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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To understand what鈥檚 holding the IPO market back and what could unlock it, SA国际传媒 News recently spoke with , U.S. IPO services leader at , via email. He discussed how companies are rethinking IPO timing this year, how investor expectations have shifted since the 2021 boom, and why the next wave of large listings could raise the bar for smaller and mid-cap tech companies.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

SA国际传媒 News: How are companies thinking about timing, pricing and capital needs in this uncertain market?

Bellin: The companies we work with have become significantly more sophisticated in their approach to all three dimensions, and the most important shift we’ve seen is a move away from calendar-driven thinking toward readiness-driven thinking.

On timing, companies are no longer asking “when is the window?” They’re asking, “Are we ready when the window opens?” That’s a meaningful evolution.

After years of intermittent issuance windows, late-stage companies have learned hard lessons about the cost of being caught flat-footed. The companies that priced successfully in 2025 had invested 18 to 24 months in advance in governance upgrades, financial reporting infrastructure, and refinement of their equity story.

That institutional preparation is now table stakes. As we’ve noted in our , market windows can open and close quickly, which makes continuous readiness and flexibility essential, regardless of where macro conditions stand on any given day.

On pricing, there’s been a healthy reset in expectations. The exuberance of 2021, when companies could access the market at growth multiples untethered from near-term fundamentals, is not what we’re operating in today.

Investors today are paying a premium for scaled, cash-generative stories with clear paths to profitability. That means founders and their boards have had harder conversations about the right price relative to where comparable public companies trade, rather than anchoring to the last private-round valuations.

The good news is that median pre-money valuations have begun to rise for the first time since 2021, particularly for AI-enabled businesses and later-stage companies with clear profitability trajectories. The reset isn’t a permanent discount; it’s a quality filter.

On capital needs, we’re seeing more disciplined thinking about sizing. Nearly every company going public targets a raise that covers 18 to 24 months of operations, ideally through to profitability.

What’s changed is that companies are also thinking harder about their post-IPO capital structure: How do the IPO proceeds interact with existing debt, what is the all-in cost of capital as a public company, and how does the public currency (stock) open doors for strategic M&A or talent retention?

The best-prepared companies treat the IPO not just as a fundraiser but as a balance-sheet transformation.

It feels like the IPO market is moving more slowly so far this year than expected. Why do you think that is? Do you expect it will pick up?

There are several factors at play, and it’s worth separating the structural from the situational.

On the situational side, the October-to-November 2025 government shutdown had a materially disruptive effect on the capital markets calendar that is still being felt. The SEC reported that issuers filed more than 900 registration statements during the shutdown, all of which required review and processing once operations resumed. That backlog doesn’t clear overnight.

Companies that had been in process for a Q4 2025 or early Q1 2026 launch found themselves delayed, recalibrating roadshow timing, and in some cases choosing to wait for the market to absorb other supply first. So, some of the slowness we’re seeing in early 2026 is the shadow of that disruption.

On the structural side, macro uncertainty 鈥� including tariff policy, interest rate trajectory, and geopolitical volatility 鈥� has raised the bar for when boards and investors feel confident enough to move forward. Companies are increasingly patient because they have deep pools of private capital supporting them. That optionality is valuable, but it also means that when uncertainty spikes, the default decision is to wait.

That said, we do expect the market to pick up, and we’re cautiously optimistic about the balance of the year. The underlying fundamentals for the IPO market are strong: 2025 demonstrated healthy investor appetite for high-quality offerings, traditional IPOs raised the most proceeds since 2021, and the backlog of IPO-ready companies entering 2026 is among the largest in a decade, with more than 800 unicorns that have now spent additional years strengthening their balance sheets and operating discipline.

As the clears its backlog and macro visibility improves, we expect activity to accelerate, particularly in AI infrastructure, software and specialty risk. The first few deals of any re-opening tend to be conservatively priced to rebuild confidence, and if those hold their post-IPO performance, the door widens for the cohort behind them.

What sorts of companies do you expect to hit the public market this year?

Based on where investor appetite is concentrated, we see the strongest IPO pipeline in several distinct sectors. AI infrastructure, including data centers, power capacity, and chip-adjacent services, leads the pack.

Physical AI: Investor demand for direct exposure to the physical layer of the AI economy is significant, and large-scale, capital-intensive businesses in this space have been able to command premium valuations. The 2025 AI infrastructure IPO set a powerful precedent: Institutional investors proved willing to underwrite capital-intensive, high-growth models when the contracted revenue visibility is strong.

AI-enabled software: This also continues to be a top investor preference. The key distinction from earlier software cycles is that investors are no longer willing to pay high multiples purely on growth. They want to see that AI is genuinely embedded in the product, that net dollar retention is strong, and that the path to margin expansion is credible. Platforms with high switching costs and essential utility are commanding the best multiples.

