💸 Afynia Laboratories Raises $5M for its Blood Test for Endometriosis
FemWealth Issue #199
Hi FemWealth Friends,
In the Spotlight 💸
Co-founded by Dr. Lauren Foster and Dr. Jocelyn Wessel, Afynia Laboratories, a spin-out from McMaster University in Ontario, provides a blood test for endometriosis.
The Canadian biotech startup raised $5 million in Seed funding led by Bio-Rad Laboratories with participation from Impact America Fund, SOSV, the Capital Angel Network, and Gaingels.
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Startups: ‘Crime Junkie’ Host Ashley Flowers Is Building a $250 Million Podcasting Empire - Founded and led by Ashley Flowers, Audiochuck is the creator of Crime Junkie, the second-most-popular podcast in the US. The true crime and mystery media company raised $40 million from TCG, at a $250 million valuation.
Auditoria.AI Raises $38 Million to Grow Agentic AI for Finance - Co-founded by Adina Simu, Auditoria.AI provides an AI agent for enterprise finance teams. The San Jose-based company secured $38 million in Series B funding led by Innovius Capital and joined by Dell Technologies Capital, Sentinel Global, Venrock, NeoTribe Ventures, Engineering Capital, and KPMG Ventures.
Europe’s Relay pulls in $35M Series A after applying Asia’s model to delivery - Co-founded by Nicole Mazza, Relay provides an AI-powered end-to-end parcel delivery service for e-commerce retailers. The London-based company raised a $35 million Series A round led by Plural, with participation from Project A and Prologis Ventures.
Camber raises $30M: Medical claims automation, billing, RCM (Axios Pro $) - Co-founded by Celina Qi, Camber automates medical claims. The New York startup raised $30 million in Series B funding led by a16z and joined by K Ventures and YC.
Unique, a Swiss AI platform for finance, raises $30M - Co-founded by Michelle Heppler, Unique aims to transform financial operations through agentic AI solutions. The Zurich, Switzerland-based startup raised $30 million in Series A funding co-led by CommerzVentures and DN Capital, with VI Partners and Pictet Group also joining.
Loyal Receives FDA Acceptance of Reasonable Expectation of Effectiveness for Senior Dog Lifespan Extension - Founded and led by Celine Halioua, Loyal is a clinical-stage animal health company developing longevity drugs for dogs. The San Francisco-based company raised $22 million in Series B-2 funding from Valor Equity Partners, Collaborative Fund, and others.
Cambium is building an AI that helps turn waste wood into usable lumber - Co-founded by Marisa Repka, Cambium provides a supply chain platform for the wood industry. The US startup raised $18.5 million led by VoLo Earth Ventures, with participation from 81 Collection, Alumni Ventures, Dangerous Ventures, Groundswell, MaC Venture Capital, NEA, Rise of the Rest, Soma Capital, Tunitas Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Understorey, and Woven Earth.
Microsoft’s venture fund M12 leads $15M round for Seattle cloud infrastructure startup Edera - Co-founded by Emily Long, Ariadne Conill, and Alex Zenla, Edera helps companies secure their Kubernetes and AI workloads. The Seattle-based company raised $15 million in a Series A round led by M12, and joined by Mantis VC, In-Q-Tel, Eniac Ventures, 645 Ventures, FPV Ventures, Precursor Ventures, and Rosecliff Ventures.
Rad Security Raises $14 Million for AI, Cloud Security Platform - Co-founded and led by Brooke Motta, RAD Security provides cloud infrastructure security. The San Francisco-based company raised $14 million in Series A funding led by Cheyenne Ventures. Forgepoint Capital, Lytical Ventures, Akamai, .406 Ventures, Vertex Ventures, and Gula Tech Adventures also contributed.
Paradox Immunotherapeutics Receives $10M Investment from SymBiosis - Co-founded and led by Natalie J. Galant, Paradox Immunotherapeutics is a preclinical-stage biotech that uses a drug discovery platform to combat protein misfolding diseases such as amyloidosis. The Toronto-based company raised $10 million led by SymBiosis Capital Management.
CarbonX secures €2.5 million for improved battery performance with reduced carbon footprint - Co-founded by Daniela Sordi, CarbonX builds carbon black plants for graphene production. The Amsterdam-based company raised €7.5 million in grant and equity funding (€2.5 million grant and a €5 million equity package) from the European Innovation Council.
Vayu raises $7 million Seed round to tackle revenue management in the AI era - Co-founded by Shenhav Avidar, Vayu helps B2B tech companies manage complex billing and revenue processes. The Tel Aviv startup raised a $7 million Seed round co-led by Flint Capital and The Garage, with participation from Fresh.Fund and Secretchord.vc.
Jord Bioscience musters ‘interacting microbes’ to speed up development in crop protection - Co-founded and led by Dr. Keri Carstens, Jord Bioscience provides microbial solutions that can promote specific modes of action for major crops. The US company raised $7 million in Series B funding led by Silver Blue.
