Twenty-one of last month���s new unicorns are U.S. headquartered. Six new unicorns joined the board from China and three from the U.K., while Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Israel, Italy, Finland, Germany and Bulgaria each added one new unicorn.

Through September, 311 companies have joined the board so far this year, putting 2026 on track to be the second-highest year for new unicorn creation, following only the venture peak year of 2021, when counts topped 600.

Several companies already on the board stand out for significant valuation increases via new raises last month. They include San Francisco-based , developer of AI for software engineering, which saw its value climb to $48 billion, up from $26 billion only four months earlier. Data center provider was valued at $31 billion last month, up from $10 billion a year ago. And Paris-based frontier lab was valued at $24.4 billion in its more recent funding, up from $13.7 billion a year ago.

New unicorns in September

Here are September���s 38 new unicorn companies:

Semiconductors

• , an Austin-based semiconductor manufacturing startup, closed a $500 million Series A at a $3.7 billion valuation, led by . The 3-year-old company builds compact chip factories and develops their manufacturing equipment internally, aiming to make semiconductor production more accessible.
• , an Irvine, California-based semiconductor company, raised a $275 million Series C, valuing it above $3 billion and bringing total funding to $415 million. , and led the round. The 2-year-old company develops digital signal processing chips for high-speed optical connectivity in AI infrastructure.
• , a Hangzhou-based AI chip developer, announced a $149 million Series C. Its IoT inference chips combine memory and computing to reduce power consumption and data movement. The 5-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a Beijing-based AI chip company, raised $298 million at a valuation of $2.2 billion. The 4-year-old company develops AI computing chips using the open RISC-V architecture.

• , a San Jose, California-based developer of specialized AI chips and software, raised a $150 million Series C at a $1.45 billion valuation, co-led by and , bringing total funding to $500 million. The proceeds for the 8-year-old company will support its software platform and next-generation hardware for robots, vehicles and drones.

Financial services

• , a Texas-based prediction-market platform, announced a strategic partnership with , which will take an equity stake following OG���s separation from . The less than 1-year-old company was valued at $5 billion. The investment amount was not disclosed; the partnership will route Robinhood event-contract trading through OG���s regulated exchange and clearing infrastructure.
• Saudi Arabia-based , a digital payments company, raised a $329.5 million Series A at a $1.85 billion valuation. Investors included , and . The 3-year-old company has processed more than $117 billion in 2 years.
• , a Nevada-based financial software company, raised a $250 million Series E at a $1.43 billion valuation led by founder and chairman . The 8-year-old company provides an AI-based investment management platform for asset and wealth managers.
• , a Miami-based remittance platform for Latino immigrants operating through , secured $200 million in financing: an $87 million Series C equity round led by valued at $1.4 billion and $113 million in debt from ���s Customer Value Fund. The 5-year-old company plans to expand to lending and add to its Latin American reach.

Space technology

• Munich-based space company raised a $450 million Series C, co-led by , and at a valuation of $2 billion. The financing for the 5-year-old company will advance its reusable Nyx spacecraft for an International Space Station mission and support development of its Storm rocket engine.
• , a Seattle-based satellite connectivity company, raised a $200 million Series C at a $1.6 billion valuation, led by , bringing total funding to approximately $300 million. The 5-year-old company enables standard Bluetooth devices to connect directly to satellites for tracking and sensor-data applications.
• Oxfordshire, U.K-based , a satellite company, secured $346 million, co-led by and, valued at $1 billion. The 11-year-old company manufactures satellites and provides infrastructure, connectivity, Earth observation and intelligence services.
• Bulgaria-based , a satellite company, raised $205 million in a round co-led by and , reaching a $1 billion valuation. The 11-year-old company has raised financing that will expand standardized spacecraft production, including new manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and Europe.

Biotechnology and medical devices

• , a Framingham, Massachusetts-based developer of treatments for Alzheimer���s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, raised around $79 million. The 泭 13-year-old company was valued at $1.9 billion. Investors were not disclosed.
• Shanghai-based , an AI drug discovery company, raised $290 million at a $1.5 billion valuation following its spinoff from . , , and co-led the round. Anew develops tools for biomolecular prediction and drug discovery; ByteDance retained a 56% stake.
• , a New York-based brain-computer interface developer, closed a $250 million Series D, bringing total funding to $430 million and reaching a valuation of approximately $1 billion. and led the round. The 5-year-old company is building a brain���computer interface that is minimally invasive and removable.
• Toronto-based , a biotechnology company, raised $153 million at a $1 billion valuation led by the , with participation from and other investors. The 3-year-old company uses AI to identify abandoned drug candidates that could succeed under different treatment approaches. The financing will expand clinical development and support additional drug acquisitions.

AI and internet infrastructure

• , a San Francisco-based AI cloud infrastructure company, raised a $300 million Series B at a $3 billion valuation, led by . The 3-year-old company distributes AI inference workloads across different types of chips to improve performance and efficiency. It announced in March that its customers include one of the leading frontier labs.
• Helsinki-based , an AI cloud company, raised a $189 million Series B led by . The financing valued the 6-year-old company above $1 billion with total funding over $450 million. The company manages physical data centers along with its cloud platform.
• London-based , an internet infrastructure company supporting content delivery for large streaming, gaming and software companies, raised $570 million in its first external financing led by . The 15-year-old company was valued at $1.9 billion.

AI training

• , a San Francisco-based AI training-data company, raised more than $100 million led by at a $4 billion valuation, an eightfold increase from its valuation in September 2025. The 4-year-old company recruits and vets specialists who create training and evaluation data for AI developers. that participants included two frontier AI laboratories and two co-founders.
• , a San Francisco-based provider of expert-created AI training data, reached a $3.2 billion valuation in September, earlier, according to . The funding amount and lead investor were not publicly disclosed. The 1-year-old company���s datasets capture professional reasoning in fields such as software engineering, law and finance. AfterQuery was part of the Winter 2025 batch.

Robotics and autonomous driving

• , the Shanghai-based operator of Hello���s robotaxi business, raised about $100 million at a valuation close to $3 billion. fund led the round. The financing to the 1-year-old company will support a 10,000-GPU computing cluster, AI model development and commercialization of Level 4 autonomous driving.
• , a Sunnyvale, California-based robotics perception company, raised a $165 million Series C at a $1.6 billion valuation, led by . Founded by former and engineers, the 5-year-old company combines custom chips, sensors and spatial software to help robots perceive their surroundings. The financing will accelerate deployments across logistics, manufacturing and inspection applications.

