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 another interesting week for AI-related startup funding, with a number of large rounds and quirky companies. The largest financings went to , a developer of AI processors and systems, and AI lab . The quirkiest round, meanwhile, was undoubtedly a $200 million financing for , which wants to breed elite military dogs.

A number of big rounds in areas including biotech, space tech and physical AI rounded out the list.

1. , $1.5B, AI infrastructure: Santa Clara, California-based Tenstorrent, a developer of AI processors and systems, secured $1.5 billion in Series E funding. and led the round, which set a $6.2 billion valuation for the 10-year-old company.

2. , $1B, foundational AI: Flapping Airplanes, an AI lab with a focus on developing models that cost less to train and run, closed on $1 billion in Series A funding led by and . The round comes less than 10 months after the year-old San Francisco startup raised a $180 million seed financing.

3. , $325M, AI for critical infrastructure: ASI, a developer of AI technology for securing and operating critical infrastructure in areas such as aviation, transportation and defense, picked up $325 million in Series C financing. led the round, which set a $3 billion valuation for the Boston-based company.

4. , $250M, space tech: Xona, a startup developing a next-generation version of GPS, raised $250 million in Series D funding led by . The round sets a $2.4 billion valuation for the Burlingame, California-based company.

5. , $237M, biotech: Pathos AI, a startup applying AI to drug development, completed a $237 million Series E financing at a post-money valuation around $3 billion. led the financing for the New York-headquartered company.

6. , $215M, AI, robotics and life sciences: Warp Sciences, a startup applying AI and robotics to help develop new medicines faster, raised a $215M Series A round led by .

7. (tied) , $200M, online business marketplace: Whop, a platform that helps entrepreneurs build and run online businesses, secured $200 million in Series D funding led by and . The round set a $5.1 billion valuation for the New York-based company.

7. (tied) , $200M, biotech: South San Francisco, California-based drug developer聽 Star Therapeutics says it raised $200 million in new financing led by and . The investment follows 鈥檚 July acquisition of , a subsidiary of Star, in a deal valued at up to $2 billion.

7. (tied) , $200M, military dogs: Warhound, a startup that wants to breed working dogs for U.S. military forces and emergency responders, launched from stealth with $200 million in seed funding from a long list of backers including and 1.聽 The startup, co-founded by founder , plans to equip the dogs with Anduril technology.

10. , $160M, AI manufacturing software: Arda Industries, a developer of AI-powered software for manufacturing engineering, closed on $160 million in Series A funding at a $1.5 billion valuation, co-led by , and . The San Francisco-based startup also announced a previously undisclosed $72 million seed financing.

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 Oct. 17-23, 2026. Although most announced rounds are in the database, there may be a small time lag, as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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From teaching robots to do everyday household chores to using lasers to track satellites in space, this month’s crop of interesting startup deals spans some decidedly different corners of tech.

Other startups that caught our eye are working on making cement production less polluting, turning agricultural waste into a useful tool for carbon removal, and helping independent video game developers get their product in front of more players. Let’s take a closer look.

$30M to teach robots by watching humans

Before robots can fold laundry, load dishwashers or prepare meals, they need to learn how humans actually do those things. is betting there’s a big business in supplying the training material.

The Santa Clara, California-based startup this week announced a $30 million seed round led by, with participation from , , and . The company, founded by veterans of the robotics and autonomous vehicle industries, is building what it calls the data layer for physical AI.

Its approach is surprisingly low-tech in some respects: Pay people to wear cameras while they go about everyday tasks, from washing dishes to preparing food or cleaning hotel rooms. But turning all that footage into something useful for robotics models is more complicated. Maxinsights develops its own recording hardware and AI-powered software to collect, label and organize the data so robots can learn from it.

The startup says it has already captured more than 2 million hours of human activity, with 1.5 million hours ready for use in AI training. Its customers include robotics model developers and . It is also developing a sensor-equipped glove called MaxGlove that can capture information cameras can’t see, such as grip strength and the force needed to manipulate objects.

The funding comes amid a massive boom in physical AI investment. Startups in the sector raised $47.4 billion globally in the first half of 2026, nearly 4x the amount invested in the second half of 2025, 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows.

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拢8.2M to track satellites with lasers

Space is getting crowded, and keeping track of everything flying around up there is becoming an increasingly complicated problem.

With that in mind, London-based emerged from stealth this month with 拢8.2 million (around $11 million) in pre-seed funding led by , with participation from investors including , and .

The company uses a technique called satellite laser ranging, which involves firing laser pulses from ground stations toward reflectors mounted on satellites. The company says that by measuring how long the light takes to return, its system can calculate satellite positions with millimeter-level accuracy.

While the technology has existed for decades, Foundational is working to make it cheaper and more scalable. Its system combines automated ground stations, satellite-mounted hardware and a software platform called Origin that provides positioning data to satellite operators. The company says its stations cost roughly 30x less than legacy systems.

The technology could prove increasingly valuable as thousands more satellites enter orbit, raising the risk of collisions with other spacecraft and debris. The estimates that around are orbiting Earth 鈥� large enough to cause serious damage to functioning satellites.

Foundational’s raise comes amid a record-setting year for space technology funding. Investors had already poured $20.3 billion into space- and satellite-related startups globally by late August, 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows, easily surpassing previous annual records with several months still left in the year.

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$10M to make cement without so much carbon

Cement is the glue holding much of the modern world together. It’s also , per an estimate.

Calgary, Canada-based wants to change that. The startup last month said it raised $10 million in new funding led by, with participation from , and , to advance technology that could substantially reduce emissions from cement production.

Cement manufacturing traditionally requires heating limestone to extremely high temperatures, a process that releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide. Cura is developing an electrochemical alternative that uses electricity to separate carbon dioxide from limestone before it enters the kiln.

The company says its process could cut cement-related emissions by up to 85% while also reducing energy consumption. Crucially, the technology is designed to integrate with existing cement plants rather than requiring manufacturers to replace their entire production facilities.

The fresh capital will help fund a pilot plant in Alberta capable of producing 100 metric tons of material annually, as well as engineering work for a larger commercial demonstration facility with a planned capacity of 30,000 metric tons per year.

Cura is among a growing crop of startups targeting industrial processes that have proven particularly difficult to decarbonize. While venture funding for cleantech has fallen well below the peaks of 2021 and 2022, the sector has shown signs of stabilizing. Investors put $15 billion into cleantech-, EV- and sustainability-related startups in the first half of 2026, with second-quarter investment reaching its highest level since 2024, 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows.

Startups like Cura working on cleaner cement technologies, in particular, have also seen investor interest in recent years.

