While major European hubs faced sharp venture declines — including Stockholm (-57%), London (-12%), and Berlin (-7%) — Cambridge, Munich (+21% to $2.9B), and Zurich (+5.1% to $990M) defied the downtrend. This signals a structural split in Europe’s tech investment landscape, with Cambridge setting itself apart in both absolute growth and efficiency.

Earlier this year, TFN reported that Cambridge was rapidly closing in on London’s tech hub supremacy, driven by a 38% year-on-year surge in VC funding and value creation of 16.9x per VC dollar invested, compared to a UK average of 5.4x and London’s 4.8x.

Gerard Grech CBE, Managing Director at Founders at Cambridge, remarked:
“While most regions saw venture funding contract, Cambridge doubled its investment — clear proof of our strength in deep tech and life sciences. But the mission continues. To get more venture scientists to breakout stages, we need not just capital, but mentoring, business development, and infrastructure. That’s how we’ll build the deep tech companies that solve tomorrow’s challenges.”

Science Meets Startups: The Deep Tech Flywheel

At the heart of Cambridge’s ascent is a potent mix of dense academic talent, an entrepreneurial mindset, and world-class R&D infrastructure. The city now hosts nearly 700 deep tech and life sciences startups, with 78% of deep tech spinouts reaching Series B, far outpacing the European average of 63%.

In terms of early-stage momentum, 41% of Cambridge startups reach Series A, compared to 40% in Silicon Valley and 33% in London. This success owes to a high founder-to-researcher ratio (1:12 in Cambridge vs 1:31 in London) and targeted initiatives boosting startup viability. Cambridge’s enterprise tech sector value has soared to $222 billion, a 16% jump over the past year, making it the UK’s second most valuable ecosystem after London.

Liz Zijing Li, Co-founder and COO at MimiCrete, credits what locals call the “Cambridge Phenomenon”: “Through the Cambridge network, I met my co-founders, our first partner, early clients, and investors. University-linked VCs gave us crucial early visibility, attracting later-stage capital. It’s a uniquely fertile ground for deep tech startups.”

Deep Tech Champions: Nyobolt’s Rapid Rise

Professor Dame Clare Grey, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Nyobolt and Royal Society Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge, shared with TFN how Cambridge’s infrastructure helped Nyobolt scale:

“Cambridge has been instrumental — from ongoing R&D collaboration between my lab and Nyobolt’s team, to local VCs like Cambridge Enterprise and IQ Capital backing us from Seed to Series B. By leveraging existing university lab facilities, we cut capital expenditure and accelerated our scale-up.”

She emphasized the role of collaborative culture: “I met my co-founder, Dr. Sai Shivareddy, while he was a PhD student here. Those interdisciplinary, serendipitous connections are typical in Cambridge’s ecosystem — making it easier to build and scale frontier technologies.”

Sarah Hirschfield, Founder of CalBot, echoed this: “Science is in the air here. Even though I’m a finance person, it pulled me into deep tech. At Oxford, I probably wouldn’t have founded a biotech hedge fund.”

Diversity: The Multiplier Cambridge Must Prioritize

Despite its commercial triumphs, its startup ecosystem faces inclusion gaps. New data from the Founders at Cambridge Start 2.0 cohort reveals 67% of founders are non-UK nationals, 33% are UK nationals, 66% are male, 28% female, and 5% non-binary, with an average age of 40 and 81% holding a PhD.

Liz Zijing Li remarked: “Female deep tech founders face higher proof burdens and limited investor diversity. More peer support and tailored funding are crucial to closing the early-stage gender gap.”

Professor Grey urged proactive measures: “We need funding, board seats, and speaking platforms for women in deep tech. It can lead the way for regions still struggling with STEM gender imbalance.”

Sarah Anto, CEO of FundHER, highlighted systemic visibility issues: “Demo days spotlight repeat founders and well-networked teams. First-time female founders, even high performers, struggle to get noticed.”

