17 rounds closed this week for ~$4.4B deployed — down 5% from last week's ~$4.6B across 38. One check is most of that: Mistral is ~$3.3B of the ~$4.4B — the other 16 sum to ~$1.1B. Applied AI took 3 of the 17 checks; when one sector absorbs that share, partners in it answer cold decks faster — deployment pressure is visible. 83 more raises surfaced only in Form D filings, with no press coverage — fresh capital nobody is watching yet. If either is your lane, the window argues for sending your deck this week, not next.
📊 The Week's Deployment
Stage | Rounds | Total deployed |
Pre-seed | 2 | ~$54M |
Seed | 2 | ~$29.3M |
Series A | 4 | ~$285M |
Series B | 3 | ~$333M |
Growth (Series C+) | 3 | ~$3.6B |
Most active sector: applied AI (3 of 17 rounds). Quietest: healthcare (1). One check skews the Series B line: Gimlet Labs is ~$300M of it — the other 2 sum to ~$33M.
📈 The Radar, 7 issues in
7 issues in: 192 rounds tracked, ~$20.2B deployed, plus 659 quiet raises that never got press. Median check by stage across every week we have tracked: Pre-seed ~$3.2M · Seed ~$6M · Series A ~$20M · Series B ~$55M · Growth ~$150M. Most active lead investors since Issue #1, by rounds led: Insight Partners (6), Andreessen Horowitz (3), General Atlantic (3). 77% of the raises we saw got zero press — a quiet round is the norm, not a red flag. Size your ask against the medians, not the headlines.
✅ Who Wrote Checks
The full list, free, as always — 17 rounds with stage, sector, and lead investor:
Mistral — €3B (~$3.3B) Growth (Series C+), led by Samsung · EU-Startups |
Gimlet Labs — $300M Series B, led by Andreessen Horowitz · citybiz |
Forus — $150M Growth (Series C+), led by Bain Capital Ventures · Pulse 2.0 |
Split Pay — $125M Series A, led by Khosla Ventures · Pulse 2.0 |
TAR — $120M Series A, led by Spark Capital, climate · Yahoo Finance |
Clay — $115M Undisclosed stage, no lead named · The New York Times |
Savvy Wealth — $100M Growth (Series C+), led by Halo Fund · citybiz |
Bluecore Energy — $50M Pre-seed, no lead named, climate · TechCrunch Venture |
Highstock — $30M Series A, no lead named, applied AI · Pulse 2.0 |
INLEAP Photonics — €20M (~$22M) Seed, led by UVC Partners · Pulse 2.0 |
QNu Labs — $21M Undisclosed stage, led by National Quantum Mission · The Quantum Insider |
CloudNC — $20M Series B, no lead named · TechCrunch Venture |
Immediate — $13M Series B, led by BankTech Ventures · Pulse 2.0 |
Harmoni — $10M Series A, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, applied AI · Morningstar |
HelmGuard — $7.3M Seed, no lead named, healthcare · Healthcare IT Today |
Biorsaf — €5.2M (~$5.7M) Undisclosed stage, no lead named · Startupbusiness.it |
Veridue — $4M Pre-seed, led by Episode 1 Ventures, applied AI · Pulse 2.0 |
🔍 Investor Spotlight: Samsung
Samsung wrote 1 check in the last two weeks — 1 as lead (~$3.3B deployed). Led: Mistral ($3.3B Growth (Series C+)).
Pitching any of this week’s check-writers? Get a VC-style read on your deck before you send it. Get your free verdict first.
🎊 Who Bought
5 startup exits crossed the wire this week. Acquirers tell you which categories are consolidating — and who might be your buyer, or your competitor's.
Lexroom acquired Praven Intelekt · trendingtopics.eu |
Biorsaf acquired Cooki · Startupbusiness.it |
Kiteworks acquired Bonfy.AI · calcalistech.com |
Sweden's Mynt acquired CostPocket · Dealroom |
📄 Filing Watch
6 raises surfaced in SEC Form D filings this week that no outlet has covered. The 6 below are the largest of 83 venture-relevant Form Ds we tracked with no coverage. Quiet raises tell you two things: who has fresh capital without the spotlight, and which investors are moving without press. Both are outreach gold. One caveat: Form D lags some closings — treat it as a signal, not ground truth.
Superhuman Platform Inc. — ~$320M total offering, Form D filed September 10 · filing |
Celero Communications, Inc. — ~$273M total offering, Form D filed September 9 · filing |
Rightway Healthcare, Inc. — ~$155M total offering, Form D filed September 8 · filing |
ALZHEON, INC. — ~$78.8M total offering, Form D filed September 10 · filing |
Quoin Pharmaceuticals Ltd. — ~$50M total offering, Form D filed September 10 · filing |
Argo Energy Solutions, Inc., a Texas Corp — ~$50M total offering, Form D filed September 10 · filing |
💰 Fresh Dry Powder
5 venture funds filed Form Ds for their own new money this week. New funds mean deployment pressure on a clock — a firm that just closed is answering cold decks, not passing on them. Names and filings below.
LumaBio I LP — ~$410M in the filing, Form D filed September 9 · filing |
Variant Fund IV, L.P. — ~$221.2M in the filing, Form D filed September 9 · filing |
ARMRA Capital Partners Growth, LP — ~$161.8M in the filing, Form D filed September 11 · filing |
KV 2026 CO - Allocate Access, L.P. — ~$128.8M in the filing, Form D filed September 9 · filing |
Earthshot Ventures Fund II, LP — ~$125M in the filing, Form D filed September 10 · filing |
🤓 Worth your time
Tomasz Tunguz on OpenAI's "3x productivity" claim: 3.14 agent-workdays per human shift, inference costs up 40x since March, and more than half of the tasks still need a person to finish them. If your deck says AI makes your team 3x more productive, the partner who read this will ask what it cost — have that number ready. Read it.
🎯 If You're Raising This Month
Series A is where the volume is: 4 of 17 rounds — 7 last week, 4 this week. Applied AI took 3 of 17 checks overall; if that's your lane, sequence outreach to the firms above this week — momentum begets attention. Healthcare saw 1; if that's you, plan for a longer conversation and lead with revenue, not narrative.
About to pitch? Don’t send the deck you have — send the deck that survives a partner meeting.
— Martin
Free forever. If this saved you an hour of funding-news archaeology, forward it to a founder who is raising.