38 Companies Join The Crunchbase Unicorn Board In Blockbuster September, Led By Semiconductor, Fintech And Space Tech Companies

A total of 38 companies joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board in September, adding $71 billion in value to the board. Semiconductors, financial services and space technology led for new counts with the remainder hailing from a broad swath of industries including biotech, AI infrastructure, AI training, security and frontier labs.

Twenty-one of last month’s new unicorns are U.S. headquartered. Six new unicorns joined the board from China and three from the U.K., while Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Israel, Italy, Finland, Germany and Bulgaria each added one new unicorn.

Through September, 311 companies have joined the board so far this year, putting 2026 on track to be the second-highest year for new unicorn creation, following only the venture peak year of 2021, when counts topped 600.

Several companies already on the board stand out for significant valuation increases via new raises last month. They include San Francisco-based Cognition, developer of AI for software engineering, which saw its value climb to $48 billion, up from $26 billion only four months earlier. Data center provider Crusoe was valued at $31 billion last month, up from $10 billion a year ago. And Paris-based frontier lab Mistral was valued at $24.4 billion in its more recent funding, up from $13.7 billion a year ago.

New unicorns in September

Here are September’s 38 new unicorn companies:

Semiconductors

• Fab2, an Austin-based semiconductor manufacturing startup, closed a $500 million Series A at a $3.7 billion valuation, led by Fundomo. The 3-year-old company builds compact chip factories and develops their manufacturing equipment internally, aiming to make semiconductor production more accessible.
• Celero Communications, an Irvine, California-based semiconductor company, raised a $275 million Series C, valuing it above $3 billion and bringing total funding to $415 million. Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners and CapitalG led the round. The 2-year-old company develops digital signal processing chips for high-speed optical connectivity in AI infrastructure.
• Micronano Core, a Hangzhou-based AI chip developer, announced a $149 million Series C. Its IoT inference chips combine memory and computing to reduce power consumption and data movement. The 5-year-old company was valued at $1 billion. 
• Evas Intelligence, a Beijing-based AI chip company, raised $298 million at a valuation of $2.2 billion. The 4-year-old company develops AI computing chips using the open RISC-V architecture. 

• SiMa.ai, a San Jose, California-based developer of specialized AI chips and software, raised a $150 million Series C at a $1.45 billion valuation, co-led by Fidelity and Amplify Partners, bringing total funding to $500 million. The proceeds for the 8-year-old company will support its software platform and next-generation hardware for robots, vehicles and drones. 

Financial services

• OG, a Texas-based prediction-market platform, announced a strategic partnership with Robinhood, which will take an equity stake following OG’s separation from Crypto.com. The less than 1-year-old company was valued at $5 billion. The investment amount was not disclosed; the partnership will route Robinhood event-contract trading through OG’s regulated exchange and clearing infrastructure. 
• Saudi Arabia-based Barq, a digital payments company, raised a $329.5 million Series A at a $1.85 billion valuation. Investors included Noon Investments, Sohar International and M20 Capital. The 3-year-old company has processed more than $117 billion in 2 years.
• Ridgeline, a Nevada-based financial software company, raised a $250 million Series E at a $1.43 billion valuation led by founder and chairman Dave Duffield. The 8-year-old company provides an AI-based investment management platform for asset and wealth managers. 
• Félix, a Miami-based remittance platform for Latino immigrants operating through WhatsApp, secured $200 million in financing: an $87 million Series C equity round led by Andreessen Horowitz valued at $1.4 billion and $113 million in debt from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund. The 5-year-old company plans to expand to lending and add to its Latin American reach.

Space technology

• Munich-based space company The Exploration Co. raised a $450 million Series C, co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico and EQT at a valuation of $2 billion. The financing for the 5-year-old company will advance its reusable Nyx spacecraft for an International Space Station mission and support development of its Storm rocket engine. 
• Hubble Network, a Seattle-based satellite connectivity company, raised a $200 million Series C at a $1.6 billion valuation, led by Smith Point Capital, bringing total funding to approximately $300 million. The 5-year-old company enables standard Bluetooth devices to connect directly to satellites for tracking and sensor-data applications.
• Oxfordshire, U.K-based Open Cosmos, a satellite company, secured $346 million, co-led by ETF Partners and Lightrock, valued at $1 billion. The 11-year-old company manufactures satellites and provides infrastructure, connectivity, Earth observation and intelligence services.
• Bulgaria-based EnduroSat, a satellite company, raised $205 million in a round co-led by Riot Ventures and Atreides Management, reaching a $1 billion valuation. The 11-year-old company has raised financing that will expand standardized spacecraft production, including new manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and Europe. 

