The Venture Codex

Participated · Series A · Jul 2023

Pano AI develops and deploys a full-stack platform for early wildfire detection that combines a network of ultra-high-definition, 360-degree cameras with proprietary AI models and human analysts at the Pano Intelligence Center. Cameras capture panoramic images every minute, AI flags smoke or fire indicators, analysts verify events, and verified alerts with precise GPS coordinates are sent to first responders via SMS or email. The platform integrates satellite imagery, weather data, and third-party GIS sources and uses patented triangulation to improve incident location accuracy while reducing false positives and detection latency. Pano operates as a managed service and covers nearly 30 million acres across the U.S., Canada, and Australia, serving over 250 first responder agencies and 15 major utilities including Arizona Public Service, Portland General Electric, and Xcel Energy. Founded in 2020 and based in San Francisco, the company has a 110-person team across North America and Australia. Its contracted revenue now exceeds $100 million, and the company plans to scale deployments, expand sensor inputs, and deepen AI and partner integrations. Pano AI offers an integrated active wildfire detection solution that combines mountaintop cameras, satellite feeds, artificial intelligence, 5G connectivity, and cloud software to detect and pinpoint new ignitions and alert fire professionals within minutes. The system provides fire agencies with real-time actionable intelligence and situational awareness to coordinate rapid response before fires escalate. The company says its technology helps first responders arrive faster and more safely with the right equipment and information. Pano AI plans to use the new funding to continue advancing its AI-based detection capabilities, hire talent, and expand into additional high fire-risk areas across North America and Australia. Financially, Pano raised $17M in this growth round, bringing total funding to $45M. It is active in six U.S. states (California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana) and two Australian states (New South Wales, Queensland) and serves customers including PacifiCorp, Xcel Energy, Portland General Electric and multiple fire districts and agencies. Pano AI sells a fully managed system that pairs specialized camera hardware with AI models and cloud-based software to provide active wildfire detection and up-to-the-minute situational awareness to fire agencies and land managers. The service is used by utility companies, governments, fire authorities, forestry companies and private landowners, and is currently deployed across five U.S. states (California, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and Montana) and two Australian states (New South Wales and Queensland). The company says it is monitoring 4.5 million acres and recorded over 1,000 detections this year. Pano positions its product as a tool to help first responders arrive faster and with better information to stop ignitions before they grow. Leadership frames the technology as part of climate-change adaptation, and the company plans to accelerate the geographical breadth of its AI solution to safeguard more communities. Operational progress to date has come within two years of founding, according to the company.

Participated · Series B · Dec 2022

Trilio provides cloud-native data protection and management, with its TrilioVault technology used for backup and recovery, migration, ransomware protection and application mobility. The product targets cloud architects and DevOps engineers supporting applications on Kubernetes and OpenStack. Customers span telecom, defense, automotive and financial services and use TrilioVault for migration, rapid ransomware recovery and disaster recovery compliance. The company said it will use new funding to increase focus on product development, engineering and customer operations. Leadership includes CEO Massood Zarrabian; David Safaii has transitioned to Executive Chairman and Christina Lattuca joined as CFO and VP of Operations. The company is based in Framingham, MA and has raised a total of $36M to date. Trilio's core product is TrilioVault, a cloud-native data protection platform for Kubernetes, OpenStack and Red Hat Virtualization that supports backup and recovery, migration, DR and application mobility. The company recently released TrilioVault for Kubernetes v2.0, including a multi-cloud management console, and achieved Red Hat OpenShift Operator certification. Trilio serves customers in telecom, defense, automotive and financial services and reported 300%+ growth in 1H 2020. The company plans to use new funding to expand go-to-market capabilities and accelerate adoption across hybrid- and multi-cloud markets. Trilio will further invest in product development, sales, marketing and customer success to bring TrilioVault to markets across the globe. Leadership highlighted the platform's fit for Kubernetes-era data management challenges and the company has received recognition from GigaOm and Gartner. Trilio Data, founded in 2013 and based in Boston, provides a business assurance platform for IT organizations and cloud service providers deploying application workloads in public, private and hybrid clouds. Its flagship product, TrilioVault, is a data backup and recovery solution for OpenStack adopters that supports data protection, migration, resource management, configuration, change management, and sandbox-as-a-service. The company is led by CEO David Safaii. Trilio intends to use the funds to grow its engineering, sales and marketing teams and to increase channel enablement support for its global customer base. The company’s core focus is protecting and managing application workloads across cloud environments.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2022

Halo Car operates a teleoperated car-sharing service that uses remote human pilots to deliver and retrieve EVs for customers. Its operators sit in driving simulators and control vehicles over T-Mobile’s midband 5G, extended-range low-band 5G and LTE connections. The company plans to remove the in-car safety operator later this year and begin fully remote deliveries as its commercial launch. Halo Car completed beta testing in Las Vegas using retrofitted Kia Niro EVs and plans to scale its fleet to 1,000 EVs by the end of 2023 and expand into other cities. Founder and CEO Anand Nandakumar conceived the remote-piloting model in 2019 after leaving Uber’s ATG. The startup raised funding to support expansion and fleet growth.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2022

Paladin Cloud is an open-source security-as-code platform that gives developers and DevOps teams visibility into cloud and enterprise security posture and automates detection and remediation of policy violations. The product uses a plugin-based architecture to ingest data from code repositories, API gateways, Kubernetes, threat intelligence systems and major public clouds (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud). Out-of-the-box features at launch include a UI management dashboard, best-practice security policies, a policy-management plane, role-based access control, and severity-based prioritization of violations. As an extensible open-source project it is positioned for hybrid cloud environments and developer adoption. The company plans to commercialize with an enterprise self-service SaaS offering and premium features such as SLAs, AI-based risk-scoring and enhanced compliance reporting. Paladin is already providing commercial support to at least one publicly traded enterprise under a multi-year OSS support contract.

Participated · Series B · Mar 2022

Spectro Cloud offers PaletteAI, a platform designed to help organizations deploy and operate production AI infrastructure across GPU clusters, Kubernetes, VMs, edge locations, regulated systems and air-gapped facilities. PaletteAI combines full-stack lifecycle management, multi-silicon and multi-model support, and governance features intended to improve utilization, control token costs and enforce policies. The company launched PaletteAI in October 2025 and has customers that include T-Mobile, Airbus, the U.S. Air Force and Yum! Brands, as well as neocloud and sovereign cloud operators. Spectro Cloud participates in NVIDIA-validated AI factory architectures and the NVIDIA IGX and Jetson ecosystems, and it works with chipmakers, hardware vendors, systems integrators and distributors. The company plans to expand international sales and customer support, particularly across EMEA and APAC, and to deepen partnerships across the AI infrastructure stack. With the Series D, Spectro Cloud has now raised a total of $260 million in disclosed capital.