AI Startup & SMB Insights

Trend spotlight: Two AI startups snag identical $75M rounds to tackle SMB-vulnerable risks.

• Bretton AI (Sapphire Ventures, Greylock): Upending...

Explosive genAI investments highlight a trend of massive capital inflows:

• YC funds generative AI startups in 2026, with one raising $100M from...

• Pentagon ultimatum demands Anthropic lift Claude's ethical restrictions or risk supply chain label, sparking legal confusion for AI firms.
• US...

Revel, a rapidly developing startup, secures $150M Series B to integrate AI into hardware testing and control—spotlighting niche AI investments beyond mainstream hype.

Non-coders unite: Scobleizer built a complex personalized X analysis system just by talking to AI with @blevlabs and X API—no programmers needed....

UAE AI startup Skipr raised $2M seed at $10M valuation—prime inspiration for SMBs eyeing AI infrastructure side projects.

• Hub71-backed from Abu...

Alkemi brings an AI data scientist to Slack 24/7, so teams query their own data conversationally.

• Instant answers on pipeline drivers, product...

Key angles on Profound's breakout funding:

• $96M Series C led by Lightspeed values the 18-month-old startup at $1B
• Full-stack platform for AI...

Encord, a five-year-old startup, just raised $60M for software helping AI handle robot data—key infrastructure SMBs can tap for affordable training tools and side projects.

AI Funding for SMB Tools

• 🔥 Profound Hits Unicorn Status: Profound AI marketing startup raised $96M at $1B valuation from Lightspeed and...

Perplexity launches Computer, orchestrating 19 AI models (incl. Claude Opus 4.6) in parallel – picks best for reasoning, code, research, images.

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Gushwork AI, an agentic AI startup, secures $9M seed funding led by Susquehanna Asia VC, with Lightspeed participating. Fresh capital for SMB workflow automation tools.

• Alpa's $3.5M raise funds real-time financial platform for hospitality operators' margin visibility and profitability
• Burger King's Patty AI in...

Profound hits unicorn status with $96M funding from Lightspeed and Sequoia.

• Reaches $1B valuation, spotlighted in emerging tech trends for brands...

Chicago's Letter AI snags $40M Series B just 4 months post-Series A, valuing it in hundreds of millions.

Rapid scaling highlights:

• Letter Compass...

Guidde, Tel Aviv-based provider of an AI digital adoption platform, raises $50M in Series B funding—fueling tools to enhance SMB onboarding and training.

Profound simplifies AI-driven marketing challenges for SMB teams amid consumer shift to AI tools over search engines:

• Track brand in AI: Monitors...

Hospitality AI investments like smert.ai's robotics combo open revenue streams via consulting and cross-selling.

• BK deploys Patty AI in 500...

DACH startups attract strategic capital in Jan-Feb 2026:

• Enterprise AI for operational workflows and industrial robotics modernizing Mittelstand
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AI can rapidly increase business value for SMB exits—but only with quality data prepared now.

Key strategies:

• Document SOPs first: Load existing...