Business

Nearly 90 New Unicorns in H1 2026 as AI Drives Valuations

Venture-backed startups reached unicorn status at a rapid pace in the first half of 2026, driven largely by AI-related companies but also including firms in healthcare, robotics, space and crypto.

Nearly 90 New Unicorns in H1 2026 as AI Drives Valuations

AI Newsroom · 5 July 2026 · 12 min read

TechCrunch compiled a list of venture-backed startups that reached unicorn status in the first half of 2026, using data from Crunchbase and PitchBook. The majority are tied to artificial intelligence, but companies from healthcare, robotics, aerospace, manufacturing and crypto also appear. The entries below are organized by month and show valuation, founding year, the most recent disclosed financing round and total funding where available.

June

  • MainFunc — $2.6 billion. Offers an AI workspace called Genspark; founded in 2023. Last raised a $485 million Series B led by Lg Technology Ventures, SBI Investment and Emergency Equity Management. Total raised: $645 million, including AWS.

May

  • Farther — $1.25 billion. Wealth-management platform founded in 2019. Last raised a $150 million Series D led by General Atlantic; total raised $273 million.
  • Socket — $1 billion. Cybersecurity startup protecting against supply-chain attacks; founded in 2020. Last raised $60 million Series C led by Thrive Capital; total $124 million (investors include Aaron Levie and Andreessen Horowitz).
  • EXA — $1.95 billion. Web engine for AI agents to search and research; founded in 2021. Last raised $250 million Series C led by Andreessen Horowitz; total $360 million (investors include Nvidia and YC).
  • Radar — $1 billion. Inventory management platform; founded in 2013. Last raised $170 million Series B (led by Nimble Partners and Gideon Strategic Partners); roughly $250 million total raised.
  • Vi Labs — $1.64 billion. AI enterprise platform for health service organizations; founded in 2021. Last raised $145 million led by RevelStroke Capital Partners and The Pritzker Organization; about $275 million total.
  • SendCutSend — $1 billion. Custom industrial parts cutting; founded in 2018. Last raised $110 million Series A led by Paradigm and Sequoia; roughly $123 million total.
  • MiRus — $4.41 billion. Cardiovascular and orthopedic medical device company; founded in 2015. Last raised a $1.5 billion late-stage round from Boston Scientific; more than $1 billion total raised.
  • Recursive — $4.65 billion. AI research lab founded in 2025. Last raised $650 million Series A led by GV and Greycroft; total $650 million (investors include Nvidia).
  • Forus — $1.01 billion. Automates parts of patient care processes; founded in 2023. Last raised $160 million Series B led by Accel; approximately $197 million total.
  • Positron — $1.06 billion. Custom AI inference hardware; founded in 2024. Last raised $234 million Series B; more than $310 million total.
  • Cowboy Space — $2 billion. Building a power grid in space to support AI on Earth; founded in 2023. Last raised $305 million Series B led by Index Ventures; $355 million total.
  • Starcloud — $1.1 billion. Technology to deploy data centers in space; founded in 2024. Last raised $170 million Series A led by EQT and Benchmark Opportunity Partners; more than $190 million total.
  • Advanced Manufacturing Company of America — $1.1 billion. Develops defense and aerospace parts; founded in 2024. Last raised $300 million Series B led by Caffeinated Capital; more than $370 million total.
  • Xbow — $1.32 billion. Autonomous hacker that finds security flaws; founded in 2024. Last raised $155 million Series C (led by Samsung Venture Investment, DFJ Growth and Northzone Ventures); just over $270 million total.
  • Corgi — $2.6 billion. Insurance for startups (cyber, general, tech/AI); founded in 2024. Last raised $105 million Series B1 from TCV; $374 million total.
  • Blitzy — $1.4 billion. AI coding tool for enterprise teams; founded in 2023. Last raised $200 million from Northzone; about $206 million total.

April

  • Rogo — $2 billion. Platform for financial institutions to manage analytical workflows; founded in 2021. Last raised $160 million Series D led by Kleiner Perkins; a bit over $310 million total.
  • Parallel — $2 billion. Search engine for AI agents; founded in 2023. Last raised $100 million Series B led by Sequoia; about $230 million total.
  • Avoca — $1 billion. AI agents for customer support tasks; founded in 2022. Last raised $125 million Series B led by General Catalyst and Meritech; $125 million total.
  • Core Automation — $1 billion. Enterprise platform automating complex business workflows; founded in 2026. Last raised $100 million seed with Threshold Ventures and Scribble Ventures; $100 million total.
  • Promethus — $41 billion. Co-founded by Jeff Bezos in 2025, builds AI tools that automate general engineering tasks. Last raised $12 billion Series B led by JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock; $18.2 billion total raised.
  • Omni Analytics — $1.51 billion. Business intelligence platform; founded in 2022. Last raised $120 million Series C led by ICONOIQ Growth; around $215 million total.
  • Factory — $1.5 billion. Builds self-improving software; founded in 2023. Last raised $150 million Series C led by Khosla Ventures; about $219 million total.
  • Slash — $1.4 billion. Banking and corporate financial management platform; founded in 2020. Last raised $100 million Series C (led by Ribbit Capital, Khosla Ventures, Goodwater). About $160 million total.
  • Alloy Therapeutics — $1 billion. Uses AI for drug discovery and development; founded in 2017. Last raised $40 million Series R; more than $170 million total.
  • Applied Compute — $1.3 billion. Helps enterprises train custom AI using their own data; founded in 2025. Last raised $80 million led by Kleiner Perkins; $160 million total.
  • Hermeus — $1 billion. Developing high-speed unmanned aircraft; founded in 2018. Last raised $350 million Series C led by Khosla Ventures; nearly $550 million total.

