controllers adapt in real-time to complex, data-rich environments, maximizing token throughput while enforcing operator-defined power guardrails.

“Power is the critical bottleneck in today’s AI landscape, but it doesn’t have to limit what’s possible,” said Rahul Kar, CEO and Founder of Hammerhead AI. “With ORCA, we’re enabling AI factory operators to achieve greater output from existing resources. Our investors recognize the potential for AI factories to transform their business models and move beyond grid infrastructure limits.”

Hammerhead AI, part of SE Ventures’ inaugural Accelerator Program and Nvidia’s Inception Program, is led by a founding team with deep roots in power orchestration and implementing large, 24/7 mission-critical enterprise systems. CEO Rahul Kar and CTO Rajeev Singh previously built and scaled AutoGrid, where they helped pioneer power orchestration technologies and guided the company through its acquisition by Schneider Electric. They are joined by Sadia Raveendran, who managed AutoGrid’s strategic partnership with Schneider Electric from early investment through acquisition. Together, the team brings hard-won experience in orchestrating 8,000 megawatts of energy assets across more than 20 countries. The leadership team also includes data center infrastructure and cloud operation veterans from Dell, HPE, Microsoft, Meta and Lambda Labs.

“Hammerhead enables AI infrastructure providers to unlock the full potential of their data centers,” said Aaron Binkley, VP of Sustainability at Digital Realty. “Along with unlocking new revenue, Hammerhead helps solve one of the most pressing problems in the industry: powering AI workload sustainably. Their unique go-to-market strategy, OEM integrations and AI-driven orchestration sets them apart.”

“The Hammerhead team represents the rare combination of deep technical expertise and proven scaling experience needed to redefine the economics of AI infrastructure,” said Laura Katzman, Partner at Buoyant Ventures.

Amit Chaturvedy, Global Head and Managing Partner at SE Ventures, added, “We selected Hammerhead AI from over 400 applicants to join SE Ventures’ first Accelerator Program because the team and solution immediately stood out. During our program, Hammerhead established strong alignment with Schneider Electric’s data center businesses, and there is an opportunity to launch reference designs for future AI factories. Hammerhead is the only company positioned to boost data center operators’ revenue through its unique power-aware token maximization approach. SE Ventures is proud to double down on our investment.”

Hammerhead AI will use the funding to accelerate product development, scale global deployments, and deepen ties with leading infrastructure OEMs and AI factory operators. The company welcomes engagement from operators, OEMs, enterprises and AI cloud providers seeking to reshape AI factory economics. Learn more at hammerheadco.ai.

About Hammerhead AI
Hammerhead AI enables AI factory operators to maximize revenue using Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents for power-aware orchestration. Its flagship Orchestrated RL Control Agents (ORCA) platform maximizes token processing capacity by converting power constraints into revenue and shareholder value — without waiting for grid expansions. Founded by veterans in AI, power and cyber-secure orchestration of mission-critical assets, Hammerhead is backed by Buoyant Ventures, SE Ventures, AINA Climate AI Ventures, MCJ Collective, WovenEarth Ventures, Bombellii Ventures, Clearvision Ventures, Stepchange, Acclimate Ventures and prominent investors like Jack Cogen from CoreWeave’s board. Learn more at hammerheadco.ai.

SOURCE Hammerhead AI

Funding round led by Forerunner, and will accelerate the shift of $800B of digital ad spend to creators

NEW YORK, Nov. 18, 2025 — Agentio—the AI-native platform for creator-led advertising—raised a $40M Series B led by Forerunner to scale the infrastructure enabling brands to shift hundreds of billions of digital advertising spend to creators. The round includes additional investments from Benchmark, Craft Ventures, AlleyCorp, Antler, and Starting Line, bringing total capital raised to $56 million and valuing the company at $340 million.

The creator economy is expected to reach $500B by 2027 as creators become the most trusted voices for consumers. But while brands recognize the opportunity, creator advertising has remained stuck in a manual, inefficient model — individual negotiations, inconsistent measurement, and workflows that don’t scale beyond a handful of partnerships. The result: less than 2% of digital advertising spend flows to creators despite their outsized influence on purchasing decisions.

