# A* (A-Star)

> A* (A-Star)'s investments in AI tools on Anchor Terminal, Cartesia, Cognition AI, Inc., Photon and Ramp, with each listing's grade and the founders behind it.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/a-a-star/
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/a-a-star/index.md (~1,350 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/a-a-star/index.min.md (~1,180 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/a-a-star/index.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-13

Venture firm.

## Companies on Anchor Terminal

- **Cartesia**, Seed, December 2024, Series A, March 2025, through A*
  - [Cartesia Ink](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cartesia-ink-stt.md), graded B, 69.2/100
  - [Cartesia Sonic TTS API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cartesia-tts.md), graded B, 63.7/100
  - [Cartesia Voice Cloning API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cartesia-voice-cloning.md), graded C, 58.9/100
  - Source: https://www.cartesia.ai/blog/seed
- **Cognition AI, Inc.**, Series E, September 2026, through A* Capital, valued at $48B as announced (the source doesn't say pre- or post-money), Series E, September 2026
  - [Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/devin.md), graded C, 58.5/100
  - [SWE-2 Flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/swe-2-flash.md), graded F, 37.6/100
  - Source: https://cognition.com/blog/series-e
- **Photon**, Seed, October 2026, led a round, through A*
  - [Photon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/photon.md), graded C, 54.5/100
  - Source: https://pulse2.com/photon-raises-4-5-million-seed-round-to-build-messaging-infrastructure-for-ai-agents/
- **Ramp**, Series C, August 2021, through A* Partners, valued at $22.5B as announced (the source doesn't say pre- or post-money), Funding round, July 2025, July 2025
  - [Ramp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ramp.md), graded C, 61.2/100
  - [Router.com (Ramp Router)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ramp-router.md), graded C, 56.2/100
  - Source: https://ramp.com/blog/ramp-series-c

## Where they invest

- Model APIs & inference, 2
- Speech-to-text, 1
- Text-to-speech, 1
- Voice cloning & custom voices, 1
- Agent harnesses, 1
- Messaging APIs, 1
- Spend management & procurement, 1

## Founders they backed

- [Karan Goel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/karan-goel/), Cartesia
- [Albert Gu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/albert-gu/), Cartesia
- [Arjun Desai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/arjun-desai/), Cartesia
- [Brandon Yang](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/brandon-yang/), Cartesia
- [Scott Wu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/scott-wu/), Cognition AI, Inc.
- [Steven Hao](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/steven-hao/), Cognition AI, Inc.
- [Walden Yan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/walden-yan/), Cognition AI, Inc.
- [Eric Glyman](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/eric-glyman/), Ramp
- [Karim Atiyeh](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/karim-atiyeh/), Ramp

## Connections

### Invests beside

- [General Catalyst](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/general-catalyst/), 3 companies: Cartesia, Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp
- [137 Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/137-ventures/), 2 companies: Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp
- [Avenir](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/avenir/), 2 companies: Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp
- [Neo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/neo/), 2 companies: Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp
- [Definition Capital](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/definition-capital/), 2 companies: Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp
- [D1 Capital Partners](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/d1-capital-partners/), 2 companies: Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp
- [Lux Capital](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/lux-capital/), 2 companies: Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp
- [8VC](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/8vc/), 2 companies: Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp
- [Greylock](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/greylock/), 2 companies: Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp
- [Altimeter Capital](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/altimeter-capital/), 2 companies: Cognition AI, Inc., Ramp

Every link here comes from a source. "Invests beside" counts the companies two investors both backed. How the connections are made: https://www.anchorterminal.com/graph/

## Questions

### Which AI tools has A* (A-Star) invested in?

Anchor Terminal lists Cartesia, Cognition AI, Inc., Photon and Ramp backed by A* (A-Star).

### How are A* (A-Star)'s companies graded?

On Anchor Terminal's benchmark, Cartesia Ink (B, 69.2), Cartesia Sonic TTS API + MCP (B, 63.7), Cartesia Voice Cloning API + MCP (C, 58.9), Devin (C, 58.5), SWE-2 Flash (F, 37.6), Photon (C, 54.5), Ramp (C, 61.2) and Router.com (Ramp Router) (C, 56.2).

Investors are named from the companies' own announcements, the investors' own pages, Y Combinator's company pages, public filings and news reports of a round, each with its source. An investor isn't a sign of quality, and nobody can pay to be listed or to change a grade. To correct something or have a page removed, write to privacy@anchorterminal.com.

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp