Howdy folks,

Welcome to the 31st edition of the Dallas Venture Deals newsletter. January opened the year at a more measured pace for the Dallas–Fort Worth venture ecosystem. Year-to-date, DFW-headquartered startups have recorded 15 deals totaling $84M, with activity spread across angel, seed, early-stage, and later-stage rounds. The mix points to a healthy pipeline forming early in the year, even if overall dollars are lighter than prior highs.

That contrast is worth noting. Last January began with more than $300M invested, setting a high bar for early-year capital formation. This year’s start has been cooler by comparison—fitting, perhaps, for a month defined by an ice storm that kept many of us home for nearly a week, juggling work, kids, and everything in between. Momentum didn’t disappear, but relative to last year’s first 30 days it's slowed notably...

Even so, January still delivered several signal transactions. Buda Juice entered the public markets with a $23M IPO, VelaFi raised a $20M Series B to expand global payments infrastructure, and Texas Stock Exchange secured a $20M round co-led by Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, underscoring continued institutional confidence in Dallas as a financial hub. These were complemented by strategic and early-stage rounds in logistics, AI-native security, and critical minerals, reinforcing that while capital deployment started slower, conviction around high-quality DFW platforms remains strong as 2026 gets underway.

One month down, eleven to go. Here's to the builders and much love to everyone out there grinding this February…

Venture Deals

DFW-Based Company Fundings

Buda Juice (Dallas, TX) (NYSE American: $BUDA), a pioneer of the new UltraFresh™ juice category for the supermarket fresh produce department with its cold-crafted, UltraFresh™ citrus juices, raised approximately $23M in an initial public offering led by MDB Capital.
Datatruck (Irving, TX), a provider of freight marketplace logistics technology, raised a $12M Series A led by Avenue Growth Partners with participation from AloqaVentures, IT Park Ventures, DOMiNO Ventures, and Silkroad Angels Club.
DigitalXForce (Dallas, TX), an AI-native Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) and Enterprise Security Risk Posture Management (ESRPM) company, raised $5M in strategic capital from its seed investors, Innovating Capital, Kapital.io and and additional investors, achieving a $100M valuation.
M Evo Global Acquisition II (Farmers Branch, TX), a special purpose acquisition company targeting US critical minerals, raised $225M in its initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MEVOU.
Texas Stock Exchange (Dallas, TX) raised a $20M investment round co-led by Bank of America and Goldman Sachs
VelaFi (Plano, TX), a developer of stablecoin-based infrastructure for global payments and settlement, raised a $20M Series B led by Ikuyo and XVC with participation from BAI Capital, Alibaba Investment, and Planetree Partners.

DFW-Based Investor Transactions

Balerion Space Ventures (Dallas, TX) participated in the $100M Series B for Northwood Space (Torrance, CA), which builds infrastructure that lets satellites communicate with Earth. The round was co-led by Washington Harbour Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Alpine Space Ventures, Founders Fund, Fulcrum, 137 Ventures and others.
Balerion Space Ventures (Dallas, TX) led the $10M Seed round for Samara Aerospace (San Francisco, CA), an aerospace company that specializes in developing the "Hummingbird" modular satellite bus to streamline the deployment of large constellations. The round included participation from Illinois Ventures, MFV Partners, Access Venture Partners, and others.
Blossom Street Ventures (Dallas, TX) led a $3.2M investment in Cognota (Toronto, Canada), the learning ops platform for corporate Learning & Development teams.
Cubit Capital (Dallas, TX) participated in the $97M Series B for Sage Geosystems (Houston, TX), the company pioneering Pressure Geothermal to advance its geothermal power generation and energy storage solutions. The round was co-led by Ormat Technologies and Carbon Direct Capital, with participation from SiteGround Capital, The UC Berkeley Foundation’s Climate Solutions Fund, Exa, Nabors, alfa8, Arch Meredith, Abilene Partners, Cubit Capital, and Ignis H2 Energy.
Dallas Venture Capital (Irving, TX) participated in the $7.5M funding round for Bluecopa (Hyderabad, India), a unified finance operations management platform. The round was led by Analog Partners with additional participation from Blume Ventures.
Eagle Freedom Fund II (Fort Worth, TX) invested $500K in Haiven (Sheridan, WY), an AI-driven platform dedicated to keeping digital communities — especially gamers and young people — safe from predatory behavior, exploitation, and harmful interactions online.
Jackson Moses (Dallas, TX) participated in the $100M Series B for Cambium (El Segundo, CA), a pioneer in advanced materials for defense, aerospace, and other high-performance sectors. The round was led by 8VC, with participation from MVP Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, GSBackers, Veteran Ventures Capital, J17 Ventures, Vanderbilt University, Alumni Ventures, Gaingels, Inevitable Ventures, JACS Capital, and other individuals and family offices
Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners (Dallas, TX) invested in Anthropic (San Francisco, CA), a leading American AI safety and research company focused on building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. The company is reported to be targeting a $20B fundraise at a $350B valuation. GIC and Coatue are leading the round, with expected participation from Sequoia Capital, Iconiq Capital, Altimeter Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, G Squared, Factorial Funds and others.
Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners (Dallas, TX) invested in Starface World (New York, NY), a skincare company dedicated to developing innovative solutions for acne management, focusing on aesthetically pleasing and effective products that resonate with younger consumers.
Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners (Dallas, TX) invested in Yoshi Matcha Liqueur (New York, NY), the first premium spirit to blend Japanese ceremonial-grade matcha with oat milk.
Silent Ventures (Dallas, TX) participated in the $15.2M ($21M CAD) Seed round for Dominion Dynamics (Ontario, Canada), a defense technology company engineering interoperable, attritable systems designed for contested theatres and Arctic operations. The round was led by Georgian with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI).
Silent Ventures (Dallas, TX) participated in the $11.75M Seed round for Terra Industries (Abuja, Nigeria), a defense technology company building autonomous security systems to protect Africa and its critical infrastructure. The round was led by 8VC with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Lux Capital, SV Angel, Leblon Capital, Nova Global, and angel investors.
Sentiero Ventures (Dallas, TX) invested in Moveris, a next-generation AI security company focused on combating AI-driven fraud and deepfakes by leveraging "Human Signal Intelligence."