Yet, signs of progress are emerging. Anne Dobrée and Karolina Zapadka, Investment Directors at Parkwalk Advisors, noted strong female VC leadership and successful female founders — but acknowledged Cambridge still lacks enough female chairs and non-executive directors to guide the next generation.

Barriers to Scale: Housing, Growth Capital & Regulation

Its upward arc isn’t without headwinds. Median rents have surged 58% since 2020, nudging some founders toward cheaper cities. Only 14% of startups reach unicorn status here, compared to 19% in Zurich. Regulatory drag, especially the EU AI Act and certification backlogs in sectors like battery tech, also hamper scaling.

Yoram Wijngaarde, founder of Dealroom, commented: “Cambridge is one of Europe’s brightest lights, having produced firms like ARM and Wayve. But to stay globally competitive, it must mature its late-stage capital stack and scale infrastructure.”

What’s Next? Engineering an Inclusive, Innovation-Driven Economy

S-curve modelling suggests its tech ecosystem could hit $500 billion in value by 2030 — if it addresses current bottlenecks. Solutions include expanding talent infrastructure via innovation districts and international founder visa schemes, bolstering the capital stack with €1B Series C+ growth funds, deploying AI regulatory sandboxes, and amplifying network effects via industry-academic rotations and shared IP platforms.

Grech summed it up: “To sustain this momentum, we must ensure the next generation of venture scientists — especially women, international, and interdisciplinary founders — have everything they need to thrive.”

Cambridge’s $2.3 billion surge reflects a structurally unique, deeply connected, and globally relevant ecosystem. Its future leadership will depend on building an inclusive, innovation-led economy ready for the challenges of 2030 and beyond.

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The funding coincides with the upcoming relaunch of LMArena’s fully rebuilt platform next week — promising a faster, sharper, and community-centric hub for rigorous, transparent, and human-centered AI model evaluation.

Building Critical Infrastructure for Trustworthy AI:

In an industry advancing at breakneck speed, LMArena is laying down essential infrastructure: an impartial, reproducible, and community-driven platform for evaluating how AI models perform in real-world applications. Already, the platform has facilitated over 400 model evaluations and gathered 3 million+ community votes, shaping the performance insights of AI systems from industry giants like Google, OpenAI, Meta, and xAI.

“In a world racing to build ever-larger AI models, the crucial question is no longer ‘what can AI do’ — it’s ‘how well can it do it, for whom, and in what context,’” said Anastasios N. Angelopoulos, co-founder and CEO of LMArena. “We’re building the infrastructure to answer those questions reliably.”

The upcoming platform refresh brings a rebuilt UI, a mobile-first design, reduced latency, and powerful new features including saved chat history and continuous conversations. The legacy site will remain live temporarily, but all innovation and future development will migrate to lmarena.ai.

Trusted by the Best, Driven by Principles:

What differentiates LMArena isn’t just its platform but the transparent, principled framework it operates on. All model evaluations are open, leaderboard mechanics are public, and models are tested with diverse, real-world prompts to gauge nuanced, practical performance.

“AI evaluation has too often lagged behind rapid model development,” said Ion Stoica, co-founder at LMArena and professor at UC Berkeley. “We’re closing that gap with a rigorous, community-led platform grounded in long-term integrity.”

The vision extends beyond evaluation — the platform is already partnering with leading AI providers to uncover detailed performance trends, gather human preference data, and stress-test model updates under real-world conditions.

A Long-Term Vision for AI Accountability:

Investors backing LMArena emphasize its vital role in securing AI’s future.

“We invested because the future of AI hinges on reliability and trust,” said Anjney Midha, General Partner at a16z. “And that requires transparent, scientific, and community-led evaluation. LMArena is building exactly that.”

Jagdeep Singh Bachher, CIO at UC Investments, added: “We’re excited to see academic innovation from university labs like those at UC Berkeley making a real-world impact through platforms like LMArena.”

About LMArena:

LMArena is an open-access, community-driven platform designed to rigorously evaluate AI models through real-world prompts and transparent methods. By enabling developers, researchers, and users to vote on and compare model outputs, LMArena creates a scientific, reproducible, and trust-centric infrastructure for advancing reliable AI systems. Its mission is to ensure AI isn’t just powerful, but also trustworthy, safe, and aligned with human needs.

