China Is Not Sold on TikTok Deal

We’re still recovering from our whirlwind week; for those who missed it (and also for those who did not miss it), here are some scenes from Disrupt.

Top News

China said it is willing to work with the U.S. on a TikTok deal but stopped short of agreeing to Trump’s proposed spinoff that would cut ByteDance’s stake below 20%, underscoring that no agreement is in place yet. Bloomberg has more here.

Bevel Raises $10M Series A from General Catalyst for Its AI Health Companion

Image Credits: Bevel

By Tage Kene-Okafor

Most people tracking their health today end up with scattered clues. Their smartwatch shows sleep duration. A fitness app logs steps. A nutrition app counts calories. Yet few tools help people understand how all of this fits together.

Bevel, a New York–based startup, believes that’s the missing piece in the shift toward proactive health. The company has raised a $10 million Series A from General Catalyst to scale its AI health companion, which unifies data from wearables and daily habits across sleep, fitness, and nutrition into personalized insights.

The investment follows a breakout year for the two-year-old health tech company.

Bevel says it has grown more than eightfold within the past year and now reaches over 100,000 daily active users, making it one of the fastest-growing health apps in the U.S. Additionally, the company says the average user opens the app eight times per day, and retention remains above 80% at 90 days — rare metrics in a category where people often churn after reaching a short-term fitness goal.

“We think of health as a continuous journey, not a phase,” said co-founder and CEO Grey Nguyen in an interview with TechCrunch. “Bevel meets you where you are, learns from your habits, and helps you make small changes that compound over time.”

But with so many health companion brands, from Whoop to Oura to Eight Sleep, why does the world need another one?

According to Aditya Agarwal, a Bevel co-founder and board member who is also a partner at venture firm South Park Commons, many of these health apps rely on accompanying hardware devices that customers must buy and maintain. Because such devices can be pricey, there’s an opportunity to create a product that’s purely software-based, giving people the flexibility to use the wearables they already own.

Massive Fundings

Applied Compute, a San Francisco startup founded this year that builds custom models and in-house AI agents for enterprises, raised an $80 million round. The round was led by Benchmark, with Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, and Elad Gil also opting in. More here.

Bending Spoons, a 12-year-old Milan company that acquires and revamps struggling tech businesses, raised a $710 million round at an $11 billion pre-money valuation. The round was led by T. Rowe Price, with Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity, Foxhaven Asset Management, and Radcliff also investing. Forbes has more here.

EnduroSat, an eleven-year-old Sofia company that builds modular satellites and constellation systems, raised a $104 million round co-led by Google Ventures and Lux Capital and including EIC Fund, Shrug Capital, and Riot Ventures. More here.

Legora, a three-year-old Stockholm startup that provides collaborative AI software for legal professionals to automate document work, is reportedly raising $150 million Series C round at approximately a $1.7 billion valuation, a steep increase over the $80 million round it raised earlier this yer at a $675 million valuation. Bessemer Venture Partners is the purported lead. Tech Funding News has more here.

PhonePe, a 10-year-old Bengaluru company that runs a UPI payments app for instant bank-to-bank transfers in India, raised a $600 million round at a $14.5 billion post-money valuation. General Atlantic was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $1.6 billion. The Economic Times has more here.

Poolside, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that develops AI systems to help engineers write and debug software, is reportedly talking to Nvidia about a $500 million to $1 billion strategic as part of a $2 billion round it is raising at a reported $12 billion valuation. Bloomberg has the scoop here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Augment, a four-year-old Austin startup that enables investors to buy and sell stakes in private companies and funds, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Builders VC, with additional participation from Neo, Golden Section, E1 Ventures, Corp Capital, and OPCO Ventures. More here.

Emerald AI, a two-year-old startup based in Washington, DC, that develops software to manage the power use of AI data centers by linking them directly to the electrical grid, raised an $18 million seed extension, Lowercarbon Capital was the deal lead, with Nvidia, Radical Ventures, and National Grid Partners also investing. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

Faktus, a three-year-old Paris startup that provides project-specific financing to construction SMEs, raised $10.4 million in equity and $54.4 million in debt. Lakestar was the deal lead, with Foundamental, Insight Investment, and Fost Capital also pitching in. Vestbee has more here.

