Weekly funding roundup · 17 August to 23 August 2026
Startup funding, week of 17 August: River AI's $1.1B Series A leads 54 rounds
We read 54 equity rounds announced from 17 August to 23 August 2026, raising $4.5B between them. The largest was River AI's $1.1B Series A, led by General Catalyst and AMP PBC. The median seed round was $7.9M, against $5.5M over the last twelve months; at Series A it was $25M. Battery Ventures led the most rounds, with 2.
Equity rounds54announced this week, 51 with an amount
Raised$4.5Bacross those rounds
Lead named78%of rounds say who led
Countries18where this week's rounds were raised
The biggest rounds
- 1
River AISeries A · United States · led by General Catalyst, AMP PBC$1.1B - 2
CastelionSeries C · United States · led by Andreessen Horowitz, JP Morgan Chase$800M - 3
HiggsfieldSeries B · United States · led by DST Global$400M - 4
GroqSeries A · United States · led by Disruptive$350M - 5WWisprSeries B · United States · led by Menlo Ventures$280M
- 6
StarcloudSeries A · United States · led by Manhattan West$250M - 7
Muon SpaceSeries C · United States · led by Eclipse Capital$250M - 8
Gravis RoboticsSeries A · Switzerland · led by SoftBank BB Corp$200M - 9
AlsoSeries D · United States · led by Prysm Capital$150M - 10
Velaura AISeries A · United States · led by Seligman Ventures$110M
United States · led by General Catalyst, AMP PBC
Switzerland · led by SoftBank BB CorpBy stage, against the year
Each stage's median this week beside its median over the last twelve months. A single week is a small sample, so read the gap as a hint, not a trend.
The most active leads
Firms that led two or more of the week's rounds.
Where
- United States21
- Canada8
- United Kingdom5
- Australia4
- Germany1
- Chile1
Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
Germany
ChileUnited States had the most rounds this week.
In what
- AI26
- Software7
- Construction7
- Healthcare5
- Cloud5
- Defence Tech5
- Big Data & Analytics4
- Cybersecurity4
AI was the busiest sector.