AI startups announced about $5.67 billion in primary equity funding across 28 rounds of $20 million or more between October 19 and October 25, 2026. That is more than double the $2.42 billion tally from the prior week.
Tenstorrent’s $1.5 billion Series E was the largest round, at about 26% of the total. Flapping Airplanes followed with $1 billion, and the two deals made up 44% of the week.
No AI acquisition in the window came with a disclosed price. Rivian bought UK simulation startup Third Dimension, but neither company named a figure, so the week has no largest acquisition to report.
North American companies raised about $4.37 billion, or 77% of the total, across 22 rounds. Four European startups raised $870 million (15%), China’s Neolix raised nearly $400 million (7%), and Israel’s Mave raised $28 million.
Two AI-focused venture funds also closed, raising $360 million combined. A fund close is money a venture firm collects from its own investors to back startups later, so it sits outside the startup total.
Three other deals need a plain explanation. Otter.ai took $320 million from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund but sold no shares. It will repay the money with interest from future revenue, so the deal is not counted.
Formic raised $50 million, but only about $40 million was equity. The rest was a loan from S2G Investments, and only the equity is counted. No employee share sale or other secondary deal qualified this week.
Reports that DeepSeek raised about 106 billion yuan are covered in the regional section but left out of the total. DeepSeek has not confirmed the round.
AI funding this week: growth and early-stage rounds
The table lists every confirmed AI round of $20 million or more announced in the window, largest first. Otter.ai’s repayable financing is shown in grey for reference and is not part of the total.
| Company | What it does | Round | Amount | Valuation | Lead and notable investors | HQ | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenstorrent | RISC-V AI processors, servers and licensable chip designs | Series E | US$1.5B | US$6.2B post-money | Trace Capital, Innovation X (leads); ARK Invest, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price | Santa Clara, US | North America |
| Flapping Airplanes | AI research lab training models with less data and compute | Series A | US$1B | US$6B post-money | Index Ventures, Lux Capital (co-leads); Sequoia, GV, Kleiner Perkins, Nvidia | San Francisco, US | North America |
| Legora | AI platform for legal research, review and drafting | Series E | US$550M | US$8.8B | Atreides Management (lead); Baron Capital, Capital Group, Fidelity, J.P. Morgan | Stockholm, Sweden | Europe/UK |
| Neolix | Driverless delivery vans for urban logistics | Series E | Nearly US$400M | Not disclosed | Boyu Capital (anchor); Alibaba AEF NextGen Fund, Granite Asia, Vertex Growth | Beijing, China | Asia-Pacific |
| ASI | AI that runs aviation, defense, energy and logistics operations | Series C | US$325M | US$3B | Spark Capital (lead); Citadel Securities affiliates, Meritech, Craft Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz | Boston, US | North America |
| Otter.ai | AI meeting notes and voice assistant | Repayable growth financing (no shares sold) | US$320M (not in total) | Not disclosed | General Catalyst Customer Value Fund | Mountain View, US | North America |
| Pigment | AI business planning and forecasting software | Series E | US$250M | US$2.3B | Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT (lead); World Innovation Lab, ICONIQ, IVP; planned Nvidia stake | Paris, France | Europe/UK |
| Pathos AI | Develops cancer drugs using an agentic AI platform | Series E | US$237M | About US$3B post-money | Bristol Myers Squibb (lead); existing investors | New York, US | North America |
| Warp Sciences | Robot-run chemistry labs that make and test drug candidates for pharma clients | Series A | US$215M | US$865M post-money | Lightspeed (lead); IVP, Mayfield, Lux Capital, Premji Invest, Menlo Ventures | United States (city not disclosed) | North America |
| Arda Industries | AI that turns product designs into working assembly lines | Series A | US$160M | US$1.5B | Altimeter, Accel, Khosla Ventures (co-leads); Founders Fund, 8VC, Felicis | San Francisco, US | North America |
| Eka Robotics | Robot hands and models for physical task automation | Series A | US$150M | US$1.45B | Andreessen Horowitz, F-Prime (co-leads); Obvious Ventures, Samsung Next, Bison Ventures | Cambridge, US | North America |
| Tractian | Sensors and AI that predict industrial machine failures | Series D | US$130M | US$1.4B | Sapphire Ventures (lead), M&G’s Catalyst (co-lead); General Catalyst, Bosch Ventures, Y Combinator | Atlanta, US | North America |
| Town | AI assistant that manages email, scheduling and background tasks | Series B | US$108M | US$1B | Forerunner, Menlo Ventures (co-leads); Andreessen Horowitz, First Round | San Francisco, US | North America |
| Dream Labs | Robot foundation model offered through a public API | Seed | US$90M | Not disclosed | B Capital, Kindred Ventures (leads) | San Francisco, US | North America |