Kaizen, a three-year-old New York startup that provides a digital platform for government agencies to deliver resident services online, raised a $21 million Series A round led by NEA, with Seven Seven Six, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, and Carpenter Capital also digging in. The company has raised a total of $35 million. More here.

The Mobile-First Company, a two-year-old Paris startup that builds a mobile AI suite for small business teams, raised a $12 million seed round co-led by Base10 Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Tech Funding News has more here.

Reflectiz, a nine-year-old Boston and Tel Aviv startup that helps enterprises secure websites by monitoring third-party scripts and web supply chain risks, raised a $22 million Series B round led by Fulcrum Equity Partners, with Capri Ventures, YYM Ventures, and AFG Partners also chipping in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

SalarySe, a two-year-old startup based in Gurugram, India, that offers advance salaries and credit cards to white-collar employees, raised an $11.3 million round led by Flourish Ventures, with SIG Venture Capital as well as previous investors Peak XV Partners and Pravega Ventures also piling on. The company has raised a total of $16.6 million. The Economic Times has more here.

Snabbit, a two-year-old Bengaluru startup that offers on-demand home services for urban households, raised a $30 million Series C round led by Bertelsmann India Investments, with Lightspeed, Elevation Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $55 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Uluu, a startup based in Perth, Australia that turns farmed seaweed into biodegradable plastic alternatives, raised a $10.5 million Series A round led by Burda Principal Investments, with Main Sequence, Novel Investments, Startmate, Fairground, and Trinity Ventures also anteing up. Forbes has more here.

xMEMS Labs, an eight-year-old startup based in Santa Clara, CA, that develops ultra-thin solid-state cooling chips that quietly manage heat in AI-powered devices, raised a $21 million Series D round. Boardman Bay Capital Management led the financing, with Cloudview Capital, CDIB-TEN Capital, Harbinger Venture Capital, and SIG Asia Investments also opting in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Smaller Fundings

Allswell, a one-year-old startup that offers virtual, evidence-based therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals, raised a $1.3 million pre-seed round led by Amboy Street Ventures, with Seae Ventures’ Unseen Capital and Techstars also participating. Fierce Healthcare has more here.

Cue Labs, a three-year-old startup based in Zug, Switzerland, that develops the open-source configuration language CUE to help organizations manage and validate data across software systems, raised a $10+ million round co-led by Sequoia Capital and OSS Capital, with Founders Fund and Dell Technologies Capital also taking part. More here.

CustoMED, a two-year-old Israeli startup that uses AI and 3D printing to create patient-specific orthopedic surgical tools and implants, raised a $6 million seed round led by Longevity Venture Partners, with Varana Capital, Flag Capital, the Israel Innovation Authority, and an unnamed orthopedic implant company also contributing. More here.

Human Health, a five-year-old Australian startup that helps people manage chronic conditions by tracking symptoms, treatments, and outcomes through a digital health platform, raised an $8.5 million round led by LocalGlobe, with Airtree, Skip Capital, Aliavia, and Scale Ventures also engaging. Femtech Insider has more here.

The Prompting Company, a San Francisco startup founded this year that helps brands optimize their sites so that AI agents surface and cite their products in recommendations, raised a $6.5 million seed round led by Peak XV Partners, with Base10, Y Combinator, and Firedrop also taking stakes. TechCrunch has more here.

Sparrow BioAcoustics, a seven-year-old Canadian startup that develops AI tools to analyze heart sounds through ordinary smartphones, raised a $10 million round. The deal was co-led by Killick Capital and Klister Credit, with Pelorus VC, 98827 Newfoundland & Labrador, and Brinex Capital also participating. More here.

TestSprite, a two-year-old Seattle startup that automates testing and validation for AI-generated code, raised a $6.7 million seed round led by Trilogy Equity Partners, with Techstars, Jinqiu Capital, MiraclePlus, Hat-trick Capital, Baidu Ventures, and EdgeCase Capital Partners also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $8.1 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Exits

SambaNova Systems, an eight-year-old Palo Alto company that designs custom AI chips and offers AI cloud services, is reportedly in early talks to be acquired by Intel. Bloomberg has more here.

Weavy, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup that lets designers generate and edit AI-created images and videos through a node-based workflow, was acquired by Figma. Terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.