While financings of a few million haven鈥檛 gone away, today most venture capital actually goes to rounds of a billion dollars or more. Moreover, it looks like a rising trend.

So far this year, 60% of global startup funding across stages听1 听鈥� around $320 billion 鈥� went to rounds of $1 billion or more, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. Such rounds were instrumental in pushing global funding for the first half of the year to record levels.

The U.S. funding tallies are even more tilted to megadeals this year, with 73% of funding going to billion-dollar-plus rounds. Of the $290 billion invested in these deals, just two rounds for AI leaders and account for more than half the total.

As you can see, the notion of billion-dollar-plus rounds accounted for a minority of funding before this year. The lone exception was the first quarter of 2025, when OpenAI closed a $40 billion financing.

Not just bigger deals, more of them too

Giant rounds aren鈥檛 just getting more ginormous. They鈥檙e happening with greater frequency too.

So far this year, U.S. startups have closed 23 known rounds of $1 billion or more, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. That puts 2026 already on par with 2025, a record-setting year, and we鈥檝e still got about five months left.

Not surprisingly, these megarounds are generally later-stage rounds or corporate financings. Only two of this year鈥檚 billion-dollar-plus rounds 鈥� and 鈥� were seed or early-stage rounds, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data.

Lessons from the first crop of billion-plus financings

In the history of startups, meanwhile, the billion-dollar-plus venture funding round is a fairly contemporary phenomenon.

The first American example, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, was 鈥檚 $1.2 billion Series D, in 2014. Over the next three years, a handful of others pulled in 10-figure rounds as well, including , , , , , , , and .

Most of those companies went on to go public and reach valuations that well-exceeded levels set for prior megarounds. SpaceX ($1.6 trillion recent market cap), Uber ($148 billion) and Airbnb ($87 billion) were the standout success stories.

Two of the megafund recipients 鈥� Argo AI and WeWork 鈥� did not fare so well, while a third, cancer diagnostics provider Grail, has been up and down. Fanatics, meanwhile, remained private and is still thriving.

If these early billion-plus fundings taught investors anything, it was that pouring unusually large sums into well-regarded unicorns can be quite lucrative but is far from a sure bet.

Uncharted territory

In the current funding cycle, it鈥檚 not enough to ask whether billion-dollar rounds have potential for high returns. With Anthropic and OpenAI, the question now applies to rounds in the tens of billions or even over $100 billion. As both have already filed confidentially to go public, it may not take us long to find out.

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Related reading:

• 小蓝视频色情网页版 Data: Global Startup Investment Hit Record $510B In H1 2026 As AI Boom Accelerates Funding And Exits
• 小蓝视频色情网页版 Data: Q2 Brought The Most Billion-Dollar Startup Exits Since 2021
• The $100M+ Round Is Now Just Your Typical Late-Stage Financing

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Ten of those companies were AI labs, collectively valued at $65 billion. The most well-known was Beijing-based open source model developer 鈥� at $50 billion, the highest valued new unicorn to join the Unicorn Board this year.

The new unicorn frontier labs are focused on new architectures in AI model development in robotics, physics and self-learning, as well as on open source development, and in the case of one India-based startup, sovereign AI.

Other leading sectors with multiple companies were in robotics and AI infrastructure, with four companies in each.

Of the new unicorns, 16 are U.S-based, while eight are from China. Two new unicorns joined the board from India, Germany and the United Kingdom and one each from Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

Big exits remove a trillion

Despite the influx of newcomers, the total value of The 小蓝视频色情网页版 Unicorn Board dropped by more than $1 trillion in June as , its most valuable company, went public.

Other notable exits from the board last month were , the maker of AI coding tool Cursor, which was acquired by SpaceX for $60 billion after last being valued at $29.3 billion. , an AI infrastructure company that operates as a layer on top of GPUs, was acquired by , and customer experience agent was purchased by 1, both for well above their last private valuations.

