Instead, in recent years funding is increasingly about pouring ever-larger sums into a few companies already considered a big deal in their respective industries. That practice culminated this year in a record $40 billion financing for OpenAI that constituted close to half of all first-quarter 2025 U.S. startup funding. The predominance of mega-rounds isn't limited to OpenAI. To illustrate, we used Crunchbase data to determine the percentage of annual startup funding in the U.S. that has gone to the 10 largest reported rounds. 1 !function(e,n,i,s){var d="InfogramEmbeds";var o=e.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];if(window[d]&&window[d].initialized)window[d].process&&window[d].process();else if(!e.getElementById(i)){var r=e.createElement(n);r.async=1,r.id=i,r.src=s,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,"script","infogram-async","https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js"); Building a generative AI unicorn is an expensive undertaking, and it should surprise no one that companies in this sector were the heaviest fundraisers. Recipients of some of the largest rounds of the past two years include, predictably, OpenAI, xAI and Anthropic....

It was a big week for the space and defense sectors, as investors clearly were looking to the skies. However, other sectors including cyber, healthcare and even data orchestration also saw some big raises. While nothing came close to $1 billion, it was still a pretty good week for big rounds. 1. Chaos Industries, $275M, defense: Less than six months after raising $145 million in a Series B, defense and critical infrastructure tech startup Chaos Industries locked up $275 million in a Series C that reportedly values the startup at $2 billion. The new round was led by Accel and New Enterprise Associates. Los Angeles-based Chaos specializes in advanced detection, monitoring and communication solutions for the defense and commercial sectors. The company's Vanquish radar provides early warning and tracking capabilities against unmanned aerial systems, missiles and aircraft. Founded in 2022, Chaos has raised $490 million, per the company. 2. True Anomaly, $260M, space: Centennial, Colorado-based True Anomaly, which develops hardware and software systems to help space security and readiness, is accustomed to large raises. Back in late 2023, the space tech startup raised a $100 million round led by Riot Ventures. It's back again after raising a $260 million Series C led by Accel. The startup helps the government and commercial customers keep an eye on threats to assets they have in space, such as satellites. Founded in 2022, True Anomaly has raised $418 million, per Crunchbase....

Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) operates on a core underlying assumption: The United States should be run like a startup. So far, that has mostly meant chaotic firings and an eagerness to steamroll regulations. But no pitch deck in 2025 is complete without an overdose of artificial intelligence, and DOGE is no different. AI itself doesn't reflexively deserve pitchforks. It has genuine uses and can create genuine efficiencies. It is not inherently untoward to introduce AI into a workflow, especially if you're aware of and able to manage around its limitations. It's not clear, though, that DOGE has embraced any of that nuance. If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail; if you have the most access to the most sensitive data in the country, everything looks like an input. Wherever DOGE has gone, AI has been in tow. Given the opacity of the organization, a lot remains unknown about how exactly it's being used and where. But two revelations this week show just how extensive'and potentially misguided'DOGE's AI aspirations are....

A young entrepreneur who was among the earliest known recruiters for Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has a new, related gig'and he's hiring. Anthony Jancso, cofounder of AccelerateX, a government tech startup, is looking for technologists to work on a project that aims to have artificial intelligence perform tasks that are currently the responsibility of tens of thousands of federal workers. Jancso, a former Palantir employee, wrote in a Slack with about 2000 Palantir alumni in it that he's hiring for a 'DOGE orthogonal project to design benchmarks and deploy AI agents across live workflows in federal agencies,' according to an April 21 post reviewed by WIRED. Agents are programs that can perform work autonomously. 'We've identified over 300 roles with almost full-process standardization, freeing up at least 70k FTEs for higher-impact work over the next year,' he continued, essentially claiming that tens of thousands of federal employees could see many aspects of their job automated and replaced by these AI agents. Workers for the project, he wrote, would be based on site in Washington, DC, and would not require a security clearance; it isn't clear for whom they would work. Palantir did not respond to requests for comment....