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Welcome to another edition of 🔍 Startup Researcher - North America, your essential digest delivering the latest news and premium insights on startups and venture capital across the region 🌎️
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📰 Important News
- Anthropic expanded Claude into healthcare with HIPAA-ready tools, using Opus 4.5 to speed care, trials, and regulatory work.
- Sabre partnered with BizTrip AI to launch agentic AI assistants for corporate travel booking and management across TMCs.
- Immunai and Bristol Myers Squibb partnered to decode immune responses in trials, using AI and AMICA-OS to improve drug decisions.
- 1Password appointed Nancy Wang as CTO to lead AI-era identity security for humans and non-human identities supporting autonomous agents.
- Highspot's Winter Launch added Deal Agent and Deal Intelligence, giving sellers real-time insights, coaching, and next-best actions.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- Etched secured $500 million at a $5 billion valuation to develop its specialized Sohu AI chip, aiming to outperform Nvidia's H100 GPUs by 20x.
- ClickHouse raised $400 million in Series D funding to scale its real-time analytics platform and expand into AI development.
- Replit closed a $400 million funding round, reaching a $9 billion valuation due to rapid growth and its AI coding platform.
- Merge Labs landed $252 million led by OpenAI and Bain Capital to develop non-invasive brain-computer interfaces.
- Onebrief completed a $200 million Series D led by Battery VC and Sapphire Ventures to integrate AI-driven simulation for military command operations.
💰️ IPO and M&A Watch
- Liftoff Mobile filed for a $400 million IPO, signaling a potential reopening of the tech IPO market for established software businesses.
- OpenAI acquired healthtech startup Torch for an estimated $60 million, integrating its team and technology to unify fragmented patient health data.
- CrowdStrike is acquiring Seraphic Security to integrate browser-native protection into its Falcon platform.
- ClickHouse acquired LLM observability platform Langfuse as part of its AI push, integrating open-source monitoring for model quality and safety.
- Phenom acquired Included AI to integrate agentic people analytics and actionable workforce insights into its platform.
🏦 About Investors
- Superorganism, the world's first biodiversity-focused VC, successfully closed its debut $25.9 million fund to invest in early-stage NatureTech companies.
- Somersault Ventures closed its $20 million fund to back seed-stage software and marketplace startups in niche U.S. and European markets.
- 500 Global promoted Mei Chel Tan to Global MP recognizing her pivotal role in expanding the firm's presence across Asia and EMEA.
- Vijay Pande and Zack Werner launched San Francisco-based VZVC, a thesis-driven venture firm focused on AI driven healthcare and biotech.
- Bain & Company has formalized a partnership with seven leading venture capital firms to drive AI innovation opportunities for clients.
🚀 Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
Etched
Etched, founded in 2022 in San Jose by Gavin Uberti, Chris Zhu, and Robert Wachen, is building purpose designed AI hardware to challenge GPU dominance in large scale inference. The company’s flagship product, the Sohu chip, is an ASIC optimized exclusively for transformer based models, targeting major gains in speed and energy efficiency. Etched recently secured a $500 million funding round led by Stripes, with backing from Peter Thiel, Positive Sum, and Ribbit Capital, bringing total funding close to $1 billion. Led by CEO Gavin Uberti, the team is accelerating chip development and senior hires, positioning Etched as a focused bet on specialized silicon to power the next generation of AI infrastructure.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
Superorganism
Superorganism, founded in 2023 after groundwork that began in 2022, is a venture capital firm positioning itself as the first investor dedicated exclusively to biodiversity focused technology. Based in the US and backed by groups including Cisco Foundation, AMB Holdings, and Builders Vision, the firm recently closed its debut $25.9 million fund to invest at pre-seed and seed stage. Led by co-founders and Managing Directors Kevin Webb and Tom Quigley, Superorganism backs startups tackling extinction drivers, climate and biodiversity overlap, and enabling technologies such as AI, genomics, and remote sensing. With 20 investments already made and 10% of profits pledged to conservation, the firm aims to anchor biodiversity as a core, investable pillar of the global venture ecosystem.
🤑 Opportunities Expiring Soon
E3 Accelerator – Riyadh Cycle
- 📢 Organizer: E3.Ventures
- 🗂️ Category: Funding, Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: AI & Data, Finance & Insurance
- 📅 Application Deadline: January 20, 2026
Spring 2026 Cooperative Business Incubator
- 📢 Organizer: Start.coop
- 🗂️ Category: Incubator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation, Pre-Seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: January 21, 2026
Google for Startups Accelerator Canada
- 📢 Organizer: Google for Startups
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Seed, Pre-Series A, Series A
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: January 22, 2026
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