Gaingels

As we look to make venture capital spaces healthier, happier, and more connected, I'm excited to be going on a hike with some investors and founders tomorrow in Los Angeles! If you are around, consider joining us :) https://lnkd.in/e-aCFTS9

I am grateful to Gaingels for the opportunity provided to me. Over the years with Gaingels, I have gained valuable insights and had the pleasure of meeting remarkable individuals, including investors, founders, and engaging in startup pitches. The dedication of Gaingels to inclusive investments across all spectrums truly sets them apart. #Gaingels #DiversifiedInvestments

?? I'm thrilled to announce our Seed raise! ?? Great leaders aren't born—they're made. Yet, personal development has too often been slow, costly, and detached from daily work and how adults truly learn. It's time for something different. ?? Today, we're thrilled to announce that Pinnacle has raised $2.5M to change the game! ?? With this new investment, we're bringing AI-powered coaching to every leader, everywhere. We’re not just replicating human executive coaching with AI, but taking it further: a workplace companion that provides continuous, contextual guidance within your daily workflow, based on your actual communication patterns and meetings. The result isn't sporadic every-other-week conversations—it's development woven into the fabric of work itself, available precisely when leaders need it most. It's improved performance, overnight. Our Seed round is led by eLab Ventures, with participation from Incisive Ventures, 57Blocks, Sher Ventures Inc, Sarah Smith Fund, Embedding VC, Jolly VC, Gaingels, First Check Ventures, PeopleTech Partners, Alchemist Accelerator, StartX, Cooley LLP, Mastodon Capital Management, LLC, and with support from experienced angels and advisors like Jia Li (ex-Chief AI Fellow@Accenture, ex-Global Head of AI R&D@Google Cloud), Sagar Mehta (CTO@OpenTable), Mark Mendel (Venture Partner@Sozo Ventures), Melinda Wolfe (3x ex-CHRO@Bloomberg, Pearson, GLG), and Jason Rosoff (CEO@Radical Candor).??? Unlike generic AI tools, Pascal, our AI coach, taps into your workplace ecosystem—accessing everything from an employee’s performance reviews, 360 feedback, and career aspirations to a company’s competency frameworks, values, and training materials—to provide coaching that's deeply informed by your actual work relationships and challenges. Pascal serves as a trusted ally, seamlessly integrating coaching into managers' daily routines to assist them in many areas including: ??? Prepare for difficult conversations without escalating tensions ?? Prioritize their day and focus on high-impact work ?? Develop leadership skills through bite-sized, actionable insights ?? Support their team’s career growth with structured, ongoing conversations ?? And so much more! We're excited for what's next?. Read the full announcement here or try Pascal for yourself ?? https://lnkd.in/euJ9Vipj Thank you so much to our team and to everyone that has been on our journey with us! Bob Stefanski, Martin Tobias, Kevin Wang, Dan Ellis, Justin Sher, Sarah Smith, Roger Luo, Ali Jamal, Sunmeet Jolly, Paul Grossinger, Ravi Belani, Cameron Drummond, Kyle Wong, Cara Brennan Allamano, Erin M. Faverty, MA COML, Justin Allamano Robby Peters. #AI #Leadership #FundingNews #HRTech #StartupFunding #AICoaching #Learningintheflow #Employeeperformance

Board Diversity Spotlight: Rekha Bachwani Joins Glober AI’s Board We're thrilled to celebrate this 2024 placement on the Glober AI board, made possible through the Gaingels Board Diversity Program! ???? #Glober AI, one of our standout portfolio companies, is transforming global expansion with AI-powered localization. Founded by former leaders from Google, Amazon, and Oracle, Glober AI uses advanced #LLMs and proprietary AI to deliver culturally nuanced translations across text, images, and video. Congratulations to Rekha Bachwani and the Glober AI team! ?? #BoardDiversity #AI #Leadership

Jim Simpson has never let barriers define him. As a tech visionary and LGBTQIA+ leader, he’s built a career on breaking rules and rewriting narratives. Now, as CEO of Blumira, Jim is tackling one of tech’s biggest gaps: making #cybersecurity accessible for small businesses. His mission? Protecting those who are often overlooked in security. Jim’s story—from navigating his identity in a conservative household to helping build Duo Security’s billion-dollar success—proves that leadership is about courage, vision, and the willingness to do things differently. Their advice? “Just try something. If you fail, learn and move forward.” #Gaingels100 #Leadership #Cybersecurity #LGBTQ

