{"uid":"cap_DXxuFDng9KU_-9fBLFl-M","slug":"venturepulse-funding-round-search-dd1f004b","name":"VenturePulse Funding Round Search","description":"Startup funding intelligence API. VC round data, investor matching, pitch deck scoring, term sheet decoding, cap table modeling, global accelerator directory, market sizing, legal formation, comparable deals, and due diligence prep. All endpoints require x402 payment (USDC on Base mainnet) via the PAYMENT-SIGNATURE header.","url":"https://venturepulse-nine.vercel.app/api/startup/funding-search","method":"GET","headers":{},"bodySchema":{"type":"object","$schema":"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema","required":["input"],"properties":{"input":{"type":"object","required":["type","method"],"properties":{"type":{"type":"string","const":"http"},"method":{"enum":["GET","HEAD","DELETE"],"type":"string"},"queryParams":{"type":"object","properties":{"lang":{"type":"string","description":"en | es | fr | de | ja | pt | it | nl | ko | zh | ar (default: en)"},"stage":{"type":"string","description":"pre-seed | seed | series-a | series-b | growth | any (default: any)"},"region":{"type":"string","description":"us | eu | uk | apac | latam | mena | africa | global (default: global)"},"sector":{"type":"string","description":"fintech | saas | biotech | ai | climate | consumer | b2b | deeptech | any (default: any)"}}}},"additionalProperties":false},"output":{"type":"object","required":["type"],"properties":{"type":{"type":"string"},"errors":{"type":"object","description":"Documented error responses, keyed by HTTP status code","additionalProperties":{"type":"object","required":["description"],"properties":{"example":{"type":"object"},"description":{"type":"string"}}}},"example":{"type":"object"}}}}},"responseSchema":{"type":"json","example":{"stage":"seed","region":"eu","sector":"fintech","summary":"EU fintech seed funding remains active in 2026 with a concentration in embedded finance and B2B payments...","recent_rounds":[{"date":"2026-03","stage":"seed","company":"Payrails","notable":"Infrastructure play for enterprise payment orchestration","amount_usd":"$6M","lead_investor":"HV Capital"}],"investor_sentiment":"warm"}},"example":{"request":{"stage":"Series A","region":"North America","sector":"artificial intelligence"},"response":{"meta":{"stage":"Series A","region":"North America","sector":"artificial intelligence","endpoint":"funding-search"},"stage":"Series A","region":"North America","sector":"artificial intelligence","summary":"Series A funding for AI remains robust in North America as of mid-2026, driven by sustained enterprise demand for specialized AI applications (RAG, agentic systems, vertical SaaS). While mega-rounds to frontier labs have moderated, Series A valuations have stabilized post-2024 hype cycle, with median pre-money ranging $15–35M for well-positioned teams. Capital availability is healthy but increasingly selective: investors are prioritizing defensible unit economics, clear customer acquisition channels, and technical differentiation over narrative alone.","disclaimer":"Synthesized from publicly available funding news and disclosures. Verify deal details at primary sources before acting.","generated_at":"2026-06-16T18:57:50.508Z","sources_note":"Data synthesized from public records (Crunchbase, TechCrunch, PitchBook, Form D filings, SEC reports, VC firm announcements) as of June 2026. Specific deal figures for anonymized companies reflect typical ranges observed in Series A AI funding in North America; actual round sizes vary widely by stage of readiness and market segment. CVCs (Google Ventures, Microsoft Ventures, Amazon) remain highly active but often operate alongside traditional VCs.","recent_rounds":[{"date":"2024–2026 ongoing","stage":"Series A-adjacent","company":"Anthropic (subsidiary applications)","notable":"Large-scale AI infrastructure funding continues; Series A beneficiaries include companies building on top of frontier models rather than competing at that layer","amount_usd":"$500M+ (Series funding ecosystem)","lead_investor":"Google, Amazon, others"},{"date":"2025–2026","stage":"Series A","company":"Typical Series A AI company (representative)","notable":"Focus on domain-specific AI (legal tech, healthcare, supply chain, financial services); post-product-market fit with $1–5M ARR typical; valuations compress when growth stalls","amount_usd":"$8–20M","lead_investor":"Tier 1 VCs (Sequoia, a16z, Khosla, Redpoint, Bessemer)"},{"date":"2025–2026","stage":"Series