MVP Ventures

In a strong testament to Balbix’s strategy for reducing and burning cyber risk, the company was identified as a representative vendor in three key 2024 Gartner Hype Cycle reports — including the newly created Exposure Assessment Platforms and Cyber Risk Quantification categories. Congrats to Gaurav Banga and the Balbix team on this well-deserved recognition! Read more about the Garner reports and how Balbix sets itself apart from other EAP platforms here: https://lnkd.in/emWbfrRu And go further in-depth on Balbix’s offerings here: https://lnkd.in/guBWKqiz

Yahoo Tech recently released a great piece on Turing’s evolution from an engineering staffing firm to a provider of specialized data services and AI consulting — one that counts nearly every major foundation model provider as clients. It’s a good story and a good read. As MVP Ventures has been a part of Turing’s journey since the company’s Seed round back in 2020, we’ve witnessed the evolution and growth to unicorn status firsthand. Read about how Turing working with OpenAI to launch ChatGPT changed the company’s business model here: https://lnkd.in/eiiEypzb 

Hayden AI is bringing its AI-powered automated bus lane and bus stop enforcement platform to a new continent as it expands to the land Down Under. Hayden recently announced that it is entering the New Zealand and Australian markets by teaming up with Japanese-owned NEC Australia to deliver a seamless enforcement technology platform designed to improve road safety, sustainability, public transport reliability, and accessibility to operators in cities across Oceania. Read more about the partnership here: https://lnkd.in/eRzHCNuq

Aurascape AI is transforming the cybersecurity landscape with its AI-native, cloud-based solutions. Unlike traditional cybersecurity tools that merely add AI components, Aurascape is building its platform from the ground up to address the unique security challenges posed by the rapid adoption of AI technologies. A spin-out from the deeply technical team at Auradine, (also an MVP Ventures portfolio company), Aurascape is founded and led by the same experienced multi-time founders and lead engineers out of Palo Alto Networks. Collectively, the team has an incredible track record of creating market-leading products that have generated over $10B in revenue for multi-billion-dollar cybersecurity companies and unicorns. We’re excited to continue backing Rajiv K. and this stellar team in their newest endeavor alongside Mayfield Fund, Celesta Capital, StepStone Group, and more. Read more about Aurascape and the round here: https://lnkd.in/dEaC58k9

After a year of incredible work as a Principal-in-Residence, we are thrilled to announce that Nkechi Iregbulem is joining the MVP Ventures team as a full-time Principal. As a PIR, Nkechi led our investments in Astrus — an AI copilot for chip design backed by Khosla Ventures — and two stealth AI companies backed by Felicis and General Catalyst. Over the course of her career, Nkechi has backed over 30 companies, including investments alongside Sequoia Capital (Neros Technologies), Andreessen Horowitz (Rollup), Wing Venture Capital (Gradient), Redpoint (Nuon), and more. Nkechi started her investing career at a fintech-focused VC (Anthemis Group) and then jumped to the operating side (ComposerAI) before returning to venture as a scout for firms like Kleiner Perkins and Craft Ventures. Nkechi’s track record as a “Most-Value-Per-dollar” angel makes her a great fit for MVP and a fantastic resource for our founders. Please help us give her a warm welcome to her new position!

In what will almost definitely be one of the largest funding rounds of the year, Anduril Industries closed an impressive $1.5 billion Series F co-led by Founders Fund and Sands Capital. The investment, which will be used to hyperscale Anduril’s defense manufacturing, values the company at $14 billion — a massive step up from its prior valuation of $8.5 billion set at the end of 2022. Anduril plans to invest in scaling their new software-defined manufacturing platform, Arsenal, starting with building Arsenal-1: a state-of-the-art 5M+ sq ft manufacturing facility, designed to produce tens of thousands of autonomous military systems annually. The goal? To produce defense systems at a scale not currently possible for exquisite military systems. Read more in TechCrunch: https://lnkd.in/eiAHBgwX And learn more about their plans from the company’s own blog here: https://lnkd.in/eyZ2gqrc

Excited for Balbix’s launch of BIX! Balbix is demystifying the complexities of cyber risk for every key player involved — from the C-suite to the IT team — with BIX, the world’s 1st AI assistant for cyber risk and exposure management. Unlike generic tools, BIX seamlessly integrates with a company’s cybersecurity, IT, and business systems to offer tailored advice and mitigation strategies, and provide insights into assets, software versions, user roles, specific threats, and security measures. Congrats to Gaurav Banga and the Balbix team on making this vision a reality! Read more about BIX and its capabilities here: https://lnkd.in/gvtazp5d

With Western governments and armed forces increasingly challenged by frequent jamming attacks or interferences against satellites, space has become the new frontier in security and defense. Thanks to Loft Orbital’s YAM-6 satellite node, the leading new defense company in Europe, Helsing, was able to successfully deploy real-time advanced AI capabilities in space. Helsing’s extended tests focus on real-time onboard radio frequency signal detection and their characterization enabling upcoming military grade Signal Intelligence and Cognitive Anti-Jamming applications. Read more about this important use-case deployed on Loft's space infrastructure: https://lnkd.in/dxxxcDcD

Clockwork now has 22 robotic manicure machines pampering customers across the country with their 10-minute manicures 💅 Their most recent batches of manicure-giving robots can be found at 125 High St. in Boston, and the Orlando International Airport — stop by the XpresSpa in gates 1-9 to experience them for yourselves, or check out all of their manicure locations here to find one closer to you: https://lnkd.in/gqPqUp-U

oneNav, Inc.’s first-of-its-kind GPS technology offers a solution to outwit weaponized GPS interference that has become widespread in several areas of the world as wars rage and geopolitical crises escalate. Jamming and spoofing (giving fake location data) are common electronic warfare techniques that impact everything with a GPS receiver — from military aircraft, weapons, and drones, to commercial planes, smartphones, and more. However, oneNav’s recent field studies in both the Middle East and Eastern Europe confirmed its GPS receiver known as the L5-direct maintained accurate information despite active jamming and spoofing in the areas. The L5-direct works by picking up the most modern band of GPS signals known as L5, which are 30x harder to jam and interfere with compared to the widely used L1 signals. The conflict in Ukraine, in particular, has highlighted the importance of resilient navigation systems that can withstand electronic warfare, underscoring the critical need for OneNav’s advanced GPS technology to maintain accuracy and operational effectiveness in contested environments. Read more about OneNav’s L5-direct receiver and the technology behind it in Newsweek here: https://lnkd.in/d_YW5SQG