“Advertising follows attention, and attention has moved to creators. The shift is already happening — brands are moving billions into creator-led marketing,” said Arthur Leopold, co-founder and CEO of Agentio. “What’s been missing is infrastructure that lets brands scale creator programs the way they can easily scale their search and paid social campaigns — thereby making creators part of their media plan. We’ve built that infrastructure. Brands can now build creator programs on Agentio that run at the scale of their paid media budgets. This new funding will allow us to expand that infrastructure globally and across platforms, establishing Agentio as the most important growth engine for brands, and unlocking the movement of hundreds of billions of dollars into the creator economy.”

Agentio’s AI infrastructure powers this shift by automating end-to-end creator campaign lifecycles at scale, from creator-brand matching to content briefing, brand safety, bids, contracting, approvals, payments, and real-time performance tracking. The platform enables brands to build and scale creator programs with the same efficiency, speed, measurement, and control as any digital media buy, while giving creators automated access to enterprise advertising budgets. In 2025 alone, over 100 leading enterprise brands, including Uber, Tecovas, DoorDash, CashApp, and Olipop, have shifted tens of millions of dollars in paid media budgets to creator campaigns built on Agentio’s platform.

“Every previous attempt to scale creator advertising required armies of people negotiating individual deals. It couldn’t work at the scale brands needed,” said Jonathan Meyers, co-founder and CTO of Agentio. “What’s changed is that AI can now automate the manual administrative tasks that once took weeks or months. Marketers can train custom agents in natural language to translate their ideas into fully contracted creator campaigns in minutes. Our platform analyzes a brand’s needs, evaluates tens of thousands of creators for audience and content fit, determines optimal matches, and automates the entire workflow, from brief to payment. This end-to-end automation is powered by the underlying technology, network, and data on Agentio that turn creator marketing into a scalable system.”

Agentio’s AI platform operates as a two-sided network connecting brands and creators: brands get agentic tooling to build, automate, and scale their creator programs, and creators get personalized opportunities from top brands without endless back and forth or negotiation. The company has achieved 5x+ year-over-year growth, with brands using the platform to run creator campaigns that outperform their best digital channels. Bombas recently achieved 5.3x better ROAS from Agentio campaigns compared to digital video campaigns.

“Creators have become one of the most powerful forces shaping consumer behavior, but the infrastructure to support them hasn’t kept pace,” said Eurie Kim, Managing Partner of Forerunner. “Just as Google and Meta built platforms to unlock search and social, Agentio is building the infrastructure needed for creator-led ad development and monetization at scale. Arthur and Jonathan recognized early on the opportunity for AI to bridge the execution gap between creators and marketers, and we believe the Agentio platform will power the next generation of efficient, scalable marketing alpha in the ever-evolving competition for customer acquisition and awareness.”

Several Forerunner portfolio companies, including Warby Parker, Away, Chime, and The Farmer’s Dog, run successful creator programs on Agentio’s platform.

“Agentio completely transformed our YouTube creator strategy,” said Steven Vigilante, Director of Media and Partnerships at Olipop. “What used to require months of coordination for a handful of partnerships now happens in days, allowing us to activate dozens of top-tier creators while improving performance tracking. For the first time, we can scale this channel and measure the ROI on every dollar spent, just as we would with any paid media channel.”

Agentio will use the Series B funding to advance its AI infrastructure, expand creator content buys beyond YouTube to Meta Partnership Ads and additional platforms, and grow its team from 35 to over 100 employees in 2026. The company recently added Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal (best known as Rhett & Link), acclaimed Creators and hosts of Good Mythical Morning, the most-watched daily morning show on the internet, as advisors after growing their branded revenue through Agentio.

About Agentio
Agentio is the AI-native platform for creator-led advertising. It automates campaigns end to end, enabling advertisers to scale creator programs across Meta, YouTube, and beyond in hours, not months, while connecting creators with the world’s top brands. For more information, visit www.agentio.com.

SOURCE Agentio