Howdy folks,

Welcome to the 34th edition of the Dallas Venture Deals newsletter. Across DFW, activity this month was defined by large capital commitments, strategic expansion, and continued momentum in AI and infrastructure. Leading the way, DataBank secured $2B in construction financing to build out its South Dallas campus—one of the region’s largest financings this year and a clear signal of North Texas’ growing role in powering next-generation compute.

Capital flowed into emerging platforms, with Caruso and Janta Power raising fresh rounds, while Mousterian emerged from stealth with global ambitions. Strategic activity remained active, as BSN Sports and Silverfort executed on expansion, and Yesway debuted on the public markets with a $322M IPO.

DFW investors also stayed active across sectors and geographies, while the earliest-stage pipeline continues to build. The Draper Pitch Competition at University of Texas at Dallas hit a record $330K in prizes, highlighting the next wave of founders across AI, robotics, and biotech.

The takeaway: Dallas continues to build—and fund—at scale.

Let’s get into the deals.

Venture Deals

DFW-Based Company Fundings

Caruso (Dallas, TX U.S. office; Sydney, Australia HQ), an AI-native fund administration platform for private markets serving over 80 fund managers, closed a $6.5M Series A at a $55M valuation led by New Zealand-based Icehouse Ventures.
DataBank (Dallas, TX), a major data center provider, secured $2B of Construction Financing for First Three Data Centers on New South Dallas Campus. This financing represents one of the largest infrastructure-linked capital raises in North Texas this year.
Janta Power (Dallas, TX), a cleantech innovator developing 3D solar tower technology, has expanded its Seed funding to $8.2M, following an initial $5.5M round led by MaC Venture Capital and Collab Capital in late 2025.
Mousterian (M3) (Dallas, TX & Seongnam, South Korea), has emerged from stealth and announced a partnership with Samsung Heavy Industries “to jointly develop and deliver institutional-grade floating data center projects worldwide.”
University of Texas at Dallas students and alumni competed for a record $330,000 in prize money at the Draper Pitch Competition, showcasing startup ideas spanning AI, robotics, and biotech. The event was formerly known as the Big Idea Competition.
Secufusion (Irving, TX), developer of the world’s first Unified AI Interaction Detection & Response (AIDR) platform, received a strategic investment from Dallas Venture Capital (DVC).
Silverfort (Plano, TX), a leader in unified identity security, announced that it has acquired Fabrix Security (Tel Aviv, Israel), an artificial intelligence-native identity security company.
Yesway (Fort Worth, TX), an award-winning convenience store operator with 449 stores across nine states in the Midwest and Southwest, completed a $280M IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (ticker: YSWY) at $20.00 per share. The underwriters subsequently exercised their full over-allotment option, bringing total gross proceeds to $322M. Morgan Stanley served as lead bookrunner, with J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs as active bookrunners.

DFW-Based Investor Transactions

5ir Funds (Plano, TX) led the $6M+ Series A for HOOTL™ (RIIG Technology, Inc.) (Charlottesville, VA), an AI-native platform automating healthcare insurance processing — including real-time claims adjudication, policy change tracking, and denial reduction for dental and healthcare providers.
American Heart Association Ventures (Dallas, TX) participated in the $10.8M Series A for SimpliFed (Ithaca, NY), a virtual maternal healthcare company providing breastfeeding, baby feeding, and OB support to new parents from pregnancy through postpartum. The round was led by Morningside and Hesperia Capital with participation from Foreground Capital and Elizabeth Street Ventures.
Avidity Partners (Dallas, TX) participated in the $40M Series F for Calyxo (Pleasanton, CA), a medical device company redefining kidney stone treatment. The round was led by Ally Bridge Group and Janus Henderson Investors, with additional participation from Questa Capital and CRG.
Blue Star Innovation Partners (Frisco, TX) announced a majority growth investment and partnership with IntusCare (New York, NY), a leading AI-powered technology platform for the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (“PACE”) and senior care organizations.
BSN Sports (Dallas, TX), a division of Varsity Brands and a leading marketer, manufacturer, and distributor of team sports apparel, equipment, and gear, has acquired Sports Endeavors and Lax.com.
Caterpillar Inc. (Irving, TX) acquired the core assets of Monarch Tractor (Livermore, CA), a self-driving electric tractor startup whose software-defined vehicle platform, perception stack, and electrification systems were purchased after the company announced it was closing following multiple rounds of layoffs and the loss of its Foxconn manufacturing partnership.
Consensys (Fort Worth, TX) participated in the $5.5M investment round for Brix (San Francisco, CA), a startup dedicated to tokenizing emerging market assets. The round included participation from FRWRD, Is Asset Management, Circle Ventures, and Borderless Capital.
Cubit Capital (Dallas, TX) co-led the $10.5M Seed round for Kibu (Washington, DC), the human network and app-based platform that enables individuals and organizations to know exactly who they're interacting with when it matters most. The round was co-led by Construct Capital with major participation from Slow Ventures and Helena, and joined by angels like Nicole Perlroth, Judy Estrin, and David Carrico.
Dallas Venture Capital (Irving, TX) invested $2.5M in a Series A extension for Mojro Technologies (Bengaluru, India), an AI-powered logistics platform that optimizes supply chain and transportation operations through advanced route planning and fleet utilization analytics. The investment brings the total Series A funding to $5.5M.
Dallas Venture Capital (Irving, TX) made an investment in Secufusion (Irving, TX), developer of the world’s first Unified AI Interaction Detection & Response (AIDR) platform.
Founders Arena (Arlington, TX) selected 6 WealthTech Startups for 2026 Accelerator Cohort.
Goldcrest Capital (Dallas, TX) participated in the $60M growth round for Perimeter Systems (Boston, MA / Washington, DC), a biosecurity infrastructure company building the world's first integrated platform for real-time biological threat detection and response for governments and enterprises. The round was led by Kanders & Company in partnership with SCS Financial, Four Cities Capital, and the Safe Artificial Intelligence Fund (SAIF).
Perot Jain (Dallas, TX) participated in the $17.5M Seed / Seed extension round for Rilian Technologies (McLean, VA), an AI-native cybersecurity and defense systems integrator whose Caspian platform provides a single agentic command layer across government and enterprise security stacks — already deployed by the UAE Cybersecurity Council for national critical infrastructure. The round was led by 8VC, First In, and Tamarack Global.
What If Ventures (Frisco, TX) participated in the $160M funding round for Reliable Robotics (Mountain View, CA), the leader in autonomous aircraft systems. The round was led by Nimble Partners, with participation from Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue and Pathbreaker Ventures, Island Green Capital, Socium Ventures (Cox Enterprises), AE Ventures (strategic partner of Boeing ), RTX Ventures, Presidio Ventures, UP.Partners, KAS Venture Partners, Calm Ventures, Gaingels and Mana Ventures.