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Powering the Future of Onchain Entertainment with Animoca Brands:

Animoca Brands has long been a pioneer at the intersection of digital ownership and interactive entertainment. With a portfolio of 540+ Web3 investments — spanning household names and disruptive upstarts — the company has consistently demonstrated its ability to back industry-defining projects. This strategic investment in Astar signals Animoca’s unwavering commitment to advancing next-gen digital entertainment, especially within Asia’s fast-growing blockchain ecosystem.

Together, the two companies are crafting a more expansive and interconnected entertainment universe onchain — one where beloved intellectual property (IP), creators, and users can thrive through secure, scalable, and immersive Web3 technologies.

Strengthening Astar’s Entertainment-First Ecosystem:

At the heart of this partnership are bold, culture-driven initiatives. Among them:

• Anime ID: Powered by Moca Network, this upcoming identity and reputation layer will enable seamless onboarding for millions of Web2 users into Web3, providing them with verified, reputation-based identities for onchain entertainment and gaming experiences.

• Anime Art Fest: A pioneering event designed to democratize access to blockchain-based art and entertainment, empowering IP owners, artists, and developers to reach new audiences and unlock new revenue models via NFTs and digital collectibles.

By championing these initiatives, Astar Network and Animoca Brands are taking the lead in redefining how entertainment IP moves onchain — making it frictionless for fans, creators, and developers to connect in the decentralized world.

A Visionary Alliance for Long-Term Growth:

This isn’t just a funding round. It’s a strategic alliance built for scale and sustainability. Animoca Brands recognizes Astar Network’s unique position as a blockchain gateway for Japanese and Asian entertainment IP and sees an enormous opportunity to plug its massive portfolio of projects into Astar’s infrastructure.

With Animoca’s proven expertise in driving consumer adoption and digital ownership experiences, the partnership promises to accelerate the arrival of the next era of Web3 entertainment — one that’s culturally authentic, globally accessible, and financially empowering.

What’s Next for Astar and Animoca?

The collaboration is already gaining traction, with both companies exploring plans for a dedicated IP and entertainment-focused fund. Early discussions with institutional investors suggest significant interest in backing this vision for onchain entertainment.

Expect more announcements soon as the teams work to build out new tools, protocols, and immersive experiences that blur the lines between Web2 and Web3 — creating a world where fans own their fandom, creators control their content, and communities shape their digital economies.

This is just the beginning. Big things are on the horizon.

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In a bold move that signals the next evolution in blockchain-powered consumer experiences, T-Rex, a purpose-built blockchain for entertainment, content, and online cultural virality, today announced it has raised $17 million in funding. The capital injection, accompanied by the creation of a dedicated Incubation Fund, aims to radically transform how online users are rewarded for everyday actions, while addressing persistent engagement issues within Web3 ecosystems.

Slated to launch in Summer 2025, T-Rex’s innovative built-in distribution engine introduces a refreshingly simple, yet powerful concept: seamlessly rewarding people for the activities they already love doing online — whether that’s scrolling through YouTube, engaging with content on TikTok, or reacting to memes on X (formerly Twitter).

Powerful Backing from Top-Tier Web3 Investors:

T-Rex’s vision has drawn enthusiastic support from a roster of influential investors, including Portal Ventures, North Island Ventures, Framework Ventures, Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, ArkStream Capital, Mindfulness Capital, Hypersphere, SNZ, and Arche Fund. The blockchain protocol is being developed by EVG, a premier Web3 product builder and publisher in Asia, renowned for its track record in driving mass adoption initiatives.

Speaking about the partnership, Dan Peng, Partner at Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, remarked:

“We recognize the transformative potential of platforms like T-Rex that expand Web3 beyond DeFi into real consumer culture. EVG’s strong regional influence and deep understanding of Southeast Asia — a market projected to reach $7 billion by 2028 — offers a gateway to scale our footprint within this rapidly growing ecosystem. By combining our robust scaling capabilities with EVG’s ecosystem expertise, we’re strategically positioned to capture both the entertainment and broader consumer markets in one of the world’s most pivotal regions.”

