A total of 27 companies joined the ������Ƶ last month, including six robotics companies and four semiconductor-related startups. Healthcare minted three new unicorns, while foundation AI, cloud services, aerospace and financial services each accounted for two companies that joined.

The U.S. once again dominated, with 19 companies joining the board. China tallied four new unicorns, the U.K. contributed two, and India and Germany each added one new unicorn.

Soaring valuations

Overall unicorn values soared in February as raised $110 billion at a value of $840 billion, making it the most highly valued private company of all time. Its closest rival, , raised $30 billion at a valuation of $380 billion, making it the fourth-largest valued company on the list. , the autonomous driving technology company, was valued at $126 billion, positioning it among the top 10 most highly valued private companies.

February’s new unicorns

Here are February’s newly minted unicorns.

Robotics

• , a solution for automating building equipment for autonomous construction, raised a $270 million Series B led by and . The 1-year-old company, based in San Francisco, was valued at $1.8 billion.
• Beijing-based , a physical intelligence foundation model and humanoid robotics company, raised a $290 million Series A led by and . The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• , a builder of intelligent robots for industrial and service industries, raised a $145 million Series B round. The 2-year-old Beijing-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• Humanoid robotics company raised a $145 million Series B led by . The 2-year-old China-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• , a testing and control software layer for aerospace, defense, robotics and industry, raised a $150 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old Los Angeles-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a company that transforms 5G and Wi-Fi into spatial awareness for connective devices, an underlying layer necessary for physical AI, raised a $100 million Series B from well-known investors , , , and . The 9-year-old Belmont, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Semiconductor

• China-based , developer of a chip for advanced autonomous driving, raised a $330 million Series A led by and . The company, which is less than a year old and spun out of automaker , was valued at $1.5 billion.
• London-based , a photonic chip company for more efficient AI inference, raised a $220 million Series A led by . The 2-year-old company, valued at $1 billion, has plans to ship its first product in 2027.
• Reno, Nevada-based , builder of memory chips for AI, raised a $230 million Series B led by , and . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a chip developer for AI training, raised a $500 million Series B led by and . The 3-year-old company, based in Mountain View, California, was valued at $1 billion. It plans to ship its first product in 2027.

Healthcare

• New York-based , a platform that helps employers and employees source the best doctors with improved costs, raised a $118 million Series D led by . The 7-year-old company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• Palo Alto, California-based , a women’s telehealth provider, raised a $100 million Series D led by . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a Redwood City, California-based digital platform that helps medicare customers connect with advocates to navigate healthcare, raised a $130 million Series C led by . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Cloud services

• , a cloud platform for application development teams, raised a $100 million Series C led by . The 8-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Mumbai-based , a cloud service GPU provider, raised a $600 million round led by . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1.4 billion.

Foundational AI

• , builder of an AI model to analyze large databases, raised a $225 million Series A led by . The company also says it has signed a partnership agreement with ‘s to offer the model to its customers. The 2-year-old, San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• , a model developer to debug and understand AI, raised a $150 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Aerospace

• , a space-based communications infrastructure player to support commercial satellite and government missions, raised a $100 million Series B led by and. The 4-year-old Livermore, California-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• , an aviation hardware and software company for automated flights, raised a $300 million Series C led by and . The 10-year-old El Segundo, California-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Financial services

• London-based , a U.K.-based digital bank for small and medium-sized businesses, raised a $155 million Series D led by , and . The 8-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• , an agentic platform for accountants, raised a $100 million Series B led by , and . The 3-year-old company, based in New York, was valued at $1.2 billion.

E-commerce

• Brooklyn-based , a marketplace for creators to sell digital products, raised a $200 million round led by . The 5-year-old company was valued at $1.6 billion.

Coding

• , a Boston-based code translation service for legacy code, raised a $125 million Series B led by 1. The round valued the 2-year-old company at $1.3 billion.

Defense

• Berlin-based , a developer of strike drones and autonomous defense systems, raised an undisclosed sum in a round led by that valued the 1-year-old company at $1.2 billion.

Forecasting

• Boston-based , an AI-native weather satellite constellation, raised a $175 million Series F led by and . The 9-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Sales & marketing

• New York-based , a brand marketing platform geared for AI search, raised a $96 million Series C led by that valued the 1-year-old company at $1 billion.