New unicorns in June

Here are June’s new unicorn companies:

AI labs

• Hangzhou-based raised a $7.4 billion Series A, its first external financing, in a deal led by CEO . The 2-year-old company was valued at $50 billion and is said to be planning to list in as early as Q2 2027.
• is building a new AI architecture based on neuroscience called Cortex AI that promises lower power use. It raised a $500 million Series A from , , and . The less than 1-year-old New York-based company was valued at $2.5 billion.
• London-based , an AI for physical product design in aerospace, defense, energy, automotive and semiconductors, raised a $300 million Series C led by . The 6-year-old company was valued at $2.4 billion.
• , a model developer for robotics trained on gaming videos from its sister company , raised a $320 million Series A led by . The 1-year-old New York-based company was valued at $2.3 billion.
• , an embodied robotics intelligence company, raised a $400 million Series B led by . The 2-year-old San Mateo, California-based company with researchers from and was valued at $2 billion.
• Shanghai-based , a听 robotics intelligence company, raised a $220 million seed round led by and . The less than 1-year-old company founded by an researcher was valued at $2 billion.
• , a builder of world models to simulate the real world impacting robotics, science, healthcare and defense, raised a $310 million Series B led by . The 2-year-old Menlo Park, California-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Bengaluru-based , an Indian sovereign AI developer, raised a $234 million Series B first close led by . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• , an AI lab seeking to automate AI research for scientific use cases, raised a $200 million seed funding led by and . The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• Hangzhou-based , a 3D model developer used in gaming, entertainment and product design, raised a $200 million Series A led by . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Robotics

• Germany-based , a physical AI company building intelligent machines to to work alongside humans, raised a $1.4 billion Series C led by stablecoin issuer among other strategic and growth investors. The 7-year-old company, with $1 billion in its order pipeline and strategic deployments, was said to be valued at $7 billion.
• Shenzhen-based , a builder of humanoid robots, raised a $148 million Series B led by . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Guangdong-based , a humanoid robotics company, raised a $147 million Series B. The 5-year-old company, which projects 1,000 shipments in 2026, was valued at $1.5 billion.
• , a builder of industrial arm robotics for manufacturing that said its technology learns through demonstration, raised a $200 million Series C led by and . The 9-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1 billion.

AI infrastructure

• , which pivoted from crypto mining to data center build out for AI, raised a $400 million funding led by , and . The 2-year-old Coral Gables, Florida-based company was valued at $2.4 billion. The company has filed for a direct listing on .
• Las Vegas-based , a cloud operator that offers customer AMD chips, raised a $350 million Series B led by and . The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.6 billion.
• Beijing-based , an inference solution offering customers API access to hundreds of models, raised a $296 million Series B. The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• , an AI developer cloud to train, fine-tune and deploy AI, raised a $100 million Series A led by . The 4-year-old New Jersey-based company valued at $1 billion has 1 million developers using the platform.

Defense

• , a precision weapons company enabling existing weaponry to defend against unmanned drones, raised a $200 million Series B led by . The 4-year-old Austin-based company was valued at $2.2 billion.
• , a manufacturer of unmanned aerospace and defense systems, raised a $300 million Series C led by and . The 3-year-old Huntington Beach, California-based company was valued at $1.8 billion.
• , a cyber intelligence company building products for the U.S. military, raised a $100 million Series B led by , and . The 1-year-old Arlington, Virginia-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Proptech

• Montreal-based , a mortgage financing platform, raised a $217 million Series E round. The 8-year-old company was valued at $1.1 billion.
• India-based ,听 a property brokerage that also owns a mortgage marketplace, a property management platform, and a home interior brand raised a $95 million private equity and debt financing led by . The 13-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Data analytics

• Belgium-based , an intelligence platform for global physical trade, raised a $1 billion secondary market funding led by . The 12-year-old company was valued at $3.7 billion.

Biotechnology

• , a biotech company focused on reverse cellular aging, raised a $435 million Series C led by . The 4-year-old San Francisco-based company with plans for clinical trials next year for human liver cells, was valued at $3.1 billion.

Materials

• Cambridge, U.K.-based听 , building a network of labs using AI for new material discovery, raised a $450 million funding led by and . The 2-year-old company was valued at $2.6 billion.

Cryptocurrency

• , a blockchain and smart contract solution for global financial institutions, raised a $355 million Series F led by . The 12-year-old New York-based company was valued at $2 billion.

Image generation

• Beijing-based , a video generation company, raised a $300 million Series B led by , and . The 3-year-old company was valued at $2 billion and says it has built a creator community of more than 30 million users. As of May 2026 the company has $300 million in annual recurring revenue.

Financial services

• Saudi Arabia-based , a mobile banking company, raised a $400 million Series A. The 6-year-old company was valued at $1.6 billion.

Semiconductor

• Rotterdam-based , a 3D metrology inspection tool for semiconductor manufacturing, raised a $380 million Series D led by . The 10-year-old company was valued at $1.6 billion.

Aerospace

• Beijing-based , a space infrastructure and satellite company, raised a $207 million Series D. The 10-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.