A Culture-First Blockchain for a New Digital Economy:

While Web3 promises revolutionary change, today’s landscape often remains fragmented, difficult to navigate, and sparsely populated. Most blockchains lack real users, sticky culture, and authentic reasons for people to stay. T-Rex seeks to turn this tide with a compellingly simple philosophy: stop trying to reinvent user habits — enhance them invisibly and reward them meaningfully.

At the heart of this model is T-Rex’s Proof-of-Engagement (PoE) mechanism, an elegantly designed, privacy-preserving browser extension that turns regular online activities — watching videos, liking posts, or sharing memes — into tangible digital ownership, rewards, and offline perks.

Allen Ng, Co-Founder of both T-Rex and EVG, explained:

“Instead of building yet another blockchain infrastructure, we’re delivering the water itself: great content, thriving communities, and real-world rewards. Users shouldn’t have to think about crypto until they’re ready. With T-Rex, the blockchain works invisibly in the background, allowing people to effortlessly convert their online attention into meaningful, tradable value. Our broader vision is to turn attention into equity, community into power, and participation into currency.”

Web3 That Feels Like TikTok, not a Crypto Wallet:

T-Rex’s approach is refreshingly consumer-first. At launch, users will simply install the browser extension and continue browsing familiar social platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and X. Every interaction — be it liking, sharing, commenting, or viewing — is securely recorded using advanced zero-knowledge technology (zkTLS) and seamlessly converted into digital rewards, without the need for wallets, seed phrases, or any crypto-specific jargon.

This radical simplicity makes Web3 interactions feel natural and enjoyable for mainstream users, lowering onboarding barriers and offering creators and developers a built-in audience for instant discovery and viral distribution. Users can redeem their rewards both digitally and in real-world experiences like cashbacks at restaurants or exclusive local event deals.

Evan Fisher, Founder and General Partner at Portal Ventures, emphasized:

“The breakout Web3 applications of this next wave will be defined by how well they handle distribution, UX, and product differentiation. The team at T-Rex completely understands this. They’re building a protocol that merges powerful network-driven reward structures with consumer-grade product design. We’re excited to back them as they pioneer a new phase of social Web3.”

Travis Scher, Managing Partner and Co-founder of North Island Ventures, added:

“Web3 infrastructure has matured considerably, but mainstream consumer adoption still lags. T-Rex stands out as a strong contender to bridge this divide by prioritizing digital culture and abstracting away blockchain’s complexity.”

$8 Million Incubation Fund to Ignite Ecosystem Growth:

Beyond its fundraising success, T-Rex has introduced an $8 million Incubation Fund supported by EVG and Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, aimed at accelerating ecosystem development. This fund promises far more than capital — offering participating developers access to critical engineering resources, strategic media partnerships, community activations, key opinion leader (KOL) networks, premium industry events, and strategic intellectual property (IP) applications.

Joyce Yim, Co-Founder of T-Rex, highlighted:

“We provide real firepower, not just funding. Developers joining our ecosystem get immediate exposure to active, engaged user traffic. Creators grow loyal audiences, and users become not just passive spectators, but meaningful stakeholders in the success of viral content.”

Building the New Web3 Metropolis:

As its Summer 2025 launch nears, T-Rex is positioning itself as the connective tissue between online consumer applications — from gaming and music to interactive media and Web3-native utilities. Its culture-first distribution layer is designed to benefit creators, projects, and everyday users alike.

Whether it’s rewarding loyal fans with exclusive digital collectibles, providing new projects with instant audience discovery, or empowering users to earn a tangible stake in the digital economy, T-Rex promises to reshape how online communities engage, grow, and monetize attention in a Web3-enabled world.

