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21 Jan 2026

Zanskar Raises $115M to Unlock Terawatt-Scale Geothermal Energy Using AI

Zanskar, a clean energy startup, secured $115 million in Series C funding to scale its AI-driven approach to discovering conventional geothermal sites. The company has already revived a power plant in New Mexico and identified two new sites with over 100 megawatts of combined potential, challenging the Department of Energy's conservative projections for geothermal power.

2 Sources

OpenEvidence raises $250 million, doubles valuation to $12 billion as healthcare AI heats up

OpenEvidence, dubbed 'ChatGPT for doctors,' closed a $250 million funding round that doubled its valuation to $12 billion in less than three months. The AI startup is now used by 40% of U.S. physicians and surpassed $100 million in annual revenue. With tech giants like OpenAI and Anthropic launching competing health products, the race to dominate clinical AI is intensifying.

5 Sources

Serve Robotics acquires Diligent Robotics for $29M, expanding AI platform into hospitals

Serve Robotics announced a $29 million acquisition of Diligent Robotics, marking its first expansion beyond sidewalk delivery robots into indoor healthcare environments. The deal brings Moxi hospital delivery robots, deployed in over 25 U.S. facilities with 1.25 million autonomous deliveries completed, into Serve's growing Physical AI platform.

5 Sources

Cloover Secures $1.2 Billion to Build AI Platform Accelerating Europe's Energy Transition

Berlin-based climate fintech Cloover has secured over $1.2 billion in total capital commitments, combining $22 million in Series A equity and a massive debt facility to scale its AI-powered platform across Europe. The energy tech startup aims to streamline operations for installers while providing accessible financing for homeowners seeking decentralized energy technologies like solar panels and heat pumps.

2 Sources

Bengaluru's Bolna Raises $6.3M to Scale Voice AI for Vernacular Calls Across India

Bengaluru-based voice AI startup Bolna has secured $6.3 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst, with participation from Y Combinator and Blume Ventures. The company scaled from 1,500 to over 200,000 daily calls since May 2025, serving 1,050+ paying customers across e-commerce, BFSI, and logistics sectors with multilingual voice AI solutions.

2 Sources

Sensesemi raises ₹25 crore seed funding to build edge AI chips for IoT and medical devices

Bengaluru-based fabless semiconductor startup Sensesemi has secured ₹25 crore in seed funding led by Piper Serica to develop edge AI chips that integrate AI inferencing, wireless connectivity, and analog signal processing on a single chip. The startup targets industrial IoT, automotive systems, and medical devices with its ultra-low power consumption architecture.

3 Sources

Nvidia invests $150 million in Baseten as AI industry shifts from training to inference

Nvidia has invested $150 million in AI inference startup Baseten, which raised $300 million at a $5 billion valuation—more than double its previous worth. The deal signals a strategic pivot as the AI industry shifts focus from model training to large-scale deployment, with Baseten helping companies like Cursor and Notion run AI models efficiently in production.

4 Sources

20 Jan 2026

Ethernovia raises $90M as investors rush to fund physical AI infrastructure

San Jose-based Ethernovia secured $90 million in Series B funding to advance its Ethernet-based processors for autonomous vehicles and robotics. The round was led by Maverick Silicon, an AI-focused fund launched by hedge fund Maverick Capital in 2024. The investment signals growing investor interest in physical AI infrastructure as billions flow toward companies enabling real-world AI applications beyond software.

2 Sources

Legato secures $7M to bring vibe coding AI builder directly to business users within SaaS platforms

Israeli AI startup Legato raised $7 million in seed funding led by S Capital VC to expand its platform that embeds AI builders directly into SaaS products. Founded by Dana Rochman and Shlomit Tennenbaum in 2025, the company enables non-technical business users to create custom applications through plain language prompts, compressing customizations from months into hours.

2 Sources

Humans& Raises $480M to Build AI Models Designed for Coordination, Not Just Chat

A three-month-old AI startup founded by alumni from Anthropic, xAI, and Google DeepMind just raised one of the largest seed rounds ever. Humans& secured $480 million at a $4.48 billion valuation to build foundation models designed for social intelligence and collaboration. The company argues that coordination between people and AI systems is the next frontier, moving beyond chatbots that serve one user at a time.

9 Sources

FuriosaAI targets $500M funding round as RNGD chip production begins, eyes 2027 IPO

Seoul-based AI chip developer FuriosaAI is raising $300 million to $500 million in a Series D funding round to challenge Nvidia. The startup, valued at $735 million in July, will receive its first mass-produced RNGD chips from TSMC this month. The company plans an initial public offering as early as 2027 while scaling production of its tensor contraction-based processors.

2 Sources

Moonshot AI valuation surges to $4.8 billion as Chinese AI startup closes fresh funding round

Alibaba-backed AI startup Moonshot AI is closing a funding round valuing it at $4.8 billion, up $500 million from December. The surge follows successful Hong Kong IPOs by rival Chinese AI firms MiniMax and Zhipu, which raised over $1 billion combined and sparked investor interest in China's AI Tigers.

2 Sources

18 Jan 2026

Sequoia Capital Joins Anthropic's $25B Funding Round, Breaking Traditional VC Rules

Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital is preparing a significant investment in Anthropic alongside GIC and Coatue, each contributing $1.5 billion. The funding round aims to raise at least $25 billion at a $350 billion valuation. This marks a shift in venture capital strategy, as Sequoia already backs rival AI startups OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, signaling the end of the traditional 'one winner' model in AI investing.

11 Sources

16 Jan 2026

ClickHouse secures $400M at $15B valuation as AI infrastructure demand surges

Database provider ClickHouse raised $400 million in a Series D funding round led by Dragoneer Investment Group, reaching a $15 billion valuation—more than double its $6.35 billion valuation from May 2024. The company also acquired Langfuse, an AI observability startup, to strengthen its position in the competitive AI infrastructure market against Snowflake and Databricks.

5 Sources

Sam Altman's Merge Labs raises $252 million to develop non-invasive brain-computer interfaces

Sam Altman's brain-tech startup Merge Labs emerged from stealth with $252 million in seed funding at an $850 million valuation, with OpenAI writing the largest check. The company aims to connect human brains to computers using ultrasound and molecules instead of invasive electrodes, intensifying competition with Elon Musk's Neuralink in the race to enhance human capabilities through AI-powered neural interfaces.

11 Sources

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