February was the biggest month on record for venture funding. And while the vast majority of that capital went to just three companies ' OpenAI, Anthropic and Waymo ' a whole host of under-the-radar startups also drew investor checks. Among those that most piqued our interest: A phlebotomy robot, a company that aims to revive precision manufacturing in the U.S. and Europe with a small-business franchise model, and a health beverage made from seaweed. Let's dive in. Vitestro was founded in 2017 and has raised more than $104 million to date, per Crunchbase. Its Series B investors include Sutter Health, Sonder Capital, Puma Venture Capital, Mayo Clinic and LabCorp Venture Fund, among others. Vitestro's device is designed to be installed in phlebotomy departments and combines imaging technology, AI and advanced robotics to identify suitable veins for a blood draw, guide needle insertion and collect blood samples, according to the company. 'Vitestro is redefining one of the largest and most under innovated clinical workflows with a first-of-its-kind autonomous robotic platform for diagnostic blood collection addressing an enormous unmet global market need,' Dr. Fred Moll, co-founder and partner at Sonder Capital and former co-founder and CEO of Intuitive Surgical and Auris Health, said in a statement. 'I believe this technology has the potential to establish a new standard of care, much as robotic surgery did in its early days.'...

When people think of asteroids, they tend to picture rare, civilization-ending impacts like those depicted in movies such as 'Armageddon.' In reality, the asteroids most likely to affect modern society are much smaller. While kilometer-scale impacts occur only every tens of millions of years, decameter-scale (building-sized) objects strike Earth far more frequently: roughly every couple decades. As astronomers develop new ways to detect and track these smaller asteroids, planetary defense becomes increasingly relevant for protecting the space-based infrastructure that underpins modern life, from GPS navigation to global communications. The good news for us earthlings is that a team of MIT researchers is on this space-case. Associate Professor Julien de Wit, Research Scientist Artem Burdanov, and their colleagues recently developed a new asteroid-detection method that could be used to track potential asteroid impactors and help protect our planet. They have now applied this new technique to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), demonstrating that JWST can be used to detect and characterize decameter-scale asteroids all the way out to the main belt, a crucial step in fortifying our planetary safety and security. De Wit and his colleagues recently co-led with with Andrew Rivkin PhD '91 new observations of an asteroid called 2024 YR4, which made headlines last year when it was first discovered. They were able to determine that the asteroid will not collide with the Moon, which could have had impacts on Earth's critical satellite systems....

The Claude maker filed two complaints against the DOD on Monday in California and Washington, D.C., after a weeks-long conflict between Anthropic and the DOD over whether the military should have unrestricted access to Anthropic's AI systems. Anthropic had two firm red lines: It didn't want its technology to be used for mass surveillance of Americans and didn't believe it was ready to power fully autonomous weapons with no humans making targeting and firing decisions. A supply-chain risk label is usually reserved for foreign adversaries and requires any company or agency that does work with the Pentagon to certify that it doesn't use Anthropic's models. While several private companies are still working with Anthropic, the firm is poised to lose much of its business within the government. Anthropic called the DOD's actions 'unprecedented and unlawful' and accuses the administration of retaliation in a complaint filed in San Francisco federal court. 'The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech,' the lawsuit reads....

Ultra Maritime focuses on anti-submarine warfare technologies used across air, surface, and underwater defense systems. Its portfolio includes sonar systems, sonobuoys used for submarine detection, and torpedo countermeasure technologies. Investor interest in defense assets has surged as governments increase military spending in response to rising geopolitical tensions. The European Union has pledged hundreds of billions of euros to strengthen the region's defense industry and reduce reliance on US military capabilities. Subscribe to our Newsletter to increase your edge. Don't worry about the news anymore, through our newsletter you'll receive weekly access to what is happening. Join 120,000 other PE professionals today....