← Back to Dashboard
Share:
◆QUANTLOGIX STARTUP DAILY
SUNDAY · 09/27/2026 SILICON VALLEY
Displayed Rounds
12
Past 7 days
Disclosed Capital
$449M
Past 7 days
Tracked Startups
2,568
QL private book
Mega-Round Board
8
$100M+ recent
Markdown Watch
100
names flagged

◆ OpenEvidence Unlabeled (reported) ($250M) leads the startup tape

12 disclosed deals totaling $449M on the displayed tape. Largest: OpenEvidence, reported $250M at a $15B post-money (unlabeled round, no lead listed) — an announcement, not a confirmed close. Mid-cap: BigHat Biosciences $75M Series C (DFJ Growth, Premji Invest co-lead), HIFI $37M Series A (Left Lane), iPiD $16M, Arivihan $10M at $60M post-money. Early stage dominates deal count: Sanyark Space $2M pre-seed, ByteAsk $1M pre-seed (YC/EF), Dextr AI $7M seed, Feather $8M pre-seed (Gradient), Ando $20M combined pre-seed/seed split across Accel, Emergence and Index. Lead-count notes above reflect total round sizes, not individual checks. Mega-round board: OpenAI $122B, Waymo $16B, Scale AI $14B — context, not this week's deals.

◆ Daily Startup News

Skyroot Aerospace is eyeing a $300M funding round (reported, last 24h, no terms or investors in evidence). Anthropic IPO coverage circulates (TradingKey headline) — treat as speculation; no filing or timetable in the data. A claimed Claude Sonnet 5.5 leak pre-Monday launch is unverified rumor. Fireworks and Fal are reportedly considering new rounds as inference demand soars (The Information, recent context) — deliberations, not commitments. Counterpoint: 36Kr reports a company that raised 300M yuan subsequently announced bankruptcy; capital raised is not survival. Cornelis Networks reported $205M raised (recent context).

◆ Valuations & Secondary Transactions

Reported post-money marks: OpenEvidence $15B, +25% vs $12B (Jan 2026). Cyera's $400M Series G extension priced flat at $12B vs June — flat is a signal. Rightway $1.75B, +59.1% vs $1.1B in 2021. Brahma AI $2B, +39.9% vs $1.43B (Feb 2025). New marks: Hubble Network $1.6B, Basecamp Research $800M, Verda $1B, Pilgrim $150M seed. Markdown watch (125 of 2,568 scored): Linktree 86/100 (+492% vs public comps), Replit 86 (+179%), Xendit 80 (+1856%) — all flagged High. Recent ledger cuts: Etched -51.5%, Found -70%, Anchorage Digital -28.6%. Step-ups and cuts coexist.

Company / Round DateReported Post-MoneyPrior Post-Money / DateMark ChangeEvidence
Arivihan
2026-09-25
$60MUnavailableNot comparableTracked roster; source link unavailable
OpenEvidence
2026-09-24
$15B$12B
2026-01-21
+25.0%Tracked roster; source link unavailable
Rightway
2026-09-24
$1.8B$1.1B
2021-03-30
+59.1%Tracked roster; source link unavailable
Basecamp Research
2026-09-23
$800MUnavailableNot comparableTracked roster; source link unavailable
Brahma AI
2026-09-23
$2.0B$1.4B
2025-02-18
+39.9%Tracked roster; source link unavailable
Hubble Network
2026-09-23
$1.6BUnavailableNot comparableTracked roster; source link unavailable
Pilgrim
2026-09-23
$150MUnavailableNot comparableTracked roster; source link unavailable
Cyera
2026-09-22
$12B$12B
2026-06-10
0.0%Tracked roster; source link unavailable
Verda
2026-09-22
$1.0BUnavailableNot comparableTracked 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