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$10M to help mobile games find their players

Making a successful mobile game is one thing. Getting enough people to discover and play it is an entirely different 鈥� and often very expensive 鈥� challenge.

Cyprus-based is tackling that problem with an unusual investment model. The company, founded by co-founder , said this week that it had raised $10 million in new funding led by to help early-stage gaming studios turn promising titles into commercial successes.

Mika isn’t a traditional game developer. Instead, it invests in small studios and helps finance the expensive marketing campaigns needed to attract players.

The problem is something of a catch-22 for developers: They often need hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising to prove that their games can attract and retain paying users. But the financing providers that fund those campaigns typically want several months of marketing performance data before they’ll provide capital.

Mika aims to bridge that gap by combining equity investments in game development with separate financing for early marketing campaigns. If those efforts demonstrate that a game can acquire players profitably, the studio may then qualify for larger financing arrangements.

The company says it now has five studios in its portfolio, including the developer of Legendale, a farming adventure game with more than 3 million players, and Punko, a tower defense game with more than 500,000 downloads.

The investment comes as gaming startup funding is showing signs of recovery. Companies in the sector had raised around $2 billion globally in 2026 as of late September, already exceeding the full-year 2025 total, 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows.

Mika isn’t the only investor experimenting with alternative financing for game developers. earlier this year a $100 million fund offering indie studios financing in exchange for a share of game revenue, another sign that investors see opportunities beyond conventional equity funding in the gaming industry.

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$3M to turn coffee waste into carbon removal

Not that you need another reason to look forward to your steaming morning cup of coffee, but consider this: The leftovers from that daily ritual might eventually help remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Zurich-based said late last month that it had raised $3 million in funding co-led by PINC, the venture arm of food and beverage company , and . Cotierra says it鈥檚 developing technology that turns agricultural waste into biochar, a charcoal-like material that can store carbon for long periods while improving soil health.

itself isn’t new. What’s interesting about Cotierra’s approach is where and how it wants to make it. Rather than transporting bulky crop residues to large centralized facilities, the startup says it鈥檚 developing smaller, decentralized reactors that can be deployed close to where agricultural waste is generated. Its technology combines the reactors with software to monitor production, track the resulting carbon removal, and verify the environmental benefits.

The company has initially on Colombia鈥檚 coffee-growing regions, including Huila, the Coffee Triangle, Antioquia and Santander, where growers face increasing pressure to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. Cotierra says its technology has already been tested on coffee farms and is now moving toward larger commercial deployments, with plans to expand into cocoa, cotton and citrus production.

It’s a potentially appealing business model for both farmers and food companies: Turn an otherwise low-value waste product into something that can improve soil conditions while also generating measurable carbon removal.

Its raise, however, comes against a difficult backdrop for agricultural technology investment. Global funding to agriculture and farming startups remains far below its 2021 peak, when companies in the sector raised $10.5 billion, according to a 小蓝视频色情网页版 News analysis earlier this year. Funding to the sector totaled just $2.8 billion through the third quarter of 2026, down even from the $3.5 billion raised in the same period last year.

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Related reading:

• VCs Pour Billions Into Physical AI As The Next Wave Of AI Investing Takes Shape
• Sector Snapshot: Space Tech Startup Funding Orbits New Highs
• Sector Snapshot: Cleantech Startup Funding Stabilizes As Energy Demand Grows
• Gaming Startup Funding Levels Up A Bit In 2026
• Sector Snapshot: Agtech Startups Face A Drier Funding Climate

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and co-led the round, with participation from insurance industry veterans including , who will join Slingshot鈥檚 board. Rally is also a co-founder of the Minneapolis-based startup, as part of the firm鈥檚 broader approach. So far, it has co-founded roughly eight portfolio companies that have either launched or remain in stealth.

Slingshot, which is led by first-time founder and CEO , focuses on small insurance policies that consumers can buy as part of another purchase, such as coverage when booking a flight. Known as embedded insurance, the model puts coverage in front of customers when they might need it.

The startup鈥檚 software helps businesses offer those policies by connecting them with insurers that back the coverage. It uses AI to process and share data between the two sides, aiming to reduce the administrative work that can make inexpensive policies costly to offer.

Its first customer and design partner is , which serves more than 750,000 customers at an average premium of $25, according to Slingshot. Genteman told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News that Slingshot鈥檚 first program will launch this month.

For now, Slingshot earns revenue as a technology provider working with outside insurers. But the six-person company, which formally began operating July 1, is also pursuing an acquisition that would allow it to back policies itself.

鈥淲e’re not a carrier yet, but we are rapidly closing on our carrier,鈥� Genteman said in an interview.

Making the math work on a $25 policy

One product Slingshot is working on would let parents buy insurance when signing a child up for youth sports, Genteman said. A parent spending $2,000 on a volleyball league, for example, might be offered a $25 policy covering cancellation or an injury during the season.

Each policy includes paperwork and coordination with an insurer, and can bring potential claims. But when policies cost so little, managing them can quickly eat into the money they bring in, noted Genteman.

He believes that as vertical SaaS companies increasingly look beyond traditional subscription fees for growth, embedded insurance is 鈥渁 largely untapped opportunity鈥� to generate incremental revenue from transactions already happening on their platforms while delivering additional value to customers.

鈥淭he challenge is that the insurance and regulatory landscape is incredibly complex, and most SaaS companies don’t have the expertise, industry relationships or understanding of where to begin,鈥� he said.

Slingshot aims to solve this by providing a white-glove service for those vertical SaaS companies, helping them go from an insurance product idea to 鈥渁 fully operational offering.鈥�

He offered a hypothetical example: A program collecting $500,000 in premiums with a 10% margin would have just $50,000 in margin.

鈥淭hat’s not a viable program for the way incumbent carriers have set themselves up operationally,鈥� he said.

Slingshot鈥檚 goal is to replace the spreadsheets, emails and disconnected systems used to manage that work with software that connects policy distributors and insurers directly. The company says its AI automates data-heavy tasks while keeping a record of decisions that the businesses involved can review and check.

It charges a 5% technology fee to administer programs through its platform. Acquiring an insurer would let it provide both the software and the financial backing, according to Genteman.

A customer helped shape the business

The difficulties facing Slingshot鈥檚 first customer helped bring the startup together.

Rally had already helped start Vertical Insure, which uses software platforms to sell insurance to its customers. According to Genteman, that business had opportunities to introduce more products but struggled to find insurers whose technology and processes could keep up.

