The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report takes us on a trip across various ecosystems in the US, highlighting some of the notable funding activity in the various markets that we track. The notable startup funding rounds for the week ending 8/8/26 featuring funding details for Faye, Ordway, Hadrian, and twenty-two other deals representing $6.3B in new funding that you need to know about.
Actualyze AI – $7.0M
Pasadena-based Actualyze AI provides an enterprise AI control plane that sits between applications and model inference to govern access, enforce security policies, manage budgets, monitor usage, and optimize model routing. Founded by Rafi Khardalian and Sean Lynch in 2025, Actualyze AI has now raised a total of $7M in total equity funding and is backed by AME Cloud Ventures, Canaan Partners, Morado Ventures, and Storm Ventures.
Aurelius Systems – $40.0M
San Francisco-based Aurelius Systems develops autonomous directed-energy counter-drone systems that combine high-power lasers, optical sensing, artificial intelligence, and automated targeting to detect and neutralize unmanned aerial threats. Founded by John Marmaduke and Michael LaFramboise in 2024, Aurelius Systems has now raised a total of $50M in total equity funding and is backed by Alumni Ventures, Bravo Victor Venture Capital, Decisive Point, Detroit Venture Partners, Draper Associates, General Catalyst, Hanwha Asset Management, KAS Venture Partners, and Outlander VC.
Avatar Robotics – $6.5M
San Francisco-based Avatar Robotics operates human-supervised robot fleets for industrial work, using remote operators to control robots in real-world environments while generating data that can improve autonomous performance. Founded by Colin Webb in 2025, Avatar Robotics has now raised a total of $6.5M in total equity funding and is backed by AlleyCorp, Headline, Henry Ford III, Jack Huffard, Paul Vogel, REFASHIOND Ventures, and Samuel Udotong.
Base Power – $1.0B
Austin-based Base Power provides residential battery storage and electricity services, installing and operating home batteries that deliver backup power while also supplying flexible capacity to the electric grid. Founded by Justin Lopas and Zachary Dell in 2023, Base Power has now raised a total of $2.27B in total equity funding and is backed by Addition, Altimeter Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, Coatue, D1 Capital Partners, Energy Impact Partners, JP Morgan Chase, Layer Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ribbit Capital, Sands Capital Ventures, Thrive Capital, Trust Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners.
Blaze.tech – $5.0M
Los Angeles-based Blaze.tech provides an AI-powered no-code platform for healthcare organizations to build secure, HIPAA-compliant applications, workflows, portals, and internal tools with EHR and API integrations. Founded by Nanxi Liu and Tina Denuit-Wojcik in 2021, Blaze.tech has now raised a total of $9.25M in total equity funding and is backed by Friale.
Buzz Solutions – $20.0M
Palo Alto-based Buzz Solutions provides AI-powered infrastructure inspection software that analyzes visual data from drones, helicopters, and field inspections to detect faults and anomalies across electric utility assets. Founded by Dennis Chang, Kaitlyn Albertoli, and Vikhyat Chaudhry in 2017, Buzz Solutions has now raised a total of $29.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Blackhorn Ventures, GoPoint Ventures, HearstLab, and S3 Ventures.
Convex – $57.0M
San Francisco-based Convex provides a full cloud backend for application developers that combines a reactive database, serverless functions, real-time data synchronization, file storage, scheduling, and authentication. Founded by James Cowling, Jamie Turner, and Sujay Jayakar in 2021, Convex has now raised a total of $110.6M in total equity funding and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Etna Labs, Insight Partners, Justin Kan, and Spark Capital.
Dash Bio – $30.0M
Boston-based Dash Bio provides automated bioanalysis services for drug development, combining laboratory automation and software to accelerate sample processing, assay execution, and analytical workflows. Founded by Ander Tallett, Dave Johnson, and Ely Porter in 2024, Dash Bio has now raised a total of $47.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Freestyle Capital, Oak HC/FT, and Swift Ventures.
Delightree – $25.0M
San Francisco-based Delightree provides an AI-powered franchise operations platform that unifies launches, training, SOPs, tasks, audits, communications, and corrective actions across multi-location brands. Founded by Madhulika Mukherjee and Tushar Mishra in 2020, Delightree has now raised a total of $53.6M in total equity funding and is backed by Accel, Emergent Ventures, Innovius Capital, and Timber Grove Ventures.
Faye – $50.0M
Richmond-based Faye provides digital travel insurance and assistance through a mobile-first platform that combines coverage, real-time support, claims management, and travel services. Founded by Daniel Green, Elad Schaffer, and Motti Bebchuk in 2019, Faye has now raised a total of $99.64M in total equity funding and is backed by BRM Capital, F2 Venture Capital, Lumir Ventures, Madrona, Portage Ventures, and Viola Ventures.
Hadrian – $1.4B
Torrance-based Hadrian builds automated factories for aerospace and defense manufacturing, combining software, robotics, automation, and skilled labor to produce precision components at scale. Founded by Chris Power in 2020, Hadrian has now raised a total of $1.8B in total equity funding and is backed by 137 Ventures, 1789 Capital, Altimeter Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Apollo, Baillie Gifford, CapitalG, Construct Capital, Founders Fund, JP Morgan Chase, Lux Capital, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, T. Rowe Price, Valor Equity Partners, Washington Harbour Partners, and WCM Investment Management.
HappyRobot – $150.0M
San Francisco-based HappyRobot provides AI workers that automate enterprise communication and operational workflows, including voice and digital interactions across logistics and other complex industries. Founded by Javier Palafox, Luis Paarup, and Pablo Palafox in 2022, HappyRobot has now raised a total of $210.6M in total equity funding and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Bankinter, Base10 Partners, Endeavor Catalyst, Eurazeo, K Fund, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Orange, Prysm Capital, T.Capital, WaVe-X, and Y Combinator.