Health insurance

• , a San Francisco-based health benefits company, announced a $200 million Series C at a $2.7 billion valuation. led the financing. It also includes $400 million in secondary financing for existing investors. The 7-year-old company provides a benefits platform using AI to make healthcare more affordable for small and midsize employers. The company services 5,000 businesses.
• , a San Francisco-based health benefits platform, raised a $108 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation. Investors included , , and . The 5-year-old company helps employers provide individualized health budgets for employees to select their own medical plans.

Energy and EV infrastructure

• China-based , a battery-swapping and charging company, agreed to a strategic transaction that gives a 30% stake. Geely will contribute its Yiyi battery-swapping operation and a $95 million investment. The 9-year-old company was valued around $2.4 billion.
• , an Austin-based developer of off-grid power systems for AI data centers, raised a $120 million Series A at a $1 billion valuation, led by . The less than 1-year-old company builds modular systems for renewable energy and battery systems as data-center operators seek access to electricity.

AI applications

• raised $150 million led by , at a valuation just over $2 billion. The 3-year-old company, headquartered in London with offices in Los Angeles and Mumbai, built an enterprise audiovisual content platform for media, advertising, sports and healthcare customers. The financing will support research, commercial expansion and a larger Silicon Valley presence.
• , a New York-based AI ranking and personalization company, raised a $90 million Series B at a $1.44 billion valuation, led by . The 2-year-old company���s software helps enterprises respond to customer behavior in real time, improving the relevance of recommendations.

Cybersecurity

• Rome-based , a cybersecurity company protecting connected devices and autonomous machines, raised $270 million at a $1.7 billion valuation, led by . The financing to the 8-year-old company will support U.S. and Asia-Pacific expansion and development of AI security models.
• Tel Aviv-based , a consumer cybersecurity company, raised $40 million at a $1.1 billion valuation, bringing total funding to $167 million. co-founder joined existing investors including and , among others. The 8-year-old company protects consumers against phishing, scams, malicious websites and AI-generated fraud.

AI models

• Beijing-based , a language-model startup, raised $120 million reaching a valuation of $1.4 billion. Investors include , , and . The less than 1-year-old company raised $400 million across three rounds so far this year, before releasing its first public model.
• , a San Francisco-based developer of open-weight foundation models, announced a $150 million Series B led by , and , valuing the company above $1 billion. The financing will support the 3-year-old company���s Trinity models and products for customizing and operating them.

Manufacturing and construction software

• , an AI company for manufacturing with dual headquarters in Tokyo and Chicago, raised a $114 million Series D at a $1.2 billion valuation, bringing total funding to $234 million. Investors included and . The 9-year-old company���s platform organizes design and procurement and production; the financing will deepen its technology and accelerate North American expansion.
• , a Georgia-based construction software company, secured a growth investment of $250 million led by , valuing it above $1 billion. The 17-year-old company manages construction projects, with the investment supporting its AI capability build out and commercial growth.

Defense technology

• , a Washington, D.C.-based defense company, emerged from stealth with $250 million raised across three rounds at a valuation above $1 billion. The 2-year-old company develops long-range cruise missiles with manufacturing in Texas, Germany and Israel. Backers who have led across three rounds include , , , 1, and .

Food

• , the New York-based parent of consumer food brands David Protein and HallPass, raised a $250 million Series B at a $2.25 billion valuation. and co-led the round. The financing to the 2-year-old company will expand retail distribution, develop new products and support additional brands.

Related 蹤獲弝け unicorn lists:

• (1,901)
• (666)
• (321)
• (198)
• (119)
• (102)
• (998)
• (547)
• (258)
• (39)
• (489)

Related reading:

• 蹤獲弝け Data: Q3 2026 Posted A Record Count Of Billion-Dollar Rounds As The Global AI Race Heats Up
• 29 Companies Joined The 蹤獲弝け In August, Led By AI Software And Semiconductors

Methodology

The 蹤獲弝け 蹤獲弝け is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on 蹤獲弝け 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 ��� such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options ��� 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. 蹤獲弝け 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 蹤獲弝け long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

Historically that wasn���t the case. But more recently, startup investors are putting more capital to work around these themes.

Over the past year, venture backers have poured close to $3 billion into good-sized rounds for marine-related startups in sectors ranging from defense tech to clean energy, per 蹤獲弝け data. Top areas for investment include autonomous sea vessels, water robots, electric watercraft and ocean data.

Lead fundraisers

A single company ��� ��� accounts for most of the past year���s haul. The Austin-based startup, which develops autonomous sea vessels and counts the as a key customer, secured $1.75 billion in Series D funding in March.

The round, led by , set a $9.25 billion valuation for 4-year-old Saronic, which is scaling at a fast clip. The company announced this summer that it plans to invest more than $3 billion to build a next-generation shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, focused on software-defined shipbuilding and autonomous maritime systems.

China-based , a developer of marine robotics technology, was a distant second for equity fundraising. The 3-year-old startup closed on a $150 million Series A round in July backed by a long list of venture investors.

In third place, meanwhile, is Rhode Island-based , a developer of vessels called Seagliders that operate just over the water at the speed of an aircraft. The 6-year-old startup picked up $120 million in Series B equity funding in August led by maritime-focused investor and , plus an additional $120 million in debt financing.

Overall, 蹤獲弝け data showed quite a few maritime-focused startups funded in roughly the past year that have raised significant capital to date. To illustrate, below we put together a sample list of 27 that fit this criteria.

Top investors

Several investors have assembled particularly prolific portfolios of companies focused on the seas.

Among generalist VCs, one standout is , a backer in three companies on our sample list: Saronic, electric-boat maker , and , a developer of small, autonomous craft for undersea environments. In its April Series A lead investment in Ulysses, the firm pointed to promoting U.S. naval supremacy as an investment theme, along with reengineering technologies first envisioned on land to also work at sea.

is another generalist that has emerged as a marine startup serial investor. The firm has backed three companies on our list: Regent, , a builder of battery electric cargo ships, and , a developer of renewable energy systems in the ocean.

Besides cross-sector venture investors, 蹤獲弝け data also shows a growing array of specialized firms with multiple maritime startups in their portfolios. This includes , focused on startups reducing emissions from boats and ships, and , a marine-focused investor with Pentagon backing.

Autonomy, AI and robots

While the sea may be exotic terrain for venture dealmaking, in many ways maritime funding fits pretty cleanly into prevailing investment trends.

Perusing the sample list of funding recipients from the past year, for instance, three sectors account for the vast majority of funding: autonomy, AI and robotics. Notably, these are core areas of strength for venture investments tied to land and space as well.

Moreover, a hefty chunk of marine investment also has defense tech applications. This coincides with the sharp rise overall in recent quarters in venture investment in startups with military applications.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether venture investors��� enthusiasm will continue for what looks to be a capital-intensive space to scale. For now, however, marine-focused startups are managing to convince backers they can do a lot more than just stay afloat.

