Leading sectors by count were financial services, robotics, AI orchestration, multimodal AI, energy and the semiconductor industry.

In the past two months, the board added more than $100 billion each month in value from newly minted unicorns. Three companies joined the board at decacorn values. , and together added $49 billion in the past month.

The U.S. counts 19 new unicorn companies, just under half of the newly minted unicorns in July. China, the second-largest country, numbered eight. From the U.K., there were three companies, and from Singapore, two. Lithuania, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Australia, India, Israel and Hong Kong each count one.

Among the newly minted unicorns, 15 were less than 3 years old. And seven companies were more than 10 years old.

So far this year, the count of new unicorns has accelerated. A total of 195 companies joined in H1 this year, already exceeding the total for all of 2025.

New unicorns in July

Here are July’s new unicorn companies:

Financial services

• Singapore-based , an affiliate of the private payments company , raised a $1.2 billion Series A funding round with participation from Ant Group and . Ant International was spun out in 2024 and was valued at $11.2 billion in this recent funding.
• , a digital banking platform for banks and credit unions, raised $115 million in private equity funding led by . The 9-year-old San Ramon, California-based company that supports customer retention and services was valued at $1.6 billion.
• Budapest-based , an auto insurance provider using AI, raised a $23 million Series B funding round led by . The almost 2-year-old company, founded by a Serbian team, was valued at $1.6 billion.泭 Ominimo reports $350 million in gross written premiums and is approaching 1 million customers. It operates in Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden, and plans to expand across Europe and to the U.S. in 2027.
• , an AI-native private bank for high net worth business owners, raised a $70 million Series B led by . The 4-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• , a membership and savings app for U.S. consumers, raised $65 million in Series D funding led by . The 10-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.2 billion. Surpassing $200 million in net revenue in 2025 from membership and transactional revenue, the company says it is growing 50% year over year and is approaching 1 million members.
• London-based , a savings app which has become a digital wealth management platform, raised a $60 million secondary market transaction led by . The 11-year-old company was valued at $1.1 billion. The secondary sale is to provide liquidity for long-term employees. The company is profitable and has helped 200,000 people buy their first home.

Robotics

• Guangdong-based humanoid robotics company raised $200 million in pre-IPO funding. The 4-year-old company is focused on entertainment, hospitality, and service for humanoid robotics, not manufacturing, with half of its orders coming from outside of China. The company was valued at $2.2 billion.
• Shenzhen-based , a builder of precision tactile sensing technology for robotics, raised $148 million in Series E funding. The 10-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• London-based , a humanoid robotics company for manufacturing, retail and logistics, raised a $152 million Series A funding led by . The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.4 billion and plans to roll out its wheeled beta version robots to customers in Q4. It has also developed a software brain, KinetIQ, to reason and execute complex tasks alongside humans.
• Full-stack physical AI company emerged from stealth with a $300 million seed funding led by and . The less-than-1-year-old Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company focused on manufacturing and logistics was valued at $1.1 billion.
• , an embodied intelligence company, raised a $147 million seed funding round led by and . The less than 1-year-old Nanjing, China-based company is focused on closed-loop learning, building robotics for manufacturing with the ultimate goal of building a general-purpose robot for the home. The company was valued at $1 billion.
• Dexterous hand robotics company raised a $74 million Series A funding led by . The 1-year-old Hangzhou, China-based company was valued at $1 billion.

AI

• Lithuania-based , a public data web scraping service useful for AI applications and agentic AI, raised its first external financing, a $130 million Series A led by . The company reports $350 million in ARR serving 350,000 tech teams. The 11-year-old company was valued at $3.6 billion.
• Spain-based , a compression technology for AI that improves efficiency and cost, whether on device or in the cloud. It raised a $570 million Series C led by , and . The 7-year-old company was valued at $2.3 billion.
• , creator of synthetic users for consumer research, raised a $200 million Series B led by and . The company raised a $100 million Series A five months earlier. The 1-year-old Palo Alto-based company was valued at $2 billion.
• runs a full-stack platform for companies to train models and agents. It raised a $130 million Series A funding led by . The 2-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• , an enterprise infrastructure management platform for AI, raised a $100 million Series D led by . The 7-year-old San Jose, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Multimodal AI

• Beijing-based , a text prompt-to-AI short video startup, raised a $2.8 billion funding round led by , , , , and . The 2-year-old company, a subsidiary of with plans to spin out, was valued at $18 billion.
• , a company that creates 3D visualization from text or image prompts, raised a $400 million Series B funding led by , and . The 5-year-old Sunnyvale, California-based company, used in gaming, 3D printing and design, was valued at $1.5 billion.
• , which provides access to leading models for text, video, image and audio while retaining user privacy, raised a $65 million Series A led by . The service stores communication on a user���s device. The 2-year-old Wyoming-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• Beijing-based , a multimodal model developer, raised a $222 million Series C led by ,, and . The 3-year-old company, used for film, marketing, and social media content creation, was valued at $1 billion.

Energy

• Munich-based nuclear fusion company raised a $470 million Series B led by , , and . The company has offices in Munich, Zurich and Oxford. The 3-year-old company was valued at $2.7 billion.
• a provider of thermal energy storage for data centers, raised a $550 million Series C funding led by and. The 8-year-old San Jose, California-based company was valued at $2.5 billion.
• , a hydrogen-boron fusion company, raised an undisclosed seed round led by , and . The less-than-8-year-old China-based subsidiary of the was valued at $1.6 billion.

