Private Markets: Cognition in talks to raise funds at $10B valuation

Cognition, maker of the generative coding assistant Devin, is in talks to raise north of $300M, valuing the AI startup at $10B, according to five people familiar with the deal, Forbes’ Richard Nieva and Rashi Shrivastava reported. The deal would more than double Cognition’s valuation, only months after a funding round led by 8VC, the venture firm led by Palantir (PLTR) cofounder Joe Lonsdale, valued the company at $4B in March, per Bloomberg.

Blackstone (BX) announced that Blackstone Growth and affiliated funds have entered into a definitive agreement to make a majority growth investment in NetBrain Technologies, a market-leading Network Automation and AI platform. The investment, which values NetBrain at $750M, is intended to enable the company to accelerate innovation, expand its global footprint, and scale its AI-powered platform to meet the rising demand for intelligent network automation solutions.

Some of the biggest capital raises by private companies this week include: 

Armada – The full-stack edge infrastructure company delivering compute, storage, connectivity, and AI/ML capabilities to the most remote and rugged industrial environments on Earth secured $131M in strategic funding round. Publicly traded companies in the space include Rocket Lab (RKLB), AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), and Virgin Galactic (SPCE).

HeroDevs – The provider of security and compliance solutions for deprecated open-source software announced it has secured a $125M strategic growth investment from PSG. Publicly traded companies in the space include IBM (IBM), Datadog (DDOG), and OpenText (OTEX).

Vanta – The AI-powered trust management platform secured $150M in Series D funding round at a $4.15B valuation. The funding round was led by Wellington Management. Publicly traded companies in the space include SailPoint (SAIL), Qualys (QLYS), and Varonis Systems (VRNS).

AbsoluteCare Lands – The value-based integrated health care announced that it has secured $135M in equity financing from Kinderhook Industries, CVS Health Ventures, Pacific Life, and Lexington Partners. Publicly traded companies in the space include Centene (CNC), UnitedHealth (UNH), CVS Health (CVS).

Reka – The multimodal AI research and product development announced $110M investment, backed by new and existing investors including Nvidia (NVDA) and Snowflake (SNOW). Other publicly traded companies in the space include Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Unicorns to watch this week:

Anysphere – The infrastructure tools for Native AI company is valued at about $10B following a recent Series C funding round. Publicly traded companies in the space include Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), and CoreWeave (CRWV).

NinjaOne – The IT operations platform has recently reached around $5B valuation. Publicly traded companies in the space include Microsoft (MSFT), IBM (IBM), and ServiceNow (NOW).

MaintainX – The manufacturing‑tech startup crossed unicorn threshold in this month and is now valued at approximately $2.5B. Publicly traded companies in the space include

Cognition – The Agentic AI and developer tooling startup was valued at $4B back in March. Publicly traded companies in the space include IBM (IBM), SAP (SAP), and Oracle (ORCL).

SandboxAQ – The cybersecurity and quantum computing specialist company based in Palo Alto was valued at $5.6B in late 2024/early 2025. Publicly traded companies in the space include IonQ (IONQ), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS), and Rigetti Computing (RGTI). 

IPOs to watch:

Figma (FIG) – Valued at $12.5B, the cloud-based design platform has recently filed with the SEC for an initial public offering of shares of Class A common stock. Publicly traded companies in the space include Adobe (ADBE), Autodesk (ADSK), and Atlassian (TEAM).

Hengguang (HGIA) – The company has filed with the SEC for an initial public offering of its Class A ordinary shares and reserved the symbol “HGIA” for purposes of listing the Class A ordinary shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market. D. Boral Capital is acting as the underwriter.

StubHub – With a market valuation estimated at $16.5B, the event-ticketing giant was expected to make a public debut this year, but after many delays, 2025 seems the most likely date. Stagnant market conditions and a lack of a major consumer IPOs pushed StubHub to continuously postpone its move to come public.

Center Mobile (CTMB) – The company has filed with the SEC for a firm commitment initial public offering of ordinary shares, via which it will be offering 3.75M ordinary shares. R.F. Lafferty is listed as the underwriter.

Ambiq Micro (AMBQ) – The company has filed with the SEC for an initial public offering of shares of common stock and intends to apply to have its common stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “AMBQ.” BofA Securities, UBS, Needham and Stifel are listed as underwriters. 

“Private Markets” is The Fly’s new recurring series of stories on the latest moves in the private sector, largest unicorn companies and initial public offerings to watch. Fly subscribers, add $PRIVATE to your portfolio for alerts on breaking news in the startup and venture capital space.