Related 蹤獲弝け list:

Related reading:

• Sector Snapshot: Defense Startup Funding Hits An All-Time Record As VCs Begin To Eye Exits

Illustration:

From January through August U.S. tech layoffs reached at least 94,046, up 16.8% from 80,486 in the same period of 2025. Interestingly, and unsurprisingly, many of the cuts came as tech companies redirected spending toward AI and restructured operations to reduce costs.

The year started off on a busy note on the layoff front. After job cuts dropped sharply in December 2025 to 5,151, they surged in January to over 20,000. May was particularly brutal. The month drove the year-to-date increase, recording 31,513 layoffs ��� including ���s 8,000-job reduction ��� the highest monthly count since March 2023, when layoffs reached 36,602.

Recent months indicate a slowdown. Layoffs fell each month after May, reaching 2,347 in August. Overall, June-August 2026 layoffs totaled 19,331, down 16.2% year over year. The decline suggests recent easing, though it is too early to establish a lasting reversal.

Artificial intelligence has become a much more common explanation for layoff decisions, noted , founder of AI was cited in 33% of tech layoff events this year, up from just 1% in 2024. His tracker attributes 92,913 layoffs globally, or 72% of this year���s total, to AI.

���There���s been little evidence that AI is actually replacing the work of the human employees let go,��� Lee said of this year���s largest AI-attributed layoffs. He believes established tech companies are spending heavily on AI and cutting costs elsewhere, hoping to increase productivity with smaller workforces.

Companies cutting

This year, we���ve seen a number of Big Tech and publicly traded companies, as well as startups, make deep cuts.

But interestingly, as with last year, public tech companies have dominated layoff headlines in 2026 so far, led by and Meta.

���Big companies [have] made up about 87% of everyone laid off in 2026, which is similar to last year, when they made up 85%,��� Lee said.

Amazon accounted for 17,388 cuts this year so far through August. Those included a 16,000-worker RIF announcement in January and several smaller subsequent rounds. Meta was next with 10,400 layoffs, including an 8,000-job reduction carried out in May that represented 10% of its workforce.

and recorded the next-largest totals, letting go of 4,800 and 4,760 employees, respectively. , and each recorded 4,000 layoffs, followed by with 3,000, with 2,900 and with 2,600. Notably, the Top 10 list spans a variety of sectors, including cloud computing, social media, payments and enterprise technology.

We should also note that according to reports, ���s workforce fell by about 21,000 employees in its fiscal year ended May 31, 2026, but the worker count and exact timing for each of泭 those reported cuts was unclear, so we did not include that total in our tracker.

Among privately held companies in the tracker, recorded the largest disclosed total at 1,000, followed by HR software provider with 950 and with 500. Those figures were substantially smaller than the largest public-company reductions, although undisclosed layoff counts limit comparisons between the two groups.

And in early September, reportedly laid off 3,300 workers, or 10% of its workforce.

An AI focus

, of , says AI is affecting jobs in two ways. Some work, including coding, can now be done with fewer people. ���There are jobs that are literally being replaced by artificial intelligence,��� he told 蹤獲弝け News.

But companies are also changing their priorities. They���re putting more money into AI and cutting teams working on other parts of the business. ���They���re letting people go from one area of their organization while they might even be hiring in an area that is focused on AI,��� Challenger said. That���s why a company may lay people off and advertise new jobs at the same time.

Tech has announced more job cuts than any other industry this year, Challenger said. Across the U.S. economy, layoffs are down somewhat from last year, though that comparison is skewed by the large number of federal job cuts in 2025. When compared with the period just after the pandemic, when employers struggled to find workers, layoffs remain elevated.

Few companies outside tech have blamed job cuts on AI so far, Challenger said.

It���s not all negative though, in his view. There’s potential upside for programmers, he said. If AI makes software less expensive to build, companies in other industries might embark on projects they couldn���t afford before. That could mean new jobs outside tech, though it���s too early to know whether those jobs will make up for the ones being cut.

Also, it appears that some companies might be regretting their layoff decisions. Amazon is reaching out to eligible former employees about open roles across the company, including in its cloud-computing and AI businesses, according to a泭 report.

Methodology

Layoffs figures are from The 蹤獲弝け Tech Layoffs Tracker, where we record reported job cuts at U.S. tech employers. The tracker includes layoffs conducted by U.S.-based companies or those with a strong U.S. presence ��� both privately and publicly traded ��� and is updated at least bi-weekly. Layoff and workforce figures are best estimates based on reporting. Actual layoff figures are likely much higher than reported as many companies do not disclose the number of jobs cut when announcing layoffs. For more about our methodology for tracking layoffs, refer to the tracker���s methodology section.

Related reading:

• The 蹤獲弝け Tech Layoffs Tracker

Illustration:

A decade ago, Espahbodi co-founded aerospace and defense startup accelerator and moved back to the U.S. to expand it. On the advice of friends at , he opened an office in El Segundo, California, near , just as more alumni of that company were leaving to launch hard-tech startups of their own and next-generation defense startups including were emerging.

Espahbodi eventually sold his stake in Starburst and launched , which invests in companies spanning industrial infrastructure, manufacturing, energy and water desalination. The firm has backed 14 companies since making its first investment in January 2023.

He also advises federal agencies on working with nontraditional, venture-backed companies. In an interview with 蹤獲弝け News, he discusses how AI is changing hardware economics, why software investors are rushing into industrial technology, and what he believes many of them misunderstand about the sector.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

蹤獲弝け News: What led you to leave Starburst and launch Generational Partners?

Espahbodi: About four years ago, I noticed that my friends from SpaceX were leaving the space vertical and moving horizontally across physical industries. I reached an inflection point: I didn���t want to remain locked into the space sector. I wanted to follow my friends.

I sold my equity in the accelerator, and part of the investment team left with me to start Generational Partners. For the past four years, we���ve invested in what you might call the SpaceX-mafia and hard-tech sectors ��� anything involving industrial infrastructure, manufacturing, energy or water desalination.

We made our first investment in January 2023, in a North Dakota-based drone company. It was a trial by fire and an opportunity to prove the thesis. We���ve invested in 14 companies since then.

You were already investing in physical, safety-critical industries before the generative AI boom. Has AI materially changed where you invest, or has it mainly reinforced your existing thesis?

Espahbodi: I tend to arrive earlier than others. I embraced the idea that hardware does not have to be capital-intensive. People often confuse hard tech with deep tech, but nomenclature aside, you don���t need to invest in science to win in these categories.

AI has dramatically changed that narrative and encouraged more people to get on board. I���m not looking to invest in science. I don���t necessarily see opportunities in quantum computing, nuclear fusion or other technologies being spun out of laboratories.