Actual Veggies Secures $7M Investment To Scale Distribution and Foodservice Partnerships - Co-founded and led by Hailey Swartz, Actual Veggies is a veggie burger brand. The Miami-based startup raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Relentless Consumer Partners and joined by New Fare Partners and angel investors.
Ignota Labs raises $6.9M to rescue failing drugs with AI technology - Co-founded by Layla Hosseini-Gerami, Ignota Labs aims to uncover and resolve the root causes of drug toxicity. The British pharmatech company raised $6.9 million in Seed funding co-led by Montage Ventures and AIX Ventures, and joined by Modi Ventures, Blue Wire Capital, and Gaingels.
Two Instacart alumni raise $5.5 million to build Highstock, an eBay for big brands with excess inventory - Co-founded and led by Camille van Horne, Highstock is an unsold inventory platform for wholesale buyers. The New York City-based startup raised $5.5 million in Seed funding led by Greylock and joined by Max Mullen.
Floodbase raises $5m to expand data-driven flood insurance solutions - Co-founded by Bessie Schwarz and Dr. Beth Tellman, Floodbase provides flood data and analytics. The New York-based startup raised $5 million led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund, with participation from Pulse Fund.
Accounting hasn’t fully embraced AI yet — Quanta just raised $4.7M to change that - Founded and led by Helen Hastings, Quanta provides an AI-powered accounting platform for software businesses. The San Francisco-based startup raised $4.7 million in Seed funding led by Accel, with additional support from basecase, Comma Capital, Designer Fund, Operator Collective, and angel investor Elad Gil.
uFraction8 Secures £3.4M to Optimise Cell and Biomass Production - Co-founded and led by Dr. Monika Tomecka, Ufraction8 provides microfiltration technology designed to optimise cell and biomass production. The Scottish biotech company raised £3.4 million led by Foresight Group.
Institutionally-focused restaking startup Byzantine Finance raises $3 million in pre-seed funding - Co-founded and led by Gaia Ferrero Regis, Byzantine Finance is building a re-staking protocol. The French startup raised $3 million in Pre-Seed funding co-led by Node Capital and Blockwall Ventures, and joined by Lightshift, Masterkey, and Kiln Ventures.
RepScan secures €3M Series A for negative online content removal - Co-founded by Mar Jufresa, RepScan helps remove negative online content (fake news, identity theft, cyberbullying, fake profiles, photos, videos, false reviews, etc.). The Barcelona-based company closed a €3 million Series A round from Swanlaab Venture Factory, Bonsai Partners, Pinama Capital 23, Boyser, and business angels.
SymbyAI raises $2.1M seed to make science research easier - Co-founded by Ashia Livaudais, SymbyAI uses AI to streamline scientific research. The US startup announced a $2.1 million Seed round from Drive Capital and CharacterVC, among others.
Newly seeded Shiboleth eyes bank-fintech compliance (Axios Pro $) - Co-founded and led by Esty Scheiner, Shiboleth automates consumer lending compliance with AI. The San Francisco startup raised $1.5 million in Seed funding led by Y Combinator.
Dutch LangWatch raises €1M for LLM optimisation - Co-founded by Manouk Draisma, Langwatch provides a low-code LLMops platform to monitor and optimise LLM-powered applications. The Amsterdam-based startup raised €1 million in Pre-Seed funding led by Passion Capital, with participation from Volta Ventures and Antler.
Monument Therapeutics secures £850K to advance schizophrenia treatment with MT1988 - Co-founded by Dr Jenny Barnett, Dr Kiri Granger, and Sheryl Caswell, Monument Therapeutics aims to treat diseases of the central nervous system. The UK-based neuroscience startup raised £850k in funding led by ACF Investors, with additional support from Wren Capital and O2h Ventures.
Prickly Pear Health Raises $250K+ Pre-Seed for Menopause Brain Health Platform - Founded and led by Imen Maaroufi Clark, Prickly Pear Health leverages AI to address the impact of hormonal fluctuations on brain health during the menopausal transition. The US company secured over $250K in Pre-Seed funding led by Bayless Ventures and AZ Venture Capital.
VC: 4Founders Capital launches new €44M fund for Spanish-linked startups - Co-led by Paula Blazquez Solano, Spain-based 4Founders Capital announced the €44 million first close of its third fund to back early stage startups.
Austrian VC firm Fund F closes €28m fund to back gender-diverse teams - Co-founded and led by Lisa-Marie Fassl and Nina Wöss, Fund F closed its first fund of €28 million to back early stage, gender-diverse teams with at least one female co-founder. The Vienna, Austria-based VC firm will write cheques of approx. €300k for 25 Pre-Seed and Seed stage startups in Europe.
Women’s Health: Wellcome Leap Launches $50M Program to Reduce Women’s Alzheimer’s Risk - Wellcome Leap launched CARE (Cutting Alzheimer’s Risk through Endocrinology), a $50 million program aimed at reducing women’s lifetime risk of Alzheimer’s disease by half. Dr. Lisa Mosconi is leading the programme.
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Until next Sunday,
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth