Some are longstanding blue chip tech and pharmaceutical companies. Others are fast-growing venture-backed unicorns. And still others are more recent public market entrants looking to stay competitive in the age of AI.

To get a sense of who鈥檚 buying in bulk, we used 禁漫天堂 data to put together a that acquired three or more seed- or venture-backed startups in the past three years. From there, we picked the most acquisitive names.

The most prolific startup acquirers of the past 3 years

Per 禁漫天堂 data, the most prolific acquirers of seed- and venture-backed startups in recent years are 1, and . Overall, our query showed six companies with six or more known purchases, charted below.

For top-ranked Salesforce, high-volume M&A is nothing new. The San Francisco software giant has purchased at least 91 companies in the past 20 years, per 禁漫天堂 data. Its most recent startup purchases include , a revenue orchestration platform, and , which focuses on agentic AI for e-commerce.

OpenAI, by contrast, has a shorter track record of M&A shopping sprees. The pioneering generative AI company has bought 16 companies in the past three years. Among the most recent was an deal involving open-source AI agent and its creator, . This month, it also snapped up , a creator of open source tools for software developers, and , an open-source tool for testing AI applications.

Snowflake, meanwhile, has 19 acquisitions to date. Most recently, it acquired , a developer of AI observability tools that previously raised more than $460 million in venture funding.

Notably, recent the active acquirers list for recent years looks quite a bit different that the ranking of all-time top M&A dealmakers in the 禁漫天堂 dataset, shown below:

Highest-spending acquirers

The most prolific startup buyers also aren鈥檛 always the biggest check-writers. By the latter metric, the far-and-away leader is , and its $32 billion acquisition of .

For a broader picture view, we used 禁漫天堂 data to put together a list of six companies that made the biggest-ticket funded startup acquisitions of the past three years.

2026 off to a promising start

So far this year, it looks like the pace of startup M&A dealmaking remains fairly robust.

This includes two deals in the multiple billions: 鈥檚 $5.15 billion purchase of and s $2.4 billion acquisition of . The AI sector鈥檚 appetite for acqui-hires and smaller purchases of earlier-stage startups also continues to boost momentum.

We鈥檒l see if it keeps up.

Related 禁漫天堂 list:

Related reading:

• Small And Mid-Sized Startup Purchases Are Still Well Below The 2021 Peak
• 禁漫天堂 Predicts: Why The Race For Talent And Tech Could Accelerate Startup M&A In 2026
• M&A The Highest On Record For Unicorn Exits In 2025

Illustration:

A total of 27 companies joined the Unicorn Board last month, including six robotics companies and four semiconductor-related startups. Healthcare minted three new unicorns, while foundation AI, cloud services, aerospace and financial services each accounted for two companies that joined.

The U.S. once again dominated, with 19 companies joining the board. China tallied four new unicorns, the U.K. contributed two, and India and Germany each added one new unicorn.

Soaring valuations

Overall unicorn values soared in February as raised $110 billion at a value of $840 billion, making it the most highly valued private company of all time. Its closest rival, , raised $30 billion at a valuation of $380 billion, making it the fourth-largest valued company on the list. , the autonomous driving technology company, was valued at $126 billion, positioning it among the top 10 most highly valued private companies.

February鈥檚 new unicorns

Here are February鈥檚 newly minted unicorns.

Robotics

• , a solution for automating building equipment for autonomous construction, raised a $270 million Series B led by and . The 1-year-old company, based in San Francisco, was valued at $1.8 billion.
• Beijing-based , a physical intelligence foundation model and humanoid robotics company, raised a $290 million Series A led by and . The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• , a builder of intelligent robots for industrial and service industries, raised a $145 million Series B round. The 2-year-old Beijing-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• Humanoid robotics company raised a $145 million Series B led by . The 2-year-old China-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• , a testing and control software layer for aerospace, defense, robotics and industry, raised a $150 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old Los Angeles-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a company that transforms 5G and Wi-Fi into spatial awareness for connective devices, an underlying layer necessary for physical AI, raised a $100 million Series B from well-known investors , , , and . The 9-year-old Belmont, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Semiconductor

• China-based , developer of a chip for advanced autonomous driving, raised a $330 million Series A led by and . The company, which is less than a year old and spun out of automaker , was valued at $1.5 billion.
• London-based , a photonic chip company for more efficient AI inference, raised a $220 million Series A led by . The 2-year-old company, valued at $1 billion, has plans to ship its first product in 2027.
• Reno, Nevada-based , builder of memory chips for AI, raised a $230 million Series B led by , and . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a chip developer for AI training, raised a $500 million Series B led by and . The 3-year-old company, based in Mountain View, California, was valued at $1 billion. It plans to ship its first product in 2027.

