led the round, with participation from co-leads Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by , and existing investor .

The financing comes nearly one year to the day after Mistral鈥檚 $2 billion Series C, which valued the company at $13.7 billion. Mistral has now raised $7.5 billion since its 2023 inception.

Mistral鈥檚 new raise means it retains its spot as the most highly valued foundation model company out of Europe. There are currently seven private frontier labs valued above $20 billion on The 小蓝视频色情网页版 Unicorn board 鈥� eight including China鈥檚 , which is also building its own model 鈥� though the rest are all based in the U.S. and China.

In a statement, the company says the new capital will 鈥渟ignificantly expand Mistral’s frontier research鈥� and help it 鈥渆xpand infrastructure and accelerate鈥� its commercial growth and international footprint. Mistral currently operates across 20 countries and counts more than 125 global enterprises as customers, including , , and .

Mistral builds AI models for tasks such as generating text, writing code and analyzing documents, putting it in competition with U.S. companies including , and .

However, unlike many of its U.S. rivals, Mistral touts greater control for businesses by offering models they can customize and run on their own systems rather than relying entirely on a third-party cloud provider.

Europe鈥檚 VC momentum

This year has marked a turning point for European venture funding. In Q2, Europe posted its strongest quarter in four years for venture funding, 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows. All told, Europe-based startups raised $24 billion in the quarter, up around a third quarter over quarter and two-thirds higher than the $14.4 billion raised in Q2 2025.

At the time of Mistral鈥檚 $2 billion Series C, that raise represented the largest venture round ever raised by a European AI company.

This latest round has now eclipsed that, and several other large AI-related deals in Europe have also closed this year. They include London-based Google spinoff , which raised a $2.1 billion Series B in May led by and AI data center provider , which raised a $2 billion Series C at a $14.6 billion valuation in March co-led by and . (It has also since raised several billion in debt financing, per 小蓝视频色情网页版.)

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• Europe Posted Its Strongest Venture Funding Quarter In 4 Years As UK Gains, M&A Holds Up
• Mistral鈥檚 $2B Series C Is Europe鈥檚 Largest AI Round By A Lot

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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.

AI infrastructure dominated the largest venture rounds this week, with two multibillion-dollar deals in the sector taking the top spots. Data center and cloud provider led with a massive $3 billion financing, followed by 鈥檚 $1.5 billion raise. Further down the list, AI inference startup landed $300 million, joining a diverse group of big fundings spanning cybersecurity, robotics, food, HR software, payments and healthcare.

1. , $3B, AI infrastructure: Denver-based Crusoe raised a $3 billion Series F co-led by and, with also participating. Originally founded to use stranded natural gas to power cryptocurrency mining, Crusoe has transformed into a major AI cloud and data center provider serving customers including , and . The company has raised nearly $7.2 billion to date, and the latest financing values it at $30 billion 鈥� triple its valuation less than a year ago 鈥� according to 小蓝视频色情网页版.

2. , $1.5B, AI infrastructure: New York-based Fluidstack raised $1.5 billion in a private equity round led by, bringing the AI infrastructure company鈥檚 total funding to just over $2.6 billion. Fluidstack provides large-scale GPU and data center infrastructure for demanding AI workloads and has emerged as one of a growing group of companies spending heavily to meet soaring compute demand for AI. The financing values the company at $18 billion.

3. (tied) , $300M, AI infrastructure: San Francisco-based Gimlet Labs raised a $300 million Series B led by, with investors including ,, and . Gimlet is building an AI inference cloud that distributes workloads across different types of chips, an approach aimed at making the increasingly compute-intensive process of running AI models faster and more efficient. The company has raised $392 million to date and was valued at $3 billion in the latest round, .

3. (tied) , $300M, cybersecurity: San Francisco-based Upwind Security raised $300 million in new funding co-led by and. Other investors included 1,, and . The company鈥檚 platform uses real-time cloud runtime data to identify threats and vulnerabilities, putting it at the intersection of two particularly well-funded areas: cloud security and AI. Upwind has raised $730 million to date and was valued at $3.8 billion in this latest deal.

