Defense, energy, robotics and government have historically been classic no-go areas for VC investment. These 鈥渉ard鈥� industries have slow procurement cycles, tight regulatory oversight and high-friction customer migration in common. Legacy software vendors serving them have benefited from a barrier of complexity to innovate slowly without facing the risk of customer churn.

This made the victims of this year鈥檚 AI anxiety-driven sell-off all the more dramatic. Software juggernauts serving heavy industries 鈥� , , , 鈥� have gone from safe bets to being the subject of investor scrutiny.

While headlines have attributed that sell-off to quick-fire launches of tools for vertical industries, there鈥檚 more at play. The macro trend is a newfound founder enthusiasm to build AI-native entrants in legacy industries, and the backing they鈥檙e enjoying from VCs that can see the once-in-a-generation opportunity to disrupt entire industries.

Why investor perceptions are changing

Context is important. Geopolitical instability, supply chain pressure and energy security concerns have placed industrial resilience at the center of national policy.

Be it the U.S. or across Europe, policymakers are prioritizing investment in grid upgrades, transportation networks and public sector infrastructure, while also re-examining procurement and compliance systems that have slowed the adoption of emerging technologies that could bring said industrial resilience about quicker.

At the same time, quick advances in AI and agentic systems make it possible to build a new class of AI-native software tailored to 鈥渉ard鈥� industries through deep integration with verticalized tooling and specialist automation of critical workflows.

Age-old incumbent moats, like cumbersome migration cycles that put businesses off moving to new software providers, are also being challenged as embedded automation cuts migration processes down from weeks to days.

The creation of software in and of itself has become commoditised in the AI era, and more investors are spotting that operational depth, intuitive UI/UX, speed to market and seamless integration into complex real-world systems are traits of high-quality vertical software that startups are well-placed to build.

Investors are also realizing that most of the available value from horizontal SaaS has been extracted. In those early post-ChatGPT years, VCs widely backed AI companies building for non-regulated SMB adoption 鈥� exactly the audience that foundational model players like and Anthropic are now making inroads with as they push into enterprises. Foundational models are general in nature, and their verticalization can therefore only stretch so far. Given this, AI-native products built for heavy industries are compelling and competitive propositions for VCs.

Growing faith that incumbents are vulnerable

There鈥檚 always been lots of skepticism among investors and tech executives that AI startups can meaningfully challenge incumbents that have been on top for decades. But those companies are operating over sprawling product architecture and processes that were built in the pre-AI era.

Pivoting from that state of affairs to AI-native systems is a massive undertaking, whereas new companies are being launched with those systems in place from day one. Incumbents also have a low incentive to innovate at pace when customer churn is limited. But in the current context of breakneck speed improvements to AI models and agentic systems, waiting for churn to show up will be too late.

Scepticism also risks overlooking the profile of outstanding founders building AI-native challengers. Some of the fastest-growing startups in defense, energy, government and the public sector are led by people who came directly from the same industries they are transforming. Their understanding of sector constraints and operational realities gives them an advantage over general software providers that lack the same specialism and experience.

Picking up pace

Savvy entrepreneurship and VC investors are colliding to make a play for hard sectors. Once seen as off-limits due to procurement complexity or regulatory burden, these sectors represent huge, untapped potential in the new AI-native era.

The emerging companies offering solutions designed for these industries with deep, vertical-specific tooling integration and critical workflow automation are well placed to command a growing share of overall AI funding as they serve customer pain points that have gone unanswered for years.

We are talking about disruption within markets worth trillions. The scale of the opportunity for growing VC interest in sectors they鈥檝e historically avoided is no mystery or miscalculation. The vision is an ambitious one. Rather than simply building better software, the foundational sectors of the world economy are about to be reimagined.

is a partner for the U.S. and Europe at early-stage venture capital firm . He currently oversees the deployment of the firm鈥檚 latest $1 billion fund, backing a range of AI-native startups building to disrupt legacy industries and business processes. In a personal capacity, Cuvelier wrote an angel check for at pre-seed.

Related SA国际传媒 queries:

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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

Physical tech is back, at least judging by this week鈥檚 largest U.S. funding deals. The biggest of all was a $1.5 billion corporate round for a medical device company that develops implants and treatment systems for musculoskeletal disorders. It was followed by an enormous Series A round, backed by a bevy of big-name investors, for , a 1-year-old artificial intelligence startup that says it’s developing personalized AI devices. Along with the usual heavy dose of AI, this week鈥檚 list also includes large deals for aerospace and defense, fintech, and retail technology. Let鈥檚 dive in.

1. $1.5B, healthcare: MiRus raised a massive $1.5 billion corporate round led by as strategic investors continue betting on next-generation orthopedic and spinal technologies. The Marietta, Georgia-based company has now raised $1.6 billion to date, . The deal comes with a 34% equity stake for Boston Scientific.

