AI and robotics firms raise billions in funding and M&A activity in August 2026
In August 2026, AI‑focused private equity, venture‑backed code‑generation and science startups secured large rounds, while robotics saw multiple large‑scale investments, acquisitions and seed financings, and a UK biotech raised capital for cell‑gene therapy.
Compiled automatically from the sources listed below and checked against Hyperuranios' own capital and research data. Every figure here traces to a linked source. Factual errors reported to the contact address are corrected in the article and noted here.
Artificial Intelligence
Thrive Holdings, an OpenAI‑backed private‑equity style firm that embeds AI into traditional businesses, closed a $2 billion financing round that values it at $12 billion. The round included SoftBank, D1 Capital Partners and Altimeter Capital, and follows OpenAI’s ownership stake and employee‑secondment programme. Funds will expand the firm’s existing accounting (Current) and IT (Shield) platforms and launch a third vertical targeting regulatory services for physical infrastructure such as data centres, power and transport projects. The raise reflects investor appetite for AI‑enabled operational optimisation across fragmented, mission‑critical sectors [2].
Swedish startup Lovable, which lets users create software through natural‑language prompts, announced a $400 million Series C at a $13.3 billion valuation, doubling its December 2025 valuation. Menlo Ventures and the EQT‑managed Scaleup Europe Fund co‑led the round, with participation from Tencent, Balderton Capital and other European, Latin American and Asian investors. Lovable reports annual recurring revenue nearing $600 million, over 60 million projects created since its November 2024 launch, and 900 million monthly visits, while planning to grow its team to about 450, hiring heavily in machine‑learning, product, infrastructure and security roles [6].
Former OpenAI chief product officer Kevin Weil is reportedly seeking a $150 million seed round that would value his stealth AI‑science startup at at least $750 million. The venture aims to build AI systems that collect scientific data to accelerate model training and research workflows, moving AI focus from chatbots toward laboratory‑grade discovery. Weil’s background includes product leadership at OpenAI, Meta and Twitter, and board roles at Cisco and Stoke Space. Sources describe the raise as unusually large for a seed round, placing it in the top percentile of sector deals [3][4].
Robotics
In the United States, the top ten robotics and drone capital raises for July 2026 featured several sizable rounds. BRINC secured $125 million of Series C funding led by Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, while EndoQuest Robotics raised convertible‑debt financing for its scar‑free surgical platform. Magvation attracted $9 million for its AI‑powered collaborative operating‑room robot. Early‑stage investors backed Gritt with $26 million Series A led by Obvious Ventures, and Spacer Robotics received funding from u.ventures and LongHash Ventures. Walden Robotics also raised $302 million across seed and Seed‑1 rounds, led by Toyota Ventures and its affiliates, highlighting continued venture enthusiasm for general‑purpose manufacturing and logistics robots [1]. [7]
Genetic Engineering
Edinburgh‑based Lentitek raised £725,000 in equity financing led by Equity Gap, with participation from Apollo Informal Investment, Gabriel Investment Syndicate, Scottish Enterprise and several business angels. The capital will accelerate commercialisation of the company’s cell and gene‑therapy platform following a breakthrough year that saw a transition from R&D to revenue generation and the signing of multiple commercial deals. Management highlighted the timing as critical to capitalise on market momentum and to fund ongoing development and market rollout of its therapeutic technologies [5].