Exclusive: Xpanner Lands $18M To Offer ‘Automation As A Service’ To Construction Sites
Xpanner, a Santa Fe Springs startup that retrofits construction equipment with its X1 Kit, closed an $18 million Series B bridge round led by Korea Investment Partners. The funding lifts total capital to $38 million and will accelerate development of its next‑generation physical‑AI platform. Revenue has surged from $3 million in 2023 to $21 million in 2025, with the company posting $8 million in Q1 2026 and targeting $60 million ARR by year‑end. Xpanner’s subscription‑based Automation‑as‑a‑Service model delivers gross margins above 80% and positions it for full‑year profitability in 2026.
Anduril Raises Another $5B As Defense Tech Startups Shatter Funding Records
Anduril Industries announced a $5 billion Series H round, pushing its valuation to $61 billion—double the level a year ago. The funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital, brings Anduril's total capital raised to $11.4 billion. The raise coincides with a $20 billion,...
Exclusive: Physician-Founded Saile Raises $2.2M To Help Doctors Find Side Jobs Using AI
Physician‑founded Saile has closed a $2.2 million pre‑seed round led by Matchstick Ventures, with participation from Headwater Ventures. The New York‑based startup offers an AI‑driven platform that centralizes doctors’ credentials, provides expiration alerts, and hosts a shift marketplace, effectively acting as...
European AI Funding Is Growing. Will That Boost The Region’s Startup Scene?
European venture capital is now half AI‑focused in 2026, with frontier model firms and supporting hardware startups attracting the bulk of capital. Quarterly funding surged 33% year‑over‑year, topping $17 billion in both Q4 2025 and Q1 2026. New AI labs in...
Sector Snapshot: Sales And Marketing Gets An AI Makeover
Venture funding for sales, marketing and CRM startups has steadied around $8 billion annually, far below the $20 billion peak of 2021‑22. AI‑centric companies now dominate the share, pulling in $3.7 billion in 2026 so far. Notable deals include Sierra’s $950 million round at...
Exclusive: Fazeshift Scores $17M As Investors Bet On AI-Powered Finance Ops, Starting With Accounts Receivable
San Francisco‑based Fazeshift raised $17 million in a Series A led by F‑Prime Capital, bringing its total funding to $22 million since its 2023 launch. The startup’s AI agents sit atop existing ERP, CRM and banking systems to automate more than 90 % of...
From Credit Cards To An AI Concierge: How Amex Ventures Backs Startups Building Autonomous Commerce
American Express is pivoting from a luxury credit‑card issuer to a "global agentic concierge" that can autonomously manage everything from dining reservations to complex travel. To fuel this vision, its corporate venture arm, Amex Ventures, is backing AI‑driven startups that...
Blitzy Raises $200M At $1.4B Valuation For Autonomous Software Development
Blitzy, a Cambridge‑based autonomous software development startup, announced a $200 million Series C led by Northzone, pushing total capital to $204.4 million and valuing the company at $1.4 billion. The platform claims to automate months of coding, testing and validation, delivering up to five‑fold...
The No. 1 Reason M&A Deals Fail Before They Even Start
A founder of a four‑year‑old AI startup with early revenue is seeking an exit above its $40 million valuation, but the author warns that most deals fail when expectations diverge from M&A realities. Recent high‑profile AI licensing and talent acquisitions by...
Billion-Dollar AI Rounds Push April To Third-Highest Startup Funding Month In A Year
Global venture capital reached $56 billion in April, doubling year‑over‑year and marking the third‑largest month in the past year. AI dominated the market with $37 billion in funding, 66% of total venture dollars, driven by Anthropic’s $15 billion and Jeff Bezos’s Project Prometheus...
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Defense Tech Leads With Multiple Large Deals, Topped By $600M For Space Security Startup...
The weekly roundup highlights the ten largest U.S. venture rounds of April 25‑May 1, 2025, with defense technology leading the pack. Colorado‑based True Anomaly closed a $600 million Series D, pushing its total capital to $1.1 billion for space‑security and in‑orbit defense systems. AI‑driven firms...
Swedish Legal Tech Startup Legora Lands Another $50M In Nvidia-Led Series D Extension
Legora, a Swedish AI platform for lawyers, raised an extra $50 million in a Series D extension led by Nvidia’s NVentures, bringing the round’s total to $600 million and lifting its valuation to about $5.5 billion. The raise follows a March close that valued...