Biotechnology and medical devices

• Alzheon, a Framingham, Massachusetts-based developer of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, raised around $79 million. The   13-year-old company was valued at $1.9 billion. Investors were not disclosed.
• Shanghai-based Anew Labs, an AI drug discovery company, raised $290 million at a $1.5 billion valuation following its spinoff from ByteDance. HSG, IDG Capital, Hillhouse Capital and 5Y Capital co-led the round. Anew develops tools for biomolecular prediction and drug discovery; ByteDance retained a 56% stake. 
• Precision Neuroscience, a New York-based brain-computer interface developer, closed a $250 million Series D, bringing total funding to $430 million and reaching a valuation of approximately $1 billion. Pershing Square and Ackman Oxman Institute led the round. The 5-year-old company is building a brain–computer interface that is minimally invasive and removable. 
• Toronto-based Biossil, a biotechnology company, raised $153 million at a $1 billion valuation led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, with participation from Founders Fund and other investors. The 3-year-old company uses AI to identify abandoned drug candidates that could succeed under different treatment approaches. The financing will expand clinical development and support additional drug acquisitions.

AI and internet infrastructure

• Gimlet Labs, a San Francisco-based AI cloud infrastructure company, raised a $300 million Series B at a $3 billion valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz. The 3-year-old company distributes AI inference workloads across different types of chips to improve performance and efficiency. It announced in March that its customers include one of the leading frontier labs.
• Helsinki-based Verda, an AI cloud company, raised a $189 million Series B led by Emergence Capital. The financing valued the 6-year-old company above $1 billion with total funding over $450 million. The company manages physical data centers along with its cloud platform. 
• London-based CDN77, an internet infrastructure company supporting content delivery for large streaming, gaming and software companies, raised $570 million in its first external financing led by CVC Capital Partners. The 15-year-old company was valued at $1.9 billion.

AI training

• Micro1, a San Francisco-based AI training-data company, raised more than $100 million led by Dream Ventures at a $4 billion valuation, an eightfold increase from its valuation in September 2025. The 4-year-old company recruits and vets specialists who create training and evaluation data for AI developers. Forbes reported that participants included two frontier AI laboratories and two x.AI co-founders.
• AfterQuery, a San Francisco-based provider of expert-created AI training data, reached a $3.2 billion valuation in September, more than 10x its valuation five months earlier, according to Forbes. The funding amount and lead investor were not publicly disclosed. The 1-year-old company’s datasets capture professional reasoning in fields such as software engineering, law and finance. AfterQuery was part of the Winter 2025 Y Combinator batch.

Robotics and autonomous driving

• Shanghai Zaofu Intelligent Technology, the Shanghai-based operator of Hello’s robotaxi business, raised about $100 million at a valuation close to $3 billion. Shanghai State-owned Capital Investment fund led the round. The financing to the 1-year-old company will support a 10,000-GPU computing cluster, AI model development and commercialization of Level 4 autonomous driving.
• Lyte AI, a Sunnyvale, California-based robotics perception company, raised a $165 million Series C at a $1.6 billion valuation, led by Maverick Silicon. Founded by former Apple and PrimeSense engineers, the 5-year-old company combines custom chips, sensors and spatial software to help robots perceive their surroundings. The financing will accelerate deployments across logistics, manufacturing and inspection applications. 

Health insurance

• Angle Health, a San Francisco-based health benefits company, announced a $200 million Series C at a $2.7 billion valuation. Vitruvian Partners led the financing. It also includes $400 million in secondary financing for existing investors. The 7-year-old company provides a benefits platform using AI to make healthcare more affordable for small and midsize employers. The company services 5,000 businesses.
• Thatch, a San Francisco-based health benefits platform, raised a $108 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation. Investors included The General Partnership, Index Ventures, General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz. The 5-year-old company helps employers provide individualized health budgets for employees to select their own medical plans. It has 5,000 employers utilizing its service. 

