That moment, the checkout screen for a dental implant consult, a fertility treatment, a med spa package, a veterinary procedure, is where a meaningful share of a young health company’s revenue is currently leaking out, and most founders aren’t tracking it as closely as they track their funnel above it.

A Familiar Problem, Just Further Downstream

The revenue-leakage problem is well known on the provider side of healthcare, and it’s spawned a wave of well-funded NYC startups. Adonis, which raised a $40M Series C earlier this year, built its entire pitch around the fact that health systems fail to collect up to 15% or more of the revenue they’re actually owed, largely due to denials, fragmented billing, and administrative breakdowns between the claim and the payment.

That’s the back-office version of the problem. The consumer-facing version is less discussed but arguably more direct: it isn’t a denial or a coding error causing the lost revenue, it’s a customer who was ready to buy and simply couldn’t make the number work at checkout.

The Numbers Behind the Abandonment

The scale of what patients now owe out of pocket has grown considerably. According to Kodiak Solutions’ benchmarking analysis of more than 2,300 hospitals and 375,000 physicians, the share of net revenue that falls to insured patients themselves rose from 6.8% in 2024 to 7.3% in 2025, and providers collected less of it, not more, over that same stretch.

For consumer health startups operating largely outside traditional insurance billing, self-pay isn’t a fraction of the business. It’s usually the entire business model.

That means a startup selling directly to consumers is more exposed to sticker shock at checkout than a hospital system with a payer mix to fall back on. If a $3,000 procedure only converts when a customer can pay $3,000 upfront, a founder is voluntarily shrinking their own addressable market to whoever happens to have that much sitting in a checking account.

E-Commerce Already Solved This. Healthcare Is Catching Up.

Retail and e-commerce companies figured this out years ago. Offering an installment option at checkout, a buy now, pay later style, consistently increases conversion and average order value because it reframes a high one-time cost as a manageable monthly cost. Health and wellness startups selling elective, high-ticket services are only now catching up to that same insight.

A handful of point-of-care financing platforms exist specifically to plug into this checkout moment. One breakdown of how customer financing works outlines the mechanics from the merchant side: a patient applies in the same flow where they’re reviewing their treatment plan or invoice, gets a decision in seconds without a hard credit check in most cases, and the provider is typically funded upfront regardless of the payment term the patient chooses.

For a startup, the appeal isn’t just patient goodwill. It’s that the entire cost of financing risk and the collections timeline are shifted off the company’s own balance sheet and onto a partner built to underwrite exactly that kind of consumer credit.

Why This Matters More for Startups Than Incumbents

Larger, established healthcare organizations can absorb some checkout abandonment because they have volume, brand trust, and often insurance reimbursement to cushion the blow.

Early-stage companies don’t have that luxury. Every customer who reaches checkout already represents real marketing spend, sales cycle time, and founder attention. Losing that customer at the very last step, over a financing gap rather than a product or trust problem, is close to the most expensive kind of churn a startup can have, because the acquisition cost was already sunk.

It’s also a fixable problem, unlike most of the issues that show up in a churn report. Adding a financing option at checkout doesn’t require a product rebuild or a new go-to-market motion. For most platforms, it’s closer to adding a payment method than launching a new feature.

The Takeaway for Founders

Health and wellness startups spend enormous effort optimizing the top of the funnel: performance marketing, referral loops, content, and brand. Comparatively little attention goes to the last five feet of that funnel, the actual moment of payment, even though it’s often where the most avoidable revenue loss happens.

For any founder selling a service with a four-figure price tag directly to consumers, the question isn’t just how to get more people to check it out. It’s how many of the people who already got there left empty-handed, and whether a financing option at that exact moment would have kept them.

Flagler Health – $50M

HEALTHTECHAI

Flagler Health, an AI-native platform that coordinates clinical and administrative workflows for musculoskeletal healthcare providers, has raised $50M in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from SignalFire, Alumni Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, 186 Ventures, PROOF, Tribeca Venture Partners, and Offscript. Flagler Health was founded by Albert Katz, Leon Anijar, and Will Hu in 2022. The company has now raised a total of $63M in reported equity funding.

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Riven Systems – $7.9M

AIENTERPRISE

Riven Systems, an industrial chemistry startup building an AI-accelerated platform for critical minerals processing, has raised $7.9M in Pre-Seed funding led by Cerberus Ventures with participation from Scout Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Lightscape Partners, and CLAI, with New System Ventures as incubating investor. Riven Systems was founded by Chip Breitenkamp and Orion Cohen in 2025.

WashWise – $1.2M

WashWise, a clothing care company that offers fabric spray products designed to refresh garments between washes, has raised $1.2M in Pre-Seed funding from investors that include FJ Labs, Singh Capital, Alex Jekowsky, Jack Abraham, Brian Tate, Gigi Howard, Nina Farran, Mia Tonelli, Taylor James, and Brown Girl Angels. WashWise was founded by Maria Cabral Menezes in 2026.

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Blacksmith – $45.0M

San Francisco-based Blacksmith provides cloud infrastructure for continuous integration, enabling developers to build, test, and deploy software. Founded by Aayush Shah, Aditya Jayaprakash, and Aditya Maru in 2024, Blacksmith has now raised a total of $59M in total equity funding and is backed by Google Ventures, Peak XV Partners, and Y Combinator.

ApartmentIQ – $25.0M

Madison-based ApartmentIQ offers automated market survey solutions for multifamily real estate, leveraging public data for accurate analysis. Founded by Adam Olien, Alec Slocum, and Chad Aldous in 2011, ApartmentIQ has now raised a total of $58.4M in total equity funding and is backed by Susquehanna Growth Equity.

Flagler Health – $50.0M

New York-based Flagler Health assists physicians by recommending the best treatment strategy based on patient data and AI technologies. Founded by Albert Katz, Leon Anijar, and Will Hu in 2023, Flagler Health has now raised a total of $50M in total equity funding and is backed by 186 Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Offscript, PROOF, SignalFire, Streamlined, and Tribeca Venture Partners.

Trajectory – $40.0M

San Francisco-based Trajectory is a research and product company developing a platform that enables continual learning for AI-powered products. Founded by Arjun Karanam, Michael Elab, and Ronak Malde in 2025, Trajectory has now raised a total of $55M in total equity funding and is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, NVIDIA, and Sequoia Capital.

Axle Labs – $17.5M

Atlanta-based Axle Labs is an insurance data open platform that helps to link policies and verify and monitor ongoing insurance coverage. Founded by Armaan Sikand, Cameron Duncan, and Nihar Parikh in 2022, Axle Labs has now raised a total of $22M in total equity funding and is backed by Base10 Partners, Chris Bayley, Gradient, Stage 2 Capital, and Y Combinator.

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skan.ai – $63.0M

Menlo Park-based Skan AI provides enterprise process intelligence and automation software that captures work context and helps organizations build AI agents. Founded by Avinash Misra and Manish Garg in 2018, skan.ai has now raised a total of $117M in total equity funding and is backed by Bloomberg Beta, Cathay Innovation, Citi Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, State Farm Ventures, and Wipro Ventures.

