Private Markets: Scale rival Surge AI in talks for funding at $25B value

Surge AI, a leading data-labeling startup, is in talks to raise about $1B in its first round of funding at a valuation of at least $25B, Bloomberg’s Rachel Metz reports, citing a person familiar with the matter. The valuation, which has not previously been reported, would make Surge one of the most highly valued startups in the U.S. It would also put Surge in striking distance of rival Scale AI, which received a $14.3B investment from Meta Platforms (META) in June valuing it at more than $29B, including the money raised, the author notes. 

Meanwhile, Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) growth-stage venture arm CapitalG and Nvidia (NVDA) are in talks to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure provider Vast Data in a new funding round that could value the startup as high as $30B, two sources are reported to have said. Reuters’ Krystal Hu, Max A. Cherney and Milana Vinn report that the startup is raising several billion dollars from tech giants, private equity and venture capital investors, which could make it one of the most valuable AI startups as companies building the backbone for the AI boom come into sharper focus. 

Cerebras Systems, a startup that is developing artificial intelligence chips to challenge Nvidia (NVDA), is also in talks to raise up to $1 billion in fresh funding privately, potentially delaying a plan to go public this year, according to The Information’s Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg, citing a person familiar with the talks. Deliberations are still ongoing and Cerebras may choose not to pursue a private funding round, one source is reported to have said. 

Anthropic is also nearing a deal to raise as much as $5B in a new round of funding that would value the artificial intelligence startup at $170B, according to a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg’s Shirin Ghaffary and Kate Clark report. Investment firm Iconiq Capital is leading the round, which is expected to total between $3B and $5B, said the person. Anthropic has also been in discussions with the Qatar Investment Authority and Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC about participating in the round, the person said. The new financing would mark a significant jump in valuation for the company and cement its status as one of world’s leading AI developers. Anthropic was valued at $61.5B in a $3.5B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners earlier this year. 

In other news, Fireworks AI, a cloud provider startup the rents out Nvidia chip servers to developers using AI models, is in discussions to raise funds at a $4B valuation including the investment, more than seven times its valuation from just a year ago, The Information’s Sri Muppidi reports, citing two people familiar with the matter. The company is in talks with Lightspeed and Index over the funding, the author notes. 

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

Anaconda – The company committed to advancing AI with open source at scale announced that it raised over $150M in a Series C funding round led by Insight Partners, with participation from Mubadala Capital. Publicly traded companies in the space include Alteryx (AYC), IBM (IBM), and Microsoft (MSFT).

Fal – The infrastructure platform powering real-time, generative media across image, video, audio, and 3D, secured a $125M Series C financing. The new capital brings Fal’s total funding to $197M. Publicly traded companies in the space include Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD), and Amazon (AMZN).

Motive Scoops – The AI-powered Integrated Operations Platform for the physical economy, announced that it raised $150M in a new funding round. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins. Publicly traded companies in the space include Samsara (IOT) and Trimble (TRMB).

Observe – The AI-powered observability company, said it secured $156M in a Series C funding round. The round was led by Sutter Hill Ventures. Publicly traded companies in the space include Datadog (DDOG), Dynatrace (DT), and Splunk (CSCO).

ARTBIO – The clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing a new class of alpha radioligand therapies to treat a range of cancers announced the closing of a $132M Series B financing round co-led by new investors Sofinnova Investments and B Capital along with a life sciences dedicated investment fund that invested previously. Publicly traded companies in the space include Novartis (NVS), Bayer (BAYRY), and Fusion Pharmaceuticals (FUSN). 

Unicorns to watch this week:

xAI – Operating in the AI sector, Elon Musk’s xAI is said to be preparing to raise more money in a deal that could value the company as high as $200B. Publicly traded companies in the space include Alphabet (GOOG(GOOGL), Meta (META), Amazon (AMZN) and Nvidia (NVDA).

Mistral AI – The AI firm is reportedly aiming to raise $600M at a new $6B valuation. Publicly traded companies in the space include Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), and Alphabet (GOOG(GOOGL).

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 Fortive (FTV), ServiceNow (NOW), and ABM Industries (ABM).

iCapital – The fintech investment platform has an estimated valuation of $7.5B. Publicly traded companies in the space include Blackstone (BX), Apollo Global (APO), and Blue Owle (OWL).

Nuro – With an estimated valuation of $5.99B, the company specializes in autonomous delivery vehicles designed for last-mile logistics. Nuro has recently signed a partnership with Lucid (LCID) and Uber (UBER). 

IPOs to watch:

Black Rock Coffee Bar – The company has reportedly filed confidentially for an initial public offering in New York that could value the cafe chain at more than $1B.

Bullish (BLSH) – the cryptocurrency exchange that counts Peter Thiel as an investor, has filed to go public on NYSE.

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.