Energy and EV infrastructure

• China-based NIO Power, a battery-swapping and charging company, agreed to a strategic transaction that gives Geely Auto a 30% stake. Geely will contribute its Yiyi battery-swapping operation and a $95 million investment. The 9-year-old company was valued around $2.4 billion. 
• TAR, an Austin-based developer of off-grid power systems for AI data centers, raised a $120 million Series A at a $1 billion valuation, led by Spark Capital. The less than 1-year-old company builds modular systems for renewable energy and battery systems as data-center operators seek access to electricity. 

AI applications

• Brahma AI raised $150 million led by Multiples, at a valuation just over $2 billion. The 3-year-old company, headquartered in London with offices in Los Angeles and Mumbai, built an enterprise audiovisual content platform for media, advertising, sports and healthcare customers. The financing will support research, commercial expansion and a larger Silicon Valley presence. 
• Sequen, a New York-based AI ranking and personalization company, raised a $90 million Series B at a $1.44 billion valuation, led by Prysm Capital. The 2-year-old company’s software helps enterprises respond to customer behavior in real time, improving the relevance of recommendations.

Cybersecurity

• Rome-based Exein, a cybersecurity company protecting connected devices and autonomous machines, raised $270 million at a $1.7 billion valuation, led by Headline. The financing to the 8-year-old company will support U.S. and Asia-Pacific expansion and development of AI security models. 
• Tel Aviv-based Guardio, a consumer cybersecurity company, raised $40 million at a $1.1 billion valuation, bringing total funding to $167 million. Wiz co-founder Assaf Rappaport joined existing investors including Ion Crossover Partners and Union Tech Ventures, among others. The 8-year-old company protects consumers against phishing, scams, malicious websites and AI-generated fraud. 

AI models

• Beijing-based Naive AI, a language-model startup, raised $120 million reaching a valuation of $1.4 billion. Investors include Tencent, IDG Capital, Matrix Partners China and HSG. The less than 1-year-old company raised $400 million across three rounds so far this year, before releasing its first public model. 
• Arcee AI, a San Francisco-based developer of open-weight foundation models, announced a $150 million Series B led by Vista Equity Partners, Cambium Capital Partners and Emergence Capital, valuing the company above $1 billion. The financing will support the 3-year-old company’s Trinity models and products for customizing and operating them.

Manufacturing and construction software

• CADDi, an AI company for manufacturing with dual headquarters in Tokyo and Chicago, raised a $114 million Series D at a $1.2 billion valuation, bringing total funding to $234 million. Investors included Moore Strategic Ventures and Coreline Ventures. The 9-year-old company’s platform organizes design and procurement and production; the financing will deepen its technology and accelerate North American expansion. 
• Kahua, a Georgia-based construction software company, secured a growth investment of $250 million led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, valuing it above $1 billion. The 17-year-old company manages construction projects, with the investment supporting its AI capability build out and commercial growth. 

Defense technology

• Covenant, a Washington, D.C.-based defense company, emerged from stealth with $250 million raised across three rounds at a valuation above $1 billion. The 2-year-old company develops long-range cruise missiles with manufacturing in Texas, Germany and Israel. Backers who have led across three rounds include Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, 8VC 1, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Aleph.

Food

• Medici Brands, the New York-based parent of consumer food brands David Protein and HallPass, raised a $250 million Series B at a $2.25 billion valuation. Greenoaks and Valor Equity Partners co-led the round. The financing to the 2-year-old company will expand retail distribution, develop new products and support additional brands.

Related Crunchbase unicorn lists:

• The Crunchbase Private Unicorn Company List (1,901)
• Exited Unicorns (666)
• New Unicorns In 2026 (321)
• New Unicorns In 2025 (198)
• New Unicorns In 2024 (119)
• New Unicorns In 2023 (102)
• Unicorns In The U.S. (998)
• Unicorns In Asia (547)
• European Unicorns (258)
• Unicorns From LatAm (39)
• Emerging Unicorn Leaderboard (489)

Related reading:

• Crunchbase Data: Q3 2026 Posted A Record Count Of Billion-Dollar Rounds As The Global AI Race Heats Up
• 29 Companies Joined The Unicorn Board In August, Led By AI Software And Semiconductors

Methodology

The Crunchbase Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are added to the Unicorn Board as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to The Exited Unicorn Board.

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration: Dom Guzman