Joanna Glasner, Author at 萝莉视频 News /author/joanna/ Data-driven reporting on private markets, startups, founders, and investors Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:23:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.8 /wp-content/uploads/cb_news_favicon-150x150.png Joanna Glasner, Author at 萝莉视频 News /author/joanna/ 32 32 Sector Snapshot: Legal Tech Funding Down Slightly From All-Time High听 /venture/legal-tech-startuo-funding-down-ai-acquisitions-2026/ Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:00:37 +0000 /?p=94006 If AI legal tech funding was a baseball game, this might be roughly the fifth inning. One already has a sense of top-performing players and which team is in the lead. Nonetheless, it鈥檚 much too early to confidently call a winner.

It鈥檚 been a rapid progression to get here. In the past two years, venture investors have poured more than $7 billion into legal and legal tech startups, most with an AI focus. Funding to the space hit a record level last year, with $4.6 billion invested, per 萝莉视频 data. So far this year, legal tech startups have pulled in more than $2.2 billion.

Top fundraisers

The biggest chunk of funding in recent quarters has gone to startups familiar to followers of the space.

, a provider of AI tools for legal professionals, is the sector鈥檚 top fundraiser with $1.2 billion in investment to date. The 4-year-old, San Francisco-based company is reportedly now another $500 million at a $15.5 billion valuation.

, an AI platform built for lawyers, is also in the midst of a massive scale-up. The Stockholm-based startup raised $600 million in Series D funding this year, securing a valuation of $5.5 billion, tripling over a six-month period.

, a 2008 vintage provider of legal practice management software that has pivoted heavily into AI, has also been attracting growth funding. While it didn鈥檛 secure a round this year, the Vancouver company closed on $1.4 billion in equity financing in 2024 and 2025.

For 2026, meanwhile, at least 12 legal tech-focused startups have secured rounds of $50 million or more. We’ve put together a list below.

Notably, there鈥檚 still quite a bit of activity at the early stage. Out of the 12 largest rounds this year, eight were Series A or Series B financings. Seed-stage dealmaking is also busy, with more than 50 legal- and legal-tech seed rounds of $1 million or more this year, per 萝莉视频 data.

Exits

Legal tech startups are also selling to acquirers at a steady clip.

Legora has been particularly acquisitive of late, snapping up at least five companies this year, all of which raised seed or venture funding. Harvey is also a serial buyer, acquiring at least three companies in 2026. Neither company has disclosed purchase prices.

Among publicly traded acquirers, , a Dutch legal and healthcare software provider, has made at least two sizable legal tech startup acquisitions since last year. It paid $500 million for , a provider of legal spend management tools, and $105 million for , an AI workspace for legal professionals.

We haven鈥檛 seen venture-backed legal tech companies go public lately, but the biggest names seem to be signaling the possibility. Harvey, for instance, it added over $100 million in ARR in the first quarter of this year, indicating it has the revenue and growth trajectory of a strong IPO candidate.

With high investment comes high expectations

Robust investment in legal tech comes amid high expectations for AI-delivered efficiencies among legal professionals.

A of professionals in the space this year found that 80% of respondents believe AI will have a high or transformational impact on their work within the next five years.

Early benefits look promising too, with more than half of respondents attesting that their organizations are already seeing a return on investment from investing in AI. Top use cases include document review, legal research, summarizing documents, and drafting briefs or memos.

One of the highest-impact areas for AI ahead is saving time, with tools that automate repetitive tasks. Generally speaking, that鈥檚 a welcome offering, although legal professionals do widely anticipate it could disrupt the hourly billing model.

Overall, the storyline looks similar to what we see in other industries where AI is shouldering more tasks. AI isn鈥檛 expected to replace lawyers and legal support staff. However, it could free people to spend more time on valuable tasks only a human can do, enable employers to run with a smaller staff, or both.

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Startups Are Still Acquiring Startups, Led By Ultra-High-Valuation Unicorns /ma/startup-unicorns-acquisitions-ai-fintech-biotech/ Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:00:12 +0000 /?p=93988 For a startup, selling to another startup isn鈥檛 the classic exit strategy. However, data shows it is a common path, especially as of late with the rise of deep-pocketed, ultra-high-valuation unicorns.

So far this year, more than 500 seed- or venture-backed private companies across the globe have sold to other private, venture-backed companies, per 萝莉视频 data. The most prolific acquirers include many of the most famous and valuable unicorns, including , and .

Overall, the pace of dealmaking in 2026 looks relatively flat听1Reported deal counts are down slightly this year from the comparable period, but are likely to even out more over time as some acquisitions, particularly smaller deals, are added to the dataset weeks or months after they close.2 compared to last year. That鈥檚 not entirely surprising given that overall market conditions haven鈥檛 changed dramatically. The number of tech startup IPOs remains below normal. Hot venture-backed AI companies are still sustaining unheard-of valuations. And the rise of megarounds means favored startup acquirers are flush with cash.

Startups buying startups in recent years

In total, at least 440 funded startups sold to other startups in the first half of this year. The second half is shaping up to be a bit slower, meanwhile, with fewer than 100 deals so far.

For a more expansive chronological view, below we charted startup M&A deal counts by half-year beginning in 2021.

The pace of M&A dealmaking peaked about four years ago and fell afterward, in tandem with a broader dip in startup investment. But activity has picked up over the past couple of years with the rise in AI investment.

Startups that buy a lot of other startups

A few startups have proven particularly acquisitive.

The standout in this category is probably OpenAI, which has acquired eight startups this year, most of them seed- or early-stage companies. To date, the generative AI giant has bought at least 19 companies, per 萝莉视频 data.

Anthropic has also been a busy buyer. It鈥檚 snapped up at least five startups so far this year, including the $400 million purchase of AI biotech startup .

In the fintech space, meanwhile, has been on an M&A spree. The crypto transactions platform acquired five funded startups focused on cryptocurrency or blockchain between April and July.

Others with multiple funded startup M&A deals this year include AI infrastructure unicorn , security provider , and the legal tech startups and .

No big slowdown in sight

While prediction can be a fool’s game, there鈥檚 not much in the immediate set of indicators pointing to a slowdown in startups鈥 appetite for acquisition. Amid fierce competition for an edge in the AI race, well-funded startups commonly find it鈥檚 simply faster to buy another company than try to build out certain technologies themselves.

Same goes for talent. Through acquihire transactions, startups can bring on board not just top-tier individuals but experienced teams with a track record of building impressive things together.

Concentration of capital is another factor driving M&A deals. While overall startup funding has risen this year, it鈥檚 increasingly spread across a smaller pool of companies. That leaves one large cohort of startups struggling to raise funding while another has plentiful capital for acquisitions.

Go-to-market expenses also factor into M&A considerations. A startup might produce a compelling offering in-house but find it costly to bring it to market. The process may look more feasible under the wing of a larger, more mature startup.

Bottom line: Given the high number of willing sellers and well-funded buyers, expect the startup-to-startup acquisitions to continue.

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The Week鈥檚 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Defense Tech, AI Tools And Infrastructure Lead The Way /venture/biggest-funding-rounds-defense-tech-ai-infrastructure-castelion/ Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:42:23 +0000 /?p=93995 Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2026 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The 萝莉视频 Megadeals Board.

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 were busily closing on big rounds this week, with AI and defense among their favored target sectors. The biggest financing went to , a defense tech startup developing a hypersonic missile. Other sizable rounds went to companies developing AI inference technology, a video-creation platform, data centers and voice-to-text tools.

1. , $800M, defense tech: Castelion, a defense tech startup developing a hypersonic strike missile, raised new Series C funding consisting of $800 million in equity capital along with $250 million in debt financing. , and led the equity financing, which set a $13 billion valuation for the Torrance, California-based company.

