The Week’s Major Funding Surge in AI and Robotics
This week saw a flurry of significant funding rounds, with AI and robotics startups dominating the landscape, as the two largest global deals went to U.K.-based Nscale and Paris-based Advanced Machine Intelligence, raising $2 billion and $1.03 billion, respectively, according to Crunchbase News. In the U.S., e-commerce platform Quince, AI networking developer Nexthop AI, and industrial automation startup Mind Robotics each secured $500 million in funding for the period of March 7-13.
Top U.S. Funding Rounds
Three U.S. startups tied for the largest domestic rounds at $500 million each: Quince raised $500 million in a Series E led by Iconiq Capital, reaching a $10.1 billion post-money valuation as an 8-year-old San Francisco-based e-commerce retailer. Nexthop AI, based in Santa Clara, California, closed a $500 million Series B led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Andreessen Horowitz as a major investor, to develop switching technology for AI and cloud networking. Mind Robotics, a Palo Alto, California-based Rivian spin-out, obtained $500 million in a Series A co-led by Accel and Andreessen Horowitz for its AI-enabled industrial robotics platform focused on manufacturing tasks. Following closely, Rhoda AI emerged from stealth with $450 million in a Series A reportedly led by Premji Invest to train robots using millions of videos for complex environments.
Other Notable Rounds and Global Deals
Replit raised $400 million in a Series D at a $9 billion valuation, led by Georgian, for its AI software creation platform based in Foster City, California. Eridu and Axiom Math AI each secured $200 million in Series A rounds: Eridu, in Saratoga, California, for its AI network switch, led by Socratic Partners and others; and Axiom Math AI, in Palo Alto, for AI systems verifying computer code, led by Menlo Ventures at a $1.6 billion valuation. Sunday raised $165 million in a Series B led by Coatue for its household robot Memo, based in Mountain View, California, at a $1.15 billion valuation, while Kai obtained $125 million for its AI cybersecurity platform in San Jose, and Oro Labs raised $100 million in a Series C for its procurement platform after 300% revenue growth. Globally, the largest rounds were Nscale’s $2 billion Series C in London and Advanced Machine Intelligence’s $1.03 billion seed in Paris, the latter co-founded by Yann LeCun, according to Crunchbase News.
Methodology and Context
Crunchbase tracked the largest announced rounds in its database for U.S.-based companies during March 7-13, noting potential delays in reporting, with the list focusing on deals of $100 million or more. As widely-known context, the AI sector has seen increasing investment in recent years due to advancements in technology, which these rounds exemplify without additional speculation.
