US Startups Secure Major Funding in Defense, Wearables, and Energy
This week, startup investors announced several large funding rounds for US-based companies, with the largest being a $1.75 billion Series D for Austin-based Saronic, a developer of autonomous vessels, according to Crunchbase News. The rounds spanned sectors like defense, fitness wearables, and energy tech, with Saronic’s funding led by Kleiner Perkins and setting a $9.25 billion valuation for the company.
The Largest Funding Round
Saronic raised $1.75 billion in its Series D, bringing its total funding to around $2.6 billion, as detailed in the Crunchbase News article. The company focuses on autonomous sea vessels in the defense sector, and this round more than doubled its previous valuation from its Series C in 2025.
Other Notable Funding Rounds
Whoop, a Boston-based provider of wearable fitness technology and a subscription platform for physiological data, secured $575 million in Series G funding led by Collaborative Fund, setting a $10.1 billion valuation. Valar Atomics, an El Segundo, California-based nuclear energy startup, raised capital including $340 million in equity and $110 million in debt at a $2 billion valuation, according to sources cited in the article. EnerVenue, based in Fremont, California, closed a $300 million extension of its Series B round led by Full Vision Capital for grid-scale energy storage technology and appointed a new CEO, Henning Rath. Tenex.AI, a Sarasota, Florida-based AI-enabled cybersecurity startup, obtained $250 million in Series B funding from Crosspoint Capital Partners to hire over 250 people and enhance efficiency with AI. Also, a Palo Alto, California-based electric mobility company spun out of Rivian, raised $200 million in Series C backed by Greenoaks, DoorDash, and Prysm Capital for products like bikes and autonomous EVs. Starcloud, a Redmond, Washington-based space infrastructure startup for orbital data centers, secured $170 million in Series A led by Benchmark and EQT, achieving a $1.1 billion valuation just 17 months after Y Combinator demo day. ScaleOps, a New York-based cloud and AI infrastructure startup, landed $130 million in Series C from Insight Partners at over $800 million valuation. Ambrosia Biosciences, a Boulder, Colorado-based developer of oral therapeutics for obesity, picked up $100 million in Series B led by Blue Owl, Redmile Group, and Deep Track Capital. OpenFX, a provider of cross-border money transfer platforms, raised $94 million in Series A from investors including Accel and Atomico.
Sector Distribution and Methodology
The funding rounds covered multiple sectors, including defense with Saronic, fitness wearables with Whoop, nuclear energy with Valar Atomics, battery technology with EnerVenue, cybersecurity with Tenex.AI, micromobility with Also, space tech with Starcloud, cloud infrastructure with ScaleOps, biotech with Ambrosia Biosciences, and money transfer with OpenFX, as per Crunchbase News. These deals reflect ongoing investor interest in technology areas like AI and energy, though such trends are common in venture capital. Crunchbase News tracked the largest announced rounds in their database for the period of March 28-April 3, focusing on US-based companies with rounds of $100 million or more, noting potential delays in reporting.
