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.

In insecure times, security looks like an appealing sector for investment. That鈥檚 one interpretation of this week鈥檚 tally of the largest startup funding rounds.

The size of the largest U.S. deals was smaller than in recent weeks, and heavily featured cybersecurity- and privacy-focused startups. This includes the week鈥檚 biggest round 鈥� a $375 million Series B for consumer privacy and security platform . Other areas that attracted good-sized financings included AI infrastructure, biotech, healthcare, and robotics.

1. , $375M, privacy: Cloaked, a provider of consumer privacy and security tools, raised $375 million in Series B funding led by and . Founded in 2020, the Massachusetts-based company sells monthly subscriptions for individuals and families.

2. , $143M, AI infrastructure: Frore Systems, a developer of integrated cooling architecture for AI computing and networking hardware, announced that it closed on $143 million in Series D funding. led the financing, which set a $1.64 billion valuation for the 8-year-old, San Jose-based company.

3. (tied) , $120M, cybersecurity: Seattle-based XBow, a provider of autonomous security testing technology, picked up $120 million in Series C funding. and led the round, which values the 2-year-old company at over $1 billion.

3. (tied) , $120M, cybersecurity: Oasis Security, a developer of identify security tools with a focus on AI agents, secured $120 million in a funding round backed by , , and . The 4-year-old company, which is headquartered in聽 New York and has a presence in Israel, has raised $195 million to date, per 附近上门 data.

5. (tied) , $100M, medical devices: Imperative Care, a medical device company focused on treatment for stroke and vascular diseases caused by blood clot formation, secured $100 million in convertible note financing. and led the investment for the Campbell, California-based company.

5. (tied) , $100M, social media: Seattle-based social network Bluesky this week that it raised a previously unannounced $100 million Series B round that closed last spring, led by .

5. (tied) , $100M, privacy and security: Cape, a recently launched privacy-focused mobile network, landed $100 million in Series C funding. and led the financing, which set a $900 million valuation for the Arlington, Virginia-based company.

8. , $80M, healthcare AI: Latent, an AI platform aimed at helping move patients from clinical decision to therapy, picked up $80 million in a Series A round. and led the financing for the San Francisco-based company.

9. , $77M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Crossbow Therapeutics, a biotech startup focused on developing new antibody therapies to treat a broad range of cancers, raised $77 million in Series B funding. and led the round, which will support a Phase 1 clinical trial of the company鈥檚 lead program.

10. , $52M, robotics: RoboForce, a startup focused on developing AI-enabled robot labor for industrial environments, said it $52 million in fresh funding, bringing its total raise to $67 million. led the financing for the Milpitas, California-based company.

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 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.

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And underlining the pace at which some startups are now sprinting to billion-dollar-plus valuations, four of the new unicorns are less than a year old.

In exit news, 9-year-old fintech unicorn was acquired by for $5.2 billion. That鈥檚 well below its January 2022 valuation of $12.3 billion but still marks a win for earlier investors seeking liquidity.

Of the 31 companies that joined the board, 23 are U.S.-based and two hail from Canada. Germany, France, Belgium, Israel, Japan and India each added one new unicorn to the board last month.

Among sectors, AI and AI infrastructure contributed the most new unicorns, totaling nine from those two areas. The next-leading sectors, with three new unicorns each, were manufacturing and security propelled by AI. AI was also a major contributor to new unicorns in the semiconductor, defense and autonomous driving sectors.

The largest funding last month for a unicorn company was $20 billion to 鈥檚 at an . Within a month of that funding, xAI in early February announced a merger with another Musk-led company, rocketmaker .

11 exits

Brex鈥檚 acquisition by Capital One was the largest of the four M&A deals for unicorn-valued companies in January.

On the IPO side, seven companies went public, the most high-profile of which were and , both foundation AI model companies based in China.

Here are January鈥檚 newly minted unicorns.