People who worked at companies such as SpaceX, and laid their companies��� foundations digitally. AI has significantly improved that augmentation and performance, enabling these companies to tackle legacy industries more aggressively and, more importantly, with new business models.

Another major component of the AI question is that frontier labs have become more expensive and capital-intensive than traditional hardware companies. The success of frontier AI labs, combined with the SpaceX IPO becoming an enormous wealth-creation event, creates a new environment. It raises questions about what is truly capital-intensive, what makes a product or its intellectual property defensible, and where companies are reengineering products around different business models.

Hardware has historically been capital-intensive, slower to commercialize and difficult to scale. Under what conditions does its technical defensibility compensate for those challenges?

Espahbodi: Fundamentally, it comes down to the business model. I look for creative software talent combined with commoditized hardware, significant customer demand and a new business model.

One of our portfolio companies was founded by the team that built the factory for user terminals. When you buy a retail Starlink antenna, these people built and scaled the assembly line that produced it at high volume.

While deploying those terminals globally to provide internet access, they observed that poverty often stemmed from a lack of access to clean water. They asked whether they could replicate the proliferated satellite-and-user-terminal architecture for edge water desalination.

Rather than investing in multibillion-dollar, nation-state infrastructure like that used by Gulf countries, they wanted to mass-produce every component in a vertically integrated stack. Their goal was to produce a cooler-sized device that could clean water at the point of need.

used a digital, software-based approach to build the bill of materials needed for mass manufacturing. AI is part of its business and operations, but the company���s real innovation was inverting the infrastructure model and scaling it.

I helped Vital Lyfe win its first customers within the and . Those organizations can use its devices in the field rather than shipping pallets of bottled water by air freight. That created a signal for overseas partnerships and nonprofit humanitarian-aid applications. It showed that there could be a different way to provide clean water.

Those are the kinds of unique business models that excite me.

What other companies founded by SpaceX alumni demonstrate how hardware businesses can overcome the traditional challenges of the sector? What can these founders build today that would have been difficult five years ago?

Espahbodi: Another example is the team SpaceX recruited to build the autonomous drone ships that catch boosters in the middle of the ocean. The team included former Coast Guard personnel and oil-and-gas technicians.

At SpaceX, they had the freedom to use software and AI tools to automate station-keeping ��� the ability of those drone ships to position and navigate themselves and reach the right location.

That team spun out and brought in many former colleagues to change commercial maritime shipping. They retrofit legacy boats operating in harbors and waterways and move supply-chain goods.

They brought a digital-first foundation to automating the controls on tugboats and barges. That had never existed before because the communications link to those ships didn���t exist. Starlink changed the concept of operations. The company can use its software expertise to change how physical devices operate aboard these boats and allow their sensors to send signals anywhere in the world.

That makes it possible to retrofit and overhaul how legacy shipping vessels navigate harbors and waterways in the U.S. It���s another example of SpaceX alumni applying the playbook and technologies they learned at SpaceX to a much broader commercial industry.

You���ve said AI is eroding traditional software moats. What evidence are you seeing that investors are responding by moving into hardware and industrial technology?

Espahbodi: I meet many software investors who feel they���re missing out on hardware but don���t necessarily understand it. I���ve met beauty investors who now say they���re defense-tech investors.

Los Angeles is a hotbed of firms that historically invested in software, media or consumer packaged goods. But people forget that Southern California, particularly El Segundo, is the aerospace capital of the world and has the largest concentration of mechanical-engineering talent.

Across the region ��� from China Lake to San Diego ��� technicians, builders and vocational talent are intersecting with the democratization of software and access to AI tools. Many local VCs have never taken advantage of the hardware talent located around them, so they���re being thrown for a loop.

Ironically, Bay Area VCs have been among those leaning most heavily into this. But it���s happening everywhere. I���m in Washington, D.C., now, and one of the first investors in , the hypersonic missile company, was in Virginia ��� before and others became involved.

Los Angeles VCs in particular know there is a talent war underway and that many people are leaving established companies to launch new businesses in these categories. But they struggle to underwrite those deals. They don���t know how to distinguish a strong opportunity from fear of missing out or something merely cosmetic.

So investors��� lack of experience in the space isn���t deterring them from writing checks or competing for deals?

Espahbodi: You have to ask why. The answer is their limited partners.

Sophisticated allocators, such as endowments, foundations and pension funds, along with more FOMO-driven family offices and high-net-worth investors, are watching this wave of SpaceX, and Anduril alumni create new companies and raise extraordinary rounds.

Many of those companies are no longer raising solely to pursue intellectual property. They���re building war chests to acquire other companies. The lines between private equity and venture capital are blurring. VC-backed companies are doing private equity-style buyouts, while venture deals are bringing in private equity checks.

That leaves LPs pushing for more. The success of the frontier AI labs has also perpetuated a fear of a ���SaaS apocalypse,��� which I don���t think is real ��� although I sometimes question ���s 1泭stock price for fun.

It creates what venture does best: tourists and FOMO. LPs ask why their managers aren���t investing in the same companies and how they can participate, raise more money and show that they aren���t missing out. That���s how I���ve seen investors unfamiliar with these sectors enter the market.

Some of the largest Silicon Valley firms … missed this dynamism wave. Now they���re leaning in hard, sometimes at ridiculous valuations for companies that have yet to produce anything.

If more venture funding continues to flow into defense, aerospace and industrial technology, what prevents hardware from developing the same problems software experienced, including too many competing companies?

Espahbodi: Bring it on ��� hard and fast, and as much as possible.

Venture as a category exists because it was always about hardware. I would argue that the SaaS era, from the dot-com boom until now, was a blip compared with what venture was originally intended to underwrite.

I would move away from the hardware-vs.-software distinction and ask who is reframing the business model. Is there a way to reengineer a combination of software and hardware to unlock customer value? That���s the more important question.

How important is geography for these startups? Does locating near a major government customer help a company win contracts, and how do startups navigate procurement if they aren���t based near Washington, D.C.?

Espahbodi: It���s a common misconception that Washington is where the money is. The Los Angeles Air Force Base houses , which is another way of saying it holds ���s wallet. El Segundo makes the purchasing decisions for the fastest-growing portion of the military budget.

Washington is a place of considerable activity that needs to be influenced. Venture has never had this degree of influence on an administration and its executive orders. We���re also seeing portfolio companies backed by influential investors win government contracts worth as much as $1 billion at a time. That���s extraordinary.

Geographically, companies need to be where the talent is as much as where the customers are. Government customers should signal what matters, but companies shouldn���t organize themselves entirely around the government.

