MENLO TIMES

Blue Energy , designing power plants that can be mass-produced, led by Jake Jurewicz and the team, has raised $380 million in financing led by  VXI Capital  with significant backing from Engine Ventures  and participation from other existing investors, including At One Ventures  and Tamarack Global . Proceeds will support procurement of long-lead equipment, project development activities, and general corporate purposes. Blue Energy is developing prefabricated nuclear power pl

Antioch , the cloud simulation platform for robotics and autonomy, led by Harry Mellsop, Alex Langshur, Colton Swingle, Collin Schlager, and Michael Calvey, has raised $8.5 million led by A*  and Category Ventures , with other investors including MaC Venture Capital , Abstract , Box Group , Icehouse Ventures , and angel investors including Shyam Sankar (CTO, Palantir) and Adrian Macneil (CEO, Foxglove). The company removes the need for physical hardware and real-world testing

AlixLabs , the world's only pure-play ALE company, led by Jonas Sundqvist, has announced  that it closed its 15 million euro Series A in the first quarter of 2026 following a strategic investment from Stephen Industries , a Finnish investment company with a strong track record in scaling advanced technology ventures. In November 2025, AlixLabs announced a €14.1 million Series A led by Global Brain and institutional investors, with the remaining portion of the €15 million roun

Archangel , a laser communications company, led by Richard J. , Owain Pryce-Jones , Paul Davey , and Lucy Roberts , has raised £10 million of investment in a round led by Santander Alternative Investments , with participation from National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF) , Blackfinch Ventures , Oxford Capital , Lycka Limited, and Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) . Archangel Lightworks is developing high-speed data infrastructure to connect space-based networks with

Sygaldry , envisioning a future of affordable, sustainable, personalized, and secure superintelligence, led by Chad Rigetti, Idalia Friedson, and Michael Keiser, has raised  $139M in Series A and Seed financing to build quantum-accelerated AI servers. The $105M Series A in March 2026 was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures , following a $34M seed round led by Initialized Capital . Sygaldry’s servers aim to exponentially speed up critical AI algorithms, reducing the cost and p

Glydways , redefining mass transit–affordable to build, profitable to run, and a joy to ride, led by Mark Seeger, Blake Barber, Zach Zeliff, and others, has announced  its $170 million Series C fundraise. The round was co-led by Suzuki Motor Corporation , ACS Group , and Khosla Ventures  with additional participation from existing investors Mitsui Chemicals and Gates Frontier, and new investor, Obayashi Corporation, a leading general contractor and developer. The oversubscrib

Peak Quantum , a Munich-based startup engineering the future of computing, led by Leon Koch & the team, has raised €2.2 million in a pre-seed financing round led by Cloudberry Ventures  (UK)with participation from United Founders , QAI Ventures , Golden Egg Check , as well as several business angels with industry experience. The company’s total funding now exceeds €5 million, including public support such as funding from the EU Chips Act. The capital will be allocated toward

Kelluu , the Finnish deep tech company operating the world’s largest autonomous airship fleet, led by Janne Hietala, has raised  €15 million in Series A funding led by the NATO Innovation Fund  with participation from Keen Venture Partners , Gungnir Capital , and Tesi . This follows Kelluu’s successful completion of two phases of NATO’s DIANA (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) program.  Kelluu delivers 24/7 monitoring across vast areas using unmanned airs

PLD Space , unlocking rapid, reliable, and sustainable access to space, led by Ezequiel Sánchez, Raúl Torres, Raúl Verdú, and the team, has secured  a €30 million venture debt loan from European Investment Bank( EIB ) to support the final development stage of MIURA 5, the company’s rocket designed to deploy small satellites into orbit. The operation marks the first direct investment by the European Investment Bank in small satellite launchers, while supporting PLD Space in sc

AAKA Space , designing human-centric mission-ready habitats, led by Aastha Jhala and the team, in collaboration with MiCoB , provider of High-performance and customized Construction 3D Printing solutions, led by Shashank Shekhar  and the team, has successfully designed and 3D-printed Asia’s first Martian Regolith Radiation Shield using Mars simulant materials. The structure will be tested in the world’s largest analog mission, marking India’s debut in global extraterrestrial

