Developers of workplace robots, robotic surgery technologies, and even humanoid models have all raised large rounds in the past six months. The artificial intelligence funding boom has also helped boost the space, with investors backing big deals at the intersection of AI and robotics.

Altogether, robotics startups have pulled in over $4.2 billion in seed through growth-stage financing this year, per Crunchbase data. That puts funding on track to exceed last year’s muted levels, albeit still below its cyclical peak, as illustrated below.

Workplace robots

Where’s the money going? Per Crunchbase data, workplace robotics still accounts for the largest number of rounds, with startups looking to offset the need for human labor for tasks like delivering meals, pulling weeds and moving stuff in warehouses.

Among the largest recipients in this vein is San Francisco-based Bright Machines, a developer of software and robotics technology for factory manufacturing. The company raised $106 million in Series C funding, plus $20 million in debt, in a BlackRock-led financing announced Tuesday.

Another big round went to Silicon Valley-based Collaborative Robotics, which landed a $100 million General Catalyst-led Series B this spring. Its business model centers on building “cobots” or robots that can work alongside humans doing tasks like carrying boxes and moving industrial carts.

On the agtech front, Seattle-based Carbon Robotics has harvested a total of $85 million to date, with its latest funding raised in a May Series C. Its primary offering is an AI-enabled weeding robot that provides farmers a less labor-intensive way to reduce reliance on herbicides.

Redwood City, California-based Bear Robotics, meanwhile, snagged $60 million in an LG Electronics-led financing in March. The company makes a mobile robot capable of carrying trays or packages, which it markets to customers in hospitality, assisted living, warehouse operations and other industries.

Here come the humanoids

We’re also seeing large investments in startups developing humanoid robots — a staple of science fiction that has yet to penetrate everyday reality.

Sunnyvale, California-based Figure, which describes itself as an “AI robotics company bringing a general purpose humanoid to life,” was the biggest draw here, snapping up $675 million in a February Series B. It drew heavy interest from corporate investors, with Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon among its backers.

1X, a startup with dual headquarters in Norway and Silicon Valley, picked up $98 million in January to further development of its initial humanoid models. This includes NEO, whose human-like body is engineered with muscle-like anatomy, and EVE, a robot which resembles a human but with wheels instead of feet.

Per 1X, the humanoid robot represents the most logical form factor for integrating advanced processing and AI more deeply into the physical world. A research note on its website postulates that: “At its core, our world is designed by and for humans, which makes the human form the most effective means of interfacing with it.”

By and large, it’s still early days envisioning what these AI-powered humanoids might actually accomplish. The startup envisions them making contributions in industries including agriculture, construction and healthcare, with a particular focus on taking on dangerous and repetitive jobs.

Surgical robotics

Surgical robotics has also been a major area for robot-related startup investment over the years, and 2024 is no exception.

The biggest round went to MMI, a developer of technology for robotic-assisted microsurgical procedures that raised $110 million in a February Series C led by Fidelity. The company says its technology lets surgeons replicate movements of the human hand at the micro scale and can expand treatment options for patients needing soft tissue, open surgical procedures.

Most recently, Shanghai-based Ronovo Surgical raised $44 million in a Series B financing announced this month. The company develops a robotic-assisted system for laparoscopic surgeries.

Easy to appeal, harder to prove

Unlike many other startup sectors, founders of robotics companies usually don’t have trouble selling us on why we would want their products. After all, who wouldn’t want a robot to do jobs that are boring, backbreaking, hazardous and time-consuming for humans?

Moreover, as we face lower global population growth rates — particularly in developed economies — there won’t necessarily be enough people willing and able to do the work required to provide and maintain the level of services and infrastructure to which we’re accustomed.

The challenge is all about execution. Will today’s funded startups be capable of delivering on their visions with robotics technologies that are capable in their assigned tasks, scalable and affordable?

It’d certainly be nice to answer in the affirmative. Startup history, however, tells us that for every huge success story, there are usually many more that don’t make it.

Related Crunchbase Pro list:

Further reading:

• Collaborative Robotics Locks Up $100M, Latest Robot Startup To Raise Big
• The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Figure And Ascend Elements Climb To The Top

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Clarification: This story has changed since its original publication.

Those noteworthy machinations by some of the biggest names in tech are just the latest examples of these corporate giants’ desires to at best be leaders in the generative AI sector — and at worst not fall behind.

So far this year, out of the handful of tech titans putting big money in the space, Microsoft and Nvidia — along with their respective venture arms — are among the leaders when it comes to investing in VC-backed, AI-related startups, per Crunchbase data. However, others such as Google and Databricks are not far behind and are perhaps gaining.

Let’s take a look at Big Tech and where they are putting their cash.

Nvidia

Of course, no company has been more successful in the AI revolution than Nvidia (perhaps too successful if the government has anything to say about it — but we’ll get to that). The company has watched its market cap explode to nearly $3 billion as its earnings have outpaced predictions.

The company has spent some of the cash that has come pouring in, investing in 10 rounds involving VC-backed AI companies this year alone, per Crunchbase data. Those deals include seven rounds that were more than $100 million, including:

• Participating in Scale AI’s big $1 billion round led by Accel that valued the data labeling and evaluation startup at a stunning $13.8 billion. The new financing also included investment from Meta and Amazon
• Taking part in Sunnyvale, California-based Figure’s reportedly huge $675 million round at a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion. The company is developing AI-enhanced robots that it hopes will be able to perform dangerous jobs and alleviate labor shortages.
• Paris-based Mistral AI’s $640 million round — a mix of debt and equity — at a $6 billion, per a report in the Financial Times.

The company’s venture arm, NVentures, also joined the deal-making party. It has taken part in four deals this year — its biggest being leading an $85 million Series C for AI-powered farming robotics company Carbon Robotics.

Last year, Nvidia completed 22 funding deals in AI itself, along with another 10 by NVentures.

Microsoft

Of course it was early last year that Microsoft launched the loudest shot in the AI arms race — agreeing to a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment into OpenAI, the startup behind the artificial intelligence tools ChatGPT and DALL-E for a reported $10 billion.

Microsoft has not stopped making significant waves in AI investing since.

The biggest was its huge $1.5 billion strategic investment in United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence firm G42 to take a minority stake in the startup.

However, that has not been the only deal the Widows developer has made this year. The company has made a quartet of deals — per Crunchbase data —while its always very active venture arm, M12, has made seven.

Three of the four deals it took part in have been large — at least $675 million — including a $1.05 billion round for London-based self-driving car startup Wayve, as well as the aforementioned Figure round.

All of that is not to even mention Microsoft’s deal in March with Inflection AI to pay the startup $650 million to license its AI software and hire most of its staff. The deal — seemingly framed in a way to get around any regulatory hurdles since it is not officially an acquisition — once again showed the tech titan’s insatiable appetite for all things AI.

The biggest deal M12 has taken part in meanwhile, was a $80 million round for Palo Alto, California-based Foundry, which is developing a public cloud purpose-built for ML workloads.

Last year, Microsoft and M12 made a total of 21 investments in AI-related startups.

Google

Not far behind those AI behemoths is Google and its venture arm, GV, which combined have done seven deals involving VC-backed startups.

However, unlike Microsoft and Nvidia, Google’s dealmaking has been on the smaller side so far this year. No round it has invested in has been more than $57 million. In fact, Google itself has only invested in seed rounds for AI-related startups.

GV probably made the most interesting deal, co-leading a $27.5 million Series A for WitnessAI, a startup specializing in guardrails to make AI more safe and usable.

There’s more

Several other Big Tech firms, as well their investment arms, like Qualcomm and Salesforce have taken part in a few funding deals this year for AI-related startups, but not at the pace of the group above.

However, a still-private company has made considerable noise in the investing space as it has made no secret of its AI intentions. Databricks just last month announced a new Databricks AI Fund as part of Databricks Ventures.

The venture arm was already involved in eight deals this year — some pretty big — before announcing the fund.

Databricks Ventures took part in the $200 million Series D for AI-enhanced work assistant and enterprise search startup Glean that valued the startup at $2.2 billion. It also was involved in AI search startup Perplexity AI’s $73.6 million Series B led by IVP — which also included the likes of Nvidia and Jeff Bezos.

A possible warning

Although there have been no signs of corporate investment in the AI space slowing, last week’s news that both the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department would launch probes looking at Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia could help send a chill into the AI investing ethos.

While there is no evidence thus far that the DOJ will examine Nvidia’s investment dealings, it has been reported the FTC will probe Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI, as well as Microsoft’s actions in the Inflection AI situation.

The dual probes could make both companies pause their startup investing — even if that is not the focus of the investigations — until it’s clear how the regulators’ actions may affect their business, if at all.

It also could make other large corporations reconsider some deals, as to not be the next to fall under enhanced scrutiny.

If that happens, venture funding could hit another lull. In May, companies in the AI sector raised 40% of venture funding for the month with $12.5 billion invested across more than 250 companies, based on Crunchbase data.

With AI propping up VC investing right now, the last thing many in the venture — or AI — industry would want to see is Big Tech go away.

Related Crunchbase Pro lists:

• Nvidia’s AI Investments
• Microsoft’s AI Investments
• M12’s AI Investments

Related reading:

• AI Investing Boom Is Not New To Tech Giants (At Least Not Their VC Arms)
• Scale AI Raises $1B In Accel-Led Round; Hits $13.8B Valuation
• Eye On AI: Microsoft Remains Infatuated With AI Startups, And It’s Not Just Inflection And OpenAI
• Salesforce, Nvidia, Cisco Invest In AI Startup Cohere At $5B Valuation — Report
• US Regulators To Take A Look Into Microsoft, Nvidia And OpenAI

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Through the middle of May, funding is less than half of what it was at the same point last year, per Crunchbase data, despite the war in Ukraine continuing into its third year and tensions in the Middle East running high. 

