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The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Xcimer Energy Leads The Way As Big Rounds Dry Up

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

Another slow week for funding — the third straight after a significant pick-up in large rounds earlier this year. led the way, as it was the only startup to lock up a nine-figure round. The dog days of summer seem to already be here in the venture world.

1. , $100M, energy: Well, fusion funding was down — until this happened. Denver-based Xcimer Energy announced it raised a $100 million Series A led by . The company is working on laser-driven inertial fusion and will use the funding to build a prototype laser system including what it calls the “world’s largest nonlinear optical pulse compression system.” Founded in 2022, Xcimer has raised nearly $118 million, — including a $9 million in grant funding from the ’s Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program.

2. , $80M, artificial intelligence: It never takes us long to get to an AI startup on this list. Pika, an artificial intelligence startup that generates video, raised an $80 million round led by that values the Palo Alto, California-based company at $470 million, . Notably, actor and singer also is an investor. Pika is part of a growing group of startups building text-to-video AI software. Founded in 2023, the company has raised $135 million, .

3. (tied) , $55M, biotech: Unlike in previous weeks, there was no huge biotech round. The biggest this week went to Emeryville, California-based Prolific Machines, which raised a $55 million Series B led by the , the corporate venture arm of . The startup’s platform allows commercial customers to more efficiently produce biological products through the use of light for things like cellular agriculture and nutritional protein production. Founded in 2020, Prolific has raised $86.5 million, per the company.

3. (tied) , $55M, 3D technology: Restor3d, a North Carolina-based maker of 3D printed personalized orthopedic implants, locked up a $70 million financing — even as investors continue to cool on 3D tech startups. The round includes a $55 million Series A round led by and existing investors plus an additional $15 million in debt financing led by . The startup plays at a unique intersection of healthcare/biotech, AI and 3D technology. The firm uses biomaterials, 3D printing technologies and AI to help repair the human body. It is planning to  introduce new implant systems for total ankle and shoulder replacements, offering 3D printed solutions that fit the unique anatomy of the individual patients. Founded in 2017, the company has raised nearly $150 million, . While the 3D tech sector saw big money in 2021 and 2022, the past two years have seen the sector come back down to the new reality. Although VC-backed startups in the sector saw more than $2.4 billion invested in 2022, that number dropped to only about $1 billion last year, per SAʴý . It is on a similar trajectory this year, with only about $424 million raised thus far.

5. (tied) , $50M, biotech: Dallas-based Osteal Therapeutics raised a $50 million Series D led by . The biotech startup is developing new drug/device therapies for orthopedic infections. The company’s development strategy is to use approved drugs as candidates for new routes of local, concentrated delivery. Founded in 2013, the company has raised nearly $113 million, .

5. (tied) , $50M, video: Yet another AI-related video startup. San Francisco-based Twelve Labs, a developer of video foundation models to make video searchable, raised a $50 million Series A co-led by new investor and , ’s venture capital arm. The startup’s generative AI foundation models allow users to input natural language prompts that can find precise moments in large libraries of videos — potentially saving hours of time. Founded in 2021, the company has raised $77 million, .

7. , $45M, medtech: Boston-based AcuityMD, a commercial platform to identify target markets in the medical industry, locked up a $45 million round led by . Founded in 2019, AcuityMD has raised more than $83 million, per the company.

8. , $41M, health care: San Francisco-based Eko Health, which uses artificial intelligence for early detection of heart and lung diseases, raised a $41 million Series D. No lead investor was announced. Founded in 2013, the company has raised approximately $169 million, .

9. , $32M, biotech: North Carolina-based Advanced Medicine Partners, a developer of advanced medicines, received $32 million in financing led by . Founded in 2023, this is the company’s first announced round, .

10. , and all raised $30 million rounds.

Big global deals

The largest round of the week came from a Chinese semiconductor company.

  • Shanghai-based , a semiconductor company focused on chipsets in mobile communications and IoT, raised a round worth approximately $552 million.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the SAʴý database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of June 1 to June 7. 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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