Healthcare

• New York-based , a platform that helps employers and employees source the best doctors with improved costs, raised a $118 million Series D led by . The 7-year-old company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• Palo Alto, California-based , a women’s telehealth provider, raised a $100 million Series D led by . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.
• , a Redwood City, California-based digital platform that helps medicare customers connect with advocates to navigate healthcare, raised a $130 million Series C led by . The 4-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Cloud services

• , a cloud platform for application development teams, raised a $100 million Series C led by . The 8-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• Mumbai-based , a cloud service GPU provider, raised a $600 million round led by . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1.4 billion.

Foundational AI

• , builder of an AI model to analyze large databases, raised a $225 million Series A led by . The company also says it has signed a partnership agreement with ‘s to offer the model to its customers. The 2-year-old, San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.4 billion.
• , a model developer to debug and understand AI, raised a $150 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Aerospace

• , a space-based communications infrastructure player to support commercial satellite and government missions, raised a $100 million Series B led by and. The 4-year-old Livermore, California-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• , an aviation hardware and software company for automated flights, raised a $300 million Series C led by and . The 10-year-old El Segundo, California-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Financial services

• London-based , a U.K.-based digital bank for small and medium-sized businesses, raised a $155 million Series D led by , and . The 8-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• , an agentic platform for accountants, raised a $100 million Series B led by , and . The 3-year-old company, based in New York, was valued at $1.2 billion.

E-commerce

• Brooklyn-based , a marketplace for creators to sell digital products, raised a $200 million round led by . The 5-year-old company was valued at $1.6 billion.

Coding

• , a Boston-based code translation service for legacy code, raised a $125 million Series B led by 1. The round valued the 2-year-old company at $1.3 billion.

Defense

• Berlin-based , a developer of strike drones and autonomous defense systems, raised an undisclosed sum in a round led by that valued the 1-year-old company at $1.2 billion.

Forecasting

• Boston-based , an AI-native weather satellite constellation, raised a $175 million Series F led by and . The 9-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.

Sales & marketing

• New York-based , a brand marketing platform geared for AI search, raised a $96 million Series C led by that valued the 1-year-old company at $1 billion.

Web3

• , a blockchain intelligence platform to detect crime networks, raised a $70 million Series C led by . The raise valued the 8-year-old company, based in San Francisco, at $1 billion.

Related 禁漫天堂 unicorn lists:

• (1,703)
• (604)
• (65)
• (187)
• (115)
• (102)
• (878)
• (500)
• (228)
• (38)
• (471)

Related reading:

• Massive AI Deals Drive $189B Startup Funding Record In February While Public Software Stocks Reel
• 禁漫天堂 Data: The AI Boom Has Drastically Changed Who鈥檚 Funding The Hottest Companies In 2025 Vs. 2021
• January Delivers Highest New Unicorn Count In More Than 3 Years

Methodology

The 禁漫天堂 Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on 禁漫天堂 data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations 鈥� such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options 鈥� as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 禁漫天堂 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 禁漫天堂 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

Clay鈥檚 back-to-back tender offers underscore a growing shift among high-growth startups: rewarding employees with liquidity long before an IPO is in sight. As companies stay private longer 鈥� and hit major revenue milestones at breakneck speed 鈥� secondary sales are becoming a tool not just for retention, but for signaling strength. In Clay鈥檚 case, the two tenders followed rapid valuation jumps and a sprint to $100 million in ARR, positioning liquidity as a performance-based reward rather than a prelude to exit.

鈥淏uilding a generational business is a marathon, and tenders help equity feel real when top talent has options,鈥� said , a partner at who noted that as companies stay private longer and talent competition intensifies, tender offers can be a powerful tool for recruiting, morale and retention.

Still, he noted, there tend to be limits. 鈥淚n the tender offers we鈥檝e participated in, most employees were limited to selling just 10-25% of their vested holdings, and nearly half of founders didn鈥檛 sell a single share, signaling long-term conviction,鈥� he wrote via email. 鈥淓ven modest liquidity can make a big difference, translating to life milestones like a down payment on a first home, a child鈥檚 education, or helping a loved one transition into care.鈥�

Clay鈥檚 previous tender, led by , happened in May 2025 at . In between the two tender offers, the startup closed at a $3.1 billion valuation. In total, New York-based Clay has raised $206 million in equity since its 2017 inception. It has 300 employees, up from 80 to 90 a year ago, and 14,000 customers.

Tender offers have become more common as an increasing number of startups choose to stay private longer. Other high-profile examples include payments giant , which has already undergone a few tender offers and is reportedly considering that could value it at more than $140 billion. Generative AI company is also believed to be working on its own at a valuation of at least $350 billion.

In Clay鈥檚 case, the motivation was twofold, according to CEO and co-founder . The tender offers have served as a way to allow new investors to come in, and for employees to feel like their equity is 鈥渞eal.鈥�

禁漫天堂 News recently spoke with Amin to dig deeper into the company鈥檚 decision to launch not just one but two tender offers in the past nine months. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

禁漫天堂 News: Before we dig into the tender offers, tell us more about what Clay does.

Amin: We help businesses find and grow their best customers. You can think of Clay as an AI go-to-market tool which implements any creative idea you have for sales and marketing.

Go-to-market is just a new name for sales, marketing and customer success 鈥� the whole apparatus that helps you find customers and grow them, and implement any idea. Our vision is that in sales and marketing, you need to constantly be doing something different that’s unique for you, different from everybody else. Otherwise, it just becomes noise.

And we let you implement these strategies. It might be something like personalized landing pages to, 鈥淗ey, let’s analyze all the video calls with sales calls that you’ve had, figure out why you lost the customer, and put that into .鈥澛�1 I like to think of it as 鈥渓ike is for designers, Clay is for go-to-market teams.鈥�

So what drove you to do not just one, but two, tender offers over the past year?

It鈥檚 interesting actually to think of it as the inverse: Why not do a tender offer?

Two reasons you don’t do a tender offer is either you don’t have the demand, or you think you’ll demotivate the team. Because we’re growing super quickly, we have the demand, and people want to invest in the company because we’re extremely efficient. Our burn is very, very low.

We don’t actually need more primary capital. We haven’t touched the primary capital. So this is a way to allow new investors to come in. This is also a way to bring in new partners without diluting the whole cap table.

It鈥檚 also a way for employees to feel like their equity is real. And some employees are having some real-life events. People are getting married, people are having kids, and this allows them to be a little bit more comfortable and do things like buy a house or buy a car. There are a bunch of people who’ve told me they’ve worked in startups for 10 years and never gotten any liquidity, and this is their first opportunity.

People might only stay at a company because they want liquidity if they don’t like the culture 鈥斅� and they’re just withstanding it for the money. But we prefer people to stay because they want to do the work and they see that the value that they’re generating is real. I actually think it motivates the team.

Plus, it makes the ecosystem grow.

When you did the earlier tender offer, did you think you would be doing another one in less than a year鈥檚 time?聽聽

No, I don’t think that we were. The way I’m thinking about it is [it makes sense to do a tender offer] every time we hit certain milestones. So we hit $100 million ARR really fast (in December). Tender offers are a way to reward the team each time it performs to a level where we get to the next milestone for the company. I think it makes sense to allow some people to get some of the value that they’ve created.

Do you have an exit plan?

Sometimes even investors ask this question. And we don鈥檛. It is nonproductive to think about that. You’re only building this type of company if you want to see how big it can be. I always say it’ll be as big as it wants to be, and as long as there are problems for us to solve for customers. That’s what we should be focused on, and the valuations and the exits, those are things that are a result of that.

The other way to think about it is we’re basically close to being profitable all the time. Like we can choose to become profitable. (The company touts that it was cash-flow positive for parts of 2025, earning more in interest than it burned.)聽 We want to be in a place where we have options.

Going public is a way to fund things so you can do more for customers. So I think whenever I start going down that line, I refocus back on, 鈥淚s there work to do for customers? Can we make the product better?鈥� And the answer right now is, yes, we’re nowhere near achieving our mission, which is how we help you finally grow your best customers. And as long as there’s work to do around that, we should keep doing it.

Do you think you’re going to be doing any more tender offers in the near future?

I think as long as we hit the next set of growth milestones, we’ll consider it. We鈥檙e still early in this. There are no exits on the horizon.

Related 禁漫天堂 query:

Related reading:

• Q&A: Why Deep Tech Investors Are Turning To The Secondary Market For Liquidity
• Secondary Financings Offer Lifeline In A Slow Exit Market

Illustration:

The company provides sales reps with a real-time AI assistant that 鈥済uides鈥� them during a prospect call while integrating with enterprise CRM and business intelligence systems. It also aims to eliminate administrative tasks before and after the call.

The Tel Aviv-based startup was co-founded by CEO and CTO .

The biggest difference between Winn and other startups in the space is timing, according to Postan-Koren.

鈥淢ost players in the market are passive and retrospective 鈥� they record calls to analyze after the fact why a deal was lost 鈥� a 鈥榩ost-mortem鈥� approach,鈥� he told 禁漫天堂 News. 鈥淲inn is proactive and real-time. We don’t just analyze history 鈥� we help the rep navigate the conversation while it’s happening to ensure the right questions are asked.鈥�

The focus, compared to other conversation intelligence tools, is execution vs. analytics, according to Winn鈥檚 co-founders.

鈥淐oaching is hard to apply when the feedback comes a week later,鈥� Postan-Koren said. 鈥淚nstead of telling a rep what they should have done, we guide them on what to do right now.鈥�

, and co-led the Series A raise, which included participation from , , , and . In total, the startup has raised $35 million since its 2022 inception.

Companies at the intersection of AI and sales and marketing raised close to $4 billion in venture capital last year, That represents a sizable increase over the $3.4 billion raised by such startups in 2024, though remains lower than the $6.9 billion raised in the peak venture funding year of 2021 or the $5 billion raised in 2022.

Growth and expansion

Postan-Koren declined to provide hard financial figures for Winn, saying only that it tripled its annual recurring revenue in 2025 and that it has achieved 30x growth over the past two years.