My catchphrase is that I want everyone to be commercially focused but mission-aware. I don���t want them to be mission-focused on the government. I want government to signal what it cares about while companies remain commercially focused.

The talent war for this convergence of hardware and digital technology is centered in Southern California. If you aren���t building and recruiting there, you���re falling behind. I like that the Bay Area is trying to attract more hardware talent and capitalize on the automotive and humanoid-robotics markets.

But I think the talent base for the factory of the future starts in Southern California and can then be used as a model for expansion into other places, as companies such as Anduril have done in Ohio and Louisiana.

We invested in a company founded by people from SpaceX and . They immediately moved to Austin to build a smart factory for raw-material processing. They wanted to automate the process at its source.

The largest concentration of cotton farming is around Lubbock in the Texas Panhandle. The company is building automated factories from the ground up to mill cotton into yarn and then complete the digital, vertically integrated stack by producing textiles at prices that beat outsourcing to China, Vietnam and other countries.

It sounds crazy, but the founder is determined to do it. If you can prove the model in textiles, you can apply it to copper. If you can do it with copper, you can do it in pharmaceuticals. From there, it could go in any direction.

Do startups located near Space Systems Command have an advantage?

Espahbodi: Not for that reason alone. The advantage is that they���re part of the ecosystem and geography. They���re spending time in the same bars and restaurants, and their children attend the same schools. They���re witnessing the same velocity.

Space Force itself is facing greater demand than ever to protect assets in space. Whatever happens with funding for individual programs, it remains the fastest-growing portion of the Pentagon budget.

I don���t think startups should locate there solely to be close to the customer. They should be there for the talent they need to build.

Related 蹤獲弝け queries:

Related reading:

• Sector Snapshot: Space Tech Startup Funding Orbits New Highs
• Sector Snapshot: Defense Startup Funding Hits An All-Time Record As VCs Begin To Eye Exits

Illustration:

U.S. venture-backed technology泭1 companies have secured nearly $90 billion in domestic public offerings this year, per 蹤獲弝け data. That���s already the second-highest annual tally on record, and we���ve still got a few months to go.

However, virtually all the money went to two companies. alone accounted for 83% of the $90 billion raised this year, while AI infrastructure company scooped up another 6%. A potential offering from , meanwhile, could be even bigger.

The remaining field is comparatively modest. Just 21 other venture-backed technology companies went public this year in sizable or offerings 2, per 蹤獲弝け data. Collectively, their offerings, which include traditional IPOs and SPAC deals, pulled in less than $10 billion.

This small cohort is intriguing for what it excludes as well as what it includes. Enterprise software, long a staple industry among venture-backed IPOs, was essentially a no-show this year. Energy, defense and space tech, by contrast, were well-represented. We also saw smaller offerings from other sectors, including medical devices and consumer-facing startups.

Here are some of the key findings in more detail:

Energy powers the most IPOs: About a quarter of this year���s tech startup offerings hail from the energy sector. The largest of these was from geothermal energy provider . Several nuclear power-focused startups also made their debuts, including and , developers of small modular nuclear reactors, as well as , focused on advanced nuclear fuel.

A dash of quantum, defense, aerospace, devices and consumer: Beyond energy, quantum computing company delivered one of the year���s larger debuts, as did equipment rental platform . Defense tech and aerospace were also strong performers, with offerings from satellite intelligence provider and spacecraft developer . And on the consumer front, e-bike and scooter platform finally made its market entrance, albeit at a valuation below its one-time .

An IPO SaaS-pocalipse: But what about SaaS? Mostly MIA. The paucity of enterprise software offerings this year isn���t entirely surprising given the impact of AI on the sector. VCs are pouring capital into a newer generation of AI-first platforms in legal tech, accounting and other enterprise software sectors. Existing SaaS unicorns are also moving fast to incorporate more AI in their offerings.

One end result is there are an awful lot of SaaS unicorns and former unicorns that have concluded this year is not the time to pursue an IPO.

Winner-takes-almost-all

Another end result is that investment returns are looking more concentrated than ever.

Of course, winning big or not at all is far from a new thing in the startup world. Tech venture returns have always been propped up largely by a few enormous wins, with the remainder of portfolio companies producing either losses or smaller profitable exits. But lately, the winner-take-almost-all-the-IPO-proceeds tilt is more pronounced than ever.

The pipeline of tech companies that have filed for future IPOs doesn���t offer much consolation that this pattern will change. Giant potential market debuts from Anthropic and still dominate IPO chatter. Enterprise SaaS offerings do not.

Related 蹤獲弝け query:

Illustration:

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

It was a monster week for U.S. startup funding, with four companies each raising $1 billion or more. ���s tunnel-drilling company led with a $3 billion Series D, followed by AI coding startup at $2 billion. Joining them near the top was , which landed $1.3 billion for its AI platform for physical operations, while reusable rocket developer raised another $1 billion.

Big checks also flowed to U.S. solar manufacturing, defense tech, legal AI and companies building the chips and networking infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence.

1. , $3B, transportation and infrastructure: Musk���s Bastrop, Texas-based tunneling company raised a $3 billion Series D led by the, with participation from investors including, and. The company is developing underground tunnel networks designed to move passengers and vehicles while reducing surface traffic, and already operates its Vegas Loop system beneath Las Vegas. The latest deal values it at $23 billion and brings its total funding to nearly $3.9 billion, .

2. , $2B, artificial intelligence: San Francisco-based Cognition raised a $2 billion Series E led by,,, and. The company is best known for Devin, its autonomous software-engineering agent, and is part of a highly funded crop of startups betting AI agents will take over increasingly complex coding and development work. Cognition has raised nearly $3.9 billion to date and was valued at $48 billion in the latest round, our shows.

3. , $1.3B, AI for physical operations: San Francisco-based Motive raised $1.3 billion in private equity funding led by. The company, formerly known as KeepTruckin, has an AI-driven platform used by trucking, construction and other physical-economy businesses to manage fleets, monitor driver safety, and automate operations and spending. The latest deal brings Motive���s total funding to just over $2 billion, according to .

4. , $1B, aerospace: Kent, Washington-based Stoke Space raised a $1 billion Series E co-led by and, with among the additional investors. The company is developing fully reusable rockets, including its Nova launch vehicle, as it looks to lower the cost of transporting satellites and other payloads to orbit. The latest round values Stoke at $10 billion and brings total funding to . Its raise adds to the already record-setting sums for space tech startup investment this year.

5. , $835M, solar energy: Norcross, Georgia-based Suniva raised $835 million from investors including, and. The longtime U.S. solar manufacturer produces high-efficiency solar cells and plans to use new capital to expand domestic production, including a new South Carolina facility that would more than quadruple its manufacturing capacity. Suniva has raised nearly .