Junction (formerly Vital) just secured an $18M Series A led by Creandum, with support from Y Combinator, Point Nine , Amino Collective, and Inflect Health. So, what’s next for them? ??? Growing the team to supercharge product innovation ??? Expanding their API network to seamlessly connect devices, labs, and health systems ??? Helping organizations deliver smarter, more data-driven care With a fresh name and an even bolder vision, Junction is laying the foundation for scalable, proactive, and truly personalized medicine. We're excited to see where they go from here! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gxa9U9f5

Here's your recap in all recent AI news. I collect this information and share it with my followers, so you don't have to. If you find this useful, follow and share with your network. ?? == 1- Microsoft announced "Muse," an AI model for video games developed with Ninja Theory. Trained on 500,000 gameplay sessions, it creates complex gameplay sequences and scenarios. https://lnkd.in/gjwYvbgA 2- Deutsche Telekom announced an "AI Phone" partnership with Perplexity at MWC 2025, featuring Perplexity Assistant accessible from the lock screen. The device integrates Google Cloud AI, ElevenLabs, and Picsart. Priced under $1,000 and launching this year, it represents one of the first carrier-led AI smartphone initiatives. https://lnkd.in/gdetFA2Y 3- Amazon unveils new Echo Spot with Alexa Plus, an AI upgrade costing $19.99/month. The 2025 model features enhanced smart home controls, improved sound, and generative AI. 4- Alibaba releases WAN 2.1, an open-source text-to-video AI model challenging OpenAI's Sora. It offers four variants including T2V-14B and T2V-1.3B for creating realistic videos from text. https://lnkd.in/gYgSCvzx 5- Meta unveils Aria Gen 2, AI research glasses with upgraded sensors, on-device processing, and all-day battery. Features include heart rate monitoring and accessibility tools. https://lnkd.in/g8siM3gt 6- Hume AI launches Octave, the first LLM for text-to-speech that understands content rather than just reading words. It generates custom AI voices with adjustable emotions for more natural speech. https://lnkd.in/guCm7iJf 7- OpenAI released GPT-4.5 (Orion), their largest model to date. While marketed for improved conversation and emotional intelligence, benchmarks show mixed results - better on coding but not math or science. https://lnkd.in/gyXjq3J8 8- Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet dominates coding with 70.3% accuracy on SWE-bench tests, far outpacing OpenAI (~49%). Their new Claude Code lets devs request features in plain English, threatening AI coding startups. 9- Anthropic raised $3.5 billion at a $61.5 billion valuation in a Series E round led by Lightspeed. Investors include Cisco, Salesforce, Bessemer, and D1 Capital. https://lnkd.in/gzUwJVdD 10- OpenAI launches NextGenAI, a consortium of 15 research institutions to accelerate research and transform education. The initiative includes $50M in grants, compute funding, and API access for students and researchers. https://lnkd.in/gKpNG7js

???????????? ???????????? $?????? ?????????????? ???? ?????????????? Epirus is a defense technology startup pioneering long-pulse high-power microwave technology to revolutionize electronic warfare. By integrating artificial intelligence and advanced electronics, the company develops software-defined, scalable defenses capable of neutralizing drone swarms, cyber-electronic attacks, and radar-jamming threats with unmatched precision. Unlike traditional kinetic systems, Epirus’ solutions deliver cost-effective, adaptive protection while minimizing collateral damage. With its AI-driven approach, Epirus is shaping the future of directed energy warfare for modern defense and security challenges. Epirus has raised $250 million in a Series D funding round led by 8VC?and Washington Harbour Partners LP with participation from StepStone Group, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Gaingels, and others. Epirus was previously valued at $1.35 billion for its $200 million Series C in 2022. Epirus, Torrance, California, United States, was founded in 2018 by Bo Marr, PhD, Grant L. Verstandig, Joe Lonsdale, John T., Max Mednik, and Nathan M. In 2022, the company joined the unicorn club. Epirus operates in the defense, cybersecurity, and commercial markets, providing advanced high-power microwave (HPM) technology for electronic warfare, critical infrastructure protection, and counter-drone applications across military and civilian sectors. “With our capital and talent and the right partnerships with US DoD to continue to advance Epirus’ technology, it will quickly become critical for defending aircraft, ships and even satellites and space-based platforms—and determinative for the future of warfare,” said Epirus founder and 8VC managing partner Joe Lonsdale.

Big news from our portfolio Company Epirus! ?? We're proud to be part of this journey as these new funds drive global expansion, workforce growth, and the launch of a cutting-edge simulation center in Oklahoma to train soldiers #Epirus is redefining the future of national security—read more about their latest milestone below! ?? https://lnkd.in/eAttWdAD

This week, we are thrilled to welcome University of Wisconsin-Madison alum Brian Lucksinger as he shares insights from his career journey, from starting in the Macy’s Executive Development Program and now serving as Director of Community and Special Projects at Gaingels Inc.