E-commerce

• , an e-commerce provider that supports customer interactions post purchase, raised an $81 million Series B led by . The 4-year-old Utah-based company supporting 4,100 brands and 1,750 merchants was valued at $1.3 billion.

AI healthcare

• , an AI agent built for a patient’s healthcare journey and used by healthcare providers, raised a $120 million Series C led by . The 3-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Transportation

• Munich-based , a car subscription platform operating in Germany and partnering with 25 brands, raised a $113 million Series D led by . The 7-year-old company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Related 小蓝视频色情网页版 unicorn lists:

• (1,822)
• (637)
• (213)
• (190)
• (118)
• (102)
• (935)
• (539)
• (248)
• (39)
• (488)

Related reading:

• 小蓝视频色情网页版 Data: Global Startup Investment Hit Record $510B In H1 2026 As AI Boom Accelerates Funding And Exits
• AI Services And Robotics Lead Diverse Crop Of 29 New May Unicorns As SpaceX, Anthropic And OpenAI Line Up Blockbuster Exits

Methodology

The 小蓝视频色情网页版 Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

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

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

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

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 小蓝视频色情网页版 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 小蓝视频色情网页版 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

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

It was not a holiday week on the funding front, as a raft of largely AI-focused companies closed big rounds. The largest of these was a $1.5 billion financing to enterprise AI startup and a Series D for meal and delivery provider . The week also included some big financings for enterprise tech, food delivery, drones and construction automation.

1. , $1.5B, enterprise AI tools: Fireworks AI, a developer of tools for enterprises to turn 鈥済eneral-purpose models into specialized intelligence trained on their own data,鈥� raised $1.505 billion in Series D funding. , and led the financing, which set a $17.5 billion valuation for the San Mateo, California-based company.

2. , $650M, meals and delivery: Wonder, an operator of kitchens and meal delivery services, closed on $650 million in Series D funding at a $9 billion pre-money valuation. Capital will go in part toward expanding operations for the New York-based company, which currently has 140 locations.

3. , $400M, life sciences AI: AI drug discovery startup Chai Discovery secured $400 million in Series C funding at a $3.8 billion valuation. led the financing, investing alongside , , and others.

4. , $300M, robots: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Walden Robotics, a startup building general-purpose robots for work in manufacturing and logistics, launched out of stealth with $300 million in funding. and led the round, which values the company at $1.1 billion.

5. , $125M, drones: Seattle-based Brinc, a developer of drones for use in public safety and emergency operations, raised $125 million in fresh funding. led the financing, with participation from , and founder and CEO .

6. (tied) , $100M, construction automation: Austin-based TerraFirma, a developer of AI-enabled software and autonomous robotics technology for the construction industry, landed $100 million in new funding, bringing total investment to date to $115 million.

6. (tied) , $100M, enterprise AI: Spectro Cloud, a provider of AI infrastructure management software, said it raised more than $100 million in a Series D round led by . The financing brings total capital raised by San Jose-based Spectro Cloud to $260 million.

8. , $80M, defense tech: Singularity, a startup focused on developing air defense technology, emerged from stealth with $80 million in Series A funding. and 1听led the financing, which set a $400 million valuation for the Los Angeles-based company.

9. (tied) , $70M, fintech: San-Francisco-based fintech startup Flex, a private banking platform for high-net-worth business owners, raised $70 million in a Series B1 financing led by . The round follows the company’s $60 million Series B in December.

9. (tied) , $70M, AI and policy: State Affairs, an AI platform for policy and regulation, secured $70 million in Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures and .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 小蓝视频色情网页版 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of July 11-17. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

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

U.S. startups announced sizable funding rounds at a steady clip during a truncated holiday week, with energy and AI leading the way.

Houston-based energy startup secured the biggest round, a $1.75 billion strategic financing, followed by , a developer of infrastructure for companies running open source AI models, and , a provider of compliance tools for enterprises.

Other big rounds were for companies focused on therapeutics, homebuilding, and even lacrosse.

1. , $1.75B, energy: Houston-based Joulent, a provider of energy infrastructure focused on the demands of artificial intelligence and other compute-intensive industries, raised $1.75 billion in a strategic investment backed by through its arm.

2. , $800M, AI infrastructure: Together AI, developer of an infrastructure layer for companies running open source AI models, secured $800 million in Series C financing. led the round, which set an $8.3 billion post-money valuation for the San Francisco-based startup.

3. , $180M, compliance: LeapXpert, a provider of tools for tracking enterprise communications for compliance needs, closed on $180 million in growth financing. led the financing for the New York-based company.