6. , $600M, defense tech: Huntington Beach, California-based Mach Industries raised a $600 million Series C from investors including and. Founded in 2022, the defense manufacturer develops unmanned aircraft, long-range weapons, propulsion technology and the infrastructure needed to produce defense systems at scale. Mach is part of a broader surge in venture investment into defense companies looking to bring Silicon Valley-style development and manufacturing speeds to military hardware. The latest round values the company at $3.7 billion and brings its total funding to .

7. , $550M, legal AI: San Francisco-based Harvey raised a $550 million Series H co-led by and, with investors including and also participating. Harvey builds generative AI tools for lawyers and other professional-services workers, with products for legal research, document analysis and contract work. The company was valued at $15.5 billion in the latest deal, which brings its total funding to date to nearly . That makes it one of the most well-funded players in the legal tech space, which has seen robust investment this year, though slightly lower than last year���s all-time high.

8. (tied) , $500M, semiconductors: Fab2 raised a $500 million Series A led by, with among the other investors. Formerly known as Atomic Semi, Fab2 is trying to rethink semiconductor manufacturing by designing its own fabrication tools, components and software with the goal of building smaller chip factories faster and more cheaply. The funding is the first disclosed round for the company, which maintains headquarters in California and Kentucky, and values it at $3.7 billion.

8. (tied) , $500M, AI infrastructure: Reno, Nevada-based Positron raised a $500 million Series C led by and, with among its other investors. The startup develops purpose-built hardware for AI inference, where models actually process queries after they have been trained, and is one of a growing crop of chip companies challenging GPUs in particular AI workloads. The latest financing values Positron at $5 billion and brings its total funding to nearly $1.2 billion, .

10. (tied) , $275M, AI networking infrastructure: Laguna Beach, California-based Celero Communications raised a $275 million Series C led by, and. Celero develops coherent digital signal processor technology that helps move enormous quantities of data between chips and data centers while using less power, an increasingly critical bottleneck as AI clusters grow. The round values the company at $3 billion and brings total funding to roughly , according to 蹤獲弝け.

10. (tied) , $275M, biotechnology: South San Francisco, California-based Encoded Therapeutics raised a $275 million Series F led by, with investors including, and also participating. The clinical-stage biotech develops precision genetic medicines for severe neurological disorders, with its lead therapy targeting Dravet syndrome, a rare genetic epilepsy. Encoded has raised $514.1 million to date, .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 蹤獲弝け database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Sept. 5-11, 2026. Although most announced rounds are in the database, there may be a small time lag, as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Related reading:

• Sector Snapshot: Space Tech Startup Funding Orbits New Highs泭
• Anduril Raises Another $5B As Defense Tech Startups Shatter Funding Records
• Sector Snapshot: Legal Tech Funding Down Slightly From All-Time High泭
• Sector Snapshot: Semiconductor Startup Funding Still Running Hot

Illustration:

The highest-valued new entrants were China-based humanoid robotics business , valued at more than $6.3 billion; San Jose, California-based photonics company , valued at $5.5 billion; and Palo Alto, California-based AI model platform , and San Francisco���s semiconductor manufacturing startup , both valued at $5 billion.

AI software featured prominently across model training, assistants, agentic and enterprise workflow automation, coding and voice transcription.

Semiconductors was the second-largest sector, with five new unicorns. Robotics and financial services each added three, while data centers, security and energy each added two.

The U.S. accounted for 16 of August���s new unicorns. China followed with four. South Korea, India, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Germany and Turkey each added one. Nigeria and Indonesia also each added one new unicorn ��� for both, their first new unicorn of the year.

Nine companies exited the 蹤獲弝け in August, per 蹤獲弝け data: Three that went public ��� the most notable being ��� and six via acquisition, including , and .

New unicorns in August

Here are August���s new unicorn companies:

AI and software

• , a Palo Alto, California-based platform for training, fine-tuning and deploying custom AI models based on proprietary data, announced $1.1 billion in funding led by and . The less-than-1-year-old company, founded by former co-founder , was valued.
• San Francisco-based , an AI assistant that executes personal tasks, raised a $250 million Series B led by and . The 1-year-old company was valued at $2.5 billion.
• Shanghai-based , a builder of agents for digital and physical environments, raised a $220 million seed round led by and . The less-than-1-year-old company was valued at $2 billion. Its founder, , a researcher, left earlier this year.
• San Francisco-based , which builds AI-powered voice-writing and meeting-transcription tools, raised a $280 million Series B led by , who also led its Series A in 2025. The 5-year-old company was valued at $2 billion.
• San Francisco-based , which provides AI-powered code review and change-management tools, raised a $143 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation. and co-led the round. The 3-year-old company said it would commit more than $10 million to keep its tools free for open-source projects over the next year.
• San Francisco-based , which deploys AI agents across calls, email, documents and enterprise systems, raised a $150 million Series C at a $1.2 billion post-money valuation. and led the round. The company is 4 years old, started in logistics and has expanded to insurance, energy, telecommunications and airlines among others and counts 150 enterprise customers.
• Turkey-based , a developer of consumer mobile applications, raised a $50 million Series A led by . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1.25 billion. Its apps include AI chatbot Nova, diagnosing plants with PlantApp, and art generator DaVinci.

Semiconductors

• , a San Jose, California-based developer of photonic interconnects for AI computing infrastructure, raised a $700 million Series C at a $5.5 billion valuation. , , , and led the round. The 2-year-old company is already deployed within data centers.
• raised $400 million in funding led by hedge fund . The 1-year-old company was valued at $5 billion. The San Francisco-based company creates tooling for semiconductor manufacturing and was founded by researchers.
• South Korea-based , which develops edge AI processors for on-device inference, raised about $29 million in the first tranche of its Series D funding from existing investors. The 8-year-old company targeting robotics and electronics was valued at about $2.2 billion.
• Shanghai-based , an AI chip startup for inference, raised a Series A led by local state capital investors and . The 4-year-old company was valued at about $1.5 billion with plans to ship its product in Q4 2026.
• Santa Clara, California-based , which develops low-power silicon and software for AI data centers and physical AI, raised a $110 million Series A led by . The 4-year old company was valued at more than $1 billion.

Robotics

• China-based , which is building the general-purpose IRON humanoid robot, raised more than $900 million in its first outside financing at a post-money valuation exceeding $6.3 billion. led the round, with participation from and support from and Alibaba Group. The company, a subsidiary of public smart electric vehicle company , is 10 years old.
• Singapore-based , which develops robots to operate in real-world environments, raised about $669 million in funding. The 2-year-old company was valued at about $3.3 billion and is set to deploy robots in a Dairy Queen in Shanghai to handle the entire 55-step process of taking orders, preparing the food and handing it to a customer.
• Zurich-based , which develops autonomous technology for heavy construction machinery, raised a $200 million Series A led by . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1 billion and works across multiple construction brands.

