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QUANTLOGIX STARTUP DAILY
FRIDAY · 09/18/2026 SILICON VALLEY
Displayed Rounds
12
Past 7 days
Disclosed Capital
$5.3B
Past 7 days
Tracked Startups
2,431
QL private book
Mega-Round Board
8
$100M+ recent
Markdown Watch
100
names flagged

Crusoe Energy Systems Series F ($3.9B) leads the startup tape

12 deals, $5.3B disclosed this week. Crusoe Energy Systems Series F ($3.9B at $31B post, led by Atreides/Mubadala/Valor) is 74% of tape capital. Energy sector went from zero prior-week rounds to $4.0B. AI capital fell 78% WoW to $673M despite 9 rounds — no mega-rounds this window vs prior-week concentration. Notable step-ups: Factory $5.0B (+233% from $1.5B in Apr), Temporal $12.55B (+151% from $5.0B in Feb), Impulse Space $5.6B (+31.5% from $4.26B in Jun), Profound $1.8B (+80% from $1.0B in Feb). Instinct (AI) is IN TALKS, not closed. TypeSafe AI seed at $200M post ($40M raise, DCVC lead) signals rich seed pricing. Weekly capital +7.5% vs prior week but composition shifted sharply to energy.

Daily Startup News

Last-24h: Canva marked down by T. Rowe Price and Franklin Templeton — major public-market fund managers cutting private marks. WSJ flags hidden risk in private credit and warns rising rates will worsen PE's bad year. L'Oréal selected Laminar for second L'AcceleratOR cohort. Chinese AI startup Moonshot landed Wall Street data deals. Nigerian Drive45 Mobility secured $3M debt facility. Viabot raised $24M Series A (robotic outdoor cleaning). Ravel raised $8.2M (clothing recycling/spandex). Comp AI raised $34M Series A (security/compliance automation, recent context). Manus targeting $4B valuation in first raise since forced Meta split — announcement of intent, not closed.

Valuations & Secondary Transactions

Reported post-money marks: Crusoe $31B (Series F, no prior comp available), Temporal $12.55B (+151% from $5.0B), Impulse Space $5.6B (+31.5%), Factory $5.0B (+233%), Profound $1.8B (+80%), TypeSafe AI $200M seed, Pave Finance $100M Series A. Markdown Watch: Linktree (86/100, +471% vs public comps), Replit (86/100, +217%), Xendit (80/100, +1928%) — 100 on watch, 123 scored of 2,431 tracked. Recent markdown events: Upgrade (-30.8%), Applied Intuition (-60%), Axonius (-61.5%). Canva marked down by T. Rowe and Franklin Templeton (last-24h). Bending Spoons bought Miro at 90% discount (recent context). Step-ups and markdowns coexisting — bifurcation widening.

Company / Round DateReported Post-MoneyPrior Post-Money / DateMark ChangeEvidence
Crusoe Energy Systems
2026-09-17
$31BUnavailableNot comparableTracked roster; source link unavailable
Impulse Space
2026-09-16
$5.6B$4.3B
2026-06-02
+31.5%Tracked roster; source link unavailable
Factory
2026-09-15
$5.0B$1.5B
2026-04-16
+233.3%Tracked roster; source link unavailable
Profound
2026-09-15
$1.8B$1.0B
2026-02-24
+80.0%Tracked roster; source link unavailable
TypeSafe AI
2026-09-15
$200MUnavailableNot comparableTracked roster; source link unavailable
Pave Finance
2026-09-14
$100MUnavailableNot comparableTracked roster; source link unavailable
Temporal
2026-09-14
$13B$5.0B
2026-02-17
+151.0%Tracked roster; source link unavailable

Historical round marks are not replaced with today's company valuation. Mark changes compare disclosed post-money levels, not investor returns; dilution and financing terms may differ. Secondary indications, fund marks and enterprise values in linked reporting are separate evidence, not interchangeable round valuations.

Capital by Sector

EnergyEnergy · $4.0B disclosed in window$4.0BAIAI · $581M disclosed in window$581MDefense & SpaceDefense & Space · $308M disclosed in window$308MDeveloper ToolsDeveloper Tools · $200M disclosed in window$200MRoboticsRobotics · $80M disclosed in window$80MCybersecurityCybersecurity · $72M disclosed in window$72M

Disclosed round capital in the window. Undisclosed amounts count as zero.