SiFive , the gold standard for RISC-V processor IP, led by Patrick Little, Krste Asanovic, Yunsup Lee, Andrew Waterman, and the team, has raised  $400 million in an oversubscribed Series G financing led by Atreides Management  with other A-list investors, including Apollo Global Management , NVIDIA , Point72  Turion, and T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc. , alongside repeat investors Prosperity7 Ventures , and Sutter Hill Ventures . For Patrick Little, rising demand fr

Pixel Photonics , a pioneer in superconducting single-photon detectors, led by Nicolai Walter, Dr. Wladick Hartmann, and the team, has announced  total funding of €13.5 million. The amount consists of a first closing of a €5 million seed round and €8.5 million from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator , including €2.5 million in grants and €6 million in equity investment. The seed round is led by Futury Capital . Additional investors include the Federal Agency fo

Portal Space Systems , developing advanced spacecraft that redefine what’s possible in space, led by Jeff Thornburg and the team, has raised  $50 million in Series A funding led by  Geodesic Capital  and Mach33 , with participation from Booz Allen Ventures , ARK Invest , AlleyCorp , and FUSE. The financing reflects a broader shift in the space ecosystem: while access to orbit has improved, on-orbit mobility remains constrained. As activity increases and missions grow more dyn

Gracia AI , creating Gaussian splatting-based volumetric videos for XR and beyond, led by Georgii Vysotskii , Andrey Volodin , and the team, has enabled “ Expedition ULUM: The Jurassic Awakening ”, a family mixed-reality experience at PortAventura World, to reach a new level of its immersive experience by implementing a photorealistic digital human character, with a volumetric personage addition built using Gracia  AI's 4D Gaussian Splatting (4DGS) technique, which reconstruc

Hermeus , building the world’s fastest aircraft, led by AJ Piplica and the team, has raised  a $350M Series C financing led by Khosla Ventures  and more than a dozen other investors. Aviation has increasingly prioritised risk avoidance, often at the cost of speed and iteration. In contrast, Hermeus focuses on accelerating learning through rapid development and testing. Within three years, multiple vehicles have been built across key locations, with two jets flown just nine mo

Manna Air Delivery , helping you get anything from the sky, led by Bobby Healy , Alan Hicks , and the team, has raised  $50 million in Series B funding from ARK Invest , ISIF , and Schooner Capital , alongside continued backing from Coca-Cola HBC , Molten Ventures , and Enterprise Ireland . Manna began in 2019, when drone delivery was widely seen as a gimmick. Instead of limited demos, consistent real-world deployments were rolled out across multiple locations, delivering eve

Valar Atomics , a nuclear energy startup backed by Palmer Luckey and Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, led by Isaiah Taylor and the team, has raised  fresh capital at a $2 billion valuation, a total of $450 million in the deal, including $340 million in equity and $110 million in debt. The latest round follows Valar’s $130M raise in November 2025, led by Snowpoint Ventures, with backing from Palmer Luckey, Shyam Sankar, and John Donovan. Founded in 2023 by Isaiah Taylor, Valar Atomi

Cognichip , builders of ACI® Artificial Chip Intelligence, led by Faraj Aalaei, Ehsan Kamalinejad, Simon Sabato, and the team, has raised  $60 million in new funding led by Seligman Ventures , with notable participation from Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who will be joining Cognichip’s board. Umesh Padval, a managing partner at Seligman, will also join the board. Cognichip is developing a deep learning model to assist engineers in designing next-generation chips, tackling a long-stan

Saronic Technologies , redefining maritime superiority, Dino Mavrookas, Rob Lehman, Vibhav Altekar, Doug Lambert, and the team, has closed  $1.75 billion in Series D funding led by  Kleiner Perkins  and values the company at $9.25 billion. Saronic welcomes  Advent International , Bessemer Venture Partners ,  DFJ Growth ,  BAM Elevate , and other new partners and recognizes the continued commitment of its existing investors, including  8VC ,  Caffeinated Capital ,  Andreessen

Antaris , simplifying and automating the design, simulation, and operation of satellite missions, cutting time-to-orbit by 2X and reducing lifetime cost by 10X, led by Thomas Barton, Karthik Govindhasamy, John Trionfo, and the team, has announced  the first close of a $28 Million Series A funding round led by WestWave Capital  with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures , other insiders, and new investors. The fundraise follows a breakout year for Antaris, driven by stro