Web3

• , a blockchain intelligence platform to detect crime networks, raised a $70 million Series C led by . The raise valued the 8-year-old company, based in San Francisco, at $1 billion.

Related Crunchbase unicorn lists:

• (1,703)
• (604)
• (65)
• (187)
• (115)
• (102)
• (878)
• (500)
• (228)
• (38)
• (471)

Related reading:

• Massive AI Deals Drive $189B Startup Funding Record In February While Public Software Stocks Reel
• Crunchbase Data: The AI Boom Has Drastically Changed Who’s Funding The Hottest Companies In 2025 Vs. 2021
• January Delivers Highest New Unicorn Count In More Than 3 Years

Methodology

The Crunchbase ������Ƶ is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

If a venture-backed company has gone more than four years between funding rounds, the forecast generally looks dim. It becomes increasingly unlikely that it will secure another good-sized financing or a sizable exit.

Four-year funding gaps are especially top of mind these days, as it’s been that long since U.S. venture investment hit its all-time peak. During the boom that lasted from 2020 to early 2022, software companies in particular routinely raised megarounds at rich valuations.

That, as we know, resulted in some strong exits, a lot of mediocre outcomes, and quite a lot that haven’t flourished.

Stranded software unicorns

For many, flush times came to an abrupt end. Per Crunchbase data, more than 150 boom-era U.S. software and software-related companies with $100 million or more in equity funding have not raised capital in over four years, remain private and have not been acquired.1

Collectively, they were a well-funded bunch. Companies in the cohort that raised their last round during the peak 2 pulled in over $51 billion in aggregate funding, per Crunchbase data.

The list also contains a number of companies that were fairly high-profile startups several years ago. Examples include:

: The equity and fund management software platform raised close to $1.2 billion in total funding but hasn’t reported a new round since 2021.

: The NFT marketplace operator raised over $427 million in equity funding but closed its last round just over four years ago.

: The developer of the popular scheduling app secured $350 million in 2021 and hasn’t raised a round since. Since Calendly was mostly self-funded for its first seven years of existence, however, we’d guess it’s not a company that’s likely to be in financial distress.

Using Crunchbase data, we put together a longer sample featuring 10 companies.

Where are they now?

The ranks of companies that haven’t raised for years include a mix of those that are still active, have shuttered or are quietly winding down. For software startups in particular, many can continue eking along with a skeleton staff and a sparsely supported offering without formally shutting down. Or, they might be doing fine, given the capital they raised at the peak.

Given these are private companies, we can’t peek under the hood regarding details of their financial condition. All we can say is they haven’t disclosed a new round for some time.

Related Crunchbase query:

Related reading:

• Global Venture Funding And Unicorn Creation In 2021 Shattered All Records 

Illustration:

Total valuations at the IPO price for these billion-dollar listings have reached $125 billion so far — more than doubling year over year.

“Coming into 2025, folks were optimistic about the IPO market,” said , a corporate partner at legal advisory firm who worked on the and IPOs on the issuer side and on as counsel for the underwriters.

There were a number of high-profile IPOs in 2025 before the government shutdown chilled the market, said Singh, who expects Q1 to be busier due to the hold up.

If interest rates continue to come down, he predicts a pretty good IPO market in 2026. “It is a fairly conducive macroeconomic environment,” Singh said.

In this market, “a profitable company — particularly one that either is an AI play or has a good story of how AI will be a tailwind for their business — are good candidates for a 2026 IPO,” he said.

2025 listings

Among the larger and most high-profile companies to list this year were New Jersey-based AI data center CoreWeave, San Francisco-based design platform Figma, San Francisco-based digital bank , and Sweden-based buy now, pay later fintech giant .

Among these four leading companies, CoreWeave was the best performing stock as of Dec. 16, 2025, having gained over 60% from its listing price.

Crypto valuations up

Leading sectors for the 23 U.S.-based billion-dollar listings were biotech and healthcare with six companies, blockchain and crypto with four companies, fintech with three companies, ���Ի��� insurance and aerospace each with two companies.