March

  • Tenex.AI — $1 billion. AI-native, human-led agentic cybersecurity platform; founded in 2024. Last raised $250 million Series B led by Crosspoint Capital; $277 million total.
  • Also — $1 billion. Rivian spinout building electric autonomous small vehicles; founded in 2024. Last raised $200 million Series C led by Greenoaks; more than $300 million total (investors include DoorDash and Rivian).
  • Stipple Bio — $2.25 billion. Targeted cancer drug discovery; founded in 2022. Last raised $100 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, Nextech Invest and RA Capital; total around $121 million.
  • Nextop AI — $4.2 billion. Ethernet networking hardware for AI data centers; founded in 2024. Last raised $500 million Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed; $610 million total.
  • ModRetro — $1 billion. Retro-style games with modern enhancements; founded in 2023 by Palmer Luckey. Last raised $195 million Series A; $217 million total.
  • Rhoda AI — $1.7 billion. Foundational models for deploying robotic systems; founded in 2024. Last raised $450 million Series A (led by Premji Invest, Mayfield, Capricorn, Khosla, Temasek); $450 million total.
  • Nominal — $2 billion. Software suite to help engineering teams test and run hardware; founded in 2022. Last raised $115 million Series B led by Founders Fund and Sequoia; $182 million total.
  • Eight Sleep — $1.5 billion. Tech-enabled mattresses; founded in 2014. Last raised $150 million Series D led by Tether Investments; about $309 million total.
  • Science — $1.5 billion. Brain-computer medical devices; founded in 2021. Last raised $230 million Series C led by Lightspeed and Khosla; around $519 million total.
  • Axiom — $1.6 billion. Platform to assist mathematical discoveries; founded in 2025. Last raised $200 million Series A led by Menlo; $264 million total.
  • True Anomaly — $2.2 billion. Space defense manufacturing; founded in 2022. Last raised $650 million Series D led by Riot Ventures and Eclipse Capital; about $1 billion total.
  • OpenRouter — $1.3 billion. AI gateway platform enabling apps to use multiple LLMs; founded in 2023. Last raised $113 million Series B led by CapitalG; around $163 million total.
  • Granola — $1.5 billion. AI-powered note-taking app; last raised $125 million Series C led by Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. Total raised $192 million.
  • Hark — $6 billion. Consumer hardware with “personal intelligence” that can talk, hear and remember; founded in 2025. Last raised $700 million Series A led by Parkway Venture Capital; about $759 million total.
  • Dash0 — $1 billion. Observability platform; founded in 2023. Last raised $110 million Series B led by Balderton; approximately $154 million total.
  • Valar Atomics — $2 billion. Atomic energy company; founded in 2023. Last raised $450 million led by Day One Ventures; about $600 million total.
  • Frore Systems — $1.64 billion. Cooling systems for chips and AI devices; founded in 2018. Last raised $143 million Series D led by MVP Ventures; about $373 million total.