AI

• , an AI research lab focused on human collaboration, raised a $480 million seed funding led by and 1. The less than 1-year-old Redwood City, California-based company was valued at $4.5 billion.
• , an AI scientific research lab, raised a $180 million seed round led by , and . The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• AI evaluation platform raised a $150 million Series A led by 2听补苍诲 . The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.7 billion.
• Voice AI startup raised a $143 million Series C led by France-based . The 10-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion. As part of its announcement, Deepgram disclosed the acquisition of , a voice AI startup for restaurants and drive-thru ordering.
• , an infrastructure company for voice AI, raised a $100 million Series C led by . The 5-year-old San Jose, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

AI infrastructure

• , an AI networking company, raised a $200 million Series A led by , and . The 1-year-old Santa Clara, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• GPU marketplace raised a $150 million Series B led by . The 2-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• , for secure AI run locally on devices, raised a Series A extension funding of an undisclosed sum. The 6-year-old Austin-based company was valued at $2.5 billion.
• , which manages a GPU marketplace, raised a Series C led by . The 6-year-old company was founded in Lithuania and is now headquartered in Miami. It was valued at $1 billion.

Manufacturing

• , a builder of factories for defense and the aerospace industry, raised a $131 million private equity funding led by . The 5-year-old Hawthorne, California-based company was valued at $1.6 billion.
• , a developer of no-code applications for manufacturing, raised a $120 million Series D led by . The 11-year-old Somerville, Massachusetts-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• 惭辞苍迟谤茅补濒-产补蝉别诲 , a manufacturing automation company utilizing modular robotics, raised a $90 million Series D led by . The 9-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Security

• , provider of security for cloud services in real time to protect from hackers, raised a $250 million Series B led by . The 3-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Tel Aviv-based , an AI security platform that integrates with existing security platforms to provide context on incidents, raised a $140 million Series D led by . The 6-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• Belgium-based , a developer-oriented security platform, raised a $60 million Series B led by . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Semiconductor

• , an AI chip developer to run transformer models, raised a reported $500 million funding led by . The 3-year-old Cupertino, California-based company was valued at $5 billion.
• , an AI chip design company, raised a $300 million Series A led by . The less than 1-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $4 billion.

Cryptocurrency

• Stablecoin payments platform raised a $250 million Series C led by . The 4-year-old New York-based company was valued at $2 billion.
• Crypto payments network raised a $75 million Series C led by . The 5-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Healthcare

• Maternity healthcare provider, raised a $92 million Series C led by Stripes. The 4-year-old New York-based company with plans to expand healthcare services to women and children was valued at $1.7 billion.
• , a co-ordination platform for medications across doctors, pharmacies and patients, raised a Series B led by . The 3-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Defense

• Paris-based , an autonomous drone maker, raised a $200 million Series B led by aircraft manufacturer . The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• , a builder of secure software for the defense industry, raised a $136 million Series B led by . The 4-year-old Colorado-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Fintech

• Tokyo-based brokerage infrastructure provider raised a $150 million Series D led by . The 11-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• India-based , a payment infrastructure provider, raised a $50 million Series D led by . The 13-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Fitness

• , an owner of physical fitness brands and the parent of , raised a $785 million private equity financing led by . As part of the transaction it announced a merger with . The San Luis Obispo, California-based company was valued at $7.5 billion.

Autonomous Driving

• Toronto-based , a self-driving technology company, raised a $750 million Series C led by and ,valuing it at $3.8 billion. The 5-year-old company announced a partnership with to support robotaxis.

Social media

• , an AI-powered video generation platform for social media, raised an $80 million Series A extension funding which brings its Series A funding total to $130 million. The 3-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Education

• Online tutoring platform raised a $150 million Series D led by at a $1.2 billion valuation. The 14-year-old Brookline, Massachusetts-based company was founded by Ukrainians and maintains a team in Ukraine.

Compliance

• ESG compliance software platform raised a $100 million Series C led by , a joint venture between and . The 7-year-old Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany-based company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Energy

• , a developer of a residential energy storage device for electricity and electric vehicles, raised a $163 million funding. The 7-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Related 附近上门 unicorn lists:

• (1,684)
• (596)
• (37)
• (186)
• (115)
• (102)
• (868)
• (494)
• (226)
• (38)
• (470)

Related reading:

• High-Spending Investors Give 2026 An Active Start
• In The Era Of Unicorn Valuation Escalation, A Trillion Dollars Isn鈥檛 What It Used To Be
• Global VC Investment Surged In January, With U.S. Dominating Funding, But A Pair Of AI Model IPOs In China
• A Growing Share Of Seed And Series A Funding Is Going To Giant Rounds

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.

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So, there鈥檚 no hyperbole in stating that , the company behind social media platform , is breaking new ground with this morning鈥檚 that it plans to combine with fusion company .

The two signed a merger agreement to combine in what TMTG called a stock transaction valued at more than $6 billion. Once the deal closes, it says, shareholders of each company will own approximately half of the combined company.

So far, public investors seem to like the proposal, with shares of Trump Media closing up 42% on Thursday. That said, shares are well below where the company made its debut in March, 2024 following a SPAC merger, with its latest market cap around $4 billion.

But while markets may favor the deal now, no one would describe it as an obvious match-up. And with media insiders, energy tech aficionados and the general public all broadly scratching their heads about how to put this deal in context, we looked to see if 附近上门 data could offer relevant background.

Turns out, while we didn鈥檛 see this one coming, funding data does show the fusion space continuing to attract megarounds, with TAE exhibiting several characteristics that differentiate it from the competition.

Here are some of findings on both TAE specifically and fusion startup funding more broadly:

• Founded in 1998, Foothill Ranch, California-based TAE is the oldest operating venture-backed fusion energy company in the 附近上门 dataset. The next-oldest is British Columbia-based , founded in 2002.
• To date, TAE has raised close to $1.5 billion in known equity funding. It raised its most recent round 鈥� a $150 million venture financing 鈥� in June with backing from , and .
• In the past five years, fusion-focused startups have raised more than $7 billion in venture funding, per . Of that, a little less than half has closed in the past two years.
• A handful of fusion startups have secured a big chunk of funding to the space. Besides TAE, the most heavily funded are ($2.86 billion in equity funding), ($1 billion),聽 ($900 million), and General Fusion ($357 million).
• This year, the standout for funding was Commonwealth Fusion, which raised $863 million in an August Series B2 round. The Devens, Massachusetts-based company also said it is moving closer to being the first in the world to commercialize fusion power.
• Everett, Washington-based Helion Energy also locked up a $425 million Series F early this year as it looks to commercialize its fusion technology.

Do any of these findings explain why you should have had Truth Social merging with a Google-backed fusion company on your bingo card for 2025? Probably not. But they do at least offer support for the notion that Trump Media is entering a space that鈥檚 attracted a lot of capital of late from a lot of known smart money investors.

Related 附近上门 query:

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• Fusion Startup Helion Powers Up With $425M Series F

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It鈥檚 what reporters like to see. Finally, a chance to peek under the hood of the buzziest unicorns to see their revenue, growth rates and largest shareholder stakes. And while most of those companies lose money, an IPO filing provides a glimpse of gross margins and a sense of when a company might reach profitability.

All this is to say that the mere possibility of a public offering 鈥� as was teased for in a late Tuesday 鈥� is an exciting development for those of us lamenting the paucity of unicorn IPOs in recent months.

Of course, no company goes public just to satiate the curiosity of that negligible portion of the population that lives for S-1 filings. The primary reasons are far more pragmatic: To raise money, benefit from a higher profile and potential valuation boost that comes with a public listing, and聽 offer a path to liquidity for founders, employees and early investors.

The draws are big enough that it behooves the most high-profile private companies to have preparations in place for a public listing, even if they do end up delaying or scrapping it. In a similar vein, a few weeks ago that is laying the groundwork for a potential IPO of its own.

The valuations are enormous

The valuations the generative AI giants are seeking would sound fantastical were they not backed up by both private markets and ever-climbing stocks of already public AI behemoths.

OpenAI is reportedly eyeing an initial public valuation of up to $1 trillion 鈥� double its last reported private valuation of in a secondary share sale last month. It is reportedly eyeing a public filing as early as the second half of 2026.

Anthropic is currently said to be pursuing fresh funding at a private valuation of more than $300 billion. So, it would presumably seek an even higher market cap in a public offering, although it鈥檚 yet unclear how high.

