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.

Startup investors kept up the busy dealmaking pace this week with a number of big rounds. Top among them was a $1.75 billion Series D for , developer of autonomous vessels. Other big funding recipients hailed from sectors including fitness wearables, energy tech, cybersecurity and AI infrastructure, among others.

1. , $1.75B, autonomous ships: Austin-based Saronic, a defense tech startup focused on autonomous sea vessels, raised $1.75 billion in Series D funding, bringing total funding to around $2.6 billion. led the round, which set a $9.25 billion valuation for the听 company, more than double its Series C level in 2025.

2. , $575M, fitness wearables: Whoop, a provider of wearable fitness technology and a subscription platform that tracks physiological data, secured $575 million in Series G funding. led the financing,which set a $10.1 billion valuation for the Boston-based company.

3. , $450M, nuclear energy: El Segundo, California-based nuclear energy startup Valar Atomics, raised fresh capital at a valuation of $2 billion, according to a citing unnamed sources. The financing reportedly included $340 million in equity funding and $110 million in debt.

4. , $300M, battery technology: EnerVenue, a developer of grid-scale energy storage technology, says it closed on a $300 million extension of its Series B preferred round led by . The Fremont, California-based company also appointed a new chief executive officer, Henning Rath.

5. , $250M, cybersecurity: Sarasota, Florida-based AI-enabled cybersecurity startup Tenex picked up $250 million in Series B funding led by . The company said it plans to use the funds to hire more than 250 people and supplying them with AI technology that makes them 鈥渢en times more efficient.鈥�

6. , $200M, micromobility: Also, an electric mobility company spun out of , raised $200 million in a Series C round 鈥媌acked by , , and . The Palo Alto, California-based startup鈥檚 product lineup includes bikes, small autonomous EVs for deliveries, and associated gear.

7. , $170M, space tech: Starcloud, a space infrastructure startup focused on building orbital data centers, secured $170 million in Series A funding led by and . The financing sets a $1.1 billion valuation for the Redmond, Washington-based company, making it the fastest alum to achieve unicorn status after demo day, which was 17 months ago.

8. , $130M, cloud infrastructure: New York-based cloud and AI infrastructure startup ScaleOps landed $130 million in Series C funding. led the financing, which set听 a valuation of over $800 million for the 4-year-old company.

9. , $100M, biotech: Boulder, Colorado-based Ambrosia Biosciences, a developer of next-generation oral therapeutics for obesity and related cardiometabolic diseases, picked up $100 million in Series B funding led by , and .

10. , $94M, money transfer: OpenFX, provider of a platform to move money across borders, secured $94 million in Series A funding from backers including , , , and .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 附近上门 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of March 28-April 3. 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.

Illustration:

A total of 27 companies joined the 附近上门 last month, including six robotics companies and four semiconductor-related startups. Healthcare minted three new unicorns, while foundation AI, cloud services, aerospace and financial services each accounted for two companies that joined.

The U.S. once again dominated, with 19 companies joining the board. China tallied four new unicorns, the U.K. contributed two, and India and Germany each added one new unicorn.

Soaring valuations

Overall unicorn values soared in February as raised $110 billion at a value of $840 billion, making it the most highly valued private company of all time. Its closest rival, , raised $30 billion at a valuation of $380 billion, making it the fourth-largest valued company on the list. , the autonomous driving technology company, was valued at $126 billion, positioning it among the top 10 most highly valued private companies.

February鈥檚 new unicorns

Here are February鈥檚 newly minted unicorns.

Robotics

• , a solution for automating building equipment for autonomous construction, raised a $270 million Series B led by and . The 1-year-old company, based in San Francisco, was valued at $1.8 billion.
• Beijing-based , a physical intelligence foundation model and humanoid robotics company, raised a $290 million Series A led by and . The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• , a builder of intelligent robots for industrial and service industries, raised a $145 million Series B round. The 2-year-old Beijing-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• Humanoid robotics company raised a $145 million Series B led by . The 2-year-old China-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• , a testing and control software layer for aerospace, defense, robotics and industry, raised a $150 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old Los Angeles-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a company that transforms 5G and Wi-Fi into spatial awareness for connective devices, an underlying layer necessary for physical AI, raised a $100 million Series B from well-known investors , , , and . The 9-year-old Belmont, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Semiconductor

