As Q2 of 2025 slowly draws to a close, Silicon Valley has experienced a wave of venture capital, particularly in AI and autonomous systems. Let’s take a look at the most funded start-ups and why it matters for tech, growth, and innovation.
- Thinking Machines Lab: The $2B Seed Sensation
Thinking Machines Lab is an artificial intelligence research and product company established by Mira Murati, the former chief technology officer of OpenAI. The public benefit corporation (PBC) located in San Francisco was established in February 2025.
On June 21, Thinking Machines Lab raised a record-breaking $2 billion seed funding round, valuing the company at $10 billion. The amount of funding it received is by far the largest recorded for a start-up in the tech industry.
The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Accel, Conviction Partners, and other unnamed investors, including the government of Albania (Mira’s home country).
The funding was driven by investors’ faith in Murati’s vision, despite the company having no public product or revenue yet, signaling an era where investor trust in founder pedigree outweighs traditional metrics. This round is tagged one of the most invested-in startups in Silicon Valley’s Q2.
- Applied Intuition: Driving Autonomy to $15B
Applied Intuition is an American software company that specializes in building artificial intelligence technologies and advanced software for vehicle manufacturers. It was founded in 2017 by Qasar Younis (CEO) (formerly COO of Y Combinator) and Peter Ludwig, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) (formerly a staff member at Google and NVIDIA).
In its latest funding round, which took place on June 17, Applied Intuition closed at a $600 million Series F funding round and tender offer, which brought the company’s valuation to $15 billion.
The funding round was co-led by BlackRock-managed funds and accounts and Kleiner Perkins. The funding attracted new investors like Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Premji Invest, Stripes, Greycroft, Franklin Templeton, BAM Elevate, and 137 Ventures.
- Glean Technologies: Making Search Smarter at $7.2B
Glean Technologies was founded in 2019 by Arvind Jain. It is an American technology company specializing in enterprise-grade artificial intelligence and search capabilities. In 2024, Glean Technologies was valued at $4.6 billion.
For its latest funding round held on June 10, Glean closed a $150 million Series F funding round, which boosted its valuation to $7.2 billion. The funding round was led by Wellington Management and attracted new investors like Khosla Ventures, Bicycle Capital, Geodesic Capital, and Archerman Capital.
Glean’s rapid succession of large funding, especially in less than two years, highlights strong investor confidence in its AI solutions.
- Stack AI: No-Code AI Agents for Enterprises
Stack AI was founded in January 2023 by Antoni Rosinol and is a no-code AI platform that enables any organization to build custom AI assistants without the need for coding or deep expertise in AI.
In its most recent funding, held on May 16, 2025, Stack AI successfully closed a $16 million Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Lobby VC and LifeX Ventures and garnered new investors like Guillermo Rauch (CEO of Vercel) and Bob Van Lujit (CEO of Weaviate).
The new capital will be used to enhance the platform’s performance, improve agent retrieval quality, and ensure secure deployment options, thereby improving user experience.
What This Means for Silicon Valley
Seed-stage rounds aren’t modest anymore. The backing of momentum and a strong founder pedigree can go a long way in achieving billion-dollar seed valuations. The top four most funded start-ups are offering diverse AI services, signifying the foothold artificial intelligence now holds in the tech world today.
