Who's Raising & What's Closing

Aug 20, 2026

Aptera Motors Partners With Launch Design For $44 Million Production Program

Aptera Motors, the solar electric vehicle startup, has partnered with Shanghai-based Launch Design on a production program valued at up to $44 million to support the company’s first customer-bound vehicles. The agreement covers assembly tooling, vehicle testing, pilot production and future manufacturing, with the first 40 production vehicles targeted for delivery in late 2026. Launch will cover roughly one-third of program costs through warrants for up to about $15 million in Aptera stock, while Aptera Co-CEO Chris Anthony said the partnership will bring manufacturing expertise and supply-chain capabilities without adding significant capital burdens. Co-CEO Steve Fambro added that Launch’s global footprint could help support future expansion beyond the U.S. FOUNDERS: Steve Fambro & Chris Anthony VALUATION: $44,000,000 HQ: Carlsbad, California #VentureCapital #ApteraMotors #LaunchDesign #TradedVC

Aug 20, 2026

Vessev Secures $19 Million Series A Funding Led By Blackbird Ventures For Electric Hydrofoil Expansion

New Zealand-based electric hydrofoil maker Vessev has raised $19 million in a Series A and follow-on financing round to accelerate production of its VS-9 vessel line, expand its global team, and support plans to manufacture in the United States. The round was led by Blackbird Ventures, with participation from new investors GD1 and Rypples alongside existing backers K1W1, Icehouse Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and NZVC. The company, led by co-founder and CEO Eric Laakmann, is entering the U.S. market with FlyTahoe as its first American customer and plans demonstrations in New York City, Washington D.C., and Lake Tahoe as it expands sustainable electric water transit. FOUNDERS: Max Olson & Eric Laakmann INVESTORS: Blackbird Ventures, GD1, Rypples, K1W1, Icehouse Ventures, Shasta Ventures & NZVC ROUND: Series A AMOUNT: $19,000,000 HQ: Auckland, New Zealand #VentureCapital #Vessev #MaxOlson #EricLaakmann #TradedVC

Aug 19, 2026

Ramp Acquires Router.com To Launch AI Model Routing Platform

Ramp acquired router.com and launched Router.com, an AI model routing platform designed to help companies reduce rising AI infrastructure costs by automatically selecting the lowest-cost model that meets performance requirements. Built internally over three years, Router has helped Ramp cut its own inference costs by about 30% and customers using the platform have reduced AI spending by 40% on average; Ramp did not disclose a funding raise related to the launch. FOUNDERS: Eric Glyman, Karim Atiyeh & Gene Lee HQ: New York City, New York #VentureCapital #Ramp #Routercom #TradedVC

Aug 19, 2026

Asymm Secures $51 Million Investment From Khosla Ventures Interlagos Cantos AE Industrial Partners Hillspire Mantis Space Capital

Asymm has raised $51 million to build the foundation for a more stable world, with the round backed by Khosla Ventures, Interlagos, Cantos, AE Industrial Partners, Hillspire LLC, Mantis and Space Capital. Announcing the raise, the company said "Peace is possible" and framed the funding as the start of a broader effort, with more announcements expected to follow. INVESTORS: Khosla Ventures, Interlagos, Cantos, AE Industrial Partners, Hillspire LLC, Mantis & Space Capital AMOUNT: $51,000,000 #VentureCapital #Asymm #TradedVC

Aug 19, 2026

SK Hynix Announces $29 Billion Share Buyback And Cancellation Program Amid Chip Market Decline

SK Hynix announced a record $29 billion share buyback and cancellation program after its stock fell nearly 50% from its June peak amid a broader chip selloff. The memory chipmaker, which raised $26.5 billion through its July Nasdaq listing, said it will repurchase 24.07 million shares and return at least 50% of cumulative free cash flow from 2025 to 2027, while continuing major semiconductor expansion projects. FOUNDER: Chung Ju-yung AMOUNT: $29,000,000,000 HQ: Gyeonggi-do, South Korea #VentureCapital #SKHynix #ChungJuyung #TradedVC

Aug 18, 2026

Google Acquires Business Data From Spirit Airlines For $10 Million

Google is acquiring internal business data from bankrupt Spirit Airlines for $10 million to support product development and AI model training. The de-identified data includes employee emails, Microsoft Teams messages, spreadsheets, calendars, and marketing, productivity and operations data, with no customer or personally identifiable information; Spirit also received a $7.5 million bid from AI data company Mercor, while a U.S. bankruptcy judge is set to consider the sale. SALE PRICE: $10,000,000 HQ: Mountain View, California #VentureCapital #Google #SpiritAirlines #TradedVC

Aug 18, 2026

Happy Health Secures $75 Million Funding From ARCH Venture Partners And OpenLoop For AI Smart Ring