• China-based , developer of a chip for advanced autonomous driving, raised a $330 million Series A led by and . The company, which is less than a year old and spun out of automaker , was valued at $1.5 billion.
• London-based , a photonic chip company for more efficient AI inference, raised a $220 million Series A led by . The 2-year-old company, valued at $1 billion, has plans to ship its first product in 2027.
• Reno, Nevada-based , builder of memory chips for AI, raised a $230 million Series B led by , and . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a chip developer for AI training, raised a $500 million Series B led by and . The 3-year-old company, based in Mountain View, California, was valued at $1 billion. It plans to ship its first product in 2027.

Healthcare

• New York-based , a platform that helps employers and employees source the best doctors with improved costs, raised a $118 million Series D led by . The 7-year-old company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• Palo Alto, California-based , a women’s telehealth provider, raised a $100 million Series D led by . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a Redwood City, California-based digital platform that helps medicare customers connect with advocates to navigate healthcare, raised a $130 million Series C led by . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Cloud services

• , a cloud platform for application development teams, raised a $100 million Series C led by . The 8-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Mumbai-based , a cloud service GPU provider, raised a $600 million round led by . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1.4 billion.

Foundational AI

• , builder of an AI model to analyze large databases, raised a $225 million Series A led by . The company also says it has signed a partnership agreement with ‘s to offer the model to its customers. The 2-year-old, San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• , a model developer to debug and understand AI, raised a $150 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Aerospace

• , a space-based communications infrastructure player to support commercial satellite and government missions, raised a $100 million Series B led by and. The 4-year-old Livermore, California-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• , an aviation hardware and software company for automated flights, raised a $300 million Series C led by and . The 10-year-old El Segundo, California-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Financial services

• London-based , a U.K.-based digital bank for small and medium-sized businesses, raised a $155 million Series D led by , and . The 8-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• , an agentic platform for accountants, raised a $100 million Series B led by , and . The 3-year-old company, based in New York, was valued at $1.2 billion.

E-commerce

• Brooklyn-based , a marketplace for creators to sell digital products, raised a $200 million round led by . The 5-year-old company was valued at $1.6 billion.

Coding

• , a Boston-based code translation service for legacy code, raised a $125 million Series B led by 1. The round valued the 2-year-old company at $1.3 billion.

Defense

• Berlin-based , a developer of strike drones and autonomous defense systems, raised an undisclosed sum in a round led by that valued the 1-year-old company at $1.2 billion.

Forecasting

• Boston-based , an AI-native weather satellite constellation, raised a $175 million Series F led by and . The 9-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Sales & marketing

• New York-based , a brand marketing platform geared for AI search, raised a $96 million Series C led by that valued the 1-year-old company at $1 billion.

Web3

• , a blockchain intelligence platform to detect crime networks, raised a $70 million Series C led by . The raise valued the 8-year-old company, based in San Francisco, at $1 billion.

Related 附近上门 unicorn lists:

• (1,703)
• (604)
• (65)
• (187)
• (115)
• (102)
• (878)
• (500)
• (228)
• (38)
• (471)

Related reading:

• Massive AI Deals Drive $189B Startup Funding Record In February While Public Software Stocks Reel
• 附近上门 Data: The AI Boom Has Drastically Changed Who鈥檚 Funding The Hottest Companies In 2025 Vs. 2021
• January Delivers Highest New Unicorn Count In More Than 3 Years

Methodology

The 附近上门 附近上门 is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on 附近上门 data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations 鈥� such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options 鈥� as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 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 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

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.

This week鈥檚 largest U.S. funding rounds once again featured an AI-heavy cohort, along with sizable financings around fintech and energy tech. By far the largest deal was a $1 billion financing for , developer of AI models that interact with the 3D world, followed by a $385 million round for savings platform .

1. , $1B, spatial AI: San Francisco-based World Labs, a startup founded by AI pioneer that develops foundational models to generate and interact with the 3D world, raised $1 billion in fresh funding. Investors in the round include , , , , and .

2. , $385M, fintech: Vestwell, an online provider of multiple types of savings accounts and tools, raised $385 million in Series E funding at a reported $2 billion valuation. and led the financing for the 10-year-old, New York-based company.

