Tech
What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that’s now public
Bending Spoons, the Milan-based tech conglomerate that made headlines for acquiring the likes of AOL and Vimeo, went public on the Nasdaq this week with a pop, briefly reaching a market capitalization over $25 billion.
While Bending Spoons stock has slightly slumped since then, its market cap remains twice double its previous private valuation of $11 billion, confirming investor appetite for its playbook and portfolio, which includes digital brands such as Meetup, Eventbrite, and WeTransfer.
Bending Spoons’ strategy shares similarities with private equity, with the difference that it holds onto the brands it acquires. Its focus is on making them more financially successful — with tech and AI, but also often through price hikes and layoffs that have caused controversy.
Speaking to TechCrunch, co-founder and chief product officer Matteo Danieli said some of the scrutiny was due to the fact that products such as Evernote were genuinely loved by their users. But he said that despite all the changes, customer retention has been “remarkably stable.”
The user base of Bending Spoons itself has grown significantly in its 13 years of existence, and particularly in the last couple of years. As of March 2026, its portfolio served over 500 million monthly active users and more than 9 million monthly paying customers, according to its filing.
This also goes against the idea that Bending Spoons acquires dead companies, a narrative that entrepreneur Joe Hyrkin has been battling since selling digital publishing platform Issuu to the Italians in 2024.
“’Old internet brands’ is the wrong frame,” Hyrkin wrote on LinkedIn after the IPO. “They acquire products with real customer behavior, then integrate them into a centralized system of product, engineering, data, monetization, AI, and operating discipline.” This seems to be working: Bending Spoons reported $1.31 billion revenue in 2025; but its market capitalization indicates that investors anticipate even more.
How did Bending Spoons start?
The little-known backstory is that Bending Spoons was born out of the remains of Evertale, a Copenhagen-based startup that participated in Disrupt SF 2011’s Startup Alley and raised seed funding for itsphoto-sharing app, Wink.
Evertale failed not long after, and investors were able to exit, but its founders and a couple of employees kept working together, initially on in-house apps. Soon enough, the team made its first acquisition, followed by many others, CEO and co-founder Luca Ferrari told the venture podcast 20VC in one of his rare interviews before the company decided to go public.
In 2020, Bending Spoons made an exception to its policy of no longer building its own products when it created and donated Immuni, Italy’s official COVID-19 contact-tracing app. But other than that, it has mostly been honing a formula: identifying a popular product it thinks it can improve inside and out, and buying it from owners who have reached their limits in some way.
This approach was long orthogonal to VC, and Bending Spoons remained bootstrapped for years. But it eventually raised equity financing several times, including in 2022, 2024 and 2025. Pre-IPO, it also had VIP backers like tech industry bigs Eric Schmidt, Mike Krieger, and Xavier Niel; and stars Andre Agassi, Bradley Cooper, Maluma, The Weeknd, and The Chainsmokers.
What happens after a Bending Spoons acquisition?
After the acquisition, Bending Spoons is anything but a passive owner, making changes to the products’ user experience and features, as well as to the underlying tech; monetization strategy, including pricing; and team organization, including headcount.
While this focus on efficiency and revenue overlaps with private equity strategies, Bending Spoons claims a key difference: It “aims to hold forever, and has never sold an acquired business.” It is building a live portfolio, not presiding over a tech graveyard.
What companies has Bending Spoons acquired?
While Bending Spoons acquired several companies between 2014 and 2021, including the AI-powered photo enhancer Remini, its most notable acquisitions happened more recently.
In 2022, it acquired Filmic, known for its popular video- and photo-editing apps, and laid off the entire staff in December 2023.
In a deal also announced in 2022 and finalized in early 2023, Bending Spoons also acquired Evernote, the note-taking app that had reportedly reached a $1 billion valuation before hitting trouble. Layoffs followed the acquisition, as well as cuts to Evernote’s free offering.
The first half of the following year, 2024, was particularly active, with the acquisition of Meetup, app maker Mosaic Group, and Hopin’s StreamYard all happening within six months.
In July 2024, it went on to acquire the publishing platformIssuu and the file transfer serviceWeTransfer, where it later cut staff and made changes to its free plan, introducing stricter limits. In December 2025, WeTransfer’s cofounder Nalden criticized Bending Spoons’ decisions and said he was building another file transfer service.
In November 2024, Bending Spoons announced it would spend $233 million on an all-cash take-private deal to acquire video platform Brightcove. The acquisitions continued apace in early 2025, with route planner Komoot and management software maker Harvest.
Bending Spoons also announced its intention to acquire Vimeo in a $1.38 billion all-cash deal, and soon after, to acquire AOL from Yahoo for an undisclosed amount. (Disclosure: Both AOL and Yahoo are former owners of TechCrunch, and Yahoo retains a small interest.)
In December 2025, Bending Spoons announced it would acquire yet another well-known brand: Eventbrite — and for only some $500 million, a far cry from the company’s $1.76 billion valuation when it went public in 2018.
The Vimeo deal closed in the latter half of 2025, and was followed by massive layoffs impacting most of the workforce including the entire video team. The acquisitions of AOL, Eventbrite and Tractive were also completed this year.
What’s next for Bending Spoons?
Four of Bending Spoons’ cofounders have remained at its helm over the years: Matteo Danieli, Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, and Luca Querella. The IPO made them billionaires, at least on paper, while retaining control of the company, with more than 80% of the voting power.
Some of their decisions will affect workers. According to the company, it added “1,830 full-time equivalent team members through the acquisitions of AOL, Eventbrite, and Vimeo” but has already “parted ways” with many, and will continue. “Once the transformations of the three businesses are substantially complete later in 2026, we expect only a few hundred to remain.”
This headcount reduction presumably won’t affect the number of “Spooners” — the term Bending Spoons reserves to some core team members that have gone through its highly selective hiring process. There are currently some 620 of them, but that number hasn’t grown fast: in 2025, it only made 286 hires out of some 800,000 job applications.
Core headcount may not have increased by much, but productivity has. “In part helped by progress in AI, revenue per full-time equivalent Spooner increased from $1.12 million in 2023 to $2.57 million in 2025, and was $0.97 million in Q1 2026,” the company said. It helped it escape the SaaS reckoning it now also hopes to benefit from.
“As many businesses struggle to adapt, our ability to expand the earnings of an acquired business may improve,” Bending Spoons observed. In addition, “an environment of greater uncertainty could provide opportunities for us to acquire businesses at more favorable valuations.”
Despite what it sees as a favorable moment, Bending Spoons has remained selective in its acquisitions, but keeps on a wide net. By its own reporting, it sourced over 2,500 acquisition opportunities in 2025, conducted in-depth analyses of approximately 200 of them, and completed six acquisitions. More will certainly follow — that’s the playbook.
“We’ve identified more than 1,000 digital businesses (both private and public) that could be attractive acquisition targets in the future, representing nearly $400 billion in aggregate estimated revenue in 2025,” Ferrari wrote in a letter on behalf of the Bending Spoons team.
The playbook hasn’t changed, but the hint at take-privates is a reminder that the company has gone from paying “$10,000 for our first acquisition” to now “pursuing acquisitions in the billions of dollars.”
What follows may be even more intense. “As AI enables us to accomplish more with fewer people, the scalability of our acquisition and transformation model should improve as well,” Ferrari predicted.
This story was originally published in October 2025 and is updated periodically with new information.
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With AI igniting an investor frenzy, more startups are achieving unicorn status every month.
Using data from Crunchbase and PitchBook, TechCrunch tracked down the VC-backed startups that became unicorns in 2026. While most are AI-related, a surprising number are focused on other industries like healthcare and even a few crypto companies. This list will be updated throughout the year.
June
MainFunc — $2.6 billion. This startup offers an AI workspace called Genspark. Founded in 2023, it last raised a $485 million Series B in a round led by Lg Technology Ventures, SBI Investment, and Emergency Equity Management, according to Pitchbook. It has raised a total of $645 million in funding to date, with other investors in the company including AWS.
May
Farther — $1.25 billion. This wealth management platform, founded in 2019, last raised a $150 million Series D in a round led by General Atlantic, giving it a valuation of $1.25 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised $273 million in funds to date, with other investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Lightspeed, and Khosla.
Socket — $1 billion. This cybersecurity startup helps protect against malicious supply chain attacks. Founded in 2020, it last raised a $60 million Series C in a round led by Thrive Capital, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised $124 million in funding to date, from investors including Aaron Levie and Andreessen Horowitz.
EXA — $1.95 billion. This company has built a web engine for AI agents to search, crawl, and research. Founded in 2021, it last raised a $250 million Series C in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, according to Pitchbook. It has raised $360 million in funds to date, from other investors including Nvidia and YC.
Radar — $1 billion: This inventory management platform last raised a $170 million Series B in a round led by Nimble Partners and Gideon Strategic Partners. Founded in 2013, it has raised around $250 million in funding to date from investors including Founders Fund and YC, according to Pitchbook.
Vi Labs — $1.64: This AI enterprise platform helps health service organizations find patients and run operations. It was founded in 2021 and last raised a $145 million round led by RevelStroke Capital Partners and The Pritzker Organization, according to Pitchbook. Overall, the startup has raised around $275 million in funding to date from investors, including General Atlantic and Square Peg Capital.
SendCutSend — $1 billion: This startup cuts custom industrial parts. Founded in 2018, it last raised a $110 million Series A in a round led by Paradigm and Sequoia and has raised around $123 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
MiRus — $4.41 billion: Founded in 2015, this cardiovascular and orthopedic medical device company last raised a $1.5 billion late-stage round from Boston Scientific. It has raised more than $1 billion in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Recursive — $4.65 billion. Founded in 2025, this AI research lab last raised $650 million in a Series A round led by GV and Greycroft, bringing the total it has raised to $650 million. Other investors include Nvidia, according to Pitchbook.
Forus — $1.01 billion: Founded in 2023, this company automates part of the patient care process, like benefit verifications, appeal letters, and enrollment forms, to help speed up treatment time. It last raised a $160 million Series B in a round led by Accel and has raised around $197 million in funding to date. Other investors in the company include Bain Capital Ventures and Thrive Capital, according to Pitchbook.
Positron — $1.06 billion: Founded in 2024, this company builds custom AI hardware for inference. It last raised a $234 million Series B, with investors in the company including ARENA Private Wealth and Valor Equity Partners. The company has raised more than $310 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Cowboy Space — $2 billion: Founded in 2023, this company, which seeks to build a power grid in space to help power AI on Earth, last raised a $305 million Series B in a round led by Index Ventures. It has raised $355 million in funding to date, with other investors including Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and Draper Associates, according to Pitchbook.
Starcloud — $1.1 billion: This startup is developing technology to deploy data centers in space. Founded in 2024, it last raised $170 million in a Series A round led by EQT and Benchmark Opportunity Partners. It has raised more than $190 million in funding to date from investors including Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz, according to Pitchbook.
Advanced Manufacturing Company of America — $1.1 billion: This company develops and manufactures defense and aerospace parts. Founded in 2024, it last raised a $300 million Series B in a round led by Caffeinated Capital. Other investors in the company include Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, and Founders Fund, and the startup has raised more than $370 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Xbow — $1.32 billion: This startup, founded in 2024, is an autonomous hacker that helps companies find security flaws. It last raised a $155 million Series C in a round led by Samsung Venture Investment, DFJ Growth, and Northzone Ventures and has raised a little more than $270 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Corgi — $2.6 billion: This startup offers insurance coverage to startups for liablities like cyber, general, and tech and AI. It was founded in 2024 and last raised a $105 million Series B1 round from TCV. The company has raised $374 million to date from investors including Kindred Ventures and YC, according to Pitchbook.
Blitzy — $1.4 billion. This startup, founded in 2023, offers an AI coding tool for enterprise teams. It last raised $200 million from Northzone Ventures and has raised around $206 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
April
Rogo — $2 billion: This startup, founded in 2021, is a platform for financial intuitions to help manage analytical workflow. It last raised a $160 million Series D in a round led by Kleiner Perkins, and has raised a little more than $310 million in funding to date. Other investors in the company include Tiger Global Management and Kholsa Ventures, according to Pitchbook.
Parallel — $2 billion. Founded in 2023, this company is building a search engine for AI agents to use. It last raised a $100 million Series B in a round led by Sequoia, with other investors in the company including Kholsa Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. The company has raised around $230 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Avoca — $1 billion. Founded in 2022, this startup offers AI agents for customer support tasks like inbound and outbound communications. It last raised a $125 million Series B in a round led by General Catalyst and Meritech Capital Partners, bringing the total capital raised to $125 million. Other investors in the company include Kleiner Perkins and YC, according to Pitchbook.
Core Automation — $1 billion. Founded in 2026, this company is an enterprise platform that helps companies automate complex business workflows. It last raised a $100 million seed round with investors including Threshold Ventures and Scribble Ventures. The company has raised $100 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Promethus — $41 billion: Co-founded by Jeff Bezos last year, this startup is building AI tools that automate general engineering tasks. It raised a $12 billion Series B round led by JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock. It has raised $18.2 billion in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Omni Analytics — $1.51 billion: Founded in 2022, this startup is a business intelligence platform that helps answer questions for employees. It last raised a $120 million Series C in a round led by ICONOIQ Growth and has raised around $215 million in funding to date. Other investors in the company include Databricks and GV, according to Pitchbook.
Factory — $1.5 billion: Founded in 2023, this startup is building self-improving software. It last raised a $150 million Series C in a round led by Khosla Ventures, with other investors including Blackstone and Nvidia. It has raised around $219 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Slash — $1.4 billion: Founded in 2020, this is a banking and corporate financial management platform, putting banking, payments, expense management, and corporate card mangement into one platform. It last raised a $100 million Series C in a round led by Ribbit Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Goodwater Capital. It has raised around $160 million in funding to date from other investors, including Menlo and YC, according to Pitchbook.
Alloy Therapeutics — $1 billion: This startup, which is using AI for drug discovery and development, was founded in 2017 and last raised a $40 million Series R. Investors in the company include Founders Fund, 8VC, and 10X Capital, and the startup has raised more than $170 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Applied Compute — $1.3 billion: The startup helps enterprises use their own data to train custom AI software and solutions. Founded in 2025, it last raised an $80 million round led by Kleiner Perkins. Other investors in the company include Benchmark and Sequoia, and the company has raised $160 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Hermeus — $1 billion. This company seeks to build high-speed unmanned aircraft. Founded in 2018, it last raised a $350 million Series C in a round led by Khosla Ventures. Other investors in the company include Peter Thiel and Founder Fund and the company has raised almost $550 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
March
Tenex.AI — $1 billion. This startup bills itself as one of the leading “AI-native, human-led agentic” platforms that provide cybersecurity services. Founded in 2024, the company last raised a $250 million Series B in a round led by Crosspoint Capital. It’s raised $277 million in funding to date from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, too, according to Pitchbook.
Also — $1 billion: Founded in 2024, this Rivian spinout focuses on building electric autonomous small vehicles to transport people and goods. It last raised a $200 million Series C in a round led by Greenoaks Capital Partners. Other investors in the company include DoorDash and Rivian and the company has raised more than $300 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Stipple Bio — $2.25 billion. This startup was founded in 2022 and focuses on targeted cancer drug discovery. It last raised a $100 million Series A in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, Nextech Invest, and RA Capital Management, according to Pitchbook. It has raised a total of around $121 million in funding to date. Other investors in the company include Emerson Collective and OMX.
