STOCKHOLM, Oct. 1, 2025 — Einride, a technology company that provides digital, electric, and autonomous solutions for road freight, has raised about $100 million in funding from a mix of existing and new investors. The capital will power Einride’s next phase of growth as it scales the deployment of its autonomous freight solutions, deepens technology development, and continues its expansion with customers. 

Investors include EQT Ventures, one of Einride’s largest shareholders; a global asset management company based on the West Coast of the United States; as well as other investors and shareholders.

“We believe Einride is building the most complete and forward-looking freight ecosystem on the market today,” said Ted Persson, partner at EQT Ventures. “Nordic tech has a habit of being underestimated, until it quietly rewires an entire industry. That’s exactly what Einride is doing in freight.”

Founded in Sweden in 2016, Einride is developing and operating a new freight ecosystem, which includes one of the world’s largest fleets of heavy-duty electric trucks, cutting-edge autonomous technology and the proprietary Saga planning optimization platform. Saga integrates advanced digital planning with electric and autonomous vehicles to address the fragmentation, high emissions, and labor shortages that continue to impact the freight industry.

“I am excited and proud for the continued trust our investors have placed in us”, said Roozbeh Charli, CEO of Einride.  “This funding allows us to grow with our customer base and accelerate the deployment of our autonomous freight technology. It’s a strong signal of confidence in both our team and our unique position in the market.”

This raise follows a year of sustained growth for Einride with net sales more than doubling in 2024, a successful expansion into Austria and the UAE, and a growing footprint with global shippers across Europe and North America.

The $100 million includes an investment made earlier this year by IonQ – the world’s leading quantum company – to develop quantum applications that address large-scale logistics problems that have traditionally challenged classical computing.

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Backed by Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Menlo Ventures, and Anthropic, Composite transforms your browser into an intelligent autopilot that predicts and automates your busywork

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1, 2025 — Composite, the startup automating the browser to eliminate digital grunt work, today announced $5.6 million in seed funding. The round was led by Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross of NFDG, with participation from Menlo Ventures and Anthropic’s Anthology Fund. Already used by professionals at hundreds of companies including Google, Uber, DoorDash, Tesla, Salesforce, and Reddit, Composite rescues workers from the never-ending cycle of repetitive busywork that drains energy and morale. With Composite, they can finally reclaim their focus and channel their brainpower into work that feels meaningful.

While other browsers like OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent and Perplexity’s Comet browser have generated headlines, they are most useful for generic consumer errands like “book a flight to Paris” rather than the grind of real work for professionals. Composite takes a different approach: it transforms your existing browser into an intelligent partner that understands your specific workflows and handles the tasks that are drowning you.

Composite also launches personalization features that watch your actual work habits, detect the rote tasks bogging you down, and complete them automatically. Its new Spotlight View eliminates the awkward sidebars that get in the way, letting you keep your full screen while Composite handles the busywork in the background. Additionally, the company releases its platform on Windows, expanding beyond its Mac-only beta to serve billions more professionals.

College-educated professionals spend 85% of their day trapped in digital hamster wheels: they’re drowning in tabs, copying data line-by-line across clunky software stacks, and drafting the same memos again and again. Current “AI browsers” only add friction, forcing users to leave the setups they’re accustomed to and delivering results isolated from the tools (e.g. email, Google Docs, Notion) they actually use for their work every day.

“Composite knows what’s weighing you down and completes them on your behalf – on any website and in any browser,” says Yang Fan Yun, Composite’s co-founder and CEO, who was New Zealand’s national valedictorian and achieved the highest GPA in Stanford’s Computer Science department. “We’re not trying to replace Chrome. We’re making the browser you already use infinitely more powerful by predicting and automating your work before you even think to ask.

By putting an AI worker directly inside your browser, Composite:

• Predicts your next moves: Detects the specific tasks draining your time and automates them – instead of bothering you with irrelevant, generic prompts
• Works with any browser: Plugs into Chrome, Edge, Comet without the agony of migrating bookmarks, losing extensions, logging into everything again, or begging IT for approval
• Handles real work: Researches customers or candidates, moves data between tools, updates project statuses, drafts emails based on existing docs, and more
• Stays out of your way: Appears by hitting Cmd+Shift+Space (or Ctrl+Shift+Space for Windows) for a lightweight overlay, completes tasks, then disappears
• Runs completely local: Actions execute directly on your device, completing tasks faster and exactly as you would

For more information, visit composite.com.

