Amplify Community Update 9/18/25

​​​​Warp, an AI-powered logistics network for FTL, LTL and Parcel, announced a $10M Series A led by Up.Partners and Blue Bear Capital, bringing total funding to $22M since its founding in 2021. The new capital will fuel the expansion of Warp’s AI systems and the launch of its first fully robotic cross-dock facility, automating the freight lifecycle from inbound receiving and dimensioning to smart sortation and outbound dispatch.

“This round isn’t about growing a team. It is about multiplying output,” said Daniel Sokolovsky, Co-Founder and CEO. “We are scaling with intelligent agents that make our amazing people a thousand times more productive.”

Cascade Bio, an industrial biotech company enabling enzyme-based processes, announced a $6M funding round to accelerate the shift from petrochemicals to biomanufacturing. The raise includes a $2.8M seed led by Endurance28 with participation from Amplify, Stray Dog Capital, 1Flourish, Range Ventures, and 10VC, plus $3.2M in nondilutive funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

With its Body Armor for Enzymes technology, Cascade has improved the stability of more than 30 enzymes—helping them last months instead of hours under tough industrial conditions. The company has already partnered with over 20 customers across chemicals, food ingredients, flavors and fragrances, and pharmaceuticals, unlocking cost savings and efficiency through biobased production. “This order of magnitude improvement in biocatalysis will change the industry by dramatically improving costs and ease-of-use for nature’s catalysts,” said CEO Alex Rosay.

SafeRide Health, a digital health platform revolutionizing non-emergency medical transportation, continues to earn national recognition for both its growth and workplace culture. The company was ranked No. 358 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list, placing it among the top 7% of the fastest-growing private companies in America. “We’re honored to be named to the Inc. 5000 list, let alone to the top 500,” said Robbins Schrader, CEO and Co-Founder of SafeRide Health. “We’ve built a team that shows up every day for the members of our partner health plans. This recognition is a tribute to their grit, to their hard work, and to the mission we share: fixing healthcare by getting people to care.” In addition, SafeRide was named one of the 2025 Top Workplaces for Healthcare, a distinction that reflects the company’s people-first culture. “At SafeRide Health, we believe that delivering better access to care starts with taking care of our people,” the team shared. “Thank you to our team for the passion, integrity, and purpose you bring to this mission every day.”

Pryzm, an AI-powered intelligence platform to accelerate government contract capture, was recently featured on the All Quiet on the Second Front podcast. Co-Founder and CEO Nick LaRovere joined host Tyler Sweatt to discuss building the “common operating system for capture” and tackling the complex world of defense procurement. The conversation covered how Pryzm integrates data from sources like SAM.gov, Salesforce, JIRA, and email; the hidden costs of stovepiped teams; and lessons from industry leaders such as Palantir and Lockheed. They also explored why capture, policy, and budgets need to be interoperable to modernize defense contracting.

Visionaries and VCs – Coming to LA Tech Week 

We’re thrilled to be co-hosting an event with Bling Capital and Act One Ventures for this year’s #LATechWeek on Oct. 15th! Our event, Visionaries & VCs - The Early Stage Edition, will bring together LA’s leading pre-seed & seed founders alongside top investors, with each VC inviting one of their newest portfolio companies to join the mix. We have a handful of open spots available for early-stage founders and investors, so please register for a chance to join us!

A huge thank you to our partners at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, CDW, Citizens Private Bank, Ramp, and Pilot.com for making this event possible and supporting our community! 

PitchLive.LA – Coming to LA Tech Week

PitchLive.LA, a brand-new live pitch event debuting on October 14 2025, during LATechWeek, will spotlight LA’s boldest pre-seed and seed-stage startups. Presented by Gunderson Dettmer and Alpha Edison, the event will feature finalists pitching live to a panel of top LA VCs, including Amplify.LA’s Managing Partner, Paul Bricault, alongside Fika Ventures, Alpha Edison, and Bonfire Ventures.

Ahead of the main event, the top 10 semi-finalists will attend a storytelling development dinner hosted by Gunderson Dettmer and led by coach, entrepreneur, and angel investor Jason Yeh. The winning founder will receive over $50K in startup services, including legal, financial, cyber, and branding support, plus a celebratory happy hour hosted by Stifel Bank. Applications are open now till September 22!

Navigating the AI Landscape – A Panel Discussion Hosted by Amplify

Recently, Amplify had the privilege of hosting a panel event, Navigating the AI Landscape, focused on cutting through the hype to uncover what’s really driving value in AI today, and where companies from all walks (consumer, enterprise, small scale to large) are finding opportunities.

A huge thank you to Amplify’s own Oded Noy for moderating and guiding the discussion and to our stellar panelists 

• Max Child, CEO & Co-Founder of Volley, the largest studio for voice and AI games, who we’ve backed since 2017

• Marc Mathieu, who recently led AI transformation @ Salesforce and brought the enterprise perspective

• Joe Bertolami, Co-Founder & CTO @ Clifton AI, focused on building novel AI tools for finance, an Amplify co since 2023

And of course, this event wouldn’t have been possible without our generous sponsors: Day One Partners who hosted us in their beautiful space, and J.P. Morgan who has continued to support us in bringing together the best talent in the innovation economy.

Let’s Talk Ops LA Community Event 

Amplify’s Director of Operations, Katie Dean, and Rosalind Chu from Healthy Ventures co-hosted the latest Let’s Talk Ops LA event—this time aboard a boat in Marina Del Rey. The gathering brought together VC ops and platform pros for an afternoon of connection, knowledge-sharing, and community-building. These quarterly events are designed to unite the behind-the-scenes leaders who keep firms running, many of whom are often a team of one. We’re already looking forward to the next event! If you’re in VC ops/platform in LA and want to join, reach out to Katie or Ros.

Quarterly Founder Event

Fostering the founder community is at the heart of what we do. For this quarter’s founder event, we had the privilege to open our Venice office for an after-work BBQ co-hosted with our neighbors at Mucker and our partners at Michael Best.

Check out our latest Job Board on the Amplify Website to see all available jobs! You can apply directly, or if you know anyone who could be a fit, feel free to pass it along!