Baltimore AI startups raise $22 million for supply chain and healthcare tools

Baltimore AI companies raised $22 million across three funding rounds in the second quarter of 2026, according to filings reviewed by The Daily Baltimore. The largest check went to a firm building inventory-forecasting software for regional ports.

The money arrives as national venture groups redirect capital toward applied AI after earlier focus on broad language models. Local businesses report pressure to cut labor costs and meet tighter delivery windows, which has pushed founders to seek capital that can scale narrow tools rather than general platforms.

Capital lands in specific neighborhoods

Two of the funded companies operate from offices inside the Inner Harbor and Federal Hill. PortOpt AI, based on Light Street, closed a $12 million Series A led by a Baltimore family office and a New York fund that has backed logistics software elsewhere. A second round of $7 million went to MedMatch, which runs its engineering team from a converted warehouse on Fort Avenue and works with Johns Hopkins Hospital on scheduling algorithms. Both firms cited proximity to port data and hospital records as reasons they stayed in the city instead of moving to larger coastal hubs.

City programs have helped. The Baltimore Development Corporation’s tech incentive, launched in 2024, offers property-tax abatements for companies that keep at least 60 percent of staff inside the city limits. PortOpt AI qualified for the abatement after adding 18 local jobs this spring. MedMatch used a state small-business innovation grant to cover early cloud costs before the larger round closed.

Numbers behind the growth

Local AI funding has risen from $9 million in the same quarter last year, a 144 percent increase tracked by the Greater Baltimore Committee’s quarterly report released June 30. Average round size reached $7.3 million, up from $4.1 million in 2025. One term sheet reviewed for this story valued PortOpt AI at $48 million post-money, with 35 percent of the new shares reserved for an employee option pool that will be granted over the next 18 months.

Founders say the next step is hiring. PortOpt plans to open roles for five sales engineers by September and will host an information session at the Baltimore Tech Week event scheduled for August 12 at the Baltimore Convention Center. MedMatch intends to double its clinical data team by the end of the year. Business owners looking to adopt similar tools can contact the Baltimore Tech Council’s AI working group, which meets monthly at the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship in Columbia and maintains a list of vetted local vendors.