Mar 2, 2026 Weekly Roundup

Weekly Funding Roundup:
Feb 23-28, 2026

The week that broke records. OpenAI's $110B Series G rewrote private capital history, while Wayve ($1.5B), Neysa ($1.2B), and SHINE Technologies ($240M) stacked behind it. Across 28+ disclosed deals, the week deployed more capital than most full years. Two new unicorns were minted. Energy became the unexpected thread tying AI's future to physics. February closed at $195B+ in AI-tracked VC, a number that would have been absurd 12 months ago.

$114B+
Total Raised
28+
Deals
1
Acquisition
3
New Unicorns

Key Themes

OpenAI's $110B rewrites the rules. The largest private round ever, at an $840B post-money valuation, is nearly 3x OpenAI's $300B valuation from 11 months ago. Amazon ($50B), SoftBank ($30B), and NVIDIA ($30B) are no longer making venture bets. They are making infrastructure commitments: Amazon gets preferred API access, NVIDIA locks in 5GW of GPU capacity, and SoftBank deepens its ~13% ownership stake. Microsoft, conspicuously absent, retains an option but issued a joint statement that the partnership "remains strong." The round makes OpenAI worth more than all but a handful of public companies.

Autonomous mobility raises billions in a single day. Wayve's $1.5B Series D at $8.6B valuation brought four automakers (Mercedes, Nissan, Stellantis, Uber) onto the cap table alongside NVIDIA and SoftBank. The same day, Axelera AI pulled $250M for edge AI chips from BlackRock and Samsung. The thesis: self-driving needs both better AI (Wayve's end-to-end learning) and better hardware (Axelera's 214 TOPS edge chips). Combined with Neysa's $1.2B two days later, over $3B went to the physical infrastructure layer in 48 hours.

Energy becomes AI's binding constraint. SHINE Technologies' $240M to cross $1B in total funding, Google's $1B product purchase from Form Energy for 100-hour iron-air batteries, and the broader narrative of data center power demand dominated the week's final days. The convergence of AI and energy is creating investment opportunities that neither traditional energy nor pure-tech VCs fully own yet.

AI applications reach unicorn speed. Basis ($1.15B in 28 months, AI accounting) and Profound ($1B in under 18 months, AI search visibility) both hit unicorn status on February 24. Neither builds foundation models. Both are vertical AI companies solving specific enterprise problems with real revenue. The message: the application layer is catching up to the infrastructure layer in valuation velocity.

Top Rounds

OpenAI Series G
Feb 27
$110.0B
$840.0B valuation

The largest private funding round in history. Amazon committed $50B (initial $15B tranche, $35B conditional on milestones including AGI), SoftBank put in $30B (bringing cumulative ownership to ~13%), and NVIDIA invested $30B with OpenAI committing to 5GW of GPU capacity. The $840B post-money valuation is nearly 3x the $300B from Series F just 11 months ago. OpenAI forecasts $14B in losses for 2026 despite targeting $100B revenue by 2029.

Amazon (Lead) SoftBank (Lead) NVIDIA (Lead)
Wayve Series D
Feb 24
$1.5B
$8.6B valuation

London-based autonomous driving company closed the week's second-largest round to scale its end-to-end deep learning approach to self-driving. Unlike rule-based stacks, Wayve's AI learns from data and generalizes across vehicle types and geographies. Four automakers (Mercedes, Nissan, Stellantis, Uber) joined as strategic investors, signaling real deployment intent. Total funding now exceeds $2.7B.

Eclipse Ventures (Lead) Balderton Capital (Lead) SoftBank Vision Fund (Lead) NVIDIA Uber Mercedes-Benz Nissan Stellantis Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
Neysa Series B
Feb 26
$1.2B

India's largest AI infrastructure bet. Mumbai-based Neysa is building the country's first sovereign AI cloud with plans to deploy 20,000+ GPUs. Blackstone's $1.2B backing reflects the geopolitical premium on national GPU capacity. Founded by Sharad Sanghi, who previously built Netmagic (acquired by NTT for $128M).

Blackstone (Lead) Teachers' Venture Growth TVS Capital 360 ONE Asset Nexus Venture Partners
Axelera AI Series C
Feb 24
$250M

The Dutch semiconductor company raised $250M+ for its Metis AI Platform for edge computing. Chips deliver up to 214 TOPS at a fraction of competing power consumption, targeting smart cities, industrial automation, and autonomous systems. BlackRock co-leading alongside Samsung and EU institutional capital marks a new class of investors entering chip design. Total funding ~$420M.

