🧑‍🚀 Top Deals You Can’t Miss

1. Anduril — $5 billion Series H at a $61 billion valuation, led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

2. Isomorphic Labs — $2.1 billion Series B led by Thrive Capital, with Alphabet, GV, MGX, Temasek, CapitalG, and the UK Sovereign AI Fund.

3. Sony Music — ~$4 billion acquisition of the Recognition Music catalog from Blackstone.

Dopamine Dealflow

Series B+ & Growth

• Anduril | $5B | Series H | Costa Mesa, CA

  Builds autonomous defense systems including drones, missiles, air defense, and AI-powered command-and-control software for the U.S. and allied militaries. Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz led the round.

• Isomorphic Labs | $2.1B | Series B | London, UK

  DeepMind spinout building an AI drug design engine to accelerate therapeutic discovery and clinical pipeline development. Thrive Capital led the round and were joined by Alphabet, GV, MGX, Temasek, CapitalG, and the UK Sovereign AI Fund.

• Mind Robotics | $400M | Series B | Palo Alto, CA

  Rivian spinout combining foundation models, robotics hardware, and deployment infrastructure to automate dexterous manufacturing tasks. Kleiner Perkins led the round at a $3.4 billion valuation.

• Paymentology | $175M | Growth | London, UK

  Operates a cloud-native card-issuing and real-time payment processing platform serving banks and fintechs in more than 50 markets. Apis Partners and Aspirity Partners co-led the round, with Apis investing through its Growth Fund III and Aspirity deploying its inaugural fund.

• Forus | $160M | Growth | New York, NY

  AI software embedded into physician workflows to automate insurance authorization, financial assistance, and pharmacy routing for prescriptions. Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, and Accel led the round at a $1 billion valuation, joined by Bain Capital Ventures, Redpoint, BoxGroup, and Pear VC.

• Oishii | $150M | Series C | Jersey City, NJ

  Indoor vertical farm growing pesticide-free Japanese strawberries year-round through robotics, automation, and centuries-old cultivation techniques. SPARX Asset Management led the round and were joined by Nomura Real Estate, MISUMI Group, and Mizuho Bank.

• Exaforce | $125M | Series B | San Jose, CA

  AI-native security operations platform that autonomously investigates and responds to AI-powered cyberattacks in real time. The round was joined by HarbourVest, Peak XV, Mayfield, Khosla Ventures, and Seligman Ventures at a $725 million valuation.

• NVision | $55M | Series B | Ulm, Germany

  Quantum healthcare company expanding from quantum-enhanced MRI sensing into a new photonic qubit computing platform for drug discovery. Abbott anchored the round.

• Monaco | $50M | Series B | San Francisco, CA

  AI-native sales platform that automates pipeline generation and routine selling motions for early-stage companies, founded by ex-Founders Fund partner Sam Blond. Benchmark and Founders Fund led, with participation from Human Capital, Alt Cap, Mantis, Saga VC, Garry Tan, Neil Mehta, and the Collison brothers.

• Vapi | $50M | Series B | San Francisco, CA

  Enterprise voice AI platform that has handled over 1 billion calls and powers Amazon Ring's customer support after beating 40 rival vendors. Peak XV led the round and were joined by Microsoft's M12, Kleiner Perkins, and Bessemer Venture Partners at a $500 million valuation.

• gaiia | $40M | Series B | Montreal, Canada

  AI-native operating system replacing legacy OSS/BSS tools for ISPs and telecom operators across billing, provisioning, and field service. JMI Equity led the round and were joined by Inovia Capital.

Series A

• Havoc AI | $100M | Series A | Providence, RI

  Designs software-defined autonomous platforms for military and commercial operators across air, land, and sea. The round added CCM Capital Markets, Clear Street, Cobalt Capital, Boardman Bay Capital Management, Mute Ventures, Soren Ventures, SAIC, and JA Green to the cap table, doubling total capital raised to nearly $200 million.

• Star Catcher | $65M | Series A | Jacksonville, FL

  Develops a space-based power grid that beams concentrated solar energy to satellites using optical lasers. B Capital led the round with co-leads Shield Capital and Cerberus Ventures, joined by GreatPoint Ventures, Helena, Oceans Ventures, and MVP Ventures.

• Heaviside Industries | $28M | Series A | Los Angeles, CA

  Emerged from stealth building multi-domain autonomous precision munitions for U.S. and allied special operations across aerial and underwater platforms. Interlagos led the round and were joined by Menlo Ventures, Flume Ventures, Cantos, Anorak Ventures, and operator angels including Frank Finelli and Aaditya Devarakonda.

• Adfin | $18M | Series A | London, UK

  Develops an agentic finance platform that automates invoice collection, payments, and cash management for more than 1,500 UK SMEs. Index Ventures led the round and were joined by Visionaries Club, Miro founder Andrey Khusid, and former King COO Stéphane Kurgan.

• ProcurePro | $11M | Series B | Brisbane, Australia

  Operates an end-to-end AI procurement platform for construction contractors that has been deployed across 6,000 projects worth over $90 billion. QIC Ventures led the round and were joined by Airtree, Glitch Capital, and Bouygues, valuing the company above $80 million.

• Vector | $10M | Series A | Boston, MA

  Contact-level advertising platform for B2B marketers that targets named buyers based on intent signals like website visits, ad clicks, and competitor research. SignalFire and HubSpot Ventures led the round.

Seed & Early Rounds

• Casimir | $12M | Seed | Houston, TX

  Commercializes the MicroSparc chip, a 5mm semiconductor that harvests electricity from quantum vacuum fields, founded by former NASA propulsion researcher Dr. Harold White. Scout Ventures led the round and were joined by Lavrock Ventures, Cottonwood Technology, Capital Factory, American Deep Tech, and Tim Draper.

• Thea | $4M | Pre-Seed | New York, NY

  AI dermatology app diagnosing acne, hair loss, and aesthetic conditions with same-day routing to licensed clinicians and integrated pharmacy partners. General Catalyst led the round.

Strategic, M&A & Undisclosed

• Sony Music acquires Recognition Music Group catalog | ~$4B | M&A | London, UK

  The deal gives Sony rights to more than 45,000 songs including works by Beyoncé, Fleetwood Mac, and Rihanna, marking Sony's largest catalog purchase from the former Hipgnosis portfolio and a major exit for Blackstone-managed funds.

• Anthropic / Stainless | $300M+ | Acquisition Talks | San Francisco, CA

  The deal would give Anthropic ownership of the SDK generation tool used by OpenAI, Google, Cloudflare, and Cerebras, extending its developer-tooling streak after Bun, Vercept, and Coefficient Bio.

• OpenAI acquires Tomoro | Undisclosed | M&A | London, UK

  The deal brings 150 forward-deployed engineers into the newly launched OpenAI Deployment Company, a $4 billion PE-backed joint venture with TPG, Advent, Bain Capital, and Brookfield aimed at scaling enterprise AI rollouts.

• n8n | SAP strategic investment | $5.2B valuation | Berlin, Germany

  SAP's investment doubles n8n's valuation in under a year and embeds the workflow automation platform inside Joule Studio, positioning the German pairing against US AI orchestration incumbents.

• Function Health acquires SuppCo | Undisclosed | M&A | New York, NY

  The deal pairs Function's biomarker testing with SuppCo's independent supplement ratings and ISO 17025 lab verification, advancing Function's push toward an AI-driven personalized health operating system.

IPOs / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Cerebras | $4.8B | IPO Pricing Update | Sunnyvale, CA

  The chip company raised its price range to $150 to $160 per share and increased the share count to 30 million, putting the fully diluted valuation at up to $48.8 billion, more than double its February pre-IPO mark, with pricing set for May 14.

• Fervo Energy | $1.89B | IPO | Houston, TX

  Sold 70 million shares at $27 each, above the marketed range, for a $7.66 billion valuation. Shares closed 33 percent above the offer price as AI data center power demand reshaped the geothermal pitch.

• Circle Arc Token | $222M | Token Presale | New York, NY

  The USDC issuer became the first publicly listed company to conduct a token presale, with Andreessen Horowitz leading at $75 million alongside BlackRock, Apollo, Intercontinental Exchange, Ark Invest and others, valuing the Arc blockchain at $3 billion fully diluted.

VC Funds Raised & Raising

• A* Capital | $450M | Fund III | San Francisco, CA

  The Kevin Hartz and Bennet Siegel-led firm closed its third fund with a less-is-more concentrated approach targeting at least 30 startups across AI applications, fintech, healthcare, and security at $3 million to $5 million checks. LPs include Carnegie Mellon University, nonprofits, and foundations.

• Duration Ventures | $375M | Target | San Francisco, CA

  New growth-stage software fund founded by alumni of General Catalyst and Lightspeed, targeting late-Series-B through pre-IPO software companies, per The Wall Street Journal.

• Kalos Ventures | $78.8M | Inaugural Fund | New York, NY

  Managing Partner Ashley Bittner closed an oversubscribed debut fund backing early-stage workforce, care, and education companies. LPs include ZOMA Capital, GCM Grosvenor, MassMutual, Sorenson Impact Advisory, and Melinda French Gates's Pivotal Ventures.

Founders: Want to be featured on @tradedvc? → traded.co/submit/vc

Read of the Day

Anduril Doubles to $61 Billion as Defense AI Becomes the Next Industrial Buildout

A $5 billion Series H led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz pushes Costa Mesa's Anduril into the top tier of private companies and signals the end of defense tech as a niche category.

Anduril closed its Series H today at a $61 billion valuation, more than doubling the $30.5 billion mark it set last year on a $2.5 billion raise. Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz returned to lead. Total funding now stands at $11.4 billion, with backing that includes 8VC and earlier investor Founders Fund.

The Strategy

The capital backs a production scale-up across autonomous aircraft, drone swarms, missile systems, air defense, and AI-powered command-and-control software. Anduril is building manufacturing capacity for defense-procurement volumes, not Silicon Valley pilot scale, and continues to vertically integrate hardware, software, and AI across the stack.

The Backstory

Founded by Palmer Luckey after his Oculus exit, Anduril has grown from a software-heavy challenger to a vertically integrated defense prime in under a decade. Its rise has reshaped DoD procurement assumptions and pulled venture dollars into a category most VCs ignored five years ago.

Why It Matters

Defense tech is no longer a niche sleeve. Anduril's valuation puts it among the most valuable private companies on the planet and confirms that founders, LPs, and the Pentagon have converged on the same view: software-defined, AI-native defense is the next industrial buildout. Expect more $1 billion-plus rounds across drone, missile, and command-software categories through the rest of 2026, and watch for IPO pressure to mount as Anduril's secondary market thickens.

👉 Read The Whole Story Here

Other News You Don’t Want To Miss

• Anthropic in Talks to Buy Developer Tools Startup Stainless for at Least $300 Million

  The acquisition would give Anthropic control of the SDK layer that OpenAI, Google, Cloudflare, and Cerebras use to expose their APIs to developers.

• CME to Create Futures Market for Computing Power Backing AI

  The world's largest derivatives exchange is launching the first regulated futures market for GPU compute, giving hyperscalers and AI labs a new tool to hedge capacity costs.

• Nvidia Says CEO Jensen Huang Is Joining Trump's China Trip

  Huang's inclusion in the delegation signals a thaw on AI chip export controls and reopens the question of how much of Nvidia's data center revenue can flow back into the China market.

• Meta US Employees Organize Protest Against Mouse Tracking Tech

  Workers are pushing back against new productivity surveillance tools, reigniting the workplace privacy debate inside Big Tech as RTO mandates harden.

• Google Unveils Googlebook, a New Android-Powered Laptop

  Google's first Android laptop targets ChromeOS's footprint with native Gemini integration and signals an Android consolidation play across phones, tablets, and PCs.