Winn has dozens of customers, including HR and payroll company , IT management platform , and data security startup . The company鈥檚 revenue model is a standard SaaS per-seat subscription.

The company is not yet profitable. It plans to use its new capital to expand its U.S. go-to-market team, while continuing to invest 鈥渉eavily鈥� in R&D. Presently, Winn has over 40 employees.

Its primary market is the U.S., although Postan-Koren said it is seeing 鈥渟trong organic traction鈥� in the United Kingdom and Europe. It is also expanding its target user, he said.

鈥淲e started with a laser focus on account executives,鈥� Postan-Koren explained. 鈥淗owever, the demand quickly pulled us into other departments.鈥�

The company now also works with sales development representatives, account managers, solutions engineers and customer success. Interestingly, he said that Winn is also starting to see demand from nonsales teams, such as support and HR.

, operating partner at Insight Partners, believes that Winn 鈥渢ransforms the process鈥� of scaling a sales team.

“It helps leaders to standardize excellence across every rep, delivering higher playbook adoption,鈥� he said in a statement. 鈥淔or a sales leader, this聽 shift can bring teams closer to delivering consistency.鈥�

, managing partner and general partner at Mangusta Capital, described Winn鈥檚 offering as an AI co-pilot that can 鈥渆mpower revenue teams in real time to sell more effectively and consistently in the future.鈥�

Related 禁漫天堂 queries:

Illustration:

In December alone, 23 companies joined The 禁漫天堂 Unicorn Board, more than doubling the count from a year ago.

The value of the unicorn board also picked up significantly in the final month of the year, with the highest-ever value accorded to a private company. That was , which vaulted to the top of the list when it was valued at $800 billion in a secondary market transaction, double its valuation from just three months earlier.

And , the seventh-most highly valued private company at $134 billion, was also valued up from its $100 billion valuation months earlier.

New unicorns in December

Of the new unicorns last month, 15 were U.S.-based, two hail from China, and six are based in Europe, including two from the U.K. and one each from Germany, France, Finland and Belgium.

Financial services, aerospace and AI led with the highest count of new companies to join.

It is worth noting that a third of these companies were more than 10 years old, with some seeing a reacceleration in their business driven by AI.

On the other end of the spectrum, the fastest to reach unicorn status in December was , which raised its seed round at a $4.5 billion value.

Here are December’s 23 newly minted unicorns.

Fintech

• Crypto-focused digital bank , co-founded by , raised a $350 million funding led by . The company was granted conditional approval by the 聽 in late 2025. The 1-year-old Columbus, Ohio-based company plans to support technology businesses in AI, crypto and defense, and was valued at $4.35 billion.
• , developer of AI-driven insurance for the trucking industry, raised a $100 million Series D led by . The 5-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
• , a loan provider for outdoor equipment, RVs and power sports raised a $100 million Series F led by . The funding was part equity and part secondary financing. The 11-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.3 billion and has generated over $7.5 billion in loans.
• , a provider of co-branded credit cards and payment plans for brands to build loyalty, raised a $150 million Series D led by . The 5-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Aerospace

• , a builder of powerful satellites, raised a $250 million Series C led by . The 3-year-old Torrance, California-based company was valued at $3 billion.
• Finland-based , which operates satellites for military and commercial intelligence, raised a $175 million Series E led by . The 12-year-old company was valued at $2.8 billion.
• , a provider of satellites detecting radio frequency emissions for the U.S. government and its partners, raised a $150 million Series E led by and at a value of $1 billion. As part of the deal, the 10-year-old Herndon, Virginia-based company acquired .

AI

• , a new startup from founder that was acquired by Databricks, plans to build an energy-efficient computer for AI. The company raised a $475 million seed round led by and . The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $4.5 billion.
• , a generative AI company for video and images, raised a $300 million Series B led by and 1. The 1-year-old Germany-based company was valued at $3.3 billion.
• , builder of AI models for molecule programming, raised a $130 million Series B led by General Catalyst and . The 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Energy

• Energy software provider , raised a $1 billion funding led by , with plans to separate from its parent, . The 6-year-old London-based company was valued at $8.7 billion.
• , a builder of nuclear microreactors, raised a $300 million Series D led by and . The 6-year-old El Segundo, California-based company was valued at $1.8 billion.

E-commerce

• B2B chemical and industrial materials supply chain company raised a $10 million Series B led by and . The 11-year-old Beijing-based company was valued at $2.3 billion.
• , a luxury automotive e-commerce platform, raised funding from collector from his family office . The 40-year-old Miami-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.

Marketing

• Customer relationship marketing service , which manages a CRM and communication across emails through to messaging and aided by AI, raised a $583 million private equity round led by and . The 18-year-old Paris-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• Synthetic AI marketing research company 聽 raised a Series A led by reported to be above $50 million . The funding was raised at different valuations, giving investors access at a lower value for part of the funding. The 1-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1 billion.

DevOps

• , an IT ticketing management platform reimagined with AI, raised a $75 million Series B led by . The 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• Site reliability platform raised a Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.听 The 2-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion in a two-tiered round with investors getting access at a lower valuation for part of the funding.