Semiconductor

• Israel-based , a fabless semiconductor company building data processing units and chips for data centers and computing systems, raised a $300 million Series E led by . The 9-year-old company was valued at $2.8 billion. The next generation of will be routing via the company���s X2 chip, according to VP of Starlink engineering, .
• Shanghai-based developer of a satellite communication baseband chip for 6G communications, raised an undisclosed amount following a $216 million Series C round earlier this year. The 6-year-old company was valued at around $1.5 billion.
• , a chip company that connects smaller chips to make them more efficient, raised a $145 million Series C led by . The 5-year-old Santa Clara, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Cryptocurrency

• Singapore-based , a regulated app for buying, trading, and spending cryptocurrencies, raised a $400 million corporate round. Led by , this marks the company���s first institutional funding. The 10-year-old company was valued at $20 billion.
• , a U.S. stablecoin digital clearing bank for international financial institutions, raised a $180 million Series B led by . The 4-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Defense

• Former Doge employees founded to provide AI-driven cyber capabilities to the U.S. military. Cathedral raised a $160 million Series A led by and . The less-than-1-year-old Washington, D.C.-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• London-based , a maritime defense company, raised a $175 million Series B led by . The 6-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Marketplace

• , a technology platform for service businesses, raised a $44 million Series D led by . The 10-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.2 billion. Genius AI operates in the wellness, beauty and health sectors and is approaching a $200 million revenue run rate.

• , a platform for travel advisers, raised a $60 million Series D led by and . The service has 15,000 travel advisers and has booked more than $3 billion in travel over time. The 5-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Data center

• Mumbai-based , a data center service hosting GPUs, one of the largest GPU compute providers in India, raised $150 million in funding. The 7-year-old subsidiary of the was valued at $3.9 billion.

Insurance

• , an insurance platform for some of the largest e-commerce customers, raised $100 million in funding. The 12-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.9 billion. Its customers include , , , , and , to name a few.

Quantum

• Quantum computing company raised a $300 million Series A led by , and . The less than 1-year-old South Pasadena, California-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.

AI coding

• Autonomous app building startup raised a $130 million Series C led by , and . The 2-year-old Pleasanton, California-based company was valued at $1.5 billion. The company launched a year ago and has enabled non-coders to build applications, with 12 million built on the platform.

Legal

• , an AI legaltech firm that pairs lawyers with agentic AI, raised a $120 million Series C led by . The service is client-oriented, with payments based on outcomes rather than billable hours. The 3-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Security

• , an endpoint security firm for the AI era, emerged from stealth, announcing a $100 million Series B led by , , and . In 2025, ahead of launching out of stealth, Glow raised large seed and Series A rounds. The 1-year-old Palo Alto, California-based firm with offices in Tel Aviv was valued at $1.2 billion.

Wearables

• Hong Kong-based smart glass company raised a $150 million Series B led by and . Founded by ex- engineers, the startup is not camera-based but rather a display that beams information visible to the wearer.泭 The 2-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Related 蹤獲弝け unicorn lists:

• (1,850)
• (644)
• (245)
• (193)
• (117)
• (102)
• (953)
• (546)
• (251)
• (39)
• (491)

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• Global New Unicorn Counts In The First Half Of 2026 Have Already Surpassed 2025���s Totals

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.

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A grab bag of funded startups caught our attention this past month, from a previously bootstrapped custom metal manufacturer that got its first outside funding from big-name Silicon Valley backers, to a startup that aims to provide geothermal energy from underwater volcanoes to small island nations. Let���s take a look.

$110M for on-demand custom manufacturing

First, let���s start with a refreshingly non-AI round, and a sizable one at that.

Reno, Nevada-based said last month that it has raised $110 million in funding led by brothers and founders and , along with and , at a $1 billion valuation.

The company operates an on-demand manufacturing platform specializing in custom-cut metal and fabrication. The round is its first venture investment, and apparently came only after Sequoia’s flew to Reno to woo SendCutSend CEO into accepting Silicon Valley backing. Previously, Belosic had bootstrapped the company, founded in 2018, with personal savings, bank loans and credit cards, he told .

He held little interest in taking cash from startup investors until SendCutSend started to be flooded earlier this year with orders from AI-driven industries including robotics and data centers, and Belosic said he realized the business needed outside investment to grow.

Investor of Paradigm told WSJ that underlying SendCutSend���s booming business is intense demand for rapid, on-demand sheet metal and custom parts. ���If you think about the entire frontier of robots, defense companies, rocket companies, electric-car companies, they all need very fast turn prototyping,��� he said.

The investment is Paradigm���s first into the manufacturing sector, he noted.

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$100M for insurance-covered metabolic health counseling

GLP-1 weight-loss drugs may be booming, but a well-funded startup is betting that medication alone isn���t enough to solve the chronic disease crisis.

, a New York-based metabolic health startup that combines dietitians, AI tools and GLP-1 medication management, last month said that it raised a $100 million Series C round led by . , , and a long list of other investors also backed the round, which brings the company���s total funding to date to just over $213 million, .

Founded in 2021, Nourish operates what it describes as the country���s largest dietitian-led metabolic health clinic, pairing more than 10,000 registered dietitians with AI coaching, lab testing and virtual care. The company has increasingly expanded into GLP-1 prescribing and medication management as demand for drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy continues to surge.

Nourish said it has partnered with hundreds of health insurers in the U.S. and that its service is covered by most plans.

Its pitch is that the next phase of the GLP-1 boom will require more than prescriptions. While the drugs have transformed obesity treatment, many patients struggle to stay on them long term or maintain results after stopping, according to the company. Nourish is positioning itself as a broader metabolic health platform focused on nutrition, behavior change and ongoing clinical support alongside medication.

���Chronic disease is the central failure of U.S. healthcare ��� nearly 200 million Americans affected, trillions spent, and outcomes that still don’t move,��� Menlo Ventures partner said in a statement. ���What Nourish has built in four years is remarkable: a care model that actually bends the cost curve, with 10,000 dietitians, deep payer relationships, and clinical outcomes patients stick with.���

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$58M for Gen Z group travel adventures

Group travel startups are having a moment as younger travelers increasingly look for ways to meet people while exploring new destinations.

