Pomegra
FundingSemiconductors
NOTABLE
4 min read
Celera Semiconductor Closes $30M Series B
Celera Semiconductor (US) — Closes $30M Series B from Maverick Silicon to use AI-driven digital twins to slash the time and cost of designing analog chips.
Pomegra Startups
Deep Tech Startup News
Deep tech startup news: biotech, robotics, hardware, energy, defence, and security companies - the capital-intensive bets with long horizons and hard science behind them.
FundingEnergy
MAJOR
4 min read
Emerald AI Hits $1.05B Valuation on $150M Series A
Emerald AI (US) — Raises $150M Series A at $1.05B valuation, co-led by Energize Capital and DCVC, to deploy software that turns AI data centers into flexible power-grid assets, targeting 100+ GW of untapped US grid capacity.
AIBiotech
NOTABLE
4 min read
Outer Bio Raises $23M to Train AI on Living Human Skin
Outer Bio (US) — Lady Gaga co-founded biotech exits stealth with $23M, keeping donated human skin alive for four weeks to train AI models on tissue aging and screen 750M compounds annually for skin longevity.
Cybersecurity
NOTABLE
4 min read
Echo Snaps Up Minimus Assets After $51M Startup Folds
Echo acquires Minimus (US) — vulnerability-free container image startup Echo picks up the technology assets of hardened-software company Minimus after the latter winds down operations, despite having raised $51M; Echo integrates Minimus's minimal OS work to become the first distro-agnostic hardened software platform.
FundingBiotech
MAJOR
4 min read
AusperBio Closes $120M Series C for Hepatitis B Drug
AusperBio (US) closes a $120M Series C bringing total raised to $360M — the San Jose-based biotech is advancing its lead hepatitis B therapy AHB-137 into a Phase 3 registrational trial toward a potential functional cure for chronic HBV.
FundingEnergy
MAJOR
4 min read
Valar Atomics Raises $1B Series B at $6B Valuation
Valar Atomics Raises $1B Series B at $6B Valuation Sequoia leads a $1 billion Series B in microreactor startup Valar Atomics, valuing the company at $6 billion amid surging AI data center power demand.
FundingCybersecurity
NOTABLE
4 min read
Cytix Raises $7M to Police AI Code Risk
Cytix (UK) raises $7M Series A led by Northern Gritstone, with KPMG and NCC Group as strategic users, to police AI-generated code changes and flag the security risks introduced by accelerated software development cycles.
Energy
NOTABLE
4 min read
Boldr's $5M Bet on HVAC as Grid Hardware
Boldr (UK) raises $5M pre-Series A from Unconventional Ventures and Ada Ventures to turn HVAC contractors into grid infrastructure providers by connecting home heating, cooling, and energy devices into flexible distributed grid capacity.
FundingDefense
NOTABLE
4 min read
ASIO Raises $15M in First-Ever External Round
ASIO (Israel) raises $15M from Protego Ventures and Aliya Capital Partners to scale its GPS-independent tactical navigation, situational awareness, and command-and-control platforms globally, landing a component supply partnership with Anduril for unmanned aerial vehicles.
FundingHardware
NOTABLE
4 min read
ColibriTD's €4M Seed Targets Industrial Simulation
ColibriTD (France) secures €4M seed led by Earlybird Venture Capital to commercialize its Hybrid Differential Equation Solver, a quantum-powered multiphysics simulation platform for aerospace, nuclear, and semiconductor industries.
FundingSpace
MAJOR
4 min read
Muon Space Raises $250M at $1.5B Valuation
Muon Space (US) closes a $250M Series C at a $1.5B valuation backed by Eclipse Capital, Google, and Salesforce Ventures to scale satellite constellation production to 500 satellites per year.
FundingHealthcare
NOTABLE
4 min read
Legato Exits Stealth With $12M for AI Hearing Glasses
Legato (US) exits stealth with $12M from Neotribe Ventures to launch the world's first AI hearing glasses, embedding hearing-assistance tech into eyewear arms at a fraction of traditional hearing-aid prices — founded by the creator of Bose Frames.
FundingRobotics
MAJOR
4 min read
Generalist Hits $3B on 8VC-Led $200M Extension
Generalist (US) — ex-DeepMind founders Pete Florence and Andy Zeng — close a $200M extension at a $3B valuation led by 8VC for their foundation model that lets a single AI system control different robot bodies without hand-coded task programming.
FundingEnergy
MAJOR
4 min read
Emerald AI Hits $1.05B With $150M Series A
Emerald AI (US) closes an oversubscribed $150M Series A at a $1.05B valuation co-led by Energize Capital and DCVC — with Nvidia, Siemens, and GE Vernova joining — to build AI data centers that dynamically throttle their grid power draw to stabilize the electrical grid.
FundingDefense
MAJOR
5 min read
Uforce Eyes $4B Valuation Six Months After Unicorn Debut
Ukrainian-founded London defense startup Uforce is in talks to raise fresh capital targeting a $4B+ valuation — up from $1B just six months ago — to expand manufacturing of its autonomous combat drones and surface vessels into allied countries.
FundingDefense
MAJOR
4 min read
Castelion Raises $1B Series C at $13B Valuation
Defense startup Castelion (US) closes a $1B Series C at a $13B valuation led by JPMorgan, Andreessen Horowitz, and Carlyle to mass-produce its Blackbeard low-cost hypersonic strike missile, backed by $500M+ in US military contracts.