About Composite

Composite is the autopilot for your browser. By running AI locally inside the browser users already use, Composite intelligently detects and automates repetitive digital tasks in real time. The company helps professionals at both Fortune 500 companies and startups predict and automate their most mind-numbing work. Founded by Yang Fan Yun and Charlie Deane, Composite is backed by Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Menlo Ventures, and Anthropic.

SOURCE Composite

New model portfolios offer advisors enhanced options for clients.

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Oct. 1, 2025 — Private Advisor Group, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent wealth management firms in the country*, announced the addition of three new investment strategists to its proprietary investment management platform, WealthSuite: Capital Group, Franklin Templeton, and Goldman Sachs. The new investment models are available as of October 1.

“Adding Capital Group, Franklin Templeton, and Goldman Sachs to the WealthSuite platform underscores our commitment to providing advisors with diverse, high-quality investment approaches,” said James Sullivan, Head of Advisor Advocacy & Technology at Private Advisor Group. “These strategists bring distinct portfolio construction methods and asset allocation options that expand the flexibility and customization available to help meet a wide range of client objectives.”

Capital Group offers model portfolios aligned to five investment objectives—aggressive growth, growth, growth with income, income with moderate growth, and income with capital preservation. These active-passive models were created specifically for Private Advisor Group and include Capital Group’s active ETF strategies which are among the fastest growing in the industry at more than $90B in AUM, offering the potential for excess return generation.

Matt Eisenhardt, Head of Advisor Sold Group at Capital Group, commented, “customized model portfolios are increasingly being recognized as an effective way for advisors to manage complex client portfolios and deliver scalable solutions for their clients. Our proprietary process used in designing these models for Private Advisor Group helps meet a range of portfolio objectives.”

Franklin Templeton brings open architecture, ETF-based completion portfolios that allow mix-and-match customization across equity and fixed income sleeves. These portfolios include U.S. equity (with or without Bitcoin exposure), international equity, and fixed income (taxable and tax-exempt). The firm’s Investment Solutions team designs these portfolios using risk-based asset allocation, dynamic market views, and in-depth manager research.

“As a strategic partner to Private Advisor Group, we are proud to introduce ETF-based completion portfolios, offering enhanced flexibility, customization, and personalization,” said Jeff Masom, Head of US Distribution at Franklin Templeton. “We are launching the first model portfolios that blend traditional asset classes with digital assets, giving advisors and their clients diversified access to a rapidly emerging asset class.”

Goldman Sachs Asset Management manages model portfolios through its Multi-Asset Solutions team, combining strategic and dynamic asset allocation with ongoing evaluation of underlying investments through quantitative and fundamental research. Leveraging the firm’s global footprint, the team integrates international market insights directly into its investment decisions.

Since its launch in October 2022, WealthSuite has helped advisors boost efficiency and devote more time to improving the investor experience. The competitively priced, multi-custodian, open-architecture platform offers various investment strategies including mutual fund, ETF, and blended model portfolios, along with custom indexing and tax-optimized solutions delivered through a separately managed account structure. There are 11 strategists currently on the platform.

Private Advisor Group will continue to evaluate and expand its available solutions with a focus on providing a differentiated experience for both advisors and investors.

Read more about how the firm supports independent advisors with flexible investment management solutions at www.privateadvisorgroup.com/investment-management/.

About Private Advisor Group

Founded in 1997 in Morristown, NJ, Private Advisor Group is one of the nation’s leading financial services firms. With over $41.3 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2025, the firm leverages its resources to deliver strategies positioned to improve financial outcomes for individual investors and to inspire growth, fiduciary adherence, succession, and a client-centric approach for independent financial advisors’ practices. Barron’s has recognized Private Advisor Group as a top 10 registered investment advisory firm every year since 2018.

* Barron’s “Top 100 RIA Firms” ranking is based on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, including regulatory records, client retention, assets under management, revenue, number of clients and staff, among other factors. Investor experience and investment returns are not considered. Neither Private Advisor Group nor its financial advisors pay a fee to Barron’s for inclusion. The ranking, announced September 15, 2025, reflects data from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. This recognition is not indicative of future performance and may not reflect the experience of all clients.

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment Advice offered through Private Advisor Group, a registered investment advisor and separate entity from LPL Financial.

