DeepSeek Closes in on a $50B Valuation

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DeepSeek could be valued at up to $50 billion in its first-ever fundraising round, with the Chinese AI startup reportedly seeking to raise $3 billion to $4 billion from investors including a state-backed AI fund and potentially Tencent. Reuters has more here.

Anthropic has agreed to lease all computing capacity at SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center — more than 300 megawatts of AI compute powered by over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs — even though the site has drawn sharp criticism from environmental activists. TechCrunch has more here.

A 20-Minute Pitch Wins Indian Startup Pronto Backing From Lachy Groom

Image Credits: Pronto

By Jagmeet Singh

Lachy Groom, one of Silicon Valley’s most closely watched solo investors, decided to back Indian startup Pronto just 20 minutes into his first meeting with its 24-year-old founder.

The meeting, which took place in February through a mutual connection, led to Groom investing $20 million in Pronto as an extension of its Series B round, valuing the startup at $200 million after the investment — double its valuation just over two months earlier, as TechCrunch had previously reported. The deal came together within weeks, bringing the solo investor on board as the Bengaluru-based startup expands to meet growing demand for on-demand home services in India.

Groom said he was drawn to Pronto’s ambition to build what he called the world’s largest platform for organizing domestic labor, starting with India’s vast and largely unstructured workforce. “The work underneath that is genuinely hard, and most attempts in adjacent categories have struggled with the operational discipline,” he said, adding that Pronto founder Anjali Sardana (pictured above) and her team were operating “at a level I haven’t seen elsewhere in this space.”

Before founding Pronto in 2025, Sardana worked at Bain Capital and venture firm 8VC, where she gained early exposure to investing and high-growth startups. The startup connects households with workers for everyday tasks such as cleaning and basic home services.

The introduction was arranged through Paul Hudson, founder of Glade Brook Capital, who connected Groom and Sardana during her trip to San Francisco earlier this year. Glade Brook has backed startups founded by both: Pronto, which Sardana leads, and Physical Intelligence, where Groom is a co-founder. Hudson and Groom have also backed Indian quick-commerce startup Zepto.

Massive Fundings

Astranis, an 11-year-old San Francisco company that builds and operates small geostationary satellites that provide dedicated communications networks for enterprises and governments, raised a $300 million Series E round at a $2.8 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Snowpoint Ventures and Franklin Templeton, with Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity, BAM Elevate, Nimble Partners, and Friends & Family Capital also participating. The company has raised a total of $1.2+ billion in debt and equity. Payload has more here.

CellCentric, a 23-year-old company based in Cambridge, UK, that develops oral small-molecule therapies targeting epigenetic regulators for the treatment of multiple myeloma and other cancers, raised a $220 million Series D round led by Venrock, with Fidelity, Sofinnova Partners, HBM Healthcare, RA Capital Management, Forbion, Pfizer, Avego Bioscience Capital, and the American Cancer Society also taking part. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Corgi, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that provides business insurance including general liability, cyber, and AI coverage, raised a $160 million Series B round at a $1.3 billion post-money valuation. TCV was the deal lead, with Kindred Ventures, Leblon Capital, and First Order Fund also investing. The company has raised a total of $268 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Cytospire Therapeutics, a three-year-old UK startup that is working on multispecific antibody therapies that engage gamma delta T cells to treat cancer, raised an $82.9 million Series A round led by 4BIO Capital, with Servier Ventures, British Business Bank, Sound Bioventures, and Criteria Bio Ventures as well as previous investors Abingworth and LifeArc Ventures also investing. More here.

Iceye, a 12-year-old company based in Espoo, Finland, that operates a constellation of radar satellites that capture high-resolution images regardless of weather or lighting conditions, is reportedly in the market to raise a $290+ million round at a $6.5 billion valuation. Tech Funding News has more here.

Nyobolt, a seven-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that is developing high-power, ultra-fast-charging battery systems for robotics, autonomous machines, and AI infrastructure, raised a $60 million Series C round at a $1 billion valuation. The deal was led by Symbotic, with Latitude, IQ Capital, Scania Invest, and CBMM also pitching in. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

District, a four-year-old Los Angeles startup that is creating an AI-powered platform to help independent sellers create and run community-driven online marketplaces, raised a $14.7 million seed round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Kindred Ventures, with Greylock, SV Angel, and 20VC also chiming in. Fortune has more here.

Ethos, a two-year-old London startup that provides an AI platform to match companies with vetted experts for consulting, hiring, and data work, raised a $22.75 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with General Catalyst, XTX, and Evantic also taking stakes. The Next Web has more here.

Illoca, a two-year-old startup that is building an AI-driven interface that lets architects create and refine building designs from sketches, markups, and natural language, raised a $13 million seed round. Bessemer Venture Partners was the deal lead, with AIX Ventures, Root Ventures, and Alt Ventures also digging in. More here.

Lithosquare, a two-year-old Paris startup that uses AI and geological data to identify and evaluate new critical mineral deposits for mining companies, raised a $25 million seed round co-led by World Fund and Kindred Capital, with Daphni, Omnes Capital, and Ovni Capital also stepping up. Tech Funding News has more here.

OpsMill, a three-year-old Paris startup that provides infrastructure data management tools to unify and structure IT data for AI-driven automation, raised a $14 million Series A round led by IRIS, with BGV, Serena, and Partech also engaging. More here.

QuTwo, a Finnish startup that is building an orchestration platform for AI and quantum computing workloads, raised a $34 million angel round at a $442 million valuation, with Yuri Milner, Xavier Niel, Nico Rosberg, Dieter Schwarz, and Niklas Zennström among the investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Trillium Renewable Chemicals, a five-year-old startup based in Knoxville, TN, that produces bio-based acrylonitrile and other chemical intermediates from plant-derived feedstocks, raised a $13 million Series B round led by HS Hyosung Advanced Materials, with Capricorn Partners also chiming in. More here.

XBOW, a two-year-old Seattle startup that is building an AI-driven platform that autonomously tests applications for security vulnerabilities by simulating real-world attacks, raised a $35 million Series C round at a $1+ billion post-money valuation. Investors included Accenture, NVentures, Liberty Global, Samsung, and SentinelOne S Ventures. The company has raised a total of $270+ million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Smaller Fundings

Cnuic, a one-year-old Edinburgh startup that is working on photolithography technology for manufacturing photonic chips using light, raised a $3 million pre-seed round co-led by Tensor Ventures and Blank Space Ventures, with Silicon Roundabout Ventures, Phasechange, SANDS, and Superlative also participating. InsiderMedia has more here.

Corvera, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that automates supply chain workflows for consumer packaged goods brands by using AI to execute tasks across existing ERP and logistics systems, raised a $4.2 million seed round led by 6 Degrees Capital, with 20VC, Rebel Fund, Duke Capital Partners, and Multimodal Ventures also opting in. Startups Magazine has more here.