Lumilens – $700.0M
San Jose-based Lumilens develops photonic interconnects for AI infrastructure, including high-density pluggable, near-packaged, and co-packaged optical technologies designed to scale GPU clusters and compute systems. Founded by Ankur Singla, David Friedman, Ritesh Kapahi, and Samuel Liu in 2024, Lumilens has now raised a total of $739.2M in total equity funding and is backed by Addition, Alkeon Capital, Atreides Management, Bain Capital Ventures, EDBI, HarbourVest Partners, JP Morgan, Mayfield Fund, Meritech Capital Partners, MVP Ventures, Peak XV Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Redpoint, Seifdune, Seligman Ventures, and Spark Capital.
Mariana Minerals – $310.5M
Houston-based Mariana Minerals develops technology-enabled critical mineral projects designed to expand supplies of materials needed for energy, artificial intelligence, defense, and advanced manufacturing. Founded by Baker Tilney, Juan Lozano, and Turner Caldwell in 2022, Mariana Minerals has now raised a total of $395.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Earthshot Ventures, General Innovation Capital Partners, Greenoaks, Greycroft, IQT, Khosla Ventures, Mitsubishi Hc Capital America, Pax Ventures, StepStone Group, The Halo Fund, and Washington Harbour Partners.
Obsidian Security – $85.0M
Newport Beach-based Obsidian Security provides SaaS and AI security software that helps enterprises discover applications and integrations, manage posture and permissions, detect threats, protect data, and govern AI agents. Founded by Ben Johnson, Glenn Chisholm, and Matt Wolff in 2017, Obsidian Security has now raised a total of $204.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Crescent Cove Advisors, Google Ventures, Greylock, IVP, Menlo Ventures, Norwest, and Wing Venture Capital.
Ordway – $20.0M
Washington-based Ordway provides billing and revenue automation software for businesses with complex pricing, subscriptions, invoicing, payments, revenue recognition, and customer account management needs. Founded by Sameer Gulati in 2018, Ordway has now raised a total of $32.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Harbert Growth Partners.
Oxide Computer Company – $445.0M
Emeryville-based Oxide Computer Company builds integrated cloud computers that combine purpose-built hardware and open-source software to deliver public-cloud-style infrastructure in on-premises environments. Founded by Bryan Cantrill, Jessie Frazelle, and Steve Tuck in 2019, Oxide Computer Company has now raised a total of $839M in total equity funding.
PineGap – $8.0M
New York-based PineGap provides an AI-powered equity research platform that helps institutional investors and Wall Street professionals analyze companies, financial information, and investment research. Founded by Ankit Varmani and Deepak Sharma in 2023, PineGap has now raised a total of $10.5M in total equity funding and is backed by DeVC, Inventus Capital Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, and SVQUAD.
RWX – $12.0M
Columbus-based RWX develops software tools for engineering teams to improve build and test performance, continuous integration reliability, and developer productivity. Founded by Dan Manges in 2022, RWX has now raised a total of $19M in total equity funding and is backed by Bryan Johnson, DV, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Kohsuke Kawaguchi, Quiet Capital, R1 Capital, and The O.H.I.O. Fund.
Sapiom – $35.0M
San Francisco-based Sapiom provides infrastructure for deploying, governing, and orchestrating AI agents across models, tools, compute resources, credentials, and external services. Founded by Ilan Zerbib in 2025, Sapiom has now raised a total of $50.75M in total equity funding and is backed by Accel, Anthropic, Array Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly, Formus Capital, Gradient, Menlo Ventures, Okta Ventures, Operator Collective, and VanEck.
unspun – $10.2M
Emeryville-based unspun develops automated apparel manufacturing technology using AI-powered 3D weaving to produce garments directly from yarn and enable more localized, on-demand production. Founded by Elizabeth Esponnette, Kevin Martin, and Walden Lam in 2015, unspun has now raised a total of $66.24M in total equity funding.
Valar Atomics – $1.0B
El Segundo-based Valar Atomics develops and plans to operate advanced nuclear energy systems designed to provide industrial-scale power and heat for data centers, manufacturing, and other energy-intensive applications. Founded by Isaiah Taylor in 2023, Valar Atomics has now raised a total of $1.46B in total equity funding and is backed by Apandion, Atreides Management, Conviction, Dream Ventures, HOF Capital, Point72 Ventures, Riot Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Snowpoint Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners.
Volta – $300.0M
Palo Alto-based Volta provides vertically integrated AI infrastructure designed to deliver compute capacity and supporting systems for large-scale artificial intelligence workloads. Founded in 2026, Volta has now raised a total of $300M in total equity funding and is backed by Altimeter Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Azora, Matter Venture Partners, Michael Dell, and NVIDIA.
Whatnot – $545.0M
Los Angeles-based Whatnot operates a live shopping marketplace that connects buyers and sellers through interactive livestreams, auctions, product discovery, and online storefronts. Founded by Grant LaFontaine and Logan Head in 2019, Whatnot has now raised a total of $1.52B in total equity funding and is backed by Alkeon Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Avra Capital, Bond, CapitalG, DST Global, Durable Capital Partners, Greycroft, ICONIQ Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Robinhood Ventures, S32, Standard Capital, Wellington Management, and Y Combinator.
WindBorne Systems – $37.0M
Redwood Shores-based WindBorne Systems operates a global atmospheric sensing network using long-duration smart weather balloons to collect data for weather forecasting, climate intelligence, and environmental monitoring. Founded by Andrey Sushko, John Dean, Kai Marshland, and Paige Brown in 2019, WindBorne Systems has now raised a total of $63M in total equity funding and is backed by Galvanize Climate Solutions, Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, and Translink Capital.
