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Letta, One of UC Berkeley’s Most Anticipated AI Startups, Has Just Come Out of Stealth

By Julie Bort

A startup called Letta has just emerged from stealth with tech that helps AI models remember users and conversations. Created in UC Berkeley’s famed labs startup factory, it also announced $10 million in seed money led by Felicis Ventures at a $70 million post-money valuation.

Letta is also backed by a who’s who of angel investors in AI, like Google’s Jeff Dean, Hugging Face’s Clem Delangue, Runway’s Cristóbal Valenzuela, and Anyscale’s Robert Nishihara, among others.

Founded by Berkeley PhD students Sarah Wooders and Charles Packer, this is a highly anticipated AI startup launch. That’s because it’s a child of Berkeley’s Sky Computing Lab and is the commercial entity of the popular MemGPT open source project.

Berkeley’s Sky Computing Lab, led by acclaimed professor and Databricks co-founder Ion Stoica, is the descendent of RISELab and AMPLab, which spawned such companies as Anyscale, Databricks, and SiFive. Sky Lab, in particular, birthed numerous popular open source large language model (LLM) projects like the Gorilla LLM, vLLM, and the LLM structured language SGLang.

“A ton of projects very quickly, within a year’s time frame, came out of the lab. Just people sitting next to us,” described Wooders. “So it was kind of an incredible time.”

MemGPT is one such project and is such a hot commodity that it actually went viral before it even launched.

More here.

Massive Fundings

AtoB, a five-year-old San Francisco startup whose payment platform helps truck drivers and fleet managers manage fuel and other expenses efficiently, using tools like fuel cards and digital wallets, raised a $130 million Series C round in equity and debt co-led by General Catalyst and Bloomberg Beta, with additional participation from Mastercard. PYMNTS has more here.

Qure.AI, an Indian startup that analyzes X-rays, CT scans, and other radiology images in order to detect abnormalities such as lung diseases, strokes, and traumatic injuries, raised a $65 million Series D round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and 360 ONE Asset Management, with Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Kae Capital as well as previous investors Novo Holdings, Health Quad, and TeamFund also anteing up. Bloomberg has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

David Energy, a five-year-old Brooklyn startup that sells clean energy to businesses and consumers, raised a $23 million Series A-1 round led by Cathay Innovation, with USV, Keyframe Capital, Equal Ventures, and BoxGroup also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

Distyl AI, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that develops AI-powered tools to automate complex workflows for large enterprises across industries like retail, healthcare, and manufacturing, raised a $20 million Series A round at a valuation of "at least $200 million," according to Business Insider. Previous investor Coatue participated in the financing. Business Insider has more here.

Jump, a four-year-old Paris startup that helps freelancers access benefits typically reserved for full-time employees, such as health insurance, sick leave, and retirement plans, raised a $12.2 million Series A round led by Breega, with Index Ventures and Raise Ventures also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

Motion, a three-year-old Toronto startup that develops software to help advertising creatives analyze ad performance and generate new ad ideas based on data, raised a $30 million Series B round led by Inovia, with Threshold Ventures as well as previous investors Headline, Abstract Ventures, and Sugar Capital also participating. The company has raised a total of $42 million. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Ephos, a -year-old Milan startup that designs and manufactures glass-based photonic chips, which are essential for applications like quantum computing, telecommunications, and high-speed data transfer, raised an $8.5 million seed round led by Starlight Ventures, with Collaborative Fund, Exor Ventures, 2100 Ventures, and Unruly Capital also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.

FluoRok, a two-year-old startup that aims to use more sustainable techniques to produce fluorochemicals used in industries like pharmaceuticals and manufacturing, raised a $10.3 million round led by BGF, with Green Generation Fund, Volta Energy Technologies, and Excellis as well as previous investors Oxford Science Enterprises and University of Oxford also contributing. Silicon Canals has more here.

Genlogs, a one-year-old startup based in Washington, DC, that uses AI and a network of roadside sensors to track trucks and freight in real time across the U.S., raised a $6+ million seed round led by Autotech Ventures and Steel Atlas, with participation from Venture53, TitletownTech, Plug and Play Ventures, BBQ Capital, ASC Ventures, and JHH Ventures. More here.

Karman Industries, a Los Angeles startup founded this year that develops heat pump technology that uses turbomachinery to transfer heat, raised a $4 million pre-seed round led by Riot Ventures and including Space VC. TechCrunch has more here.

Kestra, a three-year-old Paris startup whose provides open-source platform allows engineers to schedule, monitor, and optimize data processing tasks, raised an $8 million seed round led by Alven, with previous investors ISAI and Axeleo also investing. TechCrunch has more here.

mbue, a two-year-old Austin startup that uses AI to identify changes in architectural drawings, raised a $1.8 million pre-seed round from Techstars, Geek Ventures, 2045 Ventures, Spatial Capital, Factorial Capital, Everywhere Ventures, and The MBA Fund. More here.

Reframe, a three-year-old New York startup whose platform integrates applications, information, and AI tools into "Streams" that help users manage their digital tasks more efficiently by reducing distractions and enhancing focus, raised a $5 million seed round led by Primary Ventures and Eniac Ventures. More here.

Sateliot, a five-year-old Barcelona startup that is building a 5G satellite network that integrates with telecom operators to offer seamless, low-power IoT communication for devices located in remote areas, raised an $11.2 million round. Global Portfolio Investments was the deal lead. Silicon Canals has more here.

Scribenote, a five-year-old Canadian startup that makes AI-powered software designed for veterinarians to assist with note-taking and administrative tasks, raised an $8.2 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Inovia Capital and the Velocity Fund also pitching in. Reuters has more here.