| Blacksmith | Build and test infrastructure for AI-written code | Series C | US$66M | US$1B | Sequoia (lead); Premji Invest, Peak XV, GV, Y Combinator | San Francisco, US | North America |
| Daytona | Isolated cloud computers where AI agents run code | Series B | US$60M | US$1B | FirstMark Growth (lead); Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Next, Okta Ventures | New York, US | North America |
| Different | AI system that runs B2B marketing campaigns | Seed | US$48M | Not disclosed | General Catalyst (lead); Lightspeed, Together Fund | San Francisco, US | North America |
| Formic | Robots-as-a-service for US factories | Series B plus debt | US$50M total: about US$40M equity, remainder debt (only equity counted) | Not disclosed | Mercato Partners (equity lead); Light Ray Ventures, Citi; debt from S2G Investments | Bolingbrook, US | North America |
| Baba | AI and human care coordination for Medicare and Medicaid patients | Series A | US$40M | Not disclosed | FirstMark Capital (lead) | New York, US | North America |
| Cognitive Credit | AI research tools and data for bond and loan analysis | Growth | US$40M | Not disclosed | Summit Partners (lead) | London, UK | Europe/UK |
| Watchtower Labs | AI decision software for military planning | Seed | US$35M | Not disclosed | Shield Capital, Conviction (co-leads); Founders Fund, IQT | Burlingame, US | North America |
| Mach9 | AI CAD software that drafts civil engineering plans from survey scans | Series A | US$34M | Not disclosed | First Round, Bessemer (co-leads); Prudence, Quiet Capital | San Francisco, US | North America |
| Maxinsights | First-person video data for training robots | Seed | US$30M | Not disclosed | Peak XV (lead); Tola Capital, South Park Commons | Santa Clara, US | North America |
| Portola (Tolan app) | Voice AI companion app with animated characters | Not disclosed | US$30M | Not disclosed | Union Square Ventures (lead); Homebrew | San Francisco, US | North America |
| Enact Intelligence | Robot control models that sense force and touch | Pre-seed | US$30M | Not disclosed | Redalpine, Notion Capital, Firstminute Capital; angels Yann LeCun, Arthur Mensch | Zurich, Switzerland | Europe/UK |
| Mave | AI agents that investigate security alerts | Series A | US$28M | Not disclosed | Red Dot Capital Partners (lead) | Tel Aviv, Israel | Middle East/Israel |
| Slingshot Insurance | AI software for embedded insurance programs | Seed | US$27M | Not disclosed | Rally Ventures, Skyward Specialty (co-leads) | Minneapolis, US | North America |
| Nirva | AI pendant that journals daily life from its wearer’s voice | Pre-Series A | US$25M | Not disclosed | Lead not disclosed; backers include Lightspeed, South Park Commons | San Francisco, US | North America |
| AuxoAI | Engineers placed inside companies to build enterprise AI systems | Series A | US$20.7M | Not disclosed | NTTVC (lead) | San Francisco, US | North America |
AI chips, model labs and developer infrastructure took $2.63 billion
Tenstorrent’s valuation more than doubled from the $2.6 billion it reached in December 2024. The company sells AI processors and servers and licenses its chip designs to other manufacturers.
Flapping Airplanes was founded in 2025 and has no product on sale. Its valuation quadrupled from the $1.5 billion set by a $180 million seed round in January.
Nvidia backed that round, adding another AI lab to Nvidia’s list of startup bets. Pigment also named Nvidia as a planned investor this week.
Blacksmith’s valuation nearly doubled in two months, from $550 million at its August Series B. Daytona has raised $91 million in total and runs most of its engineering from Croatia.
AI drug development: Pathos AI and Warp Sciences raised $452 million
Pathos AI’s valuation rose from $1.6 billion at its $365 million Series D in May 2025. The Series E came in below the $300 million the company had targeted.
Bristol Myers Squibb led the round and signed a separate Alzheimer’s research deal with Pathos and Tempus on the same day.
Warp Sciences came out of stealth on October 22. Former OpenAI science lead Kevin Weil runs the company, which was reported in August to be seeking $150 million at a valuation above $750 million.
Physical AI and robotics funding reached $1.03 billion
Eight physical AI companies raised about $1.03 billion in equity. Neolix was the largest, and Dealroom described it as China’s biggest robovan round of the year.
Arda was founded by Bob McGrew, OpenAI’s former chief research officer. A previously undisclosed $72 million seed brings its total to $232 million.
Tractian’s valuation nearly doubled from about $720 million at its December 2024 Series C. Eka Robotics was founded in 2025 by former Google DeepMind researcher Tuomas Haarnoja.
Dream Labs was started by former leads of Nvidia’s GR00T robotics research. Enact Intelligence’s $30 million is large for a pre-seed round, and Maxinsights collects first-person video to train robots.
Enterprise and vertical AI applications raised $1.12 billion
Legora’s valuation rose from $5.6 billion at its $600 million Series D about six months earlier. It says annual recurring revenue has passed $200 million.
