From automating warehouse docks and tracking cognitive performance to reshaping insurance underwriting, startups are leveraging new capital to hardwire artificial intelligence (AI) into operational workflows.
Logistics Intelligence Powers Dock Operations
Warehouse automation startup Kargo.ai raised $42 million in a Series B round to expand global deployments of its AI-powered dock operations platform with enterprise customers. The funding reflects growing demand for automation in logistics environments, where labor shortages, error rates and lack of real-time visibility continue to squeeze margins.
Kargo’s system combines computer-vision hardware with AI software to automatically inspect inbound and outbound freight, verify shipments against documentation and generate structured data at the loading dock.
With the new funding, Kargo plans to accelerate international expansion and roll out agentic AI tools designed to automate downstream workflows such as invoicing, claims and dispute resolution.
Human Interfaces and Agentic AI Push Into Daily Use
On the consumer and human interface front, Neurable raised $35 million in a Series A round to accelerate commercialization of its noninvasive brain-computer interface technology. The Boston-based company is positioning cognitive data as the next layer of everyday analytics, alongside sleep, heart rate and physical activity.
Neurable’s platform uses compact brain-signal processing and machine learning to deliver real-time insights into focus, mental fatigue and cognitive recovery through consumer devices such as its MW75 Neuro LT headset. The company says the technology enables continuous cognitive monitoring without clinical equipment, opening applications across productivity, gaming, research and wellness.
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The round brings Neurable’s total funding to roughly $65 million and underscores investor confidence that brain data can move beyond labs into mainstream products. The company plans to expand partnerships and integrations as it targets broader adoption of cognitive-performance tools.
AI Reshapes Insurance and Market Infrastructure
In the InsurTech sector, Nirvana Insurance closed a $100 million Series D round, nearly doubling its valuation to $1.5 billion just nine months after its prior raise. The financing was led by Valor Equity Partners, with existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst increasing their stakes.
Nirvana’s AI-native commercial insurance platform leverages real-time telematics and proprietary machine-learning models trained on more than 30 billion miles of fleet driving data to redefine underwriting, pricing and claims execution. The company says its systems can deliver quotes in minutes, reward safer driving with personalized pricing and resolve claims faster than traditional carriers by tightly integrating AI throughout the insurance life cycle.
Adjacent to insurance, Architect Financial Technologies raised $35 million in a Series A round to scale AX, its regulated perpetual futures exchange. Launched under the oversight of the Bermuda Monetary Authority, AX offers institutional access to perpetual futures contracts across currencies, equities, indexes, metals and commodities.
Architect says the funding will support liquidity growth, product expansion and broader institutional adoption as it seeks to bridge digital-native trading innovations with traditional market infrastructure.
Deep Infrastructure Targets AI Compute Bottleneck
At the infrastructure layer, Lucidean raised $18 million in seed funding to accelerate development of coherent optical links for data centers.
Lucidean’s architecture is designed to deliver coherent class performance with lower power consumption and complexity than traditional coherent systems. The company says its approach allows data centers to scale bandwidth while managing cost and energy constraints tied to AI-intensive computing.
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