Insurance and specialty risk: This sector had a strong 2025, and that momentum is continuing into 2026. These businesses tend to offer the cash-flow predictability that institutional investors increasingly prize.

Industrials, aerospace and defense: These are also moving up the IPO pipeline, supported by reshoring policy tailwinds and supply-chain realignment.

How are these listings influencing the strategies of smaller and mid-cap tech companies?

It is real and somewhat sobering. High-profile listings serve as both a benchmark and a warning.

When a well-known, scaled company prices and trades well post-IPO, it recalibrates expectations across the sector, validating the category and giving smaller companies a comparable reference.

But it also raises the implied bar. Investors who have a scaled, cash-generative AI infrastructure company available at a $40 billion to $50 billion valuation will apply that lens to every software or infrastructure company in their pipeline.

Smaller companies are watching their larger peers closely and, in many cases, extending their private timelines. They use the interval to strengthen unit economics, hit profitability milestones, and build out the public company infrastructure (board composition, financial controls, investor relations capability) that institutional investors now expect to see in place on day one.

Given that 2026 has seen a massive surge in venture secondaries, is an IPO still the 鈥淕old Standard鈥� exit? Or is PwC seeing founders use secondaries to delay their IPO even further?

This is one of the most important structural questions in the private markets right now, and the honest answer is nuanced.

The IPO remains the aspirational end-state for most venture-backed companies. It provides the broadest access to capital, the most liquid currency for acquisitions and talent retention, and the clearest signal of institutional legitimacy. In that sense, it retains its status as the gold standard. But what has clearly changed is the sequencing and the role that secondaries play in getting there.

The secondary market has undergone a structural transformation. What was once considered a signal of distress 鈥� such as an insider selling before a company was 鈥渞eady鈥� for the public markets 鈥� has been normalized as a sophisticated liquidity tool.

As noted in our , nearly half of asset managers are already using continuation funds to unlock liquidity, and GP-led secondaries and continuation vehicles are now mainstream instruments. Secondary transaction volume surpassed $60 billion in 2025, and the market is projected to continue growing significantly in 2026. Secondaries are expected to remain the dominant exit route for private equity, with IPOs still accounting for only a limited share of total private equity exits.

For founders specifically, we see secondaries being used for several distinct and legitimate strategic purposes:

First, personal liquidity without forced exit timing. Founders who are a decade or more into building their companies have reasonable personal financial planning needs. Secondaries allow them to diversify without forcing the company into a public exit on a suboptimal timeline.

Second, employee retention. Extended hold periods have put pressure on the equity value of employees who joined years ago and expected a liquidity event. Secondary programs provide a release valve, allowing companies to retain talent they might otherwise lose.

Third, valuation discovery in a more forgiving setting. Private secondary pricing, while increasingly sophisticated, is still conducted without the full scrutiny of a public offering, allowing companies to establish a market-clearing price on their own terms.

What we caution founders about, however, is treating secondary access as a reason to indefinitely postpone the public markets journey. The median time to IPO for companies that went public in 2025 has reached over 11 years, the longest in a decade.

Extended private holding periods can be constructive, but they also delay price discovery, compress LP distributions, and ultimately reduce the competitive tension that keeps acquisition valuations high.

The IPO window is selective but open, and companies with the right fundamentals shouldn’t mistake the availability of secondary liquidity for permission to wait indefinitely.

Is PwC advising late-stage founders to prioritize GAAP profitability over top-line growth to satisfy the current 鈥渇light to quality鈥� among institutional investors?

We’re not advising founders to make a binary choice between growth and profitability, but we are advising them to have a credible, investor-grade answer to both.

The market signal from 2025 and into 2026 has been clear: Institutional investors are no longer willing to pay premium multiples on growth alone. The “Rule of 40,” the principle that a company’s revenue growth rate plus its profit margin should exceed 40%, and which may now be more a rule of 60, has re-emerged as a baseline screening metric for public market investors evaluating software and tech businesses.

Investors are paying a premium for scaled, cash-generative stories with clear paths to profitability. The emphasis is on paths.

GAAP profitability at the IPO date is not a requirement, but an articulated, credible, time-bound roadmap to it absolutely is.

What has changed is the tolerance for ambiguity. In 2021, investors were willing to fund a narrative about future profitability at an indefinite horizon.

Today, they want to see demonstrated progress in unit economics, such as improving gross margins, reducing customer acquisition costs as a percentage of revenue, and expanding net dollar retention, paired with a specific operating-leverage story. When do sales and marketing efficiency improve? When does R&D spend as a percentage of revenue compress? Where does operating margin land at scale? These are questions that founders must be able to answer with precision, not just aspiration.