鈥淲e can design the products our customers need almost overnight, but the industry is highly regulated, and we need delegated authority just to write and distribute what we鈥檝e built,鈥� Vertical Insure co-founder and CEO said in a statement. 鈥淭he antiquated approval process on the carrier-side slows everything down.鈥�

Even after finding an insurer willing to back a product, connecting the two companies鈥� systems could create more delays, Genteman said.

Slingshot was built to address those problems, with Vertical Insure helping shape its product as a design partner. Noland is also a Slingshot co-founder.

The opportunity in vertical SaaS

Genteman sees a broader opening among vertical SaaS companies: businesses that sell software tailored to a particular industry.

As vertical SaaS companies look for ways to grow beyond subscription fees, insurance could give them another avenue to make money from purchases customers already make through their platforms, argues Genteman. They already know their customers and what they鈥檙e buying, putting them in a position to offer coverage that fits the purchase.

A babysitting platform, for example, could offer coverage to help parents pay for replacement childcare if a sitter cancels at the last minute. Software used by pet boarding facilities could offer coverage for unexpected vet bills if a pet is injured during a stay. An equipment rental platform could let customers add protection at checkout against accidental damage or theft.

Those are examples of what could be developed, Genteman said. Slingshot aims to help vertical SaaS companies take ideas like those and turn them into insurance they can sell, providing both the software and help navigating the insurance industry and its regulatory requirements.

鈥淚nsurance becomes another product that can be offered naturally within the existing customer experience,鈥� he said.

For , managing director at Rally Ventures, that opportunity is familiar. Before joining Rally, he ran , where insurance sold through its software became a key revenue source.

鈥淭hat experience gave me firsthand insight into the opportunity for software companies to generate revenue through embedded financial products,鈥� he wrote via email.

Kaufenberg sees similar potential across Rally鈥檚 portfolio, where most companies combine AI products with financial services. He said founders increasingly want insurance partners that can help them introduce coverage quickly.

Rally co-founded Slingshot to bring insurance backing, underwriting, reporting, claims handling and distribution together in one business.

鈥淭o get the carrier, the reinsurance, the underwriting platform, the data flow engine, the reporting capabilities, the claims handling, the embedded distribution engine, and every other part of the offering from a single vendor is unheard of,鈥� Kaufenberg said.

From insurance executive to founder

Before starting Slingshot, Genteman was chief actuarial officer at publicly traded , where he also led data. He joined in 2019 and helped build its actuarial and data team as the company expanded beyond earthquake insurance into other coverage types.

That work led him to explore whether newer technology could reduce the costs of running insurance programs. About a year ago, he began coding and building prototypes in his basement. He started talking with Rally toward the end of 2025 and left Palomar on July 1 to run Slingshot.

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The partner began his career as a high school math teacher with after studying astrophysics at . He later worked in college access and Yale admissions, and earned graduate degrees in business and education from before joining Reach. As a teacher, he was an early user of , an experience he describes as 鈥済ame-changing.鈥�

His investment firm, Reach Capital, has also evolved. Founded in 2015 after spinning out of , the San Francisco-based firm initially focused on technology for K-12 schools and districts. Its mandate has since expanded to learning, health and work, with investments in companies including ClassDojo, , and .

In August, Reach announced its fifth fund, a $265 million vehicle that brought its assets under management to nearly $1 billion. The firm, which has backed more than 180 companies, plans to invest in approximately 50 additional teams through the new fund, targeting pre-seed, seed and Series A rounds.

小蓝视频色情网页版 News spoke with Kim about how Reach鈥檚 education roots inform its broader strategy, what it saw in AI detection company , and why some of its best investments initially divided its own team. We also discussed how ownership stakes and secondary transactions have shaped the firm鈥檚 approach to returning capital.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

小蓝视频色情网页版 News: You started your career as a high school math teacher. How did that shape your view of education technology?

Kim: I taught ninth through 12th grade, mostly Algebra I and geometry. I was very early to ClassDojo. Back then, it was a very simple classroom management tool, and it was game-changing for me. It has since evolved into a sprawling suite, but I already knew technology could move the needle.

Reach began as an education investor. How did the firm鈥檚 focus evolve into learning, health and work?

Kim: Reach started in 2015, and our original focus was exclusively on learning and education technology 鈥� more specifically, technology sold into schools and districts.

Our founding partners were seeing the growth of devices in schools, one-to-one device ratios and broadband penetration. The belief was that you would start to see a proliferation of technology serving students, teachers and administrators and moving the needle on learning outcomes. That is what ended up playing out. Some of our early bets are now household names in edtech, such as , and ClassDojo.

Reach spun out of NewSchools Venture Fund, where three of our four founding partners had started doing for-profit seed investing before 2015. Over time, we branched out from K-12 into higher education, and then into consumer learning.

We also started getting pulled toward healthcare and work. Health and wellbeing affect a learner鈥檚 readiness for the classroom, so we were being pulled toward mental health, behavioral health and developmental health. On the work side, formal learning typically ends in college, but you still need the bridge to a job. Once you鈥檙e on the job, you need to continue learning, especially in the current environment.

A few years ago, we officially put a stake in the ground and said we invest across learning, health and work. The common thread is that these are the most important systems underlying human development and flourishing.

So far, the breakdown has been roughly 50% learning, 25% health and 25% work.

These sectors have different buyers, regulations and business models. What did investing in education teach you that translates to healthcare and work?

Kim: Education is highly regulated, and institutional buying is complex. Many stakeholders must provide input, and decisions often require board-level approval. We were familiar with and comfortable with regulated products and complex go-to-market motions.

Selling to a university or a K-12 district, in terms of the complexity and the need to intersect with regulation and policy, is quite comparable to selling to a health system, hospital or insurance carrier.

Cartwheel is a good example of where our experience gave us an advantage. It provides mental health teletherapy, but the customer is the school district and the care setting is in schools.

While we were relatively new to behavioral health when we made that investment, we were very familiar with selling to school districts and implementing an intervention within a school setting. That gave us an advantage both in winning the investment opportunity and supporting the company afterward.

Reach talks about 鈥渆levating human potential.鈥� What makes an investment fit that mandate?

Kim: We look for products and services that increase access to quality education, quality care or quality earnings, or some combination of those. We really have to see the mechanism for that happening.

It鈥檚 not good enough to be pitched a SaaS or AI product and have the founders say, 鈥淭his will make people more productive at work, and therefore maybe they will earn more or enjoy their jobs more.鈥� That鈥檚 plausible, but it isn鈥檛 a good enough theory of how the product actually increases access to quality earnings.

Several teammates, including myself, are former educators. We care about meaningful, needle-moving impact.