3. , $300M, workflow management and fault tolerance: Bellevue, Washington-based Temporal Technologies, a provider of tools that allow developers to make workflows more reliable and fault-tolerant, closed on $300 million in Series D funding. led the financing, which set a $5 billion valuation for the 7-year-old company.

4. , $140M, energy tech: Heron Power, a developer of hardware designed to move electricity from renewable sources into the grid and data centers, picked up $140 million in a funding round backed by and . The Scotts Valley, California-based company is founded by former SVP .

5. , $125M, AI coding: Code Metal, a provider of verifiable code translation tools, raised $125 million in Series B financing led by 1. The round comes just three months after the Boston-based startup secured its Series A.

6. (tied) , $100M, cloud for developers: Render, a cloud provider for application development teams, secured $100 million in Series C extension funding. led the financing for the San Francisco-based company, which said it now has over 4.5 million developers on its platform.

6. (tied) , $100M, clean energy: Houston-based Utility Global, developer of a technology to produce hydrogen and capturable carbon from industrial gases, raised $100 million in Series D funding. and led the financing for the 8-year-old company.

6. (tied) , $100M, location tracking: ZaiNar, developer of a technology for wireless networks to sense the location of things without satellites, cameras or heavy compute power, emerged from stealth and disclosed that it has drawn over $100 million in investment to date and a valuation of over $1 billion. Backers in the Belmont, California-based company include , , and .

9. , $80M, fintech: Salt Lake City-based Jump, developer of an AI agent for financial advisers and financial services providers, raised $80 million in a Series B round led by .

10. , $80M, AI observability: San Francisco-based Braintrust, a developer of AI observability software for development teams, raised $80 million in a Series B round led by .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 附近上门 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Feb. 14-20. 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.

Illustration:

While Europe鈥檚 venture investment did not grow significantly year over year, the region saw a shift to deep tech funding in 2025. Startup investment has also now maintained well above pre-COVID levels for the past three years.

Still, Europe notably has not seen the same AI-driven boost that North America has. Venture investment in North America-based companies last year soared 46% year over year, with mega rounds into AI-related companies leading the way.

Table of contents

• Quarterly uptick
• AI led for the first time
• UK leads but other countries gain
• Late stage grew in Q4
• Leading investors
• Above pre-COVID funding
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Quarterly uptick

European venture funding did gain steam in Q4, reaching $16.6 billion 鈥� up 20% quarter over quarter and 27% year over year 鈥� per 附近上门 data.

The largest rounds in Q4 were raised by London-based energy software provider , Finland-based smart ring , Paris-based customer engagement platform , Dutch online grocer , and London cloud GPU provider .

AI led for the first time

Last year, artificial intelligence was the leading sector for venture investment in Europe for the first time, with around $17.5 billion in funding to AI in 2025 compared to just over $10 billion in 2024.

Paris-based frontier lab raised the largest round in the year, close to $2 billion led by Dutch chip machine manufacturer . Other large European funding rounds raised last year in AI went to Nscale and Brevo as well as Munich-based defense manufacturer , London-based AI drug discovery , and Freiburg, Germany-based image frontier lab .

The second-largest sector in Europe in 2025 for startup investment was healthcare and biotech, with companies in the space raising around $13.4 billion.

The third-largest sector was hardware with around $10.8 billion invested. The total demonstrates Europe鈥檚 renewed focus on deep tech including investment in data centers, wearables, defense, quantum, aerospace, robotics and energy.

Financial services, once the leading sector in Europe鈥檚 venture scene, was only the fourth-largest sector for funding in 2025, with around $7.4 billion invested.

UK leads but other countries gain

The U.K., the leading country in Europe, raised around $17 billion. That represents about 29% of total European venture funding in 2025, down from a third of all funding in 2024.

Startups based in France raised $8.5 billion and Germany-based companies came in a close third with $8.4 billion. Each nation鈥檚 startups represented about 15% of funding to the continent last year.

Switzerland was the fourth-largest European country for venture investment in 2025, with $3.6 billion invested in its startups last year. The Netherlands was the fifth largest at $3.4 billion, and was followed by Spain ($2.9 billion) and Finland ($2.2 billion).

With the exception of the U.K., each of those countries raised more venture funding in 2025 than in 2024.

Late stage grew in Q4

Late-stage funding in Q4 reached the highest amount in two years. A total of $9.2 billion was invested across 87 deals, up 65% by amounts year over year.

Early-stage funding reached $5.3 billion in Q4 across more than 250 funding rounds, down 4% year over year.

Seed funding reached $2 billion in Q4 across more than 750 deals, inline with totals year over year.

Leading investors

Investors that led or co-led the largest fundings into the region鈥檚 startups last year were dominated by Europe-based venture and private equity firms. Firms that led or co-led from outside of Europe included a mix of venture or private equity firms from the U.S. or Asia.

Above pre-COVID funding

Funding in Europe did not grow significantly year over year in 2025, but was well above pre-COVID funding levels and growing in deep tech and AI. With a renewed focus on science, funding has also shifted toward cities across Europe with leading research institutes.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Jan. 4, 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. 附近上门 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 附近上门 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. 附近上门 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. 附近上门 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.)

Illustration:

Rat, who had served as a product manager at companies including , and , dug into the problem and discovered that 鈥渕ost of the software used in the industry鈥� was more than 20 years old and still required physical services onsite.

鈥淢ost lacked integration with other platforms, were slow and buggy, and impossible to train new employees on,鈥� he recalls.

So Rat teamed up with , a former director of engineering at Uber, to start , an AI-powered platform that aims 鈥渢o put dental practices on autopilot.鈥� The pair previously led the rebuilding of Uber’s payment platform that’s still in use today.

鈥淚 realized there was a massive need and opportunity for a modern, cloud-based software platform and set out to build that,鈥� Rat told 附近上门 News. 鈥淚 also realized bigger tech players have been building software for the larger healthcare market but overlooked the $500 billion dental industry.鈥�

And now, Archy has just raised $20 million in Series B funding to help it grow even more, it told 附近上门 News exclusively. led the financing, which also included participation from , , and 25 practicing dentists who wrote checks as angel investors. The raise brings Archy鈥檚 total funding to date to $47 million, Rat said.

The company raised led by Entr茅e Capital almost exactly one year ago. Rat confirmed the Series B was an up round, but declined to disclose Archy鈥檚 valuation.

All-in-one tool

Archy claims to replace more than five existing tools to handle scheduling, charting, billing, imaging, insurance, payments, staffing, messaging and reporting 鈥渇rom one login.鈥�

It is now building AI agents 鈥渢o handle the busywork鈥� such as checking eligibility, filing and following up on claims, writing notes, managing patient communications and scheduling, and 鈥渢urning raw practice data into clear answers,鈥� according to Rat.

The startup processes more than $100 million in payments annually across 45 states and has seen roughly 300% year-over-year growth, he said. It currently serves 2.5 million patients and has processed over 35 million X-rays through its platform.

The company claims that mid-sized dental practices report saving around 80 hours a month by using its technology, and are able to avoid 鈥渂ig hardware costs.鈥� For example, Rat said that one practice saved about $50,000 in its first year of using Archy.

Dual-revenue model

San Jose, California-based Archy operates on a dual-revenue model that combines subscription-based fees with payment processing services, and offers tiered monthly subscription packages. In addition to its subscription fees, Archy serves as a merchant processor for its clients, generating revenue from a percentage of payment transactions processed through the platform.

鈥淭his hybrid approach allows us to remain aligned with our clients’ success while providing flexible options that scale with their business needs,鈥� Rat told 附近上门 News.

The company plans to use its new capital to 鈥渉ire aggressively鈥� across its engineering, AI and go-to-market teams. Presently, it has 57 employees. It plans to expand internationally starting in 2026.

, partner at TCV, told 附近上门 News via email that his firm had been looking for a way to invest in the dental space 鈥渇or a long time鈥� but didn鈥檛 find a company that was 鈥渁ppropriately tackling the root of the problem 鈥� the core PMS (practice management systems)鈥� until it came across Archy.

He added: 鈥淲e consistently heard that Archy was supremely easy to use, requiring almost no training in contrast to others, providing a seamless 鈥榠Phone-like鈥� experience, and reducing what took 10 clicks in other software to one or none in Archy.鈥�

Related 附近上门 queries:

Illustration:

I鈥檝e been building products and companies my entire career 鈥� , , , and now, 鈥� and I鈥檝e had the privilege of speaking with some of the sharpest minds in venture and entrepreneurship along the way.

