Spotlight

Happy Holidays!

This year proved that AI is no longer a hype cycle. It has become the backbone of a new software stack. Models matured, data systems hardened, and startups built real products around reliability and trust.

Across AngelsRound, we covered 46 startups in 2025. All were exceptional, but these stood out for one reason: they turned intelligence into something useful. They built systems that solved persistent problems such as improving data, increasing safety, accelerating testing, and enabling smarter decisions. In doing so, they moved AI from theory to practice.

As 2026 begins, the next frontier is not building another model but embedding intelligence into the systems that already run the world such as search, logistics, energy, education, and work itself. The builders who understand that shift will define the next decade.

The TOP 7 AI Startups We Covered This Year

1. You.com — The Search Layer of the AI Stack

•  What They Do: You.com evolved from an AI search engine into a search API platform powering LLMs and AI agents with contextual retrieval.

•  Why It Matters: As every product adds an agentic layer, retrieval quality becomes mission critical. You.com provides the connective tissue between models and the web.

• Funding: $100M Series C (Sept 2025) at a $1.5B valuation led by Cox Enterprises with Salesforce Ventures and Norwest.

2. TensorStax — Automating Data Engineering with AI Agents

• What They Do: TensorStax builds AI agents that design and maintain data pipelines automatically.

• Why It Matters: Data preparation remains the bottleneck for enterprise AI. TensorStax turns it into a closed-loop system that writes, tests, and deploys data flows autonomously.

• Funding: $5M Seed (May 2025) led by Glasswing Ventures with Bee Partners and S3 Ventures.

 3. Haize Labs — The Moody’s of AI Safety

•  What They Do: Haize builds tools that stress test models and agents, detecting biases and failures before release.

• Why It Matters: As regulation tightens, independent safety validation is becoming a requirement, not a luxury.

• Funding: $7M Seed led by General Catalyst with Soma Capital and angels from Replit, Okta, and Hugging Face.

4. Lantern — AI Vector Search Inside Postgres

• What They Do: Lantern adds vector search capabilities directly to Postgres, enabling AI apps to query by meaning without replatforming.

• Why It Matters: Enterprises want AI power without fragmenting their data stack. Lantern makes Postgres AI native with 20× faster retrieval.

• Funding: $500K Pre-Seed from YC and Wayfinder.

5. Optiversal — AI Native Content for Retail Growth

•  What They Do: Optiversal creates AI-driven e-commerce content optimized for search and discovery platforms like ChatGPT.

•  Why It Matters: As search shifts toward AI-generated answers, retailers need content that adapts in real time to consumer intent.

• Funding: $5.6M Series A (Apr 2025) led by Data Point Capital, Jefferies, and Gaingels.

6. Blok — Simulating Product Decisions Before You Ship

•  What They Do: Blok lets teams run synthetic experiments on virtual users to predict outcomes before launch.

• Why It Matters: Traditional A/B testing is slow and costly. Blok compresses weeks of testing into hours through behavioral simulation.

• Funding: $7.5M Seed (2025) led by Mac Ventures with Rackhouse and Weekend Fund.

7. The LLM Data Company (TLDC) — The Testing Layer for AI

• What They Do: TLDC’s doteval turns model evaluation into programmable assets that teams can version and reuse like unit tests.

• Why It Matters: As AI moves into production, companies need standardized evaluation to measure quality and safety.

• Funding: YC S25, raising Seed round with Tier 1 VCs, used by Perplexity and Diode.

Frontier AI Spotlights

Mbodi AI — Teaching Robots Through Language

• What They Do: Mbodi lets operators train robots using plain language instead of code, cutting weeks of integration time.

• Why It Matters: Bridges human intent and machine execution, turning robots into adaptive co-workers across factories.

•  Funding: $500K Pre-Seed, raising $3M Seed with YC, Betaworks, and Pioneer Fund. Partnered with ABB Robotics.

Red Barn Robotics — Autonomous Farming for a Sustainable Future

• What They Do: Red Barn builds autonomous weeding robots that replace manual labor and herbicides using vision and precision cutting.

• Why It Matters: Addresses labor shortages and environmental pressures in a $37B market while improving yields and soil health.

•  Funding: $2.8M Seed led by YC and Pioneer Fund with $5M in LOIs from organic farms.

GigHQ — The Data Layer for the Future of Work

• What They Do: GigHQ helps workforce programs and employers understand what drives hiring success using AI and outcome-based matching.

• Why It Matters: The $13B workforce market lacks transparency. GigHQ closes the loop between job seekers, programs, and employers through real hiring data.

• Funding: Raising $250K Pre-Seed, backed by Founder Institute, UT Austin TVL Accelerator, NVIDIA Inception, and Google for Startups.

Written by Ashher

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