The sectors overall that performed well were cryptocurrency and blockchain companies with New York-based stablecoin provider , San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange , and San Francisco-based blockchain lending firm all up from their listing prices, while New York-based crypto exchange platform lagged behind.

These 23 companies’ listing prices totaled $125 billion. That was well above the past three years, but below values seen in 2019 and 2020 before the IPO market took off in 2021.

Singh predicts in the back half of 2026 we will see some bigger listings. While there is this trend of staying private for longer, “you can’t match public market liquidity.”

“There’s still some uncertainty on valuations. As we see more of the tech IPOs go out, I think the valuations will stabilize, people will get a better sense of investor demand, and so hopefully we’ll see a more certain valuation environment,” he said.

Related Crunchbase queries:

Related reading:

• Yes, I’m Biased. But Still, Leading Unicorns Like Anthropic Should Be Prepping For IPOs
• SpaceX IPO At $1.5T Valuation Would Be 10x Larger Than Biggest VC-Backed Listing Of All Time
• Hottest Deals In Tech Push Crunchbase ������Ƶ Toward $7T In Value
• The Crunchbase ������Ƶ
• The MVPs Of The Startup World Are Still Getting More Valuable

Illustration:

The number of new monthly entrants has picked up in recent months. The top 20 companies on the board have also been reshuffled and we’ve seen a marked increase in new decacorn-valued companies.

Of the 20 companies that joined in October, 11 came from the U.S. China added three new unicorns and Sweden contributed two. The U.K., Germany and Ukraine each minted one new unicorn, as did India.

Among the new entrants, New York-based open model developer and Austin-based residential battery operator each raised billion-dollar rounds that valued them as unicorns for the first time.

The highest valued among the new unicorns were Reflection, which was valued at $8 billion, and San Francisco-based payments blockchain  , valued at $5 billion.

Exits

A pair of companies from the unicorn board were acquired in October: Passwordless authentication company was acquired by , and , an IT employee experience platform was acquired by . In another October exit, data management tooling company merged with in an all-stock deal.

Three companies also went public: Silicon Valley-based travel and expense management company , Shanghai-based e-commerce software platform , and Beijing-based silicon wafer production company .

New unicorns

Here are October’s 20 newly minted unicorns across multiple sections. AI led with four companies, transportation with three, and healthcare and financial services followed, each with two companies.

AI

• Open source model developer , founded by engineers to compete against DeepSeek, raised a $2 billion Series B from among other investors. The 1-year-old New York-based company was valued at $8 billion.
• , which helps customers build AI applications, raised a $230 million Series C led by , and . The 3-year-old Redwood City, California-based company was valued at $4 billion. It says it has 10,000 customers, up 10x from July 2024.
• AI agent automation platform raised a $180 million Series C led by . The 6-year-old Berlin-based company was valued at $2.5 billion.
• , a platform for deploying AI agents, raised a $125 million Series B led by . The 3-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.25 billion.

Transportation

• , a builder of autonomous robovans for B2B delivery, raised a $100 million Series B4 extension led by . The 4-year-old Beijing-based company was valued at $1.6 billion.
• raised its first external financing, a $281 million funding round. The 4-year-old company is a Shanghai-based subsidiary of car battery provider CATL and was valued at $1.4 billion in the deal. It’s a developer of an integrated chassis for battery and electric vehicle functions for driving.
• Self-driving trucking company raised a $100 million funding led by existing investor and quantum company . Einride builds electric big rigs, automated smaller delivery trucks for fixed routes, and a logistics platform. The 9-year-old Stockholm-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Healthcare and biotech

• , provider of a noninvasive therapy for tumors, raised a $250 million private equity round led by its new owners which include , and , as well as additional investors and . The 16-year-old Minnesota-based company was valued at $3 billion.
• In women’s health, weight loss treatment provider raised a $50 million Series A. Investors were not disclosed. The 1-year-old London-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Financial services

• , the owner of retail trading platform Dhan, raised a $120 million Series B led by . The 4-year-old India-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• Digital banking software developer , owner of neobank , raised a private equity round led by . The 8-year-old Kyiv, Ukraine-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Web3

• Blockchain payments provider , incubated by and , raised a $500 million Series A led by and . The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $5 billion.