4. , $135M, AI software development: Redwood City, California-based 8090 Solutions, developer of a platform for building enterprise software with coordinated AI agents under human-led oversight,听 picked up $135 million in a round led by 1. The company, founded in 2024, counts prominent startup investor as co-founder and CEO.

5. , $126M, biotech: Boston-based Beeline Medicines, a startup focused on precision therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, secured $126 million in Series A extension funding backed by , and . The financing follows a previously disclosed $300 million Series A.

6. (tied) , $100 million, professional sports: The Premier Lacrosse League, a men’s professional lacrosse league in North America, closed a $100 million Series E financing round led by and . New York-based PLL said the deal represents the largest capital raise in the history of professional lacrosse.

6. (tied) , $100M, video-based AI: Twelve Labs, a San Francisco-based startup developing AI systems trained on video archives, raised $100 million in a Series B round co-led by and .

8. , $95M, AI for homebuilding: Higharc, a developer of AI-enabled tools for designing homes and managing workflows around homebuilding, picked up $95 million in Series C funding. led the financing for the Durham, North Carolina-based company.

9. , $85M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Flare Therapeutics, a startup targeting transcription factors to develop treatments for cancer and other ailments, raised $85 million in Series C funding led by and .

10. , $65M, AI privacy: Venice, developer of a platform enabling private, surveillance-free access to a wide array of AI models, secured $65 million in Series A funding led by . The round set a $1 billion valuation for the 2-year-old Sheridan, Wyoming-based startup.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 小蓝视频色情网页版 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of June 27-July 2. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

Existing backer (KIP) led the financing, which is described as a bridge round. (KBIC) also participated. The raise brings Santa Fe Springs, California-based Xpanner鈥檚 total funding to $38 million since its 2020 inception.

Xpanner turns construction equipment that customers already own into automated assets 鈥渨ithout replacing a single machine,鈥� according to , the company鈥檚 co-founder and CEO.听

鈥淭here鈥檚 no upfront investment, no rip-and-replace,鈥� Lee added. 鈥淟ike a smartphone gaining new capabilities through app updates, customers expand their automation through simple software updates.鈥�

The benefits for its customers include significant cost savings and shorter project durations, according to Lee.

Originally founded in South Korea, Xpanner moved its headquarters to the U.S. in 2023. Today, , , and are among its customers.听

Notably, all of Xpanner鈥檚 co-founders have deep industry experience. Lee spent two decades in executive positions at and , driving unmanned construction projects and corporate venture initiatives in the heavy equipment world. CFO spent over 12 years working in heavy equipment at Bobcat, followed by eight years in venture capital at Korea鈥檚 largest commercial bank. CTO led robotics and automation at for 20 years, becoming the first in the industry to commercialize semi-automation features for construction machinery.

Growth and a path to profitability

Xpanner is refreshingly transparent about its financials. The company grew revenue from $3 million in 2023 to $7 million in 2024 to $21 million in 2025, according to Park. It saw $8 million in revenue and $1 million in EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) in the first quarter of 2026.

The startup is targeting $60 million in ARR by year鈥檚 end.

Impressively, the company says it maintains a gross margin above 80%, thanks mostly to its subscription-based AaaS model. It achieved monthly break-even in 2025, and Park said Xpanner is on track for full-year profitability this year.

鈥淥nce hardware is deployed, incremental subscription and service revenue flows at near-zero marginal cost,鈥� he said.听

The company plans to use its new capital in part to strengthen its development capabilities by advancing its next-generation physical AI hardware and software platform, deepening its core component engineering, and expanding its data and AI infrastructure.听

Some of its customers are still on a perpetual modular model, which includes the one-time purchase of its X1 Kit hardware paired with its software. Looking ahead, Xpanner expects to be fully on its subscription model by the end of the year.听

The company is also actively expanding into adjacent verticals, including battery energy storage systems (BESS) and AI data center construction.

鈥楽trong gross margins, near-zero churn鈥�

, managing director at KIP, told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News via email that his firm was impressed by Xpanner鈥檚 commercial traction and unit economics.

鈥淪trong gross margins, near-zero churn, and rapid account expansion are signals that the value proposition is real and not pilot-driven,鈥� he said.

director at KBIC, believes that most construction automation companies hit a scalability wall because they automate entire machines end-to-end. However, he said that since Xpanner’s task-specific approach scales through software rather than hardware redesign, the company 鈥渃an expand wallet share inside accounts without proportional cost.鈥�

鈥淭hat’s a software-economics business operating in a hardware-dominated market, and it’s rare,鈥� he wrote via e-mail.