In Q1, funding to startups in the industries of military, national security and law enforcement dropped to $118 million, a 74% drop from the $459 million invested in such startups in Q1 of last year.

(chart)

For the year through the middle of Q2, only $228 million has been raised by defense startups, a 62% decline from the nearly $600 million raised though the same point last year  — although obviously that could change drastically if the reported Anduril round of $1.5 billion at a $12.5 billion valuation becomes official.

Where’s the cash?

Speaking of Anduril, it was that software and hardware defense tech startup that seemed to prompt many to re-notice the industry once again in late 2022, when it closed a massive $1.5 billion Series E.

Defense tech has often been a hard sell to venture investors, who sometimes do not want to invest in it for their own moral reasons or due to pressure from LPs, despite technologies developed by startups being used by the military for decades.

However, the big round to Anduril — the fourth-largest round raised by a U.S.-based startup in 2022 — seemed to spur on a gold rush for defense startups last year.

That eventually led to a flourish of funding at the end of the year, when defense tech startups raised a whopping $802 million. The big deals that quarter included:

• Shield AI, a defense and aerospace startup creating AI pilots, raised a $200 million Series F at a $2.7 billion valuation in a round co-led by Riot Ventures and Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund in October. The round comes less than a year after the San Diego-based company was valued at $2.2 billion after raising $60 million in December 2022.
• In December, Gecko Robotics, which creates robots to assess the safety and condition of critical infrastructure, raised an additional $100 million in a Series C extension led by some big names — the US Innovative Technology Fund and Founders Fund. The Pittsburgh-based robotics startup announced a $73 million Series C in March 2022. 
• Later in December, Centennial, Colorado-based True Anomaly, which develops hardware and software systems to help space security and readiness, raised $100 million in a round led by Riot Ventures. The company’s valuation was not disclosed, but Bloomberg reported it was not yet $1 billion. The startup helps the government and commercial customers keep an eye on threats to assets they have in space, such as satellites.

Defense tech investment slows

However, the first four-and-a-half months of this year have told a different story. 

There have been no nine-figure raises in the space. In fact, the largest this calendar year have been:

• This month, Kihei, Hawaii-based satellite-tracking software developer Privateer raised a $56.5 million round led by space-focused venture capital firm Aero X Ventures and acquired the analytics firm Orbital Insight.
• In March, Colorado Springs, Colorado-based Defense Unicorns, a software startup that provides open-source software and AI capabilities for national security systems, raised a $35 million Series A.
• Also this month, Tucson, Arizona-based World View, a stratospheric exploration startup, locked up a $25 million Series D.

Of course, those numbers may not tell the complete story of defense tech funding.

The industry is hard to define. One of this month’s biggest rounds — Scale AI raising $1 billion in a round led by Accel that values the data labeling and evaluation startup at a stunning $13.8 billion — isn’t a defense tech company per se, but its data labeling and evaluation technology is used in defense applications.

So while funding to startups staunchly in the sector is down, many other overlapping sectors such as cybersecurity and robotics have seen an increase in funding from Q4 2023 to Q1 of this year.

In cybersecurity, cybersecurity startups raised nearly $2.7 billion in Q1 2024, a 69% increase from the previous quarter, when cyber startups raised just $1.6 billion, per Crunchbase data.

The same is true for robotics. Venture funding in the sector jumped from $1.4 billion in Q4 2023 to $2.1 billion last quarter, per Crunchbase data.

It’s also important to remember that due to the small numbers associated with defense tech funding, one big round can make a significant difference. Anduril raising a billion dollars or two certainly would change the complexion of any quarter.

Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that funding has significantly slowed in the sector — even if temporarily.

Methodology

Defense tech is defined by the industries of military, national security and law enforcement, according to Crunchbase data. Most announced rounds are represented in the database; however, there could be a small time lag for rounds reported late in the quarter.

Related Crunchbase Pro query:

• Defense Tech Funding

Related reading:

• Venture To Defense Tech Startups Still Lags, But Experts Say Interest Is Growing
• Defense Tech Startup Shield AI Raises $200M At $2.7B Valuation

Illustration: Dom Guzman

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

It was again not a bad week for raising big. Two rounds to U.S.-based startups this week hit a quarter-billion dollars or more, and there were eight rounds of $100 million or more. Once again, biotech made up nearly a third of the list while some other sectors that don’t usually make the list — developer platform and analytics — were represented. 

1. Uniquity Bio, $300M, biotech: It has become pretty much the norm to start off these lists with a big biotech raise. This week it was a brand-new company launched by Blackstone Life Sciences — a unit of the private equity giant — along with a sizable $300 million investment. The new startup is a clinical-stage drug development company focused on immunology and inflammation. The company already has FDA acceptance of its Phase 2 investigational new drug application for one of its medicines.