Energy

• Battery-powered home energy company raised a $1 billion Series C led by . The 2-year-old Austin-based company was valued at $4 billion.

Aerospace

• Reusable rocket manufacturer raised a $510 million Series D led by to scale manufacturing. The 6-year-old Kent, Washington-based company was valued at $2 billion.

Professional services

• ’s legal platform supports lawyers with research and legal drafting. The 2-year-old Stockholm-based legal tech company raised a $150 million Series C led by . It was valued at $1.8 billion.

E-commerce

• , which connects brands with creators for e-commerce, raised a $70 million funding led by . The 5-year-old Holden, Massachusetts-based company was valued at $1.5 billion. ShopMy says it has enabled $1 billion in sales across its platform.

Sales and marketing

• , which provides a platform for community management for homeowners associations, raised a $300 million private equity round led by . Vantaca says it serves more than 500 management companies. The 9-year-old Wilmington, North Carolina-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Defense tech

• Defense acquirer raised a $150 million private equity round led by . The 14-year-old Arlington, Virginia-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Beauty

• Chinese skincare brand raised a $104 million funding led by and . The 24-year-old Shanghai-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Semiconductor

• , a company planning to build a compact lithography machine to support the manufacturing of chips in the U.S. market, raised a $100 million Series A from , and among others. The 4-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Related Crunchbase unicorn lists:

• (1,628)
• (147)
• (113)
• (102)
• (819)
• (494)
• (220)
• (38)
• (469)

Related reading:

• In The Space Of Months, AI Funding Boom Adds More Than $500B In Value To ������Ƶ And Reshuffles Top 20
• Highest Count Of New Unicorns Join Crunchbase Board In Over 3 Years As Exits Also Gain Steam
• The MVPs Of The Startup World Are Still Getting More Valuable
• Crunchbase’s Global Unicorn List Tops $6T In Value In August For The First Time Despite Slowdown
• Here Are Some Of The Newer Investors Entering The AI And Megaround Race
• These Are The Speediest Companies To Go From Series A To Series C

Methodology

The Crunchbase ������Ƶ is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

Clarification: This story has changed since its original publication to correct an error in the Exits section.

Collectively, the new September unicorns added $38 billion in value to the board.

Of the 26 companies, 18 new unicorns came from the U.S. Two are U.K.-based, and Finland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia and Mexico each minted one new unicorn last month.

The highest valued among the new entrants were London-based data center provider , valued at $3.2 billion, and Utah-based legal tech startup at $3 billion.

Exits

Unicorn exits also picked up last month, with 11 companies leaving the board. Six of those companies went public, including Sweden-based , Santa Clara, California-based , and San Francisco-based . Five companies were acquired, including by and by .

New unicorns

While healthcare represented the largest cohort among the new unicorns, with five companies from that sector joining the board, new additions last month also hailed from sectors including aerospace, semiconductors and fintech. AI was woven through as a theme in many of the companies.

Here’s a closer look at September’s 26 new unicorns.

Healthcare

• , a kidney care startup that partners with healthcare providers to provide early detection and preventative care for patients, raised a $300 million Series D led by . The 7-year-old Denver-based company was valued at $1.8 billion.
• , a provider of fluorescent imaging for surgery, raised a $188 million private equity round led by ���Ի��� ’s . The 1-year-old Singapore-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• , a developer of AI tools for scientific research, raised a $235 million Series A led by and . The company seeks to experiment with AI for  diagnostics, material science, compute and energy. The 3-year-old Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• uses AI to analyze the molecules in nature for medicines. It raised a $150 million Series D led by that valued the 6-year-old Boulder, Colorado-based company at $1 billion.
• Cancer care provider , raised a $97 million Series D from strategic and venture investors at a $1 billion valuation. The 5-year-old Nashville, Tennessee-based company partners with health plans and providers to support patients with cancer.