5. , $250M, food and nutrition: New York-based high-protein food company David raised a $250 million Series B co-led by and., and company co-founder also participated. Best known for its high-protein, low-calorie bars, David has expanded into other protein-focused foods as consumers continue gravitating toward products marketed around protein and metabolic health. The company has raised $335 million and was valued at $2.25 billion in the latest round.

6. , $166M, HR software: New York-based HiBob raised $166 million in a round led by, with also participating. HiBob鈥檚 Bob platform combines HR, payroll, benefits and employee-management tools, and the company is increasingly positioning its workforce data as a foundation for enterprise AI applications. The latest deal brings its total funding to $740 million and values the company at $3.2 billion.

7. , $165M, robotics and physical AI: Sunnyvale, California-based Lyte AI raised a $165 million Series C led by, with participation from,, and. Founded by former engineers, Lyte develops custom silicon, sensors and AI software that help robots perceive and understand their surroundings, the kind of technology that underpins the fast-growing physical AI sector. Lyte has now raised $272 million to date, , and was valued at $1.6 billion in the Series C.

8. , $155M, fintech and payments: Mountain View, California-based TabaPay secured $155 million in growth financing led by. The company provides money-movement infrastructure that helps banks and fintech companies instantly disburse, collect and transfer funds. The company announced the latest funding as it also of federally chartered , a move that could deepen its role in payments infrastructure. TabaPay鈥檚 new round follows a Series A of an undisclosed amount back in 2022.

9. , $125M, health care and oncology: Nashville, Tennessee-based Thyme Care raised a $125 million Series E led by , the healthcare investment arm of . Other backers included, and, among others. Thyme Care works with health plans, employers and providers to coordinate cancer treatment and manage oncology care, part of a broader shift toward value-based specialty care. The company has now raised $399 million in total and was valued at $2 billion in the latest round.

10. , $100M, AI cybersecurity: Austin-based HiddenLayer raised a $100 million Series B led by.,, and also participated. HiddenLayer builds security tools designed specifically to protect AI models, agents and workflows from attacks and vulnerabilities, a category gaining urgency as enterprises move AI systems into production. The company has raised $156.2 million to date, .

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 Aug. 29-Sept. 4, 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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• Former Apple Engineers鈥� Physical AI Startup Lyte Raises $165M At $1.6B Valuation
• VCs Pour Billions Into Physical AI As The Next Wave Of AI Investing Takes Shape

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When an executive at suggested that seemed distracted by artificial intelligence, she was not an engineer working on the coding startup鈥檚 AI products. She was its general counsel.

The executive told her 鈥榊ou鈥檙e a great GC and good at business development 鈥� but it seems like maybe your head鈥檚 not in it because you鈥檙e so into this AI thing,鈥欌�� Ziniti recalled in an interview with 小蓝视频色情网页版 News.

鈥淎nd it was true,鈥� she said.

By then, Ziniti had spent roughly two decades working as a lawyer at companies such as , and . She had never learned to code. She had not ever founded a company. And she had not worked in the same sort of technical or product roles that many venture-backed software founders have.

But her time at Replit gave her an early look at generative AI. That was enough to inspire her to leave the legal profession and build , a startup bringing AI technology to legal work.

An early look at GPT

In late 2021 and early 2022, Replit was working with on AI-powered coding products, giving Ziniti access to an early version of GPT before ChatGPT was released publicly. She began considering what the technology could mean for lawyers.

Ziniti later taught classes on using ChatGPT for legal work. During these sessions, she began to see the disconnect between applying a general-purpose chatbot to a profession that requires precision, sourcing and tone.

For instance, in one class, she used ChatGPT to research the legal considerations involved in entering the Brazilian market. The response covered the relevant issues, but it started out with language about going to Rio and grabbing surfboards, Ziniti recalled.

At that point, Ziniti recognized there was a distinct gap between an AI-generated answer and something a lawyer could actually use in a professional setting. She realized that what broad models weren鈥檛 quite getting right could 鈥� and should 鈥� become product requirements.

As she began developing the idea, Ziniti teamed up with , an engineer she had worked with at Replit who had experience with earlier generations of GPT. Pourvakil had once been admitted to , she said, but chose engineering instead, partly because he expected AI to automate some legal work.

鈥淚 would teach these classes in the morning and tell my co-founder in the afternoon, 鈥極ur software needs to provide accurate citations. Our software needs to tell you where in the document it鈥檚 getting the backup for this. Our software needs to speak in this way,鈥� 鈥� she said.

A founder who was also the customer

Their backgrounds complemented each other. Pourvakil knew how to build the technology, while Ziniti intimately knew the work it was meant to support.

鈥淚 am a better founder for GC AI than I think anyone could be because I was the ICP,鈥� Ziniti said, referring to the startup term 鈥渋deal customer profile.鈥� 鈥淚 was able to step up and meet the moment, even though I don鈥檛 code.鈥�

Her understanding of that customer came from a legal career that began well before the current AI boom. Ziniti started as a paralegal at , later worked at and went on to hold senior legal positions at Amazon, Cruise, robotics startup Anki, and Replit.

Although it was when Ziniti realized the enormous potential of AI when it came to the legal industry, Replit wasn鈥檛 her first experience with the technology. In 2013, she became the first full-time lawyer assigned to Amazon鈥檚 Alexa. She later encountered other forms of AI through autonomous vehicles at Cruise and robotics at Anki.

Notably, she had done much of her work inside companies rather than at law firms. With that experience in mind, Ziniti decided to focus GC AI on those in-house legal departments.

From idea to company

Ziniti left Replit on Nov. 1, 2023, and incorporated San Mateo, California-based GC AI about a week later.

The company initially built an AI assistant for corporate legal departments, then added products for contract analysis and for handling requests submitted to legal teams.

GC AI has seen impressive growth, growing 400% year over year, according to Ziniti. The company now serves roughly 2,100 companies, up from about 900 a year earlier, she said. Its customers range from large enterprises to startups with a single in-house lawyer, and include companies such as , , , and .

The company makes money through a mix of per-seat subscriptions and additional products, including a contract-analysis tool priced by document volume. It also sells a platform for handling and responding to requests submitted to legal departments.

While GC AI competes with legal AI startups and , Ziniti said the startups mostly serve different customers. Harvey and Legora initially focused on law firms, while GC AI has concentrated from the beginning on corporations and their in-house teams.

Its contract intelligence offering, for example, is designed to analyze a company鈥檚 own documents, while law firms鈥� tools may need to work across materials belonging to thousands of clients. Nearly 30% of GC AI鈥檚 seats are also used by employees outside legal departments, including HR and finance executives, according to Ziniti.

She believes her extensive legal background helped GC AI address one of the biggest barriers to selling AI software to corporate legal departments: trust.

鈥淚t is the number one most important thing,鈥� she said.

About one-third of GC AI鈥檚 125 employees are lawyers, according to Ziniti. The company pursued SOC 2 compliance early, built data-isolation protections, and says it does not train its models on customers鈥� confidential information.

One longtime customer, Ziniti recalled, described their perception of the difference between GC AI and general-purpose AI tools this way: 鈥淭rust, trust, trust. Oh, and trust.鈥�

A different route into venture capital

Ziniti was new to founding a company, but not entirely new to the world of venture capital. She had invested as an angel and served as general counsel at several venture-backed startups, which helped build investor relationships before she began raising money herself.

One of GC AI鈥檚 first commitments came from , founder of , a venture firm that invests in experienced operators becoming first-time founders. Ziniti had previously worked with Illig at Cruise.

鈥淥nce you get one commit, then it鈥檚 relatively easy,鈥� Ziniti said of the company鈥檚 seed round.

GC AI has since raised nearly $72 million across three rounds. Its most recent financing was a $60 million Series B co-led by and , which valued the company at $555 million. , , , and The Council also participated.

Ziniti said about 45 general counsels have also invested in GC AI through a special-purpose vehicle.

Her experience illustrates one way generative AI is producing a different type of software founder. One who is an experienced industry practitioner who has identified a use for a certain technology but needs a technical partner to build it.

In Ziniti鈥檚 case, the idea for GC AI emerged from the overlap between two parts of her career. Replit exposed her to generative AI early, while her years as an in-house lawyer gave her firsthand knowledge of what a legal AI product should do.

鈥淵ou have a unique insight on the world in some way from your life experience,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 did, and I built around that.鈥�

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• From Humanities To AI: How Ali Hussain Built Fintech Tabs Into A $400M Startup
• Craft鈥檚 Ilya Levtov Never Learned To Code. He Built A Software Company Anyway.

