Startup Flash Report

STARTUP FLASH - January 09, 2026

Teradar unveils first terahertz sensor at CES after $150M raise, signaling a new wave of deep-tech hardware bets

TOP 3 STORIES:
1. Teradar turns $150M round into flagship terahertz sensor launch at CES – Boston-based Teradar is debuting its first terahertz sensor at the Consumer Electronics Show, following its recent $150 million funding round, positioning itself as a critical infrastructure player for next-gen imaging, security, and industrial sensing applications.[6] For founders, this underscores that large late-stage checks are still flowing to *hard-tech with clear platform potential*, and that pairing a major product reveal with a global stage like CES remains a powerful way to convert investor interest into commercial demand.[6]

2. Global impact and climate-tech founders face 282 active funding opportunities in fresh January landscape – A new January analysis highlights 282 funding opportunities, including 113 new listings, spanning grants, blended finance, and challenges for startups and scale-ups, with deep coverage of climate tech, diagnostics, and women-led deep-tech ventures.[1] Founders can use this as a tactical pipeline: climate and health-tech startups in particular should map their Q1–Q2 runway against deadlines in mid-to-late January and February, and assign a dedicated “non-dilutive capital owner” to systematically go after these equity-free or low-dilution pools.[1]

3. Series A investor landscape updated as 2026 dealmakers reset deployment strategies – OpenVC has released an updated Series A investor and VC firm list as of January 9, 2026, giving founders a structured view of active funds and their theses at the start of the year.[5] For entrepreneurs, this is a prompt to tighten targeting: refine your investor list around fund stage focus, check size, and sector fit, and use the update to refresh your outreach sequences and warm-intro map for Q1 fundraising.[5]

Flash Insight:
Deep-tech and hardware are regaining prominence as Teradar’s $150M-powered sensor launch shows investors’ willingness to back capital-intensive, defensible platforms when there is a clear line to industrial and security use cases.[6] At the same time, the explosion of non-dilutive and thematic funding options—especially in climate, diagnostics, and women-led deep tech—gives early-stage founders more ways to extend runway without accepting down-round terms.[1] For the ecosystem, 2026 is shaping up as a “barbell year”: substantial capital for frontier, infrastructure-like plays on one end, and targeted grants and smaller vehicles on the other—founders who can intelligently stack these sources will be best positioned to navigate tighter mainstream VC deployment.

Sources / URLs:
[1] Impact Funding – “100+ New Opportunities Shaping the Start of 2026 – January Funding Landscape” – https://impactfunding.substack.com/p/january-funding-landscape-100-new
[5] OpenVC – “List of Series A Investors and Venture Capital Firms [2026]” – https://www.openvc.app/investor-lists/series-a-investors
[6] TechCrunch – “This is what Teradar is doing with that recent $150M funding round” – https://techcrunch.com/snippet/3079805/this-is-what-teradar-is-doing-with-that-recent-150m-funding-round/