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The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: xAI Leads As 2026 Is Off To A Brisk Start

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Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2026 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The СÀ¶ÊÓÆµÉ«ÇéÍøÒ³°æ Megadeals Board.

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

After a big year for venture investment, fueled by the AI boom, 2026 is not showing signs of a slowdown. Quite the contrary, with the first full week of the year bringing us a whopping $20 billion new funding round for ’s . We also counted multiple rounds of over $100 million that look minuscule by comparison but are actually very large by traditional venture standards.

1.Ìý, $20B, generative AI: Musk’s xAI, the generative AI startup known for its Grok chatbot and the parent company of (formerly Twitter), it secured $20 billion in Series E funding from a long list of venture and strategic investors. Founded in 2023, xAI has raised $42.7 billion in reported debt and equity funding to date, per СÀ¶ÊÓÆµÉ«ÇéÍøÒ³°æ data.

2.Ìý, $305M, precision medicines: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Parabilis Medicines Ìýit raised $305 million in a Series F financing co-led by , Ìý²¹²Ô»å . The financing will support continued clinical development of its peptide platform for cancer therapeutics.

3.Ìý, $200M, biotech: Soley Therapeutics, developer of a cell stress sensing platform and a pipeline of therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders and metabolic diseases, closed on $200 million in Series C funding. led the financing for the South San Francisco, California-based company.

4.Ìý, $150M, AI: San Francisco-based LMArena, a platform for evaluating AI models and systems, picked up $150 million in fresh funding. Ìý1 and led the financing, which set a $1.7 billion post-money valuation, nearly triple the value at its seed round in mid-2025.

5.Ìý, $125M, biotech: Diagonal Therapeutics, a biotech developing disease-modifying clustering antibodies that correct dysregulated signaling in severe genetic diseases, raised $125 million in Series B funding. and led the financing for the Watertown, Massachusetts-based company.Ìý

6 (tied). , $107M, physical world AI: Mountain View, California-based Lyte, a startup focused on integrated perception for robotics and AI, emerged from stealth this week and it has raised $107 million in aggregate funding. The company says its mission is to “give robots the ability to see, understand, and operate safely in the physical world.�

6 (tied). , $107M, biotech: EpiBiologics, a company working on tissue-selective extracellular protein degradation, it completed a $107 million Series B financing. and co-led the round for the San Mateo, California-based company.

8 (tied). , $100M, advanced materials: El Segundo, California-based Cambium, a startup developing advanced materials for defense, aerospace, and other sectors, $100 million in a Series B round led by 2.Ìý

8 (tied). , $100M, cancer therapeutics: Rakuten Medical, a San Diego-based startup focused on photoimmunotherapy for cancer treatment, raised $100 million in Series F financing led by . The company is currently enrolling patients into its global Phase 3 trial for recurrent head and neck cancer.

10.Ìý, $92M, virtual care: Pomelo Care, a virtual healthcare provider for women and children, raised $92 million in a Series C funding led by . The financing set a $1.7 billion valuation for the New York-based company.Ìý

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the СÀ¶ÊÓÆµÉ«ÇéÍøÒ³°æ database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Jan. 3-9. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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  1. Felicis Ventures is an investor in СÀ¶ÊÓÆµÉ«ÇéÍøÒ³°æ. They have no say in our editorial process. For more, head here.↩

  2. 8VC is an investor in СÀ¶ÊÓÆµÉ«ÇéÍøÒ³°æ. They have no say in our editorial process. For more, head here.↩

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