Versa Vascular – $15.0M

Santa Cruz-based Versa Vascular is a developer of an implant system designed to treat tricuspid regurgitation by supporting native valve function. Founded by Dan Wallace in 2020, Versa Vascular has now raised a total of $42.3M in total equity funding and is backed by BioStar Capital and S3 Ventures.

Infinimmune – $75.0M

Alameda-based Infinimmune develops human-derived antibody medicines using B-cell sequencing, computational modeling, and antibody engineering technology. Founded by David Jaffe, Katie Pfeiffer, Lance Hepler, Mike Gibbons, and Wyatt McDonnell in 2022, Infinimmune has now raised a total of $87M in total equity funding and is backed by Civilization Ventures, Everbright Biofund, Forge Life Science Partners, Godfrey Capital, Goldcrest Capital, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Pear VC, Playground Global, RA Capital Management, Regeneron Ventures, and Wild Tree Ventures.

River AI – $1.1B

Palo Alto-based River AI provides an API for fine-tuning and reinforcement learning, enabling users to build and serve personalized AI models. Founded by Dmytro Soboliev, Ievgen Soboliev, and Igor Babuschkin in 2026, River AI has now raised a total of $1.1B in total equity funding and is backed by AMD Ventures, AMP PBC, General Catalyst, NVIDIA, Temasek, and Y Combinator.

AGent – $11.0M

Houston-based AGent develops an AI-powered energy management platform for commercial, industrial, and institutional backup generators. Founded by Françoise Parker, Stephanie Hendricks, and Todd Krause in 2017, AGent has now raised a total of $17M in total equity funding and is backed by CIV, Intrepid Investment Management, MassMutual Ventures, Spero Ventures, and Zero Infinity Partners.

CodeRabbit – $143.0M

San Francisco-based CodeRabbit is an Agentic Change Management platform for validating and governing code generated by people and AI agents at enterprise scale. Founded by Guritfaq Singh, Harjot Gill, and Vishu Kaur in 2023, CodeRabbit has now raised a total of $222.6M in total equity funding and is backed by Atomico, BMW i Ventures, CRV, Datadog, Engineering Capital, Flex Capital, Harmony Partners, Hirtle Callaghan & Co, Pelion Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Scenic Management, SineWave Ventures, and Smash Capital.

Point2 Technology – $136.0M

San Jose-based Point2 Technology develops a dielectric waveguide for high speed interconnect for both datacenter applications. Founded by HM Bae and Sean Park in 2016, Point2 Technology has now raised a total of $243.2M in total equity funding and is backed by Arm Holdings, Bosch Ventures, LB Investment, Maverick Silicon, Molex, NVIDIA, and UMC Capital.

RevaTerra – $1.3M

Atlanta-based RevaTerra is an energy company that develops AI-based bioenergy solutions to transform biomass waste into renewable fuels. Founded by Joseph Napier and Jude Davies in 2025, RevaTerra has now raised a total of $2M in total equity funding and is backed by Bluelake.

Form Energy – $750.0M

Somerville-based Form Energy is an energy technology company that produces electric grids and accelerates the transition to clean energy. Founded by Marco Ferrara, Mateo Jaramillo, Ted Wiley, William Woodford, Yet Chiang, and Yet-Ming Chiang in 2017, Form Energy has now raised a total of $2B in total equity funding and is backed by Blindspot Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Capricorn Investment Group, Cari Tuna, Coatue, Dustin Moskovitz, Energy Impact Partners, Engine Ventures, Franklin Templeton, GE Vernova, Gigascale Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, M&G Plc, NGP Energy Technology Partners, Peak 6, Prelude Ventures, Sequoia Capital, TPG Rise Climate Fund, and T. Rowe Price.

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Neros Technologies – $250.0M

Los Angeles-based Neros Technologies is a defense technology company specializing in the development and manufacturing of advanced unmanned aerial systems. Founded by Olaf Hichwa and Soren Monroe-Anderson in 2023, Neros Technologies has now raised a total of $369.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Allen & Company, American Strategic Technology Fund, Dylan Field, Interlagos Capital, MANTIS Venture Capital, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, Thiel Capital, and Valor Equity Partners.

Heaviside Industries – $60.0M

Los Angeles-based Heaviside Industries develops autonomous precision munitions and defense technology for air, land, and sea applications. Founded by Phillip Walker in 2024, Heaviside Industries has now raised a total of $88M in total equity funding and is backed by Anorak Ventures, Cantos, Felicis, Flume Ventures, Friends & Family Capital, Hedosophia, Menlo Ventures, MVP Ventures, Qstar, and SignalRank.

19. Oratomic $300.0M

Round: Series A
Description: South Pasadena-based Oratomic develops neutral-atom quantum hardware and error-correction architectures for utility-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers. Founded by in 2026, Oratomic has now raised a total of $310.0M in total equity funding and is backed by General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, and Spark Capital.
Investors in the round: 7i Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Baiju Bhatt, Bain Capital Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, David Aaronson, Formation 8, General Catalyst, Global Frontier Investments, Index Ventures, Infleqtion, Khosla Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Nebular, Scott Aaronson, Spark Capital
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Enterprise Software, Machine Learning, Optical Communication, Quantum Computing
Founding year: 2026
Total equity funding raised: $310.0M

19. Walden Robotics $300.0M

Round: Seed
Description: Cambridge-based Walden Robotics builds wheeled, two-armed semi-humanoid robots using Physical AI for manufacturing and logistics. Founded by Adrien Gaidon, Ben Burchfiel, Dave Johnson, Kerri Fetzer-Borelli, Rareș Ambruș, and Russ Tedrake in 2026, Walden Robotics has now raised a total of $300.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Menlo Ventures, NVIDIA, The Boeing Company, Toyota Ventures, and Calibrate Ventures.
Investors in the round: AE Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, Colle Capital Partners, CoreWeave Ventures, Deviation Capital, KAS Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, NextView Ventures, NVIDIA, One Madison Group, Prologis Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Shine Capital, Squarepoint Capital, The Boeing Company, Toyota, Toyota Ventures
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Logistics, Robotics
Founders: Adrien Gaidon, Ben Burchfiel, Dave Johnson, Kerri Fetzer-Borelli, Rareș Ambruș, Russ Tedrake
Founding year: 2026
Total equity funding raised: $300.0M

19. Xsight Labs $300.0M

Round: Series E
Description: Kiryat Gat-based Xsight Labs manufactures chipset semiconductors for data center and automotive sector applications. Founded by Erez Shaizaf, Gal Malach, and Guy Koren in 2017, Xsight Labs has now raised a total of $400.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Valor Equity Partners, Battery Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Intel Capital, and Fidelity.
Investors in the round: Aliya Capital Partners, Artisan Partners, Atreides Management, Battery Ventures, Diagonale Capital, Fidelity, Intel Capital, Key 1 Capital, Maverick Capital, Sienna Venture Capital, T. Rowe Price, Union Tech Ventures, Valor Equity Partners
Industry: AI Infrastructure, Machinery Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Semiconductor
Founders: Erez Shaizaf, Gal Malach, Guy Koren
Founding year: 2017
Total equity funding raised: $400.0M

19. Etched $300.0M

Round: Series C
Description: San Jose-based Etched designs and manufactures hardware systems optimized for artificial intelligence model inference workloads. Founded by Chris Zhu, Gavin Uberti, and Robert Wachen in 2022, Etched has now raised a total of $925.4M in total equity funding and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Hummingbird Ventures, SK Hynix, and Fundomo.
Investors in the round: Andreessen Horowitz, Argo, Jane Street Capital, Sequoia Capital, SK Hynix
Industry: AI Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Computer, Hardware, Semiconductor
Founders: Chris Zhu, Gavin Uberti, Robert Wachen
Founding year: 2022
Total equity funding raised: $925.4M

18. AdvanCell $315.0M

Round: Series D
Description: Sydney-based AdvanCell develops targeted alpha radiopharmaceutical therapies for cancer and supports their development and manufacturing. Founded by Andrew Adamovich in 2019, AdvanCell has now raised a total of $439.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Eli Lilly, Alpha Wave Global, Catalio Capital Management, Bain Capital Life Sciences, and SV Health Investors.
Investors in the round: Abingworth, Ally Bridge Group, Alpha Wave Global, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Brandon Capital, Catalio Capital Management, Eli Lilly, Eventide, Fidelity, Morningside, Piper Sandler, Proto Axiom, Sanofi Ventures, SV Health Investors, SymBiosis, Tenmile, TIME BioVentures, T. Rowe Price, Velosity Capital
Industry: Biotechnology, Clinical Trials, Oncology, Pharmaceutical
Founders: Andrew Adamovich
Founding year: 2019
Total equity funding raised: $439.5M

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17. Antares $370.0M

Round: Series C
Description: Los Angeles-based Antares Industries designs and manufactures transportable nuclear fission microreactors for terrestrial and space applications. Founded by Jordan Bramble and Julia DeWahl in 2023, Antares has now raised a total of $471.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Paradigm, BoxGroup, Caffeinated Capital, Industrious Ventures, and Banter Capital.
Investors in the round: Caffeinated Capital, Industrious Ventures, Paradigm, Point72 Ventures, Shine Capital
Industry: Energy, Industrial, Machinery Manufacturing, Manufacturing
Founders: Jordan Bramble, Julia DeWahl
Founding year: 2023
Total equity funding raised: $471.0M

16. Chai Discovery $400.0M

Round: Series C
Description: San Francisco-based Chai Discovery develops artificial intelligence models and software for protein engineering and molecular design. Founded by Jack Dent, Jacques Boitreaud, Joshua Meier, and Matthew McPartlon in 2024, Chai Discovery has now raised a total of $630.0M in total equity funding and is backed by OpenAI, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.
Investors in the round: Avenir, Avra Capital, Baillie Gifford, Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, BDT & MSD Partners, Dimension Capital, General Catalyst, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lachy Groom, Menlo Ventures, Oak HC/FT, OpenAI, Sapphire Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Yosemite
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Foundational AI, Health Care, Life Science
Founders: Jack Dent, Jacques Boitreaud, Joshua Meier, Matthew McPartlon
Founding year: 2024
Total equity funding raised: $630.0M

16. Meshy AI $400.0M

Round: Series B
Description: Sunnyvale-based Meshy AI is an AI platform that enables users to generate and edit 3D models from text descriptions, images, and conversational prompts. Founded by Ethan Hu in 2021, Meshy AI has now raised a total of $450.0M in total equity funding and is backed by HSG, Matrix Partners China, Granite Asia, Source Code Capital, and BAI capital.
Investors in the round: BAI capital, Granite Asia, HSG, IDG Capital, Matrix Partners China, Monolith Capital, Source Code Capital
Industry: 3D Printing, 3D Technology, Art, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Gaming, Generative AI, Machine Learning
Founders: Ethan Hu
Founding year: 2021
Total equity funding raised: $450.0M

15. Proxima Fusion €411.0M

Round: Series B
Description: Munich-based Proxima Fusion is a fusion energy company developing stellarator-based fusion power plants to deliver safe and carbon-free electricity. Founded by Francesco Sciortino, Jorrit Lion, Lucio Milanese, and Martin Kubie in 2023, Proxima Fusion has now raised a total of €598.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, HTGF (High-Tech Gruenderfonds), Cherry Ventures, Balderton Capital, and CDP Venture Capital.
Investors in the round: Balderton Capital, Bayern Kapital, Brevan Howard Asset Management, Burda Principal Investments, CDP Venture Capital, Cherry Ventures, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, DST Global, East X Ventures, Elaia, European Innovation Council Fund, Google, HTGF (High-Tech Gruenderfonds), KfW Capital, Leitmotif, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Plural Platform, redalpine, RWE, SPRIN-D, UVC Partners, XTX Ventures
Industry: Clean Energy, Energy, Nuclear, Power Grid
Founders: Francesco Sciortino, Jorrit Lion, Lucio Milanese, Martin Kubie
Founding year: 2023
Total equity funding raised: €598.5M

14. K2 Space $500.0M

Round: Series D
Description: Torrance-based K2 Space develops high-power satellite platforms for orbital missions, using vertically integrated hardware and manufacturing processes. Founded by Karan Kunjur and Neel Kunjur in 2022, K2 Space has now raised a total of $925.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Kleiner Perkins, First Round Capital, and T. Rowe Price.
Investors in the round: Altimeter Capital, ARK Investment Management, CapitalG, ICONIQ Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sands Capital Ventures, Spark Capital, T. Rowe Price
Industry: Aerospace, Machinery Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Space Travel
Founders: Karan Kunjur, Neel Kunjur
Founding year: 2022
Total equity funding raised: $925.5M

13. Antora Energy $550.0M

Round: Series C
Description: San Jose-based Antora Energy develops thermal energy storage systems that store renewable energy as heat for industrial applications. Founded by Andrew Ponec, David Bierman, and Justin Briggs in 2018, Antora Energy has now raised a total of $750.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Temasek, BlackRock, Eclipse, Trust Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures.
Investors in the round: Activate Capital Partners, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Decarbonization Partners, Eclipse, G2 Venture Partners, Impact Science Ventures, John Doerr, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Ribbit Capital, Salesforce Ventures, StepStone Group, The Westly Group, Trust Ventures
Industry: Energy, Energy Storage, Renewable Energy
Founders: Andrew Ponec, David Bierman, Justin Briggs
Founding year: 2018
Total equity funding raised: $750.0M

12. Multiverse Computing €500.0M

Round: Series C
Description: Donostia-San Sebastián-based Multiverse Computing develops AI model compression and quantum-inspired optimization software for enterprise applications. Founded by Alfonso Rubio Manzanares, Enrique Lizaso, Román Orús, and Samuel Mugel in 2019, Multiverse Computing has now raised a total of €735.5M in total equity funding and is backed by CDP Venture Capital, Redstone.VC, Creative Destruction Lab, Inveready, and Forgepoint Capital.
Investors in the round: BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture fund, Bullhound Capital, European Innovation Council Fund, Forgepoint Capital, Gestion De Capital Riesgo Del Pais Vasco, HP, Kutxa Fundazioa, NAventures, Orange Ventures, Qatar Development Bank, Santander Alternative Investments, Scania Invest, SETT, Tikehau Capital, Zouk Capital
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Quantum Computing, Software
Founders: Alfonso Rubio Manzanares, Enrique Lizaso, Román Orús, Samuel Mugel
Founding year: 2019
Total equity funding raised: €735.5M