Financial services

• Bengaluru-based , a financial-services company spanning payment, lending and insurance, raised $100 million in funding led by . The 7-year-old company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• Berlin-based , a finance AI platform for 蹤獲弝け mid-sized businesses to泭 manage spend, card issuing and expenses, raised a $40 million Series C led by and . The 7-year-old company was valued at around $1.15 billion. The company says it has 5,000 businesses that use the service to give finance teams control.
• Palo Alto, California-based , an AI-native enterprise resource planning platform for accounting, raised a $100 million Series C led by . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Aerospace and defense

• Los Angeles-based , a manufacturer of autonomous military drones and counter-drone systems, raised a $250 million Series C at a $2.5 billion post-money valuation. and the co-led the round. The company is 3 years old. Neros has contracts with the U.S. military as well as half a dozen allied countries.
• Mountain View, California-based , which builds and operates satellite constellations for national security, civil and commercial customers, raised a $250 million Series C led by . The 5-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.

Data centers

• Palo Alto, California-based , a vertically integrated AI infrastructure platform, raised a $300 million Series A led by , , and . The less-than-1-year-old company was valued at $2.4 billion. Alongside the equity, Volta secured $5 billion in debt to fund data center buildouts.
• , a full-stack AI infrastructure and neocloud platform, received led by Doha-based broadband provider , which holds a 49% stake. Jakarta-based Zankore is less than 1-year-old and is valued at $1.6 billion. The platform is targeting 1 gigawatt of AI computing capacity.

Security

• San Francisco-based , an AI-native security company that provides autonomous penetration testing, raised a $250 million Series E led by and . The 7-year-old company was valued at $2 billion and is used by 7,000 organizations including defense, Fortune 10, banks and healthcare companies among others.
• Palo Alto, California-based , which provides security for AI agents and third-party applications, raised an $85 million Series D led by . The 9-year-old company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Energy

• China-based , a nuclear fusion company developing small modular reactors, raised about $179 million in seed funding. The 1-year-old company was valued at about $1.5 billion.
• Washington, D.C.-based , which develops software that adjusts AI data-center workloads based on power-grid demands, raised a $150 million Series A at a $1 billion valuation. and co-led the round. The 2-year-old company says the round brings total funding to more than $220 million.

Transportation

• Nigeria-based , a vehicle financing and autonomous fleet management infrastructure, raised a $250 million Series C led by , and . The 7-year-old company was valued at $2.1 billion. It operates a fleet of 42,000 vehicles ��� both human-driven and autonomous ��� across 29 cities, with annual recurring revenue of $420 million.泭

Critical minerals

• Houston-based , which builds mines and refineries using its MarianaOS software platform, raised a $310 million Series B led by . The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.

Web3

• Dubai-based , an AI-enabled stablecoin neobanking platform for cross-border payments and tokenized assets, raised a $68 million Series C led by Tokyo-based at a $1 billion valuation. The 7-year-old company says it processes more than $40 billion in annualized transaction volume.

Related 蹤獲弝け unicorn lists:

• (1,862)
• (658)
• (276)
• (195)
• (119)
• (102)
• (961)
• (547)
• (254)
• (39)
• (489)

Related reading:

• Global Venture Funding Jumps 122% In August As Streak Of Billion-Dollar Deals Continues
• Which Investors Have Backed The Most 2026 Unicorns?
• 40 Companies Joined The 蹤獲弝け In July, The Highest Count In 4 Years

Methodology

The 蹤獲弝け 蹤獲弝け is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on 蹤獲弝け data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.泭

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations ��� such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options ��� 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.泭

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

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

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 蹤獲弝け 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 蹤獲弝け long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

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

Most of this week���s largest funding recipients were AI-focused startups, with , a developer of AI assistants, pulling in the biggest round. Other sizable financings went to companies in areas including business software, physical AI, autonomous transport and even sea gliders. Overall, rounds skewed smaller than in recent past weeks.

1. , $250M, AI assistants: Instinct, a startup developing and beta testing an AI assistant, is raising $250 million in a Series B valuing the San Francisco company at $2.5 billion, according to a from citing founder . Lead backers include and .

2. , $240M, small business AI tools: Owner, a provider of AI tools for local businesses to automate things like building websites, online and phone ordering, mobile apps, and customer support, picked up $240 million in new funding. led the financing, valuing the 8-year-old San Francisco company at $2.3 billion.

3. (tied) , $200M, physical AI: San Francisco-based Generalist AI, a startup developing an AI foundation model that can work with a variety of robots, secured $200 million in fresh financing. The investment, an extension of its $400 million Series B in June, is reportedly led by 1.

3. (tied) , $200M, autonomous trucking: Gatik, an operator of driverless trucks, closed on $200 million in Series D funding. and led the round for the 9-year-old, Santa Clara, California-based company.

5. , $156M, predictive analytics: Socure, a provider of identity, risk and compliance tools, picked up $156 million in growth funding and acquired , an agentic platform for fraud and compliance operations. led the round, valuing the Incline Village, Nevada-based company at $5.2 billion.

6. , $150M, data center energy management: Emerald AI, a software platform that balances AI computational workloads and available energy resources, raised $150 million in Series A funding. The financing, led by and , set the Washington, D.C.-based company���s valuation at $1.05 billion.

7. (tied) , $120M, sea gliders: Rhode Island-based Regent Craft, a developer of high-speed winged sea vessels, closed on $120 million in Series B equity funding led by and . It also secured $120 million in debt funding from .

7. (tied) , $120M, biopharma: AusperBio, a San Francisco startup developing therapeutics for chronic hepatitis B and other diseases, picked up $120 million in Series C funding backed by new and existing investors. The funding will support clinical trials for its lead therapeutic.

9. , $76M, AI for creatives: Los Angeles-based Stability AI, a developer of AI products for professional creatives across music, gaming and entertainment, announced a Series B fundraise of $76 million backed by a long list of venture and strategic investors.

10. , $75M, coffee: Brooklyn-based coffee and matcha drink chain Blank Street has raised $75 million in fresh funding from investors including as it plans a West Coast expansion. The company also raised $30 million in secondary market transactions.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 蹤獲弝け database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Aug. 22-28. Although most announced rounds are in the database, there may be a small time lag, as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week���s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week���s 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:泭 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���s 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 蹤獲弝け 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.

Illustration:

led the raise, which brings the Austin-based startup���s total funding to $40 million since its 2022 inception. Returning backers , , and also participated in the round. ClearJet���s earlier investors include , formerly JetBlue Ventures, and .

