Asad Khaliq

San Francisco–based Tavus raised $40 million in Series B funding led by CRV, with participation from Scale Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, and FLEX Capital, to advance what it calls “human computing.” Led by CEO Hassaan Raza, the company unveiled PALs (Personal Affective Links) — emotionally intelligent AI humans that can see, hear, and communicate via text, voice, and face-to-face video while understanding emotion and context. Powered by Tavus’s proprietary models — Phoenix-4, Sparrow-1, and Raven-1 — PALs are designed to move beyond traditional chatbots, offering human-like perception and autonomous capabilities that enable more natural, emotionally aware interaction between people and machines. FOUNDER: Hassaan Raza INVESTORS: CRV, Scale Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures & Flex Capital ROUND: Series B AMOUNT: $40,000,000 HQ: #SanFrancisco #California #VentureCapital #Tavus #HassaanRaza #CRV #ScaleVenturePartners #SequoiaCapital #YCombinator #HubSpotVentures #FlexCapital #TradedVC

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Tavus closed a $40 million Series B round led by CRV with Scale Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, and Flex Capital participating. CEO Hassaan Raza's company develops Personal Affective Links (PALs), digital agents interacting through video, voice, and text while recognizing emotions and context. Three proprietary in-house models power PALs: Phoenix-4 for visual rendering and expressions, Sparrow-1 for audio comprehension and tone interpretation, and Raven-1 for contextual awareness, including gestures and environments. PALs function as virtual assistants or companions, retaining interaction memory to personalize responses. They manage schedules, emails, research, and documents across video calls, phone calls, or text without constant human supervision. Tavus released five initial PALs demonstrating practical functionality while documenting interactions to refine performance and improve system accuracy across operational scenarios.

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Qurrent, a San Francisco-based startup, has raised $15M in Series A funding to expand its enterprise automation platform. The round was led by Cervin Ventures with participation from Streamlined Ventures. Led by CEO Colin Wiel, the company develops fully managed autonomous digital workforces designed to execute complex back-office operations across areas such as finance, supply chain, and procurement. Unlike traditional automation tools, Qurrent’s platform owns the full lifecycle of deployment, management, and performance of its digital workers. The company also contractually guarantees outcomes through service-level agreements (SLAs), providing enterprises with predictable results and operational efficiency. With the new funding, Qurrent plans to accelerate enterprise expansion and further enhance its platform capabilities, as businesses increasingly adopt AI-driven automation to streamline operations and reduce manual workloads. August Rosedale Tony Ko #AI #Automation #DigitalWorkforce #EnterpriseAI #StartupFunding #FutureOfWork #BusinessAutomation #TechStartups #VentureCapital 🚀

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The lines between VC, PE, and credit are blurring—and it's reshaping competition. In a recent virtual event, Carta's Ashley (Howard) Neville sat down with Molly O'Shea from Sourcery to break down one of the most significant shifts happening in private markets right now: venture, private equity, and credit funds are moving closer together. What specifically is changing? - Venture funds are adding structured capital and credit sleeves - Late-stage venture and growth equity pricing are overlapping - VC and PE firms are competing for the same companies There's been a big shift to private markets, with hedge funds also making the move. This competition is raising the watermark for what these funds can accomplish. A few years ago, hedge funds were trying to create crossover funds and enter venture—now the entire landscape is converging. If you're investing or operating in private markets, understanding these dynamics is essential. Watch the full event recording: https://lnkd.in/g3GP49UR #PrivateMarkets #VentureCapital #PrivateEquity #PrivateCredit #InvestmentTrends #FundStrategy

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