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

This week ended up as a pretty active one for large startup financings. AI and biotech were the biggest areas for funding, led by Grammarly’s $1 billion raise, and a reported $600 million financing for brain implant developer Neuralink.

1. , $1B, artificial intelligence: AI writing and productivity assistant Grammarly secured $1 billion in funding from longtime investor . The San Francisco-based company said it plans to use its new capital, which came from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund, “to scale sales and marketing and for strategic acquisitions.”

2. , $600M, neuroscience: Neuralink, the -founded brain implant startup, $600 million in a funding round that sets a $9 billion pre-money valuation. The Fremont, California-based company is currently working on a clinical trial of its brain-computer interface for people with quadriplegia.

3. , $350M, analytics: ClickHouse, a provider of analytics, data warehousing and machine learning technology, $350 million in a Series C financing led by . The Palo Alto-California-based company also secured a $100 million credit facility led by and .

4. , $140M, biotech: New York-based Grin Therapeutics, a developer of therapies to treat serious neurodevelopmental disorders, closed on $140 million in Series D funding. The financing included a $65 million strategic equity investment from and $75 million from existing investor .

5. , $100M, artificial intelligence: Snorkel AI, announced it has raised $100 million in Series D funding at a $1.3 billion valuation. led the financing for the 6-year-old Redwood City, California-based company, which makes tools for evaluation and tuning of specialized AI systems.

6. , $90M, biotech: Indianapolis-based Syndeio Biosciences, a developer of precision neurotherapeutics for central nervous system diseases, this week in conjunction with securing over $90 million from a syndicate of life science investors. Backers include and .

7. , $75M, food and beverage: David, a maker of energy bars in which 75% of calories come from protein, closed a $75 million Series A funding round led by and joined by . The New York company also acquired , a food technology firm offering a plant-based fat alternative.

8. , $72M, bereavement: New York-based Empathy, a provider of support services for managing bereavement and loss, picked up $72 million in a Series C financing led by . The company’s partners include major life insurers, and it says 45 million policyholders across North America are currently able to use its offerings.

9. , $70M, analytics: San Francisco-based Hex Technologies, provider of an AI-enabled analytics platform for data science teams, raised $70 million in Series C funding. Some backers in the round include , , and .

10. , $60M, biotech: Vima Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup focused on oral therapies for movement disorders its launch this week, along with $60 million in Series A financing led by , with participation from and .

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 24-30. 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.

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announced today that it has closed an oversubscribed fund to invest in plant-based food technology companies. The fund, the firm’s second, totals $165 million dollars and has already invested in two companies: wellness shots startup , and plant-based nutrition company .

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, a partner at the fund and co-founder of , said PowerPlant doesn’t like using the word vegan to describe itself.

“[We are] about businesses that are more plant-centric, and advancing more of a plant-centric world,” he said. The “inhumane and unsustainable” reality of modern food management can only be solved through plant-centric companies, he said.

The firm plans to lead or co-lead Series A and Series B rounds in the space with check size ranging between $4 million to $8 million dollars. He added that the firm will reserve money for follow-on rounds. This new found is almost four times larger than , which was $42 million dollars and has been full deployed.

Previously, PowerPlant invested in recently-public , as well as startups , , among others. as a growth equity firm that provides capital, guidance and operating expertise to “disruptive plant-centric brands.”

The alternative meat space has been sizzling for quite some time now. In May, Impossible Foods raised $300 million in funding for its plant-based burger. And, as mentioned, Beyond Meat had a strong debut as a public company, and is currently valued at $12 billion, . In Boston, a city known for its biotech scene, the largest recent funding rounds went to food tech companies, not life science startups.

Even products drawn from animals, like milk for example, are undergoing innovation from upstarts across the world. Oat milk, for example, is being branded a cow milk alternative. Sweden’s , one of the more popular oat milk brands, caught on in the United States . Oatly, at one point was so high in demand that its . Other brands tackling oat milk include and .

One almond milk startup, , said it isn’t rushing into starting a line of oat milk . With an uptick of interest comes a reminder that new territory has room for risk.

PowerPlant’s Gluck says there’s a lot of funds that are writing smaller checks in early stage food companies, like , and . And there are larger funds too like , and . He sees PowerPlant Ventures “playing at a stage where there is a lack of capital for Series A and B, and add value.”

I’ll leave you with an anecdote. I’m the token vegetarian among carnivorous friends and family, often. But, time and time again, when they try Impossible Meat whether in or burger form, there’s a wince, and soon after, a white flag that “it’s not so bad after all.”

I see alternative protein popping up in a range of establishments from fancy restaurants to the Burger King down the street. So it makes sense that firms like PowerPlant are there on the sidelines to capitalize on the potential of changing taste buds.

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