I won鈥檛 opine on what valuations seem sensible for these iconic yet still deeply unprofitable companies. However, for context, it鈥檚 worth pointing out that no American venture-backed company that鈥檚 ever gone public has notched an initial valuation even close to these levels.

, which went public on as Facebook in 2012, is still the record-holder, per 附近上门 data. It went public at an initial valuation of $104 billion 鈥� barely over one-tenth what OpenAI is said to be seeking.

Next on this list is , at $86 billion, followed by at $82.4 billion. Only six VC-funded companies have debuted at $40 billion or more, per 附近上门, listed below.

Significantly, these numbers reflect the valuations at which companies priced shares, not how much they were worth in first-day trading. When went public this summer, for instance, shares more than tripled in first-day trading, which took it to well over the $40 billion mark even though it priced below that.

Could 2026 finally be the IPO year?

If public investors are ready and willing to buy into OpenAI at its talked-about valuation, it sounds like an effort worth undertaking for the company. Ditto for Anthropic, particularly if it manages to get to market first, thus diminishing some of the spotlight perpetually shined on its rival.

Ever since the startup IPO boom period of 2020-2022 came to a conclusion, market watchers keep trying to predict when we鈥檒l see another. Hopes that 2025 would be the year are now fading. Although we鈥檝e seen a few big, well-received startup IPOs, activity has remained muted.

Maybe 2026 will be the year. Record-setting offerings from the biggest GenAI names certainly wouldn鈥檛 hurt in turning up the volume.

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• The 附近上门 附近上门

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Last year saw big names including , and dive into the M&A pond and buy venture-backed AI-related startups.

This year, a new, younger set of buyers could emerge 鈥� considering their sizable war chests.

Last week, it was is in talks to acquire artificial intelligence-assisted coding tool 鈥� previously called Codeium 鈥� for a cool $3 billion. The deal would not be the generative AI giant鈥檚 first purchase 鈥� it has made a trio of acquisitions, 鈥� but it would be by far its biggest.

It鈥檚 also not that shocking, considering the massive $40 billion investment OpenAI received from the likes of in late March.

Apparently, OpenAI even tried to buy code-writing startup 鈥� which sells the popular Cursor application 鈥� per a before turning its attention to Windsurf.

That buy seems like it would have been even more costly, as Anysphere was in talks to raise funding at a valuation of close to $10 billion.

But hey, OpenAI has the money, even if it does burn a lot of cash for its modeling and compute needs, as do its competitors.

More deals

In fact, OpenAI was not the only generative AI giant to open up the checkbook last week. took part in $50 million Series A led by . San Francisco-based Goodfire helps enterprises understand and design AI models.

That investment was the first one Anthropic has made into a startup 鈥� aside from participating in Menlo鈥檚 . However, it wouldn鈥檛 shock anyone if it was not the last deal 鈥� investment or even an outright acquisition 鈥� considering it has raised $4.5 billion already this calendar year.

And lest we forget, it was just late March when 鈥檚 artificial intelligence startup, , bought , the social media platform he also owns, for $33 billion in an all-stock transaction. That was xAI鈥檚 second acquisition, .

xAI is now in talks to raise $20 billion after raising $12 billion in 2024 alone. It would only make sense it will become more acquisitive 鈥� especially as its biggest rival, OpenAI, has become more opportunistic.

Of course, none of this is to say massive public companies are going to pull back on acquiring AI startups. The big news early this week was $120 billion market cap cyber giant announcing its intent to buy , which specializes in securing AI applications, for an undisclosed sum. The company was valued at about $400 million last summer.

Those deals will undoubtedly still occur, but do expect some privately owned AI titans to also participate in the buying fun.

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Taub co-founded with in 2014 to help Twitter users better understand their followers, in a time frill with the rise of social media giants and analytics platform proliferation. The 鈥樷�� became profitable three years later.

Today, New York City-based SocialRank鈥檚 assets and IP was scooped up by Toronto-based for an undisclosed sum. Under Trufan, a fan and micro-influencer engagement company, SocialRank will continue as a standalone product, except the five-person team behind it has moved on to a new venture.