February

  • Positron — $1 billion. AI semiconductor startup; founded in 2023. Announced a $230 million Series B in February; more than $300 million total (investors include Valor Equity Partners, Jump Trading).
  • Skyryse — $1.1 billion. Semi-automated flight operating system; founded in 2016. Last raised $300 million Series C; more than $540 million total.
  • TRM Labs — $1 billion. Platform to investigate and prevent crypto fraud; founded in 2018. Last raised $70 million Series C; around $219 million total.
  • Midi Health — $1 billion. Telemedicine platform for menopausal health; founded in 2021. Last raised $100 million Series D; more than $250 million total.
  • Lunar Energy — $1 billion. Home energy storage batteries; founded in 2020. Last raised $102 million Series D; more than $230 million total.
  • Bedrock Robotics — $1.8 billion. AI-powered systems enabling construction equipment to operate with little human control; founded in 2024 by a former Waymo employee. Last raised $270 million Series B; $350 million total.
  • Fundamental — $1.4 billion. AI lab offering foundational models to analyze large datasets; founded in 2024. Last raised $255 million Series A (major investor Oak HC/FT).
  • Goodfire — $1.3 billion. Tools for researchers to inspect AI models; founded in 2013. Last raised $150 million Series B.
  • Iterative Health — $1.4 billion. Medical research focused on the digestive system; founded in 2017. Last raised $75 million Series C; more than $270 million total.
  • Oxide — $1.6 billion. Cloud infrastructure to run private clouds inside data centers; founded in 2019. Last raised $200 million Series C; more than $360 million total.
  • Solace — $1 billion. Healthcare marketplace; founded in 2022. Last raised $130 million Series C; more than $200 million total.
  • Garner — $1.4 billion. Uses data to help patients find better doctors; founded in 2019. Last raised $118 million Series D; $179 million total.
  • Apptronik — $5.3 billion. Humanoid robotics company; founded in 2016. Last raised $935 million Series A; $935 million total.
  • Talkiatry — $1.4 billion. Making psychiatric services more accessible; founded in 2019. Last raised $210 million Series D; nearly $430 million total.
  • Erebor Bank — $4 billion. Bank specializing in crypto clients (founded by Palmer Luckey in 2025). Last raised a $635 million seed round; $635 million total.
  • Render — $1.5 billion. Cloud app hosting tuned for AI and agentic apps; founded in 2018. Last raised $100 million Series C1; more than $250 million total.
  • ZaiNar — $1 billion. Wireless location tracking for assets like vehicles and drones; founded in 2017. Last raised $100 million Series A; about $118 million total.
  • Code Metal — $1.3 billion. AI coding assistant platform; founded in 2023. Last raised $125 million Series B; more than $170 million total.
  • Flapping Airplanes — $1.5 billion. AI research lab founded in 2025; seed round $180 million (investors include Index Ventures, GV).
  • Profound — $1 billion. SEO platform designed for AI search answers; founded in 2024. Last raised $96 million Series C; about $148 million total.
  • Basis — $1.1 billion. Accounting automation software; founded in 2023. Last raised $100 million Series B; more than $130 million total.

January

  • Aalyria — $1.3 billion. AI-powered orchestration software spun out of Google; founded in 2021. Last raised $100 million Series B. Total $130 million.
  • Gecko — $1.8 billion. AI and robotics company founded in 2013. Last raised $125 million Series D; more than $300 million total.
  • Arena — $1.7 billion. AI platform to help business leaders make decisions; founded in 2022. Last raised $150 million Series A; $250 million total.
  • humans& — $4.5 billion. AI research lab focused on AI that collaborates with humans. Last raised $480 million seed led by SV Angel and Georges Harik (Crunchbase).
  • webAI — $2.5 billion. Enables organizations to build private enterprise models; founded in 2019. Last raised an undisclosed Series A (PitchBook).
  • Tandem — $1 billion. Helps doctors fill prescriptions effectively; founded in 2013. Last raised $100 million Series B (Accel).
  • Higgsfield — $1.3 billion. Generative AI video startup launched in 2023 by an ex-Snap executive; last raised $180 million Series A (Crunchbase).
  • Pomelo Care — $1.7 billion. Virtual maternity care; founded in 2021. Last raised $92 million Series C; more than $170 million total.
  • Rain — $1.9 billion. Crypto wallet company; founded in 2021. Last raised $250 million Series C; $338 million total.
  • Deepgram — $1.3 billion. Voice AI infrastructure; founded in 2015. Last raised $143 million Series C; more than $240 million total.
  • Alpaca — $1.1 billion. API and crypto brokerage platform; founded in 2013. Last raised $150 million Series D; more than $340 million total.
  • Tulip — $1.3 billion. Factory operations monitoring platform; last raised $120 million Series D; more than $270 million total.
  • Preply — $1.2 billion. Language learning platform; last raised $150 million Series D (led by WestCap). Nearly $300 million total.
  • Upscale AI — $1 billion. AI infrastructure company; founded in 2025. Last raised $200 million Series A; $300 million total.
  • GlossGenius — $1.1 billion. Software for appointment handling; founded in 2015. Last raised $44 million Series D; about $115 million total.
  • Recursive Intelligence — $4 billion. AI-powered chip design startup founded in 2025. Last raised $300 million Series A; about $335 million total.
  • Varda — $1.6 billion. Mines raw materials from space; last raised $250 million Series D. Over $570 million total.
  • PaleBlueDot AI — $1 billion. Manages GPU computing using AI agents; founded in 2013. Last raised $150 million Series B; $160 million total.

Why this matters

The first half of 2026 shows intense investor interest in AI, reflected in frequent and large financing rounds and a surge in valuations. Although AI companies dominate the list, the range of sectors — from healthcare and manufacturing to space and crypto — indicates continued diversification in late-stage venture investments. The data above are drawn from PitchBook and Crunchbase as reported by TechCrunch and may be updated as new information becomes available.

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