We address access from both the demand side and the supply side. On the demand side, we build products that create delightful, impactful experiences for consumers: , Stepful鈥檚 allied healthcare training, and Replit for what its founder calls 鈥渃itizen developers.鈥�

On the supply side, it鈥檚 helping schools, health systems and companies function more efficiently and effectively. , for example, helps logistics and hospitality companies hire hourly workers better and treat them better. We think about the problem from both sides of the market.

Reach backed GPTZero, which agreed to join . Was that an investment in solving a problem created by AI?

Kim: That wasn鈥檛 actually our investment thesis. In my opinion, they have the best AI detector on the market. But their thesis was that AI use in education should not be banned. It shouldn鈥檛 be punitive or become a cat-and-mouse game between the educator and the learner.

Since all of us as professionals use AI in our jobs, students should learn how to use it responsibly and thoughtfully. It was the first AI detector company I had seen with that positioning, as opposed to helping schools, districts and universities clamp down on AI usage.

That鈥檚 why I liked it. I don鈥檛 see it as a problem for students to use AI for certain purposes, such as brainstorming, organizing thoughts and editing. GPTZero helps educators work with students and teach them how to use AI responsibly.

Do you see other opportunities to build companies around the problems AI creates?

Kim: Yes, most notably in AI governance and evaluations.

Going back to regulated categories, you need to make sure AI is not irresponsibly using personally identifiable information in education or healthcare. Those categories have very strict regulations, and infrastructure companies are emerging to help ensure AI products interact with that data responsibly.

I do think there are opportunities for large, successful, profitable companies to be created in response to the problems AI creates.

What does GPTZero鈥檚 sale tell you about which AI products can become durable standalone companies and which belong within larger platforms?

Kim: I don鈥檛 know whether GPTZero is an example of either. They had been fielding acquisition offers from pretty early on. This particular opportunity arose earlier this year, and there was a compelling synergy story with Superhuman, formerly .

The founders and the board agreed that it made sense to combine the companies. But they could just as easily have remained standalone. There is another AI detection company called that鈥檚 quite good and is still a standalone, venture-backed company.

It鈥檚 not clear to me that this category can鈥檛 exist on its own. We have to be very case-by-case. We don鈥檛 know until we see the trajectory, financial sustainability and evolution of the market, whether it makes sense to explore a strategic acquisition or grow independently and perhaps one day become a publicly traded company.

Reach has backed more than 180 companies. What patterns have you noticed among those that exceeded expectations?

Kim: The reality of venture is that a very small share of investments yields the overwhelming majority of returns. Given the outlier nature of those successes, it鈥檚 hard to identify unifying principles that always predict a successful exit. If we could, we would only make those investments.

But there are a few things we think are somewhat common across our wins. One is a very smart, gritty, genuinely mission-driven founder or founding team, often with a strong personal connection to the problem.

Second is some sort of nonconsensus insight about the market. That often comes from experiencing the problem themselves, sometimes as practitioners in the industry 鈥� a former educator, for example.

Third is a defensible and scalable business model.

The nonconsensus insight is funny because it鈥檚 what makes these companies look weird and maybe uninvestable in the beginning. Even within our team, they鈥檙e often the most polarizing opportunities. You look at the votes, and a bunch of people vote no, but it gets just enough yeses to pass. Then, 10 years later, it鈥檚 one of our best investments.

People lose sight of this in the current environment, but the best opportunities are often the most nonconsensus. Those can be the most creative and interesting founders, and you can get in at reasonable valuations early and help them become consensus bets.

Reach says its first two funds have returned investors鈥� capital. What produced those returns?

Kim: We鈥檙e no exception to the power-law distribution in venture. Our first fund has been returned 2.2x by literally two investments. Our second fund has been returned 1.2x by one investment. These are cash distributions, by the way.

Especially in the second fund, there鈥檚 still remaining value, so we鈥檒l see how high that number gets. One fund-returning exit would be great; two or three would be amazing. That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e striving for.

How has that experience changed your approach to ownership and follow-on investing?

Kim: We鈥檝e had some great exits where, given how prominent the company is, you might be surprised that our share of the returns wasn鈥檛 that large. That鈥檚 purely an ownership calculation.

From our first fund to today, we鈥檝e meaningfully increased our initial ownership target. We now try to get as close to 15% ownership upfront as possible.

That means writing slightly bigger checks and reserving relatively less for follow-on investments and more for the initial check. It鈥檚 important for the exit math and distribution math.

What role do secondary transactions play in getting liquidity?

We鈥檝e become very proactive and conscientious about liquidity opportunities. Much of our distributions to investors come from secondary sales 鈥� selling our shares in a subsequent round, before an actual exit.

Whenever there鈥檚 an opportunity, we evaluate it. We consider how long we鈥檝e been in the company, how much we can get out, and how much upside we think remains.

As companies stay private longer, early-stage investors are achieving liquidity much more often through secondary transactions. I like to think we were early to that trend, but it鈥檚 certainly mainstream now.

Sometimes, when we see enough upside, we鈥檒l buy secondary shares. GPTZero was an example: After our Series A investment, we bought secondary shares, and I鈥檓 really glad we did because it worked out well. For us, we sell more often, but occasionally we buy.

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• 鈥楴obody Wanted to Give A Former Principal Money鈥�: How An Educator Built An Edtech AI Startup With $63M From VCs

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Today鈥檚 venture capital ecosystem looks markedly different from even just five years ago.

Most significantly, a small number of AI companies are now attracting the vast majority of available venture capital. In Q1 2026, just four companies collectively raised $188 billion, which alone accounted for 65% of total global venture investment, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data.

Meanwhile, in that same quarter, just 20% of global VC funding went to non-AI firms. meaning that checks are being made out to fewer companies all around.

So what happens to startups when the VC route is all but closed?

I built a company into a multibillion-dollar business without any venture funding. Here鈥檚 a few lessons I picked up along the way:

Prioritize customers and revenue, not fundraising

Many founders unknowingly treat fundraising as a measure of success. But while it鈥檚 useful, funding doesn鈥檛 result in success on its own.

Achieving strong levels of customer trust is also helpful when it comes to inspiring investor confidence. High retention rates, repeat purchases and sustained engagement drive the聽 financial fundamentals on which strong valuations are built. In B2B SaaS, for instance, companies with net revenue retention above 110% . Additionally, customers provide a feedback loop that helps create the discipline every company needs, and each user is a vote of confidence that compounds over time.

Going to market: Take time on pricing strategy

Too many early-stage companies set prices too low because they fear that higher prices will repel customers. In my experience, however, underpricing more often signals uncertainty rather than good value. Customers want quality products and services, and they expect that the quality will be reflected in the price.

