Sakana AI Raises $135 Million In Series B Funding At $2.65 Billion Valuation

Tokyo-based Sakana AI, founded in 2023 by former Google researchers Llion Jones, Ren Ito, and CEO David Ha, has raised $135 million in a Series B funding round at a $2.65 billion valuation. The company, which develops affordable generative AI models optimized for Japanese language and culture, attracted investors including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Khosla Ventures, Macquarie Capital, NEA, Lux Capital, and In-Q-Tel. Sakana plans to use the new capital to expand R&D, engineering, sales, and distribution in Japan, while broadening its enterprise AI offerings beyond finance into industrial, manufacturing, government, and defense sectors. FOUNDERS: Llion Jones, Ren Ito & David Ha INVESTORS: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Khosla Ventures, Macquarie Capital, NEA, Lux Capital & In-Q-Tel ROUND: Series B AMOUNT: $135,000,000 VALUATION: $2,650,000,000 HQ: #Tokyo #Japan #VentureCapital #SakanaAI #LlionJones #RenIto #DavidHa #MitsubishiUFJFinancialGroup #KhoslaVentures #MacquarieCapital #NEA #LuxCapital #InQTel #TradedVC

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Scapia Raises $63 Million In Funding Round Led By General Catalyst With Peak XV Partners And Z47Scapia raised $63 million in a round led by General Catalyst, with participation from existing backers Peak XV Partners and Z47. The India-based travel-fintech company, founded and led by CEO Anil Goteti, plans to use the capital to accelerate its AI-first product roadmap, expand its customer base across the country, and strengthen its integrated travel and financial ecosystem spanning credit cards, payments, rewards, and travel services. The company said it is seeing strong traction across flights and stays as it builds toward a broader AI-native travel platform for a younger, travel-heavy consumer base in India. FOUNDER: Anil Goteti INVESTORS: General Catalyst, Peak XV Partners & Z47 AMOUNT: $63,000,000 HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India #VentureCapital #Scapia #AnilGoteti #TradedVC

Convective Capital Raises $85 Million Fund For Climate And Disaster Resilience InvestmentsConvective Capital, the early-stage climate and resilience-focused venture fund led by Bill Clerico, has raised an $85 million fund, up from its $35 million 2022 debut. The new fund marks a shift from an initial “firetech” focus on wildfire detection and mitigation to a broader mandate around physical-world risk management and disaster resilience, backed increasingly by institutional investors including insurers and asset managers. Convective plans to continue investing in technologies spanning wildfire prevention, infrastructure monitoring, insurance innovation, and climate-adaptive systems as extreme weather and disaster-related losses accelerate globally. FOUNDER: Bill Clerico AMOUNT: $85,000,000 #VentureCapital #ConvectiveCapital #BillClerico#TradedVC

Advanced Micro Devices Commits Over $10 Billion To Taiwan Semiconductor Ecosystem For AI InfrastructureAdvanced Micro Devices said it will invest more than $10 billion across Taiwan’s semiconductor ecosystem in a sweeping push to scale advanced packaging and accelerate next-generation AI infrastructure deployment. The commitment, outlined in a May 21 release, deepens partnerships with firms including ASE and SPIL to develop wafer-based 2.5D “Elevated Fanout Bridge” interconnect technology for AMD’s upcoming 6th Gen EPYC CPUs codenamed “Venice,” while also marking a milestone with PTI on panel-based EFB interconnects aimed at improving efficiency and economics for AI systems. The investments support AMD’s Helios rack-scale platform, targeting multi-gigawatt deployments from 2H 2026 using Instinct MI450X GPUs and EPYC processors, as the company competes more directly with Nvidia in AI infrastructure. Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su said the strategy combines AMD’s high-performance computing with Taiwan’s ecosystem to enable integrated rack-scale AI systems for faster deployment of next-gen workloads. FOUNDERS: Jerry Sanders, Edwin Turney, John Carey, Jack Gifford, Sven Simonsen, Frank Botte, Jim Giles & Larry Stenger AMOUNT: $10,000,000,000 HQ: Santa Clara, California #VentureCapital #AdvancedMicroDevices #JerrySanders #EdwinTurney #JohnCarey #JackGifford #SvenSimonsen #FrankBotte #JimGiles #LarryStenger #TradedVC

Socket Secures $60 Million In Series C Funding Led By Thrive Capital At $1 Billion ValuationSocket raised $60 million in a Series C round at a $1 billion valuation, officially becoming a unicorn as demand intensifies for tools that secure open-source software supply chains amid the rapid rise of AI-generated code. The round was led by Thrive Capital with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Abstract Ventures, and Capital One Ventures, bringing total funding to $125 million. Founder and CEO Feross Aboukhadijeh said the company’s platform detects malicious behavior in open-source dependencies in real time as AI now generates the majority of code in leading engineering teams. FOUNDER: Feross Aboukhadijeh INVESTORS: Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Abstract Ventures & Capital One Ventures ROUND: Series C AMOUNT: $60,000,000 VALUATION: $1,000,000,000 HQ: San Francisco, California #VentureCapital #Socket #FerossAboukhadijeh #TradedVC

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