Physical AI funding smashes records

Xpanner sits at the intersection of two sectors that have received strong interest from investors in recent years.

Startups working on physical AI 鈥� real-world applications of artificial intelligence, including technologies such as automated hardware and robotics 鈥� have already hauled in more than $37 billion in venture funding globally this year, , shattering the full-year record of $21 billion set in both 2025 and 2021.

At the same time, venture investment in real estate and property-related startups rebounded last year, largely driven by funding to AI-centric companies.

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U.S. and Canadian companies secured a staggering $252.6 billion in seed- through growth-stage funding rounds per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. That鈥檚 more than 3x the total raised in the prior quarter, and the largest quarterly total of all time.

Predictably, artificial intelligence was the driver. More than 87% of Q1 investment went to companies in 小蓝视频色情网页版 AI-related categories.

To say these are record funding tallies is somewhat of an understatement. It鈥檚 more like Q1 smashed the prior quarterly record 鈥� $95.7 billion 鈥� set in Q3 2021.

Just a single financing for was bigger than the prior quarterly record for all startup funding rounds put together. And the four next-largest financings totaled almost as much as the prior quarter, which at the time we considered a very strong period for startup funding.

So, in summary, it was a lot of money. For a more detailed picture, we drill down more deeply into how that largesse was distributed across stages and sectors. We also take a look at exits for the quarter, including both IPOs and acquisitions.

Table of contents

• AI
• Later stage and technology growth
• Early stage
• Seed
• Exits
• Big picture: A paradigm shift
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

AI

We鈥檒l start with AI, since that鈥檚 where the overwhelming majority of the money went.

A staggering $221 billion went to North American companies in 小蓝视频色情网页版 AI-related categories in the first quarter. That鈥檚 about 6x the AI investment total from the prior quarter, which was itself no slacker on this front.

For perspective, we charted out AI-related funding over the past 13 quarters to compare.

A few megarounds for high-profile companies accounted for most of the quarter鈥檚 AI funding, led by OpenAI, , and .

Later stage and technology growth

These same names factor heavily in tallies for late-stage and technology-growth funding, which comprised the vast majority of total startup investment.

Per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, $222.4 billion 鈥� or 88% of all North America startup investment 鈥� went to rounds at these stages. That鈥檚 more than 5x the prior quarter鈥檚 tally, and more than triple year-ago levels.

The gains were driven by bigger deals, not more of them. Later- and growth-stage round counts were actually down a smidge sequentially in Q1. For perspective, below we chart round counts and investment totals at this stage for the past five quarters.

Enormous rounds for AI companies accounted for a majority of the late- and growth-stage totals. The biggest of these was OpenAI鈥檚 record-setting $110 billion February financing led by , and . The generative AI giant topped it off with a raise in March.

Anthropic secured the quarter鈥檚 next-biggest late-stage financing 鈥� a $30 billion February Series G 鈥� followed by xAI, which announced a $20 billion Series E in January. landed another of the quarter鈥檚 very big deals, with a $16 billion February Series D.

Early stage

Early-stage investment was also running high in Q1, albeit not setting records.

Overall, investors put $25.1 billion into deals around Series A and Series B stage in the first quarter. That鈥檚 up 17% from the prior quarter and 56% from year-ago levels. It鈥檚 also the highest quarterly total in over three years, though still below peaks scaled in 2021.

Early-stage round counts, meanwhile, were down a bit, indicating investors鈥� increasingly concentrating their bets among perceived star performers.

As usual, a few jumbo-sized deals significantly boosted the early-stage totals. For Q1, this included four rounds of $500 million or more.

Of these, Austin-based humanoid robotics startup was the biggest fundraiser, pulling in $520 million in a February Series A. Three other companies secured $500 million financings: AI infrastructure developer , semiconductor startup , and industrial robotics-focused .

Seed

Seed-stage investment, meanwhile, did not show an upswing but remained at historically robust levels.

Per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, an estimated $5.1 billion went to seed and pre-seed investments in Q1. That鈥檚 roughly flat with the prior quarter and up a bit from year-ago levels.

Seed round counts declined in Q1, both sequentially and year over year. However, we expect these tallies to rise some over time, along with investment totals, as seed deals commonly get added to the data set weeks after they close.

Exits

Exit activity was fairly staid in comparison to the high-rolling startup fundraising environment.

That said, the IPO market did boast a few sizable startup debuts. Of these, the largest was the January IPO of construction equipment rental marketplace , followed by space tech company , and crypto platform .

Below, we aggregated a list of 12 private, venture-backed companies that carried out IPOs on U.S. exchanges.

Acquirers also announced several large deals to purchase venture-backed private companies.

The priciest planned M&A deal was 鈥檚 agreement to purchase business credit card provider for $5.15 billion. Biotech also delivered some large outcomes, including 鈥檚 planned acquisition of RNA therapeutics startup , and 鈥� purchase of allergy treatment startup .

Below, we put together a list of five of the quarter鈥檚 biggest M&A deals.1

Big picture: A paradigm shift

Having written many of these funding reports over the years, it鈥檚 common for one quarter to quietly blur into another. Not so for Q1 of 2026.

The just-ended quarter cemented a notion that startup insiders have been circling for some time: Private markets now have the capital stores and appetite for ultra-high valuations to rival public markets. For evidence, look no further than OpenAI鈥檚 $122 billion raise at a valuation higher than all but a handful of the largest large-cap technology companies.

IPO enthusiasts may pine for a future period when these most sought-after foundational AI names finally do make it to public markets. But for now, they鈥檝e demonstrated there are plenty of investors willing to shell out billions in private offerings as well.

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Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 小蓝视频色情网页版, and is based on reported data. Data is as of March 31, 2026.

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

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 小蓝视频色情网页版 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 小蓝视频色情网页版 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 小蓝视频色情网页版 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 小蓝视频色情网页版 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

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

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

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led the financing for the New York-based company. , , and also participated in the round.

Founded in October 2024, Rebar says it uses artificial intelligence to help commercial HVAC suppliers generate quotes on average 60% to 70% faster than traditional methods. Its proprietary computer vision models analyze construction blueprints and identify, categorize and count all HVAC equipment to produce a bill of materials and generate a quote, according to the company.

Rebar鈥檚 focus on the HVAC industry is intentional.

鈥淢ost companies either concentrate on other trades or try to cover all of them at once, which ultimately means they serve none particularly well,鈥� CEO and co-founder told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News. 鈥淩ebar takes the opposite approach. Our AI is trained on millions of HVAC blueprints and mirrors the workflows real estimators use when building a quote.鈥�

Rebar doubled its annual recurring revenue in the first six weeks of 2026, according to Brown, thanks to dozens of new customers using the platform. It operates on a usage-based subscription model.

鈥淚f you’re able to increase your volume and build more proposals, the opportunity to win projects goes higher,鈥� Brown explained. 鈥淥n average, the companies that are using us [would] win around 5% to 10% of the proposals that they created, and those proposals could take up to a week to create before using Rebar.”

He noted that, while it’s still early and construction contracts often take years to finalize, initial conversations with customers suggest win rates may be increasing by roughly 2x to 3x using the new tool.

That same process can take minutes, according to Brown.

Today, Rebar has 40 clients, and notably, seven of them are investors in the startup.

While Rebar鈥檚 first product is AI quoting for HVAC suppliers, Brown said the startup plans to expand its product capabilities to plumbing and electrical equipment suppliers through additional agents.

Firsthand industry perspective

Brown鈥檚 interest in the HVAC industry stems from summers working with his uncle, the owner of a large HVAC commercial distributor. He then ended up working as an estimator and sales engineer at /, where he partnered with contractors, engineers and manufacturers to design, sell and support customized HVAC systems.

鈥淚 spent over five years in the space focused on designing and selling HVAC equipment and doing the manual process that we’re solving at Rebar many times,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淚’ve looked and built inventory lists off of a plan set by printing out blueprints, highlighters and rulers. I’ve used PDF editors. I’ve really used everything, and I never thought I would end up in tech, nor start a tech company.鈥�

When that company was acquired and became part of , Brown had the opportunity to explore the application of AI in day-to-day operations.

Eventually, he decided to branch out and founded Rebar along with .

What investors are looking for

, a partner on Prudence鈥檚 investment team, told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News that Brown鈥檚 education in mechanical engineering combined with his experience working in the HVAC industry give him a 鈥渦nique,鈥� firsthand perspective.

Prudence is always looking for companies that leverage unique technology to automate historically manual processes, according to Viniar, often in industries where needs have never been addressed by purpose-built software.