Before we get into what that new venture is all about, let me first tell you the story of how SocialRank went from thriving in the 鈥榃ild West鈥� to turning its eye outward to acquisition or potential shut down. Between when it was founded in 2014 to today, the startup tells us a story about social media giants, venture capital money, and, in my opinion, a healthy dose of ego.

Some Background

In 2014, SocialRank was founded to give social media users better insights on their followers. It can analyze the audience of, say, the President of the United States (.

In its life as a private company, SocialRank raised $2.1 million, from various individuals and It became profitable by 2017 with customers like the NBA, , and using the platform to better target advertising to social media followers.

But then , coupled with the crackdown of social media platforms on third party apps, happened.

And Then

As the Wild West became a bit more tame, Co-founder Taub found SocialRank a bit constrained, as the startup relied on access to data and a certain level of flexibility from social media giants so it could run its analytics.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e built on top of APIs and third party data, you can only be as big as [social media platforms] want you to be,鈥� he said. 鈥淭witter, Facebook, whatever? They sort of held the keys.鈥�

He added: 鈥淪ocialRank would never be a billion dollar business. It could be a multimillion dollar business, but not a billion dollar business. But when you need to build on other people, it could potentially hinder your growth.鈥�

Eventually, that profitable, but not explosive, growth led SocialRank to look for a buyer. As mentioned earlier, it was sold to Trufan today.

Yet the decision to sell was a two-years-in-the-making decision. After it became profitable, SocialRank went on 鈥渁utopilot鈥� mode to figure out what to do next, whether it was to sell or shut down. It ended up using that autopilot time (and the revenue stream and VC money that followed) to work on developing a new venture: Upstream. Following today鈥檚 acquisition, the entire SocialRank team will move to working on Upstream.

Unbundling The Pivot

Taub describes Upstream as a social media platform focused on the unbundling of LinkedIn. He pointed to the unbundling of Craigslist to show some market promise.

鈥淟ocal became , and short term rentals became and classified became and forums became . And like, basically, people went really, really deep on these pieces of , and they built like multibillion dollar businesses,鈥� said Taub.

Taub said he thinks Upstream will similarly take apart LinkedIn鈥檚 group feature, which houses together for an alumni group or a startup scene in a specific region, to bring communities together.

While the app only has around 600 users right now and is still in the beta and planning phase, Taub imagines Upstream to be 鈥渨hat a professional network would look like today if it started on your phone.鈥� It will focus on networking and career advice, and he emphasized this, 鈥渋t will not be a LinkedIn 2.0.鈥� So put away your digital resumes.

鈥淲e believe that we’re building a company not just for the next year or two to pump it and try to sell to LinkedIn,鈥� Taub said. 鈥淚 want to work on this for the rest of my life, this should be my life鈥檚 work.鈥�

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The poet once wrote: 鈥淭he irony about loneliness is we all feel it at the same time.鈥�

I imagine that , , and other leaders of social media would like to think of their platforms as a refuge for this human condition. After all, windows into each other’s lives have never been easier to look through. has 2.4 billion users who connect and share. , another Facebook-owned property, has .

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Despite those massive user numbers, data tells us we鈥檙e the loneliest we鈥檝e ever been. In fact, the more online you are, the more likely it is that you actually feel alone.

Some of the blame for loneliness is the omni-present like button鈥攁n app feature some confuse for actual affirmation. For others, digital socializing is a contradiction in itself.

鈥淪ocial media has failed in its promise of being social,鈥� said , the founder of , a conversation platform he said is built 鈥渢o help people to rediscover and reconnect over conversations.鈥�

鈥淭he true promise of social media,鈥� he said, 鈥渃an only be realized through real conversations.鈥�

Shah鈥檚 app helps people chat through spoken conversations, which he says are more intimate than the ones that could be had through keyboards or devices.

鈥淭he social apps of the world today have external validation and FOMO as their primary incentives,鈥� said , the , an app which lets individuals screenshare and video chat.

The game, she said, ends up being how we can all get the most likes, comments, and follows.

鈥淚t鈥檚 exhausting and depressing to constantly compare everyone else鈥檚 filtered lives to your own real life,鈥� she said.