There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk.

Alternative investments may not be suitable for all investors and should be considered as an investment for the risk capital portion of the investor’s portfolio. The strategies employed in the management of alternative investments may accelerate the velocity of potential losses.

Media Inquiries:
Madison Vance
JConnelly
[email protected]
973-349-8239

SOURCE Private Advisor Group

Funds will be used to accelerate the development and launch of an AI agent for field sales and expand Dashmote’s U.S. presence

AMSTERDAM, Oct. 1, 2025 — Dashmote, a leading AI-powered data analytics platform, today announced a $6 million Series A1 funding round co-led by Blossom Street Ventures, a U.S.-based venture capital firm, and Rabobank, one of Europe’s leading financial institutions in the food and agriculture space. Dashmote will use the funds from this round to accelerate the development of DashSalesAI, the company’s first generative AI Agent tailored specifically for field sales professionals; grow the Dashmote team; and fuel the company’s expansion in the United States. To date, the company has raised $14 million across all funding rounds.

Built on advances in large language models (LLMs), DashSalesAI marks a significant evolution of Dashmote’s platform from delivering insights to automating on-the-go sales workflows. DashSalesAI acts as a virtual sales assistant, handling everything from lead generation and outreach to account management. Designed for professionals on the move, DashSalesAI integrates into mobile-first tools like WhatsApp and Dashmote’s location analytics platform. It enables reps to receive lead suggestions, client summaries, and talking points via natural chat interfaces, helping sales teams prospect smarter, seamlessly manage accounts, and close deals faster.

“Field sales have been underserved by advances in automation, despite representing one of the largest and most critical revenue engines for global companies,” said Sammy Abdullah, Managing Partner, Blossom Street Ventures. “Dashmote is pioneering a new category by arming reps in the field with real-time intelligence and autonomous support, fundamentally changing how deals are sourced and closed. With its proven traction and unique data advantage, we see Dashmote as a company positioned to reshape field sales at scale.”

Built on Dashmote’s proprietary database, one of the largest and most detailed global datasets capturing millions of venues across food delivery, e-commerce, social media and mapping platforms, DashSalesAI transforms raw data into actionable intelligence. It not only surfaces venue-level profiles and market trends, but also recommends targeted outreach strategies tailored to each opportunity. This progression from advanced analytics to true autonomous assistance represents a pivotal step forward in Dashmote’s innovation roadmap.

“Unlike traditional office chatbots, DashSalesAI is built for the realities of field sales,” said Dennis Tan, Co-founder and CEO, Dashmote. “We designed it to understand the rhythm of a rep’s day in the field, from planning morning routes to capturing insights after the last meeting. By leveraging LLMs to take on time-consuming tasks such as drafting outreach, researching venues, and logging visits, DashSalesAI allows reps to focus on what matters most: strengthening customer relationships and accelerating revenue.”

Early Traction and Expanding Use Cases
Dashmote’s clients, which include major global beverage and consumer goods brands such as Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and AB InBev, have already begun integrating DashSalesAI into their sales workflows. Field reps are using the agent to surface nearby leads in real time, get daily briefings, and draft messages on the fly. Initial user feedback has been positive, positioning DashSalesAI as a reliable junior sales assistant who never sleeps.

Although Dashmote has established its foundation in the food and beverage sector, the versatility introduced by DashSalesAI extends far beyond. Its ability to deliver real-time intelligence and on-the-go decision support makes it invaluable for medical device and pharmaceutical reps, real estate agents, and other professionals who rely on face-to-face interactions in the field. Concurrently, e-commerce and digital sales teams are leveraging Dashmote’s AI Agents to optimize online storefronts and execute hyper-localized strategies, underscoring the platform’s broad relevance across both physical and digital sales channels.

About Dashmote
Founded in 2015 in Amsterdam, Dashmote is an AI technology company that transforms unstructured data into actionable insights for sales, strategy, and marketing. Its flagship platform, originally built for the food and beverage sector, gathers data from food delivery platforms and map services to help businesses discover growth opportunities, optimize digital channels, and scale their presence.

Dashmote’s clients include Ab-Inbev, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé, who use the platform’s insights and automation to boost sales efficiency and strategic execution. Today, Dashmote operates across more than 50 countries from offices in Amsterdam, New York, and Shanghai. The company is backed by renowned investors from the U.S. and Asia and was recognized by McKinsey and Google as the Best B2B Startup in their Digital Top 50 awards.

For more information, visit www.dashmote.com.

Media Contacts

Dwain Schenck
PR Lab
203-223-5230
[email protected]

Stefan Tan
Co-Founder, Dashmote
[email protected]

SOURCE Dashmote

Fourteen companies join 7th annual innovation program spanning growth-stage Excelerator and early-stage Incubator tracks

TRACY, Calif., Oct. 1, 2025 — The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB), in partnership with VentureFuel, today announced the 14 companies selected to participate in the 7th Annual Real California Milk (RCM) Excelerator and Incubator programs. One of the most active dairy innovation programs in the U.S., the Excelerator recently evolved into two tracks to support brands at various stages of growth: the Excelerator for growth-stage companies and an Incubator for earlier-stage products. This year, each track will feature seven companies providing access to programming, mentorship, and stipends to help accelerate company and product growth.

This year’s Excelerator cohort companies showcase how brands are leveraging the natural benefits of real dairy to meet today’s consumer demands. With products delivering on high protein, clean label, sustainability, and indulgence, the 2025 cohort reflects the growth and versatility of real dairy in fueling the next generation of food innovation.

The cohort includes:
Foggy Bottom’s Boys’ Jersey Scoops (Loleta, Calif.) – Organic, lactose-free, carbon-negative farm-to-scoop ice cream with 16g of protein, crafted from A2 Jersey cow’s milk by a sixth-generation North Coast dairy farm.
Joseph Farms‘ String Cheese (Atwater, Calif.) – 99% lactose-free string cheese with 7g protein per stick.
Kea Wellness (Huntington Beach, Calif.) – Shelf-stable, 100% natural liquid collagen creamers providing a delicious and convenient way to support skin health and joint wellness.
King Cheese‘s Spirella Minis (Monrovia, Calif.) – Hand-crafted high-quality artisanal meat and Oaxaca cheese rolls.
Mavens Creamery (San Jose, Calif.) – Asian-inspired indulgent ice cream made with rich, exotic ingredients in flavors like Thai Tea, Durian, and Black Sesame.
Pioneer Pastures (Bozeman, MT) – Ultra Filtered, A2 whole milks crafted for superior nutrition and taste with higher protein and lower sugar for easier digestion.
Sweet Craft Dessert Cups (Oceanside, Calif.) – Clean-label, Italian-inspired dessert cups in BPA-free packaging.

The seven companies selected for the Incubator track have products that highlight the next wave of dairy innovation: Clover Sonoma, Coney Island Creamery, Jonzo Inc.’s Frosty Cream Donut, Maazah, Marlene’s Milk, Nalwaya Foods, and Proof Pudding. Their concepts range from compostable single-serve yogurt cups to functional puddings, aseptic Southeast Asian-inspired creamers, indulgent frozen donuts, probiotic-rich yogurt, and A2 ultra-filtered milkshakes.

“The Real California Milk Excelerator continues to push the boundaries of dairy innovation, and this years’ cohorts showcase both market-ready products and bold early concepts,” said Bob Carroll, CEO of CMAB. “This year’s cohort represents exactly what today’s consumers are looking for — products that deliver wellness, indulgence, and sustainability.”

The program will culminate in December at an exclusive pitch event in Napa, Calif where all seven Excelerator companies will present their businesses and products to a live judging panel. During this pitch event, four finalists will be selected to receive $30,000 in marketing support. Those four will then be tracked over the next 12 months for sales growth, competing for a $100,000 grand prize to be awarded in 2026. This year’s event will also reveal the $100,000 winner from the 2024 Real California Milk Excelerator finalist group.

“For seven years, the Excelerator has been the launchpad turning dairy innovation into real-world sales,” said Fred Schonenberg, Founder and CEO of VentureFuel. “By connecting early-stage brands with the right buyers, investors, and mentors, we’ve helped bold new products not just get to market—but thrive. This year’s expanded program goes further, fueling commercialization at every stage of growth. The goal is simple: drive demand, create tangible business results, and unlock the full market potential of California dairy.”

To learn more about this year’s cohorts and their products, visit realcamilkexcelerator.com.

About Real California Milk/California Milk Advisory Board
The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB), an instrumentality of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, is funded by the state’s dairy farm families who lead the nation in sustainable dairy farming practices. With a vision to nourish the world with the wholesome goodness of Real California Milk, the CMAB’s programs focus on increasing demand for California’s sustainable dairy products in the state, across the U.S. and around the world through advertising, public relations, research, and retail and foodservice promotional programs. For more information and to connect with the CMAB, visit RealCaliforniaMilk.com, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, X, Instagram and Pinterest.

About VentureFuel
VentureFuel is an independent innovation advisory firm that helps the world’s best organizations commercialize innovation to ignite change by working with startups. Its innovation programs help enterprise organizations learn, test, build and invest in emerging technology to solve their biggest problems today and unlock new sources of growth. VentureFuel provides organizations like Hershey’s, Comcast, Dick’s Sporting Goods, AARP Foundation and the State of California the tools to drive transformative change with less risk, more speed, and greater proximity to the consumer than traditional innovation models. Learn more at: www.venturefuel.net, LinkedIn, X, and Instagram. You can listen to The VentureFuel Visionaries podcast on Apple, Spotify, Simplecast or wherever you get your podcasts.

SOURCE Real California Milk

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 1, 2025 — Significo, a leader in health AI and digital therapeutics, today announced the close of its Series B financing round led by JSTAR Capital Investments‘ Horizon Fund II, a premier growth investor in healthcare innovation. The raise brings Significo’s valuation to $100 million and positions the company to accelerate its strategy of acquiring and integrating synergistic digital health companies.

With this financing, Significo will expand its portfolio, strengthen its market presence, and act as a consolidating force in an increasingly fragmented industry. The company is actively evaluating acquisitions that complement its existing products, including Balm, its digital therapeutic and condition management platform, and Recco, its personalized health recommendation engine.

“Digital health is at an inflection point,” said Rick McCartney, CEO of Significo. “Patients, providers, and payors are looking for scalable, clinically validated solutions that deliver real outcomes. With JSTAR Capital Investments’ backing, Significo is not only poised to scale our own platforms but also to bring together best-in-class digital health innovations under one roof. Our goal is to simplify technology adoption for healthcare providers to drive meaningful health outcomes at the population scale.”

The Series B financing follows a period of strong commercial traction for Significo, including partnerships with leading insurers, health systems, and distribution networks. By consolidating proven digital therapeutics into a unified, comprehensive platform, Significo reduces fragmentation, improves patient engagement, and proves out a sustainable model for digital therapeutic reimbursement and adoption.

“We are excited to lead this financing round and support Significo in its mission to transform the digital health landscape,” said Jared Leger, Managing Director at JSTAR Capital Investments.  “The team has a proven track record of execution, and their vision for consolidation and clinical impact is exactly what the industry needs” adds Evan Pritchard, Managing Director of JSTAR Capital Investments.

This Series B will fuel growth initiatives across product development, global expansion, and strategic acquisitions, furthering Significo’s mission to make digital therapeutics accessible, effective, and integrated into everyday healthcare delivery.

About Significo
Significo is a global leader in health AI and digital therapeutics, building solutions that empower patients, providers, and payors with clinically validated interventions and personalized care. Its flagship platforms include Balm, a digital therapeutic delivery and reimbursement solution, and Recco, a personalized health recommendation engine. Significo partners with health systems, insurers, and employers worldwide to deliver scalable, effective, and engaging digital health experiences.
For more information, visit www.significo.com

About JSTAR Capital Investments
JSTAR Capital Investments is a growth-focused investment firm with a proven track record of supporting transformative companies in the healthcare, technology, and life sciences sectors. Through its Horizon Fund II, JSTAR provides capital and strategic support to entrepreneurs building the next generation of industry leaders.
For more information, visit jstarinvestments.com

Contact:
Christian Koha, Chief Operating Officer
E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Significo

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oct. 1, 2025 — Apricot, the AI-native documentation platform transforming post-acute care, today announced its Series A funding round led exclusively by global software investor Insight Partners. The funding will accelerate hiring, product innovation, and go-to-market expansion.

“Apricot addresses the most expensive and painful problem in post-acute care: the SOC (Start of Care) visit,” said Trent Smith, Founder and CEO of Apricot. “The SOC visit is supposed to set the tone for care, yet it typically means close to two hours of a nurse tapping through hundreds of required fields and checkboxes while the patient waits for meaningful interaction.”

