Welcome back to our roundup of startup news to keep you up to date with the most interesting highlights from the sea of activity worldwide.
This month, we hit the halfway point for 2025. Although the year so far has been rocked by global shifts in trade and economic policy, the startup industry appears to be weathering the storm admirably.
Investor confidence remains steady, aided by the promise of emerging innovations that support vertical industry growth and the continued buzz around AI solutions. And while AI has dominated the interest of investors overall, we’d argue it’s good news for the community as a whole.
AI investments helped the startup industry regain its footing after the sharp funding decline seen over the past few years. As 2024 closed with global venture investment activity returning to pre-pandemic rates, 2025 started with a welcome dose of optimism between founders and investors alike.
Meanwhile, an Axios report from July notes that the U.S. IPO market has returned to previous highs last seen in 2021.
The news that the IPO market is back in business despite uncertainty stemming from new global tariffs, causing other industries to contract. Further, we can expect to see a number of major launches as founders respond to these newly warmed market conditions. For example, collaborative design software company Figma and its shareholders are seeking to raise up to $1.3 billion in an IPO upcoming this July.
These big-picture trends are supported by the specific fundraising activity across the board. For instance, we’ve recently seen a diverse mix of bumper funding rounds, from iCapital’s $820 million raise to digitize access to alternatives, XPANCEO’s $250 million bet on augmented reality lenses, and Varda’s $187 million push to manufacture pharmaceuticals in orbit.
In the UK and Europe, women-founded companies have been leading the charge, raising close to €70 million with a flurry of deals for startups that span deep tech, healthcare, AI, pet nutrition, and femcare.
As we enter the second half of 2025, these figures place founders on the firmest footing that we’ve seen for a long time.
To close this month’s edition, here’s a further roundup of startup stories you might have missed:
AI for Manufacturing startup Allie selected to join 25th cohort of WEF Tech Pioneers
Startup Allie specializes in AI for manufacturing, creating closed-loop optimization systems for manufacturing that autonomously adjust production parameters in real time. This company this month was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer, and was the only startup from Mexico featured in the list.
The World Economic Forum selects 100 start-ups from 28 countries to join its Technology Pioneers community.
The new cohort marks a global surge of emerging technologies, from smart robotics and spatial AI to flying taxis and scalable quantum solutions.
Now in its 25th year, the community has recognized over 1,200 start-ups that have gone on to transform industries and societies worldwide.
Source Meridian bolsters Medellin’s role as epicenter of AI activity with Tech Sphere event
Tech enterprise Source Meridian announced that the third edition of TECH SPHERE will be hosted at the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia on September 27.
The conference is set to advance dialogue around the use of AI across the globe, bringing together technology leaders, entrepreneurs, academics and professionals to explore how AI can transform complex challenges into scalable opportunities.
In addition to prominent keynote speakers, the event will include from technical workshops on data processing (ETLs) with Vibe Coding to strategic discussions on AI-oriented software architectures and the integration of language models APIs into real environments, among other topics.
Tech startup Think Power Solutions appoints Daniel Helman as its new CEO
Think Power Solutions, a leading provider of tech-enabled utility infrastructure and field services, announced that executive Daniel Helman will become its new CEO. The startup announcement followed the departure of Founder and CEO Hari Vasudevan, whose 12 years of leadership helped shape the company into a trusted partner across the electric utilities industry.
Hari Vasudevan remains an active investor in Think Power Solutions, continuing to support the company’s long-term mission.
Healthtech startup introduces Coralia Health to connect Spanish-speaking clinicians in Latin America
360 Health Data, launched by a group of industry veterans, introduced this month its Coralia Health platform that connects Spanish-speaking clinicians in Latin America with high-quality medical knowledge.
The startup is set to advance clinical care across Latin America following the launch. By transforming medical knowledge and resources into Spanish through tech-powered automations, physicians in the region now have rapid access to up-to-date, reliable, and relevant information.
The platform aims to empower healthcare professionals across South America by harnessing the vast potential of scientific research and Real-World Evidence (RWE) to foster informed decision-making and advance the field of medicine. The company was founded by Shahir Kassam-Adams and Mike Hoey (article’s featured photo).