One recent conversation with a legendary investor really crystallized for me a set of truths about startups: what success really is, why some founders thrive while others burn out, and how to navigate the inevitable chaos of building something from nothing.

Here are some of the lessons I鈥檝e internalized from years of building, observing and learning.

Success has no finish line

In the startup world, we talk a lot about IPOs, acquisitions and valuations. But those are milestones, not destinations.

The companies that endure don鈥檛 鈥渨in鈥� and stop 鈥� they keep creating, adapting and pushing forward. They鈥檙e playing an infinite game, where the only goal is to remain in the game.

When you鈥檙e building something truly generative 鈥� driven by a purpose greater than yourself 鈥� there鈥檚 no point at which you can say 鈥渄one.鈥� If your company has a natural stopping point, you may be building the wrong thing.

You don鈥檛 choose the work 鈥� the work chooses you

The best founders I鈥檝e met 鈥� and the best moments I鈥檝e had as a founder 鈥� come from an almost irrational pull toward solving a specific problem I myself experienced.

You may want to start a company, but if you have to talk yourself into your idea, it probably won鈥檛 survive contact with reality. The founders who succeed are often the ones who can鈥檛 not work on their thing.

Starting a company shouldn鈥檛 be a career move 鈥� it should be the last possible option after every other path fails to scratch the itch.

The real killer: founder fatigue

Most companies don鈥檛 die because of one bad decision or one tough competitor. They die because the founders run out of energy.

Fatigue erodes vision, motivation and creativity. Protecting your own drive 鈥� keeping it clean and focused 鈥� may be the single most important survival skill you have.

That means staying close to the product, protecting time for customer work, and avoiding the slow drift into managing around problems instead of solving them.

Customer > competitor

It鈥檚 easy to get caught up in competitor moves, investor chatter or market gossip. But the most important question is always: Are we delivering joy to the customer?

If you鈥檙e losing focus, sign up for your own product as a brand-new user. Feel the friction. Fix it. Repeat.

At Digits, we run our own signup and core flows every week. It鈥檚 uncomfortable 鈥� it surfaces flaws we鈥檇 rather not see 鈥� but it keeps us anchored to the only metric that matters: customer delight.

Boards should ask questions, not give answers

Over the years, I鈥檝e learned the most effective boards aren鈥檛 presentation theaters 鈥� they鈥檙e discussion rooms.

The best structure I鈥檝e seen:

• No slides;
• A narrative pre-read sent in advance; and
• A deep dive into one essential question.

Good directors help you widen your perspective. They don鈥檛 hand you a to-do list. Rather, they help you see the problem in a way that makes the answer obvious.

Twitter: lessons from a phenomenon

When I think back to my time at Twitter, the most enduring lesson is that not all companies are built top-down. Some 鈥� like Twitter 鈥� are shaped more by their users than their executives.

Features like @mentions, hashtags and retweets didn鈥檛 come from a product roadmap 鈥� they came from the community.

That鈥檚 messy, but it鈥檚 also powerful. Sometimes your job isn鈥檛 to control the phenomenon, rather it鈥檚 to keep it healthy without smothering what made it magical in the first place.

Why now is a great time to start

If you鈥檙e building today, you have an advantage over the so-called 鈥渦nicorn zombies鈥� that raised massive rounds pre-AI and are now locked into defending old business models.

Fresh founders can design from scratch for the new reality; there鈥檚 no legacy to protect, no sacred cows to defend.

The macro environment? Irrelevant. The only timing that matters is when the problem calls you so strongly that not working on it feels impossible.

If there鈥檚 one takeaway from all of this, it鈥檚 that success is continuing. The real prize is the ability to keep playing, keep serving and keep creating.

If you鈥檙e standing at the edge, wondering if you should start 鈥� start. Take one step. See if it grows. And if it does, welcome to the infinite game.

听 is the founder and CEO of , the world’s first AI-native accounting platform. He previously served as ‘s head of consumer product and starred in the Emmy Award-winning documentary 鈥淭he Social Dilemma.鈥�

Illustration:

Now in the third quarter, it appears that Brazil is back on top 鈥� and in a big way. Brazil-based startups raised $692 million in Q3, up 47% year over year and 92% quarter over quarter. Mexico-headquartered startups brought in $126 million, down 21% year over year and a 71% dip quarter over quarter.

The largest raise in Brazil 鈥� and Latin America as a whole 鈥斕齱as announced on Sept. 11. That was a round for Sao Paulo-based 鈥� which offers cloud-based management software for SMEs 鈥�- that valued the company at $700 million. led the financing.

In general, a boom in late-stage and growth funding helped buoy the region year over year, 附近上门 data shows. Overall, startups in Latin America raised a combined $1 billion across seed- through growth-stage deals in the third quarter, up 21% year over year and up 8% from the second quarter.

Of that total, $477 million went into late-stage and growth deals, up 176% year over year. That鈥檚 down 16%, however, from the $565 million in late-stage and growth financing the region saw in the second quarter of this year.

Early-stage investment surged in the third quarter with $425 million flowing into startups, up 18% year over year and 48% compared to the second quarter.

Seed and angel investment totaled $105 million for the third quarter, which marked a 34% increase compared to the prior quarter, but a 47% decrease year over year.

For perspective, we charted out total investment, color-coded by stage, for the past 10 quarters below.

Table of contents

• Late-stage boom
• Investor POV
• The rise of stablecoins
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Late-stage boom

While Omie鈥檚 venture round was the largest financing in Latin America, it was not the only nine-figure raise the region saw in Q3.

Other large deals included , a Mexico City-based -backed digital bank, raising a $100 million Series C that propelled its valuation to over $1.3 billion. and led that financing.

raised $100 million in a round co-led by and . Founded in 2025, the Sao Paulo-based startup is a tech holding company that aims to acquire and scale B2B software providers.

Investor POV

, head of Brazil at , said the quality of the companies getting funded in Latin America as of late seems 鈥渉igh鈥� and 鈥渓ike a step up from earlier in the year.鈥�

鈥淲e saw big rounds, a solid shift to AI taking over, and lots of activity in fintech both in terms of deals and market events,鈥� she told 附近上门 News.

鈥淭he AI hype felt like it was a wave behind the U.S. for a bit,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut now we are seeing application layer solutions getting funded in addition to companies leaning heavily into AI-enhanced strategies.鈥�

Fraud prevention and security are taking center stage on the backs of major breaches in Brazil. Vieira cited research revealing that in 2024, Brazil鈥檚 financial sector R$10.1 billion ($1.88 billion in USD) in losses related to fraud.

鈥淭his is already increasing the regulatory thresholds in Brazil and is likely to put more scrutiny in fintech,鈥� she said.

Mexico was not excluded from the drama as a number of banks dealt with issues 鈥斕� potentially delaying or postponing activity to push fintech forward, Vieira noted.

鈥淥n the positive side, Colombia gave clarity around open banking and launched Bre-B, the country’s real-time payment network,鈥� she added.

, partner at , said her firm has long tracked the rise of , or alts, as they 鈥渂ecome a core piece of the modern investment portfolio,鈥� and amid the subsequent rise of infrastructure players enabling their expansion.

Within 鈥渁lts,鈥� private credit has been one of the fastest-growing and most overlooked segments, she noted.

That led to F-Prime leading the round into , a platform that offers tech-driven back-office services for alternative investments, to 鈥渟pearhead Brazil鈥檚 private credit infrastructure development.鈥� Over the past 12 months alone, she said, the company grew 150%, with customers spanning Brazil鈥檚 largest banks, investment managers, private credit funds and originators.

Overall, , principal and head of LatAm investments at , believes that Latin American founders generally 鈥渁re rewriting the rules of financial innovation.鈥�

鈥淔intech remains the region鈥檚 No. 1 funded sector because trust, access and agency are still the biggest pain points for consumers and businesses,鈥� she told 附近上门 News. 鈥淚n LatAm, entrepreneurs innovate under tighter capital and tougher consumer realities, producing solutions that are not just resilient but transformative. This is not a story of catching up, it鈥檚 a story of leapfrogging.鈥�

Recent LatAm investments for the firm include co-leading rounds for: , which aims to modernize payment acquiring in LatAm, and , a Sao Paulo-based platform that integrates financial management software, a native bank account and corporate card for midsized businesses in Brazil. It also wrote a check into a $2.1 million round for , also based in Sao Paulo, which is building real estate credit infrastructure.

The rise of stablecoins

Vieira believes that 鈥渆veryone continues to watch stablecoins, trade and other cross-border activity as a big opportunity for Latin America.鈥�

A is a type of digital currency designed to maintain a stable value.

Wu is also excited about the potential for stablecoins in the region.

鈥淲e have increasingly high conviction that stablecoins are the killer use case for crypto, and cross-border payments are an ideal use case because they offer material benefits over current rails 鈥� faster, cheaper and more transparent 鈥� in a massive market,鈥� she said.

In addition, with upcoming regulatory clarity in Brazil, the local denominated stablecoin is on the rise, 鈥渨ith the promise of yield-bearing stablecoins and tokenization of real-world assets,鈥� Wu noted.

鈥淥verall, the stablecoin market in LatAm has numerous nascent players with liquidity fragmentation, and we look forward to seeing more interoperability and consolidation,鈥� she said.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Oct. 6, 2025.

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.

附近上门 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 附近上门 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. 附近上门 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. 附近上门 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.)

Illustration:

While late-stage startup investment in Europe remains relatively muted, early-stage funding has quietly become Europe鈥檚 engine of resilience 鈥� helping sustain overall funding levels even as global capital continues to concentrate around massive AI rounds in the U.S., 附近上门 data shows.

All told, European startups pulled in $13.1 billion across more than 1,000 deals last quarter, flat quarter over quarter but up 22% year over year, per 附近上门 data. Early-stage investment accounted for roughly 60% of that total, buoyed by strong activity in deep tech, biotech and AI applications.

This contrasts with North America, which has seen a surge of megarounds of $500 million or more, largely into AI-related companies, over the past four quarters. North American companies raised 68% of global funding in Q3, up 10 percentage points from a year ago, with two-thirds invested in later-stage financings.

Table of contents

• Klarna debuts and strong M&A
• AI stepped up
• Late stage
• Early stage up
• Seed
• Robust early stage
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Klarna debuts and strong M&A

Sweden-based Klarna went public on the in Q3 at a value of $15.1 billion, marking the completion of one of the most-anticipated European debuts in recent years. Still, while Klarna鈥檚 listing price was well above its most recent private valuation at $6.7 billion in 2022, it was still far below its 2021 valuation of $45.5 billion.

Five European companies were also acquired for close to or more than a billion dollars each last quarter, including Sweden-based enterprise knowledge platform , which was purchased by , and Germany-based conversational AI platform , acquired by . Other billion-dollar startup exits out of Europe last quarter were in healthcare 鈥� and 鈥� and , in asset management.

AI stepped up

Close to 40% of European funding was invested in AI-related startups last quarter, totaling $5.2 billion, per 附近上门 data. That was up from $2 billion in Q3 2024.

The large fundraisers in the space were Paris-based frontier model company , which raised $2 billion, and London-based , a 1-year-old data center and cloud provider that raised $1.1 billion. (Within a week in early October, Nscale raised another $433 million from , and , among others.)

Other large rounds in AI last quarter were raised by Sweden-based vibe coding startup , London-based accounts payable company , and Switzerland drone and robotics operations platform .

Late stage

Around $5.4 billion was invested last quarter across 75 deals into Europe startups at growth stage, per 附近上门 data. That represents around 9% of global late-stage venture funding, the smallest proportion compared to other funding stages. The

Other late-stage fundings went to London-based smartphone and device maker , Netherlands-based website design , and Italy-based embedded device security platform .

Early stage up

Early-stage funding in Q3 was up year over year by 31%, with $6.1 billion invested across more than 257 funding rounds. European funding represented 20% of global early-stage funding.

Early-stage rounds also went to Finland-based , Belgium-based , and U.K.-based material science company .

Seed

European seed funding totaled $1.7 billion in Q3 across 745 seed rounds, representing 18% of global seed funding.

Large seed rounds were raised in energy, AI, biotech, fintech, autonomous driving and robotics, among other sectors.

Robust early stage

Early-stage funding to European startups picked up in Q3 with large rounds in deeptech, biotech and AI applications across many European cities.

