AI startups announced five funding rounds above $2 million on Monday, November 9, 2026, for a combined $344.5 million. Nominal recorded the largest deal, a $240 million Series C that values the hardware-testing software company at $3 billion.
Every confirmed deal in the 24-hour window involved a company based in the United States or with a US office. Searches across European, Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Latin American and African outlets found no qualifying AI rounds announced in the same period.
The figures below were checked against company announcements and at least one news outlet. Deals first reported before November 9 were left out, even where outlets republished them today.
AI funding news today: deals at a glance
| Company | Round | Amount (USD) | Valuation | Lead investor(s) | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal | Series C | $240M | $3B | Lightspeed, Insight Partners | North America |
| Spines | Series A-1 + credit facility | $64M | Not disclosed | Zeev Ventures | Middle East (Israel) / North America |
| Coframe | Series A | $25M | Not disclosed | Khosla Ventures, Hanabi Capital | North America |
| Finpilot | Series A | $10M | Not disclosed | Lobby Capital | North America |
| Astral | Seed (cumulative total) | $5.5M | Not disclosed | MapleVC (Andre Charoo) | North America |
Growth and early stage AI funding rounds
Nominal raises $240 million Series C for AI hardware testing North America
Nominal builds software that pulls together hardware test data and uses an AI agent, Nominal Analyst, to investigate the results. Engineers use it to test aircraft, rocket engines, drones, autonomous vehicles and energy systems.
Lightspeed Venture Partners and Insight Partners led the $240 million Series C. Lux Capital, Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Avenir, Salesforce Ventures, M13 and Lockheed Martin Ventures also took part.
The round values Nominal at $3 billion. That is three times the $1 billion valuation it reached in March 2026, when it raised $80 million. The company is headquartered in the United States and says more than 80 commercial and government organizations use its platform, including Anduril and HII.
Source: SiliconANGLE
Spines secures $64 million for its AI publishing platform Middle East / North America
Spines runs a “hybrid publisher” platform. Its AI agents edit and translate manuscripts, design covers, produce audiobooks and market books, with human publishing staff available alongside them.
The $64 million package has two parts. Zeev Ventures led a $29 million Series A-1 equity round, joined by Aleph, NordStar, M-Fund, LionTree and angel investor Dan Senor. Twelve, a credit firm founded by the Outbrain cofounders, provided a $35 million non-dilutive growth facility.
Spines did not disclose its valuation. The company has offices in Tel Aviv and New York and reported a $50 million annual revenue run rate, up 400% year over year.
Coframe closes $25 million Series A for self-improving websites North America
Coframe builds websites, landing pages and ads that generate, test and improve their own variations. A team of AI agents covers strategy, design, engineering, QA and data analysis.
Khosla Ventures and Hanabi Capital co-led the $25 million Series A, bringing total funding to $35 million. Leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind joined as individual investors. Nat Friedman and Antler are earlier backers.
The San Francisco company did not disclose a valuation. It reports more than $300 million in added revenue for customers such as Dropbox, Block and BCG.
Sources: Unite.AI, PR Newswire via Yahoo Finance
Finpilot raises $10 million for AI agents in institutional investing North America
Finpilot sells an AI-native operating system for institutional investors. It gathers what an institution knows into one system and assigns AI agents to work on that data.
Lobby Capital led the $10 million Series A, with Madrona participating. The Seattle company plans to hire and add agent features. It did not disclose a valuation.
Source: The AI Insider
Astral reaches $5.5 million in funding for its AI math tutor North America
Astral makes an AI math tutor for kindergarten through eighth grade. Families in more than 33 states use it, and nine states have approved it for Education Savings Account spending.
Astral said it has raised $5.5 million in total. Andre Charoo of MapleVC led the latest round, with Stand Together Ventures Lab, Conversion Capital and Original Capital returning. The company did not say how much of the total came from the new round.
Refresh Miami lists Astral as Miami-headquartered, while its press release carries a San Francisco dateline.
Sources: Refresh Miami, PR Newswire
AI venture funds and acquisitions in the last 24 hours
No AI-focused fund launches or AI acquisitions were confirmed as announced on November 9, 2026.
Several large deals still circulating in today’s coverage were announced earlier and are excluded. Shield AI’s $2.5 billion raise tied to its $5.3 billion Echodyne purchase was announced on November 5; the full breakdown is in our Shield AI funding report.
Meta’s purchase of AI coding startup Conductor was first reported by Axios on November 4. Sand.ai’s $200 million Series A+ (November 5), Traversal’s $120 million Series B (November 3), Pliant’s $80 million Series C (November 4) and Nevis’s $70 million Series B (October 26) also fall outside the window.
Regional AI funding coverage for November 9
India recorded one funding deal on the day, according to StartupTalky. Bengaluru clinical AI startup O-Health received backing from Apollo Hospitals’ Dr Sangita Reddy, but the amount was not disclosed, so it is not listed above.
In the Middle East, UAE-based Multipolitan raised a $2 million pre-seed round. It is a travel and mobility company and sits at the $2 million threshold rather than above it.
Tech.eu’s Monday recap covered European deals from the previous week only. TechCabal reported no African AI rounds above $2 million, and no qualifying Latin American or Chinese AI rounds were found for the window.
For earlier weekend deals, including OpenAI’s $11 billion close, see the AI funding roundup for November 7 and 8.
AI funding trends from today’s deals
- Agents doing operational work drew most of the money. Nominal, Spines, Coframe and Finpilot all sell AI agents that run tasks inside a single industry, from hardware testing to book publishing.
- Returning investors anchored several rounds. Nominal’s valuation tripled in eight months, Aleph backed Spines for a third time, and every institutional investor from Astral’s pre-seed came back.
- Activity was concentrated in the US. All five deals involve US-based or US-present companies, while India’s deal flow stayed slow after the Diwali weekend.
FAQ
What was the largest AI funding round on November 9, 2026?
Nominal raised the largest round: a $240 million Series C led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Insight Partners. The deal values the AI hardware-testing software company at $3 billion, triple its March 2026 valuation.
How much did AI startups raise on November 9, 2026?
Five confirmed AI deals above $2 million totaled $344.5 million. Spines’ figure includes a $35 million non-dilutive credit facility, and Astral’s $5.5 million is cumulative funding rather than a single round.
Which investors led AI rounds on November 9?
Lead investors were Lightspeed and Insight Partners (Nominal), Zeev Ventures (Spines), Khosla Ventures and Hanabi Capital (Coframe), Lobby Capital (Finpilot) and MapleVC’s Andre Charoo (Astral).
Were there any AI acquisitions announced on November 9, 2026?
No AI acquisitions were confirmed for November 9. Recent deals such as Shield AI’s Echodyne purchase and Meta’s Conductor purchase were announced on November 5 and November 4.
Did any AI startups outside the US raise funding on November 9?
Spines, which has offices in Israel and New York, was the only deal with a non-US base. No qualifying rounds were found in Europe, India, China, Latin America or Africa.