2. , $700M, semiconductors: San Jose, California-based Etched, a developer of inference clusters to accelerate AI computing, secured $700 million in a new funding round led by and joined by a long list of prominent investors. The financing set a $21 billion valuation for the 4-year-old company.

3. , $400M, AI video tools: AI video- and image-creation platform Higgsfield closed on $400 million in Series B financing at a $5.4 billion valuation. led the round for the San Francisco-based company, with the financing drawing at least 18 investors.

4. , $350M, data centers: Groq, an operator of 13 data centers across the globe, pulled in $350 million in a new fundraise led by , with planned participation from .The fundraise, which values the San Francisco-based company at $3.5 billion, comes on the heels of a $650 million in June.

5. , $280M, voice-to-text AI: Wispr Flow, a provider of an AI-powered voice-to-text tool called Flow, picked up $280 million in Series B funding at a $2 billion valuation. led the financing, joined by a long list of new and existing investors.

6. , $250M, satellites: Muon Space, a designer, builder and operator of satellite constellations, closed on $250 million in Series C funding led by . The Mountain View, California-based company also recently opened a manufacturing facility in San Jose, California, designed to produce up to 500 satellites annually by 2027.

7. , $150M, micromobility:听 Also, a spinout that makes electric bikes and small four-wheeled micromobility vehicles, secured $150 million in Series D funding led by . The Palo Alto, California-based startup said the financing will go in part toward accelerating development of its autonomous vehicle platform.

8. , $110M, AI computing: Velaura AI, a developer of AI compute infrastructure focused on ultra-low-power silicon and software technologies, picked up $110 million in Series A funding. led the financing, which set a valuation of over $1 billion for the Silicon Valley-based startup.

9. , $100M, agentic finance: Rillet, a developer of AI-powered enterprise resource planning tools, landed $100 million in Series C funding led by . The round, which sets a $1 billion valuation for the San Francisco company, is Rillet鈥檚 third financing in the past year.

10. , $75M, sleep testing: Happy Health, and Austin-based developer of a ring device for diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea, raised $75 million from and .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 萝莉视频 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Aug. 15-21. Although most announced rounds are in the database, there may be a small time lag, as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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Semiconductor Giants Are Busy Backing Startups This Year /venture/semiconductor-giants-nvda-intc-backing-ai-robotics-starups-2026/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:00:24 +0000 /?p=93977 Anyone with a stock portfolio has invariably noticed that semiconductor companies are on a tear this year. Massive AI spending has helped push earnings and valuations for industry leaders to record levels.

In turn, semiconductor giants are investing record sums in startups. So far this year, the sector鈥檚 most valuable companies have participated in rounds collectively valued at over $250 billion, per 萝莉视频 data. That鈥檚 multiples above prior high marks.

Large cap chip companies are also leading and co-leading some of the biggest financings. This includes 鈥檚 record-breaking $122 billion March funding round, in which was one of eight lead investors.

The other big deals

There鈥檚 no getting around that the OpenAI megaround really skewed the 2026 totals. That one deal accounts for over 95% of the value of all semiconductor company-led financings.

Still, there are plenty of other big rounds with semiconductor backing this year that, by any other comparative benchmark, would also be considered enormous. Take July鈥檚 $5 billion corporate financing from Nvidia for foundational AI startup .

So far this year, corporate semiconductor giants have invested in more than 60 startup financings of $100 million or more. Of those, 16 rounds were valued at $1 billion or more, which we list below.

Most active and highest spending semiconductor investors

It should surprise no one that Nvidia is the most active and highest spending corporate investor in the semiconductor space. The AI chip architect has participated in a record 59 known funding rounds so far this year, per 萝莉视频 data, up from 53 in all of 2025.