About T-Rex:

T-Rex is a next-generation, culture-first blockchain ecosystem purpose-built for consumer-facing applications. Developed by EVG and powered by Arbitrum’s Layer-2 scaling solution, T-Rex transforms Web3’s attention layer through its proprietary Proof of Engagement (PoE) model. It offers a UX-first infrastructure with built-in distribution, rewards, and creator tools, helping bring the next billion users on-chain by making Web3 intuitive, rewarding, and socially meaningful.

Official Site: https://trex.xyz/

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The Settlement Details:

Under the proposed terms, Ripple would pay $50 million to the SEC, while the remaining portion of a previously escrowed $125 million would be returned to the company. The joint agreement was submitted to Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York, who has overseen the case since its inception in December 2020, when it first charged Ripple with conducting unregistered securities offerings via sales of its cryptocurrency XRP.

The parties are seeking an indicative ruling under Rule 62.1, a procedural step that would allow the case to be sent back from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to Judge Torres’ court for final approval of the settlement. Both sides had paused their respective appeals in April while working toward this resolution.

A Landmark Crypto Precedent:

The proposed settlement notably preserves Judge Torres’ pivotal July 2023 summary judgment. In that ruling, the court found that Ripple’s institutional sales of XRP violated U.S. securities laws but determined that its programmatic and secondary market sales did not. Under the new agreement, both will challenge or attempt to vacate this precedent-setting decision.

Both parties cited the public interest in efficiently resolving the matter. The SEC stated that the $50 million civil penalty is consistent with federal securities law and complies with the Second Circuit’s standards for fairness, reasonableness, and legality in settlement agreements.

What Happens Next?

Well-known defense attorney James K. Filan noted that if Judge Torres grants the indicative ruling, the case will officially return to district court for finalization of the settlement. Once the settlement terms are approved, the injunction will be lifted, escrow funds distributed, and both will formally withdraw their pending appeals — bringing the years-long dispute to a close.

This settlement marks a significant moment for the crypto regulatory landscape in the U.S., offering clarity on how digital assets like XRP may be classified and traded under federal law.

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President Trump Issues Sweeping Executive Orders on School Discipline, Civil Rights, and AI Education:

On April 23, President Donald Trump signed several Executive Orders (EOs) poised to reshape educational and civil rights policy:

• “Reinstating Common Sense School Discipline Policies” directs the U.S. Department of Education (USED) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue Title VI guidance within 30 days, enforcing race-neutral school discipline policies and authorizing penalties for non-compliance.

• “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy” seeks to eliminate the long-standing disparate impact standard in civil rights enforcement, limiting action to cases of intentional discrimination — a much harder claim to prove. It also directs federal agencies to repeal related regulations and identify conflicting state laws. The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) responded critically to both EOs.

• “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth” aims to promote AI literacy and teacher training but favors private vendor-driven solutions while depending on federal grants — despite past efforts by this administration to cut them.

IDEA Full Funding Act Reintroduced with Strong Advocacy from NCLD:

The IDEA Full Funding Act (S.1277, H.R.2598) was reintroduced in the 119th Congress by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Rep. GT Thompson (R-PA). This bill proposes fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) over a 10-year glidepath, increasing federal support from 10% to the originally promised 40%.

NCLD and other advocates are pushing for increased IDEA funding in the FY 2026 appropriations bill, supported by a public letter from the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities.

USED’s “DEI Ultimatum” for Federal Funding Temporarily Blocked:

In early April, the USED Office for Civil Rights issued a controversial Dear Colleague letter threatening to withhold federal funds from states and districts failing to certify that they had eliminated “illegal DEI programs.” Several states refused, and on April 24, federal judges temporarily blocked USED’s authority to enforce the certification requirement for IDEA and other grants.

Major Court Battles Reshaping Disability Rights and School Funding:

• Permitting Religious Charter Schools; On April 30, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will hear Oklahoma Charter School Board v. Drummond and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond — two landmark cases determining whether charter schools can legally be operated as religious institutions. NCLD joined an amicus brief warning this could divert public funds from traditional public and charter schools and erode disability services.

