Google, NVIDIA Back AI Startups

Ineffable Intelligence leads with $1.1B Seed

Hey,

Almost seemed like we were done with the billion-dollar AI seed rounds until last week. But the hype cycle keeps on, keeping on.

Here’s what happened last week:

April 26-May 02: Top Line Numbers

54 early-stage AI deals | $1.6B raised | 19 countries | Median: $3.1M

The split: 34 Seed, 18 Pre-Seed, and 2 Pre-Series A early-stage AI deals.

The number that matters: Total seed funding rose 367% compared to last week.

Biggest round: Ineffable Intelligence ($1.1B Seed). Total seed funding looked really UP last week, thanks to this crazy big round!

Where the money went: San Francisco led at 6 deals, London and NYC followed with 5 each. The top 5 cities held 90% of funding dollars.

The Signal

1/ Google, NVIDIA Backed Startups This Week: They spanned Developer Tools & AI Infrastructure, including Ineffable Intelligence ($1.1B).

2/ Manufacturing Leads, 16 Verticals in Play: Manufacturing & Industrials took the most deals this week: 9 (17% of flow). Health & Biotech followed at 8 deals (15%), Developer Tools at 7 (13%).

By funding, the order inverts: Developer Tools captured 70% of the week’s dollars on Ineffable’s $1.1B Seed!

3/ AI Agents Run the Week: Of course 43% of deals (23 out of 54) went to agentic startups, like it’s been the theme this year.

Breakout Early-Stage AI Startups

1/ Shapes raised $8M Seed in San Francisco. The application allows people to create and customize their own AI characters, called ‘Shapes’, which can then participate in discussions, answer questions, and initiate conversations within a group setting. Lightspeed Venture Partners led, with AI Capital Partners and AI Grant participating.

2/ All3 raised $25M Seed in London. AI platform generates custom building designs optimized for specific sites, including irregularly shaped or hard-to-access plots. RTP Global led, with SuperSeed, Begin Capital, and others participating.

3/ SquareMind raised $18M Pre-Series A in Paris. By providing high-resolution images of the entire skin surface, SquareMind’s technology helps clinicians track changes over time, reduce their workload, and improve diagnostic consistency. Sonder Capital and Deeptech 2030 Fund led.

4/ Marloo raised $10M Seed in London. Can generate advice documents, manage tasks, complete forms, and draft emails. Blackbird Ventures led, with Icehouse Ventures participating.

5/ Redpine raised €6.8M Seed in Stockholm. This enables AI developers to build more accurate and reliable applications in critical domains such as healthcare, legal, and financial markets, while ensuring data owners are compensated. NordicNinja led, with Luminar Ventures, node.vc, and others participating.

6/ Online Oceans raised £4M Seed in London. They are building autonomous ocean robots. The technology covers anti-submarine warfare, subsea infrastructure protection, border security, and counter-drug smuggling. Seraphim Space led, with Peter Rive, Frank Thieser, Florian Seibel, and Koro Capital participating.

7/ Dex raised $5.3M Seed in London. Provides an AI talent agent that combines matchmaking, coaching, and retention tools for both candidates and employers. Focuses on high-end technical talent like AI researchers and software engineers. Notion Capital led, with a16z Speedrun and Concept Ventures participating.

8/ Cata raised $5.3M Seed in Singapore. Integrates essential functions such as mobile ordering, payments, loyalty programs, promotions, CRM, and customer data analytics into a single system. Portage led, with White Star Capital, 468 Capital, and others participating.

9/ Synaps raised €3.06M Pre-Seed in Vienna. Allows users to design, visualize, collaborate, and present all in one place. Plug and Play led, with Fil Rouge Capital participating.

10/ Ctruh (an AI XR commerce studio) raised $2.5M Seed in Bangalore. This allows businesses in sectors like e-commerce, real estate, and automotive to build and manage high-performance 3D experiences without needing specialized hardware, SDKs, or coding expertise. Inflection Point Ventures and Avinya Ventures led.

11/ VNYX raised €1M Seed in Amsterdam. AI-powered robot optimizes the processing of unique garments, extending product lifecycles, preventing waste, and reducing the fashion industry’s environmental footprint. Backed by Baltic Business Angels, The Squads Fund, Stichting DOEN, and others.

12/ Zapdos Labs raised $500K Pre-Seed in Austin. Its platform connects to a factory’s existing camera infrastructure to deliver real-time safety monitoring, automated alerts, and detection of near-misses.

13/ Segura raised $8M Seed in São Paulo. Helena is the company’s AI assistant for insurance brokers, interpreting policy data, comparing products, guiding renewals, and running customer conversations through WhatsApp. It sits on top of the broker-centric distribution model that defines Latin American insurance. Andreessen Horowitz and Kaszek led.

14/ Blomma raised $5M Seed in San Francisco. Founded by former Pinterest and Canva executive Silvia Oviedo López and Button co-founder Siddhartha Dabral, Blomma provides an AI-powered career coaching platform designed for the modern workplace. Felicis Ventures led, with Evan Sharp, Jonathan Shottan, and others participating.

Which of the above startups seems the most promising? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks,

Chintan