TrustList daily digest · Funding and deals

Monday, 12 October 2026

Funding and deals: the stories TrustList published on this day, each in a line of our own. Open a story for the whole piece and its sources.

Funding and deals6

1Funding news
Preference Model raises $16m seed to harden AI training environments
The reinforcement learning start-up, which builds environments for frontier labs, open-sourced its Karotte framework on 7 October, four days before the seed was announced.
2Funding news
Finches raises €2m pre-seed to warn buyers of crop shortages
The Bavarian start-up, founded in 2025, launched its sourcing-risk platform in September and counts a Fortune 500 food group among early customers; HTGF led with Vanagon Ventures.
3Funding news
Stryker to invest USD 400 million in CMR Surgical and sell Versius in the US
The preferred equity comes with an exclusive option to buy all of CMR in future. CMR was founded in 2014 and keeps Versius sales outside the United States.
4Funding news
Qippay raises NZ$5m from All Roads fund for open banking payments
The Auckland company, founded in 2021 with six staff, sells a 25% stake in its parent to an Australian wholesale fund and is weighing an Australian launch.
5Funding news
Hone raises $60m seed from Benchmark and Index for AI engines
The San Francisco start-up, staffed by alumni of Cognition, Decagon, Ramp and Mercor, launched its first product, Engines, on the same day as the round.
6Funding news
Kutlerri.ai raises $4m to expand its AI agents for restaurants
The Stafford, Texas company sells restaurant agents as a managed service priced on revenue generated or costs cut, and cites $450,000 of new catering sales for one customer.

TrustList Weekly

The news that matters to buyers, new rankings and our own research. Every Thursday, free, and easy to leave.