Amit Chowdhry

Leading multi-agent platform CrewAI announced $18 million in total funding that included an inception round led by boldstart ventures and a Series A led by global software investor Insight Partners. Additional investors include Blitzscaling Ventures, Craft Ventures, Earl Grey Capital, and several top angels in AI, including Andrew Ng (a recognized voice in AI) and Dharmesh Shah (co-founder and CTO of HubSpot).

HealthEx – a team of healthcare and technology veterans building a global consumer preference and consent platform for healthcare to unlock data access – recently launched and announced $14 million in Seed and Series A funding. The company's funding round was led by General Catalyst, with participation by Electric Capital.

Picnic, a leader in food production automation, announced it raised $5 million in a funding round led by Cercano Management. New investor Unlock Venture Partners participated, as did existing investors Thursday Ventures, Flying Fish Ventures, and Creative Ventures.

Forgepoint Capital - a leading cybersecurity, AI, and infrastructure software venture capital firm that backs entrepreneurs protecting the digital future - announced its strategic expansion into Europe, Latin America, and Israel. With a track record of investing in successful cybersecurity companies in Europe, including AlienVault (acquired by AT&T), Constella Intelligence, BehavioSec (acquired LexisNexis Risk Solutions), Lynx Technologies, and ReversingLabs, the firm is now establishing a dedicated management company (Forgepoint Capital International), team and European hub in London to invest in transformative companies in select ecosystems around the world.

Apple announced it is buying Lithuania-based Pixelmator, which is a popular image editing app built for Mac and iOS. Through the acquisition, Pixelmator said it would now have the “ability to reach an even wider audience and make an even bigger impact on the lives of creative people around the world.” The deal is subject to regulatory approval. Pixelmator said that the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps will not be undergoing any material changes at this time.

Qpoint announced it closed $4 million in pre-seed funding led by Mango Capital with participation from Preface Ventures, Scribble Ventures and Bloomberg Beta.

Growth equity investment firm Edison Partners announced it led a $115 million growth investment in Fingercheck, which offers an all-in-one workforce management platform for small and medium businesses (SMBs) with ‘deskless’ workforces. StepStone Group and Columbus Capital also joined the round in the investment.

Idealab Arizona (a partner of Idealab Studio, the leading technology incubator) announced launching a startup studio that co-founds Arizona State University-affiliated tech startups to increase commercialized intellectual property, startups, and jobs in Arizona.

Hue, an AI-based SaaS platform that powers the end-to-end infrastructure for authentic user-generated video content that converts on eCommerce, announced that it has closed $4.5 million in seed funding. Fika Ventures and Underscore VC co-led the round, with follow-on participation from pre-seed investors, including Sequoia Scouts, The MBA Fund, Glasswing Ventures, Courtyard Ventures, Phoenix Fund, and Tristan Walker’s Heirloom Fund.

Ned, a company that provides customers with a cash flow lending platform, announced the closing of its $4.2 million equity seed financing led by Impression Ventures, with participation from Capital Eleven.