ClearJet���s model is straightforward. Rather than build its own fleet of planes or trucks, it connects shippers with unused cargo capacity on commercial flights already traveling between U.S. cities to move e-commerce packages around the U.S. Customers include major multibillion-dollar retailers, e-commerce platforms, 3PLs and marketplaces.

In just three years, the startup has built what founder and CEO calls a ���super carrier,��� a network that now spans 95 U.S. airports and connects retailers with major U.S. airlines and multiple final-mile delivery providers. This network gives retailers a way to ship packages so that they travel directly between cities on passenger planes already in the air rather than through the traditional networks used by major parcel carriers.

Unlike a traditional parcel carrier, ClearJet doesn���t own the planes transporting those packages. Instead, its asset-light ���Uber for cargo��� model taps available capacity on flights that are already traveling between cities. The startup says its approach can cut shipping costs by as much as 35% while speeding deliveries by one to three days.

���We���re basically connecting with the already moving aircraft,��� Guggenheim told 蹤獲弝け News in an interview. ���These flights are going from A to B city. We���re taking those same routes, and that���s just why we���re so fast. That���s also why we���re so cost efficient.���

The approach appears to be working. ClearJet is profitable, its revenue has more than tripled year over year, and it is approaching nine figures in top-line revenue, according to Guggenheim.

The market opportunity is still large. The startup says it moves more than 30 million packages annually, which is still a fraction of the roughly 1.8 billion U.S. parcels it considers eligible to move by air.

Global funding to supply chain management and logistics startups has reached $8.4 billion in 2026 so far, per 蹤獲弝け . This puts this year on pace to top 2025���s total of $9 billion considering we have over four months left in the year.

How it works

Retailers connect to ClearJet through an API and can generate a two-day shipping label. ClearJet picks up the packages, takes them to an airport, handles sorting and screening, places them on commercial flights, and then injects them into final-mile networks at their destination. Those providers can include , the , , , and , Guggenheim said.

���We call it the super carrier because it truly is that, and it gives all the power back to the retailer,��� Guggenheim said in an interview with 蹤獲弝け News.

One of ClearJet���s first large retail customers had previously relied on FedEx for goods arriving from Asia, with deliveries taking seven days from factory to customer, according to Guggenheim. Under ClearJet���s model, products arrive at Los Angeles International Airport, where the company takes possession of the cargo, sorts it and flies it into 14 different airports before handing the packages to final-mile carriers.

The result, Guggenheim said, was a reduction in delivery time from seven days to five ��� and $35 million in cost savings for the customers.

That combination of time and cost savings was what caught Edison Partners��� attention.

, who leads the firm���s vertical SaaS and AI practice, told 蹤獲弝け News that Edison had spent years looking at ways to use excess capacity in supply chains without requiring companies to make massive investments in physical infrastructure.

���We looked at a few supply chain businesses over the years,��� Ziegler said. ���Candidly, most of them went bankrupt because they took an asset-heavy approach to the middle mile.���

ClearJet took the asset-light approach. And the company���s airline relationships, regional sortation infrastructure, regulatory license and technology architecture make it difficult to copy its model, according to Ziegler.

���When you think about what they built, it is a very unique aviation infrastructure platform, and it���s difficult to replicate,��� he said. ���He���s [Guggenheim] proven the business model, and the unit economics work.���

Backstory

The idea for ClearJet grew out of Guggenheim���s own frustrations as a longtime e-commerce entrepreneur.

He started his first company in 1997 after meeting and his family and building direct-to-fan e-commerce businesses for them. Guggenheim later worked with a range of music and sports clients, including helping launch the first beyonce.com. His company went on to support more than 2,000 Plus stores with over $1 billion in GMV, he said.

Along the way, logistics became one of his biggest headaches.

Shipping had become the second-largest cost of goods outside of the product itself for his business, he said. And in 2019, after spending $55 million with , Guggenheim said he received an email giving him five days��� notice that his account was being canceled because it wasn���t profitable enough.

���And so I said, ���there has to be a better way,��� ��� he said.

Guggenheim began thinking about the thousands of domestic passenger flights traveling around the U.S. every day and wondering whether their unused cargo space could become part of an alternative parcel network.

He had no connections with the airlines, he said, so he began cold-emailing executives until he reached the president of . At a cargo industry event, Guggenheim got about five minutes to pitch his idea in what he now calls his ���Shark Tank moment.���

���I said, ���I want to start flying packages from LA to New York. Do you have any flights?������ Guggenheim recalled. ���And he put his arm around me and said, ���You and I are going to be best friends.������

Guggenheim went on to build relationships with , , , and , the latter of which participated in an earlier ClearJet financing. He also began recruiting people from the airline and parcel industries and building the technology underpinning the network. ClearJet formally launched in May 2023.

One logistical obstacle was the aircraft themselves. Guggenheim said most U.S. passenger aircraft are narrow-body planes whose cargo doors are too small to accommodate the pallets typically moved by freight forwarders.

ClearJet addressed this by designing its own overpack bags specifically for e-commerce parcels. Those bags can travel through airports much like passenger luggage before being unloaded and handed to the appropriate delivery company.

AI component

ClearJet’s AI models choose each parcel’s path based on cost, speed and geography across its network. AI is also built into how ClearJet routes packages. Its models choose a parcel’s path based on factors including cost, speed and geography.

The company is also developing AI agents to automate more of the operational work around those shipments.

For example, ClearJet is creating AI agents to handle tasks such as rating, booking, tracking and managing delivery problems, according to Guggenheim.

This includes features such as responding to weather disruptions by moving packages onto a different flight or through a different city, something ClearJet can do because it isn���t tied to just one airline.

���We���re building an entire agent team, an army of agents that do everything that the humans were doing,��� Guggenheim said.

ClearJet raised its seed round in early 2023 and $13.4 million in a Series A in 2024, according to Guggenheim. He declined to disclose the company���s valuation but described the Series B as a significant step-up from its previous financing.

Next, ClearJet plans to expand into returns and international shipping, and expand its network of airports. Guggenheim also wants to give consumers much more detailed visibility into where packages are during their journeys, similar to the real-time experience they have become accustomed to with services such as DoorDash.

���We have a really big appetite for giving consumers a better visual experience with their packages,��� he said.

For Ziegler, the bigger bet is that ClearJet can become infrastructure for a delivery market increasingly built around getting products directly to individual consumers.

���We saw this as an opportunity to actually create a category-defining business,��� he said.

ClearJet has just under 50 full-time employees and hundreds of contractors operating seven days a week.

Related 蹤獲弝け query:

Illustration: