VC Funding Top Ten — July 22, 2026: AI Security, Biotech Breakthroughs, Healthtech Growth

Overview

Wednesday afternoon, July twenty-second. The story of the day is a massive cybersecurity launch. AI-security startup Glow just locked in a one hundred eighty million dollar Series A, hitting a one-point-two billion dollar valuation right out of stealth. A huge signal in a hot category. We'll break down that deal and th

In this show

• Wednesday afternoon, July twenty-second. The story of the day is a massive cybersecurity launch. AI-security startup Glow just locked in a one hundred eighty million dollar Series A, hitting a one-point-two billion dollar valuation right out of stealth. A huge signal in a hot category. We'll break down that deal and the rest of the day's top ten funding rounds. With me are our Markets and World correspondents. Let's get started.
• Across the venture landscape today, we're tracking a total disclosed deal flow of eight hundred seventy-five-point-six million dollars across ten rounds. The largest check, as mentioned, went to Glow for one hundred eighty million. The hottest category is Cybersecurity, with three of the top ten deals. In public markets, a notable move as Repligen announced its acquisition of BioLife Solutions for approximately one-point-five billion dollars. But all eyes are on Glow, emerging from stealth with unicorn status on day one.
• Diving into our top story: Glow. The AI-powered endpoint security startup raised a massive one hundred eighty million dollar Series A, co-led by Sequoia, Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, and Redpoint Ventures. This launch gives them a one-point-two billion dollar post-money valuation. Glow provides adaptive threat prevention by mapping a company's environment and automating policy enforcement. It matters because it was founded by former execs from Meta, Snowflake, and Claroty to tackle the security risks created by increased AI adoption in the enterprise.
• In second place, Crystalys Therapeutics secured a one hundred thirty million dollar Series B. The oversubscribed round was led by Frazier Life Sciences. Crystalys is a clinical-stage biopharma company developing dotinurad, a next-gen, once-daily oral inhibitor for treating gout. This new capital is critical as it will fund late-stage global clinical development and commercialization efforts. The treatment has the potential for best-in-class safety and efficacy, addressing a significant unmet need for millions of patients worldwide.
• Coming in at number three is Candid Health, which landed a one hundred twenty million dollar Series D led by Sixth Street Growth. The company provides an autonomous revenue cycle management, or RCM, platform designed to automate the financial backbone of the U.S. healthcare system. This funding is a major vote of confidence, tripling the company's 2025 valuation. It reflects their staggering one hundred ninety percent year-over-year growth in ARR as they tackle the two hundred eighty billion dollar healthcare RCM industry.
• At number four, AI-FinTech company Databento has raised a ninety-seven million dollar Series B, with New Enterprise Associates leading the round. Databento is building a market data platform that makes institutional-grade financial data available on demand, a crucial service for quantitative funds and financial institutions. What's impressive is that the company has already reached profitability with a small team and significant revenue growth. This new funding will fuel their expansion into new asset classes and international markets.
• Our fifth deal today is a seed round for Inner Logic, raising eleven-point-five million dollars, co-led by General Catalyst and Bison Ventures. This Healthtech startup is building autonomy-enabling infrastructure for procedural medical devices. Their platform allows manufacturers to design, test, and validate new devices across thousands of virtual patients. Co-founded by a team from Johns Hopkins with deep expertise in surgical robotics and computer vision, Inner Logic aims to shift device development to a virtual environment, massively accelerating innovation in surgical autonomy.
• At number six, Cheiron has raised an eight million dollar Seed round led by Menlo Ventures to build an AI-native operating system for drug programs. The goal is to represent an entire drug development process as a single, connected system. This is significant because drug development is notoriously fragmented, with information siloed across different teams and systems. By creating a unified view, Cheiron aims to speed up timelines and improve decision-making. The company is backed by prominent figures, including Moderna co-founder Robert Langer.
• Cybersecurity makes another appearance at number seven. StrongestLayer has closed a four-point-one million dollar seed extension, bringing its total seed funding to nine-point-three million. The round was led by Inovia Capital. StrongestLayer provides an AI-native email security platform that uses advanced reasoning to stop modern threats that evade traditional filters. As email-based attacks become more sophisticated in the age of generative AI, this funding will help the company scale its go-to-market strategy to meet growing demand.
• Our eighth story is another cybersecurity firm, Zafran Security, which has secured a strategic investment from Cisco Investments. The amount was not disclosed. Zafran's software integrates with existing security infrastructure to analyze data from multiple defense tools, helping prioritize vulnerabilities based on actual risk. This investment from Cisco, following one from American Express Ventures, adds another blue-chip name to their cap table and is expected to bring the Israeli startup's total funding to over one hundred forty million dollars.
• Rounding out the list are two major public market events. First, a significant M&A deal: Repligen Corporation is acquiring BioLife Solutions for approximately one-point-five billion dollars. This move combines Repligen's bioprocessing tech with BioLife's cell processing tools, creating an end-to-end platform for advanced therapeutics. Separately, B&R Technology Merger Corp., a SPAC focused on AI-driven tech companies, successfully closed its three hundred twenty-five million dollar IPO, signaling continued investor appetite in the space.
• Looking ahead, the major theme from today's funding is the rise of AI-native security. The massive rounds for Glow and StrongestLayer highlight a clear trend: as enterprises adopt AI, they are demanding AI-powered solutions to defend against a new generation of sophisticated threats. We expect to see continued strong investment in startups that can secure this expanding AI-driven landscape. That's our show for today. We'll be back tomorrow afternoon at three PM Pacific with the next deal flow.