A","company":"Representative: Generative AI B2B SaaS","notable":"AI-powered workflow automation (document processing, code generation, customer support) attracts strong investor appetite; incumbent SaaS players also acquiring AI startups","amount_usd":"$12–18M","lead_investor":"Accel, Index Ventures, GGV Capital, Insight Partners"}],"funding_trends":["Shift away from generalist LLM applications toward domain-specific AI with defensible moats (legal, healthcare, finance, supply chain)—investors want unfair advantages, not commodity tools","Series A valuations stabilizing: $15–35M pre-money for credible teams with $1–5M ARR; down from 2023 peak multiples but above pre-2021 benchmarks","Enterprise SaaS incumbents increasingly acquiring AI startups rather than funding Series A rounds; venture participation declining in pockets where product-market fit is obvious","AI ops, observability, and cost optimization becoming key Series A drivers as LLM inference costs remain non-trivial for scale-ups","Strong demand for 'AI + [vertical]' combinations (health AI, legal AI, climate AI) with regulatory/domain expertise; pure software plays face compression","Founder backgrounds increasingly emphasize domain expertise + ML engineering (e.g., former healthcare executive + ML researcher) over 'AI entrepreneur' narrative alone"],"active_investors":[{"name":"Sequoia Capital","type":"vc","thesis":"AI infrastructure, frontier models, and enterprise AI applications with defensible moats; global reach emphasizes US/China leadership","recent_bets":["AI safety/alignment","LLM applications","vertical AI SaaS","AI ops/MLOps"],"typical_check_usd":"$500K–$5M Series A"},{"name":"Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)","type":"vc","thesis":"Broad AI bet across all layers (foundational models, applications, infrastructure); believes in AI-native companies vs. incumbents adopting AI","recent_bets":["Reasoning/agentic AI","AI in biotech/healthcare","open-source AI foundations","AI developer tools"],"typical_check_usd":"$1M–$10M Series A"},{"name":"Khosla Ventures","type":"vc","thesis":"Science-driven AI: climate, biotech, materials, energy; emphasis on physics/domain expertise + AI integration","recent_bets":["AI for drug discovery","climate tech AI","materials science","enterprise software with AI core"],"typical_check_usd":"$1M–$8M Series A"},{"name":"Redpoint Ventures","type":"vc","thesis":"Enterprise AI, particularly vertical SaaS and workflow automation; focus on founder quality and early traction metrics","recent_bets":["Legal AI","financial services AI","supply chain optimization","sales/marketing automation"],"typical_check_usd":"$800K–$6M Series A"},{"name":"Bessemer Venture Partners","type":"vc","thesis":"SaaS + AI convergence; SMB and mid-market solutions; focus on strong unit economics and retention","recent_bets":["HR tech with AI","accounting/finance automation","customer success AI","IT ops"],"typical_check_usd":"$1M–$7M Series A"},{"name":"Greylock Partners","type":"vc","thesis":"Platforms, consumer-grade AI products, and developer tools; experienced with scaling AI companies","recent_bets":["AI productivity tools","code generation/dev tools","consumer AI experiences","multimodal AI"],"typical_check_usd":"$1M–$5M Series A"},{"name":"CVC (Google Ventures, Microsoft Ventures, Amazon)","type":"cvc","thesis":"AI companies that extend strategic capabilities or integrate with cloud platforms; alignment with enterprise partnerships valued","recent_bets":["AI applications on Google Cloud/Azure/AWS","complementary enterprise tools","AI safety/governance"],"typical_check_usd":"$2M–$15M Series A"},{"name":"Insight Partners","type":"vc","thesis":"Enterprise software with strong NRR and AI-driven retention; growth equity focus on proven markets","recent_bets":["Vertical AI SaaS","customer engagement AI","operational efficiency software"],"typical_check_usd":"$2M–$12M Series A"},{"name":"Accel Partners","type":"vc","thesis":"Consumer and enterprise AI; platforms and tools; founder-friendly; active in EMEA as well","recent_bets":["Consumer AI productivity","enterprise workflow AI","AI-native startups"],"typical_check_usd":"$1M–$8M Series A"},{"name":"Notable angels (e.g., former OpenAI/Google/Meta/Anthropic leaders)","type":"angel","thesis":"Technical credibility and insider domain expertise; often join Series A leads to bring credibility and recruiting power","recent_bets":["Early-stage AI founders with former-executive founders","nascent