Europe鈥檚 early-stage funding represents around 20% of global venture funding, while funding lags at the later stages, coming in at 9% of global funding.

So while Europe’s startups haven’t produced the splashy growth figures of their North American counterparts, the region has now delivered several sequential quarters of steady funding, not to mention resilient early-stage investment and strong exits in Q3. In fact, four of the nine companies acquired globally for more than $1 billion last quarter hail from Europe. As Europe and the U.S. come closer together, with many European founders launching in the U.S. market earlier, the question is: Will Europe continue to create those standout $10 billion-plus companies as it did most recently with Klarna?

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Oct. 6, 2025.

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. 附近上门 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 附近上门 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. 附近上门 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. 附近上门 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.)

Illustration:

The Sunnyvale, California-based company announced on Sept. 30 a Series G funding round that valued it at $8.1 billion post-money. and led the financing.

Then on Oct. 3, the startup submitted to the , formally requesting to withdraw its IPO registration because it 鈥渄oes not intend to conduct the proposed offering 鈥� at this time.鈥�

Cerebras originally filed to go public in September of 2024. At that time, the company was 鈥渞amping up to take on in an effort to create processors for running generative AI models,鈥� .

In its filing, Cerebras noted its dependence on a single customer, Group 42, a subsidiary of its investor , responsible for more than 80% of revenue in 2023 and the first half of 2024.

Cerebras has built a larger chip that is 10x faster for AI training and inference compared to leading GPU solutions, according to the . Its customers include and the .

The company has reportedly shifted its focus since that initial filing from selling systems toward more of being a cloud service provider for accepting incoming queries to models that use its chips underneath, according to . CEO told the publication that he thought last year鈥檚 prospectus was 鈥渙ut of date鈥� considering developments in AI.

Cerebras has raised a known $1.8 billion in funding since its 2016 founding by Feldman, per 附近上门 . It raised $250 million in led by in November 2021 that valued the company at just over $4 billion. Other backers include , , , and .

Related 附近上门 queries:

Illustration:

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 rounds here.

AI startups and California-based companies have been scooping up an outsized share of venture funding for a while now, and this past week was no exception. Leading the ranks was , as the AI processor developer and potential IPO candidate picked up $1.1 in fresh funding. Other large rounds went to companies in areas including AI, enterprise software, cybersecurity, blockchain and biotech.

1.听, $1.1B, AI hardware: Cerebras Systems, a developer of AI processors, that it raised $1.1 billion in Series G funding at an $8.1 billion post-money valuation. and led the financing for the Sunnyvale, California-based company, which filed to go public last year.听

2. (tied) , $300M, AI: Silicon Valley-based Periodic Labs launched with $300 million in initial funding to develop AI models for science. Venture backers include , 听1, , and .听

2. (tied) , $300M, cloud infrastructure: Vercel, a developer of tools and cloud infrastructure to build websites, secured $300 million in a Series F round co-led by and . The financing sets a $9.3 billion valuation for the 10-year-old company.听

4. , $205M, biopharma: San Diego-based Crystalys Therapeutics launched with $205 million in Series A financing to support its mission of addressing the unmet medical needs of people living with gout. , and led the financing.

5. , $200M, blockchain: Flying Tulip, a provider of blockchain financial products, it raised $200 million in a private funding round. Backers included , , , 听and .

6. , $180M, cybersecurity: CyberCube, a provider of cyber risk management tools, said it locked up more than $180 million in an investment from . Founded in 2015, San Francisco-based CyberCube has raised at least $285 million to date, per 附近上门 data.

7. , $125M, antibody therapies: South San Francisco, California-based Star Therapeutics, a developer of antibodies for bleeding disorders and other diseases, picked up $125 million in Series D financing co-led by and .听

8. , $103M, legal tech: Eve, a San Francisco-based AI platform for plaintiff law firms, $103 million in Series B funding at over a $1 billion valuation. led the financing, with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, 听and .

9. , $100M, database technology: Postgres development platform Supabase that it closed on $100 million in Series E funding at a $5 billion valuation. Accel and led the financing for the 5-year-old, San Francisco-based company.

10. , $90M, accounting software: DualEntry, a provider of AI-enabled business accounting tools, $90 million in a Series A round that comes just 18 months after its launch. and led the financing for the New York-based company.

Illustration: