Get To Know The Latest Class Of Ultra-Fast Fundraising Unicorns

Since 2024, an estimated 207 AI-focused companies have joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board, representing roughly half of all companies that first hit valuations of $1 billion or more during this period. Of those, more than a third first secured 10-figure valuations at seed or early stage, including well-known unicorns in sectors like foundational AI, robotics, and vertical AI. While a $1 billion valuation is the threshold for claiming unicorn status, many newer entrants are now worth much more; at least 45 companies that became unicorns in the past 28 months are now valued at $5 billion or more. This cohort includes very young companies such as U.K.-based AI infrastructure startup Nscale, which launched from stealth just a year ago with a $14.6 billion post-money valuation, and San Francisco-based AI-enabled robotics developer Physical Intelligence, which is reportedly in talks to raise funding at a valuation exceeding $11 billion. Foundational AI startup Safe Superintelligence has raised around $3 billion in less than two years since its founding, with a round last spring setting a $32 billion valuation. Newer unicorns also stand out for the speed and magnitude of their fundraising; for example, San Francisco-based AI legal tech platform Harvey has gone from Series A to Series G in about three years and raised close to $1.2 billion, while New York's Kalshi has gone from Series C to Series E in the past year, pulling in over $2.4 billion. Predictions marketplace Polymarket has scooped up close to $2.9 billion in the past two years, and medical AI company OpenEvidence went from Series A to Series D in less than a year, picking up over $700 million. Anysphere, the developer of AI coding tool Cursor, went from Series A to Series D in under a year, securing over $3.2 billion, and most recently entered an agreement with SpaceX, giving the latter an option to acquire Cursor for $60 billion. These are remarkable times for mega fundraising rounds, particularly around AI, with both cynics and optimists offering perspectives on the current valuations and the early days of building foundational technologies of the modern era.

(Source：Crunchbase)