U.S. venture funding surged in Sept. 5-11, 2026 as $1B+ rounds piled up

Four U.S. startups raised $1 billion or more in the Sept. 5-11, 2026 period, led by The Boring Co.’s $3 billion Series D. AI, defense, solar, and companies building AI chips and networking hardware also drew major checks.

The Boring Co. tops the list with $3B Series D

Elon Musk’s tunnel-drilling company The Boring Co., based in Bastrop, Texas, raised a $3 billion Series D led by the United Arab Emirates, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Valor Equity Partners. The round values the company at $23 billion and brings total funding to nearly $3.9 billion, according to Crunchbase. The company develops underground tunnel networks to move passengers and vehicles while reducing surface traffic, including its Vegas Loop system beneath Las Vegas.

Cognition raises $2B as Devin expands

San Francisco-based Cognition raised a $2 billion Series E led by Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Avenir, Founders Fund, and General Catalyst. The company is known for Devin, its autonomous software-engineering agent. The latest round values Cognition at $48 billion and brings total funding to nearly $3.9 billion.

Motive and Stoke Space each land $1B+

Motive, formerly known as KeepTruckin, raised $1.3 billion in private equity funding led by General Catalyst. The fleet management platform supports trucking and construction operations, including fleet management, driver safety monitoring, and automation. Motive’s total funding is just over $2 billion, per Crunchbase data.

Stoke Space, based in Kent, Washington, raised a $1 billion Series E co-led by Point72 Ventures and Spark Capital, with Y Combinator among additional investors. The company is developing fully reusable rockets, including its Nova launch vehicle. The round values Stoke at $10 billion and brings total funding to roughly $2.4 billion.

Solar, defense, legal AI, and AI infrastructure draw large rounds

Suniva raised $835 million to expand U.S. solar manufacturing, including plans for a South Carolina facility that would more than quadruple capacity. Mach Industries raised $600 million for defense tech, including unmanned aircraft, long-range weapons, propulsion technology, and manufacturing infrastructure. Harvey raised $550 million for generative AI tools for legal and professional-services work, with a latest valuation of $15.5 billion.

In semiconductors and AI infrastructure, Fab2 raised $500 million to rethink semiconductor manufacturing with smaller, faster chip factories, while Positron raised $500 million for purpose-built hardware for AI inference. Celero Communications raised $275 million to improve data movement between chips and data centers using less power, and Encoded Therapeutics raised $275 million for precision genetic medicines for severe neurological disorders, including a lead therapy targeting Dravet syndrome.

Why it matters

The week’s top rounds show investor focus across the full AI stack, from coding agents and legal AI to inference hardware, networking, and the chip and manufacturing infrastructure that supports scaling. Defense and domestic solar manufacturing also remained major targets for venture capital during the same period.