Nextop AI — $4.2 billion. Founded in 2024, this startup builds ethernet networking hardware for AI data centers. It last raised a $500 million Series B in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners and has raised $610 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
ModRetro — $1 billion. Founded in 2023 by Palmer Luckey, this startup manufactures classic “retro” games like GameBoy but with modern enhancements, according to Pitchbook. It last raised a $195 million Series A and has raised $217 million in funding to date. Investors in the company include Valor Equity Partners and Drover Ventures.
Rhoda AI — $1.7 billion: This startup, founded in 2024, focuses on building foundational models that help deploy robotic systems. It last raised a $450 million Series A in a round led by Premji Invest, Mayfield Fund, Capricorn Investment Group, Khosla Ventures, and Temasek Holdings. It has raised $450 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook.
Nominal — $2 billion. This company, founded in 2022, a software suite that helps engineering teams test and run hardware. It last raised a $115 million Series B in a round led by Founders Fund and Sequoia, according to Pitchbook. Other investors in the company include Lightspeed Venture Partners and the company has raised $182 million in funding to date.
Eight Sleep — $1.5 billion. Founded in 2014, this startup creates tech-enabed mattresses. It last raised a $150 million Series D in a round led by Tether Investments and has raised around $309 million in funding to date, according to Pitchbook. Other investors in the company include YC, FoundersFund, and Softbank.
Science — $1.5 billion. Founded in 2021, this startup creates brain-computer medical devices. It last raised a $230 million Series C in a round led by Lightspeed and Khosla, according to Pitchbook. It has raised around $519 million in funding to date with other investors in the company including YC.
Axiom — $1.6 billion. Founded in 2025, this startup is building a platform to help with mathematical discoveries. It last raised a $200 million Series A in a round led by Menlo, according to Pitchbook. Other investors in the company include Toyota Ventures and B Capital Group. It has raised $264 million in funding to date.
True Anomaly — $2.2 billion. Founded in 2022, this space defense manufacturing company last raised a $650 million Series D in a round led by Riot ventures and Eclipse Capital, according to Pitchbook. It has raised around $1 billion in funding to date with other investors in the company including Accel and Menlo.
OpenRouter — $1.3 billion. This startup, founded in 2023, has created a platform offers software called an AI gateway that let’s an AI app use a variety of LLMs, depending on its need. It last raised a $113 million Series B in a round led by CapitalG, according to Pitchbook. Other investors in the round include Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia. It has raised around $163 million in funding to date.
Granola — $1.5 billion. This AI-powered note taking app last raised a $125 million Series C in a round led by Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised $192 million in funding to date, with other investors including Sequoia and Lightspeed.
Hark — $6 billion. Founded in 2025, this startup is building consumer hardware devices with “personal intelligence” that can talk, hear, and remember. It last raised a $700 million Series A in a round led by Parkway Venture Capital, with other investors in the company including Nvidia and Salesforce Ventures, according to Pitchbook. It has raised around $759 million in funding to date.
Dash0 — $1 billion. Founded in 2023, this observability platform last raised a $110 million Series B in a round led by Balderton Capital. The company has raised around $154 million in funding to date from other investors including Accel, according to Pitchbook.
Valar Atomics — $2 billion. Founded in 2023, this atomic energy company last raised $450 million in a round led by Day One Ventures. It has raised around $600 million in funding to date from investors including that work at companies like Palantir and Lockheed Martin, according to Pitchbook.
Frore Systems — $1.64 billion. This startup, founded in 2018, creates cooling systems for chips and AI devices. It last raised a $143 million Series D in a round led by MVP Ventures, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised around $373 million in funding to date, with other investors including Addition and Qualcomm Ventures.
February
Positron — $1 billion: This AI semiconductor startup was founded in 2023 and announced a $230 million Series B in February. It’s now raised more than $300 million in funding to date from investors like Valor Equity Partners and Jump Trading, according to PitchBook.
Skyryse — $1.1 billion: This semi-automated flight operating system, founded in 2016, last raised a $300 million Series C. It has raised more than $540 million in funding from investors like Autopilot Ventures, Fidelity, and Venrock, according to PitchBook.
