Mega-rounds and megabucks

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Hello reader,

When I saw this week’s funding data, my eyes popped out of my head. I haven’t seen a number like this – with nine whole digits – in our weekly funding roundup in a very, very long time.

All this is thanks to one company: Moonshot AI. The Chinese firm raised US$2 billion. Yes, you read that right. Billion.

Several articles note that while funding numbers are rising, much of this growth comes from “mega-rounds,” in which a handful of companies (typically the AI ones) get the biggest slices of the pie. While it’s great news for the firms in question, it does make me wonder about the impact this will have on the rest of our ecosystem – and on the verticals that are underfunded.

You can find all other important investment deals from the last few days in our weekly funding news wrap-up.

Let’s dive into the biggest deals and M&As that have recently taken place.

— Stefanie

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The biggest deals by market

🇨🇳 Moonshot AI has built a chatbot upon its proprietary large language model. Based in China, it has raised US$2 billion in series D money from China Mobile, Long-Z Investment, and Tsinghua Capital.

🇮🇱 Frame Security uses AI to run attack simulations and security training for businesses. Hailing from Israel, which is located in West Asia, the firm has bagged US$50 million in seed money from Index Ventures, Picture Capital, Team8, cybersecurity executive Assaf Rappaport, and solo venture investor Elad Gil.

🇰🇷 Caring is a South Korean startup offering senior care services. It has secured US$27.2 million in a series C round backed by undisclosed investors.

🇹🇭 Konvy is a beauty ecommerce platform from Thailand. It has bagged US$22 million in series B money from Cool Japan Fund and Insignia Ventures Partners.

🇮🇳 HrdWyr is a fabless chip startup headquartered in India. It has raised US$13 million in series A money from Avatar Growth Capital, Ideaspring Capital, Persistent Ventures, and Singularity AMC.

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