11. Wonder $650.0M

Round: Series D
Description: New York-based Wonder operates a mealtime platform offering restaurant meals, meal kits, and food delivery through a unified ordering experience. Founded by Juan Cappello and Marc Lore in 2018, Wonder has now raised a total of $3.1B in total equity funding and is backed by Accel, General Catalyst, New Enterprise Associates, Forerunner, and Bain Capital Ventures.
Investors in the round: Accel, AllianceBernstein, ARK Investment Management, Google Ventures, Kayne Anderson Rudnick (KAR), New Enterprise Associates
Industry: E-Commerce, Food and Beverage, Food Delivery, Restaurants
Founders: Juan Cappello, Marc Lore
Founding year: 2018
Total equity funding raised: $3.1B

10. Neko Health $700.0M

Round: Series C
Description: Stockholm-based Neko Health develops scanning technology for preventive healthcare and early detection of disease. Founded by Daniel Ek and Hjalmar Nilsonne in 2018, Neko Health has now raised a total of $1.0B in total equity funding and is backed by General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lakestar, Positive Sum, and BDT & MSD Partners.
Investors in the round: Alexis Ohanian, Alex Tew, Ariel Emanuel, Atomico, BDT & MSD Partners, Claudia Schiffer, Danny Meyer, Gary Vaynerchuk, General Catalyst, Jessie Inchauspé, Jimmy Iovine, Katie Haun, Lakestar, Liberty City Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Marco Perego Saldaña, Maria Sharapova, Mark Zuckerberg, Matthew Vaughn, Michael Acton Smith, O.G. Venture Partners, Positive Sum, Priscilla Chan, Raj Shamani, Steven Bartlett, Thierry Henry, Timothy Ferriss, William Adams, Zoe Saldana
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Health Care, Hospital, Medical
Founders: Daniel Ek, Hjalmar Nilsonne
Founding year: 2018
Total equity funding raised: $1.0B

9. Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGSTL) ¥5.0B

Round: Venture
Description: Changchun-based Chang Guang Satellite Technology develops remote-sensing satellites and provides satellite data and information services. Founded in 2014, Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGSTL) has now raised a total of ¥7.7B in total equity funding and is backed by Shenzhen Capital Group, Matrix Partners China, CAS Star, CICC Capital, and Puhua Capital.
Investors in the round: Changfa Group, China Chengtong Fund, Haitong Innovation Securities Investment, Landstone Capital, Orient Assets Management, Shenzhen Capital Group
Industry: Commercial, Information Services, Information Technology, Satellite Communication
Founding year: 2014
Total equity funding raised: ¥7.7B

8. Together AI $800.0M

Round: Series C
Description: San Francisco-based Together AI provides a cloud platform for developing, training, fine-tuning, and deploying generative AI models. Founded by Ce Zhang, Chris Re, Percy Liang, Tri Dao, and Vipul Ved Prakash in 2022, Together AI has now raised a total of $1.3B in total equity funding and is backed by Vista Equity Partners, NVIDIA, General Catalyst, Alumni Ventures, and Factory.
Investors in the round: Aramco Ventures, DTCP, Emergence Capital, General Catalyst, Geodesic Capital, Lux Capital, March Capital, NVIDIA, Pegatron, PSP Capital Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Schneider Electric, S Ventures, Vista Equity Partners
Industry: AI Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI, IT Infrastructure, Machine Learning, Open Source
Founders: Ce Zhang, Chris Re, Percy Liang, Tri Dao, Vipul Ved Prakash
Founding year: 2022
Total equity funding raised: $1.3B

7. SambaNova $1.0B

Round: Series F
Description: Palo Alto-based SambaNova delivers AI inference and scalable solutions, providing seamless integration for agentic AI applications. Founded by Christopher Re, Kunle Olukotun, and Rodrigo Liang in 2017, SambaNova has now raised a total of $2.5B in total equity funding and is backed by Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, Temasek, BlackRock, and Battery Ventures.
Investors in the round: A&E Investments, Assam Ventures, Battery Ventures, BlackRock, Cambium Capital Partners, Capital Group, General Atlantic, Intel Capital, Kabila Capital, Qatar Investment Authority, QFO Capital, Seligman Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Vista Equity Partners, Volantis Capital Management
Industry: AI Infrastructure, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Semiconductor, Software
Founders: Christopher Re, Kunle Olukotun, Rodrigo Liang
Founding year: 2017
Total equity funding raised: $2.5B

6. Quantum Systems $1.2B

Round: Series D
Description: Gilching-based Quantum Systems builds AI-powered eVTOL drones for defense, security, and surveying, specializing in aerial intelligence solutions. Founded by Armin Busse, Florian Seibel, Michael Kriegel, and Tobias Kloss in 2015, Quantum Systems has now raised a total of $1.8B in total equity funding and is backed by European Investment Bank, Wellington Management, Advent International, DTCP, and Bond.
Investors in the round: Advent International, Airbus Defence & Space, A.P. Moller Holding, Balderton Capital, Blackstone, Bond, Elephant Ventures, Elevat3 Capital, Fidelity, HV Capital, Noteus Partners, Wellington Management
Industry: Aerospace, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Drones, Government, Manufacturing, Mapping Services
Founders: Armin Busse, Florian Seibel, Michael Kriegel, Tobias Kloss
Founding year: 2015
Total equity funding raised: $1.8B

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6. Ant International $1.2B

Round: Series A
Description: Singapore-based Ant International is a digital payments and financial technology company that promotes inclusive financial growth for partners and customers globally. Founded in 2023, Ant International has now raised a total of $1.2B in total equity funding and is backed by Alibaba Group and Ant Group.
Investors in the round: Alibaba Group, Ant Group
Industry: Financial Services
Founding year: 2023
Total equity funding raised: $1.2B

5. Fireworks AI $1.5B

Round: Series D
Description: Redwood City-based Fireworks AI is an advanced platform that enables users to build, tune, and scale AI applications using open-source models. Founded by Chenyu Zhao, Dmytro Dzhulgakov, Dmytro Ivchenko, James Reed, Lin Qiao, and Pawel Garbacki in 2022, Fireworks AI has now raised a total of $1.8B in total equity funding and is backed by Menlo Ventures, NVIDIA, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.
Investors in the round: Atreides Management, Benchmark, Bessemer Venture Partners, Evantic Capital, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lone Pine Capital, Menlo Ventures, NVIDIA, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Operator Collective, Original Capital, Prysm Capital, QuantumLight, TCV, The Twenty Minute VC, Time Ventures
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Management, Infrastructure, SaaS, Software
Founders: Chenyu Zhao, Dmytro Dzhulgakov, Dmytro Ivchenko, James Reed, Lin Qiao, Pawel Garbacki
Founding year: 2022
Total equity funding raised: $1.8B

4. Atoms $1.7B

Round: Venture
Description: Los Angeles-based Atoms develops industrial robotics and physical AI systems to automate tasks across various industries. Founded by Sky Dayton and Travis Kalanick in 2016, Atoms has now raised a total of $3.0B in total equity funding and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Craft Ventures, A*, Abstract, and Bain Capital Ventures.
Investors in the round: A*, Abstract, Alpha Square Group, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Chemistry, Fifth Wall, K5 Global, SV Angel, Uber
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Commercial Real Estate, Industrial, Information Technology, Infrastructure, Mining Technology, Real Estate, Robotics
Founders: Sky Dayton, Travis Kalanick
Founding year: 2016
Total equity funding raised: $3.0B

