The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Manufacturing, AI And Publishing Attract Investor Dollars

Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2025 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The Crunchbase Megadeals Board.

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

For what one might expect to be a sleepy week in mid-July, this turned out to be a fairly active period for venture dealmaking. Top fundraisers included Hadrian, a developer of AI-enabled factories for aerospace and defense, and OpenEvidence, a medical AI tool. This week also brought us official confirmation of the previously reported record-setting $2 billion seed round for Thinking Machines Lab.

1. Hadrian, $260M, manufacturing: Hadrian, a Hawthorne, California-based developer of AI-enabled factories for aerospace and defense manufacturing, announced that it raised $260 million in a Series C round led by existing investors Founders Fund and Lux Capital. The financing also includes a factory expansion loan facility arranged by Morgan Stanley.

2. OpenEvidence, $210M, medical information: OpenEvidence, a medical search and AI application for U.S. clinical healthcare providers, closed on $210 million in Series B funding. Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins led the financing for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company.

3. (tied) Substack, $100M, publishing: Substack, the subscription-based publishing platform for independent writers, said it raised $100 million in Series C funding, led by Bond and TCG. Founded in 2017, the San Francisco-based company has raised over $200 million to date, per Crunchbase data.

3. (tied) Perplexity, $100M, artificial intelligence: AI search startup Perplexity has raised another $100 million at an $18 billion-plus valuation, according to the Financial Times and Bloomberg. The new round for San Francisco-based Perplexity is an extension of its previous raise just two months ago at a $14 billion valuation, per Bloomberg, and seems to highlight the traction that the 3-year-old startup has had in challenging massive incumbents like Google in the search space. Perplexity recently launched a web browser to complement its AI search engine. The company has now raised $1.3 billion total, per Crunchbase data.

5. (tied) Boulevard, $80M, appointments platform: Boulevard, a business management software platform for self-care businesses, including salons and spas, raised $80 million in a Series D funding led by JMI Equity. The round values Los Angeles-based Boulevard at about $800 million post-money.

5. (tied) Bedrock Robotics, $80M, robotics: San Francisco-based Bedrock Robotics, a provider of hardware and software to enable heavy equipment for the construction industry to operate autonomously, announced it has emerged from stealth with $80 million in seed and Series A backing. 8VC 1 led the Series A, and Eclipse Ventures led the seed financing.

7. CertifID, $47.5M, fraud protection: Austin-based CertifID, a wire fraud protection platform for the real estate industry, announced it secured $47.5 million in a Series C round led by Centana Growth Partners. The financing brings reported equity funding to date to $84 million.

8. Firestorm, $47M, defense tech: Firestorm, a San Diego-based developer of manufacturing technology for unmanned aircraft systems, raised $47 million in a Series A round  led by New Enterprise Associates.

9. Unify, $40M, business software: Unify, a developer of AI-enabled tools for companies and sales teams to grow their businesses, raised $40 million in a Series B round led by Battery Ventures. Founded in 2023, San Francisco-based Unify has raised around $70 million to date, per Crunchbase data.

10. Panacea Financial, $37M, healthcare fintech: Panacea Financial, a financial services provider for doctors and their practices, raised $37 million from Valar Ventures in a Series B extension financing. Little Rock, Arkansas-based Panacea said it has processed more than $2 billion in loan applications since launching in late 2020.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of July 12-18. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: Dom Guzman