The Funding Tape — Past 7 days

12 deals, $5.3B disclosed this week. Crusoe Energy Systems Series F ($3.9B at $31B post, led by Atreides/Mubadala/Valor) is 74% of tape capital. Energy sector went from zero prior-week rounds to $4.0B. AI capital fell 78% WoW to $673M despite 9 rounds — no mega-rounds this window vs prior-week concentration. Notable step-ups: Factory $5.0B (+233% from $1.5B in Apr), Temporal $12.55B (+151% from $5.0B in Feb), Impulse Space $5.6B (+31.5% from $4.26B in Jun), Profound $1.8B (+80% from $1.0B in Feb). Instinct (AI) is IN TALKS, not closed. TypeSafe AI seed at $200M post ($40M raise, DCVC lead) signals rich seed pricing. Weekly capital +7.5% vs prior week but composition shifted sharply to energy.

DateCompanyRoundAmountReported Post-MoneyLeadSector
2026-09-17 Crusoe Energy Systems Series F $3.9B $31B Atreides Management, Mubadala Capital and Valor Equity Partners Energy
2026-09-17 Mazama Energy Series B $135M Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital Energy
2026-09-17 MIND Series B $72M Crosspoint Capital Partners Cybersecurity
2026-09-17 Watney Robotics Series A $80M Valor Atreides AI Fund and Hummingbird Ventures Robotics
2026-09-16 Arcee AI Series B $150M Vista Equity Partners / Cambium Capital / Emergence Capital (co-led) AI
2026-09-16 Impulse Space Series D extension $308M $5.6B Defense & Space
2026-09-15 Factory Growth round (series undisclosed) $200M $5.0B Developer Tools
2026-09-15 Instinct New round — IN TALKS, not closed AI
2026-09-15 Profound Series D $180M $1.8B Sequoia Capital / Kleiner Perkins (co-led) AI
2026-09-15 TypeSafe AI Seed $40M $200M DCVC AI
2026-09-14 Aron Seed $6M Storm Ventures AI
2026-09-14 Cornelis Networks Series C $205M IAG Capital Partners AI

Stage Mix — Deals & Capital by Stage

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.

Seed: 2Series A: 1Series B: 3Series C–D: 3Late / Growth: 2Other: 1
Seed · 2 deals · $46MSeries A · 1 deal · $80MSeries B · 3 deals · $357MSeries C–D · 3 deals · $693MLate / Growth · 2 deals · $4.1BOther · 1 deal
SeedSeed: 2 deals2 dealsSeed: $46M$46MSeries ASeries A: 1 deal1 dealSeries A: $80M$80MSeries BSeries B: 3 deals3 dealsSeries B: $357M$357MSeries C–DSeries C–D: 3 deals3 dealsSeries C–D: $693M$693MLate / GrowthLate / Growth: 2 deals2 dealsLate / Growth: $4.1B$4.1BOtherOther: 1 deal1 dealOther: no disclosed capital
Seed
2 deals · $46M disclosed · 1% of window capital
Series A
1 deal · $80M disclosed · 2% of window capital
Series B
3 deals · $357M disclosed · 7% of window capital
Series C–D
3 deals · $693M disclosed · 13% of window capital
Late / Growth
2 deals · $4.1B disclosed · 78% of window capital
Other
1 deal · disclosed

VC Activity & Lead Investors

Most-active leads by total round size: Atreides/Mubadala/Valor ($3.9B, 1 deal), IAG Capital ($205M), Sequoia/Kleiner co-lead ($180M), Vista/Cambium/Emergence co-lead ($150M). New fund vehicles announced: Pulse Fund closed $63M inaugural climate fund; Finvolve first close Rs 90 cr of Rs 250 cr fund for defense/aerospace/deeptech; Asiana Fund + JC Capital launched Rs 1,000 cr deeptech fund; SK hynix launched SK hynix Ventures CVC in Silicon Valley. Bain's $1.6B fund reported as AI-reshaped VC vehicle. Galaxy research notes crypto VCs deployed ~$5.6B in Q2 toward later-stage deals. Crunchbase analysis of 25K startup applications reveals shifting seed-stage norms. These are fund-size announcemen

Lead InvestorDisplayed DealsAssociated Round Sizes
Atreides Management, Mubadala Capital and Valor Equity Partners1$3.9B
IAG Capital Partners1$205M
Sequoia Capital / Kleiner Perkins (co-led)1$180M
Vista Equity Partners / Cambium Capital / Emergence Capital (co-led)1$150M
Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital1$135M
Valor Atreides AI Fund and Hummingbird Ventures1$80M
Crosspoint Capital Partners1$72M
DCVC1$40M

Total sizes of associated rounds, not the lead investor's check sizes. Investor types are not inferred from their names.