With a market cap around $5.4 trillion and a continued reign as the world鈥檚 most valuable public company, Nvidia certainly has the financial resources to invest heavily in startups. The company is also active as a lead investor, having led or co-led at least 11 private company financings this year, per 萝莉视频 data.

, with 19 private company financings this year, is also upping its startup investment activity in tandem with what鈥檚 been a strong year for its own shares. This year鈥檚 tally includes at least four rounds valued at $1 billion or more.

Another standout is , with at least 17 known startup investments so far this year. The South Korean megacap has a lengthy history of active participation in seed and venture deals.

The corporate investment tallies also don鈥檛 represent the full extent of semiconductor companies鈥 involvement in the venture funding ecosystem. Additionally, some invest through backing outside venture funds.

Is this peak?

With semiconductor companies raking in profits from the AI boom, and shares soaring alongside, it鈥檚 worth considering whether we may be close to a peak for semiconductor startup investment. On the other hand, if industry leaders鈥 shares keep rising, the sums spent on startup dealmaking look comparatively small relative to semiconductor giants鈥 swelling valuations.

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The Week鈥檚 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: A Big Week For Big Checks /venture/biggest-funding-rounds-billion-dollar-raises-manufacturing-energy-ai/ Fri, 07 Aug 2026 19:52:22 +0000 /?p=93958 Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2026 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The 萝莉视频 Megadeals Board.

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.

Startups raised funding rounds with a lot of zeroes at the end this week. Three companies 鈥 , and 鈥 secured financings of $1 billion or more. Additionally, a robust lineup of companies in sectors including AI, e-commerce, cybersecurity, biotech and even mining also announced sizable new rounds.

1. , $1.37B, manufacturing: Hadrian, a developer of highly automated factories, raised $1.37 billion in Series D funding led by , , , , and . The financing sets a $7.87 billion valuation for the 6-year-old, Torrance, California-based company.

2. (tied) , $1B, energy storage: Austin-based Base Power, a developer of residential battery energy storage systems, secured $1 billion in Series D financing at a $13 billion post-money valuation. , , and led the financing, which coincided with the launch of the company鈥檚 Base Core home battery.

2. (tied) , $1B, nuclear power: Valar Atomics, a developer of technology and infrastructure to deliver nuclear energy, closed on $1 billion in Series B funding led by . The El Segundo, California-based company also secured a $200 million credit facility led by and .

4. , $700M, AI connectivity: Lumilens, developer of a connectivity platform for AI infrastructure, emerged from stealth and announced more than $700 million in new funding. , , , and led the financing for the San Jose, California-based startup.

5. , $545M, live shopping: Live shopping marketplace Whatnot bagged $545 million in Series G funding. The round reportedly a $20 billion valuation for the Los Angeles-based company, with , and as lead investors.

6. , $310M, critical minerals: Mariana Minerals, a software-focused developer of projects for supplying critical minerals, picked up $310 million in Series B financing led by . The 4-year-old company engineers, builds and operates mines and refineries using its software platform.

7. , $300M, AI infrastructure: Volta, a developer of AI cloud infrastructure, from stealth and said it raised a Series A at a $2.4 billion valuation, led by , , and .

8. , $250M, cybersecurity: San Francisco-based cybersecurity provider Horizon3, announced a $250 million Series E. and led the round, which set a valuation of more than $2 billion, triple the value set for its Series D last year.

9. , $188M, biotech: Watertown, Massachusetts-based drug discovery startup LifeMine Therapeutics secured $188 million in Series E funding led by . The funding will go toward clinical development of its lead program and advance its pipeline of transplantation and immunology therapies.

10. , $150M, agentic AI: HappyRobot, developer of an agentic AI platform geared for enterprises in sectors including logistics, financial services, utilities and manufacturing, raised $150 million in Series C funding led by and .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 萝莉视频 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Aug. 1-7. 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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No Summer Doldrums For Active Startup Investors In July /venture/active-startup-investors-july-2026-khosla-yc-coatue-nvda/ Fri, 07 Aug 2026 11:00:52 +0000 /?p=93948 Active startup investors kept up the pace in July, with familiar names leading the tallies for deal count and size.

