Monday, October 12, 2026
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Arena, the crowdsourced AI-model leaderboard that started as a UC Berkeley research project, raised a $200 million Series B at a $3.1 billion valuation, nearly double its valuation ten months ago.
Richard Bronson, a former Stratton Oakmont partner who served time in federal prison, has launched Commissary Club, an AI-powered employment and social platform aimed at people leaving prison.
Zach Yadegari, the 19-year-old co-founder of Cal AI, raised $10 million for Persona, a personal AI assistant startup built around a $179 wearable band.
Manus parent Butterfly Effect raised more than $500 million in its first funding round since Chinese authorities forced it to unwind a $2 billion Meta acquisition deal.
Vesta, an AI-native startup that automates mortgage origination, raised a $30 million round led by Conversion Capital as its revenue grew 12x year over year.
Mecka AI raised a $60 million Series B led by Sequoia to expand its human-motion data business for training robots.
Endeavor Catalyst closed a $320 million fifth fund to back founders outside Silicon Valley and other major tech hubs.
Nous Research raised a $90 million Series B at a $1.5 billion valuation and launched Hermes for Businesses, an enterprise AI agent product.
Healthleap, a South African startup that uses AI to flag hospital patients at risk of undiagnosed conditions like malnutrition, raised $38 million in seed and Series A funding.
Bloom, a Detroit startup that matches manufacturers with suppliers, raised a $3.6 million seed round led by SNAK Venture Partners after reinventing itself as an AI-driven marketplace.
Benchmark is leading a $25 million seed round into Furientis, a one-year-old startup building low-cost interceptor missiles for the Pentagon.
Uber is acquiring catering marketplace ezCater in an all-cash deal valued at $2.3 billion, expanding Uber Eats into business catering and workplace meals.
Flai, an AI startup for car dealerships, raised a $27 million Series A after its software grew to book 50,000 appointments a month and drive a 20x revenue increase.
Type One Energy raised $200 million in a Series B to help fund a 400-megawatt fusion power plant it aims to bring online by 2034.
AI chip startup Etched is weighing funding offers that would value it at $40 billion to $50 billion, months after raising $700 million at a $21 billion valuation.
Menlo Ventures invested in AI coding startup Factory as part of its $5 billion funding round, days after Khosla publicly called Factory a struggling second-tier competitor.
Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will operate under the Skydance name once their roughly $110 billion merger closes, expected on October 6.
Kevin Mandia, the founder of Mandiant, has raised $255.5 million for his new security startup Armadin at a valuation of more than $2.5 billion.
MyMonthlyCar, a Startup Battlefield 200 exhibitor, wants to connect idle dealership inventory with renters who need a car for a few months at a time.
Photon, which helps developers build AI agents that work over iMessage and WhatsApp, raised $4.5 million in seed funding after signing up more than 40,000 developers.