2. , $700M, artificial intelligence: AI startup Hark landed a huge $700 million Series A led by, with participation from a of investors including chip giants , , and , as well as ,, , 1听补苍诲 . The San Jose, California-based company it鈥檚 building 鈥渁dvanced personalized intelligence and next-generation hardware鈥� and plans to release some kind of product later this summer.

3. , $355M, AI infrastructure and developer tools: New York-based Modal Labs raised $355 million in a Series C round led by and , with participation from and . The company provides serverless cloud computing tools and GPU access for running AI models and testing AI-generated code. Its latest round is at a $4.65 billion valuation. CEO 鈥媡old Reuters that Modal鈥檚 ARR has soared to $300 million, up from about $60 million in September, as enterprise AI coding becomes widespread.

4. (tied) , $300M, artificial intelligence: Frontier lab Decart raised $300 million in a round led by that reportedly values it at nearly $4 billion. The deal also received backing from including venture firms and, AI researcher and corporate investors Nvidia, and . The startup, based in San Francisco and Tel Aviv, develops generative AI models and infrastructure, and has now raised roughly $456 million to date as investors continue pouring capital into foundational AI technologies.

4. (tied) , $300M, aerospace and defense: El Segundo, California-based Amca raised $300 million in a Series B led by, alongside investors including and. The company focuses on aerospace manufacturing and supply-chain technologies, an area drawing increased venture interest amid renewed defense-tech spending. Amca has raised $376.5 million overall, . Its latest round reportedly comes at a $1 billion-plus valuation.

6. , $250M, search and generative AI: AI search startup Exa secured $250 million at a $2.2 billion valuation in a Series C round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Based in San Francisco, the company develops AI-native search infrastructure designed for agents and large language model applications. The latest raise brings Exa鈥檚 total funding to $357 million and comes as competition intensifies around AI retrieval and search tools.

7. , $230M, edge computing and AI infrastructure: Armada raised $230 million in fresh funding at a $2.2 billion valuation. The Series B deal was led by , and, with participation from other investors including and . The San Francisco-based company develops edge computing and AI infrastructure systems designed for remote and industrial environments. The round brings its total funding to $469 million, .

8. , $200M, fintech: Mercury raised $200 million at a $5.2 billion valuation in a Series D round led by . Returning backers Andreessen Horowitz, , , , and also participated. The San Francisco-based company provides banking and financial workflow software for companies and has now raised about $657 million to date. Its latest round comes amid a broader uptick in fintech funding, including strong investor interest in digital banking platforms serving startups and businesses.

9. , $170M, retail technology: New York-based Radar secured $170 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation. The Series B round was led by and, with participating. The company develops AI technology for brick-and-mortar stores that uses overhead RFID sensors, software and analytics to give retailers real-time inventory visibility with item-level tracking accuracy. The company said its platform is deployed in more than 1,400 stores for customers including and . It has raised nearly $310 million to date, .

10. , $150M, wealth management: Farther raised a $150 million Series D led by as investors continue backing platforms modernizing financial advisory services. The San Francisco-based company provides technology-enabled wealth management tools and has raised approximately $268 million to date. Farther didn鈥檛 reveal its valuation with the latest raise, only that it is 鈥渘ow a unicorn.鈥�

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the SA国际传媒 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of May 18-22. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

Large U.S. venture deals this week were led by a massive defense tech raise for space security startup . That theme continued with another two aerospace- and defense-related companies also getting major investor backing. We also saw sizable deals for startups applying AI to fintech, marketing, customer service, healthcare and developer tools. Let鈥檚 take a closer look.

1. , $600M, aerospace and defense: Centennial, Colorado-based True Anomaly raised a massive $600 million Series D led by and , with participation from a long list of other backers including , , , , and . True Anomaly develops space security and in-orbit defense systems, an area drawing increasing venture investor attention amid rising geopolitical tensions. The new round brings its total funding up to $1.1 billion, .

2. , $160M, AI and fintech: New York-based Rogo secured $160 million in Series D funding led by and joined by other investors including , , , , and . Rogo builds AI-powered tools to automate financial research and workflows. The latest financing brings its total funding raised to date to $314 million, . The deal is also the latest example of investor enthusiasm for startups targeting high-value knowledge work such as law and accounting.

3. , $150M, AI and marketing: San Francisco-based Hightouch raised $150 million in a Series D co-led by and . , , , and other investors joined. The company focuses on agentic AI-driven marketing and customer data activation. The round brings Hightouch鈥檚 total funding to date to and comes amid rising demand for AI tools embedded directly into enterprise marketing stacks.

4. , $125M, AI and customer service: New York-based Avoca brought in $125 million in a Series B led by and, with participation from other investors including , , and . Avoca develops AI agents for customer communication workflows. The new raise brings its total funding to $125.5 million, .