Social media

• The social media giant TikTok spun out its , valued at $14 billion. The Bellevue, Washington-based company鈥檚 new owners Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX each own 15% of the new entity, while retains an ownership stake of 20%.

Security

• Identity security company , which manages security for individuals through to AI agents, raised a $700 million Series B led by . The 16-year-old El Segundo, California-based company was valued at $3 billion.

Defense

• Counter drone defense technology deployer raised a $210 million Series B. Investors were not disclosed.听 The 4-year-old London-based company was valued at $1.8 billion.

IoT

• , an IoT sensor technology for maintaining industrial machines, raised a $23 million funding from existing investors. The 22-year-old Belgium-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.

Healthcare

• , a medical device company targeting heart disease, raised a Series D led by and . The 6-year-old Shanghai-based company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Related 禁漫天堂 unicorn lists:

• (1,669)
• (186)
• (115)
• (102)
• (856)
• (493)
• (225)
• (38)
• (471)

Related reading:

• Exclusive: AI Insurance Startup Nirvana Nearly Doubles Valuation To $1.5B with $100M Series D
• Exclusive: Octane Lands $100M Series F At $1.3B Valuation To Help People Finance Large Lifestyle And Recreational Purchases

Methodology

The 禁漫天堂 Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on 禁漫天堂 data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations 鈥� such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options 鈥� as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 禁漫天堂 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 禁漫天堂 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration:

People are 鈥渄ating鈥� AI bots. CEOs are being 鈥渁dvised鈥� by digital agents. Doctors are using ChatGPT to draft patient notes. AI has moved on from 鈥渄isrupting鈥� the world to fundamentally rewiring it.

Sales is no exception. AI-powered prospecting tools and automated personalization have quickly changed how we operate 鈥� and how we sound.

These tools promise progress: faster pipelines, lead generation at scale, and more meetings booked. But beneath the metrics is a deeper issue. Trust is deprioritized in favor of speed, and buyers feel it. We stand at the precipice of an entire industry 鈥� one traditionally grounded in human interaction 鈥� flipped on its head.

We’re not moving toward better relationships or healthier bottom lines. We’re moving into the uncanny valley littered with poorly crafted cold outreach.

Creepiness is costing you

The 鈥渦ncanny valley鈥� originally described dolls or robots that look a little too close to humans 鈥� but just off enough to evoke unease. In sales, too much AI-driven personalization skews into the same territory.

Take the flurry of 鈥減ersonalized鈥� notes that reference my college mascot or a podcast I was on. Recently, I received two messages on 鈥� both from sellers of hybrid collaboration tools.

One mentioned they were impressed by my career trajectory, and congratulated me on my football team鈥檚 win the previous night. The only issue? They mentioned the wrong team 鈥� a cardinal sin and the result of an AI hallucination.

The other noted they鈥檇 looked into our company鈥檚 model, and provided a quick assessment and a straightforward POV on where they thought we could benefit.

Guess which I responded to?

It鈥檚 understandable why so many sellers are turning to AI to automate: Nearly professionals report feeling burnout, and the majority are their quota.

The problem is the system itself and the misaligned incentives it runs on. Sellers are rewarded more for volume than value; pipelines are judged by growth, not quality. When you combine that pressure with tools that can blast thousands of messages in seconds, the result is predictable.

In the short term, this floods inboxes. In the long term, it corrodes credibility, laying the groundwork for buyers to become numb, suspicious and harder to reach, and placing a premium on real, human perspective.

Trust can鈥檛 be faked

Behavioral psychology and business research consistently reinforce one truth: Trust is the foundation of persuasion.

Research shows of people need to trust a brand before they’ll even consider buying from it. ones in stock performance, productivity and customer retention.

In my eyes, trust is built primarily through four signals: communication, competence, intent and consistency. Each of these takes time to build, and any of them can be lost in a single interaction.

And that鈥檚 where AI falls short. While it can mimic pieces of these, it can鈥檛 replicate the warmth, nuance and vulnerability that build real relationships. It doesn鈥檛 know when to slow down, when to ask better questions, or when to say 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know.鈥� Authenticity, even when admitting limitations, builds trust in ways that hollow personalization can鈥檛.

People are already skeptical of AI in general: say they trust generative AI outputs, and 4 in 5 consumers can accurately content. By layering it into the very first sales interaction, companies lose more than deals. They lose long-term brand equity. They lose referral momentum. And perhaps most importantly, they lose goodwill 鈥� the invisible capital that fuels long-term growth.

Comfort is the last frontier

Especially in complex B2B environments, deals don鈥檛 close on information alone. They close on confidence, reassurance and human alignment.

During a recent call with a prospect, he was saying all of the right things, 鈥渨e鈥檙e excited,鈥� 鈥渨e see the value.鈥� But his posture was stiff, his gaze was uneven 鈥� subtle signs that, after two decades in sales, I鈥檝e learned to recognize as hesitation.

