venture capital

Consumer AI Agent Startup Instinct Raises 50 Million Series B at .5 Billion Valuation

Artificial intelligence startup Instinct, incorporated under Spear Street Technology, has raised $250 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark. The new capital brings Instinct's total funding to $350 million and values the one-year-old startup at $2.5 billion. Consumer Autonomous Agent Architecture Instinct develops a personal AI assistant intended to autonomously manage daily digital logistics on behalf of individual users. Founded by 23-year-old researcher

OpenAI Allocates 00 Million to Second Startup Fund as Sole Investor

According to regulatory filings submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), OpenAI has established a $400 million venture vehicle for its second startup fund. In a notable structural shift from its inaugural vehicle, OpenAI is serving as the sole investor, committing capital directly from its corporate balance sheet. The launch marks a significant departure from the mechanics of the original OpenAI Startup Fund, established in 2021. That initial $175 million fund was raised

AI Assistant Startup Instinct Raises 50M Series B at .5B Valuation

Spear Street Technology, the creator of the personal AI assistant Instinct, has raised $250 million in a Series B funding round that values the one-year-old startup at $2.5 billion. The investment was co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark, with participation from Greenoaks and Conviction. The capital injection brings Instinct's total funding to $350 million, following a $75 million Series A led by Kleiner Perkins partner Mamoon Hamid earlier in August 2026 and initial seed financing backed by

Runable Raises 1M Series A to Expand Autonomous AI Agents Into Business Growth

Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence startup Runable has raised $21 million in Series A funding to expand its autonomous agent platform from code generation into full-funnel business operations and customer acquisition. The all-equity round valued the company at $65 million post-money and was co-led by Susquehanna Venture Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from existing backers Together Fund and Array VC. Founded in 2025 by Umesh Kumar and Saksham Sarda, Runable operates

AI Cloud Provider Lambda in Talks to Raise B at 2B Valuation Ahead of IPO

AI cloud infrastructure provider Lambda Inc. is in negotiations to raise up to $3 billion in a pre-IPO funding round that could value the company at $12 billion or higher, according to people familiar with the discussions reported by Bloomberg. The round represents an eightfold valuation step-up from February 2024, when Lambda secured $320 million in Series C funding at a $1.5 billion valuation. The company's annualized revenue is projected to exceed $1.5 billion in 2026, driven by continuous e

Robotics Foundation Model Startup Generalist Raises 98M Led by 8VC

Robotics foundation model startup Generalist AI Inc. has secured $198.2 million in a new equity offering, according to a Form D regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 24. The capital injection comes less than three months after the company closed a $400 million financing round in early June. The financing round was led by venture capital firm 8VC alongside participating existing investors, as reported by Axios. The new transaction elevates Generalist's valu

Hugging Face Explores Sale at 3B+ Valuation as AI Platform Hubs Consolidate

Hugging Face, the primary open-source model repository and developer collaboration hub for machine learning, is exploring a sale that could value the company at $13 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter reported by Business Insider. The New York-based startup, co-founded and led by Chief Executive Officer Clement Delangue, has engaged an investment bank to solicit interest from prospective acquirers. Discussions remain at an exploratory stage, and no formal acquisition a

Nvidia Discusses Investment in AI Data Supplier Mercor at 0B Valuation

Nvidia is in discussions to participate in a funding round for AI training data marketplace Mercor that would value the three-year-old startup at $20 billion, according to reporting from The Information and Bloomberg. The transaction would double Mercor's valuation from its $10 billion Series C round closed in October 2025. It also signals an expanding capital allocation strategy from Nvidia, moving beyond compute infrastructure and cloud hardware into the upstream data curation layers powering

AI Accounting Startup Rillet Reaches B Valuation with 00M Series C

AI-native accounting and ERP startup Rillet has secured $100 million in a Series C funding round at a $1 billion valuation, bringing its total funding past $200 million within eighteen months of launch. The round was led by ICONIQ, with continued participation from existing institutional investors Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and Oak HC/FT. Several new venture firms also joined the syndicate, including Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, FirstMark, Scale Venture Partners, a

DOJ Investigates Andreessen Horowitz over Competing Board Seats in AI Data Startups

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened an antitrust investigation into venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), examining whether the firm violated federal competition laws by placing partners on the boards of direct competitors in the enterprise AI and data infrastructure market. The investigation, reported by Bloomberg, centers on board representation at Databricks and Fivetran. Both companies provide data ingestion, management, and pipeline infrastructure essential

DOJ has reportedly probed a16z for a year over AI board seats