Good day. Supply-chain startups have faced a rough fundraising environment since venture investors poured capital into the sector during the pandemic’s early years. Kargo Technologies has beaten the odds.

The company survived the lean years and has now raised fresh capital, thanks in part to its success in integrating more powerful artificial intelligence.

San Francisco-based Kargo has raised a $42 million Series B funding round led by venture firm Avenir, with participation from investors including Linse Capital, Hearst Ventures, Lightbank, Matter Venture Partners and Sozo Ventures.

Supply-chain startups were AI adopters before the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT made the technology ubiquitous. But Kargo and other supply-chain startups have doubled down on the technology to reignite investor interest in the sector.

Venture investors committed $7.8 billion to supply-chain tech companies this year through the third quarter, below last year’s full-year total of $16.5 billion and far below the record $64.1 billion raised in 2021, according to analytics firm PitchBook Data.

Venture investors plowed capital into logistics startups in the pandemic’s early phase on the thesis that these young tech companies could help unsnarl supply chains. The funding fueled a cohort of companies that offered AI-powered platforms that customers could use to synchronize complex supply chains.

And now on to the news...

Hopes dim for success of 2021-vintage venture funds: Venture-capital funds that began investing during the 2021 boom have been in trouble for a while. Now they risk becoming a permanent disappointment because of poor returns.

• “It’s safe to say it is going to be an underperforming vintage,” said Theresa Sorrentino Hajer, head of U.S. venture-capital research and partner at Cambridge Associates, a global investment firm with about $530 billion in assets under management.
   
• The so-called 2021 vintage eked out a median net investment rate of return of 0.5% as of the third quarter of 2025, according to data from Carta, an equity-management platform that collects and analyzes data on private markets. That is an improvement from a year and two years ago, when the showing was negative.

Young and hungry entrepreneurs are nothing new: Bill Gates was 19 when he co-founded Microsoft; Mark Zuckerberg was the same age when he started Facebook. But today’s founders might well have a learner’s permit and a mouthful of braces. Some got their start attending robotics camps, or building games on Roblox’s platform. One got his feet wet breaking into candy distribution. (Ever considered selling Gobstoppers to middle-schoolers in Singapore? It’s a cash cow.) AI has fast-tracked both their interest in building a company and their ability to do it. 

President Trump signed into law new powers to screen and restrict U.S. investment in Chinese technology firms, marking the most significant effort yet to police how American capital flows into businesses that bolster Beijing’s military and surveillance state. Lawmakers in both parties have grown increasingly concerned that U.S. money and expertise are accelerating China’s advances in cutting-edge technologies. The outbound-investment provisions, part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, cites entities in China and other countries of concern—including Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and Russia—that develop “dual-use” technologies with both commercial and military applications.

People

Breyer Capital, which invests across AI, healthcare, life sciences, enterprise, consumer and financial technologies, appointed Bret Bostwick as venture adviser. He previously served as senior medical director at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.

Nirvana, a San Francisco-based commercial trucking insurance provider, scored a $100 million Series D round. Valor Equity Partners led the investment, which included participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst.

Manifold, a Newton, Mass.-based AI platform for life sciences, landed $18 million in Series B funding led by Reach Capital.

Finny AI, a New York-based prospecting and marketing platform for financial advisers, raised $17 million in Series A funding. Venrock led the round, which included contributions from Activant Capital, Y Combinator and others.

Roamless, a travel connectivity app and eSIM provider, snagged $12 million in Series A funding led by Rasmal Ventures.

NextFoods, a Boulder, Colo.-based maker of food and beverage products that support gut health, recovery and sleep, closed a $10 million Series 3 round led by ECP Growth.

Feanix, an Asheville, N.C.-based livestock-management startup, was seeded with a $5.3 million investment led by Initialized Capital.

InfiniteWatch, a startup helping companies monitor and deploy AI agents across web and voice interactions, emerged from stealth with $4 million in pre-seed funding led by Base10 Partners.

Beycome, a Miami-based direct-to-consumer real-estate platform, was seeded with a $2.5 million investment led by InsurTech Fund.

• Jump accused of contributing to collapse of Terraform, Do Kwon’s crypto empire
   
• This Is What the World’s Smartest Minds Really Think About AI
   
• New York Signs AI Safety Bill Into Law, Ignoring Trump Executive Order
   
• The Tech Features That Readers Love—and Hate—Most in Their Cars
   
• High-tech clothes promise wellness benefits

• Inside the VC Roll-up Craze That Has Taken Silicon Valley by Storm (Newcomer)
   
• Collapse of eFishery Haunts Indonesia’s Startup Scene (Bloomberg)

This newsletter was compiled by Marc Vartabedian and Zachary Cole.

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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