Newsletter: VC Breakfast Club

/espresso

• /funding: Luminance raises $75M for legal AI, Cambridge GaN Devices secures €30.5M for power semiconductors, and Nodes & Links lands £9.5M to advance AI-powered project scheduling.

• /deeptech: SAIF Autonomy secures $1.2M for AI safety and Twin Path Ventures bags £10M to fuel UK AI startups.

• /oxford: Oxford BuildX hackathon kicks off March 8-9, Ukrainian startups join an AI Bootcamp at Harwell, and Oxford hosts its ultimate founders’ social on February 28.

/raising (?)

Are you raising? Founders, let me know here.

/deals

⚖️ Luminance, a UK-based legal AI startup, raised $75M in Series C funding led by Point72 Private Investments. Backed by the late Mike Lynch, its AI-driven contract analysis platform serves major clients like AMD, Rolls-Royce, and Lamborghini, expanding globally across legal tech.

⚡ Cambridge GaN Devices secured €30.5M Series C to expand globally, delivering high-efficiency GaN power semiconductors for data centers, automotive, and industrial markets. Backed by British Patient Capital and Parkwalk, CGD aims to reduce energy consumption and drive sustainable power solutions.

🗓️ London-based Nodes & Links secures £9.5M Series B to enhance AI-powered project scheduling. Backed by ETF Partners, the platform streamlines reporting, predicts risks, and improves efficiency for infrastructure and data centre projects. Clients include Turner & Townsend, Aecom, and Galliford Try.

🧬 London-based Level Zero Health secures €6.6M pre-seed to develop the world's first continuous hormone monitoring wearable. Using DNA-based sensors, the device enables real-time tracking for IVF, menopause, and testosterone therapy. Backed by Redalpine, HAX (SOSV), and Entrepreneur First.

🤖 Cambridge Future Tech’s SAIF Autonomy raised $1.2M in pre-seed funding led by Fusion Fund to scale its AI safety platform, NEXUS. The Cambridge-based startup is expanding into the U.S. to enhance trustworthy autonomy in robotics, defense, and space applications.

🛡️ AI-driven cybersecurity startup Nothreat closed a seed round at a £40M valuation, backed by Algara Group. Its AIoT Defend firewall secures edge devices, with partnerships including Lenovo and COP29 cybersecurity efforts. Funding will drive global expansion and advanced AI research.

💼 AI recruitment startup Alfa AI raised £495K pre-seed funding at a £6M valuation, led by Fuel Ventures. Its AI-powered recruiter automates hiring while improving diversity and inclusion. Funding will accelerate product development and expansion into enterprise recruitment.

/funds

British Business Investments commits £10M to Twin Path Ventures to fuel UK AI startups. Early beneficiaries include Sention, Amply Discovery, and Composo AI, driving advancements in battery diagnostics, drug discovery, and LLM-powered applications across the UK’s growing AI ecosystem.

/tech

• Logically cuts 40 jobs amid cost-cutting shift. The UK-based fact-checking startup, backed by Amazon Alexa Fund and Vitruvian Partners, is restructuring to become more product-led after securing government contracts to tackle misinformation across the UK, US, and India.

• Nvidia-backed PolyAI, a London-based AI voice assistant startup, sees its future in the U.S., with 70% of revenue from American clients. Despite expansion, CEO Nikola Mrkšić says London remains a key hub, bridging Europe and the U.S. in AI innovation.

/flywheel

• Connect with fellow entrepreneurs, investors, and startup enthusiasts over free drinks in Oxford this Friday, 28th February. Hosted by OxFounders & Oxford Seed Fund.

• Ukrainian startups head to Oxford! YEP Accelerator and Oxbridge Foundation selected HABITENERGY, Klats Ed Hub, ReplyPilot, and others for an AI, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Bootcamp at Harwell.

• UKRI's £4M Metascience AI Fellowships will fund early-career researchers exploring AI’s impact on the research landscape, ethics, and policy. Open to UK-based institutions, fellows receive up to £260K for two-year projects. Apply by April 10, 2025.

• Oxford BuildX, an exclusive founder-backed hackathon, lands March 8-9 at Oxford’s Mathematical Institute. Participants gain AI tools, VC intros, and mentorship to build the next big startup.

/breakfast

• 10 Oxford founders have raised $493M to build robots

• Need a hand? Trends in humanoid robotics

• A second wind for maritime shipping? Wind-assist & tail winds

📸 /techbrunch

Every week I use Midjourney to reimagine a TechCrunch story from the week.

This week, 1X released Gamma and Figure announced a new machine learning model for their home robots, Figure 02. It seems like they’re competing for the TechCrunch big splash and we should expect to see more robots in the home sooner rather than later.

I imagined what would happen if Figure 02 and 1X Gamma each moved in together.

• Caption this in comments?