Midwest startup funding, week ending August 7, 2026: Adams Street's $5B close plus rounds for InvestiFi, RWX, Quercus Biosolutions and SCO2.

Midwest startup funding this week: Jump Capital's $350M Fund 8, Claros Technologies' $55M raise, plus deals from Healia, BrandRank.AI and Gravie.

Voxel51's Brian Moore is building the Databricks of physical AI from Columbus, Ohio. How an open-source project became a $50M-backed infrastructure company.

Electric Outdoors founder Josef Hjelmaker built an off-grid energy startup in Michigan that raised $3M after a 24-year corporate career at Whirlpool and Thor Industries.

PitchMI opens applications for its 2026-27 Michigan startup competition with $2M across four semifinals. What the first year produced, and why year three isn't funded.

German entrepreneurs from North Rhine-Westphalia toured Detroit, Lansing, and Chicago this week; an industrial past and startup scene that mirror the Midwest.

A new UW-Madison CROWE report finds Wisconsin manufacturers have booked $1.6B in AI-related orders — and warns power is the main limit on the state's data center boom.

As GM runs 50 'cobots 'at its Detroit EV plant, Chicago's Automate 2026 previews the humanoid robots and AI heading for Midwest factory floors.

Corporate venture capital is the Midwest's home-field advantage, but CVCs are retreating. Jim Dallke of TechNexus on why dormant portfolios put the region's edge at risk.

The Secret Founder on what's really holding back Midwest startups: fake pre-seed funds, messy angel terms, slow no's — and how to fix the system, fast.