Welcome back to another issue of Why Join.

Now, here’s something I think you'll love — six must-read publications:

Alternative Investing Report, The Hustle, A Smart Bear: Longform, TLDR Newsletter, The Neuron, and The Office Party.

Check them out, and thank me later!

Before we begin... a big thank you to this week's sponsor.

Hire Ava, the Industry-Leading AI BDR

Ava automates your entire outbound demand generation so you can get leads delivered to your inbox on autopilot. She operates within the Artisan platform, which consolidates every tool you need for outbound:

• 300M+ High-Quality B2B Prospects

• Automated Lead Enrichment With 10+ Data Sources Included

• Full Email Deliverability Management

• Personalization Waterfall using LinkedIn, Twitter, Web Scraping & More

Book a demo to see what Ava can do.

Weekly Startup Spotlight

> Forterra (formerly RRAI) raised $75M in Series B funding led by Moore Strategic Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, and Hedosophia.

What it does: Forterra develops autonomous vehicle systems designed to enhance operational efficiency and safety in both military and industrial contexts. Their flagship product, AutoDrive, offers comprehensive self-driving capabilities across various environments, including structured and unstructured settings, on-road and off-road locations, and even in GPS-denied areas.

Open positions: C++ Software Engineer - Clarksburg, MD

> Chai Discovery raised $30M in Seed funding led by Thrive Capital.

What it does: Chai creates AI foundation models for predicting biochemical molecule structures and reprogramming their interactions, crucial for developing new medications. Their model, Chai-1, predicts proteins, small molecules, DNA, RNA, and other biomolecular structures, matching or exceeding the performance of models like AlphaFold 3. For instance, Chai-1 achieves a 77% success rate on the PoseBusters protein-ligand benchmark, compared to AlphaFold 3’s 76%.

Open positions: AI Research Scientist - San Francisco, CA; AI Engineer - San Francisco, CA

> Thatch raised $38M in Series A funding led by Index Ventures and General Catalyst.

What it does: Thatch offers a modern healthcare benefits platform that provides a flexible and personalized approach to employee healthcare through an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA). Employers set a budget, allowing employees to choose healthcare options that best meet their individual needs.

Open positions: Operations Specialist, Customer Support Specialist, Software Engineer, Product Manager

> You.com raised $50M in Series B funding led by Georgian.

What it does: Originally a search engine, You.com has evolved into a chat-first AI assistant, functioning as a "productivity engine." It uses advanced language models to assist users with research, problem-solving, coding, and content creation, transforming workflows for knowledge workers.

Open positions: Senior/Staff AI Engineer, Senior/Staff Data Scientist, Senior UX Researcher

> Mintlify raised $18M in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.

What it does: Mintlify addresses the challenge developers face with documentation by enabling companies to publish high-quality, branded software documentation, including guides, API references, and examples. This improves developer productivity and tool success.

Open positions: Developer Success Engineer - San Francisco, CA; Full Stack Engineer - San Francisco, CA; Founding Account Executive - San Francisco, CA

Before we begin... a big thank you to this week's sponsors. Check them out below and at the end of this email!

The Daily Newsletter for Intellectually Curious Readers

If you're frustrated by one-sided reporting, our 5-minute newsletter is the missing piece. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you comprehensive, unbiased news—free from political agendas. Stay informed with factual coverage on the topics that matter.

Join for free today!

New Funding, New Roles

🇫🇷 Steerlab

Pre-Seed - $1.9M; Investors: Dreamcraft VC, Heartfelt Capital, Lumière AI Ventures, Station F

What it does: Building a cutting-edge AI platform that automates responses to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and security questionnaires. This helps PreSales and security teams enhance their efficiency by automating 80% of the time spent on responses, ultimately maximizing their success in winning more deals.

Open positions: AI Engineer, Software Engineer, Marketing & Lead Generation Intern - Paris

🇺🇸 Cortex

Series C - $60M; Investors: Scale Venture Partners, World Innovation Labs, Cross Creek, Alpha Square Group, IVP, Sequoia, Y Combinator

What it does: Cortex is an Internal Developer Portal (IDP) that addresses a crucial gap: engineers lack a unified system of record. While sales, IT, and HR have their dedicated platforms, engineers often rely on outdated spreadsheets.

Cortex solves this with a comprehensive IDP that centralizes software tracking, ownership, and dependencies. It enhances productivity by bringing order without disrupting development. Key features include:

• Catalog: A centralized hub for tracking software components, ownership, and dependencies.

• Standards & Alignment: Tools for measuring quality and ensuring adherence to organizational standards.

