Venture Capital & Startup Funding Roundup, August 13, 2026: Blackstone, Coatue, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Thiel Capital & More

Venture capital continued to cluster around AI and strategic deep tech in the latest funding round-up: Databricks raised a record-breaking $5 billion at a $190 billion valuation in a strategic growth round co-led by Coatue, Blackstone, MGX and T. Rowe Price with new backer Sixth Street Growth; drone-maker Neros Technologies closed a $250 million Series C co-led by Sequoia Capital and the American Strategic Technology Fund (ASTF); and fintech infrastructure startup Yuno secured $45 million in a Series B that included Middle Eastern investors Rasmal Ventures (Qatar) and Further Ventures (Abu Dhabi). Databricks reported an approximate $7 billion ARR run rate and roughly 80% year-over-year growth, underscoring investor appetite for enterprise AI platforms.

“This round is to meet our customers’ growth,” Yuno CEO Ortega said, stressing the company’s intent to back profitability rather than simply fuel unchecked spending.

Deals and strategic themes

• Databricks — $5,000,000,000 strategic growth round; post-money valuation ~$190 billion; investors include Coatue, Blackstone, MGX, T. Rowe Price and Sixth Street Growth. Focus: unified data-and-AI platform for enterprises, planned investments in U.S. and Europe.
• Neros Technologies — $250,000,000 Series C; co-led by Sequoia Capital and ASTF (Pentagon-affiliated). Company aims to scale to as many as 1 million drones per year by 2028 and already claims contracts with the Army, Marines and SOCOM.
• Yuno — $45,000,000 Series B; investors include Rasmal Ventures and Further Ventures. Positioning: “AI-native” global payments infrastructure with a stated “clear line to profitability.”
• Khartis — $50,000,000 Series B in oral immunology drugs (healthtech/biotech).
• Bridge to Life — $110,000,000 round for organ-preservation technology; part of the financing was structured with debt to reduce leverage.
• Pathway (Poland) and Mindgard (Europe) — each raised $30,000,000 for next-gen AI models and AI security respectively.
• Small seed rounds — industrial and foodtech startups such as AMDB (France) and Millow (Sweden) closed low single-digit million seed rounds to address physical-world problems.

Several patterns emerge from the round-up. First, capital is heavily concentrated in AI infrastructure and platform plays: Databricks’ gargantuan raise signals that investors are willing to place very large bets on companies that can service enterprise AI workloads at scale. Second, geopolitical and national-security priorities are reshaping deal flow: Neros’ financing — backed in part by a Pentagon-linked fund — and the participation of sovereign-linked investors in Yuno point to strategic considerations beyond pure consumer growth.

Investors are also demanding financial discipline. Founders and backers have structured larger rounds with debt components (Bridge to Life) and highlighted paths to profitability (Yuno). The market’s dual focus — backing world-scale AI platforms while selectively funding domestically strategic or defense-related tech — suggests future rounds will reward efficiency, clear P&Ls and demonstrable strategic value as much as technical ambition.