Cluely Secures $5.3 Million Seed Funding From Abstract Ventures And Susa Ventures

Cluely, a San Francisco-based startup founded by 21-year-old Chungin “Roy” Lee and Neel Shanmugam, has raised $5.3 million in seed funding from Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures for its controversial AI tool designed to “cheat on everything.” Born out of a viral incident that led to both founders being suspended from Columbia University, Cluely’s product enables users to discreetly access AI assistance during interviews, exams, and sales calls via a hidden browser window. Lee, now CEO, says the platform has already surpassed $3 million in ARR. INVESTORS: Abstract Ventures & Susa Ventures ROUND: Seed AMOUNT: $5,300,000 HQ: #SanFrancisco #California #VentureCapital #Cluely #ChunginRoyLee #NeelShanmugam #AbstractVentures #SusaVentures #TradedVC

More Deals

View All

Mavis Tire Express Services Acquires Pep Boys From Icahn Enterprises For $700 MillionIcahn Enterprises announced it will sell the Pep Boys auto-service chain to Mavis Tire Express Services for $700 million, marking investor Carl Icahn’s exit from the Pep Boys operating business roughly a decade after acquiring the company for about $1 billion. The deal includes nearly 800 Pep Boys locations and the brand’s operations, while Icahn Enterprises will retain certain real estate assets that were separated from the business through a sale-leaseback structure. The transaction will help Mavis expand its network to approximately 4,400 automotive service locations across the U.S. and Canada, strengthening its presence in the western U.S. The sale highlights the enduring value of automotive service real estate, with Icahn choosing to keep the underlying properties while monetizing the operating business. SALE PRICE: $700,000,000 #VentureCapital #IcahnEnterprises #MavisTireExpressServices #TradedVC

SkyPilot Secures $20 Million Seed Round Led By Lux Capital For AI Compute PlatformSkyPilot, a new AI infrastructure startup co-founded by Databricks co-founder Ion Stoica, has emerged from stealth with a $20 million seed round led by Lux Capital. The company is building a cloud-agnostic AI compute platform that enables organizations to orchestrate AI workloads across hyperscalers, neoclouds, Kubernetes clusters, and various accelerator types through a unified control plane. Originally developed as an open-source project at UC Berkeley, SkyPilot aims to serve as a neutral layer for AI compute, helping teams avoid cloud vendor lock-in while optimizing access to compute resources. The funding will be used to expand product development, grow the engineering team, accelerate go-to-market efforts, and continue investing in the open-source SkyPilot framework. FOUNDERS: Ion Stoica & Zongheng Yang INVESTOR: Lux Capital ROUND: Seed AMOUNT: $20,000,000 HQ: San Francisco, California #VentureCapital #SkyPilot #IonStoica #ZonghengYang #TradedVC

Genius AI Raises $44 Million In Series D Round Led By Lux Capital At $1.15 Billion ValuationGenius AI, a New York City-based AI company building technology that helps service businesses automate tasks like client communications, scheduling, marketing, and payments, has raised a $44 million Series D led by Lux Capital at a $1.15 billion valuation. The round also included participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Imaginary Ventures, L Catterton Growth Fund, 2048 Ventures, and StepStone Private Ventures, bringing the company’s total funding to more than $125 million. Led by CEO and co-founder Danielle Cohen-Shohet, Genius AI now powers more than 125,000 businesses across half of all U.S. ZIP codes, is approaching a $200 million revenue run rate, and says its platform has saved customers 112 million administrative hours while helping generate an additional $2 billion in revenue. FOUNDERS: Danielle Cohen-Shohet & Leah Cohen-Shohet INVESTORS: Lux Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Imaginary Ventures, L Catterton Growth Fund, 2048 Ventures & StepStone Private Ventures ROUND: Series D AMOUNT: $44,000,000 VALUATION: $1,150,000,000 HQ: New York City, New York #VentureCapital #GeniusAI #TradedPartner #DanielleCohenShohet #TradedVC