Among lead investors, topped the ranks last month, while was by far the busiest backer by deal count. The highest-spending investors for the period, meanwhile, appear to be and .

For more detail, below we ranked active investors for July by several metrics. These include most prolific venture dealmakers, most active lead backers, biggest spenders and highest-volume seed investors.

Active lead investors

We鈥檒l start with active lead investors for the month, which, as usual these days, featured a heavily AI-centric lineup of deals.

Khosla Ventures ranked as the most active lead investor in rounds of $5 million or more, with eight deals in July. The largest were a $300 million Series A for quantum computing startup and a $120 million Series C for AI-enabled legal tech provider .

took the No. 2 slot, with six lead deals, followed by , with five. Below, we charted the top eight lead investors for the month by deal count.

Busiest venture investors

The ranks looked quite different when we widened the category to include both lead and non-lead investments in rounds of $5 million or more.

By this metric, repeat frontrunner Y Combinator once again took first place, participating in at least 19 such rounds. The storied accelerator typically takes a non-lead stake in follow-on rounds for startups it incubated.

Insight Partners and Andreessen Horowitz were next on the list, with 10 deals each, followed by Khosla and , with nine each. For a bigger-picture view, below we ranked the top 18 busiest venture investors for July.

Highest spending investors

When we focus on investors who led the most expensive assortment of startup financings last month, the lineup shifts once again.

For July, Coatue ranked as the apparent highest-spending听1 lead investor, backing a $10 billion financing for 鈥 rocket company, . (It should be noted though, that Blue Origin, founded in 2000, is probably too old to be considered a startup, although it is still a private company.)

Nvidia also stepped up, backing a $5 billion financing for foundational AI startup . Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz ranked high as well, each leading or co-leading rounds collectively valued above $2 billion.

Below, we rank 18 of the highest-spending lead investors for the month.

Seed dealmakers

Seed dealmakers were a bit more challenging to rank for July, in part because there鈥檚 often a time delay before smaller deals enter the dataset. One thing that is apparent is that Y Combinator was the most prolific investor at this stage, while other 鈥渦sual suspects,鈥 like and , also ranked high.

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  1. Rounds with multiple investors typically do not break out how much each investor contributed, although it is generally the case that a lead investor or investors contributed a substantial share.

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The Week鈥檚 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Safe Superintelligence And Commonwealth Fusion Lead With Billion-Dollar Deals /venture/biggest-funding-rounds-safe-superintelligence-commonwealth-fusion/ Fri, 31 Jul 2026 20:14:23 +0000 /?p=93918 Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2026 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The 萝莉视频 Megadeals Board.

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.

Another week, another bevy of big rounds. For this past week, the largest round was a reported $5 billion -backed financing for foundational AI unicorn , followed by a $1 billion investment in . Other sizable rounds went to companies in sectors including energy storage, health testing, nuclear power, fintech, and, yes, AI.

1.听, $5B, foundational AI: AI lab Safe Superintelligence announced a long-term with Nvidia to rapidly accelerate its growth. The deal included a $5 billion investment from the chip giant with an eye toward boosting compute resources for Safe Superintelligence, a Silicon Valley startup founded by co-founder .听

2.听, $1 billion, fusion energy: Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup working on fusion energy technology and developing a grid-scale fusion power plant, raised $1 billion in fresh funding from unspecified investors. The round brings the total invested to date for the Massachusetts-based company to $4 billion.

3.听, $550M, thermal energy storage: Antora Energy, a company that provides energy through thermal batteries to data centers, announced that it has closed on $550 million in a Series C funding round. and co-led the financing for the nine-year-old, San Jose-based company.