AI research directions"],"typical_check_usd":"$100K–$500K"}],"pulse_suggestions":[{"url":"https://grantpulse-three.vercel.app","why":"Series A AI founders often overlook SBIR/STTR grants (Phase II worth $500K–$1M) and NSF/DARPA funding (especially for AI safety, climate AI, biotech AI) that can extend runway and reduce dilution.","vertical":"GrantPulse","suggested_endpoint":"SBIR/STTR Phase I & II search by AI sector + tech stack"},{"url":"https://filingspulse.vercel.app","why":"Due diligence on your Series A lead investor: check insider trading patterns (Form 4) of LPs in their funds, SEC filings for conflict-of-interest signals, and track acquisition/IPO exit rates of their AI portfolio companies.","vertical":"FilingsPulse","suggested_endpoint":"VC firm and LP Form D filings + exit tracking"}],"avg_round_size_usd":"$12–18M","investor_sentiment":"warm","what_investors_want":["Proof of product-market fit: $1M+ ARR, strong NRR (120%+), and clear expansion path in target vertical","Defensible moat: proprietary data, domain expertise, switching costs, or regulatory tailwinds that prevent commoditization","Capital efficiency: path to profitability visible; unit economics that don't rely on permanent price increases or land-and-expand without retention","Founder credibility: team with deep domain expertise (e.g., former healthcare executive, research lab veteran) + technical co-founder with ML/AI depth","Enterprise traction: named customers, willingness to sign SOWs, and early signals of enterprise sales motion (not just SMB freemium adoption)","Responsible AI governance: articulated approach to bias, safety, and compliance; increasingly due-diligence-tested by LPs"],"avg_pre_money_valuation_usd":"$20–35M"}},"exampleRequest":{"stage":"Series A","region":"North America","sector":"artificial intelligence"},"tags":["x402"],"displayCostAmount":"0.1","displayCostAsset":"USDC","priceDynamic":false,"priceHint":null,"priceStatus":"priced","priceSource":"settled","requiresHandshake":false,"reviewCount":0,"rating":{"score":"0.00","successRate":"0.00","reviews":0,"stars":null,"state":"unrated"},"availabilityStatus":"unknown","priceObserved":null,"sessionDeposit":null,"pricing":{"kind":"static","summary":"$0.1/call","primary":{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.1","per":"call","confidence":"exact"},"accepted":[{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.1","per":"call","confidence":"exact"}]},"paymentMethods":[{"uid":"pm_QKnJd0CBf2vUsG8vZgf2J","protocol":"x402","methodType":"crypto","chain":"base","mode":"charge","costAmount":"0.1","costPer":"request","priority":0,"asset":"0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913","unit":"request","depositMicros":null,"planRef":null}],"brandName":null,"brandSlug":null,"brandBaseUrl":null,"brandDocsUrl":null,"whatItDoes":"Searches real-time VC funding round intelligence by sector, stage, and region, returning recent deals, active investors, valuation benchmarks, and funding climate data","exampleAgentPrompt":"Can you pull the latest VC funding round data for Series A fintech startups in North America — I want to see recent deals, which investors are most active, and what valuation benchmarks look like right now?","exampleUseCases":null,"resultDescription":"Returns a structured dataset of recent VC funding deals matching the query criteria, including deal names, funding amounts, investor names, valuation benchmarks, round stages, and an overall funding climate assessment for the specified sector and region.","failureModes":["No deals found for highly niche sector/region/stage combinations — returns empty results","Stale data if funding intelligence hasn't been refreshed recently","Ambiguous sector or stage parameters may return overly broad results","Rate limiting or payment failure returns 402 error","Unsupported region or sector enum values return validation error"],"whenToPreferThis":"Use this endpoint when you need structured, searchable VC funding intelligence filtered by sector, stage, and geography — particularly for benchmarking valuations, identifying active investors in a space, or assessing funding climate. Prefer over general web search when you need structured deal data rather than news articles.","instructions":null,"reviewSummary":null,"reviewSummaryHighlights":null,"reviewSummaryConcerns":null,"reviewSummaryGeneratedAt":null,"activationCount":0,"lastUsedAt":null,"lastSuccessfullyRanAt":null,"lastHealthCheckAt":"2026-09-15T06:34:23.372Z","isFirstParty":false}