AI

• AI infrastructure provider raised a $150 million Series D led by . The 6-year-old San Francisco-based company, which aims to make AI inference reliable for applications, was valued at $2.2 billion.
• AI data company , a competitor to , raised a $100 million funding led by . The 10-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $2 billion.
• AI consulting firm , which aims to help Fortune 500 companies become AI-native, raised a $175 million Series B led by and . The 3-year-old San Francisco-based company, founded by alumni, was valued at $1.8 billion.
• , a company that supports enterprises looking to adopt AI, raised a $100 million Series C led by . The 5-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.

Fintech

• , a company that supports SMEs with banking, invoicing, loans and payments, among other services, raised $120 million in private equity led by . Tide entered the India market in 2022 and supports and just under that number in the U.K. The 10-year-old London-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Banking-as-a-service provider raised a $70 million Series B led by and at a $1.47 billion valuation for the 4-year-old company. Lead is a chartered bank based in Kansas City, Missouri, and was acquired by in 2022 to provide banking services to fintech companies.
• , a technology-first bank with customers in Mexico, Colombia and the U.S., raised a $100 million Series C led by and. The 5-year-old Mexico City-based bank serves small and medium-sized businesses. It was valued at $1.4 billion.

AI data center

• AI data center provider raised a $1.1 billion Series B led by Norway-based industrial investment company with participation from and . The 2-year-old London-based company was valued at $3.1 billion. Its customers include Nvidia, and . Since the Series B announcement, Nscale has raised a further $433 million SAFE toward a Series C.
• AI data center raised $220 million in private equity led by with participation from Nvidia. An operator of data centers in Singapore and Tasmania, the 6-year-old Tasmania-headquartered company was valued at $1.2 billion.

AI cloud

• , a startup building an AI software computer layer agnostic to the chips they run on, raised a $250 million Series C led by . The 3-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $1.6 billion.
• , a company that allows developers to run AI without managing infrastructure, raised an $87 million Series B led by . The 4-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Legal tech

• Legal tech startup , a company that unifies case management, communication and billing with AI, raised a $260 million Series E extension led by , and Utah-based The 11-year-old Salt Lake City-based company says it has 6,000 customers using its platform. It was valued at $3 billion.
• , a legal tech startup to support plaintiff law firms, raised a $103 million Series B led by . The 5-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Web3

• , a crypto and stablecoin infrastructure provider, raised a $104 million Series D led by . The 8-year-old Chicago-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a stablecoin payments solution provider, raised a $47 million funding led by . The 1-year-old Hong Kong-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Semiconductor

• AI chip startup raised a $250 million Series C led by and . The 5-year-old South Korea-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.

Developer platform

• Developer tooling company , a service that helps engineers with feature releases and tracking impact, raised a $75 million Series E led by . The 5-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.

Hardware

• Independent smartphone device-maker raised a $200 million Series C led by . The 5-year-old London-based company aims to reinvent the smartphone with AI intelligence and was valued at $1.3 billion.

Quantum computing

• Quantum computing startup raised a $320 million Series B led by . The 6-year-old Finland-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Material science

• , a startup that plans to build material science applications using AI, launched from stealth to announce a $300 million seed round led by . The less than 1-year-old Menlo Park, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Aerospace

• Satellite manufacturer raised a $200 million Series D led by . The 3-year-old Los Angeles-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Related Crunchbase unicorn lists:

• (1,623)
• (118)
• (113)
• (102)
• (811)
• (499)
• (219)
• (38)
• (460)

Related reading:

• The MVPs Of The Startup World Are Still Getting More Valuable
• Crunchbase’s Global Unicorn List Tops $6T In Value In August For The First Time Despite Slowdown
• Here Are Some Of The Newer Investors Entering The AI And Megaround Race
• These Are The Speediest Companies To Go From Series A To Series C

Methodology

The Crunchbase ������Ƶ is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

The most highly valued to join last month was , which raised a $2 billion seed round at a $12 billion value.

The U.S. led unicorn creation in June with 11 companies, followed by China with four. Israel, India, UAE and Switzerland each added one, as did New Zealand, with its first unicorn company, per Crunchbase data.

Eight exits

Six companies from the board went public, including four from the U.S. The most notable of the bunch was neobank , which went public at a value of $9.8 billion. Other U.S. unicorns that exited in June include , a stablecoin service for payments, AI-driven precision medicine startup , and behavioral health company .

Two unicorn companies from China went public: voice AI company and vehicle sharing service .

Two unicorns were also acquired in June: SMB accounts payable service , was purchased by New Zealand-based accounting software service , and , which was acquired by private equity firm .

June’s newly minted unicorns

Here are the 20 newly minted unicorns in June, by sector.

AI

• ’s AI research lab raised a $2 billion seed round — the largest seed round on record — led by . The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $12 billion.
• , a conversational AI for customer experience, raised a $131 million Series C led by and Andreessen Horowitz. The 2-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• deploys GenAI for companies and governments. It raised a $17.3 million first close in a round of funding, led by and . The 4-year-old Reston, Virginia-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• , an AI meeting assistant, raised a secondary financing for its early team members, valuing the company at $1 billion. The 9-year-old San Francisco-based company is reportedly profitable and says it’s used by people at 75% of Fortune 500 companies.

Robotics

• , developer of humanoid and quadrupedal robotics for industrial and consumer use, raised a $97 million Series C led by . The 8-year-old Hangzhou, China-based company was valued at $1.7 billion.
• , a robotic AI inspection service for defense, energy and manufacturing, raised a $125 million Series D led by . The 12-year-old Pittsburgh-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• , a developer of a humanoid robot for retail that manages inventory, replenishment and packaging, raised a $153 million funding led by . The 2-year-old Beijing-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Financial services

• , a platform to trade on event outcomes, raised a $185 million Series C led by . The 6-year-old New York-based company was valued at $2 billion.
• , a fund administration platform for private equity and venture, raised a $130 million Series D led by . The 12-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Developer tools

• , a product management tool for software teams, raised an $82 million Series C led by Accel. The 6-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• , a real time data observability platform for software, raised a $115 million Series E led by . The 9-year-old Tel Aviv, Israel-based company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Web3

• , a cryptography company building encryption solutions for blockchain, raised a $57 million Series B led by and . The 5-year-old Switzerland-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• , a blockchain infrastructure developer integrated into , raised a $29 million Series A led by Ribbit Capital. The 3-year-old Dubai-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Software

• , an open source operating system to compete with Windows and MacOs in China, raised a $418 million corporate funding led by The 5-year-old Guangdong, China-based company was valued at $1.6 billion.

Healthcare

• , a medical imaging equipment company that can identify, diagnose and recommend treatment, raised a $139 million Series A led by and. The 7-year-old Shanghai-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.

Sports

• , a software service for high performance sports team development, raised a $235 million Series F led by existing investor . The 15-year-old Durham, North Carolina-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Defense tech

• Military planning software company raised a $24 million Series C extension led by . The 6-year-old Honolulu-based company was valued at $1.1 billion. Its Series C funding 3 months earlier led by and valued the company at $650 million.

Network services

• , a networking infrastructure company, raised a $170 million Series C led by General Catalyst. The 9-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.

E-commerce

• , a B2B e-commerce marketplace for food and groceries, raised a $120 million Series D led by . The 9-year-old Bangalore, India-based company was valued at $1 billion. Jumbotail also announced in June that it completed an acquisition of , a B2B marketplace, incubated by SC Ventures.

Devices

• , a smart collar technology to manage cattle grazing, raised a $99 million Series D led by . The 9-year-old Auckland, New Zealand-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Related Crunchbase unicorn lists

• (1,605)
• (77)
• (112)
• (102)
• (803)
• (501)
• (209)
• (37)
• (454)
• (523)

Methodology

The Crunchbase ������Ƶ is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

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Launched and led by former CTO , and joined by AI heavy hitters from , OpenAI, and , the San Francisco company certainly has a founding team that investors ought to like. And given prevailing valuations for  leading AI unicorns, a $2 billion seed deal doesn’t even sound that big in context.

In reality, however, it is a round of unprecedented hugeness. The -led financing that Thinking Machines reportedly at a $10 billion valuation is by far the largest seed round in the Crunchbase dataset.