• Self-Service: Simplified developer interfaces for streamlined service creation and management.

Open positions: Senior Backend Engineer, Senior Frontend Engineer - Remote (US)

🇺🇸 Segmed

Series A - $10.4M; Investors: iGan Partners, Advocate Health, Castellan Group, Engine Health Capital, Bold Brain Ventures, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Y Combinator, Nina Capital, Nova Capital, Blumberg Capital, Expeditions Fund

What it does: Segmed provides at-scale access to novel clinical data globally, offering millions of diagnostic-grade medical images to accelerate innovation and meet the evidence needs of the life sciences and technology industries.

‍Open positions: Business Development Manager, AI - Remote (US)

Open Positions

The Biggest Disruption to $martphones Since iPhone

Mode saw 32,481% revenue growth from 2019 to 2022, ranking them the #1 overall software company, on this year's Deloitte 500 fastest-growing companies list.

Mode has over $60M in revenue - this is your chance to invest in a $1T+ market opportunity!

Secure Your Investment Now!

This is a paid advertisement for Mode Mobile Reg A offering. Please read the offering statement at https://invest.modemobile.com/.

That's all folks.

Enjoy the newsletter? Please forward to a pal. It only takes 10 seconds. Making this one took 7 hours.

New round here? Join the newsletter (it's free).

Hey — Time for your weekly update on funding news, job opportunities, and internships. Writing these intros always feels like a challenge; I want it to feel fresh.

Before we begin... a big thank you to this week's sponsor.

🦾 Master AI & ChatGPT for FREE in just 3 hours 🤯

1 Million+ people have attended, and are RAVING about this AI Workshop.
Don’t believe us? Attend it for free and see it for yourself.

Save your spot here. (100 free spots only)

Highly Recommended: 🚀

Join this 3-hour Power-Packed Masterclass worth $399 for absolutely free and learn 20+ AI tools to become 10x better & faster at what you do

👉Save your seat  now (FREE for First 100)

🗓️ Tomorrow | ⏱️ 10 AM EST

In this Masterclass, you’ll learn how to:

🚀 Do quick excel analysis & make AI-powered PPTs 
🚀 Build your own personal AI assistant to save 10+ hours
🚀 Become an expert at prompting & learn 20+ AI tools
🚀 Research faster & make your life a lot simpler & more…

👉 Register here (Offer valid for First 100 people only)🎁

New Funding, New Roles

🇺🇸 Bland AI

Series A - $16M; Investors: Scale Venture Partners, Y Combinator

What it does: Enterprise platform for AI phone calls.

Why it matters: Over half of people prefer phone calls with businesses, but each call costs US companies $3.00 to $5.00. Call centers, essential but expensive to staff, face severe challenges:

• High turnover: Jobs are tough, poorly paid, and repetitive.

• Costs: High training, onboarding, and recruitment expenses.

• Inefficiency: Agents often lack context or expertise for complex issues.

Open positions: UX/UI Developer - San Francisco; Support Engineer - San Francisco; Founding Product Designer - San Francisco; AI / ML Engineer - San Francisco

🇺🇸 Pylon

Series A - $17M; Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Y Combinator

What it does: Pylon is a modern alternative to Zendesk, designed to help B2B companies manage customer interactions across various platforms, including shared Slack channels, Microsoft Teams, email, in-app chat, and Slack communities.

Open positions: Product Designer - San Francisco; Software Engineer (New Grad) - San Francisco; Software Engineer - San Francisco; Product Support Engineer - San Francisco

🇺🇸 Butlr

Series B - $38M; Investors: Foundry Group, Pacific Alliance Venture, DNX Ventures, Qualcomm

What it does: Butlr is the world's first and only 100% anonymous people-sensing and occupancy detection platform. It helps enterprises globally improve workplace planning and optimize operations using body heat and advanced AI technologies, all without capturing any identities.

Open positions: Account Executive, North America - Remote

🇺🇸 Bridge

Series A - $40M; Investors: Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, Haun Ventures

What it does: Payments platform using stablecoins to streamline global money transfers. Bridge offers faster, cheaper, and borderless dollar access compared to SWIFT and other fiat systems through its APIs.

Open positions: Blockchain Engineer - Remote; BSA/AML Investigator - San Francisco, New York City; Senior/Staff Software Engineer - San Francisco

Open Positions

See you next Wednesday!

Enjoyed the newsletter? Forward it to a friend—it only takes 10 seconds, and it took me 8 hours to put together.

New here? Join the newsletter—it’s free!