EdTech startups ManagedMethods pushes back against school cyberattacks with its Advanced Phishing launch
During a time of rising cybersecurity threats against the education sector, socially engineered emails pose a weak point in cybersecurity defenses.
EdTech startup ManagedMethods now offers the first chain-of-thought (CoT) AI phishing detection tool built specifically for K–12 schools, in response to a new wave of sophisticated phishing attacks contributing to the 63% of K–12 organizations hit by ransomware last year.
ManagedMethods, a leading provider of Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cybersecurity, student safety, and compliance for K-12 school districts, announced the launch of its Advanced Phishing solution to enhance its core cybersecurity product Cloud Monitor.
Signadot brings AI-powered contract testing to developers
As reliance on microservices grows and APIs evolve rapidly, the maintenance overhead can become a bottleneck that slows down development speeds.
Signadot, a Kubernetes-based platform that scales microservices testing for engineers, announced it is bringing AI-powered testing to DevOps to accelerate the process of microservices testing, improve the quality and reliability of apps, and help developers refocus time and resources.
With its solutions, the Y Combinator-backed startup is replacing the need to maintain complex mock-based contracts that quickly become outdated. Instead of maintaining specific infrastructure to validate contracts, the company’s platform validates compatibility continuously between upstream and downstream services.
Gutenberg Technology unveils AI Course Builder to transform digital learning
Gutenberg Technology announced the launch of its AI Course Builder, a new tool that converts existing content, such as books, documents, and training materials, into structured digital courses with minimal manual effort. Designed for educational institutions and publishers, the platform streamlines course creation and enables distribution across web, mobile, and print formats.
By integrating generative AI into its content management system, GT is addressing a key challenge in EdTech: accelerating the pace of digital transformation without sacrificing quality.
“We’re empowering educators to spend less time formatting and more time teaching,” said CEO Gjergj Demiraj. The launch signals GT’s growing role in redefining how educational content is created and scaled.
Wooclap drives innovation in health education
Health students face challenges in effectively translating static images and diagrams into practical skills and confident decision-making. Traditional learning methods, such as passive viewing or simple multiple-choice questions, fall short when preparing students for real-world clinical environments.
Wooclap, an interactive learning platform with over 50 million worldwide users across 150 countries, hosted an exclusive webinar for academic leaders in health education, on transforming student engagement into real-world readiness through interactive image-based learning and clinical reasoning.
The educators shared practical applications of Wooclap’s innovative image-based features, including “label an image” and “find on an image,” and clinical reasoning tools like the Script Concordance Test (SCT) and NCLE, as this edtech platform stands out, offering integrated text-and-image hybrid interactivity in structured medical questioning.
Pettech startup Honor Pet launches 10K sq-ft Comfort Center for better end-of-life care
Honor Pet is reimagining pet end-of-life care with the opening of its Comfort Center in downtown Los Angeles. The first-of-its-kind 10,000-square-foot facility offers a serene, supportive environment that offers a more compassionate approach to pet euthanasia.
The first comprehensive pet end-of-life center in the U.S. offers carbon-neutral water cremation services, four private comfort rooms for gentle euthanasia, and a community event space where pet parents can say goodbye in a way that reflects the love and bond they shared.
Traditional flame cremation releases approximately 535 pounds of CO₂ per cycle, or the equivalent of driving a car over 600 miles. In contrast, Honor Pet’s water-based cremation process, known as aquamation, emits no CO₂ and uses a fraction of the energy, making it the most sustainable pet aftercare option available.
Making Sense brings strategic insight to the SIM Hartford Chapter
Technology executives gathered at the SIM Hartford chapter to discuss how intelligent data practices, user-centered design, and concise problem definition can yield better business outcomes.
The session brought together leaders to exchange challenges and solutions in a world that’s becoming increasingly digital by the day. As organizations from industries across the board seek more than software, they look to increase their valuation through technology.
The meeting was sponsored by Making Sense, a globally present software development firm that is based in Palo Alto and has operations across the U.S. and Latin America. The enterprise helps mid-market organizations turn ideas into high-impact digital products.