It’s not even close. The next-largest U.S. seed financings 1 have all been in the $200 million to $450 million range, including:

• ’ raised a $450 million seed financing in 2022. The Miami company is best known for its digital collectibles and NFTs.
• , a developer of AI-enabled autonomous labs, picked up $200 million in a March seed financing backed by .
• , the U.S. franchise of crypto exchange , locked up a seed round of more than $200 million at a $4.5 billion pre-money valuation in a 2022 financing.
• , a developer of U.S. forestry projects offering carbon removal credits, secured $200 million in a 2022 seed round.
• , a developer of blockchain and Web3 technology, landed $200 million in a March 2022 seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

In addition to its record-setting size, another standout characteristic of the Thinking Machines round is how little surprise it generated. This seems largely due to its status as a brainchild of top OpenAI alums.

After all, if OpenAI managed to secure a recent $300 billion post-money valuation largely driven by the prowess of its team, it’s reasonable to expect great things out of its early leaders in their solo ventures as well.

And clearly Thinking Machines is laying out an ambitious mission. The company, founded last year, says its plans “to make AI systems more widely understood, customizable and generally capable,” and also intends “to build multimodal systems that work with people collaboratively.”

Related Crunchbase query:

Related reading:

• Unicorn Valuations Crest Higher
• The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Yuga Labs Goes Ape For A Large Round, Fintech Rules Again
• Crypto Exchange Binance.US Raises $200M-Plus ‘Seed’ Round At $4.5B

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So far this year, Florida-based startups have raised around $820 million in seed- through growth-stage financing, excluding one hard-to-categorize deal. 1 By this measure, investment is on track to hit its lowest level in years, as charted below:

Where the funding went

Among the larger deals that did get done, funding was concentrated in the Miami metropolitan area.

This includes Miami-based , which closed a $108 million Series C round in late April led by and . The 6-year-old company sells an application performance automation platform for enterprises.

, the developer of community-oriented rental properties launched by founder , picked up another big financing, closing on a $100 million round last month backed by .

, which sells crypto coins linked to environmental preservation projects around the Amazon rainforest, also picked up $100 million to further its mission, while , an Orlando-based cybersecurity provider, locked up $60 million in equity financing this month, per an .

For a bigger-picture view, below we put together a list of nine of the largest 2025 rounds for Florida-based startups.

In addition to large funding rounds, we did see one Florida company make a splashy debut. Boca Raton-based right wing news outlet went public in March and saw an early spike that sent . (The stock has declined since then, recently trading around $25 a share, with a market cap around $3 billion.)

Not a lot of exits or unicorn follow-on rounds

One thing we’re not seeing is much funding to Florida-based companies at the $1 billion-plus valuations seen a few years ago, when investor spigots were flowing more freely.

Of Florida’s small herd of unicorns and one-time unicorns, many haven’t raised reported funding in several years. This includes cloud kitchen startup , security management platform , and , a platform to connect older adults with people to provide help and companionship.

Florida, and Miami in particular, also haven’t exploded as hubs for cryptocurrency and blockchain, as many had envisioned. So far this year, only around $21 million in venture funding has gone to Sunshine State startups in blockchain and cryptocurrency industry categories, per Crunchbase data.

Enthusiasts had hoped the space would gain momentum locally, especially after Miami Mayor campaigned to several years ago. Defunct crypto exchange even secured naming rights to the city’s NBA arena (now called Kaseya Center).

We may see one big exit out of the crypto space in coming weeks, however, with Monday’s that -backed American Bitcoin, a subsidiary of Miami-based , will go public through a merger with .

Still plenty of assets to offer startups

Even though this year has been sluggish on the funding front, it’s not reason enough to write off Floridian cities’ potential as up-and-coming startup hubs. Many of the core factors that helped generate buzz among startup types and digital nomads a few years ago — like warm weather, beachy environs, no state income tax, dynamic urban centers — haven’t changed.

We’ll stay tuned in coming quarters to see if funding levels indicate a bounceback in investor enthusiasm about the Florida startup pipeline.

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announced Thursday the biggest deal in the crypto industry to date when it said it would buy derivatives exchange in a $2.9 billion deal to move into the crypto options markets.

The deal is made up of $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase, per a

“This isn’t just another addition; it’s foundational to our vision of creating the most comprehensive, compliant, and user-friendly derivatives platform globally,” the blog reads. “We’re excited about the path ahead and look forward to welcoming Deribit into the Coinbase family as we shape the future of crypto markets together.”

