Funding rounds, founders, and what the Valley is betting on next.
96 stories · page 4 of 4
Investment in U.S. and Canadian startups reached an unprecedented $392 billion in the first half of 2026, driven primarily by AI sector enthusiasm and record deal volumes.
Even Realities, founded by ex-Apple talent, secured $150 million from Meituan and Tencent, reaching a $1 billion valuation for its camera-free smart glasses technology.
Finnish quantum startup IQM's Nasdaq listing marks a milestone as Europe's first public quantum company, yet the sector's commercial viability remains unclear.
Recent U.S. startup funding highlights a $1.75 billion strategic round for Houston-based energy startup Joulent, underscoring energy and AI as dominant sectors attracting large capital.
Investors committed over $200 billion in Q2 2026 alone, marking the second-largest quarter ever, with AI fueling record funding and exit activity worldwide.
AI chipmaker Etched has reached a $5 billion valuation after securing $1 billion in contracts for its inference systems, signaling a significant challenge to Nvidia's dominance.
Chamath Palihapitiya’s new AI coding startup secured $135 million in Series A funding, signaling strong investor confidence and his direct operational commitment.
Q2 2026 marks a resurgence in billion-dollar startup exits, with the largest venture-backed exit ever and multiple sizable deals signaling renewed market momentum.
Asian AI startups are introducing advanced models comparable to Mythos, capitalizing on restrictions from U.S. export bans and threatening American dominance in a critical market.
General Intuition raised $320 million at a $2.3 billion valuation to scale AI development using extensive video game gameplay data, aiming for more human-like intuition in AI agents.
Venture capital firm Menlo Ventures has closed two new funds totaling $3 billion, marking its largest capital raise to date, with a clear mandate to invest across all stages of AI startups.
AI chipmaker Groq has closed a $650 million funding round to expand its proprietary inference cloud, restructuring its executive suite following highly aggressive talent poaching from market leader Nvidia.
AI infrastructure startup Baseten is reportedly finalizing a massive $1.5 billion funding round at a $13 billion valuation, highlighting the intense capital demands of model deployment.
AI world-model developer Odyssey has secured a $310 million funding round backed by Amazon, signaling a capital-intensive shift from text-based models to physical-world simulation.
US-based AI startups have captured a staggering 80% of global seed-through-growth stage financing in 2026, marking a significant divergence from historical investment patterns and raising questions about global innovation equity.
Indian AI startup Sarvam has secured $234 million, reaching unicorn valuation, with HCLTech leading a significant corporate investment, signaling growing enterprise interest in localized AI development.
SpaceX's record-setting IPO, concluding with a 19% share surge on its debut, redefines the exit landscape for venture-backed companies. This event validates over two decades and $12 billion in private investment, setting new benchmarks for patient capital.
Base10 Partners has closed two new funds totaling $850 million, earmarking substantial capital for automation across "real economy" sectors. This significant capital raise signals continued venture confidence in tangible, industrial applications over speculative tech.
Mercor CEO Brendan Foody has publicly accused Sequoia Capital of employing 'dual-pricing' tactics in equity sales, a practice that could inflate valuations and distort cap table transparency. The allegations challenge standard venture capital practices, prompting scrutiny of inve
Open-source database startup Supabase has doubled its valuation to $10 billion in just eight months, riding a wave of AI-assisted software development that is drastically accelerating developer adoption.
Cybersecurity startup Cyera is reportedly negotiating a $300 million funding round that values the company at $12 billion, defying current market sobriety with an 80x ARR multiple.
Mach Industries has secured a massive $300 million funding round, quadrupling its valuation in a year as venture capitalists aggressively underwrite capital-intensive military hardware.
Enterprise startup Corgi has secured a $106 million funding injection that doubles its valuation to $2.6 billion, raising serious questions about insider-driven cap table markups.
The company is building open-source-based switching infrastructure specifically for AI data centers. The size of the round signals that the network layer is now a standalone bet — not a feature of GPUs, not a feature of clouds.