🚀 Who Got Funded + How to Evaluate Your Team Like Meta

👋 Hey Founder,

Another big week for Seed & Series A funding—with over 70 startups raising capital in the US alone. Investors are still writing checks, but companies are being forced to operate leaner, grow smarter, and rethink how they evaluate both teams and marketing efforts.

This week, we’re covering:
✅ Who got funded & what’s trending in early-stage capital
✅ Should you evaluate and trim your team like Meta?
✅ Brand marketing vs. direct marketing: Striking the right balance
✅ Customer relationships, executive connections & when to build health scores

Let’s dive in.

💰 Early-Stage Funding Highlights (Feb 10 - Feb 14, 2025)

🔬 Justpoint ($45M Series A, Feb 2025) – AI-powered legal tech platform that helps clients find and fund medical malpractice lawsuits.
✅ Why they got funded: Legal tech is evolving fast, and AI is automating case evaluation.
✅ Investors: SignalFire

🚀 Aracor AI ($4.5M Seed, Feb 2025) – AI-driven fraud detection & risk management platform.
✅ Why they got funded: Investors are doubling down on AI-powered compliance & security solutions as fraud cases rise.
✅ Investors: Fuel Venture Capital

🔬 Royal Biologics ($19.6M Series A, Feb 2025) – Regenerative medicine & biotech solutions for orthopedic care.
✅ Why they got funded: The growth of cell & gene therapies is fueling biotech investment.

💻 pgEdge ($4.24M Series A, Feb 2025) – A distributed cloud database for high-scale applications.
✅ Why they got funded: Companies need low-latency, global data solutions as AI workloads increase.

🏥 Vitalchat ($6M Series A, Feb 2025) – AI-powered telemedicine & hospital communication tools.
✅ Why they got funded: Hospitals are still adopting AI for patient care & efficiency.
✅ Investors: ghc-industries.com

🔗 Surus ($8M Seed, Feb 2025) – Decentralized financial security platform.
✅ Why they got funded: As DeFi security risks grow, investors are doubling down on blockchain risk management tools.
✅ Investors: Castle Island Ventures [+5]

👥 Should You Evaluate and Trim Your Team Like Meta?

Meta has been cutting its lowest-performing employees, fueling the conversation: Should startups do the same?

📉 The reality: Early-stage startups can’t afford dead weight. Every hire needs to contribute directly to growth.

✅ How to Evaluate Your Team for Alignment
🔹 Is this person actively moving the business forward?
🔹 Do they own projects—or just execute tasks?
🔹 Would you rehire them today? (If the answer is no, why are they still on the team?)

⚠️ Warning Signs It’s Time for a Change
❌ They create work instead of solving problems.
❌ They avoid accountability.
❌ You wouldn’t fight to keep them if they resigned.

🔄 When & How to Make Changes
✔️ Early-stage? Cut fast. A bad fit can kill momentum.
✔️ Growth-stage? Reassign before replacing. Can they add more value elsewhere?
✔️ Raising? Make sure your team is “investor-ready.” Every headcount needs to justify itself.

Would love to hear your thoughts: Are you actively evaluating your team right now? Hit reply and let’s discuss.

🔥 Brand Marketing vs. Performance Marketing: Striking the Right Balance

Every founder struggles with this: How much should you invest in brand marketing vs. performance marketing?

🚀 What’s the Difference?

🔹 Performance Marketing = measurable ROI (ads, SEO, outbound sales)
🔹 Brand Marketing = long-term equity (PR, events, thought leadership)

💡 Think of brand marketing as throwing fuel on the fire of performance marketing.

💰 Where Startups Get It Wrong

❌ Only running paid ads → No long-term value.
❌ Ignoring brand marketing early → Makes customer trust harder.
❌ Not aligning both efforts → Leads to wasted spend.

✅ How to Balance Both

✔️ Early-stage? Focus 80% on performance marketing. You need cash flow first.
✔️ Growth-stage? Invest 30-40% in brand-building. This will increase the effectiveness of your direct response marketing.
✔️ Fundraising? A strong brand helps investors find you.

💡 Founders winning at brand marketing: [Insert examples of startups using brand marketing to drive organic growth]

How do you balance brand vs. direct marketing? Let’s hear it.

💬 The Next Level of Customer Relationships: Community & Executive Engagement

Building a community is no longer optional—it’s a competitive advantage. But how do you decide which customers need executive attention?

💡 The 3 Levels of Customer Engagement

1️⃣ Community-Driven Customers – Engage via Slack, Discord, LinkedIn groups.
2️⃣ Power Users & Early Advocates – Direct access to product teams, beta programs.
3️⃣ Enterprise & High-Value Clients – Executive engagement is critical.

👥 Executive Presence: How Much Time Should You Spend?

✅ Early customers? You should personally talk to all of them.
✅ Scaling up? Focus on top 20% of customers driving 80% of revenue.
✅ At $10M+ ARR? Move to an executive sponsor model.

💡 Pro Tip: Health scores help you decide where to invest your time.

📊 When to Introduce Customer Health Scores

If you're scaling, you should start tracking:
📌 Product engagement – Are they actually using your product?
📌 Support tickets & NPS – Are they happy or frustrated?
📌 Expansion signals – Are they likely to buy more?

Companies that invest early in customer community + health tracking scale retention faster than those that don’t.

Final Thoughts

✅ Your team is your biggest asset—evaluate it ruthlessly.
✅ Brand marketing isn’t an expense—it amplifies everything else.
✅ Engaged customers = better retention, higher LTV, and a competitive moat.

Until next time,
Apryl Syed
Founder’s Edge