AI Startups Accelerate to Unicorn Status
Since 2024, an estimated 207 AI-focused companies have joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board, representing roughly half of all companies that first hit valuations of $1 billion or more during this period, according to Crunchbase News. More than a third of these AI-focused unicorns first secured 10-figure valuations at the seed or early stage. As is widely known, the AI sector has experienced heightened investor interest in recent years, though this article focuses solely on the specific data from Crunchbase.
High Valuations Among New Unicorns
At least 45 companies that became unicorns in the past 28 months are now valued at $5 billion or more, per Crunchbase data. For instance, U.K.-based AI infrastructure startup Nscale launched from stealth a year ago as a spin-out of crypto mining firm Arkon Energy and recently secured a $14.6 billion post-money valuation. Physical Intelligence, a developer of AI-enabled software for robots, began in 2024 and is reportedly in talks to raise funding at a valuation exceeding $11 billion.
Examples of Rapid Fundraising
Many newer unicorns have demonstrated fast fundraising, such as foundational AI startup Safe Superintelligence, which has raised around $3 billion in less than two years since its founding and achieved a $32 billion valuation in a round last spring, according to Crunchbase News. San Francisco-based AI legal tech platform Harvey has progressed from Series A to Series G in about three years, raising close to $1.2 billion. Other examples include New York’s Kalshi, which moved from Series C to Series E in the past year and raised over $2.4 billion, and Polymarket, another New York-based company that has raised close to $2.9 billion in the past two years.
Additional Instances of Quick Growth
Medical AI company OpenEvidence went from Series A to Series D in less than a year, raising over $700 million from early 2025 to early 2026. San Francisco-based Anysphere, developer of AI coding tool Cursor, advanced from Series A to Series D in under a year, securing over $3.2 billion and entering an agreement with SpaceX for an option to acquire it for $60 billion. These patterns highlight the speed of capital raises in AI, as noted in Crunchbase News.