4.听, $450M, health testing: Austin-based Function, a provider of lab testing, imaging, and personal health information that markets to consumers, secured $450 million in growth financing from .听

5.听, $370M, nuclear energy: Antares, a nuclear fission energy company that develops compact microreactors for defense and space applications, raised $370 million in Series C equity funding. and led the financing for the three-year-old company, which raised $100 million in debt funding alongside the equity investment.听

6.听, $200M, AI simulation: Simile, a developer of AI tools for running simulations, said it picked up over $200 million in fresh funding at a $2 billion post-money valuation. led the round, which comes just five months after the Palo Alto-based company launched its product.

7.听, $190M, cybersecurity: Cybersecurity provider ThreatLocker closed on $190 million in Series F funding to hone its platform and expand internationally. led the round for the Orlando-based company.

8.听, $170M, fintech: New York-based CAIS, an alternative investment platform for independent financial advisors, secured $170 million in Series D financing. led the round, which set a valuation for the company of more than $2 billion.

9.听, $160M, fintech: PEX, an AI-enabled provider of prepaid and charge cards for businesses, along with tools to track finances, raised $160 in equity and debt funding, with as lead investor.

10.听, $145M, AI infrastructure: Eliyan, a developer of connectivity technology for AI infrastructure, completed its Series C with a total of $145 million at a $1 billion valuation. led the financing for the five-year-old Santa Clara, California-based company.

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These Are Sectors Where Seed Rounds Of $5M To $10M Are Clustering This Year /seed/startup-funding-trends-2026-proptech-robotics-cancer-space-tech/ Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:00:19 +0000 /?p=93910 A single midsize seed round doesn鈥檛 reveal much about what鈥檚 trending as the hot emerging area for startup innovation. Looking across hundreds of financings, however, one forms a clearer image about where the hotspots are clustering.

That was the intent of our latest 萝莉视频 News data dive into seed-stage trends. For this installment, we focused on mid-sized rounds of between $5 million and $10 million, analyzing around 800 global seed financings that closed this year.听

Why this range? In a startup investment climate characterized by the ascendance of megarounds, the idea was to focus on rounds more representative of the classic seed deal: a risky bet on unproven founders, technologies or business models.

Using this methodology we identified multiple popular investment themes and zeroed in on five. The first 鈥 cybersecurity 鈥 we tackled in a separate piece. Here we delve into the other four: proptech, cancer therapeutics, space tech and robotics.

No. 1: Proptech

Real estate is the world鈥檚 most valuable asset class, providing startups a huge and varied addressable market. By one estimate a few years ago, real estate accounted for a staggering two-thirds of global net worth.

Given the size of the space, actual venture investment tied to real estate and construction looks comparatively meager. Last year, per 萝莉视频 analysis, proptech startup investment totaled just over $10 billion, far below peaks hit several years ago.

Seed investors seem to believe there鈥檚 a good case for startup driven growth ahead. In particular, they鈥檙e funding a lot of rounds in the $5 million to $10 million range for companies looking to add efficiencies to the planning and building process, streamline rental operations, reduce building power consumption, and more.

To illustrate, below we put together a sample set of 15 companies that closed seed rounds in our target range this year:

A few standouts include , an AI-powered home management system, , a developer of software to support real estate decarbonization, and , an AI-enabled construction supply chain platform.听

No. 2: Cancer treatments

Startup founders don鈥檛 need persuasive superpowers to convince investors that cancer is a sufficiently serious area to address. Today, it鈥檚 that 39% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives. Cancer also ranks as the second leading , behind heart disease.听

Seed-stage companies aren鈥檛 expected to bring down numbers in the near term, but as they progress, it鈥檚 increasingly plausible. That鈥檚 the apparent mindset for investors at this stage, who鈥檝e backed a good-sized number of rounds in the $5 million to $10 million range this year for developers of cancer therapeutics and diagnostics, charted below:

Three California startups secured $10 million, the largest financing in our sample set. They include: , which is working on AI-driven discovery of undetected cancer targets, , a developer of targeted therapies for solid tumors, and , which is focused on cancer diagnostics.