Innovation Industries (Lead) BlackRock (Lead) Samsung Catalyst Fund CDP Capital EIC Fund
SHINE Technologies Series E
Feb 28
$240M

The nuclear fusion company crossed $1B in total funding with a round anchored by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong's $150M personal investment. Rather than chasing fusion energy directly, SHINE generates revenue now through medical isotopes: its Cassiopeia facility produces 200,000 cancer therapy doses per year. Sumitomo's participation signals Asia expansion.

NantWorks (Lead) Fidelity Sumitomo Corporation of Americas Pelican Energy Partners Deerfield Management Oaktree Capital
Ubicquia Series D
Feb 23
$106M

AI-driven intelligent infrastructure platform that attaches to existing streetlights, transformers, and utility poles. Processes 3.5 billion data sets per day across 1,000+ utilities and municipalities globally. Co-led by 67 Capital and Japan's Marunouchi Innovation Partners.

67 Capital (Lead) Marunouchi Innovation Partners (Lead) Hamilton Lane ClearSky GMS Sercomm
Basis Series B
Feb 24
$100M
$1.1B valuation

AI accounting platform hit unicorn status in roughly 28 months from founding, one of the fastest trajectories in fintech. Automates bookkeeping, reconciliation, and financial reporting using LLMs that process financial data with human-level accuracy.

Accel (Lead) GV (Lead) Khosla Ventures
Profound Series C
Feb 24
$96M
$1.0B valuation

AI search visibility platform reached $1B valuation barely a year after launching. Helps brands track and optimize how they appear in AI-powered search results across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Seed to unicorn in under 18 months.

Lightspeed Venture Partners (Lead) Sequoia Capital Kleiner Perkins Evantic Capital Saga VC South Park Commons

Also noted

$75M Series C
UpGuard - Cyber risk posture management after 4.5-year funding drought. Processing 100B+ risk signals daily for 50K organizations. Led by Springcoast Partners.
$61M Seed + A
Gambit Security - Israeli data protection stealth launch by three Unit 8200 veterans. Co-led by Spark Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Cyberstarts.
$60M Series C
Encord - Physical AI data infrastructure at $550M valuation. 10x revenue growth from physical AI customers. Led by Wellington Management.
$54M Seed
Temple - Zomato founder's brain-monitoring wearable at $190M valuation. Measures cerebral blood flow in real time. Led by Steadview Capital.
$50M Series B
Guidde - AI digital adoption platform with 3x annual revenue growth for three years, 4,500+ customers. Led by PSG Equity.
$50M Seed + A
Rowspace - Stealth AI finance platform by former Notion CTO and ex-Uber/Binance CFO. Co-led by Sequoia Capital and Emergence Capital.
$47M Series B
Nimble Way - Israeli web data infrastructure for AI-powered data collection at scale. Led by Norwest Venture Partners.
$47M Seed + A
Harper - YC W25 AI insurance brokerage with 6,000+ customers, 98.78% retention. Led by Emergence Capital.
$42.2M Series A
Deeptune - AI training gym for ML model training and evaluation. Backed by Seven Seven Six (Alexis Ohanian).
$40M Series B
Letter AI - AI sales enablement and coaching. Seed to $40M in under two years. Led by Battery Ventures.
$36M Series B
Slang AI - Voice AI for hospitality, handling restaurant reservations. Led by US Venture Partners.
$26M Seed 2
RLWRLD - Seoul-based physical AI robotics foundation models. Led by Headline Asia and Z Venture Capital.
$25M Series A
NODA AI - Defense AI for autonomous system orchestration. Led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
$18M Series A
NationGraph - AI procurement intelligence for government contracts. Led by Menlo Ventures.
$17.25M Series A
Comp - Khosla Ventures' first Brazil investment. AI-native HR platform serving 150+ Brazilian companies. Led by Khosla.
$16.6M Series A
Xflow - Indian B2B cross-border payments. First Indian fintech backed by both Stripe and PayPal. Led by General Catalyst.
$13M Series A
Coral Care - Pediatric therapy platform for in-home speech, OT, and PT access. Led by Haymaker Ventures.
$10.25M Seed
Callosum - AI infrastructure for mixed chip orchestration. Led by Plural (Taavet Hinrikus/Ian Hogarth).
$10M Seed
Grotto AI - Vertical AI for multifamily real estate leasing. Led by ICONIQ Capital.
$5.4M Seed
JetScale AI - AI cloud infrastructure optimization from Montreal. Co-led by BDC Seed Venture Fund and Diagram Ventures.

Acquisitions

Brink's NCR Atleos
$6.6B

Cash-and-stock deal for ATM and banking technology company. Creates a combined entity managing 1M+ ATMs and self-service kiosks globally. Accelerates Brink's pivot from armored transport to digital banking infrastructure.