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Seven companies raised billion-dollar fundings in August, tied with a few months for the year鈥檚 second-highest count after July, when 13 companies did the same.

The largest startup funding deal in August went to 13-year-old which raised $5 billion at a $190 billion valuation.

Other companies across a broad range of industries raised billion-dollar-plus rounds, a testament to the strength of the technology sector impacting聽 a range of more traditional industries, including physical manufacturing, defense, aerospace and energy. They included defense tech startup ; , which performs custom AI fine-tuning for businesses; low-orbit satellite network ; nuclear energy company ; automated coding provider ; and home battery service .

Notable exits

On the IPO front, Hangzhou, China-based humanoid robotics company went public on Aug. 19 and soared 460% on its first day of trading on the .

The largest M&A news in August was 鈥檚 announcement that it aims to acquire open-source AI platform for $12.9 billion. Other notable acquisition news was Milan-based tech aggregator 鈥� plan to acquire 13-year-old database company for around $1.3 billion.

Big rounds are coming faster

Venture capital continues to concentrate rapidly among a small group of fast-growing companies. Two of August鈥檚 billion-dollar recipients illustrate the trend: Databricks added $56 billion to its valuation in just six months, while River AI raised both its seed and Series A rounds this year, amassing a staggering $1.1 billion in early-stage funding.

That accelerated cadence extended across August鈥檚 megadeals: Five of the seven billion-dollar funding recipients had last raised capital less than 12 months earlier, including three that closed their previous rounds earlier this year. The numbers underscore how quickly investors are doubling down on companies they believe can become the next generation of technology giants.

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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 Sept. 2, 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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The financing, led by , brings Lyte鈥檚 total raised to $272 million. , which led Lyte’s Series B, also participated in the Series C, along with , , (formerly Exor Ventures), and additional existing and new investors.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company was founded in 2021 by , and 鈥� a trio of former engineers who worked on the iPhone giant鈥檚 advanced sensing and perception technologies. Shpunt had also previously co-founded , a startup whose 3D-sensing technology powered Microsoft Kinect before Apple acquired the company in 2013.

The trio’s past work helped bring 3D perception to the mainstream and later became a foundation for Apple鈥檚 Face ID technology.

Lyte is building custom silicon, 4D sensing, RGB, motion awareness and AI software to help robots sense where they are and what is moving around them. Initially, its customers are primarily in the warehousing and manufacturing industries.

The startup operated in stealth until earlier this year when it and announced it had raised $107 million in Series A and B funding.

鈥楢 new kind of perception鈥�

鈥淧hysical AI will create entirely new categories of robots, and every one of them will need to understand the world around it,鈥� CEO Shpunt told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News via email. 鈥淭hat requires a new kind of perception: precise, real-time understanding of geometry and motion that machines can trust enough to act on. We built Lyte to become the perception foundation for that future.鈥�

Funding in the physical AI space has exploded in recent years. In the first half of 2026, global venture funding in the space totaled $47.4 billion across 521 deals, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. That鈥檚 up dramatically 鈥� almost 4x 鈥� compared to the second half of 2025 when physical AI startups raised $12 billion across 470 deals. It鈥檚 also up significantly 鈥� by nearly 80% 鈥� from the $26.4 billion raised across 436 deals in the first half of 2025.

, managing partner at Maverick Silicon, joined Lyte’s board of directors as part of the funding round.

鈥淟yte is building a foundational sensing platform that enables a wide range of robots to perceive and understand the world around them,鈥� he said in a release. 鈥淭he breadth and diversity of early customer demand strengthen our conviction that Lyte is poised to become one of the defining technology companies of the robotics era.鈥�

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• VCs Pour Billions Into Physical AI As The Next Wave Of AI Investing Takes Shape

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A16z led an $87 million equity investment, with participation from , , , and . And General Catalyst鈥檚 Customer Value Fund committed $113 million in debt to fund 贵茅濒颈虫鈥檚 growth.

Founded in 2020 by and , Miami-based 贵茅濒颈虫 has now raised a total of nearly $300 million. The company did not reveal its valuation after its Series C round, saying only it had 鈥渋ncreased threefold鈥� since its Series B, a $75 million round led by QED Investors in 2025.