Happy Health, an Austin-based digital health startup founded by physician Dustin Freckleton, has emerged from stealth with $75 million raised across multiple rounds to expand its AI-powered smart ring platform for at-home sleep apnea diagnosis. Its Happy Ring and Happy Sleep platform combine FDA-cleared multi-night sleep testing with virtual care, with the company planning to use the new capital to expand beyond sleep into broader home-based care. FOUNDER: Dustin Freckleton INVESTORS: ARCH Venture Partners & OpenLoop AMOUNT: $75,000,000 HQ: Austin, Texas #VentureCapital #HappyHealth #DustinFreckleton #TradedVC

Aug 18, 2026

Etched Raises $700 Million At $21 Billion Valuation Led By Jane Street And Investors

Etched raised $700M at a $21B valuation in a round led by Jane Street, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, Bain Capital Ventures, Neo, Primary, Stripes, Positive Sum and Blackstone. The AI inference infrastructure company, led by co-founder and CEO Gavin Uberti, also announced Jane Street as its first customer after shipping its first rack to the quantitative trading firm, bringing Etched’s total funding to $1.9B and customer contracts to more than $1B. FOUNDERS: Gavin Uberti, Robert Wachen & Chris Zhu INVESTORS: Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Soma Capital, Jane Street, Tiger Global, Bain Capital Ventures, Neo, Primary, Stripes, Positive Sum & Blackstone AMOUNT: $700,000,000 VALUATION: $21,000,000,000 HQ: San Jose, California #VentureCapital #Etched #GavinUberti #TradedVC

Aug 18, 2026

Mid-Day Squares Secures $8 Million Financing From Investissement Québec And CED For Expansion

Mid-Day Squares has secured $8 million in debt financing from Investissement Québec and Canada Economic Development for Québec Regions (CED) to expand manufacturing capacity ahead of nationwide launches at Walmart and Costco in the U.S. Co-founder and co-CEO Nick Saltarelli said the funding will help the chocolate snack brand scale annual production capacity to approximately $250 million as it grows its North American retail footprint. Since launching in 2018, Mid-Day Squares has sold around 90 million squares and is now carried in nearly 11,000 retail doors across the region. FOUNDERS: Lezlie Karls, Nick Saltarelli & Jake Karls INVESTORS: Investissement Québec and Canada Economic Development for Québec Regions (CED) AMOUNT: $8,000,000 HQ: Montreal, Quebec, Canada #VentureCapital #MidDaySquares #TradedVC

Aug 18, 2026

OpenAI Expands AI Infrastructure With $105 Billion Data Center Project Supported By Nvidia And SB Energy

OpenAI is expanding its AI infrastructure footprint through a new Ohio data center backed by up to $105 billion in financing from Nvidia. The project, developed with SB Energy and supported by Nvidia compute, will deliver 4.25 gigawatts of capacity initially with room for expansion, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman continues scaling the company’s access to the computing power needed for next-generation AI models. FOUNDERS: Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Greg Brockman & Ilya Sutskever INVESTORS: Nvidia, SB Energy & SoftBank AMOUNT: $105,000,000,000 HQ: San Francisco, California #VentureCapital #OpenAI #Nvidia #TradedVC

Aug 17, 2026

Floating Point Raises $125 Million For Third Fund To Invest In Early-Stage Technology Companies

Floating Point has raised $125 million for its third fund, bringing the venture capital firm’s total assets under management to more than $300 million. Founded in 2021 by General Partners Eddie Segel and John Loser, the firm invests in early-stage companies building technology advantages across complex, real-world industries including healthcare, logistics, finance, and insurance, with a focus on businesses that are both AI-first and AI-proof. FOUNDERS: Eddie Segel & John Loser AMOUNT: $125,000,000 HQ: Boston, Massachusetts #VentureCapital #FloatingPoint #EddieSegel #JohnLoser #TradedVC

Aug 17, 2026

Trajectory Raises $40 Million In Series A Funding Led By Sequoia Capital At $300 Million Valuation

Trajectory, a San Francisco-based AI infrastructure and agent optimization platform, raised $40 million in Series A funding at a $300 million post-money valuation in a round led by Sequoia Capital with participation from NVIDIA and Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded in 2026 by Ronak Malde, Michael Elabd, and Arjun Karanam, the company develops software that automates AI model customization and optimizes agent workflows, using self-distillation policy optimization to improve decision-making from human feedback. Trajectory plans to use the funding to scale its model-tuning infrastructure, grow its research and engineering teams, and expand enterprise tooling for optimizing open-source and closed-source AI agents. FOUNDERS: Ronak Malde, Michael Elabd & Arjun Karanam INVESTORS: Sequoia Capital, NVIDIA & Bessemer Venture Partners ROUND: Series A AMOUNT: $40,000,000 VALUATION: $300,000,000 HQ: San Francisco, California #VentureCapital #Trajectory #RonakMalde #TradedVC