Startup Jazz #26: Q1's $252.6B AI Tsunami — Plus Electric Ferries, Freight Rail & Unsexy Billion-Dollar Bets

Episode 26 of Startup Jazz. The AI hype cycle roars on — Q1 2026 saw a record-smashing $252.6B flow into private markets (triple the prior quarter, with a single OpenAI round accounting for $110B). But George and Michelle spend most of today's set on the "unsexy" industries being quietly reharmonized: Candela's $32M for hydrofoil electric ferries in Stockholm, Voltify's $30M seed to decarbonize $11B of diesel freight rail, Frontlands' AI-powered credit card for an underbanked Texas market, Juno's $12M to drag high-end accounting into the AI era, Miravoice's $6.3M to reinvent phone surveys with voice AI, Anvil Robotics' $5.5M bet on affordable kid-sized dextrous robots, plus Kojo founder Maria Davidson's outsider path from zero construction experience to scaling construction procurement. Plus: why the exit market is a "garden hose" against a funding tidal wave, and what the paradigm shift to private markets means for founders. Bringing you the latest in startup funding with a smooth jazz vibe.