HealthcareHealthcare · $270M disclosed in window$270MDrug DiscoveryDrug Discovery · $75M disclosed in window$75MFintechFintech · $53M disclosed in window$53MBusiness/Productivity SoftwareBusiness/Productivity Software · $20M disclosed in window$20MEducationEducation · $10M disclosed in window$10MRoboticsRobotics · $8M disclosed in window$8M

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

◆ The Funding Tape — Past 7 days

12 disclosed deals totaling $449M on the displayed tape. Largest: OpenEvidence, reported $250M at a $15B post-money (unlabeled round, no lead listed) — an announcement, not a confirmed close. Mid-cap: BigHat Biosciences $75M Series C (DFJ Growth, Premji Invest co-lead), HIFI $37M Series A (Left Lane), iPiD $16M, Arivihan $10M at $60M post-money. Early stage dominates deal count: Sanyark Space $2M pre-seed, ByteAsk $1M pre-seed (YC/EF), Dextr AI $7M seed, Feather $8M pre-seed (Gradient), Ando $20M combined pre-seed/seed split across Accel, Emergence and Index. Lead-count notes above reflect total round sizes, not individual checks. Mega-round board: OpenAI $122B, Waymo $16B, Scale AI $14B — context, not this week's deals.

DateCompanyRoundAmountReported Post-MoneyLeadSector
2026-09-26 Sanyark Space Pre-Seed $2M — Avaana Capital; AUM Ventures Space
2026-09-25 Arivihan Series A $10M $60M Accel; Prosus Education
2026-09-24 Ando Pre-seed + Seed (combined) $20M — Index Ventures; Emergence Capital (seed); Accel (pre-seed) Business/Productivity Software
2026-09-24 Basalt Health Series A $20M — NEA Healthcare
2026-09-24 BigHat Biosciences Series C $75M — DFJ Growth; Premji Invest (co-leads) Drug Discovery
2026-09-24 ByteAsk Pre-seed $1M — Y Combinator; Entrepreneur First Software Development Applications
2026-09-24 Dextr AI Seed $7M — Elevation Capital AI
2026-09-24 Feather Pre-Seed $8M — Gradient Ventures Robotics
2026-09-24 HIFI Series A $37M — Left Lane Capital Fintech
2026-09-24 iPiD Series A $16M — Foundation Capital Fintech
2026-09-24 Kontext Seed (unlabeled) $4M — 42CAP Cybersecurity
2026-09-24 OpenEvidence Unlabeled (reported) $250M $15B — Healthcare

◆ 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: 6Series A: 4Series C–D: 1Other: 1
Seed · 6 deals · $41MSeries A · 4 deals · $83MSeries C–D · 1 deal · $75MOther · 1 deal · $250M
SeedSeed: 6 deals6 dealsSeed: $41M$41MSeries ASeries A: 4 deals4 dealsSeries A: $83M$83MSeries C–DSeries C–D: 1 deal1 dealSeries C–D: $75M$75MOtherOther: 1 deal1 dealOther: $250M$250M
Seed
6 deals · $41M disclosed · 9% of window capital
Series A
4 deals · $83M disclosed · 18% of window capital
Series C–D
1 deal · $75M disclosed · 17% of window capital
Other
1 deal · $250M disclosed · 56% of window capital

◆ VC Activity & Lead Investors

Fund formation: IIT Madras' deep-tech fund made a first close of Rs 450 crore (~$50M-equivalent reported) toward a Rs 1,000 crore target, deploying Rs 55 crore into four startups (multiple outlets, last 24h). Robinhood launched a fund giving retail investors access to private companies (reported Sept 26) — a distribution shift worth watching, not a capital-formation proof point. Downside counterweight: Bangladesh startup funding hit a 5-year low in Jan–Jun amid investor hurdles; KoreaTechDesk flags persistent early-stage data gaps limiting AI-driven diligence. Coverage note: 38 of this week's rounds lack reported valuations.

Lead InvestorDisplayed DealsAssociated Round Sizes
DFJ Growth; Premji Invest (co-leads)1$75M
Left Lane Capital1$37M
Index Ventures; Emergence Capital (seed); Accel (pre-seed)1$20M
NEA1$20M
Foundation Capital1$16M
Accel; Prosus1$10M
Gradient Ventures1$8M
Elevation Capital1$7M

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

◆ Private Equity & Growth Buyouts

Thin PE-specific coverage this cycle. Confirmed items: Aventri (now Stova) closed a growth equity round with HGGC and Level Equity (Dealroom, last 24h; size undisclosed). ETF.com reports private equity bought the firm behind the USO ETF — structure and price not in evidence. Commentary: Reason argues against blanket PE-blame narratives; a Fidelity small-cap growth commentary circulates. Adams Street Venture & Growth Fund filed a Form 4 — a disclosure, not a deployment signal. No buyout multiples, deal sizes or exits with terms appear in the supplied data.

◆ Investment Funds & Capital Formation

Sovereign and institutional LP themes dominate: The Information profiles how New Mexico's oil windfall became a $2B VC bet (recent context — a program scale figure, not a single commitment). India is planning a ₹20,000 crore (~reported) Frontier AI fund for sovereign AI and compute — a plan, not an appropriation. Egypt is restructuring its Sovereign Fund's role to attract private investment (minister statement, last 24h). Also circulating: Saba Capital Income & Opportunities trades at a claimed 16% NAV discount; IIT Madras' alumni-backed deep-tech fund's Rs 450 crore first close (see VC note). None of these figures equal deployed startup capital.

◆ M&A & Exits

Qualcomm is reportedly eyeing an acquisition of Tenstorrent to power AI chip ambitions — a report, not a confirmed deal; no price disclosed (Stocktwits, Sept 26). Closed/reported smaller deals: Databricks bought Row Zero for spreadsheet governance feeding AI use cases (TechTarget, recent context); Groundcover acquired Wand for cloud-infrastructure automation (last 24h); Axios reports Adlib bought Paperbox. All terms undisclosed. Deal activity skews to tuck-ins around AI and infrastructure rather than large platform bets. No valuations or consideration amounts appear in the supplied data — treat all as announcements or reports pending confirmation.

◆ 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 — 2181 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
HIFI 46 → 69 +23
Firecrawl 62 → 70 +8
Tempo 43 → 46 +3

◆ Private Markets Weekday Digest · 09/27/2026

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: 2026-09-27 · sources: private-companies.json, investors.json

New company formations

No rows in the report window.

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.

Weekend date — digest payload is available but weekday delivery is Mon–Fri only.

◆ Private Market Desk — Evening Edition · 09/26/2026

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

  • Morphotonics — $43.5M Series (+ 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, BOM, Invest-NL, European Innovation Council Fund, Ernij Next, European Investment Bank). Display tech for data centers Morphotonics is diversifying its display technology business by expanding into the optical components market for data centers.

📊 Valuation re-rates (roster marks that moved)

  • Rightway — $1.1B (2021-Q1) → $1.8B (+59%) on Series E led by Francisco Partners.
  • OpenEvidence — $12B (2026-Q1) → $15B (+25%) on Unlabeled (reported).
  • Brahma AI — $1.4B (2025-Q1) → $2B (+40%) on Preferred equity round (unlabeled) led by Multiples Alternate Asset Management.
  • 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.
  • The Boring Company — $5.7B (2022-Q2) → $23B (+305%) on Series D led by United Arab Emirates and affiliated investment entities.
  • 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 — $19.3B across 26 rounds / 26 companies (accelerating, 26 vs. 8 prior rounds). Top: Anthropic $5B (Strategic Investment).
  • ↑ Energy — $3.4B across 5 rounds / 5 companies (accelerating, 5 vs. 2 prior rounds). Top: Valar Atomics $1B (Series B).
  • ↑ Defense — $3.4B across 5 rounds / 5 companies (accelerating, 5 vs. 1 prior round). Top: Helsing $1.8B (Late Stage).
  • → Transportation — $3B across 1 round / 1 company (steady, 1 vs. 1 prior round). Top: The Boring Company $3B (Series D).
  • ✦ Space / Defense — $1.7B across 3 rounds / 3 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).