After we hung up, the cues stayed with me, so I called the next day and asked directly. He admitted he hadn鈥檛 secured senior-level buy-in yet, but felt obliged to keep things moving after so much time invested. That unlocked a dialogue around real barriers to forming a partnership, laying the foundation for us to identify and align on actual, appropriate next steps (that ultimately helped us sign the deal).

Sometimes analyzing words on a transcript isn鈥檛 enough. You have to read between the lines and let human intuition guide you where the data can鈥檛.

Because, at the end of the day, when people buy software, they鈥檙e not just buying a product; they鈥檙e also buying into a relationship.

Fully automated sales motions may win early with volume, but they often lose late. Without empathy, deals stall. Without rapport, onboardings fail. Without trust, renewals disappear.

In these cases, the lack of human interaction becomes a liability.

Sales runs on belief

As trust in institutions and media declines, buyers need more reassurance, not less. Companies have an opportunity to step up as reliable, responsive, human-first actors in their customers’ lives.

At its best, sales isn鈥檛 about pushing products. It鈥檚 about helping people find a better way forward. We just need to be intentional about how we use AI; not as a replacement for humans, but as a way to give them more room to do what matters.

No matter how sophisticated AI becomes, it can鈥檛 replace the moment of belief. The point where someone decides to trust you, your company and the future you鈥檙e offering. In an era of uncanny outreach, the most radical thing you can do is be unmistakably human.

is the senior vice president and head of growth at , a leading enterprise meal benefits platform. Landsman is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years of experience in SaaS and food tech sectors. His expertise spans startup scaling, partnership development, organizational leadership and market expansion. As former head of corporate sales at Seamless, his work helped to facilitate its merger with in 2013. At , Landsman led strategic partnerships and enterprise sales efforts, contributing to its 2021 IPO.

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The broad trend: Gone, for the most part, are giant rounds for autonomous driving upstarts and nascent EV brands. While investors haven鈥檛 abandoned transportation, funding to startups in the space is down in 2025 and looks on track to hit one of the lowest annual totals of the past few years.

The numbers: So far in 2025, global transportation-related startups have pulled in just over $21 billion in seed- through growth-stage financing, per 禁漫天堂 .听1 Investment remains at a fraction of the 2021 peak, with deal counts also on the decline.

The U.S. accounts for a bit less than half of the funding, with about $10 billion going to transportation-focused startups this year. Round counts look likely to hit the lowest point in years.

Noteworthy recent rounds: While overall investment may be lower, we have seen a few jumbo-sized rounds for startups in the transportation space.

Leading the pack is , which describes itself as a vehicle intelligence provider, offering AI-enabled software to add autonomy and safety features to cars, trucks and other moving machines. The Silicon Valley company $600 million at a $15 billion valuation in a June Series F round co-led by and .

More recently, Los Angeles-based , an AI-powered checkout-free parking platform, secured $1.6 billion in a November debt and equity fundraise that included a $500 million Series D.

A few weeks earlier, , a startup that operates robotaxis and delivery robots, also picked up one of the year鈥檚 larger financings. The company announced in October that it has secured up to $375 million in commitments backed by and .

Another repeat name on the top funding recipient list is battery recycling startup . The Carson City, Nevada, company closed a $350 million Series E last month, bringing total funding to date to more than $4 billion.

Transportation forges ahead, but perhaps with fewer VCs in the driver鈥檚 seat

Declining venture investment to the transportation sector isn鈥檛 evidence in itself that innovation in the space is decelerating. There are plenty of other entities that can lead the charge, including automakers and established public companies like Uber, , , , and a long list of others.

Rather, startup investors may be backing away from the space more due to a lack of lucrative recent returns. While venture investors have historically had some big exits in transportation, like and Uber, the past few years have brought a lot of misses.

As we chronicled a few years ago, a deluge of autonomous driving-related public offerings in the 2020 to 2022 timeline mostly fared poorly, with many eventually shuttering. Venture-backed upstart EV makers like and also fizzled, while shares are down over 85% from their peak. The of heavily funded battery maker delivered another bolt of negative news.

Still, there are bright spots in the mix as well. EV sales are globally. Demand for recycled batteries is to rise. And public investors still have an appetite for transportation innovators, as demonstrated by this month鈥檚 IPO of electric aircraft maker .

Transportation remains an enormous industry as well, in the U.S. alone to total $2.5 trillion or 8.5% of GDP. And by definition, it鈥檚 not an industry that鈥檚 prone to standing still.

Related 禁漫天堂 query:

Related reading:

• AI-Powered Parking Platform Metropolis Raises $500M Series D At $5B Valuation
• Electric Aircraft Upstart Beta Rises In First-Day Trading

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The number of new monthly entrants has picked up in recent months. The top 20 companies on the board have also been reshuffled and we鈥檝e seen a marked increase in new decacorn-valued companies.

Of the 20 companies that joined in October, 11 came from the U.S. China added three new unicorns and Sweden contributed two. The U.K., Germany and Ukraine each minted one new unicorn, as did India.