5. , $110M, AI and customer service: San Mateo, California-based Netomi raised $110 million in a Series C led by , with participation from and others, including individual investors , , and . The company offers AI-powered customer experience automation across channels. The new funding brings its total raised to date to $217 million, .

6. (tied) , $100M, developer tools: Palo Alto, California-based Parallel secured $100 million in a Series B led by , with additional backing from other big-name investors , and . The startup is building a suite of AI agents and developer tools to automate workflows. It has raised $260 million to date, .

6. (tied) , $100M, aerospace and defense: Sunnyvale, California-based Scout AI raised a sizable $100 million Series A led by and . A long list of other investors joined, including , and . The startup develops AI systems for aerospace and defense applications. Its large early-stage round underscores continued investor appetite for dual-use and defense-focused startups, which globally raised a record $7.7 billion in 2025, per SA国际传媒 data.

8. , $82M, aerospace and defense: San Diego-based Firestorm closed an $82 million Series B led by . also participated in this round, as did , , , and others. Firestone builds modular, mission-adaptable drone systems. It has raised nearly $150 million total, .

9. , $77M, health diagnostics: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Iterative Health raised $77 million in a Series C led by and, with additional backing from , and . The company develops AI-powered diagnostic and clinical workflow tools, particularly in gastroenterology. It has raised more than $268 million since inception, according to .

10. , $75M, foundational AI: Investors continue to back next-generation foundation model startups. One of the latest is San Francisco-based AI research startup Standard Intelligence, which raised a $75 million Series A led by and . The raise comes at a $425 million pre-money valuation. Other investors in the deal include , and AI researcher . Standard AI is developing 鈥渃omputer-use鈥� models designed to interact directly with software. Its approach 鈥� training on large-scale video data rather than manually annotated screenshots 鈥� aims to significantly reduce costs and improve performance.

Large non-US deals

We also saw several sizable deals for startups based outside the U.S.:

, $1.1B, foundational AI: London-based frontier lab Ineffable Intelligence raised a $1.1 billion seed round, the largest for a European startup on record. (The previous record was set just a couple of months ago, when Paris-based frontier lab raised a $1.03 billion seed round.) and led Ineffable鈥檚 seed funding.

, $300M, aerospace: China-based Volant Aerotech raised a $300 million Series C led by . The company is developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, designed to be used as taxis.

, $200M, robotics: China-based humanoid robot developer Robot Era raised a $200 million round led by , with participation from a long list of investors including and . The company is developing robots designed for industrial and service work, and follows a string of other large fundings for China-based robotics startups.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the SA国际传媒 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of April 25-May 1. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

We鈥檙e not talking about confidential filings either. Sure, they signal serious intent and contain valuable information for regulators. But for the rest of us, it鈥檚 the public S-1 filing that signifies an IPO is actually imminent.

By this latter measure, the past few weeks have been pretty busy for venture-backed startups. , the designer of speedy AI inference chips, filed publicly last week for an offering expected to raise around $2 billion. The Silicon Valley company, which withdrew plans for an IPO last fall, is reportedly seeking a valuation upwards of $35 billion this time around.

That alone would be enough to set IPO market watchers abuzz. Per SA国际传媒 data, it stands to be the largest initial share offering of a U.S. semiconductor company to date.

However, Cerebras wasn鈥檛 the only venture-backed company seeking a multibillion-dollar IPO valuation.

Power players

Another, albeit smaller, contender is nuclear power startup , which is making its debut today. The Rockville, Maryland-based company priced shares at $23 each late Thursday, above the projected range, raising around $1 billion. Shares closed up 27% in first-day trading Friday.

Meanwhile, on the geothermal power front, is also looking to take its clean energy ambitions to the public market. The Houston-based company filed last week for a offering that could bring in around $250 million.

Biotech IPOs heating up

Biotech is also heating up. Last week delivered a big debut from , a Waltham, Massachusetts-based developer of oral and injectable treatments for obesity and metabolic disease that $718 million in its Nasdaq offering. , a Fremont, California-based startup applying proteomics to early disease detection, made its market entry as well, securing a current market cap around $1.6 billion.

More biotech debuts are on deck too. Austin-based , a venture-backed developer of a nerve stimulation device for stroke survivors, filed last week for an offering. The prior week brought S-1 filings from Boston鈥檚 , a developer of medicines for depression, anxiety and other neuropsychiatric disorders, and , a Denmark-based biotech which focuses on treatment of blood coagulation disorders.

Space and defense on the rise

Of course, everyone knows the Texas-based company on deck to publicly file for a space tech offering of unprecedented magnitude. for an IPO a few weeks ago, with media reports pegging its target valuation around $1.75 trillion. If the company forges ahead with reported plans for a June market debut, a public filing should follow in the next few weeks.