Take a demo, get a Blackstone Griddle

Financial operations heating up? BILL Spend & Expense can help you take control. Automate expense reports, set budgets across teams, and get real-time insights into company spend. Take a demo to learn how and we'll give you a 28" Blackstone Omnivore Griddle—so you can take control of your next barbecue, too.

Request a demo

New Funding, New Roles

🇺🇸 AstroForge

Series A: $40M; Investors: Nova Threshold, 776, Initialized, YC, Uncorrelated Ventures

What it does: AstroForge specializes in asteroid mining, refining and returning only valuable materials. They target metallic (M-type) asteroids, which can contain thousands of times more platinum group metals (PGMs) than Earth’s crust. Missions to these asteroids, located close to Earth, take about 2 years. Key challenges include developing space mining technology, ensuring economic viability, and analyzing asteroid compositions.

Open roles: Electrical Engineer - Seal Beach, CA; Flight Software Engineer - Seal Beach, CA; Embedded Software Engineer - Seal Beach, CA; Mission Assurance Engineer - Seal Beach, CA

🇺🇸 Defcon AI

Seed: $44M; Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Fifth Growth Fund, Red Cell Partners

What it does: Defcon AI develops a next-generation modeling, simulation, and analysis (MS&A) toolset for modern military logistics and transportation.

Why it matters: Despite the complexity of military operations, logistics are still managed using outdated tools like whiteboards and Excel. Defcon AI modernizes this process, enabling more efficient movement of supplies, personnel, and equipment amid geopolitical conflicts.

Open roles: Software Engineer - Backend - Remote (US); Software Engineer - Frontend - Remote (US)

🇺🇸 Story

Series B: $80M; Investors: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Polychain Capital

What it does: Story is a blockchain protocol for registering and tracking intellectual property. It ensures creators are rewarded and their rights are protected, while making IP licensing straightforward and standardized.

Why it matters: As AI search engines and social networks use AI-generated content often without proper attribution, Story helps preserve the value of original creations by guaranteeing credit and compensation for creators.

Open roles: Product Designer - Remote (US); Visual Designer (Contract to Hire) - San Francisco, CA; APAC Growth Associate - Seoul, South Korea; HR Generalist - San Francisco, CA; Blockchain Researcher / Research Engineer - Remote (US)

🇩🇪 Root

Seed: €8M; Investors: Point Nine, Project A, HelloWorld, Arc Investors

What it does: Helps companies across the food system achieve Net Zero. Approximately 31% of global GHG emissions come from food-related activities.

Open roles: Go-To-Market Intern - Berlin; Founder's Associate - Berlin; Full Stack Engineer - Berlin; Strategy - Retail & FMCG - Berlin

Open Positions

New Funding, New Roles

🇺🇸 Starpath

Seed: $12M; Co-led by 8VC & Fusion Fund

What it does: Starpath aims to mine lunar craters for ice-containing water to create rocket propellant (liquid oxygen). Liquid oxygen (LOX) is crucial for rockets and spacecraft, serving as an oxidizer with fuels such as hydrogen, kerosene, or methane.

Open roles: Intern Fall 2024, Intern Spring 2025, Intern Summer 2025 - All Engineering Roles (Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical, Computer) - Hawthorne, CA

🇺🇸 Onebrief

Series B: $53M; Investors: Human Capital, 9Yards Capital, Caffeinated Capital

What it does: Onebrief provides collaborative software designed to streamline military planning for everything from daily operations to wartime missions.

Open roles: Executive Assistant - Remote (US); Software Engineer, Test Platform - Remote (US); DevOps Engineer - Remote (US)

🇺🇸 Quantum Circuits

Series B: $60M; Co-led by ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, Sequoia Capital, Hither Creek Ventures

What it does: Developing and bringing to market the first practical quantum computers based on advanced superconducting technology.

Open roles: Financial Analyst Intern - New Haven, CT, Full Stack Software Engineer - New Haven, CT

🇺🇸 Fortera

Series C: $85M; Investors: Khosla Ventures, Temasek, Wollemi Capital, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Presidio Ventures, Alumni Ventures

What it does: Fortera’s technology captures CO2 from cement production and converts it into ready-to-use low-carbon cement.

‎Open roles: Business Development Specialist - San Jose, CA; Environmental Health & Safety Specialist/ Office Administrator - San Jose, CA

🇺🇸 Sahara AI

Series A: $43M; Co-led by Binance Labs, Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital

What it does: A decentralized AI blockchain platform that lets everyone benefit from AI advancements, ensuring fair compensation, data sovereignty, and secure trading of AI assets while upholding privacy and inclusivity.

Open roles: ML Research Intern - San Francisco, CA

Open Positions