Private Equity & Growth Buyouts

Last-24h: New Mountain Capital made PE investment in Appleby (law firm). WSJ warns rising rates will worsen PE's bad year and flags hidden risk in private credit. VRS terminated AQR strategy, reallocating to private markets. DC scheme private-market allocations could reach 30% by 2035 (Pensions Age). IPE conference reports investors blurring asset-class boundaries between private markets. Clearlake took full control of Chelsea after buying out Boehly and Walter. Tenet launched portal for accountants to offer forecasts/valuations — infrastructure for PE-adjacent services.

Investment Funds & Capital Formation

New fund announcements (last-24h): Pulse Fund closed $63M inaugural climate fund. Finvolve first close Rs 90 cr (target Rs 250 cr) for defense/aerospace/deeptech. Asiana Fund + JC Capital launched Rs 1,000 cr deeptech fund. SK hynix launched SK hynix Ventures CVC in Silicon Valley. Bain's $1.6B fund reported as AI-reshaping VC. VRS reallocating from AQR to private markets. DC pension allocations to private markets projected to reach 30% by 2035. Fund sizes are commitments/AUM, not deployed startup capital. National Law Review notes billion-dollar rounds rewriting startup playbook — relevant to fund strategy.

M&A & Exits

Last-24h M&A evidence is thin on deal value. Taboola acquiring Dianomi for up to £27M (finance advertising expansion). Ayana Bio and Zenfold buying Meati Foods's fermentation assets to scale plant cell culture in India. FCC approved Paramount-Warner Bros. merger foreign investment clearance. Kingsmen Software's three founders departed Sparq post-2024 acquisition — a cautionary post-acquisition retention signal. Bending Spoons acquired Miro at reported 90% discount (recent context, not last-24h). SpaceX reportedly targeting defunct startups' data for cheaper AI training materials — tangential to M&A but signals distressed-asset harvesting.

Off-Book Wire

Funding headlines from outside the tracked book — sourced links, not QL data.

Mega-Round Board

The largest recent private rounds ($100M+) across the tracked book — 2072 ranked. Full board: quantlogix.ai/mega-rounds.

OpenAIOpenAI · $122B · Late-stage primary122000WaymoWaymo · $16B · 2026 mega-round16000Scale AIScale AI · $14B · Series F + Meta investment14300PrometheusPrometheus · $12B · Funding12000SwitchSwitch · $11B · Buyout/LBO11000Blue OriginBlue Origin · $10B · Private (Bezos-funded)10000

🎯 QL Score Movers

Biggest overnight changes in the graded company score — scores only move when disclosed data moves, and every repricing grades the score that was standing.

CompanyScoreΔ
Nium 49 → 63 +14
Slash 56 → 62 +6
Current 62 → 65 +3

Private Markets Weekday Digest · 09/18/2026

Display-only private-markets tape from the tracked roster — formations, priced fundraises, valuation marks, and U.S. VC lead activity. No inferred amounts; empty sections stay empty.

Window: 2026-09-18 · sources: private-companies.json, investors.json

New company formations

NameRound / detailAmount / markDate
Harmonic formation 2026-09-18

Fund raises

No rows in the report window.

Valuation marks

No rows in the report window.

Top U.S. VC activity

No rows in the report window.

Private Market Desk — Evening Edition · 09/17/2026

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.

💰 Notable Raises

  • Lyte$165M Series C. The nine-figure round stands out against the broader early-stage funding market.
  • D-Robotics$400M Series C. Building the compute-and-software backbone for robots Closed a major $400M funding round to develop core infrastructure for the robotics industry.
  • Crusoe$3.9B at a $30.9B valuation. Data center developer building modular AI factories Secured $3.9B in new funding to scale data center infrastructure, achieving a $30.9B valuation.
  • Comp AI$34M Series A led by Roo Capital and Grand Ventures (+ Roo Capital, Grand Ventures). Continuously agentic platform for security and compliance Announced $34M Series A to scale its agentic approach to cybersecurity and compliance.

🔍 Reported, not yet verified

  • Treble — reported $18M; details did not clear cross-source verification — held for manual review, excluded from the dataset.