No. 3: Space and satellite tech

This year鈥檚 most attention-getting event in space tech finance was obviously the IPO of sector pioneer . But while that debut may have dominated headlines, quite a few smaller, earlier, lower-profile deals were also getting done.

Per 萝莉视频 data, space tech was a popular area for seed financings in the $5 million to $10 million range. To illustrate, below we put together a sample set of nine such companies that raised rounds this year:

The largest fundraiser in our target range was , which is focused on developing reusable satellites. Next was , focused, as its name implies, on in-space propulsion systems, followed by , developer of an ML-native operations platform for satellite fleets.

No. 4: Robotics

Robotics is a perennial favorite in our seed-funding data dives, including the last one, focused on AI. This time, the sector made the ranking again, thanks to a bevy of intriguing seed-stage companies that met our parameters.

Turns out, you can jumpstart some highly ambitious ventures on a $5 million to $10 million seed round. To illustrate, below we aggregated a sample of 18 funded this year:

Robotics was also the most geographically dispersed sector in our lineup, with startups hailing from Asia, North America, Europe and Australia. A few that stood out include , a developer of what it calls 鈥渋ntimacy robots,鈥 , a maker of autonomous underwater robots, and , focused on robots for greenhouse harvesting.

Big picture: Midsized seed rounds for outsized ambitions

Overall, seed funding trends reviewed above may tell us more about the kinds of companies investors are willing to bet on than about the sectors attracting interest, which are already well-established.

Clearly, startup investors still believe that small, modestly funded teams with grand missions remain a worthwhile and viable wager. That鈥檚 particularly encouraging these days, when the venture and seed financings we most commonly hear about tend to be the largest ones.

That鈥檚 not to diss large rounds. Startups that are led by prominent serial entrepreneurs or have established traction hold obvious appeal, even at pricier terms. But for those of us who enjoy rooting for the underdog, it鈥檚 encouraging to see lower-profile companies with outsized ambitions are still in the game.

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AI Seed Investors Flock To Cybersecurity /cybersecurity/seed-trends-ai-security-startup-funding-2026/ Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:00:22 +0000 /?p=93887 Seed funding trends tell us a lot about how savvy investors see the future unfolding. And lately, the data tells us there鈥檚 great concern about cybersecurity risks posed by AI.

It鈥檚 a worry that spilled over into headlines last week, after an agent the open-source AI platform . Turns out rogue AI agents causing mayhem is no longer听 a hypothetical problem.

Seed investors apparently saw this coming, judging by the plethora of good-sized rounds for companies at the intersection of AI and security. Startups in this cohort have raised $855 million across more than 150 reported seed-stage rounds this year, per 萝莉视频 data. That puts investment on track for an all-time high.

A large cluster of deals in the $5M to $10M range

Here at 萝莉视频 News, we took a particular interest in seed rounds in the $5 million to $10 million range, an area where cybersecurity investment was particularly robust.

Why this size range? It started as a broader data dive focused on top themes for mid-sized seed rounds, an often overlooked subset in a startup funding climate dominated by AI megadeals.听

An initial perusal indicated cybersecurity warrants a standalone analysis. We found both a high number and a wide breadth of funded companies in the space, with missions ranging from identifying AI hallucinations to building adversary simulations to verifying agents in finance.

To illustrate, below is a sample list of 14 AI-focused security companies that raised seed financings this year in our target range.

Big seed and early-stage bets too

We also had some large rounds in the mix, indicating investors saw risk-reward compelling enough to write big checks for newly minted startups. Some of the biggest included:

  • , a developer of identity intelligence technology for the AI era, secured $60 million in a seed financing this month.
  • , a Silicon Valley startup working on an AI-native cybersecurity platform that doesn鈥檛 depend on the public cloud, raised $45 million in a March seed round.
  • , an upstart developing an AI governance and security platform for enterprises, in March with $34 million in a seed round it described as massively oversubscribed.听

When investors place larger bets at seed, there鈥檚 usually at least one of two core reasons. The first is that the founder or founding team is impressive enough that backers are willing to invest primarily on the mission and people. The second is that the startup has demonstrated impressive traction with its earliest efforts.