Get To Know The Latest Class Of Ultra-Fast Fundraising Unicorns
Since 2024, 207 AI‑focused startups have joined Crunchbase’s unicorn list, representing roughly half of all new billion‑dollar companies. Over a third secured ten‑figure valuations at seed or early stages, and 45 of them now exceed $5 billion, with some like Nscale...
Exclusive: Supabase Execs Were So Impressed With Dreambase, They Became Investors In Its $3.7M Round
Dreambase, an Austin AI‑analytics startup, closed a $3.7 million seed round led by Felicis Ventures, with three Supabase executives joining as angel investors. The company offers AI‑native data agents that instantly create dashboards and insights from Supabase‑hosted PostgreSQL databases. By positioning...
Seed Funding Is Bigger Than Ever — And Harder To Get
Seed funding in the United States is expanding in dollar terms, but the landscape is polarizing. In 2025, more than half of all seed capital was allocated to deals of $10 million or larger, while the total number of seed rounds...
NEA’s Tiffany Luck On How Startup Founders Can Build Moats In Vertical AI
Tiffany Luck, partner at New Enterprise Associates, argues that the next wave of AI value will come from vertical, application‑layer solutions that handle the "last mile" of enterprise workflows. She warns that generic foundation models like Claude or OpenAI’s offerings...
The IPO Pipeline Finally Gets Interesting
Venture‑backed startups are flooding the public markets, with Cerebras Systems filing an S‑1 to raise about $2 billion at a $35 billion valuation, the largest semiconductor IPO ever. Nuclear‑power pioneer X‑energy priced its shares at $23, pulling in roughly $1 billion, while geothermal...
Exclusive: Cloneable Raises $4.6M To ‘Clone’ Expert Worker Knowledge With Agentic AI For Utilities And Infrastructure
Cloneable, a Raleigh‑based AI startup, announced a $4.6 million seed round led by Congruent Ventures, bringing its total funding to $5.35 million since its 2023 launch. The company’s agentic AI platform watches experts in utilities and other infrastructure‑heavy sectors, then creates autonomous...
Sector Snapshot: EV Funding On Track For Modest Gains
Electric vehicle sales surged 20% in 2025, reaching 21 million units, but growth is slowing amid price pressure and policy shifts. Funding for EV‑related startups in 2026 totals about $3.6 billion across roughly 50 rounds, a modest rise from last year yet...
A Better Way To Fail: How This Platform Aims To Turn Startup Shutdowns Into Something Salvageable
SimpleClosure, a Los Angeles‑based platform founded in 2023, raised just over $20 million to automate and simplify startup shutdowns. The company has launched Asset Hub, a marketplace where founders can sell or transfer source code, workplace data, domain names and physical...
What The Record Venture Funding Quarter Actually Means For Your Startup’s Fundraise
Crunchbase reported a record $300 billion poured into startups in Q1 2026, with four mega‑unicorns accounting for 65% of the total. Despite the headline concentration, early‑stage funding jumped 41% year‑over‑year and AI/ML deal count rose to 6,678 in 2025. Redpoint’s data shows...
Exclusive: Schematic Raises $6.5M To Help Companies Update Their Pricing Faster And Easier In The AI Era
Schematic, a Boulder‑based startup that decouples pricing and entitlement logic from code, closed a $6.5 million seed round led by S3 Ventures, bringing its total funding to $12 million. The company’s platform lets SaaS and AI firms adjust plans, discounts and usage...
The New Unicorn Count Reached A 4-Year High In March, Led By Robotics, Frontier Labs And AI Infrastructure
Crunchbase reported that March saw 37 companies join its Unicorn Board, the highest monthly total in nearly four years. Robotics led the surge with six new billion‑dollar startups, followed by frontier labs, AI infrastructure and fintech each adding four. Twenty...
Lilly Acquiring Kelonia In Largest Funded Biotech Startup Purchase In Years
Eli Lilly announced it will acquire Kelonia Therapeutics for up to $7 billion, marking the largest venture‑backed biotech purchase in years. The deal consists of $3.25 billion paid upfront with an additional $3.75 billion tied to clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones. Kelonia, founded only...
Cybersecurity Funding Holds Up At Robust Levels
Cybersecurity venture funding remained robust in Q1 2026, with investors deploying $4.9 billion globally—only a slight sequential dip but well above the prior year. Round count stayed near 200, including 13 mega‑rounds of $100 million or more. The largest deal was Cloaked’s...