Yet the largest social platforms in the world are slowing catching on to the inherent addictiveness of the apps they build.

A Filtered Lens

Instagram is rolling out a version of its app that removes the total number of likes on photos and video views. It is being tested in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand, according to , a spokesperson for Instagram.

鈥淲e are testing this because we want your followers to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get. We don鈥檛 want Instagram to feel like a competition鈥搘e hope to learn whether this change can help people focus less on likes and more on telling their story,鈥� she added. The test began in Canada in May.

Of course, some users have found social media, as is, to be useful. , the CEO of , spends about 19 hours and 44 minutes a week on Twitter, according to his Screen Time app. 1

鈥淭he value of Twitter, for me, is the stuff that is on no one鈥檚 feed,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the DMs that have been really valuable to me. I try to use it as a place where I can have conversations with people and be genuine and share my thoughts.鈥�

Through DMs turned into Zooms and phone calls, Twitter has given him friends in tech in Utah, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

As for quality of conversation, money talk isn鈥檛 deep enough, Lavingia said. Talking about how hard it is to paint with the color green, however, is.

But having that deeper conversation requires a culture shift. It means relying on social media not for the affirmation but for the potential conversation. And it’s possible that culture shift, coupled with less addictive features, is the solution to loneliness induced by social media.

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One startup, , is looking to bring the user-centric micro tipping phenomenon to the United States. CEO and Cofounder told 附近上门 News that the mobile tipping phenomenon in Asia inspired Portal.

鈥淸Payments] are now just as easy in the West as they are [in Asia]. It鈥檚 just that a lot of companies have become so addicted to the ad model that they are not exploring these other models,鈥� Swerdlin expressed.

To that end, Swerdlin and his team have created a mobile video app that functions as a peer-to-peer payment-enabled content platform. The company, which is launching out of beta today, has raised an additional $2.55 million in seed funding, bringing its total funds raised to $4.2 million. The company鈥檚 investors include , , the founder of Thinx l, and others.

With the Portal iOS app, creators can upload content, which shows up in a chronological feed. They can monetize their videos through paywalls on specific content and through the tipping model that allows users to instantly give anywhere from 10 cents to $100 with purchased coins. Soon, Portal will be launching an option for subscriptions ranging from 99 cents to $24.99 a month.

In eliminating the ad model, Swerdlin and his team hope to give content creators an open opportunity to create with the support of their followers rather than relying on advertisers that the creators may not support, or that may not support their content.

Portal is similar to other monetization platforms like , which was founded in 2013. Investors have funneled $105.9 million into the creator-focused startup, and it was last valued at just under $450 million.

However, Swerdlin said that while Patreon focuses on crowdfunding, Portal is moving that idea a step further.

鈥淧atreon has done an amazing job. And what they’ve done is they’ve proven that audiences will absolutely unequivocally pay content creators. What we’re doing is we’re taking those tools for those payments, and we’re baking that directly into the experience, rather than making it a crowdfunding tool that you have to go outside to use,鈥� he told 附近上门 News. He also noted that Twitch has implemented tipping and subscriptions for gaming, but that Portal is bringing that model to uploaded content for a more mainstream western audience.

Portal鈥檚 beta users have included well-known content creators like The Young Turks and transgender activist Corey Rae.

附近上门 News asked Swerdlin how he believed the earnings potential would change as less popular users come onto the platform. 鈥淭he earning potential is limitless. And the ability to earn is important for everyone. It鈥檚 going to depend on the not necessarily a size of your audience, but that the value and depth that you’re bringing to your audience,鈥� Swerdlin said.

In sticking with the ad-free model, Swerdlin says that he expects Portal to grow organically, with the team relying on word of mouth for its future growth. Without a huge amount of traction, battling a tech behemoth that is both deep-pocketed and culturally ubiquitous will undoubtedly prove to be a challenge.

鈥淥ur focus is on making sure that this is a product that solves content creators’ and publishers’ biggest problems and gives people a platform that they can trust, where they’re getting the very best content that’s made. If we do that correctly, then word of mouth will be our greatest marketing engine.鈥�

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