This week's biggest U.S. startup funding rounds were overwhelmingly concentrated in artificial intelligence, according to Crunchbase. The largest deal was a $1 billion Series C for Instinct, a San Francisco-based developer of AI assistants for everyday tasks, which valued the year-old company at $10 billion. Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, and Coatue backed the round.
Other notable AI deals included EliseAI, which raised $350 million at a $4 billion valuation to apply AI to the home rental industry and expand into healthcare, and Armadin, an AI-native cybersecurity startup that raised $255.5 million at a valuation above $2.5 billion. AI infrastructure also drew large checks: GMI Cloud raised $223 million in equity plus $445 million in debt, and CScale emerged from stealth with $145 million for optical interconnect technology in AI data centers.
The remaining top-10 slots went to two non-AI companies. Kahua, a platform for managing complex capital projects, raised $250 million in growth funding, and Homeward, which helps homeowners buy before selling, closed a $120 million Series D. The overall list underscores how heavily venture capital is flowing into AI across categories, from assistants and cybersecurity to physical AI and developer tools.