🚀 New / Stealth Companies

  • No fresh stealth intake surfaced this window.

🏦 Private-Market Fund Watch

  • No new fund registrations, launches, or portfolio changes cleared primary-source verification in this window.

📊 Robinhood Ventures Performance

  • RVI — $27.92 close (2026-09-25) · day -2.55% · since first available close (2026-03-06) +32.95% · NAV/premium-discount not published in today's qualified inputs.
  • RVII — $22.11 close (2026-09-25) · day -1.29% · since first available close (2026-08-13) -3.66% · 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 remains heavily concentrated on AI infrastructure and specialized compute, with massive capital requirements driving mega-round valuations (e.g., $10B+ for early-stage AI firms). Uncertainty persists regarding the durability of these valuations and the ability of hardware-intensive AI startups to scale profitably against global demand.

🗂️ Dataset updated: no new closed rounds to add; list holds at 2,568.

🔗 Sources

  • [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/21/morphotonics-raises-e40m-to-expand-its-display-tech-into-data-centers/)
  • [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 — 125 scored nightly, 2433 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 +492% $1.3B 54 mo ago
2 Replit Data / Infra 86 High +179% $9.0B 41 mo ago
3 Xendit Financial Services 80 High +1856% $2.7B 53 mo ago
4 Forter Fintech 80 High +956% $3.0B 65 mo ago
5 Greenlight Fintech 80 High +607% $2.3B 66 mo ago
6 Betterment Fintech 80 High +429% $1.1B 42 mo ago
7 Cross River Bank fintech 80 High +213% $3.0B 54 mo ago
8 Pump SaaS 75 High +1581% $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.

60 markdowns detected all-time · 11 flagged beforehand · 49 missed · hit rate 18.3%

CompanyDetectedEventMarkCalled?
Anchorage Digital 2026-09-21 Mark cut −28.6% $4.2B → $3.0B ✗ Missed
Etched 2026-09-21 Mark cut −51.5% $10B → $5.0B ✗ Missed
Found 2026-09-21 Mark cut −70.0% $2.0B → $600M ✗ Missed
Public 2026-09-21 Mark cut −99.4% $190B → $1.2B ✗ Missed
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

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

Flat extensions are the tell

Cyera raised a $400M Series G extension at an unchanged $12B post-money versus June. Extensions at flat marks mean insiders chose more capital over a markup — often to extend runway or preserve optics before a later event. If your round timing depends on a step-up, price discovery is happening in extensions like this one, not just in headline Series A–C prints.

Marks cut harder than headlines

The ledger shows recent cuts of -51.5% (Etched), -70% (Found) and -28.6% (Anchorage Digital), while 125 of 2,568 tracked names are scored and 2,433 are not — most of the book is unmarked. Practically: assume your own last round is the least reliable number you have. Build board narratives around execution metrics, not the prior post-money, and pre-negotiate bridge mechanics before you need them.

Inference demand is real capital

The Information reports Fireworks and Fal are weighing new rounds as inference demand soars (recent context — deliberations, not signed terms). Combined with compute-heavy sovereign fund plans in India and mega-round boards led by OpenAI at $122B, the demand side for inference infrastructure is the most consistent capital magnet in this cycle. If your product consumes or resells inference, model both cost curves before pricing growth.

◆ Outlook

Two-speed tape: early-stage count is healthy and AI/healthcare/cyber absorbed most dollars, but weekly disclosed capital fell 63% on a smaller denominator — lumpy, headline-driven. Flat extensions (Cyera) alongside step-ups (OpenEvidence +25%) says repricing is selective, not systemic. Treat Skyroot and Anthropic items as unconfirmed. Week ahead: any Claude Sonnet 5.5 launch, Qualcomm–Tenstorrent confirmation, and whether OpenEvidence's $250M closes as reported.

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.