Incredibly, , and firms more commonly regret underpricing than overpricing. So at the outset, it’s important for startups to inform themselves what price their product or service can actually sustain, and then raise quality if it鈥檚 too low.

Equally, in services markets where prices are more established around a norm, superior quality can be an important differentiator. At the same time, however, companies must continually resist the temptation to chase customers with ever-cheaper prices, which can start a race to the bottom.

Hire the best talent

Too many founders hire for speed rather than quality. Take the time needed to raise the bar with talent. Hire the right people, and they鈥檒l help maximize every last drop of value.

Many years ago, I decided to focus on just a small fraction of our applicants and . When we found the best developers, it meant we could compete on delivery quality rather than just price. Keeping costs low is important, but skimping on talent is not a winning strategy.

Use process automation efficiencies to drive growth

One of our best decisions was to at an early stage. Not only do these systems screen developer applications, but they can also build, match and deploy top-quality teams for each client project.

This advance allowed us to cut costs associated with evaluating applications, accelerate lead times, and improve the quality of our teamwork. In parallel, so that growth wouldn’t require proportional increases in overhead.

Whether it鈥檚 in recruitment, sales or operations, process automation can create some of the biggest drivers of growth and help bring about conditions needed for significant expansion to occur.

Operate as if cash is running out tomorrow

Companies thrive in challenging funding environments by operating with discipline. That means obsessing over unit economics, prioritizing activities that directly drive revenue, questioning every cost, and eliminating anything that isn’t pulling its weight.

Not only does this aid growth, but it also makes a business more resilient in hard times. Financial constraints drive leaders to create efficiencies by automating workflows, streamlining processes and inventing innovative work models.

Years before COVID-19 forced others to follow our lead, our company streamlined its operations and boosted scalability by developing a remote-working model. When the pandemic made remote work necessary, the fact that we already had the systems and workflows in place gave us a competitive advantage over other firms, and this in turn led to significant growth.

Long term: Stay married to the problem, not the solution

The past decade convinced many founders that venture capital was the default path to building a meaningful company. But while funding cycles rise and fall, the fundamental principles of good business don’t. Infusions of capital can accelerate growth, but they cannot create a great company from scratch.

On the longest timescale, the most successful founders are the ones committed to solving problems rather than just selling a product and chasing funding. In a world short on funding, growth simply can鈥檛 happen without it.

is the founding GP of , and chairman of , one of the largest bootstrapped nearshoring companies worldwide. Driven by his entrepreneurial spirit, he launched BDev Ventures in 2021 to help B2B companies accelerate their growth through a proprietary lead-generation platform. He also invests in and serves on the boards of biotechnology and e-learning companies. In recognition of his career path, he won distinctions such as an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Bay Area Award.

Related reading:

• Q1 2026 Shatters Venture Funding Records As AI Boom Pushes Startup Investment To $300B聽

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All told, fintech startups raised $10.6 billion globally in the third quarter of 2026, down 28.4% from $14.9 billion in Q2 2026 and 21.4% from $13.5 billion in Q3 2025.

The pullback comes as investors draw sharper distinctions between companies attracting capital and those struggling to raise, according to partner .

鈥淭he market remains bifurcated 鈥� AI vs. not and market leaders vs. not,鈥� she said.

founder similarly described capital concentrating in fewer, larger rounds, with infrastructure, payments and stablecoin rails attracting investor interest, supported by greater regulatory clarity.

Deal count drops

Notably, deal count in Q3 was the lowest in the quarters covered by our analysis, dating back to the first quarter of 2018. Just 687 fintech funding rounds were recorded globally in the third quarter, compared with 789 in the previous quarter and 995 in the same period a year earlier. That represents declines of 12.9% quarter over quarter and 31% year over year.

Investors are demanding stronger evidence of performance before writing checks, noted Green. For Series A and B rounds, 鈥渆vidence counts for more than narrative,鈥� she said.

In emerging categories, actual usage and momentum can matter more than revenue multiples. Elsewhere, investors want efficient growth, a credible path to profitability and stronger evidence of lasting customer demand before committing to a large Series B, Green said. More startups are also combining debt and equity to limit dilution.

Pullback in large rounds

The quarter-over-quarter funding decline was largely driven by a pullback in large rounds. Funding from rounds of at least $100 million fell 43.3%, from $9.07 billion in Q2 to $5.15 billion in Q3, accounting for approximately 93% of the overall dollar decline. Funding from rounds below $100 million declined just 5.1% sequentially.

Compared with Q3 2025, funding from rounds of at least $100 million decreased 7%, while funding from smaller rounds fell 31.4%. Large transactions remained more resilient than smaller-round funding year over year.

That divide also extends to pricing. Green said a small group of companies with clear momentum command aggressive valuations, while others face greater discipline.

Bock pointed to and as similarly sized businesses with widely different valuations, attributing Ramp鈥檚 premium to investor enthusiasm for its AI momentum and growth trajectory.

Global mega-rounds

The United States remained the largest market for fintech funding last quarter. All told, U.S. startups attracted $5.38 billion, or 50.5% of the $10.64 billion global total in Q3.

The next-largest markets were Singapore with $1.28 billion (12.1%); Saudi Arabia with $626.6 million (5.9%); India with $452 million (4.2%); Brazil with $352 million (3.3%); and the United Kingdom with $337.8 million (3.2%). Singapore鈥檚 total was heavily concentrated in 鈥檚 $1.2 billion round. Despite the U.S. being the largest market for fintech funding, the quarter鈥檚 five largest funding rounds went to companies based outside the United States, ironically.

• Ant International, a Singapore-based provider of digital payments and financial services for businesses, raised the largest round in Q3 2026, a $1.2 billion Series A at a listed $11.2 billion post-money valuation. The data does not identify a lead investor but lists and as participants.
• , a financial app provider based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, raised a $329.5 million Series A at a $1.85 billion post-money valuation. , and participated in the financing.
• Hong Kong-based , which provides financing to e-commerce businesses, secured a $300 million Series C led by at an estimated $1.36 billion post-money valuation.
• Jakarta, Indonesia-based , an online investing platform, raised a $270 million Series C led by at a $1.35 billion post-money valuation.
• Rounding out the top five, Riyadh-based , a digital financial services provider, raised $233 million in a Series F round led by at a $6.5 billion post-money valuation.

Late-stage fintech funding fell to $4.8 billion, down 40.4% quarter over quarter and 17.3% year over year, in Q3, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data.

