Key Takeaways

  • Keyfactor and SambaNova each closed $1 billion in new funding, reinforcing investor focus on cybersecurity and AI infrastructure.
  • Multiple nine-figure rounds across AI, quantum computing, crypto infrastructure, and energy show capital concentration in late-stage deep tech.
  • Current research points to sustained growth in cybersecurity and AI venture activity, with frameworks like NIST and ISO shaping enterprise demand.

AI funding momentum held its ground this week. Two separate $1 billion rounds for Keyfactor and SambaNova set the pace, illustrating how capital is consolidating around the infrastructure layers that support enterprise AI adoption and digital trust. The timing aligns with broader patterns cited by analysts, including a steady rise in AI infrastructure investment and a renewed focus on identity security.

While the week's list spans sectors from geothermal drilling to oncology, the gravitational pull toward AI and cybersecurity was unmistakable. Venture firms and private equity groups continued leaning into categories that underpin operational resilience and computational capacity.

Keyfactor opened the week's ranking with a $1 billion private equity round led by Summit Partners, with Insight Partners and Sixth Street Growth also participating. The Independence, Ohio, company focuses on digital identity and machine identity management, an area that has gained traction as enterprises scale interconnected devices and certificate lifecycles. According to analysts at Forrester, more than 60% of security leaders plan to increase spending on AI-enabled security analytics over the next 12 to 18 months, contextualizing the investor appetite surrounding platforms like Keyfactor.

SambaNova shared the top spot with its $1 billion Series F at an $11 billion post-money valuation. General Atlantic led the round, and the participant list included Battery Ventures, BlackRock, Capital Group, Intel Capital, Qatar Investment Authority, T. Rowe Price, and Vista Equity Partners. SambaNova develops chips and enterprise infrastructure for AI training and inference workloads. The round brings its total capital raised to nearly $2.5 billion. According to research from McKinsey, generative AI infrastructure companies attracted over $25 billion in funding during 2023 alone.

A different slice of deep tech appeared in third place. Oratomic secured a $300 million Series A co-led by Arch Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and Spark Capital. Sixteen investors took part, including Bezos Expeditions, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, a co-founder of Robinhood, and a prominent computer scientist. Oratomic is working on neutral-atom quantum hardware and fault-tolerant architectures. Quantum investment activity has been consistent, and investors continue to watch how quickly hardware vendors can transition toward commercial systems.

Quaise Energy drew attention as well. The Houston company raised $134 million in a Series B led by Prelude Ventures, with Jera Ventures, Idemitsu Americas Holdings Corp., and Safar Partners participating. Quaise's millimeter-wave drilling technology is intended to enable access to deep geothermal energy. The company has now raised $225 million in total. Diversification in clean energy portfolios correlates with macro investment cycles as industrial customers evaluate long-term options.

Prime Intellect appeared with a $130 million Series A. Radical Ventures led the round, and the cap table included backers such as the CEO of Box, the CEO of Perplexity, a co-founder of OpenAI, the CEO of Cloudflare, and the co-CEO of Ramp. Corporate investors Dell Technologies Capital, Intel Capital, and NVentures also participated. Prime Intellect aims to create an open platform for training and deploying AI models across distributed compute networks. The company has raised $200.4 million so far.

Crypto infrastructure also made an appearance. Gauntlet reportedly raised $125 million in a Series B backed solely by Japan's SBI Group. The New York company develops simulation, risk management, and optimization software for decentralized finance protocols. EDX Markets secured $76 million, also from SBI Group, signaling institutional investors' long-term interest in digital asset infrastructure.

New York-based Norm AI followed with a $120 million Series C at a reported $1.2 billion valuation. Khosla Ventures led the round. The company builds AI systems that translate laws and regulations into automated compliance workflows. Investors in the new round included Bain Capital Ventures, Fenwick & West, Craft Ventures, Coatue, New York Life Insurance, Vanguard, and the chairman of Costco. Demand for AI-driven compliance tools has increased alongside regulatory complexity, and many organizations align their programs with standards such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ISO/IEC 27001 to structure governance strategies.

In aerospace, Venus Aerospace brought in $91 million in Series B financing. Mercury led the round, which included investors such as Trousdale Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Airbus Ventures, and Draper Associates. Venus focuses on hypersonic propulsion systems that could reduce long-distance flight times and support defense applications. Interest in hypersonic systems has remained steady due to both commercial and strategic considerations.

Fore Biotherapeutics closed $67.4 million in Series D funding. The Philadelphia company develops precision oncology therapies targeting rare cancer mutations. SR One led the round, with participation from Windham Venture Partners, Wellington Management, Primer Ventures, and Samsung Securities. Fore Biotherapeutics has raised just over $274 million to date.

Several international deals rounded out the picture. Proxima Fusion in Munich raised €411 million, or about $468 million, to support development of a commercial fusion energy plant. Skello in Paris secured €200 million, or about $229 million, in private equity financing from Bridgepoint Group for its HR software platform.

Investors are concentrating capital on the tools and infrastructure enterprises use to build, secure, and deploy AI systems. The simultaneous presence of quantum computing, geothermal energy, hypersonics, and crypto infrastructure shows that deep tech investment remains broad. The pattern aligns with data from Gartner, which tracks a compound annual growth rate of roughly 44% in AI startup investment from 2016 to 2023. Capital is flowing to areas that support computational scale and trustworthy operations, driving concrete developments in enterprise security and modeling platforms.