2. Vercel, $250M, developer platform: Vercel, a platform that allows companies to develop web applications in the cloud, locked up a $250 million Series E at a valuation of $3.25 billion. The round was led by Accel, with participation from other existing investors including CRV, GV, Notable Capital (previously GGV Capital), Bedrock, Geodesic Capital, Tiger Global, 8VC and SV Angel 1. The new round is an upround from Vercel’s 2021 raise, when it secured $150 million in a Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation led by GGV Capital. The San Francisco-based company allows developers to use an open-source framework to create web applications, and tries to simplify the process to migrate websites to cloud infrastructure to help with accessibility. Vercel has a number of big-name customers such as Under Armour, Unity and Nintendo. The company says it recently surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue and more than 1 million monthly active developers. Founded in 2015, the company has raised $568 million, per Crunchbase.

3. Sigma, $200M, analytics: Cloud analytics startup Sigma raised a $200 million Series D co-led by Spark Capital and Avenir Growth Capital. Similar to Vercel, it was an upround from the company’s last financing. The San Francisco-based company says the valuation was a 60% increase from its $300 million Series C led by D1 Capital Partners and XN in 2021 and it was reported the new valuation was $1.5 billion. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $581 million, per Crunchbase.

4. Restaurant365, $175M, accounting: It was only about a year ago that Restaurant365 made this list, and now the startup is back with an even bigger raise. The Irvine, California-based startup raised a $175 million round led by Iconiq Growth this week, after locking up a $135 million round co-led by KKR and L Catterton at a $1 billion valuation last May. Restaurant365 offers enterprise management software for restaurants, helping them take care of accounting, payroll, supply chain and more. Founded in 2011, the company has raised more than $438 million, per Crunchbase.

5. The Bot Company, $150M, robotics: No one likes cleaning the house, and perhaps soon you won’t have to anymore. Kyle Vogt, founder and former CEO of autonomous car startup Cruise, unveiled his newest startup this week. The Bot Company aims to develop robots that do “chores” for people. Nothing else much was disclosed about the company or what exactly those chores will be. The $150 million seed funding came from the likes of Quiet Capital, Stripe’s Patrick Collison and John Collison, and others. Vogt left Cruise last year after a Cruise car hit and dragged a woman in San Francisco, causing regulators to suspend Cruise’s license to operate in California.

6. Weka, $140M, data: Weka locked up a $140 million Series E — raised in both a primary and secondary transaction — that values the data platform at $1.6 billion. The valuation is more than double what the company was last valued at after a $135 million Series D led by Generation Investment Management in late 2022. At the time, it was reported that the Campbell, California-based startup had a $750 million valuation after the raise. The new round was led by Valor Equity Partners. Weka helps companies move data between sources faster and more efficiently — something mandatory for companies building AI projects. Founded in 2013, Weka has now raised $375 million, according to Crunchbase. Its new round is just the latest big raise for an AI infrastructure company. In February, Lambda which offers cloud computing services and hardware for training artificial intelligence software, hit unicorn status after a $320 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation. And earlier this month, AI cloud infrastructure startup CoreWeave locked up a $1.1 billion round led by Coatue that values the company at $19 billion, per The Wall Street Journal. 

7. Lycia Therapeutics, $107M, biotech: South San Francisco-based Lycia Therapeutics, a biotech company developing therapeutics that degrade extracellular and membrane-bound proteins that drive autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, completed a $106.6 million Series C led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners. Founded in 2019, the company has raised nearly $227 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Alkira, $100M, cloud infrastructure: San Jose, California-based Alkira, which allows companies to manage hybrid cloud assets, closed a $100 million Series C led by Tiger Global Management. Founded in 2018, Alkira has raised $176 million, per the company.

9. (tied). Ajax Therapeutics, $95M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Ajax Therapeutics, which is developing a drug for the bone marrow cancer myelofibrosis, raised a $95 million Series C led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Founded in 2019, the company has raised $135 million, per Crunchbase.

9. (tied). ByHeart, $95M, nutrition: New York-based ByHeart, an infant formula brand, locked up a $95 million  financing from undisclosed investors. The company also announced two new production facilities in Oregon and Iowa — allowing ByHeart to triple its supply capacity. Founded in 2016, ByHeart has raised a total of $395 million from investors including D1 Capital Partners, Polaris Partners and others.

Big global deals

U.S.-based startups led the way when it came to big rounds this week by far, as there were no nine-figure rounds raised globally. The biggest round outside the U.S. came from down under.

• Australian-based Cover Genius, an insurance distribution platform for customers of e-commerce companies, raised an $80 million Series E.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of May 11 to May 17. 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: Dom Guzman

The big names came out strong with their checkbooks last month.

The top five firms investing in U.S.-based startups were a who’s who of venture: Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Lux Capital and Founders Fund. Those five firms made a combined 46 investments in U.S. startups in April.

