Private Markets: Commonwealth raises $863M as Nvidia joins investors

Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $863M in a Series B2 fundraising round as it moves closer to being the first in the world to commercialize fusion power. The oversubscribed round of capital is the largest amount raised among deep tech and energy companies since CFS’ $1.8B Series B round in 2021. CFS will use the funds to complete SPARC, its fusion demonstration machine, and progress on development work on its first ARC power plant in Virginia.

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

• Commonwealth Fusion Systems – The company announced that it raised $863M in a Series B2 fundraising round. New investors in CFS include Brevan Howard Macro Venture Fund; Counterpoint Global; Stanley Druckenmiller; FFA Private Bank; Galaxy Interactive, a venture platform within Galaxy Digital (GLXY); Gigascale Capital; HOF Capital; Neva SGR; NVentures – Nvidia’s (NVDA) venture capital arm; Planet First Partners; Woori Venture Partners US; and others committed to the mission of commercializing fusion energy. A consortium of 12 Japanese companies also participated. They join existing CFS investors who increased their stakes, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures; Emerson Collective; Eni; Future Ventures; Gates Frontier; Google (GOOGL); Hostplus Superannuation Fund; Khosla Ventures; Lowercarbon Capital; Safar Partners; Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google; Starlight Ventures; Tiger Global; a large state pension fund and others who support CFS’ leadership in this energy transition.
• Rain Scoops – The enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments company secured a $58M Series B funding round. Publicly traded companies in the space include Circle Internet (CRCL), Coinbase (COIN), and Fiserv (FI).
• Attio – The AI-native CRM for the next era of companies said it raised $52M in Series B funding. Publicly traded companies in the space include Salesforce (CRM), Oracle (ORCL), and Freshworks (FRSH).
• Blue Water Autonomy – The technology and shipbuilding company designing and building highly producible unmanned ships for the U.S. Navy announced $50M in Series A funding led by GV. Publicly traded companies in the space include Lockheed Martin (LMT), L3Harris Technologies (LHX), and Huntington Ingalls (HII).
• Auditoria.AI – The “leader in agentic AI for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer” announced the successful completion of an oversubscribed Series B funding round, raising $38M in new capital. Publicly traded companies in the space include Salesforce (CRM) and ServiceNow (NOW).

Unicorns to watch this week:

• Netskope – The cloud security provider announced that it has filed a registration statement with the SEC relating to the proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. Netskope has applied to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “NTSK.” The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Publicly traded companies in the space include Cloudflare (NET), Zscaler (ZS), and Palo Alto Networks (PANW).
• Firecrawl – The AI web crawler startup has recently raised $14.5M in a Series A funding round, bringing its total valuation to an estimated $16.2M. Publicly traded companies in the space include Elastic N.V. (ESTC), Snowflake (SNOW), and Open Text (OTEX).
• Nuro – With an estimated valuation of $6B, the company specializes in autonomous delivery vehicles designed for last-mile logistics. Nuro has recently signed a partnership with Lucid (LCID) and Uber (UBER).
• OpenAI – Operating in the AI Research & Infrastructure sector, OpenAI is reportedly in talks to sell employee-held shares worth $6B, which would value it at about $500B. Publicly traded competitors include Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), and Amazon (AMZN).
• Anthropic – Operating in the AI Safety & Chatbots sector, Anthropic has an estimated valuation of $60B. Publicly traded companies in the space include Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), Amazon (AMZN), IBM (IBM) and Palantir (PLTR). 

IPOs to watch:

• BAO Holding – The Hong Kong-based provider of software development services has filed with the SEC to raise up to $7M in an initial public offering. The company plans to raise $7M by offering 1.5M shares at a price range of $4 to $5.
• Gemini Space Station (GEMI) – The company announced that it has publicly filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. Gemini is a global crypto platform founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in 2014.
• Black Rock Coffee Bar (BRCB) – The company has reportedly filed confidentially for an initial public offering in New York that could value the cafe chain at more than $1B.
• Figure Technology – The 7-year-old blockchain-based lending company has filed for an IPO of its Class A common stock on Nasdaq. “Figure is building the future of capital markets using blockchain-based technology. Figure’s proprietary technology powers next-generation lending, trading and investing activities in areas such as consumer credit and digital assets. Our application of the blockchain ledger allows us to better serve our end-customers, improve speed and efficiency, and enhance standardization and liquidity.”
• Via Transportation (VIA) – The company filed a prospectus for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “VIA.” Via lists its annual revenue run-rate at $429M with 34% year-over-year growth. Via “transforms antiquated and siloed public transportation systems into smart, data-driven, and efficient digital networks,” the company explains. It seeks to address a “striking gap” in the $545B global public transportation market.

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