Rome-based cybersecurity startup Exein has raised $270 million in a funding round led by Headline, achieving unicorn status with a $1.7 billion valuation. The company provides AI-powered security solutions for physical AI devices including robots, drones, and autonomous machines.
Temporal has raised $550 million in a Series E funding round led by Lightspeed, more than doubling its valuation to $12.55 billion in seven months. The software startup is seen as benefiting from the AI boom, with CEO Samar Abbas discussing AI safety concerns and the need to audit AI agents.
Swedish healthtech startup Tandem Health has secured $100 million in Series B funding led by the EU-backed €5 billion Scaleup Europe Fund, with participation from existing investors including Kinnevik, Northzone, Amino Collective, and Visionaries.
Maven Robotics has emerged from stealth mode with a $100 million Series A funding round and is actively competing to take over a large enterprise robot deployment contract from an existing vendor. The startup, which had only a concept and team in 2024, is now deploying general-purpose AI robots for warehouses and factories.
AI company Anthropic has postponed its highly anticipated initial public offering, now planning to begin marketing in mid-October and complete the listing before the US mid-term elections in November. The blockbuster IPO is expected to value the company at approximately $2 trillion, with the delay pushing the prospectus release from next week to late September.
AI security startup HiddenLayer has raised $100 million in Series B funding, three years after its $50 million Series A round. The company is expanding beyond model protection to address emerging threats in AI agents, open models, and enterprise AI systems.
David Lawrence, a Harvard Law School dropout, has raised $6 million in funding for Blue Voice, a startup building an AI assistant that helps police officers quickly access answers from complex police regulations and procedures. The company was inspired by a controversial on-campus shooting involving a police officer.
Andreessen Horowitz has closed a $1.1 billion Machine Age Fund dedicated to investing in the physical infrastructure layer of artificial intelligence, including chips, cooling systems, robotics, and data center hardware as AI rack power density approaches 1 megawatt.
Instinct, a year-old AI assistant startup founded by a 23-year-old, has raised $250 million in Series B funding at a $2.5 billion valuation. The consumer-focused assistant has gained popularity among Silicon Valley tech workers but faces questions about personal data access.
Autonomous trucking company Gatik has raised $200 million in Series D funding led by Qatar Investment Authority and Koch Disruptive Technologies to scale its driverless freight operations across North America. The company plans to grow its autonomous fleet past 100 trucks this year as demand accelerates from major retailers and food companies.
Generalist AI, a San Mateo-based startup developing artificial intelligence software for robots, has raised approximately $200 million in funding led by 8VC, bringing its total capital raised past $650 million and valuing the company at over $2 billion. Investors are betting on robotics approaching a 'ChatGPT moment' where machines can handle diverse tasks without task-specific training.
Starcloud, a startup developing satellites that can perform AI inference in orbit, has raised $250 million in an extension to its March Series A funding round, bringing its valuation to $2.3 billion. The company is building data centers in space as launch access becomes increasingly constrained.
San Francisco-based venture firm Reach Capital has closed its fifth and largest fund at $265 million, targeting early-stage AI startups building applications designed to augment human capabilities rather than replace workers. The 11-year-old firm's thesis focuses on backing founders developing AI to 'expand human potential.'
The Justice Department is investigating whether Andreessen Horowitz investment partners are improperly serving on the boards of competing artificial intelligence companies. The probe has been ongoing for nearly a year.
Process intelligence startup Skan AI has raised $63 million in Series C funding co-led by Cathay Innovation and Dell Technologies Capital. The company builds a 'context graph of work' by observing how employees perform tasks across enterprise software, creating a map that AI agents can use to automate workflows.
SoftBank Group reported an 18% drop in fiscal first quarter profit as higher costs offset investment gains, though the company received a significant boost from Intel's tripled share price during the quarter. The results highlight mixed performance in the technology investor's AI-focused portfolio.
Zenity, an Israel-based cybersecurity platform specializing in AI agent security and governance, has raised $125 million in Series C funding led by Norwest, with participation from SoftBank, Hitachi, and LG. The round brings the company's total funding to $185 million as enterprises race to secure the growing deployment of autonomous AI agents.
San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup Horizon3 announced a $250 million Series E funding round that values the company at over $2 billion, more than tripling its $650 million valuation from June 2025. The company specializes in autonomous penetration testing and AI-driven security solutions.
Etched, an AI chip startup founded by three Harvard dropouts in 2022, has closed a $300 million Series C funding round led by Sequoia Capital, more than doubling its valuation to $10.3 billion. The company specializes in chips optimized for transformer-based AI models.
Tiger Global led a $180 million Series B valuing Augustus at $1 billion, funding its bid to become a federally chartered stablecoin clearing bank, Augustus Bank, N.A., with OCC conditional approval secured in May 2026.
London-based Humanoid secured $152 million in Series A funding at a $1.35 billion post-money valuation, led by Prime Movers Lab with participation from Bosch and Schaeffler. The two-year-old company, which develops industrial humanoid robots including its HMND 01 model, has now raised $270 million total.
Europe's largest-ever defense startup funding round, with Munich-based Helsing securing $1.8 billion in Series E capital at an $18 billion valuation, led by Dragoneer and Lightspeed, with participation from Goldman Sachs Alternatives, ICONIQ, JPMorgan Chase, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son announced plans to remain CEO for another decade or more, abandoning his retirement plan and setting a bold $6.189 trillion net asset value target built on AI promises.
Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings led a $1.4 billion Series C funding round for German startup Neura Robotics, which develops AI-powered humanoid robots. The round also included participation from Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Amazon, marking one of the largest investments in physical AI and humanoid robotics to date.
Shield AI was selected by the Pentagon for a low-cost drone program as Iran war accelerates demand for affordable drones, following the company's recent $1 billion funding round that valued it at $12.7 billion.
Enterprise AI company Unframe secured $50 million in new funding led by Highland Europe, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, TLV Partners, and Third Point Ventures, after achieving $100 million in contract value.
Anthropic has agreed to terms on a $30 billion fundraise that would value the Claude AI developer at $900 billion pre-money, according to Financial Times reporting. The round could close soon and involves OpenAI-linked investors.
Andreessen Horowitz's crypto division announced its fifth dedicated crypto fund with $2.2 billion raised, marking one of the largest crypto venture funds launched in 2026 and bringing total commitments across all a16z crypto funds to over $7 billion.
Space security startup True Anomaly raised $600 million in the largest defense technology funding round of the week, leading multiple large defense tech deals. The funding reflects continued strong investor interest in AI-enabled defense and aerospace applications.