News & Signals

February 2026 closes as record month for AI-related VC

Approximately $195B+ in AI-tracked venture capital deployed in February, driven overwhelmingly by OpenAI's $110B raise. For context, total global VC in all of 2024 was roughly $330B. A single month now approaches 60% of a full year's activity.

Google pays Form Energy $1B for 100-hour iron-air battery system

Not an equity investment but a product purchase: Google is paying ~$1B through Xcel Energy for a 300MW / 30GWh iron-air battery system in Minnesota. The world's largest battery by energy capacity. Form Energy ($1.2B+ raised, $3.5B valuation) is planning an IPO in 2027.

Two new unicorns minted on Feb 24

Both Basis ($1.15B, AI accounting) and Profound ($1B, AI search visibility) crossed the billion-dollar threshold on the same day. Basis reached unicorn status in roughly 28 months; Profound did it in under 18 months. Both are revenue-generating AI application companies, not model builders.

India startup funding hits ~$1.2B in February (2.2x YoY)

Indian startups raised roughly $1.2 billion in February 2026, more than double last year. Neysa's $1.2B Blackstone deal drove most of the total, but smaller rounds across voice AI, HR, and consumer tech signal broadening activity.

IQM Quantum Computers going public via SPAC at $1.8B

Finnish quantum computing leader IQM agreed to merge with Real Asset Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: RAAQ), becoming the first publicly listed European quantum company. $320M raised in private markets prior to listing.

SBA restricts startup loans to U.S. citizens only

New rules effective ~March 1 limit SBA 7(a) and 504 loans to U.S. citizens, excluding legal permanent residents. Immigrant-founded startups (55% of U.S. billion-dollar companies) face reduced access to a critical early-stage capital source.

VC Mood This Week

Awestruck Aggregated sentiment from X, Feb 23-28

Bullish signals

  • OpenAI's $110B validates AI infrastructure as the defining investment category of the decade
  • Wayve's automaker-heavy cap table signals real commercial deployment, not just R&D theater
  • Two unicorns minted in one day (Basis, Profound) prove AI application companies can scale as fast as infrastructure plays
  • Energy/AI convergence (SHINE, Form Energy) creates a new investable category with hardware moats
  • India's $1.2B in February funding (2.2x YoY) confirms the market's geographic expansion beyond Silicon Valley

Bearish signals

  • "Remove OpenAI and February looks normal." $195B monthly total is overwhelmingly concentrated in 2-3 deals
  • OpenAI forecasts $14B in losses for 2026 despite $110B raise, raising burn rate sustainability questions
  • Microsoft's absence from OpenAI's Series G sparked partnership health concerns despite joint statements
  • SBA loan restrictions drew heated debate about chilling effect on immigrant-founded startups
  • ~90% of firms still report no measurable productivity gains from AI adoption

The week's consensus was less "bullish vs. bearish" and more "recalibrating what normal means." OpenAI's $110B round is so far outside historical context that traditional VC frameworks struggle to categorize it. Is it venture capital, infrastructure spending, or a new hybrid? The answer matters because it shapes how the rest of the market benchmarks itself. Beneath the headline, the week showed real diversity: autonomous driving, edge chips, nuclear fusion, AI accounting, and pediatric therapy all attracted meaningful capital. VCs on X noted that the energy bottleneck creates opportunities that cannot be solved by software alone, opening hardware and deeptech bets that felt unfashionable 18 months ago. The SBA policy change generated the most heated discussion, with the consensus being that restricting immigrant founders right as AI capital peaks could create a two-tier startup ecosystem. Overall mood: a mixture of awe, caution, and the growing sense that February 2026 changed the venture capital game permanently.

Daily Roundups

This weekly roundup is compiled from our daily coverage. Read each day's full analysis:

Feb 23 Ubicquia $106M, IQM SPAC at $1.8B, AI investor loyalty wars
Feb 24 Wayve $1.5B, Axelera $250M, two new unicorns (Basis, Profound)
Feb 25 Gambit $61M, Guidde $50M, Rowspace $50M, Harper $47M, Thrive stakes $1B in OpenAI
Feb 26 Neysa $1.2B, UpGuard $75M, Encord $60M, Brink's acquires NCR Atleos $6.6B
Feb 27 OpenAI $110B, Temple $54M, Comp $17.25M
Feb 28 SHINE $240M, Google pays Form Energy $1B, February closes at $195B+

Methodology

Data compiled from daily roundups sourced from company announcements, press coverage, and social media analysis via Grok. All funding rounds include linked sources in our database. Visit individual company pages to see source URLs. X sentiment is an informal snapshot aggregated across the week, not a quantitative index.

Feb 16-22 roundup February review