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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
- OpenAI launched its Frontier Alliances, partnering with consulting giants BCG, McKinsey, Accenture, and Capgemini.
- Novo Nordisk and Vivtex Corporation announced a partnership worth up to $2.1 billion to develop next-generation oral biologic medicines.
- Anthropic accused DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax of using fraudulent accounts to distill Claude and train rival AI models.
- Calgary-based fintech Neo Financial is partnering with United Airlines to launch the United MileagePlus Neo World Elite Mastercard this spring.
- Rainforest partnered with PayPal to embed Venmo and Pay Later into software platforms via a unified checkout.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- OpenAI secured a monumental $110 billion funding round valuing the company at $730 billion, with investments from Amazon, SoftBank, and NVIDIA.
- MatX raised a $500 million Series B led by Jane Street to develop processors 10 times more powerful than NVIDIA's for training large language models.
- SambaNova unveiled its SN50 AI chip and secured $350 million in Series E funding along with a strategic Intel partnership.
- SHINE Technologies attracted $240 million in equity financing led by NantWorks to advance isotope expansion.
- Whop landed a $200 million strategic investment from Tether at a reported $1.6 billion valuation to expand its creator marketplace.
💰️ IPO and M&A Watch
- GSK acquired 35Pharma for $950 million to add phase I pulmonary hypertension drug HS235, strengthening its respiratory pipeline.
- Uber is set to acquire SpotHero to integrate its extensive network of garages and lots into the Uber app to offer a seamless end-to-end travel experience.
- Generate Biomedicines filed for an IPO in the United States, aiming to raise as much as $425 million by offering 25 million shares on the Nasdaq.
- Arctic Wolf acquired exposure assessment startup Sevco Security to integrate its asset intelligence into the Arctic Wolf Aurora Platform.
- Traveltech giant Amadeus acquired New York-based AI company SkyLink to integrate its conversational automation engine.
🏦 About Investors
- Novacap announced the final close of Novacap Technologies Fund VII, securing nearly $3.8 billion in capital commitments in under a year.
- Updata Partners closed its largest fund to date, the oversubscribed Updata Partners VIII, with $875 million in capital.
- Cutting Horse, a new growth equity firm from Freshly's founder, closed its inaugural fund at $75 million.
- Canadian aerospace company NordSpace launched NordSpace Ventures, its new investment division.
- CAVU Consumer Partners promoted Jared Jacobs to Managing Partner, where he will join co-founders Brett Thomas and Rohan Oza.
🚀 Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
OpenAI
Founded in 2015 in San Francisco, OpenAI has evolved from a research lab into one of the world’s most influential AI companies, powering ChatGPT, enterprise APIs, and advanced developer tools used by millions globally. Led by CEO Sam Altman and CFO Sarah Friar, the company recently secured a staggering $110 billion financing round at a $730 billion valuation, backed by Amazon, SoftBank, and NVIDIA. The raise is tied to major infrastructure partnerships with AWS and NVIDIA to expand training and inference capacity at industrial scale. With nearly 900 million weekly ChatGPT users, OpenAI is positioning itself as a foundational infrastructure layer of the global AI economy.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
Novacap
Founded in 1981 in Montreal, Novacap is one of Canada’s most established private equity firms, specializing in middle-market buyouts across technology, digital infrastructure, industries, and financial services. The firm focuses on profitable North American B2B software and tech-enabled services companies, pairing capital with operational expertise to drive transformational growth. Led by Managing Partner Pascal Tremblay, Novacap recently closed Novacap Technologies Fund VII at nearly $3.8 billion, surpassing its target in under a year and lifting total assets under management above $12 billion. With landmark deals including the $1.9 billion privatization of Integral Ad Science and the $1.45 billion sale of Eddyfi Technologies, Novacap reinforces its position as a disciplined value-creation partner in the tech ecosystem.
🤑 Opportunities Expiring Soon
Fintech Delta by Station Fintech Montréal
- 📢 Organizer: Finance & Insurance
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Pre-seed, Seed, Pre-Series A, Series A
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Finance & Insurance
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 03, 2026
Northwestern Mutual Accelerator Powered by gener8tor
- 📢 Organizer: gener8tor
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation, Pre-seed, Seed, Pre-Series A, Series A, Revenue-generating
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Finance & Insurance, Health & Life Sciences, AI & Data
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 06, 2026
Worlds in Action Hack San Francisco
- 📢 Organizer: SensAI Hackademy
- 🗂️ Category: Hackathon
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: AI & Data, DeepTech, Media & Entertainment, Mobility & Logistics, Software & IT
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 07, 2026
Techstars Founder Catalyst WaterTech & Sustainability
- 📢 Organizer: Techstars
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation, Pre-seed, Seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Energy & Environment
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 08, 2026
gBETA Round Rock
- 📢 Organizer: Round Rock Chamber
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Pre-seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 09, 2026
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