In fact, April’s totals were a high for each firm this year.

As one would suspect, these firms didn’t just lead the pack in terms of deal volume, but also took part in some of the biggest rounds of the month. Let’s take a look at some of those deals.

General Catalyst, 10 deals

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm was one of three that made 10 investments into U.S.-based startups last month. That’s the most deals for General Catalyst in one month since last November.

The firm led Collaborative Robotics’ $100 million Series B and took part in Ramp’s $150 million round that valued the startup at $7.65 billion (actually, every firm on this list took part in that round).

General Catalyst also went heavy on the AI investing route with deals for the likes of cyber company Andesite AI and research startup Symbolica AI.

Khosla Ventures, 10 deals

Similar to General Catalyst, Khosla made the most deals last month with U.S. startups since last October when it completed 11 deals.

Also similar to General Catalyst, it took part in the rounds for Collaborative Robotics and Ramp (which it actually co-led). Khosla also participated in Varda’s $90 million Series B. The San Francisco-based startup manufactures pharmaceuticals in space in microgravity that may not be cost-effective to make on the ground.

Sequoia Capital, 10 deals

The last of the trio of firms that made 10 deals last month is Sequoia Capital. The VC giant has not done that many deals since before 2023.

Sequoia also went big. The firm participated in the Collaborative Robotics and Ramp deals. It also participated in the gigantic $1 billion raise by Xaira Therapeutics, a startup at the intersection of AI and biotech.

Finally, it co-led enterprise browser developer Island’s big $175 million Series D with Coatue that valued the company at $3 billion — doubling its last valuation from less than a year earlier.

Founders Fund, 8 deals

Founders Fund is next on the list with eight deals done last month. That’s more than it has done all year with U.S. startups, with only five investments through the first three months.

Last month’s Founders Fund deals included co-leading the Ramp deal and taking part in Rippling’s $200 million round that valued the San Francisco-based startup at $13.5 billion.

Founders Fund also led a $175 million investment for San Francisco-based Cognition, which valued the startup at $2 billion. The 6-month-old startup has developed an artificial intelligence–powered coding assistant called Devin.

Lux Capital, 8 deals

New York-based Lux rounds out our list. The eight announced deals matched its total for the first three months of the year.

It also took part in the deals for Collaborative Robotics, Ramp, Varda and Xaira, while co-leading a $32 million venture round for digitized documents startup Ripcord.

Also notable:

• FJ Labs, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV and 8VC 1 all came in next on the list with seven deals apiece.
• Khosla Ventures led the way in terms of the most led or co-led deals last month with six, followed by General Catalyst with five.
• Arch Venture Partners once again led the list for number of rounds led or co-led with the highest dollar amounts, leading or co-leading three rounds that in total were worth almost $1.4 billion. Of course, the firm’s biggest deal was co-leading Xaira Therapeutics’ massive $1 billion-plus raise with Foresite Capital.
• Y Combinator was the top investing incubator and accelerator once again last month, with an astounding 111 deals in April following its most recent demo day.

Methodology

This is a list of investors which took part in the most rounds involving U.S.-based startups. It does not include incubators or accelerators due to the fluctuations their investment numbers can have.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Dozens of companies once valued in the billions have seen their valuations wither and their share prices nosedive to penny-stock territory. In response, a growing number are choosing to exit public markets and try their luck once again as private companies.

A couple weeks ago, genetic testing provider 23andMe became the latest candidate to try out this route. The company announced that its CEO and founder, Anne Wojcicki, is considering acquiring all the outstanding shares she does not currently own. Her proposal follows more than three years of mostly disastrous performance on Nasdaq, with shares recently valued around 50 cents each.

23andMe is not alone. In recent months we’ve seen a spate of struggling SPACs also announce plans to go private. Standouts include:

• View, a maker of smart glass for high-end buildings, announced last month that it entered into an agreement with investors to become a private company and pursue a  Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Prior to going public in early 2021, Milpitas, California-based View had raised more than $1.8 billion in venture funding. It struggled early on as a public company, with a history of losses and persistent doubt over its solvency.
• The board of Astra, a provider of low-cost launch services for small satellites, voted in March to go private after a troubled three-year run as a public company. The plan calls for selling to a parent company formed by Astra CEO Chris Kemp, CTO Adam London and other long-term investors. After debuting on Nasdaq in 2021 at a $2.1 billion valuation, the Alameda, California-based company had a recent market cap around $15 million.
• Berkshire Grey, a developer of robotics technology for warehouses, made its market debut via SPAC merger in July 2021. Just 20 months later, after shedding a couple billion from its peak valuation, the Bedford, Massachusetts, company announced it would once again go private. The plan called for existing shareholder SoftBank to acquire all remaining outstanding stock in a deal valued around $375 million.
• Greenlight Biosciences, a biotech developing RNA products for health and agriculture, went public in early 2022 near the tail end of the SPAC boom, at an initial valuation around $1.2 billion. It didn’t go well. A little over a year later, in May 2023, Medford, Massachusetts-based Greenlight announced it would go private via an investor group led by existing shareholder Fall Line Capital in a deal valuing the company at $45.5 million.