贵茅濒颈虫 says it has processed more than $8 billion in transactions to date and grew revenue more than 2.5x in the past year. It connects people in the U.S. with families across 11 Latin American markets including Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras and Peru.

鈥淚 experienced this problem personally,鈥� Godoy said in a statement. 鈥淲hen I came to the U.S., even getting a small loan was harder than it should have been. Traditional financial institutions often start with the product they want you to use. We want to start with the person. You tell 贵茅濒颈虫 what you need, in your own words, and we help you figure out the rest.鈥�

, general partner of , said in a statement that he believes 贵茅濒颈虫 represents 鈥渨hat the future of financial services can look like for millions of Latinos in the United States.鈥�

鈥湽竺┍艟背� has packaged two frontier technologies, AI and blockchain networks, into something simple and consumer-friendly: a better way to send and receive money,鈥� he added.

The company plans to use its new capital to expand its offerings and enter new markets across Latin America.

Overall, fintech startups raised $28.6 billion globally in the first half of 2026, a 22.7% increase from the first half of 2025, but down 17.3% compared to the $34.6 billion raised in the second half of last year, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data.

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• Fintech Funding Surges 23% In H1 2026 As Investors Concentrate Their Bets On AI And Financial Infrastructure

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This story was updated to clarify the company’s valuation.

But startup investors haven鈥檛 abandoned the sector, either, 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows. Instead, they鈥檙e being more selective about their bets and putting more money into companies using AI and other technology to make construction, property operations and real estate transactions faster and less expensive.

That shift shows up in both the year鈥檚 largest funding rounds and biggest acquisitions 鈥� and, notably, much of the biggest funding activity is happening outside the U.S.

The broad trend: Even before the pandemic-fueled funding peaks, proptech startups received more than double the venture funding in 2019 than in more recent years. While investors haven鈥檛 given up on proptech, funding to startups in the space remains down as interest rates hover in the .

In case you forgot, during the COVID-19 pandemic, home buyers and owners had access to 15-year mortgage interest rates as low as 2.5%. Those historically low interest rates fueled investor interest in the space, especially in the U.S.

Today, venture investors are backing startups working in areas such as AI-driven construction, property operations, underwriting and transaction infrastructure with demonstrable ROI. At the same time, more generic real estate software and later-stage companies without exceptional growth face significant funding challenges, our data shows.

And interestingly, four of the five largest deals in 2026 to date took place outside the United States.

The numbers: So far in 2026, global real estate-related startups have pulled in about $8.7 billion in seed- through growth-stage financing, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 . That compares to $24 billion in 2019, the second-highest year on record after the 2021 venture funding spike. It also compares to $12.3 billion raised in 2025. It appears that with four months left in the year, proptech funding is on pace to roughly match or slightly exceed 2025 levels.

Deal count is also down fairly significantly, with 794 deals so far this year. For context, the space saw more than 2,400 deals in 2019. Last year, the sector notched 1,446 transactions. The lower deal count signals both potentially decreased investor interest in the space and larger round sizes.

Noteworthy deals

The three largest deals in the proptech space so far took place in Europe, and two of those top deals involved companies doing work with steel.

Stockholm-based , a green steel startup, landed the largest haul in a private equity deal led by , also of Sweden. In June, the 6-year-old company raised about $1.6 billion in a transaction that made Wallenberg its majority owner.

In August, of Madrid raised $695 million in a venture round led by another Madrid-based company, , for its own green steel plant. The 3-year-old startup raised the money at a $3.1 billion valuation.

And in January, Amsterdam-based , a cloud-native hospitality management system, closed a $300 million Series D funding round at a $2.5 billion valuation. London鈥檚 led the financing for the 14-year-old company.

The only U.S. company to crack the top five when it comes to the largest deals was San Francisco-based autonomous construction tech startup , which raised $270 million in a Series B funding round in February. The financing, co-led by and , brought Bedrock鈥檚 total funding to over $350 million and valued the company at $1.75 billion.

Montreal-based AI-powered digital mortgage startup rounds out the list with a $216 million Series E raised in June at a $1.47 billion valuation.

Exits

There have been some meaningful proptech exits in 2026, although the activity is much stronger in M&A than in IPOs.