📊 Valuation re-rates (roster marks that moved)

  • Impulse Space — $4.3B (2026-Q2) → $5.6B (+31%) on Series D extension.
  • Factory — $1.5B (2026-Q2) → $5B (+233%) on Growth round (series undisclosed).
  • Profound — $1B (2026-Q1) → $1.8B (+80%) on Series D led by Sequoia Capital / Kleiner Perkins (co-led).
  • Temporal — $5B (2026-Q1) → $12.6B (+151%) on Series E led by Lightspeed.
  • Harvey — $11B (2026-Q1) → $15.5B (+41%) on Later Stage VC led by Diffusion / Lightspeed Venture Partners (co-led).
  • Cognition — $26B (2026-Q2) → $48B (+85%) on Later Stage VC led by Andreessen Horowitz / Accel / Founders Fund / General Catalyst / Avenir (co-led).
  • Upwind — $1.5B (2026-Q1) → $3.8B (+153%) on Series C led by Bessemer Venture Partners, TCV.
  • AfterQuery — $300M (2026-Q2) → $3.2B (+967%) on Growth round (reported).
  • Fluidstack — $7.5B (2026-Q1) → $18B (+140%) on Growth round (series undisclosed) led by Jane Street.
  • Instinct — $500M (2026-Q3) → $2.5B (+400%) on Series B led by Index Ventures / Benchmark (co-led).
  • Firmus Technologies — $5.5B (2026-Q1) → $10.5B (+91%) on Growth Equity led by Nvidia & Coatue.
  • Hadrian — $1.6B (2025-Q3) → $7.9B (+392%) on Series D led by JPMorgan Strategic Investment Group.
  • HappyRobot — $500M (2025-Q3) → $1.2B (+140%) on Series C led by Prysm Capital.
  • Owner — $1B (2025-Q2) → $2.3B (+130%) on Series D led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
  • K2 Space — $3B (2025-Q4) → $6.8B (+127%) on Series D led by Kleiner Perkins / ICONIQ Capital.
  • Anthropic — $965B (2026-Q2) → $1000B (+4%) on Strategic Investment led by AMD.
  • Wonder — $7B (2025-Q2) → $9.7B (+38%) on Series D.
  • Baseten — $5B (2026-Q1) → $13B (+160%) on Series F led by Altimeter Capital, Conviction, Spark Capital.
  • Prometheus — $38B (2026-Q2) → $41B (+8%) on Funding led by Jeff Bezos.
  • Ramp — $32B (2025-Q3) → $44B (+38%) on Series F led by ICONIQ / GIC / Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

⚡ Mega-round momentum (sector velocity, closed rounds)

  • AI — $18.7B across 22 rounds / 22 companies (accelerating, 22 vs. 6 prior rounds). Top: Anthropic $5B (Strategic Investment).
  • Defense — $3.4B across 5 rounds / 5 companies (accelerating, 5 vs. 1 prior round). Top: Helsing $1.8B (Late Stage).
  • Energy — $2.6B across 4 rounds / 4 companies (accelerating, 4 vs. 1 prior round). Top: Valar Atomics $1B (Series B).
  • Space / Defense — $1.5B across 2 rounds / 2 companies (new, new vs. a quiet prior window). Top: Stoke Space $1B (Series E).
  • Defense / Industrials — $1.4B across 1 round / 1 company (new, new vs. a quiet prior window). Top: Hadrian $1.4B (Series D).
  • Technology — $1.3B across 5 rounds / 5 companies (accelerating, 5 vs. 1 prior round). Top: Battery Storage Startup Antora $550M (Series C).

🚀 New / Stealth Companies

  • No fresh stealth intake surfaced this window.

🏦 Private-Market Fund Watch

  • Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI) (RVI) — Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI) reported a portfolio addition with status portfolio_update. New holdings: Crusoe. [Primary source](https://robinhood.com/us/en/newsroom/RVII-confidential-draft-registration-statement/)

📊 Robinhood Ventures Performance

  • RVI — $27.76 close (2026-09-17) · day +1.98% · since first available close (2026-03-06) +32.19% · NAV/premium-discount not published in today's qualified inputs.
  • RVII — $22.72 close (2026-09-17) · day -0.70% · since first available close (2026-08-13) -1% · NAV/premium-discount not published in today's qualified inputs.

🏛️ Institutional Ownership (13F)

  • RVI: no holders currently indexed in the curated top-manager 13F universe. The quarter-over-quarter read is BEARISH: 0 new, 0 increased, 0 decreased, and 1 exited (2026-03-31 → 2026-06-30). Coverage is filing-based and can lag quarter-end by up to 45 days.
  • RVII: no holders currently indexed in the curated top-manager 13F universe. Coverage is filing-based and can lag quarter-end by up to 45 days.

🧭 Macro read

The private market is currently defined by massive capital concentration in AI infrastructure, evidenced by Crusoe's $3.9 billion raise and Bain Capital Ventures' $1.6 billion AI-focused fund. Despite this, there is mounting uncertainty in the broader debt and equity markets as the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes begin to impact borrowing costs and potentially restrict the debt-fueled growth strategies that many AI-focused firms rely on.