None of these are case studies in successful post-IPO performance. Founders and early backers undoubtedly hoped they’d generate more lasting enthusiasm on public markets.

But given the options at hand when shares sink to sub-$1 levels, going private certainly isn’t the worst. It helps that in most of the cases listed above, the owners of the newly private company are founders or long-term shareholders with a deep understanding of the business.

Additionally, while no one likes seeing valuations crumble, at least a case could be made that there’s plenty of potential upside at current levels.

Related reading:

• 2020 Is The Year Of The SPAC
• Smart-Glass Maker View’s Outlook Shatters, Smashing SoftBank SPAC Dreams

Spring is here, baseball’s back and days are longer, so it’s pretty easy to miss some of the more intriguing rounds announced by startups in April.

Don’t worry, we selected a quintet of eye-catching startups raising cash that will keep you up on what you may have missed in the past month.

Fighting fire with … robots?

California has seen 13 of the state’s 20 most destructive wildfires in history since 2017. Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that a startup nestled in San Francisco is looking at ways to prevent such disasters.

BurnBot raised $20 million in financing led by ReGen Ventures last month. The robotics startup says it has developed remote-controlled vehicles — which look basically like a Zamboni — that can eat up and burn away plants or other dry vegetation that fuel destructive wildfires.

The idea is a good one as it tries to move the fire-prevention industry away from more dangerous or slow-moving solutions such as grazing away the vegetation with goats, burning it off or using toxic herbicides.

California aims to treat 1 million acres annually and the U.S. Forest Service has a goal of treating 50 million acres over the coming decade. Maybe a vegetation-eating Zamboni is just what’s needed.

Better diagnoses

All parents want what’s best for their children. But getting the right diagnoses and the proper care can be difficult the younger a child is, especially for developmental issues such as autism.

Decatur, Georgia-based EarliTec Diagnostics raised cash last month to help, locking up a $21.5 million Series B co-led by Nexus NeuroTech Ventures, which focuses on companies trying to treat brain disorders, and Venture Investors.

The startup says it can diagnose children as young as 16 months old. That’s important since studies suggest the earlier a child gets diagnosed the better the developmental outcomes.

EarliTech uses an FDA-authorized approach in which a child watches videos of social interactions on a screen and AI tracks the child’s eye movements to assess the level of function on characteristics of autism — social disability, verbal ability and nonverbal learning.

Autism is on the rise, with 1 in 36 children in the U.S. diagnosed with it — up from the previous rate of 1 in 44 — per the CDC. Getting earlier diagnoses may not stop that trend but could certainly help with care and development.

Animal-free eggs and ham?

Well, folks looking for animal-free eggs likely won’t be pairing them with ham, but they may soon be able to find such a thing more easily.

Helsinki-based Onego Bio raised a big $40 million round last month led by Japanese-Nordic VC NordicNinja. The startup aims to manufacture real egg protein entirely animal-free.

While animal-free meat has been a thing for a while, we are not as familiar with animal-free eggs. The startup uses fermentation to manufacture real egg protein entirely animal-free using  their ingredient, Bioalbumen.

Onego claims the product results in identical taste and nutrition, and more than a 90% smaller environmental footprint, compared to eggs from chickens. The company plans to use the fresh cash to scale up its North American go-to-market strategy, so it may be in the grocery store aisles on this side of the Atlantic sooner rather than later.

Let it rain

This is definitely the first time two Finnish startups have made this list.

NPHarvest snatched up about $2.4 million in a round led by Nordic Foodtech VC. The Finland-based startup has developed hardware for the collection and recycling of nutrients from wastewaters such as rain. The company plans to use the cash to build its first commercially ready “Nutrient Catcher,” which will be installed at its clients’ facilities.

The startup says its treatment equipment is able to separate and collect all excess nutrients from wastewaters — mainly ammonia salt — which can then be recycled and used in fertilizer.

Getting the most out of wastewater to help with food insecurity isn’t necessarily a new idea, but this method is novel.

Breaking down plastic

Colossal Biosciences — which is trying to solve de-extinction — has made this list before, but now the Dallas-based unicorn is incubating companies making this list.

Breaking, a plastic degradation and synthetic biology company, launched in April and announced it’s already raised a $10.5 million seed round from the likes of Climate Capital, Carnrite Ventures, Builders VC and Animal Capital.

The Boston-based company says it has discovered a microbe, called X-32, that destroys multiple types of plastics by quickly breaking down hydrocarbon chains across different chemical structures.

According to the company, the microbe can degrade 90% of polyolefins, polyesters and polyamides — leaving behind carbon dioxide, water and biomass — in as little as 22 months.

