5 Interesting Startup Deals You May Have Missed: On-Demand Custom Manufacturing, Underwater Geothermal Energy, And Adventure Group Travel

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.

A grab bag of funded startups caught our attention this past month, from a previously bootstrapped custom metal manufacturer that got its first outside funding from big-name Silicon Valley backers, to a startup that aims to provide geothermal energy from underwater volcanoes to small island nations. Let’s take a look.

$110M for on-demand custom manufacturing

First, let’s start with a refreshingly non-AI round, and a sizable one at that.

Reno, Nevada-based SendCutSend said last month that it has raised $110 million in funding led by brothers and Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison, along with Sequoia Capital and Paradigm, at a reported $1 billion valuation.

The company operates an on-demand manufacturing platform specializing in custom-cut metal and fabrication. The round is its first venture investment, and apparently came only after Sequoia’s Andrew Reed flew to Reno to woo SendCutSend CEO Jim Belosic into accepting Silicon Valley backing. Previously, Belosic had bootstrapped the company, founded in 2018, with personal savings, bank loans and credit cards, he told The Wall Street Journal.

He held little interest in taking cash from startup investors until SendCutSend started to be flooded earlier this year with orders from AI-driven industries including robotics and data centers, and Belosic said he realized the business needed outside investment to grow.

Investor Matt Huang of Paradigm told WSJ that underlying SendCutSend’s booming business is intense demand for rapid, on-demand sheet metal and custom parts. “If you think about the entire frontier of robots, defense companies, rocket companies, electric-car companies, they all need very fast turn prototyping,” he said.

The investment is Paradigm’s first into the manufacturing sector, he noted.

Related Crunchbase query: Global Venture Funding To Manufacturing Startups In 2026

$100M for insurance-covered metabolic health counseling

GLP-1 weight-loss drugs may be booming, but a well-funded startup is betting that medication alone isn’t enough to solve the chronic disease crisis.

Nourish, a New York-based metabolic health startup that combines dietitians, AI tools and GLP-1 medication management, last month said that it raised a $100 million Series C round led by Menlo Ventures. Y Combinator, Thrive Capital, Operator Partners, Maverick Ventures and a long list of other investors also backed the round, which brings the company’s total funding to date to just over $213 million, per Crunchbase.

Founded in 2021, Nourish operates what it describes as the country’s largest dietitian-led metabolic health clinic, pairing more than 10,000 registered dietitians with AI coaching, lab testing and virtual care. The company has increasingly expanded into GLP-1 prescribing and medication management as demand for drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy continues to surge.

Nourish said it has partnered with hundreds of health insurers in the U.S. and that its service is covered by most plans.

Its pitch is that the next phase of the GLP-1 boom will require more than prescriptions. While the drugs have transformed obesity treatment, many patients struggle to stay on them long term or maintain results after stopping, according to the company. Nourish is positioning itself as a broader metabolic health platform focused on nutrition, behavior change and ongoing clinical support alongside medication.

“Chronic disease is the central failure of U.S. healthcare — nearly 200 million Americans affected, trillions spent, and outcomes that still don’t move,” Menlo Ventures partner J.P. Sanday said in a statement. “What Nourish has built in four years is remarkable: a care model that actually bends the cost curve, with 10,000 dietitians, deep payer relationships, and clinical outcomes patients stick with.”

Related Crunchbase query: Global Funding To AI Health Tech Companies In 2026

$58M for Gen Z group travel adventures

Group travel startups are having a moment as younger travelers increasingly look for ways to meet people while exploring new destinations.

WeRoad, a Milan-based startup that organizes group travel experiences for millennials and Gen Z travelers, raised a €50 million (roughly $58 million) Series C funding round as it looks to expand further across Europe and enter the U.S. market. The round was led by Airbnb.

Founded in 2017, WeRoad operates a platform that connects solo travelers and small groups through curated multiday trips led by coordinators. The company says it has served more than 300,000 travelers across over 1,000 itineraries, with offerings ranging from adventure travel and cultural experiences to outdoor excursions. Participants are typically grouped with strangers in similar age ranges, turning the trips into a hybrid of travel booking and social networking.

“We live in a time when artificial intelligence and social media are reshaping the way we connect with each other. And amid all this digital connection, real human connection has become increasingly rare. Around 30% of young adults say they feel lonely every day. In the United States, this phenomenon is especially significant,” the company said in a statement. “We believe we have an answer. Not the only one, not a perfect one, but a real one: putting people in a room together (or on a quad bike in Morocco, in a canoe in Vietnam, or in front of a sunset in Patagonia) and letting whatever is meant to happen, happen.”

Related Crunchbase query: Global Venture Funding To Travel And Tourism Startups In 2026

$26M to keep AI data centers cooler

AI may be driving the data center boom, but keeping those facilities cool is becoming a business opportunity in its own right.

Iceotope, a U.K.-based startup developing precision liquid cooling systems for AI infrastructure, said last month that it raised a $26 million Series B as demand surges for technologies that can manage the growing heat and power requirements of next-generation AI data centers. The round was led by Barclays Climate Ventures and Two Seas Capital and brings Iceotope’s total funding to date to just under $100 million, per Crunchbase.

Founded in 2005, Iceotope has developed a chassis-based liquid cooling approach designed to replace traditional air cooling and cool entire systems rather than individual chips. The company says it now holds 219 granted and pending patents. It said it will use the new funding to expand product and engineering development, grow its patent portfolio and accelerate partnerships that bring its cooling technology to market.

The raise comes as AI workloads create mounting challenges for conventional cooling systems. Iceotope argues its technology can reduce energy consumption and water use while supporting high-density AI and high-performance computing deployments in both data centers and edge environments.

Related Crunchbase query: Global Funding To AI Infrastructure Startups In 2026

$25M for geothermal energy from subsea volcanoes

As AI companies scramble for more electricity, investors are increasingly willing to fund some unconventional ideas for generating it. One of those is Endurance Energy, a Seattle-based startup developing subsea geothermal power systems designed to tap into heat generated by subsea volcanic activity.

The company recently raised between $25 million and $30 million in a seed round led by Founders Fund, sources familiar with the matter told Axios.

Founded just last year, Endurance Energy is targeting island nations — where it says electricity can cost almost 7x as much as in the U.S. — industrial sites and eventually hyperscale data centers that need large amounts of reliable power.

Unlike solar and wind, geothermal energy carries the promise of round-the-clock, renewable baseload electricity, a feature that has become increasingly attractive as AI infrastructure drives soaring power demand.

Endurance says its seafloor geothermal generators could deliver gigawatts of power from hydrothermal systems along tectonic plate boundaries and volcanic regions. It is already testing its technology in Tonga, where about 80% of electricity generation still relies on imported diesel fuel.

Earlier this year, the company signed an agreement with the Tongan government and launched a pilot project aimed at harnessing geothermal heat generated by subsea volcanic activity around the island nation.

“Clean geothermal power will enable us to substitute most of our diesel base load power and further insulate ourselves from future external shocks caused by geopolitical conflicts and global economic impacts,” Tongan Prime Minister Lord Fakafānua said in a statement.

Related Crunchbase query: Global Cleantech Startup Funding In 2026

Illustration: Dom Guzman