What’s next after a company’s Mega Evolution?

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Hello reader,

I’m sure you’re familiar with Pokemon. At the very least, you’re aware of the existence of Pikachu: The yellow electric mouse is the face of the entire franchise, which includes video games, trading cards, anime, and films.

In the sixth generation of the Pokemon video game, publisher Nintendo introduced the concept of Mega Evolution – “an evolution beyond evolution.” Through the use of specific items, a Pokemon would undergo a temporary transformation that does not only change its appearance and behavior but also drastically increases its strength. It made for some pretty epic Pokemon battles in the game.

Where am I going with this? Well, our top-funded startup this week raised a lot of money – over 3x more than what the company that landed second on our list. It’s also making up more than 40% of the total funding raised this week.

In an era when “mega rounds” – usually worth US$100 million or more – regularly make headlines, it certainly feels that some businesses are unlocking Mega Evolution with the power of a specific thing called funding. But only time will tell if the transformation is temporary or if it’s something more sustainable.

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

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

— Stefanie

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The biggest deals by market

🇨🇳 Infinigence is an AI infrastructure software developer based in China. It raised US$343 million in series C funding from Baidu, Guokai Technology Venture Investment, Hangzhou High-tech Financial Investment, Legend Capital, Lenovo Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Shunwei Capital, Tencent, and Xuhui Capital.

🇮🇳 Tessolve, a semiconductor solutions company from India, secured US$75 million in a late-stage round. Novo Tellus, TPG Growth, and Vector Line Capital were among the investors.

🇦🇺 Archa is an Australian corporate card and spend management platform. It banked US$35 million in a debt round from investors including Zip, The Iconic, BetaShares, Netspace, and The Fintech Fund, as well as former Macquarie executives.

🇮🇱 Israel-based Pluto Security helps businesses monitor employees’ use of AI tools and agents. The West Asian startup bagged US$32 million in series A money from Jump Capital.

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M&As

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Startups that are raising funds

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Behind the Glasswall

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Exclusive listicles

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Thoughtful reads