😇 Angels for accessibility: Adaptation Ventures is a new angel investor group that is focused on backing accessibility tech and companies that can benefit persons with disabilities. The group was founded by two angel investors and former startup founders who realized that VCs didn't understand this category at all.
📈 AI agent acquisition: Data intelligence platform Alation acquired workflow automation platform Numbers Station today for an undisclosed sum. Alation hopes Numbers Station's tech will help its customers be able to better utilize AI agents without security risks or hallucinations.
🚗 Test time: Amazon's autonomous vehicle unit, Zoox, just got the green light to start testing its self-driving cars in Atlanta. This news comes one day after Waymo said it would start offering rides in Atlanta to early-access users ahead of a larger launch this summer.
👀 Eyes on the enterprise: Fintech Brex continues to boost its offerings for enterprise customers. Today the company announced a partnership with procurement startup Zip. It will embed its virtual cards into Zip's platform to give enterprises a more substantial procurement and payment workflow.
🌳 Fresh funds: South Loop Ventures is a new emerging VC that raised a $21 million debut fund to back pre-seed and seed-stage companies. The firm hopes to primarily focus on founders of color and write checks around $400,000, on average.
