ORCA is the innovation network helping connect startups with funding, resources, and the network they need to launch a successful venture.

We’ve made 682 founder<>investor introductions. Your next investor (or investment) is only a click away 👇️ 

P.S. Yes, this edition is a week late… we were hard at work last week putting together our LA competition!

Last Call on Boosted Referral Rewards

You all asked, and we listened. Founders can now leverage a personalized, interactive database of the best-fit investors on ORCA, as determined by our A.I. matching algorithm.

The best part: you can send your ORCA profile to investors of your choice from this list.

Try it out at https://theorcanetwork.com/investors!

The first time you do this is free; after that, every founder you refer to ORCA who posts their startup will get you another credit.

Until the end of today, you can earn 2 bonus credits by tagging founders on our announcement post linked below!

LA Event Recap + Past 2 Weeks’ Top Startups

This past Wednesday, 5 teams from UCLA, USC, Stanford, and UC Berkeley competed for $50K investment LIVE in LA!

Truth Systems, an LLM hallucination detector that helps company spot AI-generated mistakes for critical functions, won the event and took home the $50K check.

Massive thanks to the other incredible teams who showed up and gave great pitches!

Combined, the 5 teams also booked 17 investor meetings through ORCA-powered networking during/after the event and collectively represent this week’s top startups:

• Aries: convert 2D hand drawn sketches into editable 3D CAD files using the generative AI Aries platform. We are a group of MIT and Stanford engineers ready to bring Aries to life.

• AIPeiron: Accounting, Financial Modeling, and Tax Compliance, automated with machine learning.

• Prometheus Data, Inc: AI-powered risk management solution for businesses dealing with foreign nationals and global trade.

• DocyLink is a platform that converts static documents into interactive and trackable content.

Investor Activity This Week

Here are some of the firms most actively reviewing startups on ORCA. Together, these firms booked meetings with 29 founders in the last 2 weeks!

Foundation Capital

Foundation Capital: as an early-stage venture capital firm, our fintech, enterprise, and consumer investments have reinvented industries and defined new markets. For over a quarter of a century—through boom and bust, prosperity or calamity—Foundation Capital has endured, evolved, and thrived, with over $3B assets under management, 34 IPOs and ICOs, and 80+ acquisitions to our name.

big_bets

big_bets supports the entrepreneurs who are building the largest tech companies of the next generation. They work with entrepreneurs from Day 1 because they know that the first decisions define a business and the early days, although being the toughest ones, set the tone to what comes next.

Silicon Road Ventures

Silicon Road Ventures is a venture capital fund focused on early stage startups creating the future of commerce and retail tech.

New Startups This Week

Here’s a peek at 3 new startups on ORCA this week:

SpartanShield Technologies

SpartanShield is an Intelligent Device Matchmaker: Connecting devices with the perfect AI model for unparalleled performance and efficiency.

Vertria

Vertria – Global expansion, simplified: acquire, onboard, and retain customers in any language

Infinfty

Infinfty: Enterprise SaaS platform unifying digital and physical experiences for brands