The GAAP-versus-non-GAAP debate is also something we work through carefully with companies. Adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP operating income are widely used and accepted, but institutional investors have become more sophisticated in looking through those metrics to understand certain adjustments as a real economic cost, and to evaluate true free cash flow generation.

Companies that present GAAP financials in a clear, transparent, investor-friendly way, rather than burying them under adjustments, tend to build more durable institutional credibility.

Our practical advice to late-stage founders is this: Make sure your growth spending is efficient and that every dollar of investment is generating measurably improving unit economics.

The investors we work with are sophisticated enough to reward capital-efficient growth with premium valuations and to discount growth that appears to require permanently escalating spending to sustain it.

Governance maturity, financial reporting infrastructure, and a compelling, data-supported equity story are as important to IPO success today as the top-line numbers themselves.

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February was the biggest month on record for venture funding. And while the vast majority of that capital went to just three companies 鈥� , and 鈥� a whole host of under-the-radar startups also drew investor checks.

Among those that most piqued our interest: A phlebotomy robot, a company that aims to revive precision manufacturing in the U.S. and Europe with a small-business franchise model, and a health beverage made from seaweed. Let鈥檚 dive in.

$70M for robotic blood draws

If you鈥檙e squeamish about needles or blood, you might want to stop reading now.

This week, Dutch startup raised $70 million in Series B funding for its phlebotomy robots, which are designed to autonomously perform diagnostic blood draws.

Vitestro was founded in 2017 and has raised more than $104 million to date, . Its Series B investors include , and , among others.

The new funding will be used to advance its Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device, to seek regulatory approvals in the U.S. and to scale commercialization.

Blood draws are one of the most routine and important processes in healthcare, investors noted, but have undergone little to no technical innovation, despite chronic industry staffing shortages.

Vitestro鈥檚 device is designed to be installed in phlebotomy departments and combines imaging technology, AI and advanced robotics to identify suitable veins for a blood draw, guide needle insertion and collect blood samples, according to the company.

鈥淰itestro is redefining one of the largest and most under innovated clinical workflows with a first-of-its-kind autonomous robotic platform for diagnostic blood collection addressing an enormous unmet global market need,鈥� Dr. , co-founder and partner at Sonder Capital and former co-founder and CEO of and , said in a statement. “I believe this technology has the potential to establish a new standard of care, much as robotic surgery did in its early days.”

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$50M for a franchise model for precision manufacturing

Two of the hottest startup industries right now are defense and space tech. At the same time, domestic manufacturing in the U.S. and Europe, particularly for military and defense applications, has come under renewed focus amid global trade tensions and intensifying wars.

Against that backdrop, manufacturing startup said earlier this week that it raised a $50 million Series A, less than a year after its seed round. The London-based company says it plans to open 25 factories by the end of 2026 and launch into Germany, France and Ukraine.

Isembard makes technology to manufacture precision components that are used in the defense, aerospace, energy and robotics sectors. Interestingly, it operates as a franchise model that lets existing machine shops and new businesses use its proprietary software and AI system.

It noted that component manufacturing is a $1.8 trillion a year industry. Yet, 95% of production is done by small businesses. The typical owner of one of those small machine shops is more than 65 years old and 40% plan to retire within five years, according to the company.

led Isembard鈥檚 Series A investment, which included participation from聽, , , , and individual investors , and .

鈥淚sembard is redefining the process of owning and running a factory,鈥� , managing partner at Union Square, said in a statement. 鈥淏y embedding deep operational expertise into an agentic OS, MasonOS lowers the barrier to operating high-performance manufacturing businesses and enables a networked, capital-efficient path to scale. At a moment when demand for advanced manufacturing is accelerating and interest in SMB ownership is rising, Isembard brings both forces together.鈥�

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$13M for seaweed beverages

While overall funding to food and beverage startups has plummeted since their pandemic-era heights, products that offer unique health benefits do still attract investor attention.

One recently funded company in that space is , a Torrance, California-based startup that makes wellness-oriented drinks from seaweed. The company secured $13 million in seed funding led by with participation from and .

Founded in 2019 by , Aqua Theon鈥檚 first product is OoMee, a seaweed-based beverage marketed as supporting gut health and satiety. Its star ingredient, agar-agar, has reportedly seen a surge in social media interest.

Beverages marketed as healthful or beneficial are to be a more than $192 billion market by the end of this year.聽 Among funded startups, that has included a heavy emphasis on products that orient themselves around offering protein, fiber or an energy boost, a review of SA国际传媒 data shows.

