Joyce’s picks: musings and readings in AI/ML, February 5, 2025

📌 Musings and Readings

DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learning (Paper)

Speculative Knowledge Distillation: Bridging the Teacher-Student Gap Through Interleaved Sampling  (Paper)

Distilling step-by-step: Outperforming larger language models with less training data and smaller model sizes (Google)

👏 Deals

Gravity, a CA-based climate tech startup building a platform to help industrial businesses manage carbon accounting and energy optimization, has raised $13m in series A financing.

LeapXpert, a New York-based company developing a communication compliance platform to enable secure client engagement across popular messaging apps, while ensuring regulatory compliance and enterprise governance, has raised $20m in series B financing.

Axoflow, a CT-based startup specializing in the automation of collecting, managing, and ingesting security data through its end-to-end curation pipeline to enhance threat detection and response, has raised $7m in seed financing. 

Bedrock Energy, a TX-based climate tech startup employing geothermal technology and ground-source heat pumps for affordable, energy-efficient heating and cooling solutions, has raised $12m in series A financing.

Percipio Health, a TX-based healthcare company offering a device-free platform to provide mobile health monitoring and AI-driven insights to enable care for high-risk populations, has raised $20m in financing.

Teal, a FL-based company building a career platform to streamline and organize job search with AI-driven tools, has raised $7.5m in series A financing.

Kaya AI, a New York-based startup building an AI-driven supply chain platform for construction industry to automate workflows and track lead times to ensure timely delivery of critical components and improved productivity, has raised $5.3m in pre-seed financing.

Music AI, a UT-based company using AI audio models to streamline audio and music production, automating creation, distribution, and analysis to boost creativity and efficiency, has raised $40m in series A financing.

Sonocharge Energy, a CA-based company specializing in battery technology to enhance lithium-ion batteries’ efficiency, lifespan, and charging speed to support electric vehicles and renewable energy, has raised $23.5m in financing.

Almanax, a New York-based startup using AI for Web3 security by scanning codebases, detecting vulnerabilities, and providing automated security recommendations, has raised $1m in financing.  

PinkDx, a CA-based healthcare tech company developing innovative, non-invasive diagnostic solutions to improve gynecological cancer detection and enhance women’s health, has raised $5m in series A financing.

Riley AI, a CA-based startup using AI to automate customer data analysis, seamlessly processing qualitative and quantitative data to deliver clear, high-impact insights to help organizations make smarter product decisions, has raised $3m in seed financing.

Addis Energy, a MA-based climate tech startup developing methods to produce sustainable ammonia by utilizing subsurface chemical reactions to replace conventional and energy-consuming processes, has raised $4.25m in pre-seed financing.

CapeZero, a New York-based startup building a platform to simplify financing for clean energy projects, allowing developers to quickly model complex structures while optimizing financial analysis to accelerate the capital-raising process, has raised $2.6m in seed financing.

Lanai, a CA-based startup that offers AI enablement and governance tools , has raised $10m in seed financing.

Systole Health, a MA-based health tech startup specializing in women's heart health by  offering personalized medical support, lifestyle coaching, and a supportive peer network, has raised $2m in pre-seed financing.  

WiseLayer, a New York-based fintech startup deploying AI workers to automate finance and accounting with focus on accruals, discrepancy resolution, and data analysis, has raised $7.2m in financing.

Earth AI, a CA-based company focused on mineral exploration by analyzing geological data to identify key metal sites essential for clean energy, has raised $20m in Series B financing.

Nue, a CA-based company developing a platform to automate the revenue lifecycle, optimizing pricing, sales workflows, and revenue tracking across various sales channels, has raised $20m in series A financing.

Frenos, a NC-based startup developing autonomous Operational Technology (OT) security to identify and mitigate risks in critical infrastructure without disrupting operations, has raised $3.9m in seed financing.

Applied Labs, a New York-based startup using AI to automate workflows by integrating with enterprise tools, customizing solutions based on real-time task insights to improve efficiency and reduce manual work, has raised $4.2m in seed financing.

Bonsai Robotics, the CA-based startup specializing in vision-based AI systems to enable autonomous vehicle operation, has raised $15m in Series A funding.

Conifers.ai, a TX-based company that develops a cybersecurity platform that automates threat detection, incident response, and risk analysis to enhance security operations, has raised $25m in financing.

Observo AI, a CA-based startup using machine learning and LLMs to optimize data in real-time, filtering critical signals and removing redundant data without manual intervention, has raised $15m in seed financing.

Athenic AI, a CA-based startup specializing in a data platform with an AI assistant for real-time insights, trend predictions, and structured data analysis, has raised $4.3m in financing.

Paxton, an Oregon-based company leveraging AI to assist legal professionals with contract review, compliance checks, and document automation, has raised $22m in series A financing.

Medsender, a New York-based healthcare tech company that focuses on using AI to automate administrative tasks in the healthcare sector to reduce processing time and improve productivity, has raised $5m in series A financing.

Final Round AI, a CA-based startup using AI to assist job candidates by offering real-time interview feedback, mock interviews, resume building, and personalized coaching, has raised $6.9m in seed financing.

Savant Labs, a CA-based company building a Gen AI platform to automate business analytics, enabling users to create complex workflows without coding and facilitating real-time collaboration and insights, has raised $18.5m in series A financing. 

Perspective AI, a CA-based startup focused on using machine learning to help facilitate customer conversations to capture the voice of the customers, has raised $4m in seed financing.