AI Drives the Week’s Biggest Startup Funding Rounds, Led by Tenstorrent and Flapping Airplanes

The largest announced round went to Tenstorrent, the Santa Clara, California-based developer of AI processors and systems, which secured $1.5 billion in Series E funding. Trace Capital and Innovation X led the round, which set a $6.2 billion valuation for the 10-year-old company.

Flapping Airplanes followed with $1 billion in Series A funding led by Lux Capital and Index Ventures. The San Francisco AI lab is focused on developing models that cost less to train and run, and the round came less than 10 months after its $180 million seed financing.

ASI raised $325 million in Series C financing for AI technology used to secure and operate critical infrastructure in areas such as aviation, transportation and defense. Spark Capital led the round, which set a $3 billion valuation for the Boston-based company.

Space tech also made the list, with Xona raising $250 million in Series D funding led by Future Ventures for its work on a next-generation version of GPS. In biotech, Pathos AI completed a $237 million Series E financing led by Bristol-Myers Squibb, while Star Therapeutics raised $200 million in new financing led by OrbiMed and Janus Henderson Investors.

Warp Sciences raised a $215 million Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners as it applies AI and robotics to help develop new medicines faster. Whop, a platform for entrepreneurs building and running online businesses, secured $200 million in Series D funding led by Sequoia Capital and Shopify Ventures, setting a $5.1 billion valuation.

Warhound launched from stealth with $200 million in seed funding from backers including Sequoia Capital and 8VC. The startup wants to breed working dogs for U.S. military forces and emergency responders, and plans to equip the dogs with Anduril technology.

The roundup shows AI’s reach across infrastructure, foundational models, critical infrastructure, drug development, robotics and manufacturing software. Arda Industries, for example, closed $160 million in Series A funding for AI-powered manufacturing engineering software at a $1.5 billion valuation, co-led by Altimeter Capital, Accel and Khosla Ventures.

Crunchbase News tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database raised by U.S.-based companies for Oct. 17-23, 2026. The publication noted that most announced rounds are in the database, though some may be reported later in the week.