In the interim, another, much, much smaller offering in the defense tech space is on track to hit the market much sooner. , a Herndon, Virginia-based developer of radio frequency intelligence for military customers, filed earlier this month for a offering. It comes amid a period of heightened investor appetite for defense tech, with an expectation of more debuts in the space likely in coming months.

Now we just need some software

Of course, it鈥檚 not an IPO market that is welcoming to all venture-backed startup sectors. One area noticeably absent from the impending offering list is enterprise software. While SaaS has long been a mainstay of the IPO pipeline, the sector has taken a hit of late amid investors’ concerns of AI disruption.

That said, it鈥檚 still encouraging to see a swathe of other sectors dipping a toe in IPO waters.

Related SA国际传媒 queries:

Related reading:

• After Swarmer鈥檚 Soaring Debut, Here Are 12 Other Potential Defense Tech IPOs
• IPOs Are Holding Up In 2026, But SaaS Debuts Aren鈥檛 Happening

Illustration:

AI infrastructure also added four new unicorn companies focused on data center technology and provisioning. Fintech, including startups in wealth management, payment and digital assets, added four companies, while developer tools and defense each added three.

Twenty of March鈥檚 new unicorns are U.S.-based, including 11 from the San Francisco Bay Area. China added six companies in sectors ranging from robotics to AI and quantum computing.

From Europe, four new March unicorns are U.K.-based, while France, the Netherlands and Belgium each minted one. The UAE, Seychelles, India and Australia also each added one new unicorn to the board.

The most valuable unicorn newcomer last month was Seychelles-based crypto exchange , valued at $25 billion. The largest funding was a $1 billion round raised by AI pioneer 鈥檚 new frontier lab startup, Paris-based .

The board also saw a sizable cohort of very young companies earning their unicorn horns: 18 of the companies that joined the board last month were less than 3 years old. Five were not even a year old.

March鈥檚 new unicorns

AI-centric sectors by far led unicorn creation in March, with 14 of the 36 newcomers hailing from the robotics, foundational AI or AI infrastructure industries:

Robotics

• , a robotics for manufacturing company spun out by , raised a $500 million Series A led by and . The 1-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $2 billion.
• Shenzhen-based , an intelligent sensor technology for robotics, raised a $145 million Series B led by , and . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Beijing-based , a humanoid robotics company, raised $145 million in funding. The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• , a humanoid robotics company for household tasks, raised a $165 million Series B led by . The 2-year-old Mountain View, California-based company was valued at $1.2 billion. The company plans to deploy robots to homes this year.
• Pudong, China-based , an intelligent layer for robotics in manufacturing, raised an $87 million Series D round. The 9-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• , a provider of simulated data for robotic intelligence, raised a $146 million Series A. The 3-year-old Santa Clara, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Foundational AI

• Paris-based raised a $1 billion seed round led by , ,, and . The less than 1-year-old company was founded by LeCun, 鈥檚 former AI lead, and is working to develop models for physical AI. It was valued at $4.5 billion in the round, which is Europe鈥檚 largest seed round on record.
• , a robot foundation model developer trained on internet scale video, raised a $450 million Series A led by . The 2-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $1.7 billion.
• , a math foundation model developer for verified AI useful for coding and other applications, raised a $200 million Series A led by . The 1-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $1.6 billion.
• Beijing-based , a text-to-video startup with its own AI model, raised a $300 million Series C led by . The 2-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

AI infrastructure

• , a provider of networking hardware and software for data centers, raised a $500 million Series B led by and . The 2-year-old Santa Clara, California-based company was valued at $4.2 billion.
• , a chip cooling technology, raised a $143 million Series D led by . The 8-year-old San Jose, California-based company was valued at $1.6 billion.
• , which offers GPU rentals for startups, raised a Series A funding led by . The 2-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Redmond, Washington-based , a company building data centers in space, raised a $170 million Series A led by and . The 2-year-old company聽 was valued at $1.1 billion.聽 It launched its first satellite with a H100 in November 2025.

Financial services

• London-based , an AI-native platform for debt providers including banks, asset managers and advisory firms, raised a $170 million Series C led by . The 9-year-old company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• Mumbai-based , a wealth asset advisory firm for high-net-worth individuals and family offices, raised a $53 million private equity funding led by . The 4-year old, venture-backed asset manager was valued at $1.1 billion.
• Brussels-based , an investment group for digital assets, raised a Series C led by . The 8-year-old company was valued at $1.1 billion.
• Abu Dhabi-based , a payments infrastructure provider for regulated gaming markets, raised a $250 million funding led by . The less than 1-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Developer tools