鈥淩ebar fits the bill perfectly 鈥� HVAC, plumbing, and electrical are large but historically overlooked industries with dozens of manual workflows, none of which could be automated without AI,鈥� he wrote via email. 鈥淔or the first time, Rebar is delivering tools to their customers that, in many cases, are compressing the time to complete manual tasks by over 90%, leading to greater efficiency, lower costs, and more revenue.鈥�

Venture investment in real estate-related startups has rebounded in recent years after plunging from the pandemic peak. In 2025, startups in the sector pulled in approximately $10.5 billion in seed- through growth-stage financing globally, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 . That鈥檚 up about 17% from $9 billion in 2024, with much of the recent investment going to startups that promise greater ROI through the use of automation or AI.

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

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

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

Leading offerings weren鈥檛 your typical VC-backed deals

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

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

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

Per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, there have been six IPOs of venture-backed companies this year that raised $200 million or more, which we list below.

小蓝视频色情网页版 squashed

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

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

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

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

IPO market in an odd place

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

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

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

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With the latest Series B raise, Austin-based Ownwell says it has now raised $54 million in total equity funding since its 2020 inception. and co-led its latest round, which included participation from , , , , and . provided the $20 million in debt financing.

CEO said he and CTO started Ownwell to 鈥渄emocratize access to the tools and resources real estate experts use to build wealth and financial freedom.鈥�

As a former asset manager, Pace said he worked for some of the wealthiest families and individuals in the world on the investment management side.

鈥淚 saw firsthand how billionaires manage their 28 homes and their apartment complexes and their retail across the country, and how everything is perfectly optimized,鈥� he told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News in an interview. 鈥淎nd so we built software for the purpose of providing tools for everyone, regardless of the value of their asset.鈥�

Ownwell launched for customers in 2021, initially handling the property-tax appeal process. Pace said its tech automates 鈥渃omplex steps and analyzes millions of local records鈥� to surface the strongest case to present to local municipalities to argue for a lower home assessment and, in turn, a lower property tax bill.

鈥淲e market to people that are typically very underserved,鈥� Pace said. 鈥淭hat law firm down the street doesn’t want to help a $200,000 home [owner] appeal their property taxes. They want the skyscraper.鈥�

Pace claims that Ownwell is the only multistate company of its kind. It currently operates with local tax consultants in about a dozen states: Texas, New York, Florida, California, Illinois, Georgia, Washington, Maryland, Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Part of the newly raised capital will go toward expanding to other markets, and 鈥済oing deeper鈥� into existing markets, he said.

A million appeals

Ownwell doesn鈥檛 charge customers unless it lowers their tax bill. Depending on the market, its contingency fee is 25% to 35% of the savings it earns for property owners. (The fee depends on its cost to operate in that market.)

鈥淭he majority of homeowners do not appeal or even think to appeal, so bringing consistent awareness to this for the average homeowner is the biggest challenge,鈥� Pace said.

Recently, the company surpassed more than 1 million appeals processed, and says it has saved its customers over $400 million in property taxes.

Over the years, Ownwell has expanded its offering to include helping people get property exemptions, compare insurance providers and explore refinancing options. The company is also integrated with , and has partnerships with and . Ownwell gets commissions from carriers or lenders that it refers homeowners to, similar to 鈥檚 model, Pace said.

The startup also markets a nationwide property tax packet to help people outside of the 12 states in which it is operating to file their own appeals.

鈥淲e鈥檙e taking the internal data that we’ve collected over the past six years and over hundreds of thousands of appeals across the country, and figuring out what wins,鈥� Pace told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News. 鈥淲e鈥檙e prompting AI tooling with all this proprietary data that we have to give customers a useful packet that basically is the ultimate 鈥榟ow to appeal鈥� in markets that we are not in yet.鈥�

Ownwell has over 500,000 customers, including residential and commercial property owners throughout the country, in addition to homeowners. Since inception, Ownwell has maintained an annual growth rate of over 100% every year, according to Pace. In 2025, it grew customers by over 180%. Pace said the company is currently profitable (both cash flow and net income positive) but 鈥渋s prioritizing growth.鈥�

A 鈥榗ustomer-obsessed experience in a much larger market鈥�

In 2025, global real estate-related startups pulled in about $10.5 billion in seed- through growth-stage financing, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 . That鈥檚 up about 17% from $9 billion in 2024.

For its part, Ownwell is not sharing its current valuation, with Pace saying only that it 鈥渉as grown significantly from round to round.鈥� Presently, it has 108 employees.

, managing partner at Left Lane Capital, which led Ownwell鈥檚 Series A round, notes that he served on Truebill鈥檚 board during its $1.5 billion acquisition by . 鈥淚鈥檝e seen firsthand that helping consumers save money never goes out of style,鈥� he wrote via email.

