AI startups across different sectors raised massive funds this week, with Anthropic leading the pack with a record-breaking round. From conversational AI to identity verification, here are the highlights:
Anthropic gets $13 billion boost
- Fund Raised: $13 billion
- Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Fidelity Management, Salesforce Ventures, Google Ventures, Amazon Alexa Fund
San Francisco-based Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives Dario Amodei (CEO) and Daniela Amodei (President), has secured the largest AI funding round in history. The company plans to use this Series F funding to expand Claude’s capabilities, build massive compute infrastructure, and advance constitutional AI research.
Anthropic has grown rapidly since its founding, with Claude now serving 45+ million monthly active users and 200+ enterprise customers including Salesforce, Notion, and DuckDuckGo. The company projects a $2.7 billion revenue run rate for 2025 and employs over 800 people. Dario Amodei previously served as VP of Research at OpenAI before founding Anthropic over AI safety disagreements.
Sierra Achieves $10 Billion Valuation with $350 Million Round
- Fund Raised: $350 million
- Investors: Thrive Capital, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, Andreessen Horowitz
Sierra, founded in 2023 by Bret Taylor (former Salesforce co-CEO and Twitter Chairman) and Clay Bavor (former Google VP), has reached a $10 billion valuation in just two years. The company specializes in conversational AI agents for enterprise customer service and business operations.
With customers including WeightWatchers, SiriusXM, Sonos, and OluKai, Sierra has achieved 400% quarter-over-quarter revenue growth. The company employs 180 people, with 85% in technical roles. Taylor’s experience scaling Salesforce and Bavor’s background in Google’s emerging technologies have positioned Sierra as a formidable enterprise AI player.
ID.me Secures $340 Million to Fight AI Fraud
- Fund Raised: $340 million
- Investors: Ribbit Capital, Ares Capital, Moonshots Capital, Positive Sum
McLean, Virginia-based ID.me, founded in 2010 by Blake Hall (CEO), raised funding to combat AI-powered identity fraud through advanced biometric verification. Hall, a former Army Ranger and Harvard Business School graduate, serves over 150 million users through partnerships with the IRS, Department of Veterans Affairs, and major retailers.
The platform processes 250+ million identity verifications annually with a 99.5% fraud prevention rate. ID.me works with 27 state agencies, 10 federal departments, and Fortune 500 companies across retail, healthcare, and financial services. This round brings total funding to $470 million at a $2.1 billion valuation.
Treeline Biosciences Emerges from Stealth with $200 Million
- Fund Raised: $200 million
- Investors: Flagship Pioneering, General Catalyst, Third Rock Ventures
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Treeline Biosciences, founded in 2022 by Alexis Borisy, emerged from stealth mode with Series A funding for AI-driven oncology drug discovery. Borisy previously co-founded Foundation Medicine (acquired by Roche for $2.4 billion) and served as CEO of Blueprint Medicines.
Treeline combines AI-powered target identification with precision medicine approaches for cancer treatment. The company has 12 PhD researchers from MIT, Harvard Medical School, and Dana-Farber, with four drug candidates in preclinical development focusing on previously undruggable cancer proteins. Two candidates are expected to enter Phase I trials in 2026.
You.com Raises $100 Million for Enterprise AI Search
- Fund Raised: $100 million
- Investors: Radical Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Georgian Partners
Palo Alto-based You.com, founded in 2020 by Richard Socher (CEO) and Bryan McCann (CTO), secured Series B funding for enterprise AI search infrastructure. Socher, former Salesforce Chief Scientist who sold MetaMind to Salesforce for $32.8 million, has evolved the company from consumer search to enterprise AI search.
The platform serves enterprise customers including Zoom, Snowflake, and MongoDB with customized AI search experiences across internal knowledge bases. You.com’s search index covers 50+ billion web pages with API response times under 200ms and support for 15 languages.
Exa Secures $85 Million for “Search Engine for AI”
- Fund Raised: $85 million
- Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners
San Francisco-based Exa (formerly Metaphor), founded in 2022 by Stanford graduates Will Bryk and Peter Gao, provides structured web search specifically designed for AI models. The company’s neural search technology understands context and intent beyond traditional keyword-based search.
Exa processes 50+ million monthly API calls for 2,000+ developers and AI companies, with integrations at OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity AI. The company indexes 10,000+ premium publishers and databases, valued at $500 million post-funding.
HappyRobot Raises $44 Million for Supply Chain AI
- Fund Raised: $44 million
- Investors: Base10 Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, Tokio Marine, World Innovation Lab
San Francisco-based HappyRobot, founded in 2019 by Jordan Kretchmer (CEO), deploys AI-powered “digital workers” for supply chain coordination. Kretchmer previously founded Livefyre (acquired by Adobe) and identified massive inefficiencies in freight coordination.
The company serves 70+ enterprise customers including DHL, Ryder, and XPO Logistics, processing $2.8 billion in freight annually. HappyRobot’s AI agents reduce freight coordination costs by 35% and manual coordination time by 60-80% through natural language interactions via phone, email, and chat.
WheelsOn Secures $30 Million for MENA Car Rentals
- Fund Raised: $30 million
- Investors: MENA private investors, Xploration Capital
Dubai-based WheelsOn, founded in 2023 by Omar Christidis, applies AI optimization to car rental operations across the Middle East and North Africa. Christidis previously led operations for Careem (acquired by Uber for $3.1 billion).
WheelsOn operates a 3,500+ vehicle fleet across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh, processing 45,000+ monthly rentals with 78% customer retention. The company’s AI platform optimizes fleet utilization through demand prediction and strategic vehicle positioning.
Other Notable Rounds
LightYX raised $11 million Series A led by NOVA by Saint-Gobain for AI-enhanced laser construction guidance, serving 500+ projects with 85% error reduction and 40% faster completion.
Boost My School secured $10 million Series A from High Alpha for AI-powered K-12 fundraising, serving 2,800+ schools and processing $180 million annually with 340% average fundraising increases.
International Spotlight
Mistral AI (France) continues finalizing a €2 billion mega-round that would value the Paris-based company at €12-14 billion. Founded by former Meta and DeepMind researchers Arthur Mensch, Guillaume Lample, and Timothée Lacroix, this would become Europe’s largest AI startup financing.
Important Takeaway
This week’s funding represents unprecedented confidence in AI startups from investors. These founders have created real solutions to complex problems and are scaling rapidly, from Anthropic’s breakthrough in AI safety to Sierra’s enterprise automation revolution. The $14+ billion raised across 18 deals shows AI’s continued dominance in the venture capital landscape.
FAQs
Anthropic’s $13 billion Series F round in September 2025 is the largest AI funding round ever recorded, surpassing all previous venture capital investments in artificial intelligence.
Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, with participation from Fidelity Management, Salesforce Ventures, Google Ventures, and Amazon Alexa Fund.
AI companies raised over $14 billion in total funding during September 1-6, 2025, across 18 major deals, led by Anthropic’s record $13 billion round.
Anthropic plans to expand Claude’s capabilities, build massive compute infrastructure, and advance constitutional AI research with their Series F funding.
Notable rounds included Sierra ($350M at $10B valuation), ID.me ($340M), Treeline Biosciences ($200M), and You.com ($100M).
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