• , which promises to make your app enterprise ready with authentication and other features, raised a $100 million Series C led by and. The 8-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $2 billion.
• , an observability platform for agentic AI, raised a $110 million Series B led by . The 3-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a software developer for hardware testing and development, raised an $80 million Series B led by . The 3-year-old Austin-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Defense

• , a drone technology company built for defense, raised a $110 million Series B led by . The 7-year-old Huntsville, Alabama-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• Sydney-based , provider of advanced navigation beyond GPS for military and industrial capabilities, raised a $112 million Series C led by . The 13-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.
• London-based , a builder of unmanned systems used in the Ukrainian war, raised a $50 million seed聽 funding led by and . The 1-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Biotechnology

• Austin-based , a biological AI research company spun out of聽 , raised a $10 million seed extension. The less than 1-year-old company was valued at $2 billion.
• , a neurotech company focused on brain computer interfaces, raised a $230 million Series C led by and聽 Lightspeed Venture Partners. The 5-year-old Alameda, California-based company, whose primary product, an implant to restore vision for those who suffer retinal disease, was valued at $1.5 billion.

Sales and marketing

• Amsterdam-based , a builder of agents for companies to deploy in customer service and business operations, raised a $150 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old company was valued at $2 billion.
• , an agentic layer that monitors customers and researches prospects, raised a Series B led by . The 2-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Security

• , native AI security with its own human triage for customers, raised a $250 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old Sarasota, Florida-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• , which uses AI for offensive security, raised a $120 million Series C led by and . The 2-year-old Seattle-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Cryptocurrency

• Seychelles-based , a global cryptocurrency exchange platform, raised a $200 million corporate round led by , the parent company of the . The 12-year-old company was valued at $25 billion.

Telehealth

• Miami-based , ‘s telehealth provider for GLP-1 medications through employers, raised a $200 million Series A led by . The 5-year-old company was valued at $2 billion.

Professional services

• London-based , an AI notetaking startup, raised a $125 million Series C led by . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.

Consumer goods

• , a company with a mattress, thermal blanket and pillow designed to monitor and improve sleep, raised a $50 million Series D led by . The 11-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.

Accelerator

• London-based , an accelerator that sources founders from top schools, raised a $200 million Series D. The 11-year-old company, which hosts its latest cohorts in Silicon Valley, was valued at $1.3 billion.

Quantum computing

• Sichuan, China-based , a quantum computer and chip-production company, raised a $145 million Series B. The 5-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Autonomous driving

• Hangzhou-based , an intelligent driving platform, raised a Series A led by , and . The less than 1-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Related SA国际传媒 unicorn lists:

• (1,739)
• (609)
• (101)
• (188)
• (117)
• (102)
• (896)
• (510)
• (236)
• (38)
• (472)

Related reading:

• This Is A Momentous Year For Early-Stage Unicorns
• The Rising Investors Behind The New Unicorn Class
• While OpenAI Shattered Records, Robotics and Semiconductor Startups Quietly Added The Most New Unicorns In February

Methodology

The SA国际传媒 Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on SA国际传媒 data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations 鈥� such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options 鈥� as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. SA国际传媒 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to SA国际传媒 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

While no billion-dollar rounds led this week鈥檚 list, we nonetheless saw a variety of startups in industries ranging from semiconductors to aerospace to biotech raise sizable rounds. The week鈥檚 biggest deal was $400 million for SiFive, a semiconductor startup challenging incumbent with chip designs built on an open rather than proprietary standard.

1. , $400M, semiconductors: San Mateo, California-based semiconductor startup SiFive raised a $400 million Series G round led by . SiFive makes the blueprints used by companies such as to develop their own internal chip designs, on an open standard called RISC-V. CEO Reuters he expects the raise to be SiFive鈥檚 last funding round before an IPO, though didn鈥檛 say when an offering would take place.

2. , $200M, aviation: Hermeus, an El Segundo, California-based startup developing autonomous military aircraft, raised $200 million in equity in a -led round. The company, which is developing what it says will be the fastest unmanned defense aircraft, also raised $150 million in debt as part of the round, which pushes its valuation to $1 billion. Other investors in the deal include , and

3. $137M, biotechnology: San Diego-based Sidewinder, a biotech startup developing cancer drugs to target difficult-to-treat tumors, raised a $137 million Series B led by and . The company is developing聽next-generation cancer drugs called antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, which are designed to act like 鈥済uided missiles鈥� by using engineered antibodies to deliver toxic payloads directly into tumor cells. The company said its new funding will be used to push its lead drug candidates into clinical trials.

4. , $125M, AI infrastructure: Palo Alto, California-based Aria Networks raised $125 million in a -led Series A funding round. The company develops an AI-driven networking platform that monitors, analyzes and optimizes data center performance.