🗂️ Dataset updated: added 2 companies to the QuantLogix private-companies list — D-Robotics, Comp AI — 2,428 → 2,430. Append-only.

🔗 Sources

  • [SF Business Times](https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2026/09/02/lyte-maverick-silicon-funding-round.html)
  • [TechStartups](https://techstartups.com/2026/09/17/startup-funding-news-today-september-17-2026-d-robotics-treble-tusk-ic-more/)
  • [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/17/crusoe-raises-3-9b-to-build-massive-data-centers-and-small-modular-ai-factories/)
  • [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/17/comp-ai-sets-eyes-on-a-continiously-agentic-future-for-security-and-complaince/)
  • [Robinhood Ventures](https://robinhood.com/us/en/newsroom/RVII-confidential-draft-registration-statement/)
  • [RVI market performance](https://polygon.io/)
  • [SEC Form 13F methodology](https://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment/13ffaq.htm)

Markdown Watch

100 tracked names flagged for markdown risk — 123 scored nightly, 2302 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.

Click a column to sort · third click restores rank order
#CompanySectorRisk ScoreBandVs CompsLast MarkLast Round
1 Linktree SaaS 86 High +471% $1.3B 54 mo ago
2 Replit Data / Infra 86 High +217% $9.0B 41 mo ago
3 Xendit Financial Services 80 High +1928% $2.7B 52 mo ago
4 Forter Fintech 80 High +995% $3.0B 64 mo ago
5 Greenlight Fintech 80 High +633% $2.3B 66 mo ago
6 Betterment Fintech 80 High +449% $1.1B 42 mo ago
7 Cross River Bank fintech 80 High +224% $3.0B 54 mo ago
8 Pump SaaS 75 High +1520% $1.5B 28 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.

56 markdowns detected all-time · 11 flagged beforehand · 45 missed · hit rate 19.6%

CompanyDetectedEventMarkCalled?
Upgrade 2026-09-14 Mark cut −30.8% $7.3B → $5.0B ✓ Flagged #64 · Moderate
Applied Intuition 2026-09-14 Mark cut −60.0% $15B → $6.0B ✗ Missed
Axonius 2026-09-14 Mark cut −61.5% $2.6B → $1.0B ✗ Missed
Digital Currency Group 2026-09-14 Mark cut −80.0% $10B → $2.0B ✗ Missed
ChargeBee 2026-09-07 Mark cut −6.7% $3.8B → $3.5B ✗ Missed
Increase 2026-09-07 Mark cut −7.4% $5.4B → $5.0B ✗ Missed
Aurora Solar 2026-09-07 Mark cut −9.1% $4.4B → $4.0B ✗ Missed
Razorpay 2026-09-07 Mark cut −25.3% $7.5B → $5.6B ✗ Missed

Down-round & valuation headlines scraped at publication from Google News, Hacker News, CNBC, Yahoo Finance and the wider tech press.

IPO Runway — Latest Deep Dives

Founder & Investor Take

Energy is the new mega-round magnet

Crusoe's $3.9B at $31B shows energy infrastructure can absorb billion-dollar checks. If you're in energy, AI infrastructure, or data-center-adjacent hardware, capital is sector-rotating toward you. AI-only deals are getting smaller this week.

Step-ups and markdowns are coexisting

Factory (+233%), Temporal (+151%), Profound (+80%) raised at sharp step-ups while Canva gets cut by T. Rowe and Axonius dropped 61.5%. Quality and sector matter more than stage. Seed at $200M (TypeSafe AI) shows top-tier AI seeds still price rich.

Down rounds are real — plan for them

100 companies on markdown watch. Bending Spoons bought Miro at 90% discount. Founder vesting acceleration in down-round bridges is being discussed openly. If your last round was 2024-2025 at peak comps, expect markdown pressure in secondary pricing even if you're growing.

Outlook

Energy mega-rounds may continue if Crusoe signals broader infrastructure appetite, but one deal doesn't make a trend. AI capital decline is likely a timing gap, not a structural shift — watch for mega-rounds returning. Markdown pressure will intensify as public-market fund managers reprice 2024-2025 vintages. Founders raising now should expect bifurcation: step-ups for sector-favored deals, flat o

QuantLogix briefings are educational market commentary generated from live data, not investment advice. Private-market figures come from public reporting and the QuantLogix private-company dataset; amounts and valuations are as-reported, not audited. Markets carry risk of loss.