The only known significant initial public offering in the space was conducted in January by Columbia, Missouri-based , a construction-equipment rental company with a jobsite technology platform. EquipmentShare raised about $747 million in primary proceeds by pricing 30.5 million shares at $24.50. Including shares sold by existing holders, the offering totaled approximately $859 million.

Real estate-related startup M&A, however, has been robust in 2026 so far, with several of the largest transactions involving brokerage consolidation. Overall, the broad acquisition trend is centered around incumbents buying data, workflow ownership and distribution so they can build credible AI products more quickly.

The largest deal in the proptech space was $3.6 billion cash purchase of , which operated an AI-powered equipment maintenance and asset management platform, announced in May. (MaintainX had seen its valuation jump to $2.5 billion in 2025 after a $150 million Series D raise.)

There were several other large acquisitions.

• In January, completed its acquisition of in an all-stock $1.6 billion transaction that made it 鈥渢he world鈥檚 largest brokerage,鈥� according to .
• Construction tech giant announced in July that it was acquiring , a provider of aerial and ground-based reality-capture software for construction and other industries, for $845 million in cash. In a smaller deal, Procore also picked up construction AI-agent platform .
• Commercial real estate giant in August completed its $800 million cash purchase of , a housing-market data and technology provider for the homebuilding industry.
• And also in August, officially completed its $880 million acquisition of , forming a new parent entity named the Real REMAX Group.

The AI effect

AI is starting to move from the testing stage into everyday use across real estate and construction, according to a from and titled 鈥淧roptech鈥檚 Impact on Real Estate Innovation and Transformation.鈥�

The report says companies are using it to cut costs, make better decisions, and handle routine work more efficiently. Meanwhile, proptech is expanding beyond property-management software into areas such as construction, energy, infrastructure and climate technology.

Overall, proptech funding remains far below its pandemic-era highs, but the types of companies attracting money are evolving. Investors and buyers tend to favor businesses that can show they save customers time or money, particularly in construction, building operations and real estate finance. As such, the proptech sector increasingly includes companies that look quite different from those funded in years past.

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• Sector Snapshot: Real Estate Tech Funding Sees Slight Rebound, But Still Far Lower Than Peak Years
• Steel Startups Forge Ahead With More Funding
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For the past few years, global funding to biotech startups has hovered between $36 billion and $40 billion. Per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, 2026 is on track to stay close to that range.

The numbers don鈥檛 paint an especially bullish picture, even though overall venture investment rose to a record level in the first half of this year. Still, given that much of that largesse went to a couple of generative AI behemoths, biotechs scooped up a respectable share of what was left.

Biggest rounds

A few biotechs picked up some especially large financings. A good share of those were for 鈥� no shocker here 鈥� companies at the intersection of biotech and AI.

So far this year, more than $6 billion has gone to AI-focused biotechs, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data.

The largest round 鈥� and the biggest for any biotech this year 鈥� was a $2.1 billion Series B for London-based , which describes itself as an AI-first drug design and development company.

Delaware-based , which develops AI platforms for developing protein therapeutics, was the second-largest fundraiser, closing on $787 million in March. The next-largest AI-focused fundraise was San Francisco鈥檚 , a startup applying AI to drug discovery, which secured $400 million in Series C this summer at a $3.8 billion valuation.

Of course, not all of this year鈥檚 heavily funded biotechs describe themselves as AI-centric. A case in point is , a longevity startup based in South San Francisco, California, focused on developing medicines to restore youthful function in old cells, that raised $435 million in a June Series C. For a broader view, below we put together a list of 10 of this year鈥檚 most heavily funded global biotechs.

Still an early-stage game, with plenty of exits

But while top-funded biotechs may skew a bit later-stage, that鈥檚 not the case for the overall startup pipeline.

Funding rounds this year are heavily tilted toward seed and early stage, which comprise more than half of all investment and most rounds. This is a pattern we see in prior years as well, as later-stage biotechs often seek to go public after a Series B or Series C financing rather than raise another venture round.

This year, we鈥檝e also seen a fair share of biotechs go public rather early in their lifecycles, particularly for hot areas like obesity therapeutics and pain management.

, a developer of oral and injectable therapies for obesity, was a prominent example. The Waltham, Massachusetts, company, founded in 2024, went public in April, six months after closing its Series B.