5. , $111.7M, aerospace: Starfish Space, a Seattle-based startup developing and manufacturing autonomous space vehicles that perform in-orbit, satellite servicing missions, raised $111.7 million. The Series B round was led by , and . Starfish鈥檚 spacecraft dock to satellites already in orbit to service and reposition them. They can also remove defunct satellites and debris from space.

6. (tied) , $100M, biotechnology: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Stipple Bio raised a $100 million Series A round to advance its precision cancer therapies. The round was led by , and . Stipple aims to develop highly targeted cancer treatments that selectively attack cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.

6. (tied) , $100M, health insurance: led the $100 million Series E for Chapter, a New York-based startup offering a Medicare navigation platform that provides advisory services for seniors seeking health coverage. Other investors include 鈥嬧��, and 1.

8. , $85M, fintech: Modus, a Philadelphia-based startup, raised $85 million in a -led seed and Series A round. The startup describes itself as a tech鈥慹nabled audit platform that acquires CPA firms and equips them with AI鈥慸riven audit tools to deliver higher鈥憅uality audits. and also participated in the deal.

9. , $80M, medical devices: and led the $80 million Series C for Menlo Park, California-based Endovascular Engineering, also called E2, which has developed a device called H膿lo for the treatment of venous thromboembolism, or VTE. The company secured clearance for H膿lo in December.

10. , $80M, biotechnology: Boston-based Life Sciences, which aims to develop drugs to promote longevity and find treatments for age-related diseases, says it raised $80 million in Series D funding. The company says it will use the funding to advance human trials of its cellular rejuvenation therapy, called ER-100, which aims to make older, damaged cells act younger again. Investors in the round were not disclosed. The company has previously been backed by , , , and.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the SA国际传媒 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of April 4-10. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

Startup investors kept up the busy dealmaking pace this week with a number of big rounds. Top among them was a $1.75 billion Series D for , developer of autonomous vessels. Other big funding recipients hailed from sectors including fitness wearables, energy tech, cybersecurity and AI infrastructure, among others.

1. , $1.75B, autonomous ships: Austin-based Saronic, a defense tech startup focused on autonomous sea vessels, raised $1.75 billion in Series D funding, bringing total funding to around $2.6 billion. led the round, which set a $9.25 billion valuation for the聽 company, more than double its Series C level in 2025.

2. , $575M, fitness wearables: Whoop, a provider of wearable fitness technology and a subscription platform that tracks physiological data, secured $575 million in Series G funding. led the financing,which set a $10.1 billion valuation for the Boston-based company.

3. , $450M, nuclear energy: El Segundo, California-based nuclear energy startup Valar Atomics, raised fresh capital at a valuation of $2 billion, according to a citing unnamed sources. The financing reportedly included $340 million in equity funding and $110 million in debt.

4. , $300M, battery technology: EnerVenue, a developer of grid-scale energy storage technology, says it closed on a $300 million extension of its Series B preferred round led by . The Fremont, California-based company also appointed a new chief executive officer, Henning Rath.

5. , $250M, cybersecurity: Sarasota, Florida-based AI-enabled cybersecurity startup Tenex picked up $250 million in Series B funding led by . The company said it plans to use the funds to hire more than 250 people and supplying them with AI technology that makes them 鈥渢en times more efficient.鈥�

6. , $200M, micromobility: Also, an electric mobility company spun out of , raised $200 million in a Series C round 鈥媌acked by , , and . The Palo Alto, California-based startup鈥檚 product lineup includes bikes, small autonomous EVs for deliveries, and associated gear.

7. , $170M, space tech: Starcloud, a space infrastructure startup focused on building orbital data centers, secured $170 million in Series A funding led by and . The financing sets a $1.1 billion valuation for the Redmond, Washington-based company, making it the fastest alum to achieve unicorn status after demo day, which was 17 months ago.

8. , $130M, cloud infrastructure: New York-based cloud and AI infrastructure startup ScaleOps landed $130 million in Series C funding. led the financing, which set聽 a valuation of over $800 million for the 4-year-old company.

9. , $100M, biotech: Boulder, Colorado-based Ambrosia Biosciences, a developer of next-generation oral therapeutics for obesity and related cardiometabolic diseases, picked up $100 million in Series B funding led by , and .

10. , $94M, money transfer: OpenFX, provider of a platform to move money across borders, secured $94 million in Series A funding from backers including , , , and .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the SA国际传媒 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of March 28-April 3. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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A total of 47 seed- and early-stage companies joined the unicorn ranks in the first quarter of this year, per SA国际传媒 data. Barring a major slowdown, that puts 2026 on track to deliver the聽 largest cohort of young unicorns to date.

This year鈥檚 newcomers follow a good-sized 2025 cohort of early-stage companies that secured valuations of $1 billion or more as well. Per SA国际传媒 data, 59 hit this valuation milestone last year, up about 50% from 2024.