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$6M for an email provider for AI agents

They grow up so fast, don鈥檛 they? Less than four years into the AI boom, AI agents are already asking for their own email addresses.

That鈥檚 the premise behind , a San Francisco-based startup that this week said it has raised $6 million in seed funding from a long list of investors to build the tech stack for software agents, starting with their inboxes.

鈥淎I agents are already starting to function as virtual employees across industries,鈥� , partner at , said in a statement. 鈥淭hese agents need their own identity and email is the heart of identity on the internet. Traditional identity services were not built with agentic use cases in mind, and AgentMail is building that part of the stack, starting with email.鈥�

To that end, AgentMail said it鈥檚 launching its onboarding API to let AI agents get email addresses without human assistance.

“The next billion users of the internet will be AI agents,” AgentMail co-founder said in a statement. “We’re building infrastructure that treats agents as first-class citizens, starting with email. The demand is so intense that the agents themselves are finding us and signing up.鈥�

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$1.3M for AI for wastewater treatment

, an AI software company that helps the wastewater industry manage complex systems and make critical decisions, raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding. The deal exemplifies a common theme among funded AI startups: Many operate in very niche industries and promise to automate process-heavy workflows.

Nyad said its tool is designed to help plant operators in the wastewater industry, which faces a looming labor shortage as nearly half of the sector鈥檚 U.S. workforce is expected in the next decade.

The round for the Birmingham, Alabama-based startup was led by and included participation from , , , , and angel investor .

Nyad was founded in 2024 by British entrepreneurs (CEO) and after the two reportedly experienced poor water quality during triathlon training in the U.K. They later moved the company to the U.S. after seeing early customer demand through pilot programs in the Birmingham area.

Nyad鈥檚 technology helps plant operators maintain compliance and troubleshoot issues. 鈥淥perators are the final line of defense for public health and the environment,鈥� Szepietowski said in a statement. 鈥淎s experience retires out of the industry, we need tools that support operators in the moment when decisions matter most.鈥�

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• Startups Are Serving Up Drinks With Protein, Caffeine And A Shot Of Wellness

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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 first week of March was a relatively brisk period for large startup funding rounds, led by three deals of $500 million or more in the space tech and AI infrastructure sectors. In addition, we saw some good-sized deals around healthcare, neuroscience and enterprise software.

1. , $550M, space tech: Sierra Space, a space and defense tech company that designs and manufactures satellites, spacecraft and space subsystems, secured $550 million in equity funding led by . The financing sets an $8 billion valuation for the 5-year-old, Louisville, Colorado-based company.

2. (tied) , $500M, AI infrastructure: Ayar Labs, a producer of co-packaged optics for use in AI infrastructure, landed $500 million in Series E funding led by . The financing sets a $3.75 billion valuation for the 11-year-old, San Jose, California-based company.

2. (tied) , $500M, space tech: Long Beach, California-based Vast, a startup developing next-generation space stations, announced it has raised $500 million in fresh funding. The financing includes $300 million in Series A equity and $200 million in debt, with as lead investor.

4. , $250M, care platform: Findhelp, developer of a platform to coordinate care across health systems, governments, benefits providers and other entities, secured $250 million in investment from 鈥檚 . Founded in 2010, Austin-based Findhelp describes its mission as connecting people to help and support systems.

5. , $230M, neurotech: Alameda, California-based Science Corp., a biotech startup focused on brain-computer interface technologies, announced it has closed on a $230 million Series C fundraise. , , , and were among the investors participating in the syndicated round.

6. , $180M, e-commerce: Cart.com, provider of an e-commerce platform and logistics services for brands to sell across digital channels, picked up $180 million in growth equity investment. led the financing for the Houston-based company.

7. , $150M, mental health care: Grow Therapy, a New York-based platform for providing mental health care, raised $150 million in Series D funding led by and .

8. , $105M, neuroscience: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Cognito Therapeutics, a developer of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, secured $105 million in Series C funding. , and led the financing.

9. , $80M, engineering software: Nominal, a self-described provider of tools for engineers to test and operate critical technology, picked up $80 million in new funding. led the financing, which set a $1 billion valuation for the Austin-based company.

10. , $65M, health software: New York-based Sage, provider of a software platform for senior living and skilled nursing, raised $65 million in Series C 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 Feb. 28-March 6. 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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In the less imaginative realm of venture funding, the term denotes a far less magical but much more visible creature: A space tech company with major funding and a valuation north of $1 billion.

These days, this more staid version of space unicorn is moving up the funding tallies at a faster-than-usual clip. More than two dozen companies in the sector have raised rounds of $100 million or more in the past year, per SA国际传媒 data.

Meanwhile, the biggest unicorn of all 鈥� 24-year-old 鈥� is reportedly seeking a valuation of around $1.5 trillion for an anticipated IPO later this year, featuring rocketry and satellite technology that should make even marshmallow lasers look primitive.

The broad trend: Unlike most startup sectors, which have seen uneven rebounds after hitting a funding peak over four years ago, space tech is hitting fresh highs. Contributing factors include public market enthusiasm for the sector, increased appetite for defense-related investments, and of course advances driving cheaper, more scalable and more technologically sophisticated orbital operations.

The numbers: Venture funding to companies in SA国际传媒 space tech and satellite categories hit a high last year of over $12 billion. So far, 2026 is off to a brisk start as well, with more than $2 billion in reported investment.

While investment is way up, round counts have remained flatter, as charted below.

Noteworthy rounds

Megarounds have been stacking up over the past six months.

By far the biggest of these was Kent, Washington-based , a developer of reusable rockets. The company announced a Series D extension in October that brought the total round size to $860 million.

Houston-based , which is developing a successor to the International Space Station, was a more recent mega-fundraiser, in new financing in February.

And in the satellite communications space, one of the larger financings came this week, as spinout , a developer of software that configures communications satellites to meet demand, secured funding.

For a bigger-picture view, below we put together a list of eight significant space- and satellite technology-related financings of the past six months.

Exits and more

The IPO market has also been receptive to space tech of late, although companies haven鈥檛 always held on to early gains.

One exemplar of this pattern is , a provider of launch, land and in-space services for national security and commercial customers, that went public in August. Shares of the Cedar Park, Texas-based company soared higher in initial trading but have subsequently shed about half their value.

, a Denver-based defense and space tech startup that went public in June, is also down from its initial trading price. On the flip side, , which went public early last year, is on a tear and was recently valued over $11 billion.

Meanwhile, it鈥檚 still early innings for space tech company , which went public just four weeks ago.

Heating up

Overall, in recent quarters space and satellite tech are looking like a sector in vogue. With large financings, regular IPO activity and a giant SpaceX offering on the horizon, we鈥檙e not seeing clear signs of a slowdown ahead for the space unicorn crowd.

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Nonetheless, the first couple months of the year have brought a steady stream of market entries from companies in sectors such as construction tech, space tech and biotech. Noticeably absent, however, are new offerings from SaaS companies, long an IPO market staple.

Per SA国际传媒 data, 11 venture- or seed-backed U.S. companies went public on major exchanges so far this year, raising just over $3 billion. Comparatively, that鈥檚 a fairly robust showing for the first couple months of the year, which tends to be a reasonably active period for IPOs.

Looking at recent years charted below, the first couple months of 2026 are well above the bottom ranks, but still far below the 2021 market peak for volume of offerings and total raised.

Leading offerings weren鈥檛 your typical VC-backed deals

The lineup of companies going public so far this year, however, includes many that don鈥檛 look like your typical VC-backed offering.

This includes the year鈥檚 largest VC-funded IPO: , a service that provides construction equipment rentals and support for building projects. The 11-year-old, Columbia, Missouri-based company raised more than $700 million in its January offering and had a recent market cap of over $7 billion.

The second-largest debut was also somewhat of an outlier: space tech company , which is majority-owned by private equity firm . It鈥檚 down from its initial trading price but recently valued around $3.4 billion.

Per SA国际传媒 data, there have been six IPOs of venture-backed companies this year that raised $200 million or more, which we list below.

SaaS squashed

It鈥檚 also noteworthy who isn鈥檛 on the list. For years, enterprise software companies have been among the more reliable IPO market entrants. This year, however, they鈥檝e been notably absent as the sector contends with an extended selloff fueled partly by concerns of AI-abetted disruption.

We鈥檙e also not seeing SaaS companies in the immediate IPO pipeline. A perusal of so far this year showed no venture-backed SaaS unicorns that submitted a new IPO filing in 2026.

It鈥檚 a sharp contrast to just a few months ago. One of last year鈥檚 splashiest IPOs 鈥� design software platform 鈥� is now down more than two-thirds from its peak. Another of the more recent big SaaS offerings 鈥� business travel and expense platform 鈥� has shed more than half its value.

Meanwhile, -backed , which provides tools for marketers and app developers, withdrew its planned IPO this month, amid the software route. It鈥檚 likely a delay, as that Liftoff filed a new confidential plan shortly afterward.

IPO market in an odd place

Overall, the IPO market is in an odd place at the moment. It鈥檚 an unfriendly scene for companies with business models viewed as vulnerable to AI-driven displacement. At the same time, there鈥檚 still continued buzz around the potential for record-setting offerings from , and .

Of those, the one rumored to be closest on the horizon is SpaceX, newly combined with at a reported $1.25 trillion valuation. The company is said to be eyeing a market debut as early as this summer.