, a Milan-based startup that organizes group travel experiences for millennials and Gen Z travelers, raised a ���50 million (roughly $58 million) Series C funding round as it looks to expand further across Europe and enter the U.S. market. The round was led by .

Founded in 2017, WeRoad operates a platform that connects solo travelers and small groups through curated multiday trips led by coordinators. The company says it has served more than 300,000 travelers across over 1,000 itineraries, with offerings ranging from adventure travel and cultural experiences to outdoor excursions. Participants are typically grouped with strangers in similar age ranges, turning the trips into a hybrid of travel booking and social networking.

���We live in a time when artificial intelligence and social media are reshaping the way we connect with each other. And amid all this digital connection, real human connection has become increasingly rare. Around 30% of young adults say they feel lonely every day. In the United States, this phenomenon is especially significant,��� the company said in a statement. ���We believe we have an answer. Not the only one, not a perfect one, but a real one: putting people in a room together (or on a quad bike in Morocco, in a canoe in Vietnam, or in front of a sunset in Patagonia) and letting whatever is meant to happen, happen.���

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$26M to keep AI data centers cooler

AI may be driving the data center boom, but keeping those facilities cool is becoming a business opportunity in its own right.

, a U.K.-based startup developing precision liquid cooling systems for AI infrastructure, said last month that it raised a $26 million Series B as demand surges for technologies that can manage the growing heat and power requirements of next-generation AI data centers. The round was led by and and brings Iceotope���s total funding to date to just under $100 million, .

Founded in 2005, Iceotope has developed a chassis-based liquid cooling approach designed to replace traditional air cooling and cool entire systems rather than individual chips. The company says it now holds 219 granted and pending patents. It said it will use the new funding to expand product and engineering development, grow its patent portfolio and accelerate partnerships that bring its cooling technology to market.

The raise comes as AI workloads create mounting challenges for conventional cooling systems. Iceotope argues its technology can reduce energy consumption and water use while supporting high-density AI and high-performance computing deployments in both data centers and edge environments.

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$25M for geothermal energy from subsea volcanoes

As AI companies scramble for more electricity, investors are increasingly willing to fund some unconventional ideas for generating it. One of those is , a Seattle-based startup developing subsea geothermal power systems designed to tap into heat generated by subsea volcanic activity.

The company recently raised between $25 million and $30 million in a seed round led by , sources familiar with the matter .

Founded just last year, Endurance Energy is targeting island nations ��� where it says electricity can cost almost 7x as much as in the U.S. ��� industrial sites and eventually hyperscale data centers that need large amounts of reliable power.

Unlike solar and wind, geothermal energy carries the promise of round-the-clock, renewable baseload electricity, a feature that has become increasingly attractive as AI infrastructure drives soaring power demand.

Endurance says its seafloor geothermal generators could deliver gigawatts of power from hydrothermal systems along tectonic plate boundaries and volcanic regions. It is , where about 80% of electricity generation still relies on imported diesel fuel.

Earlier this year, the company signed an agreement with the Tongan government and launched a pilot project aimed at harnessing geothermal heat generated by subsea volcanic activity around the island nation.

���Clean geothermal power will enable us to substitute most of our diesel base load power and further insulate ourselves from future external shocks caused by geopolitical conflicts and global economic impacts,��� Tongan Prime Minister Lord Fakaf��nua said in a statement.

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In a quarter when nearly two-thirds of global venture capital went to just four companies, it���s easy to lose track of the many other companies getting funding to tackle interesting problems. Nonetheless, we spotted five companies in just the past month working on issues from cleaner ferries and trains to foundational AI for plants. Let���s take a closer look.

$55M for a mineral rights-backed credit card

Natural resources can be incredibly valuable financial assets, but you can���t exactly buy your weekly groceries with oil or water rights.

That���s an issue that a Dallas-based fintech startup aims to solve. recently raised $50 million in a debt round from to provide a credit card to U.S. households holding mineral rights to natural resources such as oil, natural gas, solar, wind or water.

���For the millions of mineral rights owners in the United States, these rights are one of the most valuable assets the family owns. But these families are just like the rest of Americans and often are carrying revolving credit card balances at more than 25% [interest],��� Frontlands CEO said in a statement. ���Historically, owners have had few options to access the value trapped inside their mineral rights without selling.���

Its AI system combines machine learning, production data, royalty payment histories, lease terms, commodity price forecasts, geologic data and traditional to automate the underwriting process, the company says. While it���s historically been difficult for traditional lenders to assess natural resources as collateral, Frontlands says its process typically delivers a same-day credit decision.

The company���s recent credit facility is in addition to a announced in December from venture investors including , , and .

Frontlands said its average credit line in early markets ��� Texas, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, North Dakota, Wyoming and Oklahoma ��� is more than $30,000. It plans to launch its credit card product this summer in partnership with Texas-based sponsor bank .

Frontlands said it also expects to raise a Series A round later this year.

���Our goal isn���t to pile on more debt,��� Cotter said in a statement. ���But the opportunity to help our customers move away from high-interest credit card debt ��� and provide a path toward greater financial stability ��� is compelling.���

Investment in fintech startups hit a multiyear high in 2025, 蹤獲弝け data shows, though remains well below the peak. Many of the best-funded companies in recent quarters have brought AI to bear on traditionally more manual or cumbersome processes in the financial services industry.

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$32M for ���flying��� electric commuter ferries

As of this writing, oil prices are hovering around $100 a barrel ��� down from an even greater peak a few weeks earlier, but still among the highest levels seen in years, as the U.S.-Iran war disrupts global energy markets.

