AI-focused start-up cohort secures $7.5m

Start-up companies in venture capital firm Pi Labs’ latest growth programme have raised a combined $7.5m (£5.9m) in fresh funding on top of Pi Labs’ own initial backing. Pathways, an artificial intelligence-driven business helping clients cut building material emissions, has raised $2.5m from Zacua Ventures and others, while Genia, an AI-focused design company, has secured $1m. Cyber security firm Cyber Operations is in the middle of closing a $1.5m, while Kestrix, which says it can use AI to work out how buildings lose heat, has raised $1.5m, and Sorair, a surveillance systems specialist, has raised $1m and is now hunting for an extra £500,000. Pi Labs founder Faisal Butt said the five companies have “pioneered what can become leading global technological solutions to business-critical issues facing the built environment”.