1. Speed

Location: USA 

News:

Speed, founded by Niraj Patel and Jayneel Patel, raised $8M in funding led by Tether and ego death capital. They are building infrastructure to turn Bitcoin and stablecoins into practical tools for everyday global commerce.

Why It’s Interesting:

  • The platform has processed $2.5B+ for 1.2M users by leveraging the Lightning Network for instant, low-fee settlements. Major brands like Steak ‘n Shake already use “Speed Merchant” to unify POS and mobile payments.

Potential:

  • With Tether’s backing, Speed aims to become the foundational layer for compliant, crypto-native global payments. Its focus on developer tools and merchant adoption positions it to lead the next generation of cross-border commerce.

2. Coalition Systems

Location: Luxembourg / USA

News:

Founded by 23-year-old Vijay Pathak (Oxford/Yale alumnus), Coalition Systems raised pre-seed funding to join a16z’s Speedrun accelerator. Born from Pathak’s observation that defense officials dangerously rely on consumer apps like Signal for sensitive coordination.

Why It’s Interesting:

  • The startup is building secure, “alliance-first” software specifically for military and government collaboration across allied nations. This “military-grade Slack” fills a critical software gap in multinational operations, earning high-level validation from Silicon Valley.

Potential:

  • Coalition Systems is scaling in San Francisco with plans for NATO pilot agreements to become core infrastructure for international defense. As geopolitical coordination shifts further, the companyaims to be the foundational layer for secure cross-border communication.

3. Anything

Location: USA

News:

Founded by ex-Google PM Dhruv Amin, Anything reached a $100M valuation after an $11M funding round led by Footwork. Amin famously shut down his profitable startup, Create, to rebuild from scratch, betting entirely on the future of Generative AI.

Why It’s Interesting:

  • Anything is a leader in “vibe-coding“- using natural language to build production-ready apps, including complex backends and payment systems. Amin’s “reset to zero” reflects a bold trend of founders abandoning stable businesses to pursue foundational AI infrastructure.

Potential:

  • By lowering the barrier to software creation, Anything aims to be the “Shopify of AI apps,” enabling non-technical founders to launch revenue-generating businesses. It is positioned to be a core layer in the next generation of AI-first SaaS development.