So Swedish electric vessel maker ���s recent funding of ���30 million (about $32 million) seems timely. The Stockholm-based company makes electric ���flying��� boats that are used as commuter ferries. They differ from traditional vessels by using computer-controlled hydrofoils to lift the hull above the water, an approach the company says dramatically reduces drag and cuts energy use by up to 80% ��� enabling faster, smoother, zero-emission travel compared to conventional diesel ferries that push through the water.

���From a physics perspective, ships have been essentially the same for hundreds of years,��� Candela founder and CEO said in a statement. ���We’re redefining waterborne transport by effectively creating a new category of vessel. This allows cities and municipalities to finally take full advantage of waterways ��� while escaping the fossil-fuel cost trap that has long prevented them from being used efficiently.���

Its P-12 vessels have already been deployed as commuter ferries in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo and Trondheim.

The new funding was led by ���s arm and included previous investors , , and .

The capital will primarily be used to fund a second factory in Poland. Candela says it has more than 65 vessels on order and planned deployments across markets including India ��� where a fleet of 10 of its P-12s will reportedly cut travel times from Navi Mumbai Airport to the city center from around two hours to 35 minutes ���泭the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The startup���s funding defies an overall downturn in clean-tech funding. Funding for clean-tech related startups totaled $26.9 billion in 2025, down 23% year over year and the lowest annual amount since 2020, 蹤獲弝け data shows.

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$30M to electrify trains with batteries and microgrids

Let���s now turn from waterways to train tracks, with another company that recently raised significant funding aimed at giving centuries-old transportation systems a green overhaul.

, a Philadelphia-based startup, said last month that it raised $30 million in seed funding led by Australian mining company and Israeli venture firm to develop a new way of powering freight rail that avoids the high costs of traditional electrification.

The startup positions its technology as a way to decarbonize one of the world���s most efficient but still fossil-fuel-dependent transport systems. It���s targeting a major pain point for the rail industry: its heavy reliance on diesel. In North America alone, the six largest freight rail operators spend roughly $11 billion annually on diesel fuel, while full electrification of rail networks could cost more than $1 trillion, according to Voltify.

Instead of relying on overhead wires, Voltify says it���s building a system that combines battery-equipped railcars with technology that allows trains to recharge while moving. The goal is to help rail operators cut emissions and fuel costs without requiring massive infrastructure overhauls.

Its approach ��� using mobile batteries and distributed charging via microgrids ��� aims to sidestep those costs by retrofitting existing trains and building localized energy systems rather than rebuilding entire rail networks.

CEO and co-founder that the company has signed a paid pilot agreement with a Class 1 railroad, though she declined to name the customer, citing a confidentiality agreement.

She noted in a that raising funding for a transportation company in the current market was difficult. ���Securing capital in the hardware space and traditional industries is challenging,��� she wrote. ���It is not the ���in��� space; there is no FOMO at play, so we need to focus on metrics and execute quickly. With some of the top 5 largest rail companies globally and a large order pipeline, we are determined to keep moving at lightning speed.���

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$7M for foundation AI for biology

Funding to foundational model AI startups surged last quarter, reaching $178 billion, per 蹤獲弝け data. But the vast majority of that funding went to AI giants like and that are building general-purpose GenAI models.

Such models are fundamentally lacking for hard sciences, argues , a startup based in Paris and Berkeley, California, that last month raised $7 million in seed funding to develop foundation AI for biology trained on DNA, RNA and data from other ������ fields, rather than human text.

The company���s first family of transformer models is called Botanic and is trained on data from 43 plant species. Living Models noted that it���s starting with the commercial crop industry, a massive global market that has abundant data, well-established research infrastructure, and fewer regulatory concerns and faster commercialization timelines than the pharmaceutical industry.

���Plant biology combines three properties that make it an ideal first domain for biological foundation models: genomic data is abundant and largely unrestricted, the commercial need is acute and quantifiable, and the feedback loop between computational prediction and real-world validation is well established through existing breeding infrastructure,��� the company said in a statement.

The global seed industry is also dominated by a handful of incumbents, it noted: , , , and ���泭companies that already spend billions of dollars a year on breeding research.

���Biology is an information problem at every scale, from a single cell to an entire ecosystem. The genomic data exists across many domains; what’s been missing is a model architecture capable of learning from it at scale,��� , Living Models��� CTO and co-founder, said in a statement. ���We start with plants because the data is rich and the breeding cycle is a clear bottleneck, but the same approach applies wherever sequence data meets slow, empirical discovery.���

The company���s recent funding was led by , , and . Other included and

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$2.1M for a brain-stimulating consumer wearable

Billions of dollars a year are spent on therapy and other mental-health treatments, yet measuring progress can be elusive.

That���s one of the issues that San Francisco-based aims to take on with a neuromodulation wearable headset that it says can reduce stress, improve attention span and mood, and more quantitatively measure mental health scores.

Mave���s device uses transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, a noninvasive technique that delivers a low electrical current to the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp, with the aim of modulating neural activity. The technology is when used by adults as directed in controlled settings.

The company last month raised $2.1 million in seed funding led by , with participation from individual investors including Autopilot AI lead .

Crucially, Mave says it does not plan to pursue medical-device approval for its product, which sells for $495. Instead, it is positioning the gadget as a wellness tool that consumers can use on a daily basis to improve their mental well-being and better measure the outcomes of talk therapy or other treatments.

���If you ask a psychologist how do you know if a person is making progress, their response to it is very standard, which is that it���s not about progress. It���s about process [��因 But for somebody with depression who is spending a lot of time in therapy, progress is important. So how do you know whether they���re making progress or not? And even these basic questions were not being answered,��� co-founder .

Mave���s funding comes amid an overall downturn in investment for wellness and fitness-related companies, although select wearables makers including and have raised significant funding in recent years.