Among the new entrants, New York-based open model developer and Austin-based residential battery operator each raised billion-dollar rounds that valued them as unicorns for the first time.

The highest valued among the new unicorns were Reflection, which was valued at $8 billion, and San Francisco-based payments blockchain聽 , valued at $5 billion.

Exits

A pair of companies from the unicorn board were acquired in October: Passwordless authentication company was acquired by , and , an IT employee experience platform was acquired by . In another October exit, data management tooling company merged with in an all-stock deal.

Three companies also went public: Silicon Valley-based travel and expense management company , Shanghai-based e-commerce software platform , and Beijing-based silicon wafer production company .

New unicorns

Here are October’s 20 newly minted unicorns across multiple sections. AI led with four companies, transportation with three, and healthcare and financial services followed, each with two companies.

AI

• Open source model developer , founded by engineers to compete against DeepSeek, raised a $2 billion Series B from among other investors. The 1-year-old New York-based company was valued at $8 billion.
• , which helps customers build AI applications, raised a $230 million Series C led by , and . The 3-year-old Redwood City, California-based company was valued at $4 billion. It says it has 10,000 customers, up 10x from July 2024.
• AI agent automation platform raised a $180 million Series C led by . The 6-year-old Berlin-based company was valued at $2.5 billion.
• , a platform for deploying AI agents, raised a $125 million Series B led by . The 3-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.25 billion.

Transportation

• , a builder of autonomous robovans for B2B delivery, raised a $100 million Series B4 extension led by . The 4-year-old Beijing-based company was valued at $1.6 billion.
• raised its first external financing, a $281 million funding round. The 4-year-old company is a Shanghai-based subsidiary of car battery provider CATL and was valued at $1.4 billion in the deal. It鈥檚 a developer of an integrated chassis for battery and electric vehicle functions for driving.
• Self-driving trucking company raised a $100 million funding led by existing investor and quantum company . Einride builds electric big rigs, automated smaller delivery trucks for fixed routes, and a logistics platform. The 9-year-old Stockholm-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Healthcare and biotech

• , provider of a noninvasive therapy for tumors, raised a $250 million private equity round led by its new owners which include , and , as well as additional investors and . The 16-year-old Minnesota-based company was valued at $3 billion.
• In women’s health, weight loss treatment provider raised a $50 million Series A. Investors were not disclosed. The 1-year-old London-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Financial services

• , the owner of retail trading platform Dhan, raised a $120 million Series B led by . The 4-year-old India-based company was valued at $1.2 billion.
• Digital banking software developer , owner of neobank , raised a private equity round led by . The 8-year-old Kyiv, Ukraine-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Web3

• Blockchain payments provider , incubated by and , raised a $500 million Series A led by and . The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $5 billion.

Energy

• Battery-powered home energy company raised a $1 billion Series C led by . The 2-year-old Austin-based company was valued at $4 billion.

Aerospace

• Reusable rocket manufacturer raised a $510 million Series D led by to scale manufacturing. The 6-year-old Kent, Washington-based company was valued at $2 billion.

Professional services

• 鈥檚 legal platform supports lawyers with research and legal drafting. The 2-year-old Stockholm-based legal tech company raised a $150 million Series C led by . It was valued at $1.8 billion.

E-commerce

• , which connects brands with creators for e-commerce, raised a $70 million funding led by . The 5-year-old Holden, Massachusetts-based company was valued at $1.5 billion. ShopMy says it has enabled $1 billion in sales across its platform.

Sales and marketing

• , which provides a platform for community management for homeowners associations, raised a $300 million private equity round led by . Vantaca says it serves more than 500 management companies. The 9-year-old Wilmington, North Carolina-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Defense tech

• Defense acquirer raised a $150 million private equity round led by . The 14-year-old Arlington, Virginia-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Beauty

• Chinese skincare brand raised a $104 million funding led by and . The 24-year-old Shanghai-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Semiconductor

• , a company planning to build a compact lithography machine to support the manufacturing of chips in the U.S. market, raised a $100 million Series A from , and among others. The 4-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Related 禁漫天堂 unicorn lists:

• (1,628)
• (147)
• (113)
• (102)
• (819)
• (494)
• (220)
• (38)
• (469)

Related reading:

• In The Space Of Months, AI Funding Boom Adds More Than $500B In Value To Unicorn Board And Reshuffles Top 20
• Highest Count Of New Unicorns Join 禁漫天堂 Board In Over 3 Years As Exits Also Gain Steam
• The MVPs Of The Startup World Are Still Getting More Valuable
• 禁漫天堂鈥檚 Global Unicorn List Tops $6T In Value In August For The First Time Despite Slowdown
• Here Are Some Of The Newer Investors Entering The AI And Megaround Race
• These Are The Speediest Companies To Go From Series A To Series C

Methodology

The 禁漫天堂 Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on 禁漫天堂 data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations 鈥� such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options 鈥� as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 禁漫天堂 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 禁漫天堂 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

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Clarification: This story has changed since its original publication to correct an error in the Exits section.

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding rounds here.

The largest rounds this week went to AI and defense tech companies, amid a generally busy period for big financings. Coding automation platform Cursor and parent company led by a long shot, closing on a $2.3 billion Series D. The next-largest round was a $510 million financing for defense tech company , followed by financings in sectors including AI inference, e-commerce and electric vehicles.

1. , $2.3B, AI coding: Coding automation platform Cursor and parent company Anysphere $2.3 billion in a Series D financing backed by , , , , , and . The round set a $29.3 billion post-money valuation for the San Francisco-headquartered company, which is more than 3x higher than what it secured just six months ago.

2. , $510M, defense tech: Chaos Industries, a defense tech startup focused on counter-drone radar and communication systems, that it secured $510 million in new funding led by . The round sets a $4.5 billion valuation for the 3-year-old, Los Angeles-based company.

3. , $275M, AI infrastructure: Santa Clara, California-based D-Matrix, a developer of generative AI inference compute for data centers, closed on $275 million in Series C funding. , and led the round, which sets a $2 billion valuation for the 6-year-old company.

4. , $250M, fast delivery: Philadelphia-based Gopuff, which offers fast delivery of groceries and other products, picked up $250 million in new funding led by and . Founded in 2013, Gopuff has raised $3.7 billion in known funding to date, .

5. , $238M, defense tech: Clarksburg, Maryland-based Forterra, a developer of autonomous systems for the defense sector, closed on $238 million in Series C equity and debt funding. led the financing.

6. , $225M, apparel: Skims, the -founded shapewear and clothing brand, landed $225 million in new financing led by . The round sets a $5 billion valuation for the 6-year-old, Los Angeles-based company.

7. , $200M, AI tools: AI agent builder Genspark raised $200 million in a financing led by and . , the round brings total funding to date to $360 million for the Palo Alto, California-based company, which was founded in 2023.

8. , $160M, electric vehicles: Garden Grove, California-based Harbinger, a maker of medium-duty electric and hybrid vehicles, $160 million in a Series C round led by , , and recreational vehicle manufacturer . Along with its investment, FedEx placed an initial order for 53 Harbinger EVs, the company says.

9. , $150M, sensors: TeraDAR, a developer of terahertz technology to be used in sensors for automotive, defense and other industries, closed on $150 million in a Series B round. led the financing for the Boston-based company.

10. , $145M, AI marketing tools: Alembic, a startup that provides AI-enabled data analytics for marketing, picked up $145 million in a fundraising round led by and . The round values the San Francisco-based company at $645 million.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 禁漫天堂 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Nov. 8-14. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding rounds here.

This week has been a busy one for good-sized rounds, led by $500 million financings for crypto unicorn and AI-enabled parking provider . We also saw multiple large financings for biotech startups, plus some big rounds for cybersecurity and enterprise software.

1. (tied) , $500M, cryptocurrency: San Francisco-based crypto payments company Ripple raised $500 million at a $40 billion valuation. Funds managed by affiliates of and led the investment, along with , , and .

1. (tied) , $500M, parking: Metropolis, an AI-powered checkout-free parking platform, announced that it has secured $1.6 billion in debt and equity financing, including a $500 million Series D at a $5 billion valuation. led the equity financing for Los Angeles-based Metropolis, while provided a $1.1 billion term loan.

3. , $435M, cybersecurity: Armis, a provider of tools for monitoring cyber risk exposure, closed on $435 million in what it described as pre-IPO funding round. led the financing, which a $6.1 billion valuation for the 10-year-old, San Francisco-based company.

4. , $200M, neurotech: Synchron, a developer of nonsurgical brain-computer interface technology, picked up $200 million in Series D funding led by . The New York-based company wants to use its technology to restore communication and mobility for people with paralysis.

5. , $126M, healthcare AI: Hippocratic AI, a developer of generative AI healthcare agents, landed $126 million in Series C financing. led the round, which set a $3.4 billion valuation for the Palo Alto, California-based company.

6. , $100M, marketing automation: MoEngage, an AI-enabled customer engagement platform, raised $100 million in new financing, with going to the company and 40% going to secondary share sales. and led the financing.

7. , $91M, aerial robotics: Infravision, a company that aims to transform how power lines are built and maintained with aerial robotics, raised $91 million in Series B funding. Singapore鈥檚 led the financing for the 7-year-old, Austin-based startup.

8. , $80M, AI go-to-market tools: Santa Clara, California-based Reevo, developer of an AI platform for managing go-to-market strategy and processes, launched publicly and it has raised $80 million in funding co-led by and .

9. , $75M, biotech: Palo Alto, California-based Neok Bio, a startup focused on developing antibody drug conjugates for improving cancer outcomes, emerged from stealth with $75 million, backed by Korean biotech .

10. , $65M, genomic medicines: Berkeley, California-based Azalea Therapeutics, a developer of precision genomic medicines, launched from stealth and announced it has raised $65 million in a Series A led by .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 禁漫天堂 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Nov. 1-7. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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