Top funding rounds week of August 17th. Spacecom and Poolside each raised $1B this past week as investors bet big on AI infrastructure and satellite internet. See the full breakdown here. Published August 24, 2026 by Jacob Klionsky * 01 Spacecom Hardware - Manufacturing - Tel Aviv $1BEquity Spacecom (Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology Ltd.), a satellite internet company, raised nearly 7 billion yuan in a new funding round at an about 50.1 billion yuan valuation led by a consortium of 24 investors linked to the second phase of the China State-owned Enterprise Structural Adjustment Fund (managed by China Chengtong Holdings Group) with participation from existing shareholders including Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd. * 02 Poolside Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Data and Analytics - California $1BEquity Poolside, an AI startup developing a Model Factory platform, raised a $1 billion strategic investment from Nvidia at a $12 billion valuation. * 03 Castelion Government and Military - Information Technology - California $800MSeries C Castelion, a defense technology company, raised $1 billion Series C at a $13 billion valuation co-led by JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz, and funds managed by Carlyle, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lavrock Ventures, Altimeter, General Catalyst, Interlagos, and T. Rowe Price Associates. * 04 Etched.ai Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Consumer Electronics - California $700MEquity Etched.ai, an AI hardware startup, raised $700 million in a financing at a $21 billion valuation led by Jane Street, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Peter Thiel, Tiger Global, Bain Capital Ventures, Neo, Stripes, Primary, Positive Sum, Diffusion, Argo, and Blackstone. * 05 Higgsfield Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Content and Publishing - California $400MSeries B Higgsfield, an AI-native multimedia content creation platform, raised $400 million in a Series B at a $5.4 billion valuation led by DST Global with participation from Tribe Capital, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Smash Capital, Fifth Wall, Valor Capital, Intel Capital, Liberty Global Tech Ventures, Mirae Asset Capital, and NTT DOCOMO Ventures, and existing investors including Accel, Menlo Ventures, AI Capital Partners, GFT Ventures, Capra Ventures, BAM Corner Point and BroadLight Capital. * 06 ALEX Administrative Services - Artificial Intelligence (AI) - California $400MEquity ALEX, a startup, raised $400 million in funding. * 07 Groq Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Consumer Electronics - California $350MSeries A Groq, an AI inference chip and cloud company, raised $350M Series A at a $3.5B valuation led by Disruptive with Nvidia expected to participate * 08 Wispr AI Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Data and Analytics - California $280MSeries B Wispr AI, an AI dictation startup, raised $280M in a Series B at a $2B valuation led by Menlo Ventures with participation from Notable Capital, NEA, Neo Ventures, 8VC, MVP Ventures, Acrew, Forerunner, Goodwater, Peak XV, Together Fund, and PLUS Capital. * 09 Muon Space Information Technology - Science and Engineering - California $250MSeries C Muon Space, the Mission Foundry for high-performance satellite constellations, raised $250 million in a Series C led by Eclipse Capital with participation from Galvanize, Google, Salesforce Ventures, Wellington Management, I Squared Capital, and Woven Capital. * 10 Starcloud (Lumen Orbit) Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Hardware - Washington $250MSeries A Extension Starcloud (Lumen Orbit), an orbital data center and in-orbit AI inference startup, raised a $250 million extension to its Series A at a $2.3 billion valuation led by Manhattan West Ventures with participation from Nvidia, Cisco, Benchmark, EQT, Soma, NFX, 776, Cedar Capital, Goanna Capital, and Standard Capital. * 11 Slate Medicines Biotechnology - Health Care - North Carolina $245MEquity Slate Medicines, a neuroscience/biotech company developing next-generation migraine antibodies, raised $245M via a reverse merger with Fulcrum Therapeutics and a concurrent private placement led by Frazier Life Sciences with support from Forbion, RA Capital Management, and Foresite Capital * 12 Serve Robotics Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Data and Analytics - California $200MEquity Serve Robotics, an autonomous sidewalk delivery robotics company, raised $200 million, with round type, valuation and investors undisclosed. * 13 Gravis Robotics Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Data and Analytics - Zurich $200MSeries A Gravis Robotics, Swiss construction robotics startup, raised $200M Series A led solely by SoftBank * 14 Ingenico Commerce and Shopping - Financial Services - Ile-de-France $173.8MEquity Ingenico, a payment acceptance company, secured a €150M investment led by PIMCO. * 15 Also Manufacturing - Transportation - California $150MSeries D Also, a micromobility startup spun out of Rivian, raised $150 million in a Series D led by Prysm Capital with participation from Eclipse, Greenoaks, and MVP Ventures * 16 Erco Energía Energy - Natural Resources - Antioquia $129MSeries C Erco Energía, a Colombian solar energy platform, raised $129M in a Series C equity round co-led by Axon Partners Group (via Next Utility Ventures) alongside Augment Infrastructure and Norfund * 17 Cityblock Health Community and Lifestyle - Health Care - New York $116MSeries E Cityblock Health, an outcomes-based provider platform, raised $116M in a Series E financing led by General Catalyst. * 18 Matic Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Data and Analytics - California $115MEquity Matic, a home robotics company, raised $115 million from investors including Mayfield, NFX, True Ventures, Nat Friedman, Andreessen Horowitz, BoxGroup, Stripe, SV Angel, Liquid 2 Ventures, Abstract Ventures and Playground Global * 19 Velaura AI Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Blockchain and Cryptocurrency - California $110MSeries A Velaura AI, a semiconductor company commercializing ultra-low-power computing for AI, raised $110 million in a Series A at a valuation exceeding $1 billion led by Seligman Ventures with participation from Capricorn Investment Group, Prosperity7 Ventures, Mayfield, Maverick Silicon, MARA, Premji Invest, Samsung Catalyst Fund and StepStone Group. * 20 Callosum Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Data and Analytics - England $100MSeed Callosum, a UK AI infrastructure startup, raised $100 million in a seed round led by Atomico with participation from Plural, DCVC, Sovereign AI and angel investors.

Investor Michael Burry has identified chip startup Etched as serious competition for Nvidia. The company, founded in 2022 by three 24-year-old Harvard dropouts, recently raised $700 million in a funding round led by Jane Street, valuing it at $21 billion. Etched has now raised nearly $2 billion total. The startup focuses on AI inference chips and claims it took just 44 days to run inference workloads after receiving test chips from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, a process typically taking six months or more. Roughly 15% of Etched's 400 employees previously worked at Nvidia, including 23-year veteran Brian Loiler. Burry, known for his bearish stance on Nvidia, highlighted Etched's rapid development in a post on X, citing a Wall Street Journal report on the startup's progress.