Firm Raises $225M Fund VIII and $75M Plus IV Growth Fund to reinforce its long-term commitment to leading at seed and backing breakout companies through scale

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2025 — Uncork Capital, one of Silicon Valley’s most established early-stage venture capital firms today announced the close of $300 million in new capital across two funds: Uncork VIII, a $225 million seed fund, and Uncork Plus IV, a $75 million growth fund.

“Through more than two decades—and multiple boom-and-bust cycles—we’ve consistently backed new ideas that became category-defining companies while backing bold founders at the earliest stages, when others hesitate,” said Andy McLoughlin, Managing Partner at Uncork Capital. “In times of volatility, founders need conviction-backed capital more than ever. We believe this is one of the most compelling moments to build—and to invest in—the foundational technologies of tomorrow. These new funds position us to do just that.”

Uncork VIII will invest in early-stage startups across B2B software, developer tools, and infrastructure, continuing the firm’s strategy of leading 35 seed rounds while maintaining significant follow-on reserves. The firm expects to write slightly larger checks with Fund VIII and target marginally higher initial ownership, reflecting a conviction-led approach. Through the Plus IV fund, Uncork will double down on its breakout portfolio companies as they reach their inflection point and scale.

Uncork’s portfolio spans multiple inflection-stage companies, including:

• Late-Stage: Human Interest, LaunchDarkly, Carrot
• Scaling Fast: Tailscale, Hallow, Loft Orbital, ClassDojo, Wrapbook, Crossbeam, and Fountain
• AI-Native and Early-Stage: GPTZero, Nuon, Ivo, Numeral, Final Round

“Uncork has proven to be the most supportive and helpful investor on our cap table,” said Jeff Schneble, CEO of Human Interest.  “Their ability to effectively communicate our vision and progress to potential investors has been instrumental in raising hundreds of millions of dollars in capital. In fact, many of our current investors were initially introduced to us through Uncork, significantly accelerating our company’s growth. They have consistently provided support at every stage and have actively participated in all our financing rounds. We consider Uncork to be one of the top early-stage investors in today’s market and highly recommend them to anyone building a high-growth company.”

Uncork has built its reputation by backing transformative technologies years ahead of the curve—from early bets in AI to foundational SaaS infrastructure. With over 60 years of collective investing experience, the team reviews over 3,000 startups annually and invests in only the most exceptional founders.

“We seek founders solving real problems with authentic insights, invest early in exceptional teams building transformative companies, and stay the course, said Amy Saper, Partner at Uncork. “Having backed AI-native startups for nearly a decade, we see some of our most exciting portfolio companies building on generative models and creating the infrastructure for the AI economy itself.”

Limited partners in the new funds include top-tier university endowments, pension funds, mission-aligned institutions, and repeat backers of the firm’s prior vehicles—demonstrating sustained confidence in Uncork’s disciplined strategy and founder-first ethos.

“With a proven track record of identifying future tech leaders, a well-respected brand in the VC community, and a great team at its core, Uncork Capital has the vision, discipline, and founder alignment we look for,” said Becky Connolly, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Tiger Iron Capital. “Their early recognition of breakthrough technologies and ongoing support for those companies make them ideal partners. We’re proud to be part of their next chapter.”

The close of these funds marks Uncork’s 21st year and ushers in a new chapter in the firm’s evolution. Andy McLoughlin now steps into the role of sole managing partner, while founder Jeff Clavier steps back from day-to-day management and continues to invest in frontier tech and emerging innovation.

About Uncork Capital

Uncork Capital is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that helps founders build category-defining companies from the earliest stages. For more than two decades, through multiple boom-and-bust cycles and across the tech landscape, the firm has backed over 275 companies, including Fitbit, Sendgrid, Eventbrite, Poshmark, and Postmates, as well as fast-growing startups like Human Interest, LaunchDarkly, Carrot Fertility, Tailscale, Loft Orbital, Hallow, Wrapbook, Crossbeam, Fountain, GPTZero, Nuon, Ivo, Numeral, and Final Round. Today, Uncork continues to support the next generation of builders shaping industries across AI, SaaS, infrastructure, consumer, and frontier tech.