Plastics are a growing environmental problem — 5 billion tons of plastic are sitting in landfills, oceans and our ecosystems, per Breaking — so a new microbe that can make it degrade faster may be part of the solution.

Related reading:

• Startups Still See A Future In Familiar Foods Made With Weird Ingredients

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Venture funding to AI-related startups actually increased in Q1 2024 compared to Q4 2023, Crunchbase data shows. The first quarter saw $12.2 billion invested in venture-backed AI startups in 1,166 deals. The dollar number represents a modest 4% uptick from last year’s final quarter, which saw $11.7 billion go to similar startups in 1,072 deals.

It is, however, a 25% drop from the $16.3 billion seen in Q1 last year, although the important caveat there is that was the quarter of OpenAI’s epic $10 billion-plus round from Microsoft — the biggest of several huge rounds last year that put AI funding into hyperdrive.

Big rounds down

In fact, last quarter saw only one $1 billion round, whereas there were several last year that helped push AI funding to never-seen-before levels. In Q1 there were only three rounds of more than $320 million. While that is still impressive, it seemed like such rounds were being raised every week by an AI startup just last summer as the sector saw some of the biggest raises of 2023.

The three biggest AI-related rounds of the quarter were:

• In February, China’s artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI raised more than $1 billion in a funding round led by the Alibaba Group Holding and HongShan, formerly Sequoia Capital China.
• That same month, Sunnyvale, California-based Figure — which is creating AI-enhanced robots — reportedly raised a huge $675 million round at a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion. Big-name investors in the round include Jeff Bezos’ Explore Investments and Nvidia among others. The company is developing AI-enhanced robots that it hopes will be able to perform dangerous jobs and alleviate labor shortages.
• In March, China-based MiniMax, which is developing AI tech to convert text into visual and audio components, raised a $600 million Series B.

Regardless of the possible big-round slowdown, those writing checks to startups are seeing significant interest in the still evolving market.

“AI is real, just like SaaS or e-commerce,” said Michael Marks, who invests in AI/ML startups and is founding managing partner at San Francisco-based Celesta Capital.

Marks, who sits on the board of AI startups including Whiterabbit.ai, H2O.ai and Quartic.ai, said while valuations have fluctuated in the AI space, startups that apply artificial intelligence to specific industries or problems — examples being video surveillance, insurance or healthcare — are continuing to see investor interest, as well as hardware plays.

In fact, recent deals show just how investors are still willing to put a premium on some companies in the space. This month, it was reported AI search startup Perplexity AI would seek another $250 million-plus in funding at a valuation between $2.5 billion and $3 billion the same day the company officially announced a $62.7 million round that reportedly values the company at more than $1 billion. It was only in January that the company raised a $73.6 million Series B that valued it at $520 million.

What’s next

Venture capitalists and strategics may also be excited about what they see on the public market. While everyone has noted Nvidia’s surging stock price, Astera Labs, a developer of data center connectivity technology with use cases in generative AI, went public at the very end of the quarter and has watched its shares soar

Such activity likely will only increase investors’ appetite for AI, as an active exit market only creates more enthusiasm.

However, not all news has been great for AI startups recently. Just this month, troubled artificial intelligence startup Stability AI — which raised a $101 million round led by Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners and O’Shaughnessy Ventures in 2022 — laid off 10% of its workforce, per a report. Another AI startup, Tome, which has developed a generative AI presentation tool launched a couple of years ago, announced it had let go of about 20% of its nearly 60 people.

It’s impossible to say if those layoffs could be a harbinger of a slowdown in AI, but such moves can be caused by an inability to get secure funding. However, based on what the past year-plus has shown, it seems unlikely investors are done opening their checkbooks for AI-related tech.

Related Crunchbase Pro query:

• Rounds Raised By Startups Using AI

Related reading:

• Microsoft Agrees To Multibillion-Dollar Deal With OpenAI
• Perplexity Looks To Raise $250M-Plus At Valuation Of $2.5B Or More — Report
• Stability AI Lays Off 10% Of Staff — Report
• Astera Shares Soar Following IPO

Illustration: Dom Guzman

The newly announced round was first reported last month and was led by Daniel Gross. It also included investors such as  Nvidia, IVP, NEA, Jeff Bezos and Garry Tan among others. The new round reportedly values the company at more than $1 billion.

However, per a report in TechCrunch, the AI search engine startup is far from done, engaging investors in talks of a mega-round that would increase that valuation by at least 150%. IVP and NEA were said to be looking at participating in the new round.

It was just in January the company raised a $73.6 million Series B led by IVP that valued it at $520 million.

The rapid succession of rounds is just another indication of investors’ insatiable appetite for AI. Perplexity is particularly interesting since it shows investors and strategics are willing to back a young startup looking to take on the invincible search titan Google.

More money

Perplexity was not the only startup to reportedly be raising big bucks Tuesday.

Skild, a startup emerging from Carnegie Mellon University that is developing software for robots, is reportedly raising nearly $300 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue and others at a $1.5 billion valuation, per The Information.

That round is just the latest in a flurry of deals involving young robotic startups.

Earlier this month, Santa Clara, California-based Collaborative Robotics locked up $100 million in a Series B led by General Catalyst. In February, Sunnyvale, California-based Figure raised a huge $675 million round at a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion. Big-name investors in that round included Jeff Bezos’ Explore Investments and Nvidia among others.

Related reading:

• Perplexity Poised To Become Latest AI Startup To Hit Unicorn Status — Report
• Collaborative Robotics Locks Up $100M, Latest Robot Startup To Raise Big

Illustration: Dom Guzman

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

At this point it’s fair to say the big, nine-figure round is back. Since February, this list has been made up of typically six or seven such rounds after months with usually just a couple such rounds every week. This week, there are eight $100 million-or-more rounds (almost nine!), including some massive raises. Investors are not afraid to write the big check right now for the right startup.

1. Cyera, $300M, cybersecurity: While it is true cybersecurity funding has significantly slowed, it certainly has not dried up. Data security startup Cyera raised a $300 million Series C led by Coatue at a $1.4 billion valuation. The round nearly triples the New York-based startup’s valuation from its $100 million Series B last June which valued it at $500 million. Founded in 2021, Cyera has raised $460 million to date, per the company. Cyera offers a platform that helps security teams at companies understand what data they have and how it’s used, as well as how to secure it — all of which has become more important with companies relying on data to drive AI initiatives. The startup also uses AI in its platform to assess risks a companies’ data represents regarding security, privacy and regulatory compliance.

2. Monad Labs, $225M, blockchain: New York-based Monad Labs locked up the biggest Web3 funding round of the year thus far, collecting a $225 million funding round led by Paradigm. Monad is a layer-1 blockchain that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine but can process transactions using the same set of rules faster. The round is reminiscent of the 2021-22 era when layer-1 protocols like Aptos Labs raised big. Founded in 2022, the company has raised $244 million, per Crunchbase.

3. Torl BioTherapeutics, $158M, biotech: It was just about a year ago that Los Angeles-based biopharmaceutical company Torl BioTherapeutics closed a $158 million Series B led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Well, the cancer-treating biotech is back this week after it closed a B-2 financing at another $158 million led by Deep Track Capital. The startup will use the new cash in the development of novel, antibody-based therapeutics to fight cancer. Founded in 2018, Torl has raised more than $350 million, per the company.

4. Guesty, $130M, hospitality: People love to travel and they seem to love to stay at short-term rentals. Guesty, a property management software platform for those rentals, raised a big $130 million Series F led by KKR India Asset Finance this week to help property managers keep up with that demand. The Covina, California-based startup operates in more than 80 countries and will use the fresh cash to continue its U.S. expansion. Founded in 2013, the company has raised nearly $411 million, per Crunchbase.

5. Platform Science, $125M, transportation: San Diego-based Platform Science, an edge application platform for transportation fleets, raised $125 million. The company did not name a lead investor, but investors in the round included Daimler Trucks and RyderVentures among others. The startup’s platform helps equip enterprise commercial fleets with mobile devices and applications for better flexibility, visibility and productivity. Founded in 2015, the company has raised nearly $323 million, per Crunchbase.

6. (tied) Collaborative Robotics, $100M, robotics: Santa Clara, California-based Collaborative Robotics locked up a $100 million Series B led by General Catalyst. Collaborative has raised over $140 million since being founded in 2022, per the company.

6. (tied) FloQast, $100M, accounting: Los Angeles-based FloQast, a finance and accounting operations platform, closed a $100 million Series E led by Iconiq Growth at a post-money valuation of $1.6 billion. Founded in 2013, the company has raised nearly $303 million, per Crunchbase.

6. (tied) Seaport Therapeutics, $100M, biotech: It is no surprise, as the dangers of depression and anxiety become more apparent in society, that more startups are looking to conquer the illnesses. Boston-based Seaport Therapeutics launched this week to do just that. The biotech startup raised a $100 million Series A co-led by Arch Venture Partners and Sofinnova Investments. The biotech company focuses on medicines for depression, anxiety and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

9. Nectero Medical, $96M, biotech: Tempe, Arizona-based Nectero Medical, a clinical-stage biotech startup developing therapies to treat aneurysmal disease, closed a $96 million Series D led by Norwest Venture Partners. Founded in 2017, the company has raised nearly $116 million, per Crunchbase.

10. Grow Therapy, $88M, healthcare: New York-based Grow Therapy, a software developer for the mental health industry, closed an $88 million Series C led by Sequoia Capital. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $178 million, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

The second-biggest round of the week went to a European startup specializing in loans and investments.

• Spain-based Aquisgran, a financial services firm, raised a venture round worth nearly $277 million.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of April 6 to 12. 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: Dom Guzman