3. Joulent $1.8B

Round: Venture
Description: Houston-based Joulent develops large-scale energy systems that provide firm baseload power and grid integration for AI data centers and industrial loads. Joulent has now raised a total of $1.8B in total equity funding and is backed by National Grid Ventures.
Investors in the round: National Grid Ventures
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Infrastructure, Data Center, Energy, Energy Management, Energy Storage, Industrial
Total equity funding raised: $1.8B

2. Helsing $1.8B

Round: Series E
Description: Munich-based Helsing develops artificial intelligence software, autonomous systems, and defense technologies for military and government applications. Founded by Gundbert Scherf, Niklas Köhler, and Torsten Reil in 2021, Helsing has now raised a total of $3.3B in total equity funding and is backed by General Catalyst, Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Disruptive, and Greenoaks.
Investors in the round: Accel, CPP Investments, Disruptive, Dragoneer Investment Group, General Catalyst, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Greenoaks, ICONIQ Capital, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lightspeed Venture Partners, Plural, Prima Materia, The Stepstone Group
Industry: Advanced Materials, Aerospace, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Autonomous Vehicles, Drones, Electronics, Information Technology, Military, Robotics
Founders: Gundbert Scherf, Niklas Köhler, Torsten Reil
Founding year: 2021
Total equity funding raised: $3.3B

1. Kling AI $2.8B

Round: Venture
Description: Beijing-based Kling AI is an AI-powered creative studio for generating images and videos using state-of-the-art generative AI methods. Founded in 2024, Kling AI has now raised a total of $2.8B in total equity funding and is backed by Shenzhen Capital Group, Qiming Venture Partners, BlueFive Capital, Legend Capital, and Tencent.
Investors in the round: Alibaba Cloud, Atypical Holdings, Baidu, Beijing CAS Generation Equity Investment Fund Partnership (LP), Beijing Haipu No.1 Technology Development Partnership (LP), Beijing Panmao Investment Management, Beijing Zhuoyue Lingbo Enterprise Management, BlueFive Capital, CCB Equity, Changsheng Investment, China Internet Investment Fund, Chongqing Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Private Equity Investment Fund Partnership (LP), CITIC Securities, Co-Stone Venture Capital, CPE Yuanfeng, Guangdong Dakang Lanwu Equity Investment Partnership Enterprise (LP), Guofang Venture Capital, Haitong Leading Capital Management, Hangzhou Hengshi Asset Management, Hony Capital, Houwei Capital, Houwei Ruida (Dalian) Capital Management, Huace Film & TV, Huatai Zijin Investment, Hundreds Capital, ICBC Capital, Legend Capital, LIGHTHOUSE, Neumann Intelligence, Ningbo Meishan Bonded Port Area Atlas Investment Management, Ningbo Meishan Bonded Port Area Ruiyuan Investment Management, Parallel Mars Investment, Polaris PMF Select Investment, Primavera Capital Group, Qiming Venture Partners, Shanghai Guofang Digital Technology Enterprise Management Partnership (LP), Shanghai Qishan Investment, Shenzhen Capital Group, Tencent, Thinkfund Investment Management, Tianjin Lisi Mingtang Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership, Zhongguancun Science City Science
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Creative Agency, Generative AI, Video
Founding year: 2024
Total equity funding raised: $2.8B

AlleyWatch sat down with WashWise Founder Maria Cabral Menezes to learn more about the business, its future plans, recent funding round, and much, much more…

Who were your investors and how much did you raise?

WashWise raised a $1.2M pre-seed round. Investors include FJ Labs, Singh Capital, and Brown Girls Invest, alongside an incredible group of founders and operators including Jack Abraham, Founder of Atomic, Hims & Hers; Alex Jekowsky, Founder and CEO of Cents; Brian Tate, Founder of Oats Overnight; Gigi Howard, Founder of SIO Beauty; Nina Farran, Founder of Fashionkind; and others.

We were very intentional about building a cap table of people who could contribute far beyond capital. I wanted to be able to reach for my phone whenever I had a question—whether about content, distribution, manufacturing, the laundry industry, or something completely unexpected—and know there was an investor I could call who had relevant experience and would be willing to jump on the phone with me.

Tell us about the product or service that WashWise offers.

WashWise is reinventing laundry for the way we live today. We’re traveling more, working out more, investing more in our clothing, and increasingly buying secondhand—yet the way we care for our clothes has barely changed.

Our first focus is the space between wear and wash. Reset Spray, which I often describe as “dry shampoo for clothes,” cleanses, neutralizes odors, and reduces wrinkles so you can refresh and rewear clothes instead of automatically washing or dry cleaning them after every wear.

It’s water-based, bio-based, vegan and non-aerosol, and comes in both full and TSA-friendly travel sizes. The goal is simple: help people wash less, rewear more, and take better care of the clothes they already own.

What inspired the start of WashWise?

Before starting WashWise, I was a trader at Citadel, and I was constantly overspending on dry cleaning, traveling for conferences and trying to figure out how to rewear the clothes I had packed. At home, I had what I now call my “chairdrobe”—a huge pile of clothes that were too clean to wash but somehow didn’t feel fresh enough to rewear. As a result, I kept overwashing clothes that really weren’t dirty.

I remember looking at that pile and thinking: why don’t we have dry shampoo for clothes? We had completely changed the way we think about extending time between washes in beauty, but we were still caring for our clothes in essentially the same binary way: wash them or dry clean them. That frustration became the starting point for WashWise.

How is WashWise different?

While much of the laundry industry is focused on innovating inside the washing machine, we’re focused on the 99% of the time our clothes spend outside of it. We believe there is an enormous opportunity to rethink how we care for clothes between wears, while traveling, in our closets, gym bags and everywhere else they actually live.

What market does WashWise target and how big is it?

We’re creating a new behavior and, ultimately, a new market that we believe could be huge. Today, the U.S. laundry care products market alone is estimated at roughly $26 billion, while U.S. dry-cleaning and laundry services represent another $10+ billion market.

But our ambition isn’t to start by fighting for a slice of the existing laundry pie. We want to expand the pie by creating demand for innovative products that address moments in garment care that traditional laundry products have largely ignored—starting with the space between wear and wash. If we can establish that new behavior and make WashWise synonymous with modern garment care, we believe it gives us the right to eventually enter and innovate within the traditional laundry categories as well.

What’s your business model?

We’re starting DTC-first, with Amazon and TikTok Shop next. Right now, there’s very little product discovery in the traditional laundry aisle—it’s a sea of established brands and bright orange detergent bottles. Because we’re introducing a new behavior, we want to build consumer recognition and demand before going into big-box retail.

How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
Laundry is a relatively resilient category because, regardless of the economic environment, people still need to care for their clothes. While WashWise sits within the broader premiumization of laundry, Reset Spray also has a very tangible value proposition: a $29 can can replace up to $300 worth of dry cleaning, while helping people wash less and potentially extend the life of the pieces they already own.

What was the funding process like?

