NeuralStackAI dominated the latest list of major U.S. startup financings, with Instinct leading the way through a $1 billion Series C round. The San Francisco-based company is developing a personal AI assistant for everyday tasks, and the financing set its valuation at $10 billion. Sequoia Capital, Benchmark and Coatue backed the round.
EliseAI ranked second with $350 million in funding at a $4 billion valuation. The New York-based startup deploys AI in the home rental industry and is expanding into healthcare, with Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners leading the financing.
Armadin raised $255.5 million in Series B funding for its autonomous-security platform. The Palo Alto, California-based company describes itself as an AI-native cybersecurity startup, and the round, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Accel, valued the year-old company at more than $2.5 billion.
The funding extended beyond application software into infrastructure and physical AI. GMI Cloud raised $223 million in Series B funding and secured an additional $445 million in debt financing for its GPU cloud infrastructure, with Archiv leading the round and Nvidia participating. General Intuition, which develops AI models trained on videos and virtual worlds to build skills for physical environments, raised $220 million at a $6.2 billion valuation.
Other large rounds included $250 million in growth funding for Kahua, an enterprise platform for managing complex capital projects. Bain Capital Tech Opportunities backed the Alpharetta, Georgia-based company, whose valuation rose above $1 billion. SiMa.ai also entered the list with $150 million in Series C funding at a $1.45 billion valuation for its platform focused on scaling physical AI applications.
Supabase raised an additional $150 million led by GIC for its AI-enabled open-source Postgres platform for application developers. The San Francisco-based startup also announced that it is acquiring database architecture startup Turso. CScale, meanwhile, emerged from stealth with $145 million in Series C funding for optical interconnect technology designed for AI data centers.
Homeward was the only company in the group whose primary description was not centered on AI. The Austin-based real estate startup raised $120 million in Series D equity funding led by Saluda Grade and secured another $330 million in debt financing, supporting a model that helps homeowners buy before selling their existing homes or receive cash offers.
Why this matters
The week’s financing pattern shows how broadly venture capital is being deployed across the AI stack. Capital went to assistants, housing applications, cybersecurity, GPU infrastructure, model development, physical AI, database tools and data-center connectivity, suggesting that investors are backing both direct AI products and the systems required to operate them.
The figures also show that AI funding is producing large private-company valuations across different stages and business models. At the same time, the presence of Kahua and Homeward indicates that substantial venture and growth financing remains available outside the core AI category, even as AI accounts for most of the biggest checks.
The ranking covers funding rounds announced by U.S.-based companies from Sept. 26 through Oct. 2, 2026, using Crunchbase’s database. Some rounds may appear with a delay because financings can be reported later in the week, so the mix may shift as additional announcements are recorded.