Funding rounds, founders, and what the Valley is betting on next.
82 stories · page 3 of 4
Applied Computing is building a comprehensive AI model designed to optimize operations across entire oil, gas, and petrochemical plants, aiming to transform industrial efficiency.
Munich-based Microagi has secured $55 million to expand its cutting-edge robotics platform aimed at transforming industrial automation workflows.
Former OpenAI researcher Miles Wang is developing an AI-powered drug discovery platform targeting accelerated breakthroughs in medicine.
Pinwheel introduces a retro-inspired landline phone designed to provide children a safe, focused way to stay connected without smartphone distractions.
Paris-based AI voice startup Gradium secured $100 million in seed funding to accelerate development and establish a Bay Area presence, aiming to compete in the leading AI ecosystem.
Yosemite, led by Reed Jobs, has grown its biotech team and is advancing new cancer therapies as key drugs face patent expirations.
QuantumDiamonds, a German startup backed by the European Chips Act, is advancing a novel chip inspection technology aimed at speeding semiconductor manufacturing.
Lyzr deployed its proprietary AI agent to autonomously manage and execute a $100 million fundraising round, showcasing the practical maturity of AI agents for enterprise use.
French AI startup ZML has introduced ZML/LLMD, a free product designed to optimize and speed up AI inference workloads on multiple hardware platforms.
Norm's $120 million Series C led by Khosla Ventures marks a significant valuation milestone in AI-driven legal services, signaling investor confidence in legaltech scalability.
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.