• Rights to Sue Schools for Discrimination: In A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, currently before the Eighth Circuit, a ruling in favor of the district could sharply restrict families’ ability to sue schools under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Center for American Progress provided an in-depth analysis of the case and its stakes for students with disabilities.

• Teacher Training Grants Eliminated: In a narrow 5-4 ruling on April 4, the Supreme Court permitted the administration to terminate Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grants, both key programs for elevating educator effectiveness. NCLD previously filed amicus briefs defending these grants.

• Section 504 Lawsuit Dropped: A lawsuit filed by 17 states in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas challenging the constitutionality of Section 504 was voluntarily dismissed in late April, ending a direct legal threat to long-established disability protections.

Final Thought:

From disruptive executive orders to consequential legal decisions, April 2025 marked a turning point in U.S. education and disability policy. The months ahead will see continued battles in Congress, the courts, and federal agencies that will shape AI education, civil rights enforcement, and IDEA funding for years to come.

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Why North America, and Why Now?

Since its inception in 2007, Bosch Ventures (formerly Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH) has cemented itself as one of Europe’s largest and most active corporate venture capital investors, with over $1.1 billion under management. Operating across tech hubs like Silicon Valley, Boston, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv, and China, its current portfolio spans over 60 future-forward startups — from German AI leader Aleph Alpha, US battery recycling innovator Li Industries, to UK quantum computing pioneer Quantum Motion.

This new €250 million ($270M) fund — the firm’s sixth — zeroes in on early-stage and scaling startups in AI, energy efficiency, automation, climatetech, and quantum computing. Despite global economic headwinds and trade tensions, Bosch Ventures believes North America remains a high-impact breeding ground for transformative technologies in generative AI, advanced manufacturing, and climate innovation.

Ingo Ramesohl, Managing Director at Bosch Ventures, emphasizes:

“To be at the forefront of disruptive tech, we must be embedded in the ecosystems where bold ideas and market-shifting solutions emerge. This fund empowers us to fuel the next generation of deeptech breakthroughs.”

What Does This Mean for Germany?

While Germany boasts world-class engineering and premier research institutions, it notoriously struggles to scale startups — particularly beyond early stages. Bosch’s global venture thrust aims to address this bottleneck, serving as a conduit for importing international best practices, disruptive business models, and technical expertise back into Germany’s ecosystem, while attracting overseas co-investors to promising German ventures.

Stefan Hartung, Chairman of Robert Bosch GmbH, underscores the broader mission:

“Startups wield the disruptive power to spark market revolutions and propel economic growth. That’s why Bosch remains an unwavering partner to innovators worldwide — even amid economic uncertainty.”

At home, Bosch is doubling down on tech infrastructure. The company is expanding semiconductor manufacturing in Dresden and Reutlingen, investing over €400 million in 2022 alone and committing another €250 million by 2025 to meet soaring demand in mobility and IoT. This reinforces Germany’s critical role in the global semiconductor supply chain.

Open Bosch and Co-Innovation: A Strategic Edge

Since 2018, the Open Bosch initiative has been catalyzing co-innovation between startups and Bosch’s core industrial divisions. This collaboration model fast-tracks startup growth while amplifying Bosch’s innovation capacity — creating a win-win that boosts long-term competitiveness and market agility.

Yet, regulatory hurdles persist. Despite leading in patents, talent, and research, Germany faces innovation inertia, hampered by excessive bureaucracy and policy lag. Hartung calls for bold reforms:

“It’s time to strip away redundant regulations and unleash a billion-euro stimulus package that delivers lasting value — not fleeting feel-good headlines.”

A New Blueprint for German Corporate Venturing?

Beyond Berlin, Bosch Ventures is fueling high-tech job creation and innovation hubs in Stuttgart, Dresden, and Aachen. The fund’s emphasis on sustainable mobility, energy transition (Energiewende), and digital sovereignty aligns with Germany’s long-term strategic priorities like Industrie 4.0.

Crucially, this fund helps address a chronic shortage of late-stage VC in Germany. By championing global success stories and advocating for overdue reforms in employee stock options, IPO pathways, and skilled immigration, Bosch Ventures is actively reshaping the landscape for tech entrepreneurs and investors.

