TechCrunch reports that startup builder Vantora, formerly UP.Labs, raised $100 million from Silversmith Capital Partners, described as the company's first outside investment. Founded in 2022 with Porsche as its first corporate partner, Vantora has since worked with companies including Alaska Airlines, J.B. Hunt, Wabash, and TDG to build startups for them. Founder and CEO John Kuolt said Vantora now builds startups solely for its corporate customers, which invest in the ventures and serve as their first customers and can choose to fold them into their own businesses; he said the shift lets Vantora pursue physical AI use cases that were previously too sensitive to commercialize externally.

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