Garden Research: Weekly Recap #7
A deep-dive on Voltify, a company tackling rail freight decarbonization, plus a recap of seed activity last week
Hey Everyone,
Happy Wednesday. For those who are new here, every week I deliver a recap of the activity in the US seed ecosystem, a full list of every completed round, and a deep dive into a company I find interesting. If you’re interested in following along, click below.
Most decarbonization efforts in freight transportation target the obvious: trucking (76% of emissions), maritime shipping (14%), and aviation (8%). Rail, which handles 28% of U.S. freight ton-miles while contributing only 7% of emissions, typically gets overlooked. After all, rail already demonstrates remarkable efficiency - 20 grams of CO₂ per ton-mile compared to trucking's 80 grams.
Voltify, which just raised $2.5M, sees an opportunity in this efficiency gap. Reports from the International Energy Agency suggest a significant portion of trucking freight could shift to rail, with 45-55% of current trucking ton-miles coming from medium to long-haul routes. A mere 10% shift could save 16M tons of CO₂ annually.
The challenges of this transition are substantial, but some estimates call for a 50% growth in rail freight by 2030.
Voltify is betting on this, establishing itself as an early mover in rail decarbonization. The bet goes beyond current emissions reduction. Voltify sees rail playing an increasingly critical role in freight movement, driven by policy support, infrastructure investment, and growing pressure for efficient transportation. By positioning themselves early in rail infrastructure modernization, they could become an essential player in this transition.
Their approach combines battery-equipped freight cars, dynamic charging, and yard-based solar microgrids to offer rail operators a zero-emission solution at diesel parity. The capital requirements for this infrastructure are staggering - each rail yard implementation demands massive investment in solar farms, battery storage, and charging systems.
To mitigate this, it’s likely they’ll have to explore several paths: leveraging IRA incentives, using cheaper sodium-ion batteries, selling surplus energy back to the grid, and potentially accessing government infrastructure funding. Even so, significant hurdles remain - from securing sufficient capital to coordinating with fragmented rail operators to competing with emerging electric truck and hydrogen rail solutions.
For a full analysis of Voltify and the early indications of what they’re building, check out the article linked below.
Last week, 53 companies raised Seed capital in the U.S. 🌱
Quick Stats 📈
Total Funding: $282M
Highest Round: $40M
Lowest Round: $160k
Average Round: $5.75M
Top Raisers 💰
Atomicwork: AI-driven platform to streamline workplace operations by automating repetitive tasks such as IT ticketing, HR queries, and employee onboarding processes. It enables teams to resolve internal requests faster through workflow automation, intelligent routing, and seamless integration with collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Raised $40M in a round led by Blume Ventures.
Orchid Security: Orchid Security develops security control software designed for enterprises to consume, retrofit, and manage modern identity solutions and controls. Raised $36M in a round led by Intel Capital and Team8.
Collate: AI platform to create and streamline paperwork for diagnostic, medical device, and drug development companies. Examples of use case include accelerating R&D, optimizing preclinical and clinical trials, enhancing quality management, and reducing time to market for drugs, diagnostics, and devices. Raised $30M in a round led by Redpoint Ventures.
Teal Health: Teal Health is developing an at-home cervical cancer screening platform designed to improve accessibility and comfort for women. The company's innovative solution combines user-friendly sampling kits with telehealth support, empowering women to take control of their health with privacy and ease. The device is currently under FDA review. Raised $23.5M in a round led by Forerunner Ventures and Emerson Collective.
1Money Global: Fintech company designed to integrate stablecoins seamlessly with existing payment card processors and programs worldwide. The company's platform enables payment cards powered by stablecoins, advancing stablecoin and blockchain adoption for the mass market, optimizing transaction compatibility, and allowing yield on holdings through stablecoin interchangeability. Raised $20M from undisclosed investors.
My Favorites 🕺
Boardy - Raised $11M in a round led by Creandum
Boardy.ai is building a new platform for professional networking through AI-enabled introductions. Their platform uses an AI voice assistant to gather detailed information about users' projects and objectives through phone conversations, then leverages this data to facilitate targeted professional connections. The core innovation is their approach to data collection - rather than relying on static profiles or manual input, they use natural conversation to understand users' current needs and capabilities. Their AI assistant, Boardy, conducts these calls and maps potential synergies across their network.
BTW - Boardy raised this round of funding “by itself”. The AI facilitated and ran all calls with investors.
Merit - Raised $10M in a deal led by Andreessen Horowitz
Merit Systems is reimagining open-source attribution. Their platform uses blockchain to create permanent records of developer contributions, enabling accurate tracking of who built what across the software ecosystem. The core innovation is embedding ownership and recognition into the infrastructure itself. Rather than relying on traditional attribution methods, Merit's system creates immutable records of contributions, ensuring developers maintain control of their work while enabling fair compensation. By solving the attribution problem at the infrastructure level, they're creating new mechanisms for recognizing and rewarding the developers that power modern software.
DataShapesAI - Raised $7M in a deal led by Berg and Berg Enterprises
DataShapes AI is building a software platform, GlobalEdge™, that converts raw RF data into structured, actionable intelligence in real-time, and it works on any hardware setup. By eliminating the need for servers or internet connectivity, they can provide immediate RF spectrum analysis across any environment - from terrestrial applications to maritime, aerospace, and orbital systems. Real-time RF intelligence without infrastructure dependencies could transform how organizations monitor and respond to spectrum activity.
Epistemic AI - Raised $6.4M in a round led by ClearView Healthcare Partners
Epistemic AI is building a platform to change how scientists process and work with complex scientific information. Their platform, EpistemicGPT, uses specialized NLP to map relationships between genes, diseases, drugs, and clinical data. By uncovering these connections across vast datasets, they're enabling researchers to identify precise drug targets and actionable insights, particularly valuable for rare and complex diseases.
Juca Bio - Raised $3.8M from undisclosed investors
JucaBio operates as a hub-and-spoke platform for biotech development, creating dedicated subsidiaries around promising therapeutics. Each subsidiary focuses on specific disease areas, with JucaBio providing centralized expertise in clinical development and commercialization. Their model accelerates drug development through efficient clinical programs designed to demonstrate value quickly. By acquiring high-potential assets and rapidly proving clinical utility, they can either spin out successful programs or position them for acquisition.
You can find the full list of startups that raised seed capital last week linked here
Seeya next week!