Ownwell, in Pujji鈥檚 view, has built a 鈥渃ustomer-obsessed experience in a much larger market.鈥�

鈥淲ith a tech-enabled agentic product built for complex, local markets, 鈥渢he team has achieved something you rarely see: tripling customers served annually at scale.鈥�

In a blog post, Intuit Ventures said it was impressed with Pace鈥檚 vision 鈥渢o help millions of homeowners and save money for the consumers who need it most.鈥�

The firm added: 鈥淲e鈥檙e proud to support the Ownwell team as they continue to deliver a product that creates holistic, money-saving experiences for consumers.鈥�

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led the financing, which included participation from 听and angel investors from , 听and , among others. Founded in 2022 by former institutional commercial real estate operators and , Cambio has now raised a total of $22 million. It participated in Y Combinator鈥檚 summer 2022 cohort and then went into 鈥淩&D mode.鈥�

The San Francisco-based company launched its offering at the end of 2023, and de Guzman claims it has since seen 鈥渞apid adoption鈥� across enterprise customers and geographies 鈥� scaling to 35 countries and to more than 2 billion square feet in assets. It recently opened a London office to support EU and APAC growth.听

From 鈥榤essy鈥� to investment-grade data

Put simply, Cambio uses large language models and agentic artificial intelligence workflows to turn 鈥渕essy building data into investor-grade decisions and reporting.鈥� And it claims to do so within minutes.

鈥淐ommercial real estate owners sit on thousands of pages of unstructured documents 鈥� spreadsheets, PDFs, invoices, energy audits, regulatory filings 鈥� that historically required months of manual analysis,鈥� de Guzman told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News. 鈥淐ambio applies large language models and agentic AI to ingest, reason over, and synthesize that data automatically, delivering investment-grade capital and compliance decisions in minutes.鈥�

Cambio, she said, is architected around agentic AI software that can reason across unstructured data, run multi-step analyses, and 鈥渃ontinuously adapt as regulations, assets, and market conditions change.鈥�

In a nutshell, it aims to help institutional investors figure out where to deploy capital, which assets to prioritize, and how to maximize returns. Customers include , , , 听and , among others.

The market opportunity, according to de Guzman, is enormous: commercial real estate is estimated to be in the U.S. alone.

In 2025, global real estate-related startups pulled in about $10.5 billion in seed- through growth-stage financing, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 . That鈥檚 up about 17% from $9 billion in 2024.

An industry track record

Part of Cambio鈥檚 strategy is to have built a (largely female) leadership team that has directly worked in the space it is trying to serve. De Guzman and Grayson began their careers at large institutional firms such as and Oxford Properties.听

The startup also recently hired alumna to serve as head of product innovation. , formerly of Oxford Properties and , has been tapped to serve as lead of Cambio鈥檚 European and APAC business.

The moves from institutions to a startup serving them reflect a broader shift happening in commercial real estate, noted Grayson 鈥� the choice 鈥渢o step inside AI transformation, and not just observe it from the sidelines.鈥�

Cambio operates an enterprise SaaS revenue model. It plans to use its new capital primarily to scale product and engineering.

, managing director at Maverick Ventures, told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News via email that his firm was impressed with the fact that Cambio鈥檚 founders had spent more than two decades running commercial real estate portfolios.

鈥淭hat lived experience matters,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t gave them an intuitive understanding that this wasn鈥檛 a tooling problem 鈥� it was a workflow problem.鈥�

Maverick was also impressed by the fact that Cambio wasn鈥檛 trying 鈥渢o bolt AI onto existing processes.鈥�

鈥楻e-architecting the workflow鈥�

鈥淐ambio isn鈥檛 automating around the edges, it鈥檚 re-architecting the workflow end to end in an AI-native way, with a deeply product-minded approach,鈥� Isono said. 鈥淜nowing what to build, which workflow to wedge into, and how to sequence products requires having lived these workflows, which Leia and Steph have.鈥�

The investor also praised the startup鈥檚 technical team, noting that CTO was one of the earliest backend engineers at , a marketplace and wholesale platform that was valued at nearly $13 billion in 2022. That technical team, he said, also includes Ph.D.s with 鈥渄eep expertise鈥� in building science.听

鈥淭hat matters because commercial real estate is fundamentally tied to the physical world. Much of the data isn鈥檛 clean or fully digitized, and automating it is meaningfully harder than in purely digital domains,鈥� Isono said. 鈥淪olving that unlocks a uniquely valuable dataset that compounds over time.鈥�

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