BeamRail, a public-safety startup founded by former Cary police officer Matthew Matos, has raised $700,000 in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Shaper Capital, marking the investment firm's first local bet, with participation from Flex Capital. The startup has developed an AI platform that consolidates police departments' disconnected data systems — including records management, emails, policy systems and communications platforms — to reduce administrative workload. Matos left the Cary Police Department last year to focus on the company full-time. Shaper Capital is led by serial entrepreneur Travis May, who previously founded LiveRamp and Datavant. The funding will support pilot programmes with law enforcement agencies, with multiple North Carolina departments already in discussions. BeamRail currently employs three people with plans to expand.

Catena, a universal API for telematics and logistics data, raised a $5M seed round led by Floating Point, with participation from several investors and logistics executives. This funding brings Catena's total to $8M since its incorporation in January 2024. The capital will accelerate product development, expand integrations, and scale partnerships. Catena aims to unify fragmented freight data, providing clean, permissioned data to power AI and enhance efficiency in the freight industry.