If that happens, and the current SaaS squeeze continues, it wouldn鈥檛 be surprising to see a pattern of record-setting IPO returns coinciding with a very small number of actual debuts.

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VCs were hesitant to call capital and were not actively investing at a time when valuations had reset, he recalls. Founders with 鈥渆xcellent products and progress鈥� were struggling to raise funds to finish the job. Further, limited partners were suffering from the 鈥渄enominator effect,鈥� in which their public market accounts and real estate shrank in value, so their venture investments represented a higher percentage of wealth than they intended.

Around that timeframe, venture secondary sales started to require significant discounts, making secondaries a less appealing option for investors who could hold.

So Hurst teamed up with , and to found and build to provide margin line-style lending to LPs and GPs who wanted to continue investing in venture 鈥渨ithout sourcing an endless stream of capital from outside sources.鈥�

The Santa Monica, California-based firm鈥檚 goal is to provide venture capital and private equity firms with early liquidity options for their investors.

Turbine鈥檚 seed round closed in early 2023 and it in April 2025 after receiving a $100 million warehouse credit line from .

To date, Turbine has underwritten approximately 60 funds, with more than 160 firms in the pipeline representing more than $500 billion in assets under management, according to Hurst.

SA国际传媒 News conducted an email interview with Hurst to learn more about Turbine鈥檚 business model and efforts. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

SA国际传媒 News: Why do you think that LPs are looking for an alternative to secondaries?

Hurst: First, it鈥檚 important to understand that selling an LP stake to a secondary buyer isn鈥檛 as straightforward as listing shares on a secondary market like or . Selling an LP position is much more complex.

As an LP in a venture fund, you don鈥檛 directly own shares in private companies; rather, you have partial ownership in a partnership that owns stock in 15-20 different companies, and the VC firm ultimately decides when to seek liquidity by selling these shares. Most of the time, the firm simply waits for portfolio companies to be acquired or go public to generate liquidity for its LPs.

In the event an LP would like to sell some or all of its position, the firm needs to be heavily involved in the transaction. In some cases, the firm reserves the right to deny the request altogether.

If the firm agrees to the sale, it typically makes the market to find a buyer, which ideally will be another existing LP. In nearly all cases, an early sale of an LP position will result in a heavy discount to today鈥檚 value.

Let鈥檚 say the LP understands all of these factors and requests a sale. While secondaries result in immediate liquidity, they can be extremely expensive, and the trade-offs can be significant:

• The seller gives up any future upside when they sell their stake.
• The position for single-company stock may clear at a 30%-60% discount to the company鈥檚 last valuation (except for elite startups, which command premiums),.
• LP positions are likely to trade lower than single-company stock secondaries due to attached fee structures.
• The seller may be required to pay significant legal fees.
• Any gain on the sale may trigger a taxable event.
• Perhaps most consequentially, the seller is likely to lose their seat at the table for future fund vintages.

The bottom line: if your venture position is marked at 2.0x, you may be lucky to get your principal back in a secondary sale.

This feels a bit risky! How is the company mitigating the potential risk?

Actually, this debt is incredibly attractive relative to other credit products that banks and insurance companies are buying, such as credit card bonds and used-car debt.

A typical Turbine borrower is a family office with tens of millions in wealth spread across multiple asset classes. Our loans are relatively low LTV, but high impact, as they empower the borrower to activate leverage in a previously illiquid arena.

Why has borrowing against a fund position not historically been possible?

LPs have historically been unable to obtain a bank loan against an appreciated LP position in a venture fund for two big reasons.

First, the underlying fund investments in private companies are difficult to underwrite, even if all necessary data is readily available (spoiler alert: it isn鈥檛).

Second, the venture firm would need to facilitate the loan and permit the LP to pledge his or her asset as collateral to the lender, which would typically be a large bank. VCs don鈥檛 have time to work with dozens of commercial banks on individual loan requests, and even if they did, banks aren鈥檛 built to properly value venture-backed private company stock.

Banks are built to lend against profitable, established businesses with cash flow to repay debt. Asking a bank to properly value 15 to 20 pre-profitable companies from a venture portfolio is a tall order.

VCs are not against LPs seeking credit backed by their positions, but they are against gigantic legal bills and heavy diligence from lenders designed to see less value in early-stage companies than they do as investors.

Turbine鈥檚 role is to partner with VC firms to properly value their investments, to originate credit against the value of these positions, and to then place this debt with banks, insurance companies, and asset managers that compete to house it.

How can early liquidity solutions help in the current fundraising environment?

More companies are opting to stay private longer, and exit times are lengthening.