Learn more at uncorkcapital.com or follow along on LinkedIn and X.

Media Contact
Michael Celiceo, CodePR
[email protected]

SOURCE Uncork Capital

The copy-trading platform has raised a total of $47M to redefine retail investing — shifting the focus from picking stocks to picking people

NEW YORK, May 1, 2025 — dub, the copy trading app, today announced its Series A raise of $30 million, co-led by Notable Capital and Neo, with participation from Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, Peak6 Strategic Capital, and Correlation Ventures. The funding includes a $5.5 million venture debt facility provided by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank. The new funding comes just one year after launching from stealth and surpassing 1 million downloads, and will be used to scale its creator-driven marketplace for retail investing, while expanding accessibility and features to reach more investors at every level.

dub is redefining retail investing by turning it into an engine for education and access, not speculation. While almost 40% of Americans still don’t own a single stock and 88% of market wealth is held by the wealthiest 10%, dub is empowering a new generation to participate meaningfully in the markets. Unlike traditional trading apps that encourage risky bets, dub allows financial influencers and investors to share real, transparent portfolio strategies that anyone can mirror with a single tap. This shift from stock picking to people selection to invest drastically simplifies investing and reduces the skill barrier to participation, enabling users to build true financial literacy and invest with confidence. As the accelerating wealth gap fuels national conversations and political movements, dub is creating a more inclusive investing model—one that gives everyone a chance at building wealth.

“The ultra-wealthy have long leveraged expert money managers to invest their capital. Now, dub brings that same advantage to everyday investors in an accessible and user-friendly way,” said Steven Wang, founder and CEO of dub. “As the largest wealth transfer in history takes place, younger investors face unprecedented exposure to risky financial products and questionable investment advice from social media, with almost 40% of young investors relying on platforms like YouTube or TikTok for financial guidance. Rather than fighting this trend, dub embraces it by curating a transparent, educated marketplace where anyone can easily invest alongside portfolio strategies built by investors with track records or share their own. By prioritizing investing through results-driven portfolios over risky bets, dub empowers a new generation to invest confidently and intelligently.”

At the heart of dub’s platform is a creator program operated by dub Advisors which rewards experienced investors with royalties for sharing their model portfolio strategies. This innovative approach transforms investing wisdom into a monetizable asset, allowing successful portfolio creators to gain visibility and be compensated for their insights. By turning investing into a collaborative, knowledge-sharing marketplace, dub is reshaping how financial expertise is discovered and democratized.

“Steven and the dub team have demonstrated clarity in creating a platform and emerging community that meet the needs of everyday consumers, while also providing access for proven but less known investors to gain a greater following,” said Hans Tung, Managing Partner, Notable Capital and dub board member. “We’re looking forward to partnering with dub as they build for the long term and demystify the complex world of retail investing.”

“dub’s momentum heralds a new era in consumer investing and the rise of a whole new class of investor-influencers,” said Ali Partovi of Neo, which has backed Kalshi, Bluesky, and Cursor. “The sheer ambition of this startup is breathtaking, and I’m proud that we backed Steven and team from the beginning.”

By combining social media’s influence with a regulated, educational, and transparent investing experience, dub is making expert-driven investing accessible to everyone. Today, dub has raised a total of $47 million and surpassed one million downloads by retail investors excited to experience copy-trading.

To learn more or join the dub community, please visit www.dubapp.com or download the dub app through the Apple or Android store.

About dub

DASTA Incorporated (“dub”) is the first copy-trading platform in the United States that lets users copy the portfolios of other investors with a single tap. dub’s innovative platform gives industry experts, financial influencers, and retail associates with a knack for trading, the ability to share their insights and investment portfolios— all through an easy-to-use mobile platform. Dub is owned and operated by DASTA Incorporated. Advisory services, including the Creator Program are provided by DASTA Investment LLC (“DASTA Investments”), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Brokerage services, including peer to peer copy trading, provided by DASTA Financial, LLC (“DASTA Financial”), an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”).

SOURCE dub

SCHENECTADY, N.Y., May 1, 2025 — Quest Global is honored to announce a $10 million endowment to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), aimed at advancing engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. This gift establishes the Ajit Prabhu Catalyst Endowment and the Ajit Prabhu Catalyst Fund donated by the Prabhu family, supporting the Office of Strategic Alliances and Translation (OSAT) to equip RPI students and faculty to solve some of the hardest engineering problems for today and tomorrow.

The Catalyst Fund will support accelerating groundbreaking ideas into proof-of-concept prototypes or market-ready ventures. The Fund will help bridge the gap between lab research and real-world application, allowing RPI’s brightest minds to focus not only on solving today’s challenges but also on anticipating tomorrow’s opportunities. This endowment will help translate research into application to benefit society. 

“Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and in particular my mentor Dr. John Brunski in the Biomedical Engineering department shaped my career and expanded my worldview, allowing me to dream of infinite possibilities,” said Ajit Prabhu, CEO & Co-founder, Quest Global. “This gift from our family reflects our commitment to empowering students and faculty to pursue ambitious ideas and develop innovative solutions. My dream is that this gift will inspire students to tackle the toughest engineering problems and deliver unparalleled value to humanity.”

Dr. Jonathan Dordick, Vice President of OSAT, highlighted the significance of the contribution: “The Ajit Prabhu Catalyst Fund represents a powerful opportunity for RPI’s entrepreneurial community. This fund will enable students and faculty to innovate freely, knowing they have the resources to turn new discoveries into viable products and thriving businesses.”

Ajit Prabhu’s leadership at Quest Global, one of the world’s fastest-growing engineering services firms with over 21,000 engineers worldwide, underscores his dedication to solving the hardest engineering problems across industries including Aerospace, Energy, High Tech, and Automotive. His core belief—that culture and aspiration are as critical as strategy—aligns perfectly with RPI’s mission to inspire the next generation of forward-thinking problem-solvers.

About Quest Global

At Quest Global, it’s not just what we do but how and why we do it that makes us different. We are in the business of engineering, but what we are really creating is a brighter future. For over 25 years, we’ve been solving the world’s most complex engineering problems. Operating in 18 countries, with over 84 global delivery centers, our 21,000+ curious minds embrace the power of doing things differently to make the impossible possible. Using a multi-dimensional approach, combining technology, industry expertise, and diverse talents, we tackle critical challenges faster and more effectively. And we do it across the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, MedTech & Healthcare, Rail and Semiconductor industries. For world-class end-to-end engineering solutions, we are your trusted partner. 

About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1824 for the application of science to the common purposes of life, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the first technological research university in the United States. Today, it is recognized as a premier university, noted for its robust and holistic learning community that connects creativity with science and technology. RPI is dedicated to inventing for the future, from shaping the scientists, engineers, technologists, architects, and entrepreneurs who will define what’s next for humanity, to research that bridges disciplines to solve the world’s toughest problems. Learn more at rpi.edu.

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SOURCE Quest Global

Financing led by Bain Capital Ventures, alongside Salesforce Ventures and all existing investors, with Bosch Ventures seeking to participate, will drive global expansion and accelerate R&D

NEW YORK, May 1, 2025 — Astronomer, the company behind Astro, the leading unified DataOps platform powered by Apache Airflow®, today announced it has secured $93 million in Series D funding led by Bain Capital Ventures, alongside Salesforce Ventures and existing investors including Insight, Meritech, and Venrock, with Bosch Ventures seeking to participate. Astronomer will use the funding to expedite research and development, and to strategically expand the company’s international presence.

“While this is just one step in Astronomer’s journey to build a durable, lasting software company, we’re thrilled to have one of our earliest investors, Bain, leading the round,” said Andy Byron, CEO, Astronomer. “All of our investors are committed to Astronomer’s long-term vision because of our recent momentum, the massive market demand for the platform we’re building, and the macro tailwinds that support our vision. Whether it’s getting enterprise AI into production at scale, maximizing data platform value through cost optimization, or just driving more value from data in general–everything we do at Astronomer is at the heart of boardroom conversations across the world.”

The financing comes at a time of tremendous momentum for Astronomer and Airflow, the open-source framework and de facto standard for data orchestration that sits at the core of Astronomer’s offerings. In the past year, Astro expansion beyond data orchestration included data observability/lineage, data quality, integrated dbt workflows, cost optimization and other capabilities as Astronomer continues to invest in Astro as the leading unified DataOps platform.

Last fiscal year Astronomer saw:

• 150%+ YoY Astro ARR growth
• Improved operational efficiency, with a two year path to profitability
• World-class 130% Net Revenue Retention
• 90%+ product utilization with customers

Meanwhile, Airflow has surged in popularity alongside the rise of AI and MLOps. Airflow is used by more than 80K organizations and was downloaded more than 324M times in 2024. Astronomer’s engineering efforts are critical to driving Airflow releases, including the recent general availability of Airflow 3.0 – the most significant release in project history. This watershed release makes Airflow easier to use, with enhanced security and the ability to run anywhere, all while introducing an architecture that is tailor-made to support production AI at scale.

Investor Quotes

“We invested in Astronomer in 2019 with a simple bet: Airflow would become the standard for data orchestration,” said Enrique Salem, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. “Today, it runs at over 80,000 companies and drives 30 million downloads a month. We backed Astronomer because they’re not only riding that wave; they’re building the enterprise control plane on top of it. As AI raises the stakes for reliable, scalable data infrastructure, we’re doubling down on our investment. Orchestration is just the start. The team at Astronomer are poised to unify the entire DataOps stack.”

“We have been fortunate enough to back the Astronomer team since 2021 and witnessed impressive execution since Andy joined the team in 2023,” said Paul Drews, Managing Partner of Salesforce Ventures. “By using data orchestration as an entry point into the broader DataOps ecosystem, Astronomer is uniquely positioned to consolidate critical functions—from observability and cost management to governance and quality. We believe Astronomer is on track to become the control plane for the modern data stack, and a category-defining company in data infrastructure.”

“For years, Bosch has continued to scale its Airflow usage as a data orchestration framework driving an increasing number of business-critical projects,” said Dr. Ingo Ramesohl, Managing Director Bosch Ventures. “The success we saw leveraging Airflow internally was a validating factor in our decision to back Astronomer.”

Further Resources

• Read Astronomer CEO Andy Byron’s thoughts on unified DataOps
• Learn more about Airflow 3, the biggest Airflow update ever
• Download the State of Airflow Report 2025
• Try Astro now with a 14-day free trial
• Get started today with Astro Observe

About Astronomer

Astronomer empowers data teams to bring mission-critical software, analytics, and AI to life and is the company behind Astro, the industry-leading unified DataOps platform powered by Apache Airflow®. Astro accelerates building reliable data products that unlock insights, unleash AI value, and power data-driven applications. Trusted by more than 700 of the world’s leading enterprises, Astronomer lets businesses do more with their data. To learn more, visit www.astronomer.io.

Apache® and Apache Airflow® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. No endorsement by the Apache Software Foundation is implied by the use of these marks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contact:
Taylor Jones
[email protected]

SOURCE Astronomer

New capital will accelerate product development and customer expansion as demand surges for virtual touring and faster leasing workflows.

NEW YORK, May 1, 2025 — Peek, the virtual leasing platform that helps property managers and owners accelerate the leasing process and reduce vacancy loss, announced today that it has raised $5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Moneta Ventures, with participation from Timber Grove Ventures and other existing investors.

Peek transforms the apartment rental experience by enabling prospective renters to tour and lease units online with the same ease as shopping on an e-commerce platform. By automating the leasing process – including unit-level 3D tours, self-guided tours, and in-depth data and analytics – Peek helps multifamily operators lease faster, driving lower vacancy loss and increasing property income.

“We’re excited to partner with the Moneta Ventures team to continue scaling Peek,” said Austin Lo, CEO and Founder of Peek. “As renters increasingly expect a digital-first experience and operators look for tools to boost operating performance and data to power business critical decisions, we see a massive opportunity to reimagine leasing end-to-end.”

Peek has already driven faster leasing and increased operating revenue for hundreds of thousands of multifamily units across the U.S., including national portfolios and high-growth regional operators. Property owners and managers using Peek’s platform report up to 30% fewer vacant days, 3x more prospect tours compared to legacy 3D tour platforms and increased visibility into leasing performance.

“Peek is modernizing an industry that has lagged behind in digital transformation,” said Jeff Olyniec, Partner at Moneta Ventures. “The Peek team has demonstrated tremendous revenue growth and capital efficiency to date, and we believe their platform delivers not only a better experience for renters, but clear and measurable ROI for operators.” Jeff Safferman, Partner at Timber Grove Ventures added, “We’ve seen our LPs and multifamily partners prioritizing efficiency and a better renter experience, and we’re proud to continue backing a clear industry leader.”

The company also announced two key additions to its board of directors: Jeff Olyniec, Partner at Moneta Ventures, and Luke Morris, Co-Founder at CREXI. These strategic appointments bring decades of experience in proptech, venture capital, and scaling high-growth technology companies. “Both Jeff and Luke bring incredible industry knowledge and operational expertise that will be invaluable as we work to make Peek the industry standard for virtual leasing,” said Lo.

The company plans to use the funding to expand its go-to-market efforts, grow its engineering and customer success teams, and enhance integrations with leading property management and marketing platforms.

To learn more about Peek, visit www.peek.us.

About Peek
Peek accelerates the leasing process and reduces vacancy loss for property managers and owners by bringing the e-commerce experience to the process of renting a home. The company’s 3-D virtual touring and leasing automation tools are used by leading multifamily operators nationwide.

About Moneta Ventures
Moneta Ventures is a venture capital firm that partners with early-stage, high-growth enterprise technology companies across the U.S. West Coast and Texas. Founded by serial entrepreneurs with a history of building and scaling successful technology businesses, Moneta pairs capital with hands-on operational support to help founders grow enduring companies. Since 2014, the firm has invested in more than 50 companies across emerging and underserved venture markets, including Aumni, VideoVerse, Grin, Mindtickle, Sibros, and App Orchid. Moneta has offices in Austin, TX and Folsom, CA.

Media Contact:
Audrey Barker
8058074733
[email protected]

SOURCE Peek

Company Advances Patented, Next-Gen Semiconductor Tech

FREMONT, Calif., May 1, 2025 — Mivium, Inc., a leading innovator in semiconductor material science, announced the successful completion of a $5 million equity financing round through Equifund Crowd Funding Portal. This brings Mivium’s total funding to over $6.34 million, accelerating the company’s mission to deliver high-purity, wide-bandgap materials such as GaN (gallium nitride) to the global market.

“Silicon’s limitations are clear, and this new funding enables us to significantly accelerate the development of Mivium’s GaN technology, which we believe will redefine the future of semiconductors,” said Eric Tsai, Co-founder and CEO of Mivium.

As silicon reaches its performance limits, GaN emerges as the next generation technology, offering superior speed and energy efficiency crucial for applications ranging from AI data centers to electric vehicles and aerospace/defense applications. However, manufacturing GaN semiconductors has long been hindered by the scarcity of high-quality substrates and supply chain constraints, resulting in higher costs and production challenges.

Mivium’s innovative, patented process addresses these obstacles by enabling scalable, cost-effective production of high-purity GaN—without the toxic byproducts associated with conventional methods. The company’s first focus is getting its GaN particle prototype to market, followed by GaN substrates.

Curious about how Mivium is powering the next generation of tech? Visit mivium.com.

About Mivium
Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Fremont, California, Mivium specializes in advanced semiconductor materials. The company’s patented manufacturing process produces high-quality gallium nitride (GaN) substrates designed to outperform traditional silicon-based semiconductors in industries such as power electronics, aerospace, telecommunications, AI infrastructure, photonics, and biotechnology. Mivium’s team comprises experts in material science and semiconductor manufacturing, driving the company’s innovative approach.

Media Contact:
Eric Tsai
[email protected]
626-416-7194

Disclaimer: This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future performance of Mivium, including expectations related to technology development, market adoption, and financial projections. These statements are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Factors such as technological challenges, market competition, regulatory changes, and availability of resources may impact the achievement of these forward-looking statements. Mivium undertakes no obligation to update these statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

SOURCE Mivium, Inc.

Early-Stage Companies Encouraged to Apply for Investment and Strategic Support

SEATTLE, May 1, 2025 — E8 Angels, a nonprofit membership community of accredited angel investors specializing in cleantech innovation, announced the launch of its 2025 Decarbon8-US Philanthropic Fund Request for Applications (RFA). This year, the fund is focused on catalyzing Software and AI solutions that drive meaningful climate impact and accelerate decarbonization efforts.

Early-stage companies working at the intersection of technology and climate solutions are encouraged to apply for funding, mentorship, and visibility through Decarbon8-US. Applications are open now through June 20, 2025.

“Software and AI are powerful tools to tackle the climate crisis, offering scalable, capital-light pathways to impact,” said Karin Kidder, Executive Director of E8. “Through Decarbon8-US, we are excited to identify and support innovators who are advancing a sustainable, decarbonized future.”

Previous Decarbon8-US recipients have received an average of $300,000 in combined funding, including investments from the Decarbon8-US Fund and direct co-investment from E8 members. Selected companies also gain access to follow-on investment opportunities, expert mentorship, and broad promotional support across E8’s network.

Eligible companies must:

• Have a Software and AI solution driving climate innovation and decarbonization.
• Have generated revenue or secured signed Letters of Intent (LOIs) leading to revenue in 2025.
• Be in Pre-seed to Series A stages of growth financing.
• Have an open investment round (equity, note, or debt) accepting investments from September to November 2025.
• Be incorporated as a for-profit entity in the United States or Canada.

Solutions may include innovations in energy systems optimization, infrastructure efficiency, resource management, transportation, materials science, and climate-focused financial services.

Finalists will pitch to E8’s screening committee and membership community this summer, with investment decisions and co-investment opportunities awarded in early September.

E8 & Decarbon8-US receive support from climate leaders, including Microsoft, University of Washington, Washington State University, K&L Gates, CleanTech Alliance, JP Morgan Chase, VertueLab, and the Stolte Family Foundation. Decarbon8-US is a philanthropic investment fund administered by Realize Impact, a 501(c)(3) impact investing specialist.

Access the full Request for Applications and apply here. The application window closes June 20, 2025.

For media inquiries, please contact Karin Kidder: 509-795-0116, [email protected]

About E8
E8 is a non-profit membership community whose mission is to accelerate the transition to a prosperous and cleaner world by investing in and nurturing emerging cleantech enterprises. Since 2006, we have invested over $67M into 160+ cleantech companies in the US and Canada. Our community supports various types of investors and asset classes, including direct angel for-profit investing, a member driven annual fund, and a philanthropic impact fund dedicated to accelerating decarbonization and climate mitigation. E8’s community and investment offerings are underpinned by a belief in the capacity of innovative enterprises and technologies to amplify both positive returns and impact.

SOURCE E8 Angels

Infrastructure Strategy Focuses on Mid-Market Investments in Industrial Decarbonization Assets

BOSTON and DUBLIN, May 1, 2025 — Ara Partners, a global investment firm dedicated to the decarbonization of the industrial economy, today announced that it has raised over $800 million for its Ara Infrastructure strategy, including its debut Fund, Ara Infrastructure Fund I, and associated co-investment vehicles. The Fund exceeded its target of $500 million, drawing strong support from Ara’s existing investor base and a diverse set of new institutional investors comprised of pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and foundations from North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Ara Infrastructure is led by industry veterans George Yong and Teresa O’Flynn. The strategy targets mid-market infrastructure with a focus on developing new and re-purposing high quality legacy assets for the low carbon industrial economy. Since launching the strategy in 2022, Ara Infrastructure has completed three investments, with a fourth commitment expected shortly. The Fund now owns 12 operational assets across North America and Europe. Portfolio companies include:

• Lincoln, a leading terminal services provider with a strong footprint in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic U.S.
• USD Clean Fuels, a developer of renewable fuel feedstock and biofuel logistics infrastructure on the U.S. West Coast
• Natural World Products, a leading organics recycler in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, managing over 330,000 tonnes of household waste annually

“We are incredibly proud of this milestone and grateful for the robust support from our investors. This Fund enables us to pursue a generational investment opportunity across Europe and North America, characterized by increasing energy and industrial demand, a move towards decentralized energy systems, as well as the need to ensure an economic path toward a lower carbon economy,” said Teresa O’Flynn, Partner and Co-Head of Infrastructure at Ara Partners. “We are focused on building high-value decarbonization assets that future-proof businesses for the modern economy and support the energy transition.”

“We are committed to delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns with classic infrastructure characteristics to our investors,” said George Yong, Partner and Co-Head of Infrastructure. “Ara’s builder capabilities and DNA ideally position us to navigate the disjointed, yet opportunity-rich, world of middle-market sustainable infrastructure. Companies in our target sectors seek more than just a capital provider; we believe our in-house operational capabilities make us a value-add partner of choice. We look forward to supporting exceptional teams and companies across these sectors.”

Rede Partners acted as placement agent and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP served as legal counsel in the formation of Ara Infrastructure Fund I.

About Ara Partners
Founded in 2017, Ara Partners is a global private equity and infrastructure firm dedicated to decarbonizing the industrial economy. Ara seeks to build, scale, and optimize companies with significant decarbonization impact across the industrial and manufacturing, chemicals and materials, energy efficiency and fuels, and food and agriculture sectors. The company operates from offices in Houston, Boston, Dublin and Washington, D.C.. As of December 31, 2024, Ara Partners had approximately $6.2 billion of assets under management.

For more information about Ara Partners, please visit www.arapartners.com.

Media Contacts:
Catherine MacDonald, Ara Partners
[email protected]

Zach Harris, Prosek Partners
[email protected]

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Ex-Cockroach Labs Engineers Raise $3.5M in Seed Funding to Build a High-Performance CI Cloud for the AI Age

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2025 — Blacksmith, the high-performance CI cloud designed to compete with industry goliaths like GitHub and AWS in an AI world, today announced $3.5M in seed funding led by GV (Google Ventures) and Y Combinator, with participation from notable angel investors including Spencer Kimball, CEO of Cockroach Labs; Peter Mattis, CTO of Cockroach Labs; and Rich Aberman, Co-Founder of WePay by J.P. Morgan.

“Existing CI platforms often act as a bottleneck rather than an accelerator. Blacksmith is tackling this head-on by rethinking CI from the ground up, delivering the performance necessary for companies to innovate rapidly, particularly as AI transforms development workflows,” said Erik Nordlander, General Partner at GV.

In an AI world where agents and code generation tools exponentially increase the amount of code that exists, these existing CI challenges will only worsen, and companies—from startups to enterprises—will have to ditch old workarounds and adapt quickly.

“Instead of watching companies slow down as they awkwardly try to force legacy CI technologies into an AI mold, our goal is to reinvent from first principles,” said Aayush, Co-founder of Blacksmith.

What makes Blacksmith unique is that the platform isn’t just another AWS, GCP, or Azure wrapper (like GitHub); instead, it’s a hardware-software stack that makes numerous purpose-built optimizations for CI–trade-offs that hyperscaler platforms, which must support general workloads, cannot make.

Blacksmith is already working with over 600 organizations, including Ashby, Veed, Finch, Pylon, and Plex. Their technology has been critical in allowing their customers to unlock tremendous amounts of growth.

About Blacksmith

Blacksmith is a high-performance CI cloud designed from first principles to provide best-in-class compute, storage, observability, and security for CI workloads in an AI world. Blacksmith was built by a team behind the data distribution and disaster recovery systems in CockroachDB, the world’s most powerful and reliable distributed SQL database, which is used by some of the world’s largest enterprises, including Comcast, JPMorgan, Netflix, and DoorDash. The company, which is based in San Francisco, was founded in 2024. For more information, visit https://www.blacksmith.sh.

SOURCE Blacksmith