SA国际传媒

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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding rounds here.

This article was updated on Monday, Feb. 26 to add the Figure round (No. 1), which was not in the database when the article originally published.

After last week saw 10 rounds of $100 million or more, investors followed up with another strong week that saw more than a half-dozen startups raise similarly. Also like last week, rounds were split across several verticals, including energy, healthcare and AI. Is the large growth round making a comeback? Or is this a two-week aberration?

1. , $675M, artificial intelligence: The fact that the biggest round of the week went to an AI robotics company is not surprising, but how much it raised may be. Sunnyvale, California-based Figure raised a huge $675 million round at a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion. Big-named investors in the round include 鈥� and among others. The company is developing AI-enhanced robots that it hopes will be able to perform dangerous jobs and alleviate labor shortages. Founded in 2022, the company has raised $754 million, per SA国际传媒.

2. , $162M, batteries: It was only about five months ago that Ascend Elements made this list with a huge $460 million Series D led by 鈥� a partnership between and focusing on companies in the decarbonization space 鈥� and . Well, this week the Westborough, Massachusetts-based startup followed up that round with a $162 million investment from investors including , and . Ascend is a manufacturer of sustainable battery materials for EVs. Founded in 2015, the company has now raised $1.7 billion, per SA国际传媒.

3. (tied) , $150M, healthcare: AI is making a big impact on healthcare 鈥� and funding to healthcare startups. Abridge, which is building AI-powered clinical documentation tools, is the latest startup in that realm to raise big. The Pittsburgh-based startup raised a $150 million Series C led by and . The new round values the company at about $850 million. Founded in 2018, the company has raised nearly $208 million, .

3. (tied) , $150M, energy: Speaking of Decarbonization Partners, the New York-based partnership led a $150 million Series B for Antora Energy this week. The Sunnyvale, California-based startup uses renewable electricity to heat blocks of carbon. That stored heat is then delivered to large industrial customers. The company also produces a thermal battery. Founded in 2017, Antora has raised $230 million, per the company.

5. , $121M, leisure: acquired a majority ownership stake in New York-based Hornblower, a travel experience company. The M&A agreement also gives Hornblower a fresh infusion of聽 $121 million in financing from SVP-managed funds and , which retains a minority stake in the company. Hornblower also announced a reshuffling of some of its units, including trying to sell its overnight cruising business. Clearly a lot is going on.

6. , $102M, artificial intelligence: Although most startup chipmakers have not seen much love from investors so far this year, Recogni seems to have bucked that trend. The San Jose, California-based firm, which is developing its AI inference chip for both the generative AI and automotive industries, raised a $102 million Series C co-led by and . While the company has its roots in designing chips that help autonomous vehicles detect objects, it is now also exploring the AI market. The company鈥檚 accelerator chip uses live data in trained models for predictions 鈥� all while requiring less energy, the company says. U.S.-based semiconductor funding has slowed in recent quarters, despite the need for new chip designs, thanks to industries such as AI and automotive. Last year such startups saw only $1.2 billion in 66 deals 鈥� 鈥� after raking in more than $2 billion in 2022. This year has seen only a trickle of deals.

7. , $100M, blockchain: Seattle-based Eigen Labs, the creator of for staking Ethereum, raised a $100 million round from . Founded in 2021, the company has raised $164 million, .

8. , $92M, manufacturing: Per a , this round actually was completed in December but never really formally announced. Hawthorne, California-based Hadrian raised a $117 million Series B that included $25 million in debt. , the venture arm of defense prime contractor RTX (formerly ) and , participated in the round. The company builds 鈥渉ighly automated precision component factories鈥� mainly to produce components for the space and defense industries. Founded in 2020, the company has raised nearly $217 million, .

9. , $80M, pharmaceuticals: South San Francisco, California-based Frontier Medicines, a startup researching therapies against undruggable disease-causing targets, raised an $80 million Series C co-led by and . Founded in 2018, Frontier says it has raised $235.5 million.

10. , $75M, data backup: As risk and regulation grow, so does the data backup industry. After reportedly increasing its ARR 4x last year, Clumio locked up $75 million in a Series D led by . The Santa Clara, California-based startup provides data backup and recovery services for companies using the public cloud. Founded in 2017, Clumio has now raised $261 million, per the company.

Big global deals

Despite the big rounds domestically, the biggest was an AI round from across the Pacific.

• China鈥檚 artificial intelligence startup raised more than $1 billion in a funding round led by and HongShan, formerly .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the SA国际传媒 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of Feb. 17 to Feb. 23. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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