State Affairs raises $70M to track policy in real time across 50 states
What's the deal? State Affairs has raised $70 million to expand its AI-powered platform that tracks legislation, regulation, and political developments across all 50 US states and the federal government. Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures backed the round, alongside Tru Arrow PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Alumni Ventures, and individual investors including former Washington PostDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → executive editor Marcus BrauchliDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and KKR media chairman Richard SarnoffDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the endgame? The company combines exclusive reporting from journalists embedded in state capitols, on-the-ground legislative data, and structured government data into real-time analysis, alerts, and collaboration tools. Its newsroom produces more than 2,000 originally reported, nonpartisan articles each month.
Why now? State legislative volume is surging. In 2025, state legislatures introduced more than 135,500 bills, up roughly 55% from 87,500 in 2024 — a volume that would take one person reading eight hours a day six years to get through.
Who uses it? State Affairs is in active use by one-third of state and federal elected officials, plus enterprises including Walmart, Mastercard, and McDonald's. Lawmakers, agencies, and corporate teams use it to compare bills across states, coordinate advocacy, and monitor hearings in real time.
The platform was founded by chief executive officer Evan Burns, co-founder of the Finnish Long Drink, and Jamie Roberts Seltzer, a general partner at LightShed Ventures. Veteran journalist Alison Bethel serves as founding editor-in-chief and chief content officer.
What could go wrong? The company's edge rests on original reporting from undercovered statehouses, which means scaling depends on hiring. "We intend to hire many more full-time reporters over the next few years," Seltzer said.
The signal: State capitols make some of the country's most consequential decisions, yet remain fragmented and hard to track. "Policy and regulatory markets are often more impactful to organizations than financial markets, yet everybody from voters to companies are often the last to know what's happening," Burns said — a gap State Affairs is betting institutions will pay to close.
Read more: PR Newswire
Image credit: Tony Fischer Photography
