Hustlers, this past week, the Cornell rape investigation has sparked millions of women across social media declaring, “I AM JANE DOE.”
In light of this, I shared my own experience surviving physical and sexual violence at Harvard and navigating a reporting process that remains ongoing nearly three years later. Since speaking out, I’ve heard from SO many women who have faced similar experiences, and one thing has become clear: you should not have to survive sexual violence and then survive the reporting process alone.
That’s why I created BRAZEN, a private, anonymous community where survivors can connect, share firsthand knowledge, and navigate reporting processes together.
Join BRAZEN to learn from someone further along, pass forward what you’ve learned, or help build the peer-support network we should have had all along.
Together, we can make these processes less isolating and create safer campuses and workplaces for women!!
Sasha Sheng, Co-Founder and COO of TypeSafe AI, an AI lab building machine-native models for reliable software automation, raised $870M in Series A funding at a $7.5B valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Sequoia Capital and DCVC also participating.
Linda Du, Co-Founder, President and COO of Valon, an AI-native operating system for mortgage servicing and regulated finance, raised $150M in Series D funding at a $2.3B valuation, with backing from Ribbit Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
Jemima Meyer, Co-Founder of HealthLeap, an AI platform that identifies hospital patients at risk of overlooked or undiagnosed conditions, raised $38M across Seed and Series A funding, including a $30M Series A led by Hummingbird Ventures, with Sequoia Capital and First Round Capital also participating.
Lexie Dostal, Co-Founder and CTO of Gardens Interactive, a distributed gaming studio building social, player-driven online worlds, raised more than $35M in Series B funding, led by Lightspeed, with Zenith Capital, Index Ventures, and Accel also participating.
Lisa Popovici, Co-Founder and President of Siena AI, an AI customer-experience platform for consumer brands, raised $17M in Series A funding, led by York IE, with Joyance Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, and Sierra Ventures also participating.
Lauren Long, Co-Founder and CTO of Ampersand, an integration infrastructure platform connecting enterprise AI agents with CRMs, ERPs, and other systems of record, raised $15M in Series A funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with Matrix, Flex Capital, and Yelp also participating.
Dr. Pippa Horton, Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Reclinker, a climate-tech company turning demolition waste into lower-carbon cement through electric arc furnaces, raised £10M in Series A funding, co-led by Clean Growth Fund and AP Ventures, with Development Bank of Wales and Zero Carbon Capital also participating.
Veronique De Vroey, Co-Founder of SpectaCell, a biotechnology company developing a rapid cell-analysis platform for drug development and manufacturing, raised €6M in Seed funding, led by imec.xpand, with PMV’s Flanders Future Tech Fund, InnovationQuarter Capital, and Qbic also participating.
Katya Kinane, Co-Founder and CTO of Nettle, an AI workspace helping commercial insurers complete loss-control inspections and understand physical risks, raised $4.8M in Seed funding, led by MTech Capital, with Project A Ventures, Sure Valley Ventures, and Portfolio Ventures also participating.
Andrea Corleto and Jennifer Arnold, Co-Founders of Altro Health, a clinical-infrastructure platform enabling wellness businesses to offer lab testing, prescriptions, and clinician-guided care, raised $7M in Seed funding, led by NFX, with Founder Collective and Abby Miller Levy of Primetime Partners also participating.
Friederike Nintzel, Co-Founder and CTO of Neela Biotech, a biotechnology startup using AI-guided microbial processes to convert waste into sustainable aviation-fuel feedstocks, raised £2.1M in Pre-Seed funding, led by Elbow Beach, with Ascension, Cambridge Enterprise, and Ventures Together also participating.
Catharina van Delden, Dr. Stefanie Glenn, and Alexandra Vázquez Bea, Co-Founders of Finches, an AI platform that gives agricultural-procurement teams early warnings about crop and supply risks, raised €2M in Pre-Seed funding, co-led by High-Tech Gründerfonds and Vanagon Ventures, with Bayern Kapital and UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators also participating.
Jessica-Rose Watson and Isla Wynne Thomas, Co-Founders of GLORIAH, an intimate-health brand developing products for hormone-related vaginal dryness, raised £600K in an oversubscribed Seed round, led by Gabriel Investment Syndicate, with Highland Venture Capital, Investing Women Angels, and Apollo also participating.
Gabriele Niederauer, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of Freyya, a medical-device company developing a wearable for continuous pelvic-floor monitoring, raised an undisclosed, oversubscribed Pre-Seed round, led by Alamo Angels.
Daniela Andrade shared an update on her experience navigating Harvard’s Title IX process nearly three years after experiencing physical and sexual violence on campus. After spending almost 30 hours in interviews while managing separate university and criminal proceedings, she called for stronger peer-support networks and reporting systems worthy of survivors’ trust.
Amy Ru argued that companies should stop relying on predictable happy hours, panels and hackathons for brand activations. Highlighting creative experiences from SF Tech Week, she says the best events give attendees immediate tangible or intrinsic value.
Reshma Saujani honored Margaret Hamilton following her passing. Hamilton led the MIT team that developed Apollo 11’s flight software, coined the term “software engineering” and completed groundbreaking work while raising her young daughter.
TypeSafe AI (Sasha Sheng) – 10 roles across AI & Model Engineering, Backend & Platform Engineering, Infrastructure, Developer Advocacy, AI Safety, Community, Marketing, Recruiting and Product (San Francisco, CA; On-site)
Valon (Linda Du) – 22 roles across Business Operations, Deployment, Design, Engineering, Implementation, Brand, Product, Sales and Security (New York City, San Francisco & Remote)
HealthLeap (Jemima Meyer) – 9 roles across Engineering, Technical Implementation, Data, Product, Growth Marketing, Clinical Engagement, Customer Success and Sales (San Francisco, CA & Remote, US)
Gardens Interactive (Lexie Dostal) – Technical Game Designer role (Remote, US; EST–PST)
Siena AI (Lisa Popovici) – 13 roles across Engineering, Product, Product Education & Community, Solutions Engineering, Account Management, Talent and Marketing (Argentina, Austin, London, New York, Toronto, United Kingdom & Remote Europe)
Ampersand (Lauren Long) – 7 roles across Engineering Management, Frontend & Platform Engineering, Sales Engineering, Forward-Deployed Engineering, Customer Engineering and Sales (San Francisco, CA; Hybrid)
Nettle (Katya Kinane) – 4 roles across AI Deployment, Backend Engineering, Mobile Engineering and Senior Engineering (London, UK & Remote, Poland; remote roles are B2B contracts)
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I hope you enjoyed this newsletter, Hustlers!
Love,
Daniela