Smith continued, “Before founding Apricot, I started and ran my own home health and hospice agency for seven years. I saw firsthand, day in and day out, how painful this problem was for nurses, agencies, and patients. It’s not just inefficient—it undermines the very spirit of patient care. That’s why solving it is so personal for me.”

Apricot exists to change that dynamic. Its mission: free clinicians from hours of documentation so they can focus on patients, with user-friendly technology that ensures cleaner records, stronger compliance, and a more intimate clinician and patient experience.

The company began with SOC documentation because it’s the most complex and time-consuming part of home health. Addressing this challenge first allowed Apricot to build and refine a core product that delivers on the highest standards of compliance, reliability, and workflow integration. Today, Apricot’s platform is used by agencies ranging from regional operators to national leaders, proving its ability to scale across diverse care models.

The Series A marks Insight Partners’ first investment into an Oklahoma-based company. With this new funding, Apricot is preparing to release support for the remaining visit types in the post-acute space, including other OASIS, therapy, and routine visits.

Sophie Beshar, Investor at Insight Partners and newly appointed Apricot board member, said:

“We believe Apricot is the clear category leader in post-acute care technology. Their AI-native documentation platform strikes directly at the biggest cost centers for agencies and generates immediate ROI for clinicians and back-office teams alike. It’s exciting to see a company with this level of product clarity, customer advocacy, and founder vision. We’re beyond thrilled to join the entire Apricot team on this journey.”

Trent Smith, Founder and CEO of Apricot, said:

“We chose Insight because of their reach, influence, and ability to scale category-defining companies. This investment confirms what the market already knows: Apricot is leading the way in this space. With Insight Partners’ backing, we’re accelerating our lead and more quickly delivering on our mission to free clinicians from documentation and put the focus where it belongs: on patient care.”

About Apricot

Apricot streamlines home health care documentation with AI, enabling clinicians to focus on patient care by reducing paperwork time. It offers a user-friendly platform that integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, improving efficiency and care quality while empowering clinicians to handle more patients effectively. Learn more at apricothealth.ai.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of June 30, 2025, the firm has over $90B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 875 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has a global presence with leadership in London, Tel Aviv, and the Bay Area. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey—from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com  or follow us on X @insightpartners.

SOURCE Apricot

Lavrock Ventures leads funding for modular guidance technology that delivers GPS-independent strikes at ultra-low cost

HERNDON, Va., Oct. 1, 2025 — Aventra, a defense technology startup developing low-cost glide and guidance systems for ultra long-range precision strikes, today announced its emergence from stealth mode with $3 million in seed funding led by Lavrock Ventures. Founded by former Army officers and defense tech entrepreneurs Michael Weigand, Brian Retherford, and Jessup Meng, the company’s modular guidance kits transform standard unguided munitions into AI-powered precision weapons capable of engaging targets as far away as 3000 miles, addressing America’s critical need for affordable mass fires in peer adversary conflicts.

Aventra’s breakthrough technology wraps a wing and guidance system around existing munitions to create long-range weapons that harness high-altitude winds, traveling extended distances via high-altitude balloons without relying on GPS navigation. The company’s Piranha glider kit costs 100-400 times less than comparable long-range precision munitions, enabling the volume of sustained fires necessary for modern warfare while operating effectively in contested, electronic warfare environments.

The timing aligns with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s directive “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance,” which called for rapidly scaling domestic drone production and emphasized that “our adversaries collectively produce millions of cheap drones each year” while criticizing previous delays in fielding affordable systems to U.S. forces.

The modular design accepts both kinetic warheads and non-kinetic payloads including electronic warfare packages, allowing forces to conduct precision strikes, harassment fires, and multi-domain operations from distributed positions. This capability addresses a fundamental military challenge: traditional cruise missile inventories would be exhausted within days of sustained peer conflict, leaving forces without the persistent fires needed to deny adversaries use of critical infrastructure.

“The U.S. government has made clear the urgent need for affordable, rapidly deployable weapons that can operate in contested and degraded environments,” said Michael Weigand, Aventra Co-founder and CEO. “Our extensive firsthand experience working with operators both domestically and directly on the front lines in Ukraine has validated this demand signal. We’ve seen how conflicts are won through speed, volume, and persistence, and our technology finally makes that economically viable for American forces.”

The founding team brings deep operational experience from both successful technology ventures and direct warfighting expertise. Their collective background spans leading defense startups, hands-on combat operations, and developing innovative solutions for modern warfare requirements – providing the technical depth and operational understanding essential for delivering mission-critical capabilities to military customers.