Personalized medicine startup followed a similar trajectory, making its debut in June after raising more than $550 million in early-stage funding the prior year. And , a developer of non-opioid therapies for chronic pain, completed its IPO in August, about a year-and-a-half after its Series B.

Later-stage biotechs also didn鈥檛 sit out the IPO parade. The year’s largest biotech offering, for example, was 10-year-old , focused on cancer therapeutics, which raised its Series F in January.

Biotech startups also delivered some big M&A exits. Per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, at least 12 funded companies sold in transactions valued at $1 billion or more, including potential milestone payments. They are listed below.

Healthy outlook

Overall, 小蓝视频色情网页版 data shows biotech funding and exits holding up at healthy levels this year. True, conditions look pretty tame compared to the exuberance of the AI investment blitz. As funding at the intersection of AI and biotech continues to accumulate, however, we might see more of that enthusiasm spilling over in coming quarters.

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 小蓝视频色情网页版 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Aug. 22-28. Although most announced rounds are in the database, there may be a small time lag, as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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So far this year, a record $20.3 billion in global seed- through growth-stage funding has gone to companies in space- and satellite-related sectors, per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. That鈥檚 already by far the highest annual tally on record, and we鈥檝e still got four months left in 2026.

Excitement extends beyond obvious markers like a behemoth IPO. The latest quarterly from venture investor declares that 鈥渢he space economy has entered a new era,鈥� and that 鈥渃apital is flowing at unprecedented scale,鈥� with scant indication of a near-term pullback.

It鈥檚 a global phenomenon as well, with the United States, China and Europe accounting for the overwhelming majority of funding. So far this year, U.S. startups pulled in around $12.7 billion, more than 60% of global space tech funding. Just over 20% of funding went to China-based companies, while Europe pulled in about 10%.

Top fundraisers

Funding looks robust, but, as usual, the larger rounds cluster at later stages.

This is true for 2026 fundraising leaders. The top-ranked investment recipient, , pulled in $5 billion in a May Series H. (Anduril is a diversified defense technology company rather than a pure-play space tech company, but it includes space and satellites among its focus areas.)

Shanghai-based , also referred to as SpaceSail, which is developing a low-Earth orbit satellite internet constellation to rival , was another prodigious fundraiser, pulling in a $1 billion round in August.

, a Torrance, California-based developer of large, high-powered satellites, also picked up a big round, securing $500 million in Series D funding in July.

For a broader view, below we put together a list of nine of this year鈥檚 largest space tech funding round recipients.

Exits rising

Needless to say, space tech investors aren鈥檛 just deploying capital 鈥� they鈥檙e also seeing eye-popping exit returns.

SpaceX set an initial valuation of nearly $1.8 trillion for its June IPO 鈥� the largest by far of any public offering to date 鈥� and raised over $80 billion in the process. Shares of the rocket developer, launch provider, Starlink operator and AI hyperscaler have fluctuated since then, but recently hovered near the initial offer price.

Of course, no other company operating in the space tech sector will come close to that. Leaving that aside, however, we did see some offerings and acquisitions that were significant by most other comps.

One example was , a private equity-backed space and defense tech company, which went public in January at a valuation of over $4 billion. Its stock has fallen sharply since then, however, indicating that a space tech focus alone is not enough to keep shares aloft.

More recently, , operator of a satellite constellation that sells signals intelligence to defense and government customers, went public in May. Its shares are also down some from their first-day closing price.

Startup M&A deals are also happening. York Space Systems announced this year that it is acquiring , a provider of satellite communications terminals, in a $355 million deal. It acquired two other venture-backed companies this year for undisclosed sums: , a developer of satellite propulsion systems, and , focused on solar energy for space.

Another recent market entrant, , also made a significant acquisition, picking up , a developer of lunar landers and rovers, for $300 million in June.

Risks and rewards

Of course, even the most sunnily optimistic startup investors don’t expect space tech valuations to always move up and to the right. It鈥檚 a notoriously risk-prone sector, and even the sector鈥檚 high-valuation market newcomer, SpaceX, has suffered its share of rocket failures and other high-profile disappointments.

That said, startup backers clearly believe space tech rewards outweigh the risks. We鈥檒l see in coming quarters if that still holds true.

Correction: The 2025 dollar amount in the chart was updated.

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