Companies that went public in 2025 were a median age of 13 years old, up from a median age of 10 years in 2018, per . Some are taking even longer to go public; for instance, should reach IPO in 2026, it will be 24 years old. The lack of significant returns from company exits means fewer dollars for LPs to recycle into new funds.

In the absence of earlier company exits, the market needs other solutions to bridge the gap. Credit has a clear role to play in empowering investors to recycle capital, invest in each vintage, retain their seat at the table, and ultimately realize the full upside of their investments without becoming overallocated to the asset class.

When are fund managers most likely to explore liquidity options for LPs?

VCs are working hard to generate liquidity the old-fashioned way, via company sales and IPOs. However, companies have strong options available to stay private longer (if not forever), and the IPO hurdle is higher than ever before. If firms intend to continue raising new funds every three years, they need to provide their LPs with tools to bridge the liquidity gap.

Related reading:

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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.

Startup investors offered fresh evidence once again that there is plenty of capital available for favored companies. Autonomous driving unicorn and robotaxi operator led the pack this week, with $16 billion in fresh funding at a $126 billion valuation. Other large round recipients were also overwhelmingly AI companies, with additional activity in aviation and space tech.

1. , $16B, autonomous driving: Waymo, the autonomous driving company spun out of nearly 10 years ago, raised $16 billion in new funding at a $126 billion post-money valuation. , and l led the round, along with a long list of other investors. The Mountain View, California-based company it plans to enter 20 more cities this year, including Tokyo and London.

2. , $1B, AI processors: Cerebras Systems, a developer of large, fast AI processors, closed a $1 billion Series H round. led the financing, which set a post-money valuation of approximately $23 billion for the Sunnyvale, California-based company.

3. , $500M, AI audio: New York-based ElevenLabs, a developer of AI audio technology, secured a $500 million Series D round led by . The round sets an $11 billion valuation for ElevenLabs, more than tripling from a year ago. The company also reported over $330 million in annual recurring revenue last year.

4. , $300M, aviation: Skyryse, an aviation hardware and software company developing an operating system for flight as well as aircraft called the Skyryse One, landed over $300 million in Series C funding at a valuation over $1 billion. and led the financing for the 10-year-old, El Segundo, California-based company.

5. (tied) , $270M, construction robotics: Bedrock Robotics, a startup developing robotics technology for the construction industry, raised over $270 million in Series B funding. and Valor Atreides AI Fund led the financing, which reportedly set a valuation around $1.75 billion for the roughly 2-year-old, San Francisco-based company.

5. (tied) , $270M, space tech: Austin-based CesiumAstro, a provider of connectivity hardware and software for the space and defense industries, secured $270 million in Series C equity financing and $200 million in debt funding. led the equity portion while and provided the debt.

7. , $230M, AI infrastructure: Positron, a developer of energy-efficient AI inference hardware, picked up $230 million in Series B funding at a post-money valuation of more than $1 billion. , and co-led the financing for the Reno, Nevada-based company.

8. , $225M, enterprise AI: Fundamental, a developer of AI models to build predictions from enterprise data, emerged from stealth and announced it raised a $225 million Series A led by . The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2024, also had a previously undisclosed $30 million seed round.

9. , $175M, weather technology: Boston-based Tomorrow.io, developer of an AI-native weather satellite constellation, closed on $175 million in equity financing led by and . The company says it has fully deployed its first 13- satellite constellation.

10. , $150M, AI research lab: AI research lab Goodfire raised $150 million in Series B funding at a $1.25 billion valuation. B Capital led the financing for the San Francisco-based startup.

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 Jan. 31-Feb. 6. 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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led the financing, which was co-led by and included participation from , , , , and others.

The latest round is the Torrance, California-based startup鈥檚 second in just over nine months, after it raised last April. It has now raised a total of over $136 million since its 2023 inception.

Its funding comes amid red-hot investor interest in space tech. Global venture funding to the sector last year totaled $14.2 billion 鈥� more than double the annual totals in 2023 and 2024 鈥� per SA国际传媒 . Funding recipients reliably include a mix of defense tech, satellite and rocket developers, and startups finding innovative use cases for geospatial data.

Satellite infrastructure

Co-founded by former TV star , Northwood Space describes itself as an end-to-end ground infrastructure provider.

The company said the latest round follows 鈥渕illions in signed contracts,鈥� including a $49.8 million contract with the to support the Satellite Control Network. The SCN, according to Northwood, is 鈥渢he critical infrastructure used for launches and early satellite operations, to track and control satellites, and to provide emergency support to tumbling and lost satellites.鈥�

鈥淏y vertically integrating the entire ground stack, we can collapse what used to take years into months, and what took months into days,鈥� the company said in .

