Twelve tracked deals totaling $2.2B disclosed in a quiet late-August window. Defense commanded the lion's share: Castelion's $800M Series C at a $13B valuation (JPMorgan Strategic Investment Group, a16z, Carlyle) and Cambridge Aerospace's $300M Series C at $3.4B (DFJ Growth). AI stayed active with Higgsfield's $400M Series B at $5.4B (DST Global). Space drew Muon Space's $250M Series C at $1.5B (Eclipse Capital). Fintech and biotech each landed $100M rounds (Rillet at a $1.0B unicorn via ICONIQ; Aureka Biotechnologies via Granite Asia). Notably, Corma's $60M seed led by Sequoia is the largest seed in the window — cybersecurity pricing remains aggressive at the earliest stage. Smaller rounds: Edgify $9M Series A, ClearJet $25M Series B, Remepy $36M Series A, Rundoo $30M Series B, Frontieras $45M. Outside the tracked tape, headlines add Deep Cogito ($43M, self-improving AI), Wrtn ($76M Ser
Disclosed round capital in the window. Undisclosed amounts count as zero.
Disclosed rounds in the window · every bar opens the company's live page.
Twelve tracked deals totaling $2.2B disclosed in a quiet late-August window. Defense commanded the lion's share: Castelion's $800M Series C at a $13B valuation (JPMorgan Strategic Investment Group, a16z, Carlyle) and Cambridge Aerospace's $300M Series C at $3.4B (DFJ Growth). AI stayed active with Higgsfield's $400M Series B at $5.4B (DST Global). Space drew Muon Space's $250M Series C at $1.5B (Eclipse Capital). Fintech and biotech each landed $100M rounds (Rillet at a $1.0B unicorn via ICONIQ; Aureka Biotechnologies via Granite Asia). Notably, Corma's $60M seed led by Sequoia is the largest seed in the window — cybersecurity pricing remains aggressive at the earliest stage. Smaller rounds: Edgify $9M Series A, ClearJet $25M Series B, Remepy $36M Series A, Rundoo $30M Series B, Frontieras $45M. Outside the tracked tape, headlines add Deep Cogito ($43M, self-improving AI), Wrtn ($76M Ser
| Date | Company | Round | Amount | Valuation | Lead | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-20 | Muon Space | Series C | $250M | $1.5B | Eclipse Capital | Space |
| 2026-08-20 | Frontieras | Series Unknown | $45M | — | — | Energy |
| 2026-08-19 | Castelion | Series C | $800M | $13B | JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz & Carlyle | Defense |
| 2026-08-19 | Rundoo | Series B | $30M | — | — | Retail |
| 2026-08-18 | Rillet | Series C | $100M | $1.0B | ICONIQ | Fintech |
| 2026-08-17 | Higgsfield | Series B | $400M | $5.4B | DST Global | AI |
| 2026-08-12 | Remepy | Series A | $36M | — | — | Biotech |
| 2026-08-11 | Aureka Biotechnologies | Series B | $100M | — | Granite Asia | Biotechnology |
| 2026-08-11 | Corma | Seed | $60M | — | Sequoia Capital | Cybersecurity |
| 2026-08-11 | ClearJet | Series B | $25M | — | Edison Partners | Logistics |
| 2026-08-10 | Cambridge Aerospace | Series C | $300M | $3.4B | DFJ Growth | Defense |
| 2026-08-10 | Edgify | Series A | $9M | — | Rank Ventures and Mangrove Capital Partners | Artificial Intelligence |
Where the window's activity sits on the funding ladder: deal count (solid) against disclosed capital (faded) per stage, with the companies behind each cluster. Stages come from the reported round labels; undisclosed amounts count as zero capital.
Most-active leads reflect heavy concentration in a few mega-rounds rather than breadth. JPMorgan's Strategic Investment Group anchored $1.4B across deals; DST Global put $400M into Higgsfield; DFJ Growth led Cambridge Aerospace at $300M. Sequoia's $60M seed in Corma stands out as a signal that top-tier firms are still paying up for category-defining cybersecurity seeds. On the LP side, fundraising is bifurcated: Ventures Platform closed an $84M Pan-African Fund II (above $75M target), and Capital F raised a $17M debut fund targeting the 'female economy.' Two new private credit funds landed in Asia for tech and climate, suggesting continued appetite for alternative structures. The thinness of
| Lead Investor | Deals | Disclosed Capital |
|---|---|---|
| Nvidia & Coatue | 1 | $2.0B |
| JPMorgan Strategic Investment Group (anchor) | 1 | $1.4B |
| JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz & Carlyle | 1 | $800M |
| Atreides Management, Bain Capital Ventures, Meritech, Seligman Ventures & Spark Capital | 1 | $700M |
| DST Global | 1 | $400M |
| Situational Awareness | 1 | $400M |
| DFJ Growth | 1 | $300M |
| Eclipse Capital | 1 | $250M |
The dominant story is Nvidia's reported $12.9B agreement to acquire Hugging Face — confirmed across CNBC, PYMNTS, and multiple outlets. This would rank among the largest AI acquisitions on record and signals that Nvidia is willing to buy infrastructure and community, not just build it. One headline ('Startup Fortune') adds a wrinkle: Hugging Face reportedly 'explored' a $13B sale after 'rejecting Nvidia's money,' suggesting terms may still be in flux. Separately, Stripe continues an active M&A spree per Business Post, though specific targets and amounts were not disclosed in the data provided. No other material M&A events appear in today's headlines.
