Section 1 — Funding Briefing
|
Today's scan identified 21 deals totaling over $260 million in US early-stage funding. Highlights include Cognichip's $60M Series A with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan joining the board, a $40M seed for 0G Labs (blockchain for AI agents), and ThinkLabs AI's $28M Series A backed by NVIDIA's venture arm.
| COMPANY |
AMOUNT |
ROUND |
FOCUS |
LEAD INVESTOR |
| Cognichip | $60M | Series A | AI for Chip Design | Seligman Ventures |
| 0G Labs | $40M | Seed | Blockchain for AI Agents | Hack VC |
| Via Separations | $36M | Series A | Industrial Separation | Climate Investment |
| ThinkLabs AI | $28M | Series A | AI Grid Intelligence | Energy Impact Partners |
| Treeline | $25M | Series A | IT Infrastructure | Andreessen Horowitz |
| Variance | $21.5M | Series A | AI Compliance Agents | Ten Eleven Ventures |
| Scalvy | $13.9M | Series A | Power for AI DCs | Silicon Badia |
| memQ | $10M | Series A | Quantum Networking | Quantonation |
| Whirl AI | $8.9M | Seed | Enterprise Systems AI | ICONIQ |
| Nomadic | $8.4M | Seed | AV Data Platform | TQ Ventures |
| Cara | $8M | Seed | AI Insurance Platform | Kearny Jackson |
| Miravoice | $6.3M | Seed | AI Phone Surveys | Unusual Ventures |
| Anvil Robotics | $5.5M | Seed | Custom Robot Builder | Matter VP |
| Verse8 | $5M | Seed | AI Game Creation | Story Foundation |
| Cashmere | $5M | Seed | Publishing + Gen AI | Reach Capital |
| TippingPoint Bio | $4.5M | Seed | Pediatric Cancer | SOSV |
| Numos | $4.25M | Seed | AI Finance for CFOs | General Catalyst |
| Rowan | $3.3M | Seed | AI Biz Succession | DRW |
| Nomad Inc. | $2M | Seed | AI Fleet Management | Undisclosed |
| Sub-Q Bionics | $1.5M | Pre-seed | Medical Device | Mayo Clinic |
| Spotwise.ai | $450K | Pre-seed | AI Sales for Media | Outlast Fund |
| Cognichip - $60M Series A (Redwood City, CA) |
Pioneering ACI (Artificial Chip Intelligence) for semiconductor design. Oversubscribed round led by Seligman Ventures with SBI Investment. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Umesh Padval join the board. Total funding exceeds $93M. Claims to reduce chip design cycles by 50% and costs by 75%. Engaged with 30+ semiconductor companies.
Investors: Seligman Ventures, SBI Investment, Mayfield, Lux Capital, FPV, Candou Ventures | Angels: Lip-Bu Tan (Intel CEO), Umesh Padval |
| 0G Labs - $40M Seed (San Francisco, CA) |
Creator of a modular AI chain powering a decentralized AI operating system. ZeroStack Corp made a $107M institutional commitment to the 0G token ecosystem.
Investors: Hack VC, Delphi Digital, OKX Ventures, Samsung Next, Bankless Ventures |
| ThinkLabs AI - $28M Series A |
AI-powered grid intelligence company empowering critical infrastructure with trustworthy, physics-informed AI.
Investors: Energy Impact Partners, NVentures (NVIDIA), Edison International, GE Vernova |
| Variance - $21.5M Series A |
AI agents designed for compliance investigation.
Investors: Ten Eleven Ventures, 645 Ventures, Y Combinator, Urban Innovation Fund, Okta Ventures |
| Whirl AI - $8.9M Seed (San Francisco, CA) |
Enterprise systems AI platform extracting institutional knowledge. Founded by Sunny Bedi (fmr CIO at VMware, NVIDIA, Snowflake).
Investors: ICONIQ, notable angel investors |
| Nomadic - $8.4M Seed |
Platform turning AV video footage into structured, searchable datasets using vision language models.
Investors: TQ Ventures, Pear VC | Angel: Jeff Dean (Google Chief Scientist) |
| Cara - $8M Seed |
AI platform for insurance brokerages automating sales and servicing workflows.
Investors: Kearny Jackson | Angels: Claire Hughes Johnson, Kevin Mahaffey, Sam Hodges, Colin Evans |
| Miravoice - $6.3M Seed |
AI interviewer conducting long-form phone surveys (120+ questions, 40+ min). Surpassed 100K calls in 2025.
Investors: Unusual Ventures, Neo, 25madison | Angels from Ramp, PubMatic, Atlassian, Google |
| Anvil Robotics - $5.5M Seed |
Custom robot builder platform - 'Legos for robots.'