Deribit raised a $40 million venture round at a $400 million valuation from the likes of and in 2022, .

Big deal

The deal is just the latest big M&A move in crypto. While dealmaking numbers are small, size is increasing, as the reelection of President has reenergized the crypto market, with many expecting regulations to ease.

Last month, crypto payments firm said it would acquire brokerage house for $1.25 billion. In March, the dropped a Ripple that accused it of conducting an illegal securities offering.

In March, cryptocurrency exchange said it would buy retail futures trading platform for $1.5 billion.

Overall, venture funding to startups in the crypto and blockchain space rocketed to $3.8 billion in 220 deals in Q1, per Crunchbase . The dollar figure represents a 138% jump from the previous quarter, which saw only $1.6 billion go to Web3 startups in 242 deals.

However, those numbers were propped up by cryptocurrency exchange ’s massive $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi-based investment firm . The deal is the single-largest investment into a crypto company.

Related Crunchbase Pro list:

Related reading:

• Crypto And Blockchain Funding Sees Big Boost In Q1 Thanks To Binance
• Will The Ripple Deal Create Waves In Stagnant Web3 M&A?

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On the investment front, the largest financing went to , a developer of identity verification tools that on Wednesday announced a $200 million Series D led by and . The San Francisco startup said capital will go toward honing offerings for an AI-driven world, in which bot traffic now surpasses human activity online.

Two days earlier, , a Silicon Valley startup with a stated mission to “revolutionize and reimagine identity security,” also that it closed on a Series D of $108 million led by . Like Persona, Veza touts its tools as tailored for the age of agentic AI.

And, scan your eyeball at a mall too

Two hefty funding rounds weren’t the only big news roiling the identity startup space in recent days.

We also saw the U.S. last Thursday of , a venture co-founded by that aims to build an identity verification system for humans using iris scans and the blockchain. 

As part of the , World opened five U.S. to access its system for photographing and encrypting eye and face images. Locales include a spot on Los Angeles’ tony Melrose Avenue and another at a Nashville mall, a few doors down from a .

To date, 6-year-old World (formerly Worldcoin) has raised $244 million from backers including and , Crunchbase data shows. Its stated mission revolves around “building technology that distinguishes humans from AI in an era where that distinction grows increasingly vital.”

Deal pace heating up

Over the past year, more than a dozen identity security-focused startups have pulled in good-sized rounds. Using Crunchbase data, we put together a sample list of 14 recently funded companies:

The largest funding recipient on our list is Boston-based , which offers consumer subscription plans providing protection from identity theft, scams, and online threats. Founded in 2017, Aura has raised more than $660 million to date, including a $140 million in March.

Another senior startup, 11-year-old , has pulled in close to $500 million to date, including a $125 million financing last summer at a unicorn valuation. The Hoboken, New Jersey company offers identity threat detection and response tools.

Among earlier stage companies, meanwhile, one recent standout is , a 4-year-old startup whose technology detects deepfake impersonations. The New York company a new round from strategic investors last month.

Public investors have also been keen on the identity security space of late. Identify verification provider , for instance, had a recent market cap of $20 billion, with shares up more than 50% in the past six months. Shares of identity security software provider CyberArk have also been headed higher, with the company recently valued around $17 billion.

More signs pointing up

It helps that players are operating in a growth market. This year, spending around identity and access management is to exceed $24 billion, per the (IMI), an industry certification group. That’s a projected increase of about 13% year over year.

The group cites longstanding industry shifts as one driver. This includes the ongoing transition to remote and hybrid work, as well as ever-expanding reliance on cloud services. It also envisions biometric authentication expanding, reducing reliance on passwords.

Per Persona, AI bot traffic is another major growth factor. By the end of the decade, it projects bots and AI agents will drive around 90% of all online traffic. They’re becoming more sophisticated as well, able to generate lifelike content, solve CAPTCHA tests, and “increasingly act on behalf of real people in ways that blur the line between human and machine.”

That sounds a bit alarming. But, for companies charged with helping us differentiate between earnest human and malicious bot, it bodes well for the bottom line.

Related Crunchbase list:

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