2025’s Big AI Bet: 49 U.S. Startups That Secured $100M+ Funding
2025’s Big AI Bet: 49 U.S. Startups That Secured $100M+ Funding
As 2025 draws to a close, the U.S. AI startup ecosystem has matched last year’s remarkable financing milestone — nearly fifty companies have locked in funding rounds of $100 million or more. This year not only saw familiar names raising capital again, but also a wave of fresh players entering the big-money club. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
🚀 Major New Capital Infusions by Month
November
- Anysphere , the company behind the viral vibe-coding platform, raised a staggering $2.3 billion , valuing it at about $29.3 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
- Parallel , which builds web infrastructure for AI agents, closed a $100 million Series A round on Nov 12. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}
- Hippocratic AI , focused on healthcare-oriented AI agents, secured $126 million Series C , bringing its valuation to around $3.5 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}
October
- Fireworks AI , which helps build AI applications using open-source models, raised $250 million Series C , valuing the firm at roughly $4 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}
- Uniphore closed a $260 million Series F on Oct 22. Investors included Snowflake Ventures, Nvidia, Databricks Ventures and AMD among others; the company now carries a valuation near $2.5 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11}
- Sesame , a voice-AI startup, received $250 million Series B funding, co-led by Sequoia and Spark Capital. :contentReference[oaicite:13]{index=13}
- OpenEvidence , which builds AI-powered medical-field chat tools, raised $200 million Series C , marking its second round of 2025 and pushing its valuation to around $6 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:15]{index=15}
- Lila Sciences — aiming to build a “science superintelligence” platform — closed a $350 million Series A round. :contentReference[oaicite:17]{index=17}
- Reflection AI announced a massive $2 billion Series B , valuing the company at $8 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:19]{index=19}
- EvenUp , positioned in AI for the personal-injury legal space, raised a $150 million Series E , valuing it at over $2 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:21]{index=21}
September
- Periodic Labs , which is working on building an “AI scientist,” closed a $300 million seed round . :contentReference[oaicite:23]{index=23}
- Cerebras Systems , an AI infrastructure provider, raised $1.1 billion Series G , valuing it around $8.1 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:25]{index=25}
- Modular secured a $250 million funding round , backed by US Innovative Technology Fund, GV, Greylock, and General Catalyst. :contentReference[oaicite:27]{index=27}
- Distyl AI raised $175 million Series B , now valued at about $1.8 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:29]{index=29}
- Upscale AI — an AI infrastructure startup — closed a $100 million seed round co-led by Maverick Silicon and Mayfield. :contentReference[oaicite:31]{index=31}
- Groq , an AI inference-oriented company, raised $750 million Series E , valuing at nearly $6.9 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:33]{index=33}
- Invisible Technologies , an AI-training startup, secured $100 million , reaching a valuation near $2 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:35]{index=35}
- Cognition AI , creator of the vibe-coding agent “Devin,” closed a $400 million Series C — the deal valued the company at about $10.2 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:37]{index=37}
- Baseten , an AI infrastructure startup, raised $150 million Series D , valuation around $2.1 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:39]{index=39}
- Sierra , a customer-service AI agent platform, raised $350 million , now valued at over $10 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:41]{index=41}
- You.com , a personalized AI search engine, secured $100 million Series C , with valuation near $1.5 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:43]{index=43}
- Anthropic , the major AI research and large-language-model player, announced a second raise of 2025: a $13 billion Series F , valuing it at approximately $183 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:45]{index=45}
August
- EliseAI , which offers AI-enabled healthcare and housing-automation services, raised $250 million Series E , giving it a valuation around $2.2 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:47]{index=47}
- Decart , an AI research lab, closed a $100 million funding round , now valued at roughly $3.1 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:49]{index=49}
July
- Fal , a generative-media platform, raised $125 million Series C , valuing it about $1.5 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:51]{index=51}
- Ambience Healthcare , working on an AI-based healthcare operating system, raised $243 million Series C . :contentReference[oaicite:53]{index=53}
- Reka AI , an AI research lab, secured $110 million Series B , valuing at $1 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:55]{index=55}
- Thinking Machines Lab confirmed a huge $2 billion seed round , giving it a valuation around $12 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:57]{index=57}
- Another round for OpenEvidence , this time $210 million , raising valuation to approximately $3.5 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:58]{index=58}
- Harmonic , focused on mathematical-reasoning AI, raised $100 million Series B , valuing around $875 million . :contentReference[oaicite:60]{index=60}
June
- Abridge , specializing in AI tools for healthcare conversations (e.g. doctor-patient transcriptions), raised $300 million Series E , with valuation hitting $5.3 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:62]{index=62}
- Harvey , which builds AI tools for legal industry, closed its second $300 million round of 2025, now valued at around $5 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:64]{index=64}