Investors: Matter VP, Humba Ventures, DNX Ventures | Angel: Vivek Sodera |
Section 2 — Individual Angels Identified
|
Today's scan identified 7 named individual angel investors across 4 deals. Notable: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean both made investments today.
| Lip-Bu Tan |
Background: CEO of Intel Corporation
Investment: Cognichip ($60M Series A)
Location: San Jose, CA
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lipbutan
X/Twitter: @lipbu
Soar Portal Match: Founder Portal
|
| Umesh Padval |
Background: Managing Partner, Seligman Ventures; fmr semiconductor CEO
Investment: Cognichip ($60M Series A)
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/umeshpadval
X/Twitter: N/A
Soar Portal Match: Finance Portal
|
| Jeff Dean |
Background: Google Chief Scientist; co-designer of TensorFlow, MapReduce
Investment: Nomadic ($8.4M Seed)
Location: Mountain View, CA
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeff-dean-8b212555
X/Twitter: @JeffDean
Soar Portal Match: Founder Portal
|
| Claire Hughes Johnson |
Background: Fmr COO of Stripe; Author of 'Scaling People'
Investment: Cara ($8M Seed)
Location: San Francisco, CA
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/clairehughesjohnson
X/Twitter: @chaborneaux
Soar Portal Match: Workplace-ai.com
|
| Kevin Mahaffey |
Background: Co-founder of Lookout (mobile security)
Investment: Cara ($8M Seed)
Location: San Francisco, CA
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kevinmahaffey
X/Twitter: @dropalltables
Soar Portal Match: Founder Portal
|
| Eddie Lou |
Background: Co-founder & CEO of Shiftgig (acq. by Snagajob)
Investment: Rowan ($3.3M Seed)
Location: Chicago, IL
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/eddielou
X/Twitter: @eddielou
Soar Portal Match: Founder Portal
|
| Vivek Sodera |
Background: Founder of Superhuman; angel via Spacecadet Ventures
Investment: Anvil Robotics ($5.5M Seed)
Location: San Francisco, CA
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/viveksodera
X/Twitter: @viveksodera
Soar Portal Match: Founder Portal
|
Section 3 - EDGAR Form D Filings
|
231 total Form D filings on April 1, 2026. 47 operating companies identified with 178 named executive officers. Key tech/AI companies below:
| COMPANY |
STATE |
INDUSTRY |
AMOUNT |
EXECUTIVES |
| Valthos Inc. | NY | Other Technology | $27.5M | Kathleen McMahon, Tess Van Stekelenburg |
| AstronetX PBC | CT | Other Technology | $1M | Jon A. Morse, Nicholas Viggiani, Brian Cohen |
| MeadowCX Inc. | CA | Other Technology | $1M | Chetan Manda, Parth Maheshwari, Utkarsh Sinha |
| Spectrum Antimicrobials | CA | Pharmaceuticals | $35M | Hojabr Alimi, Kate Lewis, William Watson III |
| Optura, Inc. | TN | Other Health Care | $7.6M | Michael Hollis, Andy Fanning, TJ Parker |
| Imagine Devices | TX | Biotechnology | $900K | Iman Salafian Esfahani, Alan Groves |
| Conexeu Sciences | NV | Biotechnology | $1.8M | David Bogart, Miles Harrison, Aaron Farberg |
| TracePass, Inc. | DE | Other Technology | $341K | Balazs Sarkany, Cameron Marsh |
| Small Craft, Inc | WA | Computers | $200K | Matthew Wolfe, Adam Kumpf |
| PowerLeaf, Inc. | RI | Other | $300K | Jason D. Iannuccilli |
| zizzl holding | WI | Other | $1.5M | Raymond Seaver Jr., Richard Gallun, Kevin Hill |
| FF Interco, Inc. | WI | Other | $1M | Sam McDaniel, Eric Rupert, Jessica Benish |
| Drilliant Energy | LA | Oil and Gas | $2M | Robert Salassi, Jarryd Landry, Rodney Stumpf |
Section 4 - Social Media Post Pack
|
| LinkedIn Post |
Early-stage funding roundup for April 1, 2026:
21 deals. $260M+ raised. 7 named angels identified.
Top deals: Cognichip $60M (Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan joins board), 0G Labs $40M (blockchain for AI agents), ThinkLabs AI $28M (NVIDIA Ventures), Variance $21.5M (AI compliance agents)
Angels spotted: Lip-Bu Tan, Jeff Dean, Claire Hughes Johnson, Kevin Mahaffey, Eddie Lou, Vivek Sodera
#venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #AI
|
| X/Twitter Thread |
1/ Angel Registry Update - April 1, 2026: 21 deals, $260M+, 7 named angels
2/ BIGGEST: Cognichip $60M Series A for AI chip design. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan joins board.
3/ Jeff Dean backed Nomadic $8.4M. Claire Hughes Johnson backed Cara $8M.
4/ Full report: buttondown.com/AngelRegistry
|
Forward to a founder friend → buttondown.com/AngelRegistry
|