May was a month that raised a lot of cash, well, a lot of it. Four rounds reached $1 billion or more, and corporations had to boost at least $200 million to make the list. Not surprisingly, AI led the way – as at all times – with three billion or more rounds.
1. xAI$6 billion, artificial intelligence: Elon Muskgenerative artificial intelligence start-up, xAIofficially announced its long-awaited fundraising, making it the second Most worthy generative AI company in the world, behind its only competitor OpenAI. The round value $6 billion included investments in, among others: Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Capital of Sequoia AND faithfulness Management and research, among others. The latest financing values the company at $24 billion post-money, well below OpenAI Valued at $86 billion but well ahead of the $18 billion of one other generative AI rival Anthropic is currently valued at the level after the last increase. There has been talk of an xAI round for months. Musk’s company was announced and released last July ChatGPT competitor, Grok, last November. Earlier this yr, it introduced its latest artificial intelligence model, called Grok-1.5. Grok is trained on data from Musk’s other company, X, formerly Twitter.
2. CoreWeave$1.1 billion, artificial intelligence: Another large round of funding related to artificial intelligence. CoreWeave, an AI cloud infrastructure startup, closed a $1.1 billion round led by Coat values the company at $19 billion, in response to The Wall Street Journal. The valuation represents a nearly three-fold increase from the company’s valuation just five months ago, when it was valued at $7 billion after a secondary sale, and a huge jump from the company’s $2 billion valuation in its Series B extension last May. With the latest financing, the company has now raised roughly $4.6 billion, on Crunchbase data.
3. (sure) AI scales$1 billion, artificial intelligence: Are you sensing a trend this month with big AI rounds? The round led by Scale AI raised $1 billion Speed up which values the data labeling and assessment startup at a staggering $13.8 billion. The valuation is almost double the $7.3 billion the San Francisco-based startup achieved after its $325 million raise in April 2021. The latest financing included several of the biggest names in the technology industry, including: Nvidia, Meta AND Amazon all investments. Scalable AI plays a key role in building large language models and accurately marking text, images, video and voice data. The startup also creates and refines data sets.
3. (sure) Wizard$1 billion, cybersecurity: Finally something that is not artificial intelligence. Cloud security startup Wiz has closed the largest cybersecurity round this yr, raising $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation. Round – announced in the same way as the industry round RSA Conference began in San Francisco early last month – this might be one other signal of investors returning to the cybersecurity space. Cyberstartups have had their best funding quarter in three quarters and at the end of April Microsoftsupported data security company Heading had a successful IPO. Wiz was the co-host of the last round Andreessen Horowitz, Partners of the Lightspeed enterprise AND Develop capital. Founded in 2020, Wiz says it has raised $1.9 billion up to now. Originally founded in Israel, Wiz has been busy these days. In April, it acquired a New York-based cloud detection and response company Gem security. The company says the latest money injection could be used to shut more deals. The startup, also based in New York, says it achieved $350 million in annual recurring revenue last yr. It has has been open about reaching $1 billion in ARR with an upcoming IPO.
5. Moving$475 million, autonomous vehicles: Hyundai has shown it is willing to spend big on Boston-based autonomous vehicle startup Motional. In May, the automaker agreed to speculate $475 million directly in the startup while purchasing an 11% stake in the three way partnership Aptivshares in the company for one other USD 448 million. Motional, formerly nuTonomy, was in the news just a few months ago supposedly securing a bridge loan to increase the runway until the next round of financing. This situation seems value monitoring.
6. Biography UniquenessUSD 300 million, biotechnology: While artificial intelligence dominated, biotech also saw some big rounds in May. The largest in May got here from a brand latest company founded by Blackstone Life Sciences — a unit of the private equity giant Blackstone Group – along with a significant $300 million investment. The latest startup is a clinical-stage drug development company focusing on immunology and inflammation. Uniquity has already received FDA approval for its Phase 2 latest drug application for one of its drugs.
7. VercelUSD 250 million, software platform: Vercel, a platform that allows corporations to build web applications in the cloud, closed a $250 million Series E at a valuation of $3.25 billion. He led the round Speed upwith the participation of other existing investors, incl CRV, G.VNotable capital (formerly GGV capital), Bedrock, Geodetic Capital, Global Tiger, 8VC AND Angel of Saint 1. The latest round is an improvement over Vercel’s 2021 raise, when it secured $150 million in Series D financing at a $2.5 billion valuation led by GGV capital. The San Francisco-based company enables developers to make use of an open-source platform to build web applications and seeks to simplify the strategy of migrating web sites to cloud infrastructure to enhance accessibility. Vercel has many famous clients equivalent to In armor, Unity AND Nintendo. The company claims it recently surpassed $100 million in annual revenue and over 1 million monthly energetic developers. Founded in 2015, the company has raised $568 million on Crunchbase.
8. AltruBioUSD 225 million, biotechnology: AltruBio has secured $225 million in Series B funding at the helm BVF Partners. The San Francisco-based startup is developing drugs to treat ulcerative colitis and other immune diseases. The latest funds can be used to support ongoing and planned phase II clinical trials for ulcerative colitis. Founded in 2000, AltruBio has raised nearly $328 million, on Crunchbase.
9. (sure) BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics$200 million, biotechnology: In May, Biotech underwent a major split, as BridgeBioPharma launched its BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics subsidiary as its own company with $200 million in latest financing. The Palo Alto, California-based spinoff goals to grow its oncology portfolio. He managed the co-financing Cormorant asset management AND Omega Funds.
9. (sure) Sigmas200 million dollars, statistics: Cloud analytics startup Sigma raised $200 million in Series D funding, which he co-led Spark capital AND Avenir growth capital. As with Vercel, this was an improvement over the company’s last financing. The San Francisco-based company says its valuation is up 60% from the $300 million Series C it led D1 Capital Partners AND XN in 2021 and that was the case reported the latest valuation was $1.5 billion. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $581 million on Crunchbase.
9. (sure) Zenas BioPharma$200 million, biotechnology: Waltham, Mass.-based Zenas BioPharma raised $200 million in a Series C preferred stock round led by Delos Capital, New employees of the company, Norwest Venture Partners AND SR One. The biotechnology company specializes in therapies targeting inflammation and immunology, and will use the latest funding to support its current lead product candidate, obexelimab. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $318 million, on Crunchbase.
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The biggest increases in the month were xAI and CoreWeave, but third place went to the UK
Methodology
We have tracked the largest rounds raised by US-based corporations in the Crunchbase database for May 2024. While most announced rounds are included in the database, there could also be a slight delay as some rounds are reported late in the month.