- Tennr , a healthcare-AI startup, raised $101 million Series C , with valuation near $605 million . :contentReference[oaicite:66]{index=66}
- Glean , an enterprise search/AI company, secured $150 million Series F , now valued at $7.25 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:68]{index=68}
- Anysphere (earlier mentioned) had previously raised a large $900 million Series C mid-year, valuing near $10 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:70]{index=70}
May
- Snorkel AI , an AI data-labeling startup, closed $100 million Series D , with valuation at about $1.3 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:72]{index=72}
- LMArena , a community-driven benchmarking tool for AI models, secured a $100 million seed round , valued at roughly $600 million . :contentReference[oaicite:74]{index=74}
- TensorWave , an AI infrastructure company, raised $100 million Series A . :contentReference[oaicite:76]{index=76}
April
- SandboxAQ , focused on quantum/AI-based cybersecurity and more, raised $450 million Series E , bringing its valuation to about $5.7 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:78]{index=78}
- Runway , which builds AI models for media production (image/video), closed $308 million Series D , valued at roughly $3 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:80]{index=80}
March
- OpenAI — the AI powerhouse — secured a massive $40 billion funding round , valuing the company at around $300 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:82]{index=82}
- Nexthop AI , in AI infrastructure, raised $110 million Series A . :contentReference[oaicite:84]{index=84}
- Insilico Medicine , a generative AI drug-discovery startup based in Cambridge, raised $110 million Series E , valuing at about $1 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:86]{index=86}
- Celestial AI closed $250 million Series C , valuation about $2.5 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:88]{index=88}
- Lila Sciences also appeared in March with a $200 million seed round , early-stage but ambitious. :contentReference[oaicite:90]{index=90}
- Reflection.Ai raised $130 million Series A , valuing the young firm at ~$580 million. :contentReference[oaicite:92]{index=92}
- Turing , an AI-coding startup partnering with LLM firms, raised $111 million Series E , valuing at roughly $2.2 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:94]{index=94}
- Shield AI , an AI defense-tech firm, secured $240 million Series F , with valuation hitting $5.3 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:96]{index=96}
- Anthropic (also mentioned above) had a previous raise in March: $3.5 billion Series E , valuing at around $61.5 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:98]{index=98}
February
- Together AI , which builds open-source generative-AI infrastructure and model development tools, raised $305 million Series B , with estimated valuation around $3.3 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:100]{index=100}
- Lambda , an AI infrastructure company offering GPU/cloud services, closed $480 million Series D , valuing at nearly $2.5 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:102]{index=102}
- Abridge (healthcare-AI transcriptions) — previously mentioned — again appears here for February raise. :contentReference[oaicite:104]{index=104}
- Eudia , a legal-tech AI company, raised $105 million Series A . :contentReference[oaicite:106]{index=106}
- EnCharge AI , an AI hardware startup, closed $100 million Series B . :contentReference[oaicite:108]{index=108}
- Harvey (legal-AI) previously mentioned — same round appears here. :contentReference[oaicite:110]{index=110}
January
- ElevenLabs , a synthetic-voice AI firm, raised $180 million Series C , reaching a valuation exceeding $3 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:112]{index=112}
- Hippocratic AI (healthcare-LLM) also made a start in January with a $141 million Series B , valuing it at more than $1.6 billion . :contentReference[oaicite:114]{index=114}
📈 What This Means for the AI Ecosystem
- 2025 matched last year’s high-water mark: almost as many U.S.-based AI startups raised rounds of ≥ $100 million . :contentReference[oaicite:115]{index=115}
- But unlike 2024 — when only a few companies raised multiple mega-rounds — 2025 stands out for many companies returning for multiple large fundraises . :contentReference[oaicite:116]{index=116}
- Some rounds are truly massive (“mega-rounds”) that signal deep investor conviction — for example the billions raised by Anysphere, Cerebras, Thinking Machines Lab, Anthropic and others. :contentReference[oaicite:117]{index=117}
- The capital spans a broad spectrum of AI use-cases: from infrastructure and chips to healthcare AI, legal-tech, voice AI, generative media, search, agent-frameworks, and more. This diversity suggests that the AI boom in 2025 isn’t just hype around one narrow niche — it’s a widespread expansion across many subfields.
🌐 Constraints & What to Watch
- While funding is booming, high valuations and repeated mega-rounds raise questions: can all these startups deliver sustainable business and return value?
- There’s also a risk of oversaturation — with so many players across overlapping subfields, competition may intensify, and only a subset may emerge as long-term winners.
- The performance of these companies in revenue generation, profitability, and genuine product traction (not just investor hype) will be crucial to watch by 2026.
✅ Conclusion
2025 has become another banner year for U.S. AI startups. With 49 companies achieving rounds of $100 million or more , and many getting multiple rounds — including gigantic “mega-rounds” — investors are clearly doubling down on AI.
What stands out is not just the scale of capital, but also the wide variety of AI domains that attracted funding — an encouraging sign for long-term growth and diversification of the AI ecosystem.
But whether this becomes a sustained growth wave — or an overheated bubble with shake-outs ahead — remains to be seen.
