Skalata was built by founders who bootstrapped and exited their own startup and helped run one of the world's top-ranked university accelerators, and it uses milestone-based funding that can deploy across several rounds instead of one lump sum, doesn't require billion-dollar outcomes before backing a company, and has publicly paused its own investment process to relearn how to evaluate AI companies. It's for overlooked founders who aren't chasing hype, backed by close ties to universities and state governments, with a track record of preparing companies specifically for Series A and beyond.