It was a pretty humbling dose of reality. I went from trading billions of dollars at Citadel to raising my first million, and those are two completely different experiences. I also knew I wanted to be extremely strategic about the expertise I brought onto our cap table, so I intentionally took my time rather than just optimizing for getting the round closed as quickly as possible.

What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?

The reality is that raising pre-seed, pre-revenue and pre-product in CPG is hard. A lot of funds are happy to take the meeting, but very few actually invest that early in consumer—especially when you’re introducing a product that requires a new behavior rather than slightly tweaking something consumers already understand. Most investors want data proving that the behavior works before taking the risk.

I understand where that comes from, but I also think it can be an extremely conservative way to approach early-stage investing. I would have loved to see PayPal’s earnings before earnings day when I was a trader so I could decide whether to go long or short, too—but that’s simply not how risk and reward work. The biggest opportunities often exist precisely because the outcome hasn’t been proven yet.

What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?

The idea, the size of the opportunity and the vision for WashWise all mattered, but I think more than anything, a lot of our earliest investors were betting on me. Many of them had known me before WashWise and knew how I approach something when I decide I’m going to make it work. I genuinely believe that half of our cap table would have taken the call regardless of what I was building. They weren’t investing because I could show them years of revenue or prove that this new consumer behavior already existed—we couldn’t. They were investing because they knew how relentlessly I go after something I believe in and wanted to be part of building it with me.

What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?

The milestone I care most about is behavioral. I want every time someone takes off a piece of clothing for there to be a mental decision: Is this clean? Is this dirty? And if it’s somewhere in between—let’s WashWise it. If we can own that in-between moment and make WashWise a verb, that’s much more powerful to me than any single six-month metric.

What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?

We act like we don’t have one either. I will never treat $1 of investor capital differently than I treated $1 when I was bankrolling WashWise out of my own savings—not today, and not when we’re profitable.

We’re incredibly scrappy and crafty about how we spend. Raising capital shouldn’t suddenly give you permission to solve every problem by throwing money at it. Constraints force creativity, and some of the best things we’ve done have come from asking, “How can we make this happen without spending a fortune?” My advice is to protect that mentality regardless of how much money you have in the bank.

Where do you see the company going now over the near term?

We’re thinking about the entire lifecycle of our clothes and turning common laundry grievances into innovative products built around the 99% of time our clothes spend outside the washing machine.

Do you hate traveling with a suitcase full of dirty clothes? Or carrying around a workout bag filled with sweaty gear? We may have a solution for that launching very soon.
Ultimately, I want WashWise to be a company that listens obsessively to the everyday frustrations people have with their clothes and builds products to solve them. So if you have a laundry grievance, email me—we may just build the solution.

What’s your favorite summer destination in and around the city?
I love walking over to Nolita, grabbing the salted brown butter gelato from Caffè Paradiso, and sitting in Elizabeth Street Garden. It’s one of my favorite little summer rituals in the city—highly recommend.

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Interested in the top NYC Startup Fundings? – The Largest NYC Startup Funding Rounds of July 2026

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AlleyWatch is NYC’s leading source of tech and startup news, reaching the city’s most active founders, investors, and tech leaders. Learn More →

12. Simile $200.0M
Description: Palo Alto-based Simile develops AI agents and communication infrastructure designed to automate and improve customer interactions, collaboration, and relationship-based workflows. Founded by Joon Park, Lainie Yallen, and Michael Bernstein in 2025, Simile has now raised a total of $300M in total equity funding and is backed by Index Ventures, A*, Factory, Bain Capital Ventures, and Greenoaks.
Investors in the round: A*, Bain Capital Ventures, CVS Health Ventures, Definition, Factory, Greenoaks, Hanabi Capital, Index Ventures
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Customer Service, Online Portals
Founders: Joon Park, Lainie Yallen, Michael Bernstein
Founding year: 2025
Total equity funding raised: $300.0M

11. Etched $300.0M
Description: San Jose-based Etched develops purpose-built AI chips and systems optimized for transformer inference, designed to deliver high-performance compute for large-scale generative AI workloads. Founded by Chris Zhu, Gavin Uberti, and Robert Wachen in 2022, Etched has now raised a total of $925.4M in total equity funding and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Hummingbird Ventures, SK Hynix, and Fundomo.
Investors in the round: Andreessen Horowitz, Argo, Jane Street Capital, Sequoia Capital, SK Hynix
Industry: AI Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Computer, Hardware, Semiconductor
Founders: Chris Zhu, Gavin Uberti, Robert Wachen
Founding year: 2022
Total equity funding raised: $925.4M

11. Oratomic $300.0M
Description: South Pasadena-based Oratomic develops neutral-atom quantum computing hardware and fault-tolerant architectures designed to scale quantum systems through error correction. Founded in 2026, Oratomic has now raised a total of $310M in total equity funding and is backed by General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, and Spark Capital.
Investors in the round: 7i Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Baiju Bhatt, Bain Capital Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, David Aaronson, Formation 8, General Catalyst, Global Frontier Investments, Index Ventures, Infleqtion, Khosla Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Nebular, Scott Aaronson, Spark Capital
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Enterprise Software, Machine Learning, Optical Communication, Quantum Computing
Founders:
Founding year: 2026
Total equity funding raised: $310.0M

11. Walden Robotics $300.0M
Description: Cambridge-based Walden Robotics develops wheeled, dual-arm robots and physical AI systems designed to automate material handling and other logistics and industrial tasks. Founded by Adrien Gaidon, Ben Burchfiel, Dave Johnson, Kerri Fetzer-Borelli, Rareş Ambruş, and Russ Tedrake in 2026, Walden Robotics has now raised a total of $300M in total equity funding and is backed by Menlo Ventures, NVIDIA, The Boeing Company, Toyota Ventures, and Calibrate Ventures.
Investors in the round: AE Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, Colle Capital Partners, CoreWeave Ventures, Deviation Capital, KAS Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, NextView Ventures, NVIDIA, One Madison Group, Prologis Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Shine Capital, Squarepoint Capital, The Boeing Company, Toyota, Toyota Ventures
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Logistics, Robotics
Founders: Adrien Gaidon, Ben Burchfiel, Dave Johnson, Kerri Fetzer-Borelli, Rareş Ambruş, Russ Tedrake
Founding year: 2026
Total equity funding raised: $300.0M

10. Antares $370.0M
Description: Los Angeles-based Antares develops factory-produced nuclear fission microreactors designed to provide compact, reliable power for defense, remote, industrial, and other strategic applications. Founded by Jordan Bramble and Julia DeWahl in 2023, Antares has now raised a total of $471M in total equity funding and is backed by Paradigm, BoxGroup, Caffeinated Capital, Industrious Ventures, and Banter Capital.
Investors in the round: Caffeinated Capital, Industrious Ventures, Paradigm, Point72 Ventures, Shine Capital
Industry: Energy, Industrial, Machinery Manufacturing, Manufacturing
Founders: Jordan Bramble, Julia DeWahl
Founding year: 2023
Total equity funding raised: $471.0M