This €250 million fund isn’t just capital — it’s a strategic lever for Germany’s innovation future, merging the might of a global industrial leader with the speed and daring of venture capital. It offers a compelling playbook for how Germany’s corporate giants can reclaim technological leadership both at home and on the world stage.

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A Smarter, Faster, Cleaner Way to Tap Enterprise Data:

Unlike conventional analytics tools, WisdomAI enables business managers to query data in natural language — eliminating the delays of waiting on data teams to build reports. Whether it’s a Chief Revenue Officer asking, “How am I going to close my quarter?” or frontline operators seeking instant production insights, WisdomAI delivers precise answers across messy and scattered data sources.

“Enterprise data is rarely clean or neatly structured. With WisdomAI, you can drill down to specific deal details or operational insights with just a few keystrokes, skipping the traditional multi-analyst process entirely,” Mazumdar told TechCrunch.

Why It Stands Out?

While many AI analytics platforms promise natural language queries, WisdomAI differentiates itself through precision and resilience against AI hallucinations — a persistent issue with large language models.

Instead of using generative AI (GenAI) to produce answers, WisdomAI smartly employs GenAI to generate optimized queries. If a GenAI-generated query fails, it simply does not retrieve data — it will never fabricate a response. The system pulls verified, real-time insights from enterprise systems like Snowflake, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, Databricks, and PostgreSQL, ensuring accuracy and dependability.

Early Adoption and Enterprise Momentum:

WisdomAI has already attracted leading enterprise clients including ConocoPhillips, Cisco, and Descope. One major oil and gas company uses the platform to empower thousands of field workers with instant answers to production and operational queries, pulling data from telemetry systems, documents, and databases.

The platform adapts to enterprise data environments by learning query languages from logs and metadata, making it flexible for deployment across diverse data storage systems.

Future Outlook:

With this new round of funding, WisdomAI plans to scale its engineering team, deepen product development, and expand go-to-market efforts. Its goal is to deliver enterprise-grade AI analytics that are accurate, fast, and capable of handling the messy, complex realities of modern business data.

In a crowded market of AI analytics solutions, WisdomAI is positioning itself as a reliable, precision-focused platform designed for enterprises seeking clarity without compromise.

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The funding was raised in two phases, with the latest $15 million Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Other participants included Saga VC, vgames, F2 Venture Capital, and gaming industry veteran Akin Babayigit — founder of Tripledot Studios and now head of Arcadia Gaming Advisors. Sett had previously secured $12 million in seed funding from F2, Bessemer, and several top gaming entrepreneurs as angel investors.

Since its founding in 2022, Sett has taken a methodical approach to product-market fit while cultivating an impressive early customer base. Its clientele already includes major studios like Zynga, Scopely, Playtika, SuperPlay, Rovio, Plarium, Candivore, and game engine giant Unity.

The startup, founded by CEO Amit Carmi and CTO Yoni Blumenfeld, is addressing one of the biggest bottlenecks in mobile gaming: how to stand out in a hyper-saturated market. With thousands of new games flooding app stores daily, acquiring users has become more competitive and costly than ever.

“Gaming is one of the most competitive industries on the planet,” Carmi shared in an interview. “While it’s relatively easy to build a game today, making one that succeeds is statistically near impossible.”

According to data from AppsFlyer, gaming companies collectively spend about $29 billion annually to capture $100 billion in revenue — much of it allocated to user acquisition campaigns. Sett’s AI agent platform tackles this head-on by creating interactive, ‘playable’ in-game marketing content 15 times faster and 25 times cheaper than conventional methods.

These AI-powered “playable ads” aren’t mere static banners; they immerse potential players in sample gameplay experiences directly within ad placements, dramatically improving conversion rates. Sett’s tools enable studios to generate creative content and campaign assets at a fraction of the time and cost typically required — a “no brainer,” according to Arcadia’s Babayigit.