For larger rounds, we鈥檙e seeing a number of the first category. Cylake鈥檚 founder and CEO, for example, is , founder of . JetStream, meanwhile, has drawn veterans of , and other security leaders.听

A solid year for overall security funding

Notably, the strong cybersecurity seed funding environment coincides with solid overall venture investment levels. In the first half of the year, per 萝莉视频 data, startups in the sector pulled in $10.6 billion in financing across stages, roughly in line with recent prior comps.

That said, seed may be where excitement is greatest. With hundreds of billions flowing into building AI infrastructure and applications in recent quarters, someone will have figure out innovative ways to keep myriad real-life and hypothetical AI security nightmares from coming true.听

Related 萝莉视频 queries:

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The Week鈥檚 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Physical AI Startup Atoms Leads In Varied Week For Large Deals /venture/biggest-funding-rounds-physical-ai-fintech-defense-atoms/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 19:25:21 +0000 /?p=93885 Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2026 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The 萝莉视频 Megadeals Board.

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 poured capital into a varied lineup of large rounds this week, targeting sectors including physical AI, biotech, cybersecurity, AI infrastructure and fintech. By far the largest financing of the week was a $1.7 billion round for founder 鈥檚 physical AI startup, , followed by sizable investments for 3D AI model developer and battery technology company .

1. , $1.7B, physical AI: Atoms, the physical AI startup founded by founder , raised $1.7 billion in a funding round led by . Kalanick touted the Los Angeles-based company鈥檚 vision as 鈥渁bout the coming industrial revolution where large industrial economic sectors get completely digitized.鈥

2. , $400M, AI for 3D: Silicon Valley-based Meshy AI, a startup developing foundation models for AI-powered 3D generation, closed on $400 million in Series B funding at a $1.5 billion valuation. Lead backers include , and , per 萝莉视频 data.

3. , $300M, battery technology: Battery technology company Sila secured $300 million in a new round led by and . The Alameda, California, company will use the funding to expand its silicon anode plant in Moses Lake, Washington.

4. , $300M, inference technology: Etched, a co-designer of chips, racks, software and manufacturing methods for use in frontier models, picked up $300 million in Series C funding. led the round, which set a $10 billion pre-money valuation for the San Jose, California-based company.

5. , $180M, fintech: Augustus, a startup aimed at providing financial institutions around the world direct access to dollar accounts, secured $180 million in Series B funding. led the round, which set a $1 billion valuation for the San Francisco-based company.

6. , $160M, defense tech: Cathedral, a startup aimed at expanding U.S. military cyber capabilities, reportedly $160 million with backing from Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. The Washington, D.C.-based startup was reportedly founded by a 鈥媡eam of former DOGE employees.

7. , $130M, biotech: Crystalys Therapeutics, a biotech developing therapies for people living with gout, closed an oversubscribed $130 million Series B round. led the financing for the San Diego-based company.

8. , $120M, healthcare software: San Francisco-based Candid Health, developer of a revenue cycle management platform for the healthcare industry, landed $120 million in Series D funding led by .

9. , $100M, cybersecurity: Glow, a Palo Alto, California-based AI-powered endpoint security startup, launched from stealth and announced it has raised $180 million to date, of which, per 萝莉视频, $100 million comes from its newest financing. Lead backers include Sequoia Capital, , , and .

10. , $75M, cybersecurity: Boston-based Neo Security, a startup working on an agentic software control platform for enterprises, picked up $100 million in a new round led by and Andreessen Horowitz.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 萝莉视频 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of July 18-24. 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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