Over the past 10-plus years, meanwhile, the number of new early-stage unicorns has fluctuated widely, from a couple dozen to more than 100, as charted below.

Recent early unicorns are all about AI

Virtually all of the early-stage unicorns minted in the past couple quarters are AI-focused.

This includes several of the most heavily funded newcomers. Examples include , the physical AI startup launched by , , the foundational AI company co-founded by former CTO , and , a London-based AI infrastructure unicorn that has raised over $5 billion.

All this represents the opposite of a surprising development, given that 80% of global venture funding this past quarter went to AI. Additionally, later-stage AI companies are famously securing unheard-of private market valuations, with and recently valued at $852 billion and $380 billion, respectively.

While we鈥檙e not seeing those kinds of numbers for more recently minted early-stage unicorns, several are hitting post-money valuations previously unheard of for such young companies. Thinking Machines Lab, valued at $12 billion for its first funding, is reportedly looking to secure a $50 billion valuation for its next round. And 2-year-old , which secured an $8 billion valuation late last year, is reportedly fresh funding at a $25 billion value.

Fastest climbers

In addition to their high valuations, many newcomers to the early-stage unicorn club are also noteworthy for the speed of their ascents.

Quite a few unicorns minted in the last 15 months were founded in 2025. And one 鈥� 鈥� was apparently founded just this year. For a broader view, we used SA国际传媒 data to aggregate some prominent examples of recently founded early-stage unicorns.

By now, some of our early-stage unicorns have also already moved on to later stage. Nscale, for instance, closed a Series C this month. And residential backup power provider closed on $1 billion in Series C funding in October, just eight months after its Series B. Others are already close to securing new funding at Series C and beyond.

Was this the peak?

Given the new funding records set last quarter, and the blistering pace of early-stage unicorn creation, it鈥檚 worth considering whether this could be the peak for the ultra-high AI newcomer funding rounds and valuations. After all, public markets haven鈥檛 done well in recent weeks, and private markets have a history of following suit.

For those of us who鈥檝e followed startup funding ebbs and peaks for some time, it鈥檚 clear the current environment shares characteristics of a market top. By the same token, top performing tech startups have long demonstrated that doubters are often wrong.

Related reading:

• Investors Are Once Again Rapidly Minting Early-Stage Startups As Unicorns
• More Early-Stage Startups Are Getting Minted As Unicorns
• The SA国际传媒 Unicorn Board

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The first quarter of 2026 was unlike any other for venture investment, driven by unprecedented spending on AI compute and frontier labs. SA国际传媒 data shows investors poured $300 billion into 6,000 startups globally in the quarter, up over 150% quarter over quarter and year over year.

That marks an all-time high for global venture investment not approached by any other quarter on record. In fact, startup investment in the first quarter of 2026 alone totaled close to 70% of all venture capital spending in 2025. The quarterly sum also tops all full-year investment totals prior to 2018.

Q1’s startup investment largely went to AI startups and disproportionately to a handful of U.S.-based companies in record-setting deals. Four of the five largest venture rounds ever recorded were closed in Q1 2026, with frontier labs ($122 billion), ($30 billion), ($20 billion) and self-driving company ($16 billion) collectively raising $188 billion, or 65% of global venture investment in the quarter.

Overall, AI shattered records last quarter, with $242 billion 鈥� 80% of total global venture funding in Q1鈥� going to companies in the sector. The previous record was set in Q1 2025, when AI accounted for 55% of global venture funding.

Table of Contents

• Valuation surge, capital concentration
• US above 80%
• Late-stage hike
• Early stage up over 40%
• Seed funding up over 30%
• IPO slowdown, M&A pick up
• Public pressure
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Valuation surge, capital concentration

Along with the three major frontier labs and Waymo, another 10 companies raised funding rounds of $1 billion or more in Q1, in sectors spanning generative and physical AI, autonomous vehicles, semiconductors, data centers, robotics, defense and prediction markets.

Those outsized rounds pushed overall startup valuations higher in Q1. The SA国际传媒 Unicorn Board added $900 billion in value during the quarter, marking the largest valuation bump in a single quarter.

US above 80%

U.S.-based companies raised $250 billion, or 83% of global venture capital in Q1, SA国际传媒 data shows. That鈥檚 up significantly from 71% in Q1 2025, which was already well above historical averages in the decade before 2024.

The second-largest market globally for venture funding in Q1 was China, with $16.1 billion invested. The U.K. followed, with $7.4 billion invested. Both countries were up quarter over quarter and even more significantly year over year.

Late-stage hike

The Q1 funding surge was concentrated in late-stage funding, which reached $246.6 billion 鈥� up 205% year over year 鈥� across 584 deals. A total of $235 billion was invested in 158 late-stage companies that raised rounds of $100 million and more.

Early stage up over 40%

Early-stage funding totaled $41.3 billion across 1,800 deals, SA国际传媒 data shows.

