The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Skild AI Grabs $300M To Build Robot Brains

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After a quiet holiday week, investors were back in action dishing out big rounds to startups in robotics, biotech, healthcare and more. Half a dozen rounds hit nine figures — perhaps a good sign for startups for the rest of summer.

1. Skild AI, $300M, robotics: The good year for robotics startups continued this week. Skild AI became the latest such startup to raise big, locking in a $300 million Series A led by Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SoftBank Group and Jeff Bezos, through his Bezos Expeditions. The funding brings the company to a valuation of $1.5 billion. The Pittsburgh-based startup isn’t building robots, however, it’s building robot brains. The theory is that those brain models can then be used in a variety of robots and for different tasks — instead of just having one application. It seems a lot of big-name investors agree with that strategy.

2. Element Biosciences, $277M, biotech: It’s hard to get through a week without a big biotech raise, and this one’s no different. Element Biosciences raised more than $277 million in a Series D led by Wellington Management. The San Diego-based biotech startup is focused on developing DNA sequencing and multi-omics technology for research markets. Founded in 2017, the company has raised $678 million, per Crunchbase.

3. Regal, $250M, film: Regal, the second-largest movie theater chain in the U.S., makes the list this week after it secured $250 million to upgrade its locations. The company is looking to add to its 425 theaters across the country — with enhancements that include luxury recliners and other amenities. Regal is owned by Cineworld, which emerged from bankruptcy with a financial restructuring process last year. Investors were not disclosed.

4. (tied) HarmonyCares, $200M, healthcare: HarmonyCares, a provider of in-home primary care, raised one of the biggest rounds of the week to expand its operations. The Troy, Michigan-based healthcare company closed a $200 million round led by General Catalyst, McKesson Ventures and a large unnamed national payor. The firm operates home-based primary care practices in 15 states –offering services such as home health, hospice, radiology and laboratory – and will look to grow its geographical reach across the U.S.

4. (tied) Earned Wealth, $200M, financial services: Wealth tech startup Earned Wealth raised a $200 million investment led by Silversmith Capital Partners and Summit Partners. The company offers medical professionals financial planning, tax planning and investment advice on one platform. The new cash is expected to go toward acquisitions. Founded in 2021, the company has raised $212 million, per Crunchbase.

6. Hebbia, $130M, artificial intelligence:  Hebbia, an AI startup that helps businesses analyze all types of data to answer more complex, multi-step questions, raised a $130 million Series B from a handful of big-name investors. The new round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and values the company at approximately $700 million, per Bloomberg. The New York-based startup allows companies to sift through structured and unstructured data — including regulatory filings and PDFs — to answer more detailed and complicated business questions. In the last 18 months, the startup has grown revenue 15x and quintupled headcount. Founded in 2020, the company has raised a total of $161 million, per Crunchbase.

7. Hayden AI, $90M, govtech: Next time you think about double parking, remember a San Francisco-based startup just raised a big Series C to help make sure you don’t. Hayden AI, a vision AI platform, locked in a $90 million growth equity round led by The Rise Fund — TPG’s impact investing platform. While the company’s platform uses cameras mounted on buses that can spot illegal parking or moving violations, it also can do more. The platform uses geospatial data collection sensor systems to give cities insights to improve traffic safety and accessibility. It can detect and predict traffic congestion, improve transportation networks and more. Founded in 2019, the company has now raised more than $193 million, per Crunchbase. The funding is the largest received by a startup in the govtech sector this year, but it is by no means the only one. In fact, govtech startups have already raised $271.4 million this year, per Crunchbase data. That already surpasses last year’s total of $249.7 million invested into the sector.

8. X-Bow Systems, $70M, aerospace: Albuquerque, New Mexico-based X-Bow Systems, a developer of solid rocket motors and hypersonics technologies, raised more than $70 million led by Razor’s Edge. Founded in 2016, the company has raised nearly $160 million, per Crunchbase.

9. Captions, $60M, artificial intelligence: New York-based Captions, a generative video creation and editing platform, raised a $60 million Series C led by Index Ventures at a valuation of $500 million. Founded in 2021, Captions has raised $100 million, per Crunchbase.

10. ZwitterCo, $58.4M, sustainability: Woburn, Massachusetts-based ZwitterCo, a water treatment startup using membrane technologies, closed a $58.4 million Series B funding round led by Evok Innovations. Founded in 2018, the company has raised nearly $99 million, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

The biggest round of the week went to a defense tech firm.

• Germany-based Helsing, which develops artificial intelligence software for defense, raised approximately $489 million in funding led by General Catalyst, valuing the company at $5.4 billion.

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 6 to July 12. 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