· 20 days ago· TechCrunch Startups
This energy startup’s bet on 100-year-old grid tech is paying off
Ayr Energy is using a shortage of power conversion equipment to break open a decades-old market.
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#startups
573 articles found
· 21 days ago· Crunchbase News
AI Drives Europe’s Second Straight Quarter Of Funding Gain As Deal Volume Falls Sharply
European venture funding reached $17.6 billion in Q1 2026, Crunchbase data shows. That’s up nearly 30% year over year and marks the second consecutive quarter of growth. The main driver was AI, which for the first time claimed more than 50% of the continent’s total funding for the quarter.
· 22 days ago· Crunchbase News
China Leads Asia’s Startup Funding To Its Highest Level In More Than 3 Years
Overall, investors put $27.4 billion to work across seed- through growth-stage financings for Asian companies in Q1, per Crunchbase data. That’s up about 20% from the prior quarter and nearly double year-ago levels, with total funding also hitting its highest level in more than three years.
· 25 days ago· Crunchbase News
Fintech Startups Globally Raise More Money In Far Fewer Deals In Q1 2026
Global venture funding to financial technology startups totaled $12 billion across 751 deals in 2026 as of April 6, per Crunchbase data. That’s a 5% increase in dollars raised compared to the $11.4 billion raised across 1,097 deals during the same time period in 2025.
· 25 days ago· Crunchbase News
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: SiFive Leads With $400M For Custom Chip Designs As Aviation, Biotech And Defense Startups Also Raise Big
While no billion-dollar rounds led this week’s list, we nonetheless saw a variety of startups in industries ranging from semiconductors to aerospace to biotech raise sizable rounds.
· 26 days ago· Crunchbase News
Global Investors Help Boost Latin America’s Late-Stage Funding Boom In Q1
Startups in Latin America raised a combined $1.03 billion across seed- and growth-stage deals in the three-month period ending March 31 — up year over year, but down from Q4 2025.
· 26 days ago· Crunchbase News
Exclusive: Juno, CPA-Founded Startup That Aims To Make Tax Returns Less Painful With AI, Raises $12M
AI tax prep automation startup Juno, founded to address the opportunities — and risks — that come with advances in AI, and built for underserved SMB accounting firms, says it has received a $12 million seed investment.
· 26 days ago· TechCrunch Startups
Ex-Tesla engineer’s startup taps Pronto to help automate a copper mine
Pronto's autonomous haulage trucks are about to start operating at Mariana Minerals' Utah copper mine -- the first such deal since Pronto got acquired by Travis Kalanick's Atoms Inc.
· 26 days ago· TechCrunch Startups
Collide Capital raises $95M fund to back fintech, future-of-work startups
Collide Capital, founded by Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels, announced the close of a $95 million Fund II.
· 26 days ago· TechCrunch Startups
This founder helped build SpaceX’s most powerful rocket engine. Now he’s building a ‘fighter jet for orbit.’
The company's novel rocket engine could be a game changer for the U.S. military.
· 27 days ago· Crunchbase News
5 Interesting Startup Deals You May Have Missed: A Credit Card Backed By Mineral Rights, Flying Ferries, And A Foundation AI Model For Plants
In a quarter when nearly two-thirds of global venture capital went to just four companies, it’s easy to lose track of the many other companies getting funding to tackle interesting problems. We spotted five companies in just the past month working on issues from cleaner ferries and trains to foundat
· 27 days ago· Crunchbase News
Most Active And Highest-Spending Startup Investors Diverged In Q1
The investors backing the highest number of startup rounds in a record-setting Q1 were mostly not the ones writing the biggest checks. And the ones funding the largest deals were not the most prolific dealmakers. To see who ranked high for deal counts and totals, we looked at active investors across
· 27 days ago· TechCrunch Startups
Hermeus raises $350M to build unmanned hypersonic fighters
The defense aviation startup is coming off two successful flight demonstrations, and with the next one, it's aiming to go supersonic.
· 27 days ago· TechCrunch Startups
Why a former AirPods engineer is now building heat pumps
Merino Energy has simplified the heat pump dramatically in a quest to make them cheaper and easier to install.
· 30 days ago· Crunchbase News
North America Q1 Funding Surges Across Stages To Record Level
U.S. and Canadian companies secured a staggering $252.6 billion in seed- through growth-stage funding rounds in the first quarter of 2026 per Crunchbase data. That’s more than 3x the total raised in the prior quarter, and the largest quarterly total of all time.
· about 1 month ago· Crunchbase News
Just Because We Can: The Strategic Risks Of Automating Everything
While AI and automation can be powerful, many applications use complex global systems to solve simple problems that could be handled locally. Guest author Itay Sagie shares three risks of undisciplined automation of everything, urging more thoughtful and disciplined use of technology.
· about 1 month ago· Crunchbase News
This Is A Momentous Year For Early-Stage Unicorns
A total of 47 seed- and early stage companies joined the unicorn ranks in the first quarter of this year, per Crunchbase data. Barring a major slowdown, that puts 2026 on track to deliver the largest cohort of young unicorns to date.
· about 1 month ago· Crunchbase News
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Largest Financings Went To Defense, Wearables, Energy And Security
Startup investors kept up the busy dealmaking pace this week with a number of big rounds. Top among them was a $1.75 billion Series D for Austin-based Saronic, developer of autonomous vessels.
· about 1 month ago· Crunchbase News
Sector Snapshot: Venture Funding To Foundational AI Startups In Q1 Was Double All Of 2025
As of March 31, foundational AI startups had raised $178 billion across 24 deals, compared with $88.9 billion across 66 deals in all of 2025 in a 100% increase. That’s also significantly higher — 466.9% higher to be exact — than the $31.4 billion raised across 52 deals in 2024.
· about 1 month ago· Crunchbase News
Exclusive: Anvil Robotics Raises $5.5M to Build ‘Legos for Robots’ Platform For Physical AI Teams
Anvil Robotics, an eight-month-old startup that aims to be the “Legos for robots,” has raised $5.5 million in a seed funding round, it tells Crunchbase News exclusively.