Beauty booking startup Fresha hits $1 billion valuation with KKR backing
Beauty and wellness booking marketplace Fresha says it has raised $80 million investment from KKR’s Next Generation Technology Growth fund, KKR’s growth equity arm.
SaaS
Anthropic’s Pentagon deal is a cautionary tale for startups chasing federal contracts
The Pentagon has officially designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk after the two failed to agree on how much control the military should have over its AI models, including its use in autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. As Anthropic’s $200 million contract fell apart, the DoD turned to OpenAI instead, which accepted and then watched ChatGPT uninstalls surge 295%. As the stakes keep rising, the question remains: how much unrestricted […]
Lio raises $30M from Andreessen Horowitz and others to automate enterprise procurement
AI procurement startup Lio announced a $30 million Series A in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Hauler Hero collects $16M for its AI waste management software
Hauler Hero has seen its customer base, revenue, and head count double since the company raised its seed round in 2024.
Databricks CEO says SaaS isn’t dead, but AI will soon make it irrelevant
AI isn’t going to replace major SaaS apps with vibe-coded versions, Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi believes. But it could give rise to competitors.
Box CEO Aaron Levie on how AI is changing the enterprise SaaS landscape
He painted a picture of a future of enterprise software where the SaaS is used for the core business workflow, and then the agents ride on top of that.
AccessGrid raises $4.4M to help turn phones into key fobs
AccessGrid builds APIs that companies can use to manage digital key fobs directly within Apple and Google’s wallet platforms.
Terraton wants to be the McDonald’s of biochar
Terraton sees promise in biochar, but the technology has struggled to scale. The startup thinks a franchise model could be what unlocks biochar’s potential.