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This month, funded startups that caught our eye included a company aiming to make a better wireless monitor for heart disease, another using AI-designed antibodies for home health tests, a startup using AI to improve airplane turnaround times, and a company developing AI-designed proteins for industrial, manufacturing and defense purposes.

$29M for at-home hormone health testing

, a startup that offers popular at-home fertility tests, this month raised $29 million in Series B funding to expand its platform beyond fertility monitoring for women trying to conceive, to a broader slate of at-home diagnostics.

The Palo Alto, California-based startup was founded in 2015. Since 2021, it has analyzed more than 30 million fertility hormone data points, per the company. That data will be useful as it aims to use its new funding to expand beyond fertility monitoring to a range of hormone-related health markers.

Key to that expansion is the development of AI-engineered antibodies, or synthetic proteins created by computer models that predict how antibody molecules should fold and bind to specific targets.

���We predict how proteins fold in 3D, design synthetic antibodies using AI, and test millions of variants virtually before making a single one in the lab,��� Inito co-founder and CTO via email. ���This produces antibodies that are far more sensitive, consistent, and stable than anything developed through traditional methods.���

Inito says that innovation will enable it to build new, accurate at-home health tests for a wider range of biomarkers. This capability is central to the startup���s plan to grow from fertility tracking into a broader at-home health diagnostics platform that could be used to track pregnancy progression, menopause, broader endocrine markers like testosterone, and other hormonal health indicators.

���The endgame is to redefine diagnostics altogether,��� CEO and co-founder told TechCrunch. ���If you want to understand what���s happening inside your body at every life stage and health need, you shouldn���t be limited by clinic appointments, lab schedules, or rigid testing systems. You should be able to measure, track, and get insights about your body from home, with lab-grade confidence.���

and led the company���s Series B funding. The startup has now raised $42.5 million total, .

$26.6M for smoother airport operations

A startup that promises to make air travel less of a headache is always going to catch our attention. So it was with , a Zurich-based startup that this month raised $26.6 million in Series B funding for its AI-driven airport operations platform.

The company says its technology ��� already in use at New York���s JFK, London���s Heathrow, Dubai International and Toronto Pearson airports ��� helps to streamline the commercial aircraft turnaround process at major air travel hubs, many of which are facing increased traffic, tighter operating margins and staffing constraints.

A portion of Assaia���s new capital will be used to further develop StandManager, its AI software module that helps optimize gate and stand assignments before aircraft land, the company says.

Assaia���s Series B was led by , alongside existing investors. ���We focus on investing in resilient business models that demonstrate a distinct technological advantage, and Assaia exemplifies that,��� , managing partner at Armira, said in a statement. ���Its AI platform is already transforming airport operations and helping the aviation industry navigate some of its most complex challenges.���

$15M for AI-designed proteins for manufacturing

announced $15 million in new funding this month, promising to manufacture novel new materials using AI-developed proteins and biological processes.

The Menlo Park, California-based startup says it has raised $64 million in total funding, including this latest round, which was led by with participation from new and existing investors including , , , , , and

Aether says it combines ���purpose-built AI and high-throughput robotics to design proteins that act like molecular assemblers, tiny machines that build one atom at a time.���

These ���nanoscale machines have the precision and sophistication of massive chemical factories, but at a fraction of the size, enabling Aether to make new products faster, more affordably, and more sustainably,��� according to the company.

Its first product is RapidPrint, which it describes as a high-performance 3D printing polymer filament line that uses AI-optimized materials to enable dramatically faster manufacturing of aerospace, defense and industrial parts.

The company says overall, it has developed seven new classes of proteins that have the potential to be used in defense, aerospace, pharmaceutical manufacturing, carbon capture and other applications.

���One of the things we have got very good at is targeting a novel molecular species and making it very quickly,��� Aether CEO and founder told .

Tribe Capital Chairman said his firm invested because it was excited about the real-world applications for Aether���s technology. ���We���ve seen many AI companies focus on discovery, but no one has taken the leap from designing proteins to delivering physical, market-ready products until Aether,��� he said in a funding announcement. ���Aether is proving that its approach isn���t just innovative in theory; it���s faster, more cost-effective, and higher-performing than traditional methods, setting the standard for what AI-driven chemistry can achieve in the real world.���

$14M for a wireless heart monitor

Heart disease is ., claiming nearly a million American lives in 2023, per the . But despite the disease���s prevalence, accessible technology to monitor for heart issues is not as common as you may think.

, a San Francisco-based startup that offers a wireless heart monitor that it says offers hospital-grade monitoring at home, this month announced a $14 million Series A. The company says its product offers patients and cardiologists hospital-level heart data from anywhere.

���At home, most devices track heart rate rather than the electrical rhythm,��� the company said in a press release. ���Heart rate alone can���t catch many arrhythmias or the subtle changes that signal rising risk. In hospitals, wired telemetry is bulky and brief, and single-lead patches often miss intermittent events. The result is a system where patients take devices off, doctors order repeat tests, and heart disease continues to claim millions more lives.���

The company says its device is used in 75 cardiology units and by thousands of patients a month, and that it���s

Wearlinq said it will use the new funding to ���dramatically scale��� and expand its reach into hundreds of additional clinics. Its funding was led by .

A long list of other investors participated: , , , , , , , , , , and Alongside the equity round, the company also raised $5 million in venture debt.

$6M to analyze commercial real estate portfolios in minutes

Commercial real estate doesn���t immediately strike us as an area ripe for innovation, which helps to explain why investment into proptech startups overall has plummeted in recent years.

But given the trillions of dollars held in commercial real estate portfolios, a platform that promises to drastically streamline real estate investments and financial modeling does seem like a savvy bet.

To that end, , a London-based startup used by commercial real estate investors for financial modeling and analysis, this month announced $6 million in seed funding to expand into the massive U.S. commercial real estate market. The company says its platform has already been used to analyze $70 billion worth of investment opportunities in the U.K. and Europe. It���s now hoping to get a foothold in the estimated $22 trillion U.S. commercial real estate market.

Its seed round was led by , with participation from , , and ���several angel investors and property sector veterans.���

Built AI says its platform uses machine learning to extract and analyze building data to help clients manage their portfolios and underwrite new investment opportunities. The platform can analyze single properties or entire portfolios, and looks at variables such as lease terms, valuation, tenant profiles and local market data. It reduces analysis time by 90%, from hours or days to minutes, according to the company.

The company was founded in 2020 by , who previously held roles at , and and , previously director at . It has raised $8.5 million to date, .

���Real estate is the world���s largest asset class and yet the tools used to appraise deals have barely evolved in the last 40 years. Billions of dollars worth of investment deals are still screened every year using outdated, error-prone processes leading to over $185 billion in annual losses because of incorrect valuation metrics or missed opportunities,��� Lempert, the company���s CEO, said in a statement. ���Generative AI is becoming increasingly embedded in financial decisions, to translate data at scale and automate underwriting,��� he said.

The company���s client list includes real estate giants , and .

���The future of software requires three essential attributes: domain expertise, AI skills, and ingenuity. These founders have all three and seek to fundamentally reimagine the real estate investment process,��� , co-founder and general partner of Work-Bench, said in a statement.

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It���s what reporters like to see. Finally, a chance to peek under the hood of the buzziest unicorns to see their revenue, growth rates and largest shareholder stakes. And while most of those companies lose money, an IPO filing provides a glimpse of gross margins and a sense of when a company might reach profitability.

All this is to say that the mere possibility of a public offering ��� as was teased for in a late Tuesday ��� is an exciting development for those of us lamenting the paucity of unicorn IPOs in recent months.

Of course, no company goes public just to satiate the curiosity of that negligible portion of the population that lives for S-1 filings. The primary reasons are far more pragmatic: To raise money, benefit from a higher profile and potential valuation boost that comes with a public listing, and泭 offer a path to liquidity for founders, employees and early investors.

The draws are big enough that it behooves the most high-profile private companies to have preparations in place for a public listing, even if they do end up delaying or scrapping it. In a similar vein, a few weeks ago that is laying the groundwork for a potential IPO of its own.

The valuations are enormous

The valuations the generative AI giants are seeking would sound fantastical were they not backed up by both private markets and ever-climbing stocks of already public AI behemoths.

OpenAI is reportedly eyeing an initial public valuation of up to $1 trillion ��� double its last reported private valuation of in a secondary share sale last month. It is reportedly eyeing a public filing as early as the second half of 2026.

Anthropic is currently said to be pursuing fresh funding at a private valuation of more than $300 billion. So, it would presumably seek an even higher market cap in a public offering, although it���s yet unclear how high.

I won���t opine on what valuations seem sensible for these iconic yet still deeply unprofitable companies. However, for context, it���s worth pointing out that no American venture-backed company that���s ever gone public has notched an initial valuation even close to these levels.

, which went public on as Facebook in 2012, is still the record-holder, per 蹤獲弝け data. It went public at an initial valuation of $104 billion ��� barely over one-tenth what OpenAI is said to be seeking.

Next on this list is , at $86 billion, followed by at $82.4 billion. Only six VC-funded companies have debuted at $40 billion or more, per 蹤獲弝け, listed below.

Significantly, these numbers reflect the valuations at which companies priced shares, not how much they were worth in first-day trading. When went public this summer, for instance, shares more than tripled in first-day trading, which took it to well over the $40 billion mark even though it priced below that.

Could 2026 finally be the IPO year?

If public investors are ready and willing to buy into OpenAI at its talked-about valuation, it sounds like an effort worth undertaking for the company. Ditto for Anthropic, particularly if it manages to get to market first, thus diminishing some of the spotlight perpetually shined on its rival.

Ever since the startup IPO boom period of 2020-2022 came to a conclusion, market watchers keep trying to predict when we���ll see another. Hopes that 2025 would be the year are now fading. Although we���ve seen a few big, well-received startup IPOs, activity has remained muted.

Maybe 2026 will be the year. Record-setting offerings from the biggest GenAI names certainly wouldn���t hurt in turning up the volume.

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In an with the , Wealthfront says it plans to raise $485 million in the IPO by selling 34.6 million shares, including stock offered by existing shareholders, at a price range of $12 to $14 each.

The company is targeting a valuation of $2.05 billion and will list on the exchange under the ticker WLTH. It had filed confidentially for a U.S. initial public offering in June. Wealthfront was set to be acquired by before that $1.4 billion deal fell apart in September 2022.

The fintech startup is profitable, according to its filings. As of July 31, 2025, Wealthfront reported net income of $123 million on 26% higher year-over-year revenue growth of $339 million.

It has raised more than $274 million in funding since its 2008 inception, per 蹤獲弝け . Investors include , , , , and , among others.

It���s been a busier-than-normal year, at least compared to recent years, for fintech IPOs. Since the beginning of 2025, several companies in the fintech space have either gone public or filed to do so. Although many had impressive debuts, shares have since settled down some.

• In early June, shares of closed up 168% at $83.29 in their first day of trading on the minting the stablecoin issuer with a market cap of around $16.7 billion and renewing hopes for an IPO market rebound. As of mid-July, the stock had more than doubled from its first-day closing ��� trading at more than $200 per share, but has since fallen sharply with shares trading at just under $78 as of Dec. 2.
• Digital bank went public on June 12 and came out swinging. Its shares shot up 37% in first-day trading on , closing at $37. But as of Dec. 2, the stock was trading at around $22.
• went public on Sept. 10, with shares climbing about 16% on its first day of trading and closing at $46.40. But as of Dec. 2, shares of the Stockholm-based company, which has evolved its model to offer more than just buy now, pay later plans, were trading at around $31.
• Shares of closed at $20, down 20%, in first-day trading on Oct. 30, indicating lackluster investor demand for the long-awaited debut. Navan, which operates an enterprise expense management platform with an emphasis on business travel, has since seen its shares drop even further. The stock was trading at just above $15 on Dec. 2.

Given that volatility, it will be interesting to see how Wealthfront performs once it hits the public markets.

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The startup has also secured $16 million of debt and credit via . The equity portion of the raise was led by . Other participants included , , , (which counts large hotels as LPs), the Fund of Operators Guild, and . Several individual investors also wrote checks into the round, including MLB All-Star , former President , and other Silicon Valley founders.

With the latest financing, San Francisco-based BoomPop has raised a total of just under $56 million in funding since its 2020 inception. The company declined to reveal valuation, saying only that it was a ���good up round.���

BoomPop started as a research entity called BoomBox during the COVID pandemic, planning virtual events, before transitioning into its current iteration in 2023. It was born out of the Atomic venture studio.

The startup essentially aims to function as a ���trusted event planner,��� making it easier for companies to plan offsites and events for employees.

���Most people don’t realize that when it comes to corporate travel, almost 60% of it involves groups,��� said CEO and co-founder in an interview. ���And most people don���t know that if you need to book more than 10 hotel rooms, you cannot do that online.���

The demand is apparently there. BoomPop said it has more than 450 clients, including , , , and , and has seen impressive growth. It ranked No. 115 on the most recent , reporting 3,073% three-year growth. It currently has a revenue run rate of over $75 million. Cypher projects the company should cap just over $100 million in total gross revenue this quarter. (The company makes 12% to 14% of gross for net revenue, he said.)

BoomPop’s raise is one of the largest so far this year for events-related startups, . All told, startups in the category globally have raised just under $252 million year to date, including BoomPop’s funding deal, marking a down year for the sector. That compares with more than $361 million in all of 2024, $435.6 million in 2023 and $2.1 billion in the peak year of 2021.

How it works

BoomPop is powered by AI, but it operates on the premise that ���nothing replaces authentic human connection,��� Cypher told 蹤獲弝け News.

It works as a companion to employees working to plan offsites or events for a company, with both self-serve and full-service options. For those who want more hand-holding, BoomPop employs a 35-person professional planning team that handles planning and on-site support ���for higher end, more complex events,��� according to Cypher. Presently, BoomPop has about 110 employees.

A staffer could tell BoomPop that his or her company wants to plan a 100-person founder summit within a three-hour drive from San Francisco with a lot of fun activities. The system would then analyze ���millions��� of data points in real time, such as weather, hotel and venue pricing, flights, citywide events that might also be taking place, and past itineraries. It would then offer event options, with a range of variations.

Based on preferences, the AI then takes over execution, booking ���vetted��� vendors, reviewing contracts, building event websites, managing RSVPs and coordinating directly with hotels ���to ensure guest preferences ��� such as dietary restrictions ��� are met.��� The company claims that its AI can accomplish tasks in minutes that ���once required entire teams weeks to complete.���

BoomPop���s AI is trained on a proprietary database of curated, vetted vendors, including hotels, spaces, restaurants, activities, facilitators, caterers and photographers.

It can do things like message employees if there���s a last-minute change in dinner venues. It can also get sizes for any swag and compile any dietary restrictions, in addition to planning minute-by-minute itineraries, among other things.

To date, BoomPop has helped book over 60,000 hotel nights for its customers. Its fastest-growing segment is company offsites and retreats.

Interestingly, the startup doesn���t just help plan events for employees. It also helps them plan events for clients.

���I did deep research and found that the number one marketing channel for the scaled AI companies is client events,��� Cypher said.

Making group events scaleable

, founding partner at Wing Venture Capital, notes that in a post-pandemic world with more remote and hybrid work models, companies are investing more resources into bringing their employees together. But the process behind planning and executing these gatherings ���is still painfully manual,��� in his view.���BoomPop brings together what used to be a patchwork of tools into a single intelligent product,��� he told 蹤獲弝け News via email.

���At Wing, we believe the next generation of enterprise software will be AI-native: deeply intelligent, vertically focused, and obsessed with user experience. BoomPop embodies that thesis perfectly. It���s transforming an outdated, service-heavy industry into a digital, automated ecosystem that���s built for the way modern teams actually work and travel.���

BoomPop makes money in several ways. For one, it charges what Cypher described as a ���relatively low��� SaaS fee for its offering that allows internal staffers to plan events. It also offers an optional premium product, which acts as a boutique agency to help plan events or offsites, that are billed per attendee, per event. BoomPop primarily makes its money from vendors who pay it a finder���s fee.

In late September, also with BoomPop that allows companies to book private dining and sports suites using Brex points.

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Navan, which operates an expense management platform with an emphasis on travel, had priced shares for its offering at $25 each late Wednesday. It was formerly called TripActions, with the company pivoting to a broader platform when revenue reached zero right after the COVID pandemic hit.

The offering raised $923.1 million for the company, whose shares are trading on the under the ticker NAVN. It set an initial valuation of around $6.2 billion.

The move to the public markets has been a long time coming for Palo Alto, California-based Navan, which first submitted confidential paperwork for a planned offering more than three years ago.

The company had raised $1.2 billion in debt financing and $1 billion in equity funding from venture investors and credit providers, per 蹤獲弝け . Major venture stakeholders include , and .

Growing revenue

Navan had revenue of $329 million in the first half of 2025, up 30% year over year. Growth comes as the company has been investing in developing its agentic AI offering, Navan Cognition, to automate more cumbersome tasks around travel planning and reporting.

Still, the company remains far from profitable. Navan���s net loss for the first half of this year came in just shy of $100 million ��� up about 7% from the year-earlier period. The loss comes amid higher spending on both R&D and sales and marketing ��� common for companies on the IPO track ��� looking to appeal to growth-hungry investors.

Per its IPO filing, Navan has incurred net losses in each year since its inception in 2015 and ���may not achieve or, if achieved, sustain profitability in the future.���

IPO activity has picked up in 2025, with Navan one of several larger recent debuts, including well-received entries by consumer fintech and blockchain lender . We���re also seeing heightened buzz around potential new market entrants.

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The old clich矇 says startups are born in garages and dorm rooms. That���s still true, but there���s a newer path: founding a startup inside a scale-up.

When you do that, you get the speed of a seed-stage team with the leverage of an established company. Executives and investors should care because this model can unlock new product lines, revenue and talent retention without recreating the wheel.

That���s how we built , a travel eSIM service launched from inside (the company behind ). In 19 weeks, a seven-person team went from a blank page to a live product. A little over a year later, we had scaled to millions of users with plans offered in more than 200 destinations. We did not invent everything from scratch. We reused what worked and validated everything else fast.

Incubation lowers two risks most founders underestimate

Every new product faces two existential risks: market and execution.

Inside Nord, I���d helped launch at least half a dozen new products before Saily. The pattern was consistent: Great ideas die when they target the wrong market or underestimate execution. With Saily, timing and infrastructure lined up: eSIM demand was accelerating, pain points were clear, and we could tap Nord���s backend, payments, app teams and distribution.

That allowed us to move at startup speed without startup fragility.

���Product organization fit��� beats a great idea

Founders obsess over product-market fit. Inside a scale-up, you also need what I call ���product organization fit��� or the overlap between a new product and what your company already does well.

When that overlap is high, you ship faster, hire smarter and avoid costly relearning. For Saily, the overlap was obvious: Security tech we knew (virtual location, web protection and ad-blocking), and app development know-how we could bring to travel connectivity.

Competition helped more than it hurt. ���No competition��� usually means ���no demand.��� We treated competitors as free market research, reading hiring signals, product moves and funding announcements to understand where the market was headed.

And we made security the product, not a feature. Travelers don���t want another app ��� they want reliable connectivity that isn���t risky on unknown networks. Building privacy and protection at the network layer means safety works phone-wide with no tinkering.

Autonomy inside structure

The hard part is not technical, but cultural. Large companies run on process. Startups run on autonomy. We set up Saily as a company within the company: A dedicated product and marketing team with decision speed, plus shared services (legal, finance and design) when needed. Think of it as an internal accelerator, where the platform handles overheads so the team can focus on products.

We kept one rhythm: ship, learn, repeat. Those 19 weeks weren���t about perfection, but about getting a usable product into the world and compounding feedback.

Experimentation only works if you measure what matters: speed, unit economics and retention. For example, independent third-party testing confirmed Saily���s network-level ad-blocking reduces data usage by 28.6% ��� real money saved for travelers. That is a signal you double down on. If a feature or tool adds complexity without value, cut it quickly.

What founders (and operators) can steal

• Derisk in two tracks: Validate market pull and execution feasibility before you scale spend. If the market isn���t growing and your organization doesn���t have overlap, think twice.
• Reuse before you reinvent: Borrow talent, systems and channels where you can. Every overlap removes weeks of risk.
• Measure what matters: Do a simple before/after on ship speed, customer acquisition cost and retention. If the needle doesn���t move, remove it.
• Build momentum in full sight: Share milestones and learning. It sharpens the team and attracts partners.

Saily is still early, and the market is just getting started, but the model matters as much as the product. Many future founders already work inside growth companies. Give them startup autonomy and scale-up leverage and remarkable things can happen ��� in months, not years.

泭 is CEO of , a global eSIM app from . A former head of product strategy at , where he helped launch a series of new product lines, Maknickas has turned Saily into a globally successful brand with millions of users and serving more than 200 destinations. An entrepreneur since age 15, Maknickas brings a hands-on, execution-driven approach to building secure, scalable consumer tech.

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Finally, however, it looks like it���s going to happen. On Friday, Navan (formerly TripActions) its first public IPO prospectus. It comes almost precisely three years after the company first submitted confidential paperwork for a planned offering.

Now, after a long wait, the public gets a peek at revenue for the 10-year-old Silicon Valley company, as well as its track record for growth.

At first glance, both look fairly robust. Navan had revenue of $329 million in the first half of 2025, up 30% year over year. Growth comes as the company has been investing in developing its agentic AI offering, Navan Cognition, to automate more cumbersome tasks around travel planning and reporting.

Still, the company remains far from profitable. Navan���s net loss for the first half of this year came in just shy of $100 million ��� up about 7% from the year-earlier period. The loss comes amid higher spending on both R&D and sales and marketing, common for companies on the IPO track, which are looking to appeal to growth-hungry investors.

Per the IPO filing, Navan has incurred net losses in each year since its inception in 2015 and ���may not achieve or, if achieved, sustain profitability in the future.��� The company also expects its costs and expenses to increase, making future profitability iffy should more customers and higher revenue not follow suit.

Over the years, Navan has also spent quite a bit building up its business. The company has raised $1.2 billion in debt financing and $1 billion in equity funding to date from venture investors and credit providers, per 蹤獲弝け . Major venture stakeholders include , and .

The filing comes amid an increasingly busy period for public offerings of venture-backed companies. Last week, for instance, brought large debuts from ticket marketplace and cybersecurity provider Netskope. And a week earlier, made its somewhat delayed but much anticipated entry onto the .

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