5 Interesting Startup Deals You May Have Missed: Robot Training, Space Lasers And Greener Cement

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This is a monthly column that runs down five interesting startup funding deals that may have flown under the radar. Check out our previous entry here. From teaching robots to do everyday household chores to using lasers to track satellites in space, this month’s crop of interesting startup deals spans some decidedly different corners of tech. Other startups that caught our eye are working on making cement production less polluting, turning agricultural waste into a useful tool for carbon removal, and helping independent video game developers get their product in front of more players. Let’s take a closer look. $30M to teach robots by watching humans Before robots can fold laundry, load dishwashers or prepare meals, they need to learn how humans actually do those things. Maxinsights is betting there’s a big business in supplying the training material. The Santa Clara, California-based startup this week announced a $30 million seed round led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from Tola Capital, South Park Commons, Ince Capital and Alumni Ventures. The company, founded by veterans of the robotics and autonomous vehicle industries, is building what it calls the data layer for physical AI. Its approach is surprisingly low-tech in some respects: Pay people to wear cameras while they go about everyday tasks, from washing dishes to preparing food or cleaning hotel rooms. But turning all that footage into something useful for robotics models is more complicated. Maxinsights develops its own recording hardware and AI-powered software to collect, label and organize the data so robots can learn from it. The startup says it has already captured more than 2 million hours of human activity, with 1.5 million hours ready for use in AI training. Its customers include robotics model developers Genesis AI and Dyna Robotics. It is also developing a sensor-equipped glove called MaxGlove that can capture information cameras can’t see, such as grip strength and the force needed to manipulate objects. The funding comes amid a massive boom in physical AI investment. Startups in the sector raised $47.4 billion globally in the first half of 2026, nearly 4x the amount invested in the second half of 2025, Crunchbase data shows. Related Crunchbase query: Global Physical AI Venture Funding In 2026 £8.2M to track satellites with lasers Space is getting crowded, and keeping track of everything flying around up there is becoming an increasingly complicated problem. With that in mind, London-based Foundational emerged from stealth this month with £8.2 million (around $11 million) in pre-seed funding led by Inflection, with participation from investors including Type One Ventures, Final Frontier, Backed VC and Adjacent. The company uses a technique called satellite laser ranging, which involves firing laser pulses from ground stations toward reflectors mounted on satellites. The company says that by measuring how long the light takes to return, its system can calculate satellite positions with millimeter-level accuracy. While the technology has existed for decades, Foundational is working to make it cheaper and more scalable. Its system combines automated ground stations, satellite-mounted hardware and a software platform called Origin that provides positioning data to satellite operators. The company says its stations cost roughly 30x less than legacy systems. The technology could prove increasingly valuable as thousands more satellites enter orbit, raising the risk of collisions with other spacecraft and debris. The European Space Agency estimates that around 1.5 million pieces of space debris measuring between 1 and 10 centimeters are orbiting Earth — large enough to cause serious damage to functioning satellites. Foundational’s raise comes amid a record-setting year for space technology funding. Investors had already poured $20.3 billion into space- and satellite-related startups globally by late August, Crunchbase data shows, easily surpassing previous annual records with several months still left in the year. Related Crunchbase query: Space And Satellite Tech Startup Funding $10M to make cement without so much carbon Cement is the glue holding much of the modern world together. It’s also responsible for roughly 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, per an MIT estimate. Calgary, Canada-based Cura Climate wants to change that. The startup last month said it raised $10 million in new funding led by Zacua Ventures, with participation from Sandpiper Ventures, Amplify Capital and Vantage Futures, to advance technology that could substantially reduce emissions from cement production. Cement manufacturing traditionally requires heating limestone to extremely high temperatures, a process that releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide. Cura is developing an electrochemical alternative that uses electricity to separate carbon dioxide from limestone before it enters the kiln. The company says its process could cut cement-related emissions by up to 85% while also reducing energy consumption. Crucially, the technology is designed to integrate with existing cement plants rather than requiring manufacturers to replace their entire production facilities. The fresh capital will help fund a pilot plant in Alberta capable of producing 100 metric tons of material annually, as well as engineering work for a larger commercial demonstration facility with a planned capacity of 30,000 metric tons per year. Cura is among a growing crop of startups targeting industrial processes that have proven particularly difficult to decarbonize. While venture funding for cleantech has fallen well below the peaks of 2021 and 2022, the sector has shown signs of stabilizing. Investors put $15 billion into cleantech-, EV- and sustainability-related startups in the first half of 2026, with second-quarter investment reaching its highest level since 2024, Crunchbase data shows. Startups like Cura working on cleaner cement technologies, in particular, have also seen investor interest in recent years. Related Crunchbase query: Global Cleantech Startup Funding In 2026 $10M to help mobile games find their players Making a successful mobile game is one thing. Getting enough people to discover and play it is an entirely different — and often very expensive — challenge. Cyprus-based Mika Games is tackling that problem with an unusual investment model. The company, founded by Wargaming co-founder Nick Katselapov, said this week that it had raised $10 million in new funding led by Flint Capital to help early-stage gaming studios turn promising titles into commercial successes. Mika isn’t a traditional game developer. Instead, it invests in small studios and helps finance the expensive marketing campaigns needed to attract players. The problem is something of a catch-22 for developers: They often need hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising to prove that their games can attract and retain paying users. But the financing providers that fund those campaigns typically want several months of marketing performance data before they’ll provide capital. Mika aims to bridge that gap by combining equity investments in game development with separate financing for early marketing campaigns. If those efforts demonstrate that a game can acquire players profitably, the studio may then qualify for larger financing arrangements. The company says it now has five studios in its portfolio, including the developer of Legendale, a farming adventure game with more than 3 million players, and Punko, a tower defense game with more than 500,000 downloads. The investment comes as gaming startup funding is showing signs of recovery. Companies in the sector had raised around $2 billion globally in 2026 as of late September, already exceeding the full-year 2025 total, Crunchbase data shows. Mika isn’t the only investor experimenting with alternative financing for game developers. Griffin Gaming Partners earlier this year announced a $100 million fund offering indie studios financing in exchange for a share of game revenue, another sign that investors see opportunities beyond conventional equity funding in the gaming industry. Related Crunchbase query: Gaming-Related Startup Funding, 2026 $3M to turn coffee waste into carbon removal Not that you need another reason to look forward to your steaming morning cup of coffee, but consider this: The leftovers from that daily ritual might eventually help remove carbon from the atmosphere. Zurich-based Cotierra said late last month that it had raised $3 million in funding co-led by PINC, the venture arm of food and beverage company Paulig, and Carbon Removal Partners. Cotierra says it’s developing technology that turns agricultural waste into biochar, a charcoal-like material that can store carbon for long periods while improving soil health. Biochar itself isn’t new. What’s interesting about Cotierra’s approach is where and how it wants to make it. Rather than transporting bulky crop residues to large centralized facilities, the startup says it’s developing smaller, decentralized reactors that can be deployed close to where agricultural waste is generated. Its technology combines the reactors with software to monitor production, track the resulting carbon removal, and verify the environmental benefits. The company has initially focused on Colombia’s coffee-growing regions, including Huila, the Coffee Triangle, Antioquia and Santander, where growers face increasing pressure to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. Cotierra says its technology has already been tested on coffee farms and is now moving toward larger commercial deployments, with plans to expand into cocoa, cotton and citrus production. It’s a potentially appealing business model for both farmers and food companies: Turn an otherwise low-value waste product into something that can improve soil conditions while also generating measurable carbon removal. Its raise, however, comes against a difficult backdrop for agricultural technology investment. Global funding to agriculture and farming startups remains far below its 2021 peak, when companies in the sector raised $10.5 billion, according to a Crunchbase News analysis earlier this year. Funding to the sector totaled just $2.8 billion through the third quarter of 2026, down even from the $3.5 billion raised in the same period last year. Related Crunchbase query: Global Agriculture And Farming Funding In 2026 Related reading: VCs Pour Billions Into Physical AI As The Next Wave Of AI Investing Takes Shape Sector Snapshot: Space Tech Startup Funding Orbits New Highs Sector Snapshot: Cleantech Startup Funding Stabilizes As Energy Demand Grows Gaming Startup Funding Levels Up A Bit In 2026 Sector Snapshot: Agtech Startups Face A Drier Funding Climate Illustration: Dom Guzman