Sett’s AI-driven platform has already attracted over 100 gaming studios onto its onboarding waitlist. With this new funding, the company plans to aggressively hire engineers, AI specialists, and expand its proprietary game engine and agentic infrastructure.

Interestingly, Sett’s launch coincides with a strategic industry move competitor AppLovin is reportedly selling its gaming studio assets to Tripledot Studios for $800 million — a move designed to streamline AppLovin’s focus on AI-powered ad and marketing services like SparkLabs. While AppLovin’s market cap has soared to $103 billion, its shift underscores the growing importance of AI in gaming’s marketing and monetization models.

The Future of AI in Gaming:

While the long-term implications of AI-driven automation in game development and marketing are still unfolding, Sett’s founders remain focused on enhancing — not replacing — the creative process.

“We believe there’s a bigger opportunity in connecting both marketing content and in-game experiences through AI,” Carmi added. “Our engine is built to eventually integrate AI-generated assets directly into games, unlocking new levels of personalization and engagement.”

For now, Sett’s priority remains on scaling its AI tools for mobile gaming marketing, an area where demand continues to outpace supply in terms of quality, affordability, and speed.

Arcadia’s Babayigit put it succinctly: “The bar for game quality is sky-high. Sett’s real technology advantage lies in its ability to automate parts of production and distribution without compromising on creative standards. If anyone can make this happen at scale, it’s them.”

About Sett:

Sett is an AI-powered platform for mobile game developers and publishers, enabling studios to build and market games faster and smarter. Its agentic AI solutions reduce the time and costs associated with marketing content creation by up to 25X while improving campaign conversion rates.

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Revolutionizing Knowledge Access for Deskless Workers:

Founded in 2022 by Kamal Dutta and Akash Gupt, ByteEdge is tackling one of the most overlooked pain points in enterprise communication: how to make critical organizational knowledge accessible, engaging, and understandable for deskless workers — who account for nearly 70% of the global workforce.

“The problem is simple yet enormous,” explains Akash Gupt, Co-founder of ByteEdge. “Enterprise knowledge lives in PDFs, Word files, PowerPoint decks, and other text-heavy formats. These are ineffective for frontline employees, who often lack easy access or time to consume such material, resulting in low engagement and significant operational inefficiencies.”

ByteEdge’s AI platform converts lengthy corporate documents into short, cinematic, multilingual video content tailored for frontline teams. It supports regional and global enterprises in delivering timely, impactful knowledge across industries like financial services, pharmaceuticals, FMCG, and e-commerce.

Strong Enterprise Adoption and Market Presence:

In just under two years, ByteEdge has onboarded over 30 enterprise clients, driving approximately 80–85% of its revenue from India. The startup is now positioning itself for international growth, with early engagements underway in the United States and the Middle East.

“This is a universal challenge,” added Gupt. “In the Middle East, for instance, there’s a glaring lack of platforms that deliver enterprise information in local languages like Arabic, especially in rich video formats. The US, being a massive enterprise market, presents an equally large opportunity for scalable solutions like ours.”

To support this international push, ByteEdge plans to raise an additional $3 million in funding over the next four to five months, aiming to deepen product capabilities and accelerate go-to-market efforts globally.

Backed by Strategic Global Investors:

The funding round was spearheaded by TRTL Ventures, a Tokyo-based venture capital firm known for its focus on early-stage AI, fintech, and SaaS startups across Asia. You can learn more about their portfolio and investment philosophy at trtl.vc.

ByteEdge’s latest fundraise also attracted a group of notable angel investors from both India and overseas, a sign of growing investor confidence in AI-driven enterprise solutions targeting operational gaps in frontline workforce engagement.

About ByteEdge:

ByteEdge is an enterprise AI company headquartered in New Delhi, India, specializing in converting static text documents into short, multilingual, cinematic video content tailored for the deskless workforce. Founded in 2022, the company is addressing the enterprise communication gap for frontline workers across multiple industries by making knowledge dissemination engaging, accessible, and language-agnostic. ByteEdge’s platform supports content creation in multiple languages, allowing global organizations to unlock the full potential of their distributed teams.

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