Three companies raised $1 billion or more this week, Crunchbase News reported in its weekly ranking of the largest U.S. venture rounds.
Defense manufacturer Hadrian led the week with a $1.37 billion Series D at a $7.87 billion valuation, with backers including WCM Investment Management, Valor Equity Partners, 137 Ventures, JPMorgan Chase and Baillie Gifford. Base Power, an energy storage company, raised a $1 billion Series D at a $13 billion valuation led by Ribbit Capital. Nuclear startup Valar Atomics raised a $1 billion Series B led by Sequoia Capital, plus a $200 million credit facility.
The AI stack showed up further down the list. Lumilens, an AI connectivity company, raised a $700 million Series A. Volta raised a $300 million Series A for AI infrastructure at a $2.4 billion valuation, with Andreessen Horowitz and Nvidia participating. HappyRobot, an agentic AI company, closed a $150 million Series C.
Live-shopping marketplace Whatnot raised $545 million at a $20 billion valuation, and cybersecurity firm Horizon3 raised $250 million at a valuation above $2 billion, per Crunchbase News.
The pattern for founders: the biggest checks are flowing to physical-world plays, manufacturing, energy and nuclear, that feed the AI buildout, while pure AI infrastructure and agent companies keep commanding large early rounds.