The stereotypical seed-funded company could also be a sprightly startup on a tight budget. However, in the era of artificial intelligence, investors are not focusing their investments on this.
Instead, recent months have been a busy period for large commitments to seed-stage companies that have short operating histories and long ambitions.
To illustrate this, we used Crunchbase data to compile a list of the biggest seed rounds from the last six months 1. Globally, at least 12 companies inside these parameters have raised rounds of at least $100 million.
The leading topic is physical artificial intelligence
Most of the top seed funding recipients operate at the intersection of artificial intelligence and the physical world.
This includes the largest recent fundraiser held in Paris Advanced machine intelligencewhich raised $1.03 billion in a seed round in March, with support from a long list of leading enterprise firms, individual investors and strategic sponsors. The startup develops artificial intelligence models that learn abstract representations of real-world sensor data and make predictions.
Unconventional artificial intelligenceMeanwhile, it really works at the intersection of artificial intelligence and energy. The San Francisco-based company raised a $475 million seed round in December to develop energy-efficient silicon circuits that exhibit nonlinear dynamics much like biological neurons.
It’s there too Periodic laboratorieswhich uses artificial intelligence in science and experimentation, and its goals include automating material design in areas akin to semiconductor manufacturing, transportation and power grid engineering. Six months ago, the San Francisco-based company raised $300 million.
China-based startups have also recently received large seed rounds related to physical AI. This includes Lingchu Intelligencecreator of an AI platform for developing robotic devices that simulate physical world environments and Humanoid Robots Innovation Centercreator of AI robotic technology.
People and artificial intelligence
AI startups have not forgotten about humans either.
One example is Connect labsstartup he co-founded Sam Altman which raised $252 million in one 12 months OpenAI– financing carried out at the starting of this 12 months. The San Francisco-based company focuses on applying artificial intelligence achievements to brain-computer interfaces,
People&the second largest recipient of seeds, is a bit tougher to categorise. The Silicon Valley startup, which raised $480 million in January, focuses on core models “centered around people and their relationships with each other.”
A brand new era of seeds
In addition to highlighting growing investor enthusiasm for AI, the latest batch of enormous seed round recipients also highlights the changing dynamics around capital allocation at the earliest stages of company formation.
The overall trend is towards fewer deals and larger average seed round sizes. While the majority of seed-stage deals still occur in rounds of $5 million and smaller, that percentage is decreasing over time.
Meanwhile, larger and unusual seed rounds of $10 million or more have increased from 2% of deals in 2018 to 9% over this time. Seed rounds of greater than $100 million – once extremely rare – are also more common, with 27 such deals announced globally since the starting of 2025, based on Crunchbase data.
Of course, it’s too early to say whether, in hindsight, such large checks written at such a fledgling stage of the startup will prove to be price it. For now, it’s actually at least a boon for the seed-stage companies that are the recipients, who have the rare opportunity to repeat highly ambitious missions without the added burden of getting to do all of it on a tight budget.