One startup lifts early-stage funding

Early-stage fintech funding was comparatively resilient at $4.23 billion, up 11% quarter over quarter and down just 0.6% year over year. However, Ant International鈥檚 $1.2 billion Series A accounted for 28.4% of that total. Excluding that transaction from Q3 2026 alone, early-stage funding would have fallen 20.4% sequentially and 28.8% year over year.

Early-stage deal count also dropped, from 173 in Q2 to 165 in Q3, suggesting that the increase in funding dollars did not reflect a broad expansion in activity.

Fundraising expectations are rising as AI makes products faster to build and launch, Bock said. Early revenue carries less weight than sustained growth. While $1 million in annual recurring revenue once served as a common Series A benchmark, investors now want greater traction and stronger momentum, including revenue that has at least tripled over six months.

鈥淓fficiency still matters, but growth is back in focus,鈥� she said, adding that expectations of larger potential outcomes are pushing valuations higher.

Meanwhile, angel and seed funding totaled $1.12 billion, down 19.7% from Q2 and 35.2% from Q3 2025.

AI reshapes investor priorities

AI is primarily redirecting investment within fintech, although agents and payments are attracting some new capital, Green said. Companies without an obvious AI offering can still raise funding, but investors increasingly expect evidence that the technology improves their economics, speed or ability to reach customers.

鈥淭he product has to carry that story,鈥� she said.

Bock said the distinction between companies adding AI to existing processes and those building their products around it matters. The strongest AI products deliver substantial improvements that drive rapid adoption and customers鈥� willingness to pay.

鈥淲hen investors say a company is 鈥楢I,鈥� they usually mean its growth rate is high, so growth has become the proxy,鈥� she said.

QED鈥檚 recent investments span customer support, analytics, financial advice, banking infrastructure and fraud prevention. Bock sees a durable opportunity for startups that handle the specialized integrations and accuracy requirements financial services demands 鈥� work she argues frontier AI labs are unlikely to prioritize.

Green, meanwhile, said payments initiated by AI agents have moved 鈥渇rom 鈥榠f鈥� to 鈥榳hen鈥欌�� in her conversations, as major networks and processors introduced protocols to support them. She is also seeing more fintech companies seek ownership of regulated infrastructure rather than rely on outside providers.

But she sees potential overfunding in stablecoin infrastructure, where many startups are pursuing the same customers, and in tools that let AI agents complete purchases for buyers, where, in her view, startup formation has outpaced transaction volume.

Green sees more opportunity in the systems that make agent-driven commerce trustworthy, including fraud prevention, identity verification, agent permissions and tools that help merchants accept those purchases.

鈥淚 suspect the market is treating the rails as the moat,鈥� she said. In her view, payment infrastructure is likely to become commoditized, leaving more value with the companies that own customer relationships and earn their trust.

Bock鈥檚 broader thesis is that AI could reshape financial services by sharply reducing the costs of underwriting, compliance and customer service while enabling more personalized financial products. QED is particularly interested in advice and wealth management, underwriting, insurance claims, risk and compliance, and finance back-office operations, alongside stablecoins and tokenization.

鈥淭he financial services operating system will be rebuilt end-to-end,鈥� she said.

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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 Oct. 5, 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.

Related reading:

• Fintech Funding Surges 23% In H1 2026 As Investors Concentrate Their Bets On AI And Financial Infrastructure
• 小蓝视频色情网页版 Data: Q3 2026 Posted A Record Count Of Billion-Dollar Rounds As The Global AI Race Heats Up
• LatAm Startup Funding Jumps 26% In Q3 As VCs Begin 鈥楻ediscovering鈥� The Region
• North America鈥檚 Startup Funding Falls In Q3 As AI Giants Eye The Public Markets

Illustration:

All told, startups in Latin America raised a combined $1.3 billion across seed- and growth-stage deals in the three-month period ending Sept. 30. That was up 26% year over year but down 9% from the second quarter.

For perspective, we charted out total investment, color-coded by stage, for the past 12 quarters below.

Of the quarterly total, $757 million went into late-stage and growth deals, up 74% compared to the $435 million that flowed into such deals in the third quarter of 2025. However, that is down 21.3% from the $962 million in late-stage and growth rounds raised by LatAm startups in the second quarter. (Although it鈥檚 worth noting that Q2 2026 represented the most raised at that stage since the second quarter of 2022.)

Mexico startups have raised $1.52 billion in venture funding during the first three quarters of 2026, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. Notably, that鈥檚 about 40.7% more than the $1.08 billion Brazil鈥檚 startups raised in the same period. This is unusual as Brazil has historically been the largest recipient of venture funding in Latin America.

Still, Brazil continues to attract a broad range of investors.

鈥淥ver the past year, we have seen investments into Brazil from firms including , , , and ,鈥� , managing partner of , told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News. 鈥淔or several, this marked either their first investment in Latin America or their first in a long time.鈥�

, Endeavor Catalyst鈥檚 vice president and head of Latin America, noted that Mexico drew more venture funding in the first half of 2026 than Brazil. But much of 惭别虫颈肠辞鈥檚 funding went to a few startups, he pointed out, while Brazil recorded many deals.

鈥淚nvestors are concentrating on a few Mexican winners, while Brazil retains the breadth,鈥� Piquet said, adding that Brazil also leads in realized exits.

Table of contents

• Outsized rounds
• An uptick in seed funding
• ‘Another rediscovery moment’
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Outsized rounds

Several mega-raises took place in Latin America in the third quarter. And notably, the two largest funding deals were not for companies in Brazil or Mexico, which have historically raised the largest share of venture capital in the region. They also weren鈥檛 to fintech, which typically has the most funding recipients in the region, but rather to energy-related startups.

, the Chilean project company for 鈥檚 Black Giant lithium project, raised $225 million in a July round at a reported $900 million valuation. And Colombia鈥檚 , a clean energy company that builds and operates solar power systems for homes and businesses, landed a $129 million Series C in August at a reported $600 million valuation.

惭别虫颈肠辞鈥檚 , an AI-powered financial services company, raised a $125 million Series C in September at a $1.6 billion valuation. led the financing, which included a senior debt funding facility provided by .

And in August, Brazilian fintech brought in $106.9 million in an equity and debt seed round at a $626 million valuation.

Also in August, Brazil鈥檚 , an AI-native wealth advisory company, landed $85 million in聽 what 小蓝视频色情网页版 shows is the largest seed funding deal ever raised for a Latin American startup. Founded by , former CTO of , and , founder of , the startup is backed by ,,, and .

An uptick in seed funding

Latin America experienced a marked surge in very early-stage funding totals in the third quarter, largely thanks to the seed rounds mentioned above.