Pigment reports more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Town reached a $1 billion valuation and has raised $186 million in total.
Different is the third company from Nutanix and ThoughtSpot co-founder Ajeet Singh. It has teams in San Francisco and Bengaluru. Mach9 has raised about $51 million in total after moving from survey hardware to AI software.
Baba, Cognitive Credit, Slingshot Insurance and AuxoAI round out the group. Slingshot came out of stealth with its seed round, and AuxoAI says it has worked with more than 40 enterprise clients.
Defense, security and consumer AI startups
ASI has raised $359 million in total equity. Watchtower Labs came out of stealth with its $35 million seed, with In-Q-Tel among the backers.
Mave’s new Series A brings its total to $34 million, including a $6 million seed. Portola, which makes the Tolan companion app, has raised $60 million in total, and Nirva’s round brings its total to $33 million.
AI funds and acquisitions this week
Two venture funds with an explicit AI focus announced closes of $20 million or more. No AI acquisition in the window carried a disclosed price.
| Company | What it does | Round | Amount | Valuation | Lead and notable investors | HQ | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inovia Capital Fund VI | Early-stage fund that backs only AI-native startups, from cybersecurity to robotics | Fund first close (target US$325M) | US$200M (C$282M) | Not applicable | Returning LPs including Business Development Bank of Canada | Montreal, Canada | North America |
| Bison Ventures Fund 2 | Pre-seed to Series B fund for AI applied to physical industries | Fund close | US$160M | Not applicable | LPs not disclosed; follows a US$135M debut fund | San Francisco, US | North America |
Inovia reached its first close in six months and plans to finish raising by early 2027. Bison has already made five investments from its new fund, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Rivian bought Third Dimension, a UK startup that had raised a $7 million seed round, but did not disclose a price. Seaya’s €600 million growth fund and Inspired Capital’s $450 million Fund IV also closed, but both invest across tech sectors rather than in AI alone.
AI funding outside the US: regional activity
Europe had four qualifying AI rounds worth $870 million: Legora, Pigment, Cognitive Credit and Enact Intelligence. Tech.eu tracked more than 65 European tech deals worth over €1.5 billion for the week.
Neolix was the only confirmed qualifying round in Asia. Bloomberg, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal reported on October 22 that DeepSeek raised about 100 billion yuan ($15 billion), and The Information later put the close at 106 billion yuan.
DeepSeek has not confirmed the round, so it is left out of the total. No Japanese, South Korean, Southeast Asian or Australian AI round of $20 million or more surfaced in the weekly roundups we checked.
India had no qualifying AI round by headquarters. Inc42 counted more than $184 million across 17 Indian startup deals from October 19 to 23, with AI taking $93.9 million across six deals.
The two largest AI deals in that count, Different and AuxoAI, are both based in San Francisco and appear in the main table. Even Health’s $50 million round, the largest Indian deal, went to a health insurance startup.
Mave was the only qualifying deal across the Middle East, Israel and Africa. Techloy counted $59.7 million across those regions, and no Gulf or African AI startup reached $20 million.
Latin America had no qualifying AI deal by headquarters. Techloy counted $181.9 million for the region, led by Tractian, which was founded in Brazil but is based in Atlanta.
FAQ
How much did AI startups raise from October 19 to 25, 2026?
AI startups announced about $5.67 billion across 28 primary equity rounds of $20 million or more. North American companies took about $4.37 billion, or 77%, and four European startups raised $870 million.
What was the largest AI funding round this week?
Tenstorrent raised a $1.5 billion Series E led by Trace Capital and Innovation X. The round values the Santa Clara AI chip company at $6.2 billion, more than double its December 2024 valuation.
Which AI-focused venture funds closed this week?
Inovia Capital reached a $200 million first close for Fund VI, which backs only AI-native startups. Bison Ventures closed a $160 million second fund for AI applied to physical industries.
Why are DeepSeek and Otter.ai not counted in the total?
DeepSeek has not confirmed its reported 106 billion yuan round. Otter.ai’s $320 million is repayable financing, so it sold no shares. Neither meets the digest’s test for a confirmed equity round.
Did any India-based AI startup raise more than $20 million this week?
No. Different raised $48 million and AuxoAI raised $20.7 million, and both have Indian teams, but both are headquartered in San Francisco. Inc42 counted $93.9 million in AI funding across six deals.
Trends in this week’s AI funding
- AI chips and model labs took 46% of the money, while physical AI had the most deals of any theme, with eight rounds worth about $1.03 billion.
- Several investors backed more than one company. Andreessen Horowitz joined ASI, Eka and Town; Lightspeed led Warp Sciences and joined Different; Peak XV led Maxinsights and backed Blacksmith; and Premji Invest joined Warp and Blacksmith.
- Valuations stepped up fast. Twelve rounds carried valuations of $1 billion or more, Flapping Airplanes quadrupled since January, and Pathos AI nearly doubled since May 2025.
