Good day. Joe Lonsdale hopes his investment in AI-for-landscaping startup Bobyard could help lower construction costs, a key challenge in the U.S.

The San Francisco startup, whose name is a nod to cartoon character Bob the Builder, has developed artificial-intelligence software that analyzes blueprints and helps contractors estimate labor and materials costs to make accurate bids quickly. Bobyard expects to expand to serving electrical, plumbing and other contractors working on commercial and residential projects.

Bobyard raised a $35 million Series A round led by Lonsdale’s venture firm 8VC at a $170 million valuation, including the new capital.

Michael Ding, the company’s 21-year-old chief executive, dropped out of Stanford University to launch the business. He cold called and met hundreds of contractors, a few of them at Home Depot locations in the San Francisco Bay Area, to understand their problems.

“Not only is there a massive labor shortage—the productivity per worker in the trades has also gone down in the past 30 years,” Ding said. “It’s an industry that could really use some more innovation.”

As for the company’s name, Ding said that as a child he loved Bob the Builder. “I would dress up as Bob on Halloween,” he said.

Bobyard is one of several venture-backed businesses hoping to revamp the traditional trades with technology. Many of the smaller ventures look to the $10 billion market capitalization of ServiceTitan, which provides software for contractors and went public a year ago, as an inspiration.

Lonsdale, founder and general partner at 8VC, joined Bobyard’s board.

Read the full article.

And now on to the news...

AI overhaul of submarine maintenance. The U.S. Navy has awarded Palantir Technologies a contract valued at hundreds of millions of dollars to manage the supply chain of its nuclear submarine fleet in the hope of reducing maintenance downtime. The deal marks an expansion of the company’s work with the U.S. military in a sector that is a high priority for the Trump administration. The contract will initially focus on submarines and could expand to other types of vessels, including aircraft carriers and jet fighters, Navy Secretary John Phelan said Tuesday.

Twenty One Capital, a bitcoin treasury company backed by stablecoin giant Tether and Japan’s SoftBank Group, plunged on its first day of trading. The stock, which trades under the ticker XXI, fell 20% Tuesday to close at $11.42. Shares were down as much as 27% earlier in the day before paring losses. The company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange after completing a merger with Cantor Equity Partners, a special-purpose acquisition company led by Brandon Lutnick, chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald and son of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Match Group said Hinge founder Justin McLeod is stepping down as chief executive of the unit to launch Overtone, an AI-driven dating app in the early stages of development. McLeod will remain as an adviser to Hinge through March, the company said, adding that McLeod and a team spent much of 2025 developing Overtone and that the company fully supports it. Jackie Jantos, president and chief marketing officer of Hinge, has been named to succeed McLeod as CEO.

Correction: A total of four investing firms took part in Saviynt’s Series B funding round, including Ten Eleven Ventures. Tuesday’s newsletter incorrectly said there were three investing firms and omitted Ten Eleven Ventures.

Funds

Technology-focused firm Integrity Growth Partners has closed its debut fund with $220 million after two years of fundraising. Integrity closed Integrity Growth Partners Fund II above the fund’s $200 million goal and attracted commitments from backers that include StepStone Group, Oxford Financial Group and family office investment firm Olympus Ventures, according to the firm. Many of the fund’s investors had backed individual transactions that the firm completed before it set out to raise its first commingled fund, according to Managing Partner Doyl Burkett.

Holly Ventures raised a $33 million debut fund, a solo-led cybersecurity vehicle focused on early-stage cyber startups.

People

Sierra Ventures has hired Yasmin Zarabi as chief operating officer. Zarabi has served operations, legal and go-to-market functions at tech companies. Sierra also said Noor Nijjer is stepping in to lead investor relations. Nijjer has a background in limited partner relations, fundraising strategy and capital advisory with global institutional investors.

Growth-equity investor Invictus Growth Partners said Erik Nierenberg has joined the firm as a partner. Nierenberg most recently was chief executive of Litmus, where he led the company for eight years. Litmus was acquired by Validity in April.

Trousdale Ventures, which invests in sectors such as aerospace, mobility and climate tech, said it has named Ronnie Wiessbrod its chief investment officer. He joined Trousdale from the Milken Family Office, where he was chief strategy officer.

Private-equity firm Bedford Ridge Capital led a $100 million investment in Quantum Art that will bolster the Israeli startup’s plans to break new ground in the hot area of quantum computing. The new investment brings total capital raised to $124 million and values the business at hundreds of millions of dollars, said Chief Executive Tal David. Venture-capital firms Battery Ventures, Lumir Growth Partners and Disruptive AI also participated in the deal alongside asset manager Destra Capital, among other new and early backers, Quantum Art said.

Duve, a guest management platform for hotels, scored $60 million in Series B funding. Susquehanna Growth Equity led the round, which included contributions from XT Venture Capital and others.

Hometap, a Boston-based financial technology company focused on home equity financing, raised $50 million led by affiliates of Gallatin Point Capital.

401GO, a Sandy, Utah-based fintech startup, raised $33 million in Series B funding led by Centana Growth Partners.

Empromptu AI, a San Francisco-based startup focused on AI implementation, raised a $2 million pre-seed round led by Precursor Ventures.

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• EU Probes Google Over Use of Online Content to Power AI

This newsletter was compiled by Yuliya Chernova and Matthew Strozier.

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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