Related SA国际传媒 query:

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In December alone, 23 companies joined The SA国际传媒 Unicorn Board, more than doubling the count from a year ago.

The value of the unicorn board also picked up significantly in the final month of the year, with the highest-ever value accorded to a private company. That was , which vaulted to the top of the list when it was valued at $800 billion in a secondary market transaction, double its valuation from just three months earlier.

And , the seventh-most highly valued private company at $134 billion, was also valued up from its $100 billion valuation months earlier.

New unicorns in December

Of the new unicorns last month, 15 were U.S.-based, two hail from China, and six are based in Europe, including two from the U.K. and one each from Germany, France, Finland and Belgium.

Financial services, aerospace and AI led with the highest count of new companies to join.

It is worth noting that a third of these companies were more than 10 years old, with some seeing a reacceleration in their business driven by AI.

On the other end of the spectrum, the fastest to reach unicorn status in December was , which raised its seed round at a $4.5 billion value.

Here are December’s 23 newly minted unicorns.

Fintech

• Crypto-focused digital bank , co-founded by , raised a $350 million funding led by . The company was granted conditional approval by the 聽 in late 2025. The 1-year-old Columbus, Ohio-based company plans to support technology businesses in AI, crypto and defense, and was valued at $4.35 billion.
• , developer of AI-driven insurance for the trucking industry, raised a $100 million Series D led by . The 5-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• , a loan provider for outdoor equipment, RVs and power sports raised a $100 million Series F led by . The funding was part equity and part secondary financing. The 11-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.3 billion and has generated over $7.5 billion in loans.
• , a provider of co-branded credit cards and payment plans for brands to build loyalty, raised a $150 million Series D led by . The 5-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Aerospace

• , a builder of powerful satellites, raised a $250 million Series C led by . The 3-year-old Torrance, California-based company was valued at $3 billion.
• Finland-based , which operates satellites for military and commercial intelligence, raised a $175 million Series E led by . The 12-year-old company was valued at $2.8 billion.
• , a provider of satellites detecting radio frequency emissions for the U.S. government and its partners, raised a $150 million Series E led by and at a value of $1 billion. As part of the deal, the 10-year-old Herndon, Virginia-based company acquired .

AI

• , a new startup from founder that was acquired by Databricks, plans to build an energy-efficient computer for AI. The company raised a $475 million seed round led by and . The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $4.5 billion.
• , a generative AI company for video and images, raised a $300 million Series B led by and 1. The 1-year-old Germany-based company was valued at $3.3 billion.
• , builder of AI models for molecule programming, raised a $130 million Series B led by General Catalyst and . The 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Energy

• Energy software provider , raised a $1 billion funding led by , with plans to separate from its parent, . The 6-year-old London-based company was valued at $8.7 billion.
• , a builder of nuclear microreactors, raised a $300 million Series D led by and . The 6-year-old El Segundo, California-based company was valued at $1.8 billion.

E-commerce

• B2B chemical and industrial materials supply chain company raised a $10 million Series B led by and . The 11-year-old Beijing-based company was valued at $2.3 billion.
• , a luxury automotive e-commerce platform, raised funding from collector from his family office . The 40-year-old Miami-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.

Marketing

• Customer relationship marketing service , which manages a CRM and communication across emails through to messaging and aided by AI, raised a $583 million private equity round led by and . The 18-year-old Paris-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• Synthetic AI marketing research company 聽 raised a Series A led by reported to be above $50 million . The funding was raised at different valuations, giving investors access at a lower value for part of the funding. The 1-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1 billion.

DevOps

• , an IT ticketing management platform reimagined with AI, raised a $75 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• Site reliability platform raised a Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.聽 The 2-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion in a two-tiered round with investors getting access at a lower valuation for part of the funding.

Social media

• The social media giant TikTok spun out its , valued at $14 billion. The Bellevue, Washington-based company鈥檚 new owners Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX each own 15% of the new entity, while retains an ownership stake of 20%.

Security

• Identity security company , which manages security for individuals through to AI agents, raised a $700 million Series B led by . The 16-year-old El Segundo, California-based company was valued at $3 billion.

Defense

• Counter drone defense technology deployer raised a $210 million Series B. Investors were not disclosed.聽 The 4-year-old London-based company was valued at $1.8 billion.

IoT

• , an IoT sensor technology for maintaining industrial machines, raised a $23 million funding from existing investors. The 22-year-old Belgium-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Healthcare

• , a medical device company targeting heart disease, raised a Series D led by and . The 6-year-old Shanghai-based company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Related SA国际传媒 unicorn lists:

• (1,669)
• (186)
• (115)
• (102)
• (856)
• (493)
• (225)
• (38)
• (471)

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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.

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