Of the $1.3 billion raised by Latin America鈥檚 startups in the third quarter, about 20.5% 鈥� or $266 million 鈥� was raised across the angel and seed stages.

That鈥檚 up 128% from the $117 million raised across those stages in the second quarter of 2026, and up 62% from the $165 million in the same quarter last year.

Just over 22%, or $288 million, was raised at early stages, down 18.9% from $355 million in the second quarter and 34% from $437 million in the same period last year.

We expect the Q3 deal counts to rise somewhat over time; however, as seed rounds in particular are commonly reported weeks or months after they close.

‘Another rediscovery moment’

Latin America is drawing renewed interest from international venture investors, according to Endeavor鈥檚 Taylor. He said international VCs were more active in the region, particularly Brazil, during the first three quarters of 2026 than in 2024 and 2025 combined, through both new investments and follow-on funding.

鈥淚 joke that investors from the U.S. 鈥榬ediscover鈥� Latin America every five or six years, and I think we are approaching another rediscovery moment,鈥� Taylor told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News.

Endeavor Catalyst recently closed its oversubscribed $320 million fifth fund. Latin America accounts for nearly 40% of its portfolio by both deals and dollars, and Fund V had made 14 investments in the region as of Sept. 22. Taylor also pointed to opportunities beyond Brazil and Mexico, including repeat founders building global businesses from Colombia and emerging companies in Venezuela and Central America.

Liquidity is improving, although acquisitions and secondary transactions are providing more opportunities than public listings, Piquet said. He pointed to approximately 60 private Latin American technology companies that have each raised at least $150 million as a potential pipeline for future IPOs.

鈥淭he exit door is open, although it is not primarily opening through IPOs yet,鈥� Piquet said.

Taylor expects more exits could help bring global investors back consistently, with potential listings by companies such as , or contributing to another 鈥渞ediscovery moment鈥� in 2027.

International investors remain interested in Latin America but have become more selective about deploying capital, according to of . Firms with a longstanding presence in the region remain engaged, while many that entered during the 2020鈥�2021 investment boom have shifted toward AI opportunities elsewhere and are concentrating on existing portfolios, she noted.

鈥淕lobal investors are increasingly investing behind themes rather than geographies,鈥� she said, putting Latin American startups in more direct competition with companies in the U.S. and other markets.

Investor interest is increasingly centered on AI-native businesses and financial infrastructure, particularly stablecoins and cross-border payments. Gadala-Maria said more founders are targeting global markets from the outset, marking a departure from the previous wave of startups that adapted established business models to underserved local markets.

鈥淚ncreasingly, we鈥檙e seeing founders build globally competitive technology companies from Latin America, rather than necessarily for Latin America,鈥� she said.

Gadala-Maria agrees that Brazil and Mexico remain the region鈥檚 largest markets, with Brazil offering a deeper, more mature startup ecosystem and Mexico providing substantial room for financial services innovation. She pointed to Argentina as an overlooked market, citing its strong technical talent and founders building companies for global customers.

Correction: Details regarding Kapital’s Series C were updated. The deal was a debt and equity raise.

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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 Oct. 5, 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.)

Illustration:

Congratulations to the enterprise AI company that just raised another nine-figure round to solve a problem software is supposed to solve by itself: getting humans to use the product.

You know the one. Won鈥檛 name it. Don鈥檛 have to. You鈥檝e read the press release 鈥� “autonomous,” “agentic,” “category-defining” in paragraph one, and then, a few paragraphs down, where the money is actually going: hiring an army of engineers to sit inside customer offices and manually make the “autonomous” thing behave.

Nothing says 鈥渨e鈥檝e built the future of work鈥� quite like raising half a billion dollars to hire more people to do the work.

The business model, decoded

Here鈥檚 how it works, in case the deck was too artfully vague:

1. Sell the customer an “AI platform.”
2. Discover the platform doesn鈥檛 actually do the thing on its own.
3. Send in the forward deployed engineers: sharp young people with CS degrees who now spend six months hand-building the workflow the website implied already existed.
4. Bill the customer for “software.”
5. Book it as ARR.
6. Raise a bigger round because 鈥淎RR go up.鈥�
7. Repeat, forever, with an increasingly large and increasingly expensive engineering org standing between the product and the promise it made.

This is not a flywheel. This is a payroll with a pitch deck.

And the industry has stopped even pretending otherwise 鈥� it鈥檚 fundraising on it, loudly.

pledged valued at $10 billion, with another $4 billion from ,, , and . The vehicle, DeployCo, has been with more than $4 billion in investment.

Meanwhile, job postings for “forward deployed engineer” are up somewhere between 800% and 1,000% year over year. Lightcast data reported by from January to August 2026. data carried by put listings up more than 800% from January to September 2025, and data from 643 in April 2025 to 5,330 in April 2026. Total comp is pushing past $300,000 in the U.S. list at $280,000 to $320,000 base pay and OpenAI at $185,000 to $300,000 base, plus equity. Fortune reported some Anthropic roles reaching $400,000 in total compensation.

Somewhere, a VC is calling this 鈥渙perating leverage鈥� with a completely straight face.

It is not operating leverage. It鈥檚 a staffing agency that learned to say 鈥渁gentic.鈥�

The tell

Ask the one question the pitch deck conveniently never answers: 鈥淚f you pulled the embedded engineer out tomorrow, does the customer still get what they paid for?鈥�

If the honest answer is 鈥渨ell, no, but the ARR is real鈥� 鈥� that鈥檚 not product-market fit. That鈥檚 people-market fit, and people-market fit has a brutally unglamorous ceiling: You can only hire humans so fast, and you can never hire them cheap enough to earn a software multiple. Every new logo doesn鈥檛 get more profitable to serve. It gets another headcount request.

Two companies, same $20 million ARR. One needs 10 engineers to keep the lights on. The other needs 100. Both slides say, 鈥淎I software company.鈥� The difference shows up in gross margin, cost to onboard the next customer, and whether that cost falls as the company scales.

The bill always comes due

Here鈥檚 the thing about people-market fit: it feels great right up until someone asks the unfashionable questions: What does it actually cost, fully loaded, to onboard the next customer? Does that number go down as the company scales, or does it just grow the org chart? What happens to gross margin if the first year growth slows and the headcount can鈥檛 hide behind hypergrowth anymore?

Companies funding their FDE armies with fresh nine-figure rounds are betting nobody asks these questions until after the round closes and the confetti is swept up. That鈥檚 a fine bet in a hype cycle. It鈥檚 a terrible one in a market that鈥檚 about to start reading the fine print.

