VC Funding Top Ten — September 3, 2026: AI Enterprise, Fund Launches, Biotech

Overview

Thursday, September 3rd, three PM Pacific. Today's biggest check goes to Swish Ventures, launching its third fund with a massive quarter-billion-dollar close. It's the top of a ten-deal day that saw over four hundred million in fresh capital deployed into the private markets. The story of the day is the continued ventu

In this show

• Thursday, September 3rd, three PM Pacific. Today's biggest check goes to Swish Ventures, launching its third fund with a massive quarter-billion-dollar close. It's the top of a ten-deal day that saw over four hundred million in fresh capital deployed into the private markets. The story of the day is the continued venture bet on AI-native solutions for the enterprise. We'll break it all down with our Markets and World analysts. Let's get into the numbers.
• Here is today's snapshot. Ten rounds disclosed a total of $400.72 million. The largest round was the Swish Ventures fund launch at $250 million. The hottest category was AI, with three of the top ten deals. There was no notable IPO or M&A activity to report. The big story: venture capital is pouring into startups building AI-native infrastructure from the ground up to solve core enterprise challenges in risk, insurance, and developer tooling.
• Topping our list is Swish Ventures, which announced a $250 million Fund III. The firm focuses on early-stage investments across deep tech sectors like cybersecurity, defense, physical AI, and government technology. This new fund brings Swish's total assets under management to a formidable $800 million. It signals a significant and ready pool of capital for founders tackling complex, regulated industries, reinforcing investor confidence in enterprise-focused innovation.
• In second place, Superluminal Medicines secured a $60 million oversubscribed Series B led by BVF Partners. The biotech company leverages AI and machine learning for drug discovery, with an initial focus on G protein-coupled receptor targets, which are crucial for many biological processes. This fresh capital is earmarked to advance its lead program for rare genetic forms of obesity into clinical trials by the end of this year, a major milestone for AI-driven pharmaceutical development.
• At number three, India-based Business Nextgen Finance raised a $25.8 million growth round led by Beams Fintech Fund. The company provides secured lending to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, specifically targeting businesses outside of India's top 100 urban centers. This funding is critical for scaling its technology infrastructure and expanding its geographic footprint, aiming to bring essential financial services to a vast and underserved segment of the Indian economy.
• Launching out of stealth at number four is Resect AI, securing $25 million in a growth round from private equity investors. The company is building a critical accountability layer for artificial intelligence. Its mission is to ensure AI systems are developed and deployed responsibly and ethically, a growing concern for enterprises and regulators alike. This substantial funding before a public launch underscores the immense market demand for robust AI governance and safety solutions.
• Also launching out of stealth is our number five deal, empirik.ai, with a $21 million seed round. The company is building an AI-native platform designed to help enterprises manage data and analytics more efficiently. The round saw participation from a strong syndicate of investors, including Sequoia Capital, S32, and Canapi Ventures. This level of backing for a seed-stage company highlights significant investor confidence in its approach to solving fundamental enterprise AI challenges.
• At number six, Axle raised a $17.5 million Series A led by Base10 Partners. Axle is another example of the AI-native trend, operating as a clearinghouse for the insurance industry. Its platform uses AI to streamline the entire claims and payments process for both insurers and their customers. The new funding will be used to accelerate development of its AI platform and capture a larger share of the insurance technology market, aiming to modernize a traditionally slow-moving sector.
• In the consumer space, beauty and wellness company VLCC comes in at number seven with a $13.2 million growth round from BlackSoil Capital. The company, which is backed by private equity giant The Carlyle Group, offers a wide range of wellness services and personal care products. This capital injection will be used to fuel growth across its various business segments and subsidiaries, strengthening its market position in the competitive beauty and wellness industry.
• Coming in at number eight is Cradlewise, which raised a $12 million Series A. The healthtech company develops a smart infant sleep system that uses AI to learn a baby's sleep patterns and automatically soothes them back to sleep. This innovative approach to baby tech has attracted investors like 3one4 Capital and Prudent Investment Management. The new capital will fund growth, R&D, and critically, its expansion into international markets.
• Rounding out the list are two more deals. At number nine, Ula Capital announced a new $100 million fund in partnership with Korea's FuturePlay. The fund will invest in deep-tech startups across Saudi Arabia and South Korea, aiming to bridge the two growing ecosystems. And at number ten, Makr Microsystems, a semiconductor metrology company, secured a $1.22 million seed round led by Bluehill VC to develop its tech for measuring subsurface nanoscale chip structures.
• And finally, our one thing to watch is the rise of AI-native infrastructure. Today's deals for Resect AI, empirik.ai, and Axle are not just about adding an AI feature. They are building entire companies around AI to solve fundamental business problems in governance, data, and insurance. This ground-up, AI-first approach is attracting significant venture interest. Expect to see more startups taking this path and commanding premium valuations in the months ahead. That's the deal flow for today. We'll be back tomorrow afternoon at three PM Pacific.