Funding was up marginally quarter over quarter but up 41% year over year from $29.4 billion. Much of that increase went to Series A rounds, SA国际传媒 data shows. Series B deals were down quarter over quarter but still up year over year.

Seed funding up over 30%

Seed funding totaled $12 billion, up 31% year over year, though the increase was entirely due to larger rounds, with deal counts falling 30% year over year to 3,800.

IPO slowdown, M&A pick up

Record venture investment in U.S. companies did not translate into a stronger IPO market in Q1.

In fact, the U.S. market for new listings slowed in Q1 amid a broader stock market selloff in software, although China鈥檚 IPO market picked up.

A total of 21 venture-backed companies exited globally above $1 billion in Q1. Thirteen of those were from China, four more from elsewhere in Asia, and four from the U.S.

The largest IPO in Q1 was Japan-based , a fintech for mobile payments valued at $10 billion upon listing.聽 Two foundation lab companies from China 鈥� and 鈥� debuted on the , each valued at more than $6 billion.

While the IPO market was somewhat lackluster, startup M&A was strong in Q1 with exits cumulatively valued north of $56.6 billion, SA国际传媒 data shows. That marked the third-highest startup M&A quarter since the downturn of 2022.

The largest M&A deals in Q1 were 鈥檚 $6 billion planned acquisition of 鈥檚 gaming platform , and 鈥檚 planned $5.15 billion acquisition of fintech startup .

Public pressure

While frontier lab megarounds defined Q1 2026, a closer look at the data shows every startup funding stage grew last quarter, as did round sizes across the board.

And unlike the cloud and mobile era, this cycle is also being built in the physical world, with massive capital flowing not just into software, but infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, robotics and manufacturing.

Now, with startup valuations surging and a backlog of companies with unprecedented sums of private capital behind them, pressure is intensifying on the IPO markets to reopen in 2026.

Related SA国际传媒 queries:

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from SA国际传媒, and is based on reported data. Data is as of March 31, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. SA国际传媒 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to SA国际传媒 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. SA国际传媒 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. SA国际传媒 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

The pace of large-scale dealmaking picked up some this week, led by 鈥檚 disclosure that it raised another $10 billion to add to its record-setting megaround announced last month. Other big financings went to startups and growth-stage companies in sectors including defense tech, enterprise AI, autonomy and even laundry.

1. , $10B, foundational AI: OpenAI $10 billion in additional funding for its record-setting megaround announced in late February, reportedly bringing the total fundraise to the San Francisco-based company to over $120 billion. Backers in this latest financing include , , , and .

2. , $2B, defense tech: San Diego-based defense tech unicorn Shield AI said it secured $2 billion at a $12.7 billion valuation. The round consists of $1.5 billion in Series G funding led by and along with $500 million in preferred equity financing backed by . Part of the proceeds will help pay for the planned acquisition of , a defense software company whose technology is used to train pilots and test advanced aircraft and autonomous systems.

3. , $350M, transportation safety: Cambridge Mobile Telematics, a telematics and AI company focused on enabling safer mobility, picked up $350 million in a new financing聽 led by and . Founded in 2010, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company has raised over $850 million to date, per SA国际传媒 .

4. (tied) , $200M, legal tech: Harvey, the fast-growing provider of AI-enabled tools for law firms and in-house legal teams, closed on $200 million in fresh financing at an $11 billion valuation. and led the round, which brings total funding to 4-year-old San Francisco-based Harvey to around $1.2 billion.

4. (tied) , $200M, healthcare: eMed, a provider of GLP-1 programs for employers that counts as chief wellness officer and backer, said it raised $200 million in new funding. led the round, which set a $2 billion plus valuation for the Miami-based company.

6. , $170M, satellite tech: Xona secured a $170 million Series C round led by . The funds will go to scaling satellite production for a planned constellation of next-generation navigation satellites. Founded in 2019, Burlingame, California-based Xona has raised over $320 million to date.

7. , $140M, laundry tech: Cents, a provider of software and payments technology for the laundry industry, secured $140 million in Series C funding led by . The New York-based company said the round represents 鈥渢he largest single software investment in the laundry vertical to date.鈥�

8. , $125M, AI health tools: Palo Alto, California-based Qualified Health, developer of an enterprise AI platform for health systems, locked up $125 million in Series B financing led by .

9. (tied) , $110M, data observability: Dash0, an agentic observability platform, announced it closed on $110 million in Series B funding led by . Founded in 2023, the New York-based company has raised over $154 million to date.

9 (tied) , $110M, drones: Huntsville, Alabama-based Performance Drone Works, a startup that designs, engineers and manufactures drones for defense and law enforcement, secured over $110 million in Series B funding led by .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the SA国际传媒 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of March 21-27. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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