FundingEnergy
MAJOR
4 min read
Base Power Hits $13B Valuation With $1B Series D
Base Power (US) raises another $1B Series D at $13B valuation co-led by Ribbit Capital and Valor Equity, installing 100 home batteries per day as its backyard-battery grid-support model reaches profitable scale.
FundingBiotech
MAJOR
4 min read
LifeMine Raises $188M to Fix Transplant Medicine's Toxic Trade-Off
LifeMine Therapeutics (US) closes $188M Series E backed by Bezos Expeditions, Gates Frontier, and RA Capital to advance LIFE-001, a fungi-derived drug designed to replace toxic calcineurin inhibitors used to prevent organ rejection.
FundingCybersecurity
MAJOR
4 min read
Horizon3.ai Raises $250M Series E at $2B+ Valuation
Horizon3.ai (US) raises $250M Series E at $2B+ valuation, tripling its prior valuation, to scale its NodeZero platform that autonomously attacks enterprise networks the way real adversaries do.
FundingCybersecurity
NOTABLE
4 min read
Hush Security Raises $30M With Akamai's Backing
Hush Security (Israel) raises $30M Series A with Akamai joining as strategic investor, for its machine-access platform that governs AI agents with just-in-time permissions and a centralized kill switch.
Biotech
MAJOR
5 min read
Bridge to Life Raises $110M Series C for Liver Perfusion
Bridge to Life (US) closes $110M Series C led by Soleus Capital to commercialize VitaSmart, the only FDA-cleared hypothermic oxygenated perfusion system for liver transplants.
FundingBiotech
MAJOR
4 min read
InduPro Raises $77M, Enters NSCLC Clinic With IDP-001
Seattle biotech InduPro closes a $77M Series B led by The Column Group, dosing its first patient in a Phase 1 trial of IDP-001, an antibody-drug conjugate targeting advanced non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumors.
FundingHardware
NOTABLE
4 min read
SweGaN Closes $14M Series B for GaN-on-SiC Expansion
Swedish deeptech startup SweGaN raises $14M Series B led by Thisbe AB to expand production of its gallium nitride-on-silicon carbide epitaxial wafers, a key material for next-generation power electronics and RF semiconductors.
FundingHardware
MAJOR
4 min read
Quintessent Closes $40M Series A for Comb Laser
Santa Barbara semiconductor startup Quintessent closes a $40M oversubscribed Series A led by Cycle Capital, backed by Goldman Sachs and Ciena, to commercialize its single-chip quantum dot DWDM comb laser that simplifies optical connectivity inside AI datacenters.
FundingDefense
MAJOR
4 min read
Cambridge Aerospace Hits $3.4B at $300M Series C
UK anti-drone defense startup Cambridge Aerospace raises $300M Series C led by DFJ Growth at a $3.4B valuation to scale production of its Starhammer and Skyhammer autonomous interceptor systems.
FundingEnergy
MAJOR
4 min read
Valar Atomics Raises $1B Series B at $6B Valuation
US nuclear startup Valar Atomics raises $1B Series B led by Sequoia at a $6B valuation to mass-produce modular waterless nuclear microreactors purpose-built to power AI data centers.
Cybersecurity
NOTABLE
4 min read
Cytix Pulls $7M to Police AI Code Risk
Manchester cybersecurity startup Cytix raises $7M Series A led by Northern Gritstone for its platform that continuously monitors and validates security risk in every AI-driven software change, with KPMG and NCC Group among its customers.
FundingBiotech
NOTABLE
4 min read
EpiCrispr Banks $90M Series C for FSHD Gene Therapy
US biotech EpiCrispr Biotechnologies closes a $90M oversubscribed Series C led by Octagon Capital and Janus Henderson to advance its lead epigenetic gene therapy toward pivotal studies in rare muscle disease FSHD.
FundingDefense
MAJOR
4 min read
Castelion Hits $13B Valuation in $1B Series C
US defense startup Castelion raises $1B Series C at a $13B valuation, co-led by JPMorgan, a16z, and Carlyle, to mass-produce its Blackbeard low-cost hypersonic strike missile for the US military.
FundingSpace
MAJOR
4 min read
Starcloud's $250M Raise Values Orbital AI at $2.3B
US orbital infrastructure startup Starcloud raises a $250M extension to its Series A to build and operate data centers in space as terrestrial launch capacity tightens.
What makes a startup "deep tech"?
Deep tech companies commercialise hard science rather than software alone: a new battery chemistry, a reactor design, a drug candidate, a robot that works outside a lab. What they share is a long, expensive path between the first cheque and the first revenue, because the risk being funded is whether the technology works at all, not whether customers want it. That changes how their rounds read - a large raise can mean a company is years from a product, not close to one.
That profile also makes deep tech the segment where private capital matters most. Public markets rarely fund a decade of pre-revenue research, so the important valuation events happen privately, and the eventual IPO or acquisition prices work that was already done. Coverage here groups biotech, robotics, hardware, energy, defence, and security together because they behave alike as investments, even when the science does not.
Frequently Asked
Why do deep tech startups take so long to exit?
Because the risk being funded is technical. Clinical trials, reactor licensing, and hardware manufacturing all have timelines set by physics and regulators rather than by product iteration, so a decade between founding and exit is normal rather than a warning sign.
Is deep tech riskier than software investing?
The failure modes differ. Deep tech can fail outright if the science does not work, but a company that succeeds often has durable advantages that are hard to copy. Software fails less absolutely and is competed away faster. This is educational context, not investment advice.