9. Meshy AI $400.0M
Description: Sunnyvale-based Meshy AI provides an AI-powered 3D creation platform that turns text, images, sketches, and conversational prompts into textured, rigged, and export-ready 3D models. Founded by Ethan Hu in 2021, Meshy AI has now raised a total of $450M in total equity funding and is backed by Matrix Partners China, HSG, Source Code Capital, Granite Asia, and BAI capital.
Investors in the round: BAI capital, Granite Asia, HSG, IDG Capital, Matrix Partners China, Monolith Capital, Source Code Capital
Industry: 3D Printing, 3D Technology, Art, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Gaming, Generative AI, Machine Learning
Founders: Ethan Hu
Founding year: 2021
Total equity funding raised: $450.0M

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9. Chai Discovery $400.0M
Description: San Francisco-based Chai Discovery develops multimodal foundation models for molecular structure prediction and design to accelerate drug discovery and biological engineering. Founded by Jack Dent, Jacques Boitreaud, Joshua Meier, and Matthew McPartlon in 2024, Chai Discovery has now raised a total of $630M in total equity funding and is backed by OpenAI, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.
Investors in the round: Avenir, Avra Capital, Baillie Gifford, Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, BDT & MSD Partners, Dimension Capital, General Catalyst, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lachy Groom, Menlo Ventures, Oak HC/FT, OpenAI, Sapphire Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Yosemite
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Foundational AI, Health Care, Life Science
Founders: Jack Dent, Jacques Boitreaud, Joshua Meier, Matthew McPartlon
Founding year: 2024
Total equity funding raised: $630.0M

8. K2 Space $500.0M
Description: Torrance-based K2 Space develops high-power, large satellite platforms designed to deliver greater payload mass, power, propulsion, and resilience across low, medium, and geostationary Earth orbits. Founded by Karan Kunjur and Neel Kunjur in 2022, K2 Space has now raised a total of $925.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, First Round Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital, and T. Rowe Price.
Investors in the round: Altimeter Capital, ARK Investment Management, CapitalG, ICONIQ Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sands Capital Ventures, Spark Capital, T. Rowe Price
Industry: Aerospace, Machinery Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Space Travel
Founders: Karan Kunjur, Neel Kunjur
Founding year: 2022
Total equity funding raised: $925.5M

7. Antora Energy $550.0M
Description: San Jose-based Antora Energy develops thermal energy storage systems that convert renewable electricity into high-temperature heat and deliver industrial heat and power on demand. Founded by Andrew Ponec, David Bierman, and Justin Briggs in 2018, Antora Energy has now raised a total of $750M in total equity funding and is backed by Temasek, BlackRock, Eclipse, Trust Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures.
Investors in the round: Activate Capital Partners, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Decarbonization Partners, Eclipse, G2 Venture Partners, Impact Science Ventures, John Doerr, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Ribbit Capital, Salesforce Ventures, StepStone Group, The Westly Group, Trust Ventures
Industry: Energy, Energy Storage, Renewable Energy
Founders: Andrew Ponec, David Bierman, Justin Briggs
Founding year: 2018
Total equity funding raised: $750.0M

6. Wonder $650.0M
Description: New York-based Wonder operates a mealtime platform combining delivery, pickup, dine-in, meal kits, and chef-driven restaurants, including multi-restaurant ordering through a single experience. Founded by Juan Cappello and Marc Lore in 2018, Wonder has now raised a total of $3.1B in total equity funding and is backed by Accel, General Catalyst, New Enterprise Associates, Forerunner, and Bain Capital Ventures.
Investors in the round: Accel, AllianceBernstein, ARK Investment Management, Google Ventures, Kayne Anderson Rudnick (KAR), New Enterprise Associates
Industry: E-Commerce, Food and Beverage, Food Delivery, Restaurants
Founders: Juan Cappello, Marc Lore
Founding year: 2018
Total equity funding raised: $3.1B

5. Together AI $800.0M
Description: San Francisco-based Together AI provides a full-stack AI cloud for inference, GPU compute, fine-tuning, model shaping, and pre-training of open-source and generative AI models. Founded by Ce Zhang, Chris Re, Percy Liang, Tri Dao, and Vipul Ved Prakash in 2022, Together AI has now raised a total of $1.3B in total equity funding and is backed by Vista Equity Partners, NVIDIA, General Catalyst, Alumni Ventures, and Factory.
Investors in the round: Aramco Ventures, DTCP, Emergence Capital, General Catalyst, Geodesic Capital, Lux Capital, March Capital, NVIDIA, Pegatron, PSP Capital Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Schneider Electric, S Ventures, Vista Equity Partners
Industry: AI Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI, IT Infrastructure, Machine Learning, Open Source
Founders: Ce Zhang, Chris Re, Percy Liang, Tri Dao, Vipul Ved Prakash
Founding year: 2022
Total equity funding raised: $1.3B

4. Commonwealth Fusion Systems $1.0B
Description: Cambridge-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems develops commercial fusion energy systems using high-temperature superconducting magnets, including the SPARC demonstration tokamak and planned ARC grid-scale power plant. Founded by Dan Brunner, Martin Greenwald, and Robert Mumgaard in 2017, Commonwealth Fusion Systems has now raised a total of $3.9B in total equity funding and is backed by Temasek, Khosla Ventures, Coatue, Quiet Capital, and HOF Capital.
Investors in the round: Not disclosed
Industry: Clean Energy, Electrical Distribution, Energy, Environmental Engineering, Nuclear, Renewable Energy
Founders: Dan Brunner, Martin Greenwald, Robert Mumgaard
Founding year: 2017
Total equity funding raised: $3.9B

4. SambaNova $1.0B
Description: Palo Alto-based SambaNova provides an integrated AI platform combining its RDU processors, systems, and software to deliver high-speed, energy-efficient inference and enterprise agentic AI deployments. Founded by Christopher Re, Kunle Olukotun, and Rodrigo Liang in 2017, SambaNova has now raised a total of $2.5B in total equity funding and is backed by Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, Temasek, BlackRock, and Battery Ventures.
Investors in the round: A&E Investments, Assam Ventures, Battery Ventures, BlackRock, Cambium Capital Partners, Capital Group, General Atlantic, Intel Capital, Kabila Capital, Qatar Investment Authority, QFO Capital, Seligman Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Vista Equity Partners, Volantis Capital Management
Industry: AI Infrastructure, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Semiconductor, Software
Founders: Christopher Re, Kunle Olukotun, Rodrigo Liang
Founding year: 2017
Total equity funding raised: $2.5B

3. Fireworks AI $1.5B
Description: Redwood City-based Fireworks AI provides an AI infrastructure platform for building, fine-tuning, and deploying generative AI models with high-performance inference and production-scale model serving. Founded by Chenyu Zhao, Dmytro Dzhulgakov, Dmytro Ivchenko, James Reed, Lin Qiao, and Pawel Garbacki in 2022, Fireworks AI has now raised a total of $1.8B in total equity funding and is backed by Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, NVIDIA, Index Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.
Investors in the round: Atreides Management, Benchmark, Bessemer Venture Partners, Evantic Capital, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lone Pine Capital, Menlo Ventures, NVIDIA, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Operator Collective, Original Capital, Prysm Capital, QuantumLight, TCV, The Twenty Minute VC, Time Ventures
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Management, Infrastructure, SaaS, Software
Founders: Chenyu Zhao, Dmytro Dzhulgakov, Dmytro Ivchenko, James Reed, Lin Qiao, Pawel Garbacki
Founding year: 2022
Total equity funding raised: $1.8B