Because eventually, someone always reads the fine print. A CFO builds a cost-per-deployment model. A CIO benchmarks time-to-value against three vendors instead of trusting one demo. An investor finally does the unglamorous work of separating software ARR from human-powered ARR on the same balance sheet.

The distinction buyers and investors can test is on the numbers. Software ARR should get cheaper to deliver as it scales. Human-powered ARR does not. OpenAI guaranteed the private-equity backers of its deployment vehicle an annual 17.5% return over five years, which is a different structure from a growth thesis.鹿

So no, your AI isn鈥檛 autonomous. But your business model might be 鈥� autonomously transferring the cost of a services company onto a software valuation, for as long as the music plays.

Enjoy the round. Hope the org chart was worth it.

, the co-founder and CEO of , is an entrepreneur and product leader with more than 20 years of experience across cybersecurity and AI. He has built three generative AI companies, including one that reached unicorn status. Gurtu is known for turning advanced AI into scalable, real-world platforms, and previously contributed to successful exits, including acquisitions by , and , and a public company, . He holds a master’s degree from the and CISSP certification.

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.

Startup investors aren鈥檛 exactly hitting pause, but they did scale back on giant rounds this past week, with just two startup financings in the multiple hundreds of millions. The biggest round went to AI infrastructure provider , which picked up $750 million, followed by construction automation unicorn , which secured $200 million. Other sectors that attracted larger rounds this past week included biotech, insurance and AI.

1. , $750M, AI infrastructure: Modal Labs, a provider of cloud infrastructure for AI inference and other applications, secured $750 million in a Series D funding round led by at a $15.75 billion valuation. The New York-headquartered company said it recently exceeded an annual revenue run rate of $1 billion.

2. , $200M, construction tech: Austin-based Icon, a developer of robotic construction systems known for its 3D-printed homes, closed on $200 million in Series D funding led by聽 and . The company says it is on pace for 4x revenue growth in 2026.

3. , $135M, RNA therapies: Boston-based Souffl茅 Therapeutics, a developer of RNA therapies, raised $135 million in Series B funding led by as part of a large syndicate of investors.

4. , $103M, gene therapies: Menlo Park, California-based Estuary Biotherapeutics, a developer of genetic medicines for patients with serious kidney diseases, launched with $103 million in financing. The funding includes $93 million in a Series A round led by as well as $10 million in previously undisclosed seed capital.

5. , $100M, AI tools: Labelbox, a developer of technology to train and evaluate AI models and to help deploy agents that improve with experience, picked up $100 million in Series E funding. led the financing for the 8-year-old, San Francisco-based company.

6. , $90M, health AI: Redwood City, California-based Suki, a provider of AI tools that turn clinical conversations into intelligence for documentation, coding and other healthcare workflows, announced a $90 million Series E financing from backers including and .

7. , $82M, caregiver platform: Abby Care, a platform for family members to become certified, paid caregivers and deliver care at home, closed on $82 million in Series C funding, per a . led the financing for the 5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup.

8. , $70M, insurance: Stand, a provider of insurance for homes in areas at higher risk of natural disasters, secured $70 million in Series C funding at a $1 billion valuation. led the financing for the 3-year-old, San Francisco-based company.

9. , $65M, semiconductor systems: Mueon Corp., a semiconductor systems company building a modular platform for AI and hyperscale computing, completed a $65 million Series A funding round. led the financing for the Portland, Oregon-based company.

10. , $60M, AI spend management: New York-based North.cloud, provider of an infrastructure spend intelligence and automation platform, raised $60 million in a Series B round led by .

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 Oct. 10-16, 2026. Although most announced rounds are in the database, there may be a small time lag, as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

Overall, investors put $38.5 billion into reported seed- through growth-stage financings for countries in the region in Q3, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. Of that, a majority went to AI-focused companies, echoing the trends we鈥檝e seen globally.

Deal counts, meanwhile, were relatively flat. That indicates concentration of capital into favored startups remains pronounced but is not intensifying.

Table of contents

• An AI-driven quarter
• China leads by far in country-by-country breakdown
• Late stage
• Early stage
• Seed
• A big quarter for China
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

An AI-driven quarter

Around 55% of investment 鈥� an estimated $21 billion 鈥� went to AI-focused companies. Total funding is down substantially from the prior quarter, which was boosted by a $7.4 billion financing for China鈥檚 , but still the second-highest tally on record.

For Q3, a couple of extra-large rounds bolstered the AI investment tally. The largest went to Beijing-based foundational model company , which secured $3.5 billion in July at a reported $35 billion valuation.

, the AI spinout of China-based short video platform , was the second-biggest fundraiser. The generative video startup raised around $3 billion in a July financing that included and .

China leads by far in country-by-country breakdown

China was the leading Asian destination for venture investment by a very wide margin.

Per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, roughly $27 billion 鈥� or 70% of all Asian startup funding in Q3 鈥� went to China-based companies. India was a distant second, with $2.9 billion, followed by Singapore, with $2.5 billion.

For perspective, below we charted third-quarter startup funding tallies for the six countries with the largest totals.

Late stage

Most capital went to late- and growth-stage funding rounds.

Per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, investment at this stage totaled around $20 billion in Q3. That鈥檚 down a bit from the prior quarter but nearly double year-ago levels and the second-strongest showing in four years.

Multiple jumbo rounds kept the total high. The largest was Moonshot AI鈥檚 aforementioned $3.5 billion Series F.

Several others raised financings in the multiple hundreds of millions. Shenzhen-based , a provider of robotics hardware and software, for instance, picked up $400 million in a September Series C. And Hong Kong-based , an e-commerce fintech platform, secured $300 million in Series C funding as it eyes an IPO.

Early stage

Early-stage investment drifted lower in Q3 but remained at historically high levels.

Per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, financing for startups at the Series A and Series B stages totaled $13.6 billion for the just-ended quarter. That鈥檚 a decline of 28% from the prior quarter but up 65% from year-ago levels.

Seed

Reported seed funding hit its highest level in years, boosted by investor enthusiasm around AI.

In total, investors poured $4.9 billion into reported seed and angel deals across Asia, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. That鈥檚 up around 22% from the prior quarter and more than double year-ago levels.

A big quarter for China

Overall, Q3 was a robust period for venture funding to China-based companies, with far smaller sums going to other Asian startup hubs. Funding to startups based in India and Singapore was down significantly quarter over quarter, while Israel鈥檚 investment totals declined slightly.

We鈥檒l keep an eye out in the coming months to see if this divergence of fortunes persists.

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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 Oct. 5, 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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