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Transportation And Biotech Take The Lead
Transportation and biotech dominated this week’s U.S. startup funding roundup, highlighted by Slate Auto’s $650 million Series C for low‑cost electric pickups. Boston‑based Beeline Medicines emerged from stealth with a $300 million Series A to develop precision autoimmune therapies. Other notable deals include $170 million...
Sector Snapshot: Autonomous Vehicle Funding More Than Triples In 2026 To Hit Record Amount
Funding for autonomous‑vehicle startups exploded in 2026, topping $21.4 billion across 34 deals—more than triple the total raised in 2025. The surge was driven by three megadeals: Waymo’s $16 billion Series D, Shield AI’s $2 billion Series G, and Wayve’s $1.3 billion Series D. Investors are concentrating...
Exclusive: GetWhys Raises $5.2M To Help Companies Like Intel And Verizon Better Understand Their Customers
GetWhys, an AI‑driven customer intelligence platform, closed a $5.2 million seed‑II round, bringing total capital raised to roughly $8 million. The round was led by Epic Ventures with participation from CEAS Investments, Portland Seed Fund and existing backers. The Boise‑based startup leverages...
Exclusive: Repeat Founders Raise $20M For Spektr, A Fintech Compliance Startup, In NEA-Led Series A
Copenhagen‑based Spektr, a compliance‑automation platform, announced a $20 million Series A round led by New Enterprise Associates, bringing its total capital to just under $26 million. The startup leverages AI agents to execute document review, ownership mapping and risk analysis, moving beyond traditional...
I Sold My Startup A Year After Founding It. Here’s Why That Was The Fastest Way To Build Real-World Healthcare...
Louis Blankemeier co‑founded Cognita to turn Stanford‑level radiology AI into a clinical product. Within a year, the team sold the startup to Radiology Partners, the world’s largest radiology practice, to gain scale, data access, and regulatory pathways. The acquisition enables...
China Leads Asia’s Startup Funding To Its Highest Level In More Than 3 Years
Asia’s venture capital market rebounded in Q1 2026, with investors deploying $27.4 bn across seed to growth stages—a 20% rise from the previous quarter and nearly double year‑over‑year. China led the surge, accounting for $16.5 bn (60% of the region’s total) driven...
Fintech Startups Globally Raise More Money In Far Fewer Deals In Q1 2026
Global venture capital poured $12 billion into fintech startups in Q1 2026, but the number of deals fell 31.5% to 751, indicating larger checks per transaction. Late‑stage and growth rounds surged to $6.9 billion, an 8% year‑over‑year rise, even as total funding slipped...
5 Interesting Startup Deals You May Have Missed: A Credit Card Backed By Mineral Rights, Flying Ferries, And A Foundation...
The latest Crunchbase roundup highlights five under‑the‑radar startup deals: Dallas fintech Frontlands secured a $50 million debt facility to launch a credit card backed by mineral‑rights assets; Swedish vessel maker Candela raised €30 million (≈$32 million) to scale its hydrofoil electric ferries; Philadelphia‑based...
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Largest Financings Went To Defense, Wearables, Energy And Security
The week’s top U.S. funding rounds featured a $1.75 billion Series D for autonomous‑vessel startup Saronic, pushing its valuation to $9.25 billion. Wearable fitness leader Whoop secured $575 million at a $10.1 billion valuation, while nuclear‑energy pioneer Valar Atomics raised $450 million, valuing it at $2 billion....
Just Because We Can: The Strategic Risks Of Automating Everything
The article warns that the rush to automate every task with agentic AI creates hidden operational, economic, and environmental risks. It illustrates how a simple voice command relies on multiple cloud services, turning a trivial action into a potential point...
Exclusive: Miravoice, Builder Of An AI ‘Interviewer’ To Conduct Phone Surveys, Raises $6.3M
Miravoice, a California startup, announced a $6.3 million seed round led by Unusual Ventures, with participation from Neo, 25madison and angels from Ramp, PubMatic, Atlassian and Google. The company’s AI‑powered voice interviewer can run long‑form phone surveys—over 120 questions and 40 minutes—across...
Exclusive: Anvil Robotics Raises $5.5M to Build ‘Legos for Robots’ Platform For Physical AI Teams
Anvil Robotics, an eight‑month‑old San Francisco startup, announced a $5.5 million seed round led by Matter Venture Partners. The company offers a modular, open‑source robotics platform—dubbed “Legos for robots”—that lets physical AI teams assemble custom robots for $1,900 to $10,000 and...