2. Atoms $1.7B
Description: Los Angeles-based Atoms develops industrial robotics and physical AI systems designed to automate labor-intensive operations across industries including food, mining, transportation, and logistics. Founded by Sky Dayton and Travis Kalanick in 2016, Atoms has now raised a total of $3B in total equity funding and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Craft Ventures, A*, Abstract, and Bain Capital Ventures.
Investors in the round: A*, Abstract, Alpha Square Group, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Chemistry, Fifth Wall, K5 Global, SV Angel, Uber
Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Commercial Real Estate, Industrial, Information Technology, Infrastructure, Mining Technology, Real Estate, Robotics
Founders: Sky Dayton, Travis Kalanick
Founding year: 2016
Total equity funding raised: $3.0B

1. Blue Origin $10.0B
Description: Kent-based Blue Origin develops reusable launch vehicles, rocket engines, lunar systems, and space technologies designed to lower the cost of access to space and enable expanded human activity beyond Earth. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, Blue Origin has now raised a total of $10B in total equity funding and is backed by Coatue, E1 Ventures, NASA, United States Space Force, and Jeff Bezos.
Investors in the round: Coatue, Jeff Bezos
Industry: Aerospace, Manufacturing, National Security, Renewable Energy
Founders: Jeff Bezos
Founding year: 2000
Total equity funding raised: $10.0B

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Flagler Health – $50M

HEALTHTECH AI

Flagler Health, an AI-native platform that coordinates clinical and administrative workflows for musculoskeletal healthcare providers, has raised $50M in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from SignalFire, Alumni Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, 186 Ventures, PROOF, Tribeca Venture Partners, and Offscript. Flagler Health was founded by Albert Katz, Leon Anijar, and Will Hu in 2022. The company has now raised a total of $63M in reported equity funding.

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Institutional buy-side equity research has long been one of the most information-intensive jobs in finance: analysts tracking 20 to 40 companies in their core coverage while monitoring hundreds more must constantly synthesize earnings calls, SEC filings, conference transcripts, news flow, and internal thesis documents–largely by hand. The volume of data demanding analyst attention has grown sharply, while research cycles have compressed and pressure on returns has intensified, creating a widening gap between what analysts are expected to know and the hours they have to know it. General-purpose AI tools have filled some of that gap, but institutional funds operate with proprietary data, house investment styles, and output formats that off-the-shelf chatbots cannot accommodate. Pinegap addresses this by building custom AI agents tuned directly to each fund’s workflow–learning how a specific fund thinks, then delivering earnings previews, company primers, thesis updates, and news summaries proactively, before the analyst asks. Since launching commercially in early 2025, the platform has deployed more than 1,000 agents across 100+ institutional clients, generating upward of 50,000 research reports per month for hedge funds, long-only mutual funds, and RIAs.

AlleyWatch sat down with Pinegap Cofounder & CBO Ankit Varmani to learn more about the business, its future plans, recent $8M Series A round that brings total funding to $10.5M, and much, much more…

Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Pinegap raised an $8M Series A round led by Stellaris Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Inventus, Silicon Valley Quad, and DeVC.

Tell us about the product or service that Pinegap offers.

Pinegap is an AI-powered equity research platform that automates the daily workflows of institutional buy-side analysts. The platform was created for buy-side analysts that have to pull insights from market and internal data on many companies in a timely fashion. We work directly with these companies to build end-to-end automation and AI agents tuned to each fund’s investment style, private data, and output formats.

What inspired the start of Pinegap?

The idea for Pinegap originated from when my cofounder Deepak Sharma an IIT alum (Indian Institute of Technology a highly regarded university in India) reached out to me in late 2023 to learn more about equity research, To help him, I taught Deepak the way any good analyst would with real assignments – the kind that keep junior analysts at their desks until midnight. Working through the tasks I gave him, Deepak turned to the LLMs of the time, which were just beginning to show real capability. We both quickly realized that this wasn’t a shortcut. It was an insight: the most mundane, repetitive parts of equity research, the very tasks that consume an analyst’s day, could be automated with AI.

I brought my analyst experience (which includes years at JP Morgan) to the table while Deepak brought the engineering instinct to automate it. Together we developed Pinegap and by early 2025, we launched it commercially.  As of now, we have deployed more than 1,000 agents across 100+ institutional clients, generating upwards of 50,000 research reports per month.

How is Pinegap different?

Pinegap is different because it is neither a data vendor nor a chatbot. Instead it is a platform that learns how a specific fund thinks, everything from its investment style, private data, and output formats This is important because for institutional research analysts, general-purpose AI tools fall short because they pull too much info – which leads to inaccurate answers.

Pinegap stands out in the market because it is purpose-built for a single niche, we have growing base of proprietary data, and we offer flexibility to both “buy” and “build” customers.

What market does Pinegap target and how big is it?

As mentioned, we target buy-side analysts (hedge funds, long-only funds, and RIAs), a market that represents more than a billion dollars in opportunity before expanding into adjacent markets.

What’s your business model?

We generate recurring revenue through seat-based subscriptions. As customers expand usage across teams and workflows, those relationships naturally grow into larger, multi-year enterprise contracts.

How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?

We do believe that we have some counter-cyclical characteristics. During periods of economic uncertainty, investment firms tend to scrutinize spending more closely and prioritize products that deliver measurable ROI. We believe that dynamic positions us well and could serve as a tailwind for our business.

What was the funding process like?

We were delighted to meet Alok Goyal from Stellaris Venture Partners and immediately saw him as a great fit for our cap table. Our existing investor, Inventus Capital, also doubled down in the round. We were equally excited to welcome several of our customers as investors, reflecting their confidence not only in our product but also in our long-term vision as a company.

What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?

Finding the right partner was of paramount importance to us. After receiving seed funding from funds backed by Silicon Valley legends such as Kanwal Rekhi and BV Jagadeesh, we were looking for a partner who could help us expand our horizons even further.

We were excited to meet Alok early in our fundraising process. Having spent nearly a decade leading one of the world’s largest software companies, he brings tremendous value to our team as an investor, advisor, and board member.

What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?

I think what our investors liked about our company was how we identified analyst’s pain points and how effective we’ve been so far in solving them.  Though it’s still early days for Pinegap, we have already received strong positive customer feedback – even from funds with their own in-house AI capabilities – because of how our AI is so closely tuned to how they actually work.  I think what also appealed to them was our experience and execution capability. I lived in this world for fifteen years across the sell side and buy side and Deepak brings the technical velocity to build that institutional knowledge into an intelligent platform.

What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?

We are looking to rapidly expand our GTM efforts and expand customer success teams.

What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?

 Be as frugal as possible until you achieve product-market fit. Scaling something that isn’t working rarely leads to good outcomes.

Where do you see the company going now over the near term?

I envision Pinegap using this funding to build out our go-to-market and sales capabilities, expand our engineering team, and set up an in-house team of former equity research analysts.  I also see the product continuing to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of equity analysts, who are constantly looking to incorporate new sources of information into their research process.

What’s your favorite summer destination in and around the city?
We’re a tennis family, so the US Open is always a highlight of our summer. Otherwise, I’m happiest staying local, taking long walks along the Hudson and enjoying dinner outside with family or friends.

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