5 Notable Funding Rounds: July 16, 2025

Below, we summarize the major funding and fund information announced between July 15 and 16, 2025, and explain the overview and significance of each company's funding. This text is structured to make professional content easy to understand, incorporating specific examples and citations.

1. Thinking Machines Lab: Large-scale $12 billion valuation seed round

1-1. Company Overview

Thinking Machines Lab is an AI startup led by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. Despite being less than a year old, the company is pursuing the development of multimodal AI technology under the banner of "collaborative research for next-generation AI."

1-2. Seed Round Details

On July 15, 2025, the company officially closed a $2 billion seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Participants in the round included Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, CISCO, AMD, and Jane Street, bringing the valuation to $12 billion. This scale is historic for a Silicon Valley seed round.

1-3. Future Outlook

Murati has teased on Twitter (X) that the company will announce its first product, including open-source components, in the coming months. They also plan to publish scientific findings for the research community, a move that is drawing attention for its potential to boost the open-sourcing of AI research. The key to winning against established AI giants (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind) lies in innovative research results and development speed.

2. OpenEvidence: Medical AI platform raises $210 million

2-1. Company Overview and Product

OpenEvidence is a startup that provides an AI-powered medical search engine and generative AI chatbot for physicians. It summarizes and simplifies evidence-based medical information to support clinical decision-making.

2-2. Series B Round Details

On July 16, 2025, the company raised $210 million in a Series B round co-led by Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. This brings their total funding to over $300 million and their valuation to $3.5 billion. Sequoia Capital, which led the previous round, also continued its support.

2-3. Business Expansion and New Developments

OpenEvidence is used by over 10,000 medical institutions in the U.S. and is growing rapidly, with over 65,000 registered physicians monthly. Additionally, they announced "DeepConsult," a PhD-level AI agent. It features the ability to deliver a PhD-equivalent research report via email within hours, aiming to streamline academic research.

3. Exodigo: $96 million investment in the underground intelligence sector

3-1. Company Overview

Exodigo is an underground mapping startup founded in 2021 that provides an underground visualization platform combining AI, various sensors, and 3D imaging. It eliminates the risk of blind excavation at civil engineering and construction sites and contributes to reducing environmental impact.

3-2. Funding Overview

On July 16, 2025, the company raised $96 million in a Series B round led by Zeev Ventures and Greenfield Partners. Existing investors 10D VC, SquarePeg, and JIBE participated, along with Vintage Partners and Leblon Capital, bringing the total funding to $214 million.

3-3. Social Significance of Subsurface Visualization Technology

Exodigo's technology significantly reduces excavation costs and environmental impact, addressing the current reality where over $100 billion is spent annually on unnecessary excavation in the United States. It also contributes to improving the safety of public infrastructure development and urban planning projects, leading to growing demand from both the public and private sectors.

4. iCOUNTER: Cyber Risk Countermeasures in the AI Era, Company Raises $30 Million

4-1. Company Overview and Founders

iCOUNTER is a cyber risk intelligence company that was publicly announced on July 16, 2025, after operating in stealth for seven years as a new security subsidiary of Apollo Information Systems. The founder is Jon Watters, known as the founder of iDEFENSE and iSIGHT Partners and a pioneer in zero-day vulnerability discovery.

4-2. Background and Purpose of Funding

The company raised $30 million in a Series A round from SYN Ventures. To counter sophisticated targeted attacks that exploit AI, they are developing a platform that provides real-time attack prediction and defense measures utilizing AI analysis.

4-3. Security Enhancement Through AI Utilization

iCOUNTER uses AI to automatically profile threats such as state-sponsored attacks, ransomware groups, and malware developers, enabling rapid countermeasures. It has already contributed to preventing millions of dollars in losses for multiple companies in the U.S., attracting attention from the defense industry and financial institutions.

5. Mantis Ventures: Celebrity VC Closes $100 Million Fund III

5-1. Characteristics of Mantis Ventures

Mantis Venturesis a venture capital firm co-founded by the DJ duo The Chainsmokers (Alex Pall & Drew Taggart). They prioritize investment in the B2B sector over consumer-facing businesses, with a focus on security and AI.

5-2. Overview and Investment Strategy of Fund III

On July 15, 2025, the firm closed its $100 million third fund, a 25% increase from its previous $80 million fund. They will continue to focus their investments on B2B companies with high growth potential, such as cybersecurity firm Chainguard and AI finance company Rogo.

5-3. Leveraging Celebrity Networks

The Chainsmokers leverage their experience hosting private shows for Fortune 500 companies to build a customer referral network for their portfolio companies. The brand power and unique connections inherent to a celebrity-backed VC serve as a key differentiator.

The current funding trends indicate a large-scale influx of capital across diverse sectors of the tech industry, including AI research, medical DX, infrastructure safety, cybersecurity, and celebrity-backed VC. Moving forward, the key to increasing corporate value will be how efficiently these companies can invest their raised capital into research, development, and market expansion. It is important to follow these movements and keep a close eye on the latest products, partnerships, and user adoption status.

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