Artificial intelligence (AI) startups Cast AI, Cyera and Swap headlined a wave of capital injections this week, reflecting the situation where investors are eyeing near-term demand as companies develop their production AI systems. The deals demonstrate continued interest in tools that manage computational constraints, govern sensitive data, and apply AI directly to revenue-generating workflows.
Cast AI Reaches Unicorn Status as GPU Market Expands
Cast the AIspecialist in cloud automation and Kubernetes, announcement a strategic investment that pushed its valuation past $1 billion with the launch of OMNI Compute, a unified GPU marketplace designed to simplify the deployment of AI infrastructure. The platform allows enterprises to automatically discover and provision GPU resources across cloud providers and regions without code changes, addressing one of the biggest bottlenecks in scaling AI workloads.
The new funding includes participation from Pacific Alliance Ventures, the venture capital arm of South Korea’s Shinsegae Group, and follows a previous Series C in which Cast AI raised capital from G2 Venture Partners and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Global customer families including Huawei, Cisco and Samsung are cited as part of Cast AI’s diverse user base. The company said this capital infusion and product expansion would fuel scaling operations and a broader regional presence in Asia, Europe and North America.
Cyera gets $400 million for AI security
Cyeraan AI and data security platform, announcement a major $400 million Series F round that triples its valuation to $9 billion. Led by Blackstone alongside existing investors including Accel, Coatue and Sequoia Capital, the funding comes as enterprise AI deployments accelerate and security concerns intensify. Cyera offers a unified platform that converges data security management, data loss prevention and identity insights to give organizations a consolidated view of their data environments.
The company says it now protects data for about 20% of Fortune 500 companies, after growing its team to more than 1,100 people and expanding to 15 countries. Strategic partnerships with Microsoft Purview and AWS position Cyera as a key player in the governance of artificial intelligence at scale. Executives say that as AI adoption grows, secure governance has become essential for trust, compliance and operational continuity.
Protege raises $30 million to unlock data for AI
A parallel financing story comes from Protectedwhich farm a $30 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to expand access to real-world datasets for AI development. The company aggregates and curates high-quality datasets, spanning industries such as healthcare, media and audio, to power AI training workflows while ensuring rights-protected access and revenue opportunities for data holders.
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Protege executives pointed to the fragmentation of data markets and growing demand from AI builders as drivers for a more structured and scalable approach to delivering real-world data. Returning investors include Footwork, CRV and Bloomberg Beta, bringing the startup’s total funding to $65 million since its inception in 2024. Protege’s model addresses one of AI’s most persistent bottlenecks: how to secure and responsibly operationalize diverse data sources while driving innovation.
Spangle AI raises $15 million for agent commerce infrastructure
In the business technology space, Glitter AI disclosed a $15 million Series A round led by NewRoad Capital Partners to build what it calls an agentic infrastructure layer for e-commerce. Founded by former Amazon engineers, Spangle aims to unify AI-driven discovery with real-time conversion through an intelligence layer that interprets buyer intent and executes actions across e-commerce stacks.
Early customers, including REVOLVE, Steve Madden and Alexander Wang, have already reported gains in conversion and return on ad spend. The company plans to use its new funding to deepen R&D, expand its engineering team, and refine its models as consumer behavior increasingly intersects with AI-driven discovery and purchasing workflows.
Swap Closes $100M Series C for Global Commerce Tools
To exchangea commercial operations platform, announcement a $100 million Series C round co-led by DST Global and ICONIQ, strengthening its position as a comprehensive business solutions provider as reported by PYMNTS.
Initially focused on returns, Swap has expanded into cross-border logistics, tax planning and on-demand, and now incorporates an AI-driven commerce infrastructure that aims to help brands transact and make logistics decisions with real-time insights. The capital will support geographic expansion, payments integration and enhancement of its product offering to meet growing demand from brands for seamless global commerce tools.