5 Interesting Startup Deals You May Have Missed In June: Air Taxis, And Chicken Is The New Pizza
Summary
But thats what ZeroCarb LYFE does and what attracted a $1.5 million seed round from investors this month.The Evansville, Indiana-based company produces what it calls guilt-free innovation for pizza lovers looking for a delicious grain-free, high-protein option, creating a pizza crust made of only olive oil, spices, salt and, of course, chicken breast meat.The crust reportedly has 37 grams of protein and zero carbohydrateshence the companys name.ZeroCarb LYFE clearly sees a large and growing market, as it announced as part of closing the seed round it will soon begin a seed-plus round of funding to keep up with the pace of its expansion. The Santa Ana, California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle startup closed a $145 million round from Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Aerospace this month as it looks to fly its all-electric experimental prototype Butterfly in the second half of 2023.Overair hopes the new cash will help lay the groundwork for commercializing its mobility technology as the company continues to work toward Federal Aviation Administration certification. The company also is working with NASA and Urban Movement Labs in Los Angeles to develop urban air mobility (UAM) routing and infrastructure, it said in a release.Vibrant Planet: This software helps manage everything from sales to human resources to consumer bank accounts.But can it help manage a forest?Thats what Vibrant Planets Land Tenderwhich the startup calls an operating system for forest restorationis trying to find out.Just as we on the West Coast enter the official wildfire season, the Incline Village, Nevada-based startup raised a $17 million seed round led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund and the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust.The companys Land Tender offering gives organizations, state and federal agencies, and land managers a platform for forest treatment planning, monitoring and reporting, and investment prioritizationproviding datasets and lidar mapping to help groups determine fire risk in real-time.As wildfires have ravaged several West Coast states in recent yearsin California alone, 6.5 million of its 33 million forested acres have burned through the last two fire seasonsany technology that can lessen the danger and increase forest sustainability will be welcomed by nearly all.Sanas: Startups are always looking for ways to improve conversation and communication, be it through data, artificial intelligence or machine learning.Speech AI firm Sanas is one of the latestbut its taking a unique twist. The Palo Alto, California-based startup has developed real-time accent translation software, where the user chooses the accent they want to use.While Sanas says users have said there are a variety of reasons they may want to manipulate their accentincluding it allowing them better fluency in a foreign languagethe unfortunate issue of accent bias is also one of the driving forces.The company announced a $32 million Series Awhich it said was the largest Series A for any speech technology companyled by Insight Partners with participation from other investors such as GV and General Catalyst.Sanas says their software allows for deeper personal choice when it comes to peoples voices and addresses communication challenges between global teams and customers. The Santa Clara, California-based startup runs virtual kitchensghost kitchenswhere chefs rent out space so they can turn out dishes.While that is not an unusual business modelas the global virtual kitchen market has taken off in recent yearswhat is unique is that Saltalk also has an e-commerce platform that sells the food directly to consumers and companies.The startup currently offers more than 200 dishes from different cuisines around the world and aims for authenticity.The company has big plans for the cash.