“What immediately stood out about Mike, Brian, and Jessup was the rare combination of proven startup leadership, extensive warfighting experience, and exceptional technical capabilities. These guys are not amateurs – they’re proven leaders,” said Alex Poulin, Partner at Lavrock Ventures. “They understand both the battlefield realities driving demand for distributed fires and the engineering challenges of delivering reliable, cost-effective solutions at scale. Their depth of experience across operations and technology makes them uniquely positioned to solve one of defense’s most pressing problems.”

Aventra’s AI-powered terminal guidance operates independently of GPS, ensuring effectiveness against sophisticated adversaries employing electronic warfare. The system’s high-altitude deployment provides unique attack vectors that circumvent traditional air defense detection and interception, while simple assembly and deployment enable distributed operations from austere environments without heavy infrastructure requirements.

The seed funding will accelerate product development, expand testing operations, and grow the team as Aventra prepares to deliver its transformative guidance technology to defense customers facing evolving warfare requirements.

About Aventra

Aventra develops low cost, long range modular guidance kits that transform unguided munitions into guided weapons deployable on a global scale. The company’s AI-powered systems enable precision strikes and sustained harassment fires at a fraction of traditional costs, supporting America’s military through innovative guidance technology and deep operational understanding of modern warfare requirements. For more information, visit aventra.io.

About Lavrock Ventures 

Lavrock Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on investing in software, deep tech, and national security companies. The firm partners with entrepreneurs developing transformative capabilities that address critical challenges across commercial and defense markets while strengthening America’s security and technological leadership. For more information, visit lavrockvc.com/.

SOURCE Aventra

SEATTLE, Oct. 1, 2025 — Phaidra, the company building AI agents for AI factories, announced today a Series B funding round of more than $50 million led by Collaborative Fund, with participation from Helena, Index Ventures, NVIDIA, Sony Innovation Fund, and others. The funding will be used to make AI factories — the data center infrastructure purpose-built for AI workloads — radically more resource-efficient via AI agents.

At the heart of this mission lies a simple truth: we live in an energy-constrained world. Our ability to generate intelligence, and therefore revenue, is fundamentally limited by the energy available to power these grid-scale computing systems. We must therefore maximize the tokens generated by every watt of energy that enters the AI factory.

This in turn requires careful orchestration of the complex power, cooling, and workload management systems that underpin modern AI factories. Historically, these systems are designed and operate independently with minimal coordination, leading to large inefficiencies. In a world where every watt is precious, this waste is unacceptable. These systems must operate seamlessly as a single integrated system of compute.

Phaidra addresses this challenge by building AI agents to optimize large-scale compute facilities. Today, the company collaborates with industry leaders like NVIDIA to design the next generation of AI infrastructure. Phaidra is developing a portfolio of AI agents — from liquid cooling to chiller plants to workload management — that are trained to orchestrate complex systems that exceed the capability of human intuition or hard-coded controls logic, thereby unlocking efficiency gains that were previously unobtainable.

“Every breakthrough in AI requires an equally ambitious breakthrough in infrastructure efficiency,” said Jim Gao, CEO of Phaidra. “Our technology enables AI data centers to run smarter, not just harder, cutting costs while dramatically reducing their environmental footprint.”

“Collaborative Fund has always believed that the most transformative companies are those that marry profit with purpose,” said Sophie Bakalar, Partner at Collaborative Fund. “Phaidra is tackling AI’s biggest bottleneck, energy consumption, in collaboration with NVIDIA, the global leader in compute.”

With the new capital, Phaidra will accelerate development of its agent ecosystem, deepen its collaboration with NVIDIA, and expand to additional global operators.

About Phaidra

Phaidra builds intelligent control systems for the world’s most complex industrial facilities. By combining reinforcement learning and domain expertise, Phaidra helps operators achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.

The company was founded by Jim Gao, who previously led Google DeepMind’s industrial AI efforts; Vedavyas Panneershelvam, a primary engineer on AlphaGo; and Katherine Hoffman, an operations leader with experience at Trane and Raytheon. Together, they launched Phaidra to bring cutting-edge AI into real-world infrastructure at a moment when the energy demands of AI itself are skyrocketing.

For more information, visit www.phaidra.ai

SOURCE Collaborative Fund