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Monday Pulse: AI Breakthroughs & Startup Buzz 💥

Issue #1 • May 19, 2025

Tracking the seeds of tomorrow's tech giants!

Hey SeedRadar Squad! This week, we're mining deep into the startups’ gold rush, uncovering new tools that'll blow your mind, and spotlighting startups making serious waves. Let's get to it!

Investors aren't just betting on flashy AI applications; they're backing the critical infrastructure and developer tools that will empower the next wave of innovation. This focus on foundational tech signals a maturing market, moving beyond hype to building real, sustainable value.

📈 Funding News of the Week

While AI's funding furnace continues to blaze, early May 2025 revealed a fascinating shift in the heat map: investor capital wasn't just chasing the titans but strategically igniting the engines of "agentic" AI and hyper-specialized vertical solutions.

Who is dominating the buzz?

  • Databricks announced its acquisition of database management platform Neon, in a deal reportedly valued at around $1 billion, to enhance its capabilities in AI-native applications. 1

  • AI-powered drug discovery startup Pathos secured $365 million in Series D financing, highlighting a strong week for investments in the health and fintech sectors. 2 

  • Investment in identity security startups saw a significant increase, with Persona raising $200 million and Veza closing a $108 million round, largely driven by the growing challenges posed by AI agents. 3

Sources: 1 Databrick; 2 Pathos; 3 Persona

💰 Hot Funding Rounds You Missed!

🌟 SEED OF THE WEEK: WisdomAI ($23M)

Who They Are: WisdomAI was co-founded by Rubrik’s former CTO, Soham Mazumdar, and raised a $23M seed round.

What They Do: Their AI analytics engine empowers businesses to query both structured and unstructured data.

Why it matters (our take): In a world drowning in data, WisdomAI offers a lifeline. Their unique approach to avoiding AI errors while tackling complex data queries could be a game-changer for businesses.

🔥 More Startups Catching Fire!


Fastino ($175M) -Their AI revolutionizes model architecture with small, task-focused language models.  - Read More

Inductive Bio($25M) -AI platform for small-molecule drug discovery.  - Read More

CodeAnt AI ($2M) -Useful code review automation platform.  - Read More

🛠️ Trending AI Tools to Supercharge Your Workflow!

Fed Up Lol GIF by Platinum Live
Tools List Newsletter
🧪Coval
Simulate & evaluate AI agents for peak performance.
📱Rork
No-code app building with an AI brain for rapid development.
📞Call Annie
AI-powered video chat assistant for real-time convos.
🧠Promptfoo
The ultimate testing ground for evaluating your AI prompts.
📊Structify
Automates structuring unstructured web data.
💻WisdomAI
Generative AI for enterprise data analysis (as featured above!)

🚀 Startup Radar: Movers, Shakers & Future Makers

Make It Rain Money GIF
Seed Radar - Startups
🎯Retail Media IQ
AI-enhanced retail media platform optimizing ads for consumer goods.
$200K Pre-Seed   Read More
🤖Persona AI
Humanoid robotics startup aiming to redefine human-machine collaboration.
$25M Pre-Seed   Read More
🧬illumicell AI
AI platform for rapid, point-of-care cellular diagnostics, for male fertility.
$2M Pre-Seed   Read More
💰Chief
A Predictive Operations Platform for growth-stage B2B SaaS companies.
$3.3M Pre-Seed   Read More
🕵️‍♂️Stakpak
AI-powered IDE for software infrastructure using AI agents.
$500K Pre-Seed   Read More
💻Tzafon
Building scalable and truly safe AI systems with collaborative AI agents.
$4M Pre-Seed   Read More

📊 Market Pulse: The Numbers Don't Lie!

AI Funding Skyrockets! Q1 2025 saw over $54 BILLION poured into the AI space – a new all-time high! This isn't just a trend; it's a transformation. (Source: CrunchBase) 

"If 2024 was the primordial soup year for AI, the building blocks are now firmly in place… AI’s potential is now congealing into something real and tangible — embodied by physical data centers rising up all across America."

– David Cahn, Sequoia Capital -Get More Wisdom from Sequoia

💼 Join the Revolution: Hot Startup Jobs!

Job Board
Software Engineer, FraudSF-LA, CA / Seattle, WA / NY, NY (US)
Whatnot – $260M Series D
$180K-$245K  - Apply here
 
 
 
Senior Solutions ConsultantRemote (US)
Airtable - $1.35 B Total Funding
$198K-$258K  - Apply here
 
 
 
Software Engineer, Trust & SafetySan Francisco, CA (US)
Gamma - $7M Seed
$200K-$265K  - Apply here
 
 
 
Data EngineerSan Francisco, CA (US)
Speak – $78M Series C
$170K–$280K  - Apply here

💼 Resource of the Week: Your Startup Toolkit

📝 500+ Free Tools For Startups!

An absolutely indispensable, comprehensive spreadsheet packed with free tools across every category imaginable for startups

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