Q1 2026 Shatters Venture Funding Records As AI Boom Pushes Startup Investment To $300B
Venture capital investment exploded in Q1 2026, reaching a record $300 billion across 6,000 startups, driven largely by AI and frontier labs. AI‑focused companies alone captured $242 billion, 80% of the total, with OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and Waymo accounting for $188 billion of that...
Exclusive: YC Doubles Down On Trayd, A Construction Tech Startup That Just Raised $10M In 3 Weeks
Trayd, a New York‑based construction‑tech startup, closed a $10 million Series A led by White Star Capital, bringing its total financing to $17 million. The SaaS platform automates payroll, HR, compliance and labor‑cost tracking for specialty trade contractors, shrinking a 14‑hour manual process...
Exclusive: Candex Extends Series C To $40M+ To Help Enterprises Easily Onboard Global Vendors
Candex has extended its Series C round to $40 million, bringing total funding above $120 million, with HSBC joining as an investor. The New York fintech acts as a master vendor, allowing large enterprises to pay one‑off or irregular suppliers without separate onboarding,...
Small And Mid-Sized Startup Purchases Are Still Well Below The 2021 Peak
U.S. startup acquisitions priced under $300 million generated roughly $8.7 billion in 2023, still well below the peaks seen a decade ago. The total value of $100‑$300 million deals remains lower than historic levels, while a single mega‑deal like Google’s $32 billion purchase dwarfs...
5 Interesting Startup Deals You May Have Missed: Blood-Drawing Robots, Inboxes For AI Agents, Franchised Defense Manufacturing, And More
February set a venture‑funding record, yet a slice of capital flowed to lesser‑known startups. Dutch Vitestro secured $70 million Series B to commercialize autonomous phlebotomy robots, aiming for U.S. regulatory clearance and hospital rollout. London‑based Isembard raised $50 million Series A to launch a...
From Hype To Outcomes: How VCs Recalibrate Around Agentic AI
The conversation around agentic AI is moving from speculative ambition to concrete outcomes as 2026 approaches. Snowflake's Startup 2026 report, based on interviews with eight AI‑focused VCs, shows investors now value agents that are embedded in specific, data‑rich workflows and...
Exclusive: Rebar Lands $14M To Help HVAC Suppliers Generate Quotes Faster With AI
Rebar, a New York‑based AI operating system for commercial HVAC suppliers, closed a $14 million Series A round led by Prudence. The startup’s computer‑vision models parse construction blueprints to generate bills of materials and quotes up to 70 percent faster than traditional methods....
Will Features Even Exist? How AI Is Forcing SaaS To Rethink The Product Itself
A mid‑size SaaS vendor’s top customer is now considering using AI coding tools to build a needed workflow rather than waiting for a traditional feature release. This reflects a broader industry shift where AI‑generated code can deliver narrow, customized functionality...
Exclusive: Founded By 2 Brothers In Their 20s, YC-Backed Denki Raises $4.1M To Automate Financial Audits
Denki, a YC‑backed AI startup founded by two brothers, raised $4.1 million to automate financial audits for public companies. The funding, led by Base10 Partners and Shine Capital, comes as fintech AI investment surged 27 % in 2025. Denki’s platform replaces manual,...
Active Investors Spent More On Fewer Deals In February
Active venture investors concentrated capital on a handful of mega‑deals in February, with generative‑AI heavyweights dominating the landscape. OpenAI secured a record‑breaking $110 billion round, the largest startup financing ever, while overall deal count remained flat. Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz and...
Intersection Of Biosecurity And AI Sees Seed-Stage Spike
Seed‑stage investors are betting on the convergence of artificial intelligence and biosecurity, with two startups raising sizable early rounds. Valthos closed a $30 million seed round and Red Queen Bio secured $15 million, both counting OpenAI among investors. A nonprofit, SecureBio, also...
How This GV Investor Looks For The Next Stripe And Other ‘Compounding’ Startups In Fintech And AI
Elena Sakach, partner at GV, leverages her fintech background to back growth‑stage, “compounding” startups such as Stripe, Ramp and emerging AI‑driven firms. She emphasizes that successful fintechs build trust‑based relationships, expansion economics, and core infrastructure roles, while AI is reshaping...
Exclusive: Ownwell Lands $30M To Help Homeowners Lower Their Property Tax Bills
Ownwell, an AI‑driven property‑tax appeal startup, closed a $50 million Series B round—$30 million in equity and $20 million in debt—bringing its total equity funding to $54 million since 2020. The company now serves over 500,000 residential and commercial owners across 12 states, having processed...