Funding headlines from outside the tracked book — sourced links, not QL data.
The largest recent private rounds ($100M+) across the tracked book — 1931 ranked. Full board: quantlogix.ai/mega-rounds.
The Silicon Valley Private Market Daily — the 8pm PT desk close: qualified raises, roster re-rates and sector velocity from the QL private-market pipeline.
The private market displays high concentration in AI-driven startups, with massive valuation premiums for early-stage ventures (e.g., Instinct). Regional venture activity is diversifying, with significant capital flowing into African and female-focused markets despite global economic uncertainties.
🗂️ Dataset updated: added 1 company to the QuantLogix private-companies list — Runable — 2,185 → 2,186. Append-only.
100 tracked names flagged for markdown risk — 120 scored nightly, 2065 left unscored (no comp bridge). Down rounds are recorded in the open ledger — receipts only work in public. Live boards: markdown-watch · down-round-ledger.
| # | Company | Sector | Risk Score | Band | Vs Comps | Last Mark | Last Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linktree | SaaS | 86 | High | +506% | $1.3B | 53 mo ago |
| 2 | Replit | Data / Infra | 86 | High | +228% | $9.0B | 40 mo ago |
| 3 | Xendit | Financial Services | 80 | High | +1636% | $2.7B | 52 mo ago |
| 4 | Forter | Fintech | 80 | High | +838% | $3.0B | 64 mo ago |
| 5 | Greenlight | Fintech | 80 | High | +528% | $2.3B | 65 mo ago |
| 6 | Betterment | Fintech | 80 | High | +370% | $1.1B | 41 mo ago |
| 7 | BetterUp | SaaS | 80 | High | +281% | $4.7B | 59 mo ago |
| 8 | Cross River Bank | fintech | 80 | High | +178% | $3.0B | 53 mo ago |
Nightly score: comp-bridge premium (45%) · round staleness (30%) · IPO-readiness drag (15%) · funding deceleration (10%). Companies without a computable public-comp bridge stay unscored — never guessed.
23 markdowns detected all-time · 4 flagged beforehand · 19 missed · hit rate 17.4%
| Company | Detected | Event | Mark | Called? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Splashtop | 2026-08-24 | Mark cut −9.1% | $1.1B → $1.0B | ✗ Missed |
| Amperity | 2026-08-24 | Mark cut −9.1% | $1.1B → $1.0B | ✗ Missed |
| Maven Clinic | 2026-08-24 | Mark cut −20.6% | $1.7B → $1.4B | ✗ Missed |
| Form Energy | 2026-08-24 | Mark cut −30.0% | $2.5B → $1.8B | ✗ Missed |
| Enovate Motors | 2026-08-24 | Mark cut −42.6% | $3.7B → $2.1B | ✗ Missed |
| Fever | 2026-08-24 | Mark cut −79.1% | $18B → $3.6B | ✗ Missed |
| Enter | 2026-08-24 | Mark cut −99.4% | $190B → $1.2B | ✗ Missed |
| Wonder | 2026-08-17 | Mark cut −16.2% | $9.0B → $7.5B | ✗ Missed |
Down-round & valuation headlines scraped at publication from Google News, Hacker News, CNBC, Yahoo Finance and the wider tech press.
Castelion at $13B and Cambridge Aerospace at $3.4B show sovereign-grade capital flowing to defense-tech. Founders in adjacent verticals (space, autonomy, secure comms) should position toward dual-use narratives to capture this appetite.
Corma's $60M Sequoia-led seed is an outlier, not a baseline. Most seeds in the window were sub-$10M. Raise on category-defining moats if you want top-tier pricing; otherwise expect disciplined term sheets.
Maven Clinic's 20.6% cut and 100 companies on markdown watch signal that 2021-vintage marks are still correcting. If you're raising on a prior markup, expect diligence on public-comp multiples, especially if you're in Linktree/Replit/Xendit territory.
Expect a September reacceleration as funds return from summer pacing. Defense and AI infrastructure will likely absorb the largest checks. The Hugging Face outcome — whether it closes at $12.9B or becomes a bidding catalyst — will set the ceiling for AI-platform valuations. Founders should watch whether private credit structures expand beyond Asia into US tech deals.