TRM Labs — $1 billion: This platform helps crypto businesses investigate and prevent fraud. It was founded in 2018 and last raised a $70 million Series C. It has raised around $219 million in funding to date from investors like Bessemer Venture Partners and PayPal Ventures, according to PitchBook.
Midi Health — $1 billion: This telemedicine platform aimed at menopausal health was founded in 2021. It last raised a $100 million Series D. It has raised more than $250 million in funding to date from investors like GV and Emerson Collective, according to PitchBook.
Lunar Energy — $1 billion: This company makes batteries for homeowners to store their own energy. Founded in 2020, Lunar Energy last raised a $102 million Series D. It has raised more than $230 million in funding to date from investors like B Capital and Prelude Ventures, according to PitchBook.
Bedrock Robotics — $1.8 billon: This AI-powered system lets construction equipment operate without much human control. Founded in 2024 by a former Waymo employee, it last raised a $270 million Series B. It has raised $350 million in funding to date from investors like 8VC and Valor Equity Partners, according to PitchBook.
Fundamental — $1.4 billion: This AI Lab offering foundational models is designed to analyze large datasets. Founded in 2024, it last raised a $255 million Series A. The bulk of it comes from the firm Oak HC/FT, according to PitchBook.
Goodfire — $1.3 billion: This company is building tools to help researchers inspect and understand how AI models work. Founded in 2013, it last raised a $150 million Series B, according to PitchBook.
Iterative Health — $1.4 billion: This medical research company, focused on the digestive system, was founded in 2017 and last raised a $75 million Series C. It has raised more than $270 million in funding to date from investors like Insight Partners and Obvious Ventures, according to PitchBook.
Oxide — $1.6 billion: This company builds cloud infrastructure so companies can run their own private cloud inside their own data center. It was founded in 2019 and last raised a $200 million Series C. It has raised more than $360 million in funding to date from the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund and Eclipse, according to PitchBook.
Solace — $1 billion: This healthcare marketplace, founded in 2022, last raised a $130 million Series C. It has raised more than $200 million in funding to date from investors, including Menlo Ventures, according to PitchBook.
Garner — $1.4 billion: This company uses data to help patients find better doctors. Founded in 2019, it last raised a $118 million Series D and has raised $179 million in funding to date from investors like Rounders Fund and Redpoint Ventures, according to PitchBook.
Apptronik — $5.3 billion: This humanoid robotics company, founded in 2016, last raised a $935 million Series A from investors like B Capital Group and Capital Factory. It has raised $935 million in funding to date, according to PitchBook.
Talkiatry — $1.4 billion: This startup is trying to make psychiatric services more accessible to patients and providers. It was founded in 2019 and last raised a $210 million Series D. It has raised almost $430 million in funding to date from investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Left Lane Capital, according to PitchBook.
Erebor Bank — $4 billion: Founded in 2025 by Palmer Luckey, this bank specializes in working with crypto clients. It last raised a $635 million seed round from investors like Lux Capital, according to PitchBook.
Render — $1.5 billion: This cloud app hosting company, tuned for AI and agentic apps, was founded in 2018. It last raised a $100 million Series C1 round and has raised more than $250 million in funding to date from investors like General Catalyst and Bessemer Venture Partners, according to PitchBook. Render won the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield competition in 2019.
ZaiNar — $1 billion: Founded in 2017, this company offers wireless location tracking technology to physical assets like vehicles and drones. It last raised a $100 million Series A and has raised around $118 million in funding to date from investors like SoftBank Investment Advisers and AME Cloud Ventures, according to PitchBook.
Code Metal — $1.3 billion: This AI coding assistant platform, founded in 2023, last raised a $125 million Series B. It has raised more than $170 million in funding to date from investors like Salesforce and J2 Ventures, according to PitchBook.
Flapping Airplanes — $1.5 billion: This AI research lab was founded in 2025 and last raised $180 million in seed funding, valuing it at $1.5 billion. It has funding from investors like Index Ventures and GV, according to PitchBook.
Profound — $1 billion: This SEO platform is designed to help companies show up in AI search answers. Founded in 2024, it last raised a $96 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation. It has raised around $148 million in funding to date from investors, including Sequoia and Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to PitchBook.
Basis — $1.1 billion: Founded in 2023, this accounting automation software last raised a $100 million Series B at a $1.1 billion valuation. It has raised more than $130 million in funding to date from investors such as Khosla Ventures and Accel, according to PitchBook.
January
Aalyria — $1.3 billion: Founded in 2021, this AI-powered orchestration software, spun out of Google, last raised a $100 million Series B, valuing the company at $1.3 billion. Investors in the company include Battery Ventures and J2 Ventures. It has raised $130 million to date, according to PitchBook.
Gecko — $1.8 billion: This AI and robotics company, founded in 2013, last raised a $125 million Series D, valuing the company at $1.8 billion. It has raised more than $300 million in funding to date, from investors including Founders Fund and Cox Enterprises, according to PitchBook.
Arena — $1.7 billion: This AI platform helps business leaders make decisions. It was founded in 2022 and last raised a $150 million Series A, valuing the company at $1.7 billion. The company has raised $250 million in funding to date, from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Felicis, according to PitchBook.
humans& — $4.5 billion: This AI research lab, which focuses on creating AI that collaborates with humans, last raised a $480 million seed round led by SV Angel and Georges Harik, per Crunchbase.
webAI — $2.5 billion: This company lets organizations build their own private enterprise models. It was founded in 2019 and last raised an undisclosed Series A round, per PitchBook.
Tandem — $1 billion: This company helps doctors effectively fill prescriptions. Founded in 2013, it last raised a $100 million Series B from investors including Accel, per PitchBook and Crunchbase.
Higgsfield — $1.3 billion: Launched in 2023, this generative AI video startup, founded by an ex-Snap executive, raised a $180 million Series A, per Crunchbase.
Pomelo Care — $1.7 billion: Founded in 2021, this virtual maternity care company last raised a $92 million Series C, valuing the company at $1.7 billion. It has raised more than $170 million to date from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, according to PitchBook.
Rain — $1.9 billion: This crypto wallet company, founded in 2021, last raised a $250 million Series C. It has raised $338 million to date from investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners and ICONIQ Capital, according to PitchBook.
Deepgram — $1.3 billion: This voice AI infrastructure company lets software communicate with humans. It was founded in 2015 and last raised a $143 million Series C at a $1.3 billion valuation. It has raised more than $240 million in funding to date from investors like VC and Tiger Global Management, according to PitchBook.
Alpaca — $1.1 billion: Founded in 2013, this API and crypto brokerage platform last raised a $150 million Series D, giving it a $1.1 billion valuation. It has raised more than $340 million in funding to date from investors like Tribe Capital and Drive Capital, according to PitchBook.
Tulip — $1.3 billion: This platform helps factories monitor their operations using data and insights. It last raised a $120 million Series D and has raised more than $270 million in funding to date. Investors include Insight Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and Vertex Ventures US, according to PitchBook.
Preply — $1.2 billion: This language learning platform last raised a $150 million Series D at a $1.2 billion valuation, led by WestCap. The company has raised nearly $300 million to date, with investors including Owl Ventures and Full-In Partners.
Upscale AI — $1 billion: This AI infrastructure company last raised a $200 million Series A, giving it a $1 billion valuation. It was founded in 2025 and has raised $300 million in funding to date from investors like Tiger Global Management and Xora Innovation, according to PitchBook.
GlossGenius — $1.1 billion: This software helps enterprises handle appointments. It was founded in 2015 and last raised a $44 million Series D, giving it a $1.1 billion valuation. It has raised around $115 million in funding to date from investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners and Imaginary Ventures, according to PitchBook.
Recursive Intelligence — $4 billion: This AI-powered chip design startup, founded in 2025, last raised a $300 million Series A, giving it a $4 billion valuation. It has raised around $335 million in funding to date, from investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital, according to PitchBook.
Varda — $1.6 billion: This company mines raw materials from space for product use on Earth. It last raised a $250 million Series D, giving it a $1.6 billion valuation. It has raised more than $570 million in funding to date from investors like Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and Lux Capital, according to PitchBook.
PaleBlueDot AI — $1 billion: Founded in 2013, this company helps developers manage GPU computing by using AI agents and automation. It last raised a $150 million Series B, giving it a $1 billion valuation. It has raised $160 million in funding to date from investors like B Capital Group and Sky Arc Capital, according to PitchBook.
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Two hundred and fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a new commercial from Google asks: What if the Founding Fathers had access to Google Workspace?
With the tagline “Group project, but make it 1776,” the ad depicts a largely unseen Thomas Jefferson mid-draft when he gets a nagging text from Ben Franklin, leading to an extremely Google-centric collaboration process. Edits are suggested in Google Docs, a meeting gets scheduled in Google Calendar and conducted remotely via Google Meet (with every single attendee apparently turning their camera off?), then the whole thing is finalized with e-signatures; cue the fireworks.
Of course, since this is an ad from a tech company in the year 2026, AI has a role to play. The fictionalized founders use Google’s “help me visualize” AI tool to try out different animals on the national seal, Gemini takes notes on the meeting, and the founders also ask the chatbot for advice before declining King George III’s document access request.
The whole thing is very tongue-in-cheek (at one point, Sam Adams asks, “Can we settle this over beers?”), and the AI evangelism is relatively discreet when compared to many other recent ads, including an infamous Google commercial in which a father uses Gemini to write a fan letter for his daughter. Perhaps the most AI-forward element of the commercial is the footage itself, which to my eye has the uncanny glow of AI-generated video.
While viewer comments on YouTube and Instagram appear to be mostly positive, the response on Bluesky has (unsurprisingly) been far more critical. Posters declared the ad “cringey” and “stunningly tone deaf,” and the AI angle was the biggest target — even as many users, including historian Angus Johnston, noted that it’s “amazing how little of this is actually AI.”
“Even in a corny fantasy joke, it’s impossible to make the case that AI is a useful tool for political organizing, writing, or human collaboration,” Johnston said.
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As part of an ongoing legal dispute with three Hollywood studios, AI startup Midjourney is seeking to compel those studios to reveal how they use AI themselves.
Disney and Universal sued Midjourney for alleged copyright infringement last year, noting that the startup’s image-generation models could create images of characters, such as Bart Simpson and Darth Vader, who are owned by the studios. A few months later, Warner Bros. sued Midjourney as well.
The startup argues that training its AI models on images of copyrighted characters is permitted under fair use.
The current dispute revolves around the documentation the studios will need to produce during the discovery process. A judge previously ruled that the studios would indeed have to provide information about their generative AI usage – but only when it led to “consumer-facing” videos and images.
In its latest filing, Midjourney seeks to overturn that limitation, arguing that it “unfairly” allows the studios “to cherry-pick only those documents they believe support their market harm claims while depriving Midjourney of documents that would support its defenses.”
Midjourney goes on to claim that the “documents [the studios] are withholding are precisely those that would reveal whether, behind closed doors, they are doing exactly what they are suing Midjourney for doing.”
For example, the startup says that if the studios are developing image-generating AI models “for internal use in storyboarding or ideating content for film or TV, that evidence would equally demonstrate that it is an industry custom, even among the studios themselves, to download and train AI on unlicensed copyrighted content.”
In the filing, the startup also argues that the studios should reveal all the prompts they used in Midjourney, as well as the resulting outputs, not just the prompts that produced the allegedly infringing images.
The studios’ lead attorney David Singer previously claimed Midjourney was seeking this documentation as part of a “fishing expedition.”
He also said the studios “do not seek to stop AI technology or even shut down Midjourney’s business,” but rather “simply want Midjourney to stop copying their movies and TV shows and to stop distributing, publicly displaying, publicly performing, and creating derivative works that include copies of [their] famous characters without authorization.”
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