Starcloud, a Redmond company building data centers in orbit to run AI computing on solar power, raised the largest sums in this guide: a $170 million Series A in March 2026, then a $250 million extension in August at a $2.3 billion valuation. XBOW, whose AI agents find and exploit security holes the way a human penetration tester would, came next with a $120 million Series C in March 2026 and $35 million more in May.
Below those two, most of the rounds in this guide fell between $20 million and $100 million. They went to companies selling AI to specific customers: law firms, security teams, the US military, retailers and enterprise marketing departments. The Allen Institute for AI, a Seattle research lab that builds open AI models, is a non-profit.
This guide covers notable rounds raised in 2025 and 2026 by AI companies headquartered in the Seattle area (Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond and nearby cities), the investors behind them, and the research labs and incubators around them.
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Seattle startup funding in 2025 and 2026
Seattle-area startups raised $2.7 billion across 163 deals in the first half of 2026, down about 40% from $4.5 billion across 210 deals in the first half of 2025. Measured across the wider Seattle-Tacoma region, that placed the area seventh by capital among the 10 largest US venture markets, down from fifth a year earlier. Nationally, AI companies took 86% of venture dollars over the same six months.
Much of the region’s biggest money in both years went to companies outside AI, such as fusion developer Helion Energy, which raised a $465 million Series G in 2026. The rounds below are limited to companies whose main product is AI or AI computing.
Notable Seattle AI rounds of 2025
XBOW raised a $75 million Series B led by Altimeter in June 2025, with Sequoia and Nat Friedman returning. That month the company said it had become the first autonomous system to reach the top of HackerOne’s US leaderboard, which ranks people who report security bugs. XBOW’s official address is in Seattle, but most of its staff work outside the city, in the US, Europe and Asia.
Supio, whose AI organizes and analyzes medical records and case files for personal injury and mass tort law firms, raised a $60 million Series B led by Sapphire Ventures at the end of April 2025, with Mayfield and Thomson Reuters Ventures.
AIM Intelligent Machines, a Redmond company that retrofits excavators, bulldozers and haul trucks with sensors and software so they can run without a driver, raised $50 million in June 2025. Khosla Ventures was reported as the lead, with General Catalyst and DCVC among the other investors.
Yoodli, which uses AI role-play to train sales and leadership teams for difficult conversations, raised $13.7 million led by Neotribe Ventures in May 2025, then a $40 million Series B led by WestBridge Capital in December that was reported to value it at more than $300 million.
Augmodo makes camera badges worn by retail store workers that map shelves and spot missing stock as staff walk the aisles. It raised a $37.5 million Series A led by TQ Ventures in July 2025.
Dropzone AI, which builds AI agents that investigate security alerts the way a junior analyst would, raised a $37 million Series B led by Theory Ventures in July 2025. Madrona, Decibel, Pioneer Square Labs and In-Q-Tel also invested.
Gradial, whose AI agents build and check enterprise marketing content inside the tools marketing teams already use, raised $13 million earlier in 2025 and a $35 million Series B led by VMG Partners in December, at a reported $350 million valuation.
Overland AI, a University of Washington spinout that builds off-road driving software and autonomous vehicles for the US military, raised a $32 million Series A led by 8VC in January 2025. MIND, which uses AI to find sensitive data and stop it from leaking out of companies, raised a $30 million Series A co-led by Paladin Capital Group and Crosspoint Capital Partners in June 2025. MIND is headquartered in Seattle and runs its development center in Tel Aviv.
Smaller 2025 rounds included Bridgetown Research ($19 million Series A, AI agents for investment research), EdgeRunner AI ($12 million Series A led by Madrona, AI that runs on military devices without an internet connection) and Synthesize Bio ($10 million seed led by Madrona, AI models that predict the results of gene expression experiments).
Statsig, a Bellevue maker of software for testing product features, is left out of the chart because it does not build AI. It raised a $100 million Series C at a $1.1 billion valuation led by ICONIQ Growth in May 2025. In September, OpenAI agreed to buy it for $1.1 billion. Statsig’s chief executive, Vijaye Raji, joined OpenAI as chief technology officer of its applications business, and OpenAI said Statsig would keep serving customers from its Seattle office.
Notable Seattle AI rounds of 2026 so far
Starcloud launched its first satellite, carrying an Nvidia H100 chip, in November 2025. Benchmark and EQT Ventures led its $170 million Series A in March 2026, which valued the company at $1.1 billion. Manhattan West led the $250 million extension in August, with Nvidia and Cisco Investments joining, which brought Starcloud’s total funding to $450 million.
XBOW’s $120 million Series C was co-led by DFJ Growth and Northzone and valued the company at more than $1 billion. The $35 million that followed in May came from strategic investors, among them Accenture Ventures, Nvidia’s NVentures, Samsung and SentinelOne.
Overland AI announced $100 million in February 2026. The equity was led by 8VC, with Valor Equity Partners and StepStone Group joining, and the total includes a $20 million venture debt facility from TriplePoint Capital.
MIND raised a $72 million Series B led by Crosspoint Capital Partners in September 2026. Gradial raised a $65 million Series C led by Insight Partners in June, which took its total funding past $118 million.
Nuance Labs, founded by three former Apple researchers, is building an AI model for video avatars that see, hear, speak and react in real time. It raised a $50 million Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners in September 2026, with Accel, South Park Commons, Nvidia and Define Ventures.
CopilotKit, which makes open-source tools for building AI agents into software applications, announced $27 million in total funding in May 2026, including a Series A led by Glilot Capital Partners, NFX and SignalFire and an earlier seed round. Augmodo raised another $21 million led by TQ Ventures in July, at a reported $350 million valuation. That same month Thira, a Bellevue company started by Apptio co-founders Sunny Gupta and Kurt Shintaffer to automate back-office IT work with AI agents, raised a $21 million seed round led by Madrona.
Seattle AI startups at a glance
The table lists the rounds shown in the two charts, newest first.
| Company | What it builds | Funding | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIND | AI data loss prevention | $72M Series B led by Crosspoint Capital Partners | Sep 2026 |
| Nuance Labs | Real-time AI avatar model | $50M Series A led by Lightspeed | Sep 2026 |
| Starcloud | Data centers in orbit for AI computing | $250M Series A extension led by Manhattan West, $2.3B valuation | Aug 2026 |
| Thira | AI agents for back-office IT work | $21M seed led by Madrona | Jul 2026 |
| Augmodo | Wearable cameras that map store shelves | $21M led by TQ Ventures, reported $350M valuation | Jul 2026 |
| Gradial | AI agents for enterprise marketing content | $65M Series C led by Insight Partners | Jun 2026 |
| XBOW | Autonomous AI penetration testing | $35M Series C extension from strategic investors | May 2026 |
| Starcloud | Data centers in orbit for AI computing | $170M Series A led by Benchmark and EQT Ventures, $1.1B valuation | Mar 2026 |
| XBOW | Autonomous AI penetration testing | $120M Series C co-led by DFJ Growth and Northzone, valued above $1B | Mar 2026 |
| Overland AI | Off-road autonomy for military vehicles | $100M led by 8VC, including $20M venture debt | Feb 2026 |
| Gradial | AI agents for enterprise marketing content | $35M Series B led by VMG Partners | Dec 2025 |
| Yoodli | AI role-play training for sales teams | $40M Series B led by WestBridge Capital | Dec 2025 |
| Dropzone AI | AI agents that investigate security alerts | $37M Series B led by Theory Ventures | Jul 2025 |
| Augmodo | Wearable cameras that map store shelves | $37.5M Series A led by TQ Ventures | Jul 2025 |
| XBOW | Autonomous AI penetration testing | $75M Series B led by Altimeter | Jun 2025 |
| AIM Intelligent Machines | Autonomy kits for heavy machinery | $50M, Khosla Ventures reported as lead | Jun 2025 |
| MIND | AI data loss prevention | $30M Series A co-led by Paladin and Crosspoint | Jun 2025 |
| Supio | AI for personal injury law firms | $60M Series B led by Sapphire Ventures | Apr 2025 |
| Overland AI | Off-road autonomy for military vehicles | $32M Series A led by 8VC | Jan 2025 |
Ai2, the University of Washington and Big Tech
Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder, created the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) in Seattle. In November 2025 the non-profit released Olmo 3, a family of open models at 7 billion and 32 billion parameters, along with their training data and code, and followed with Olmo 3.1 in December. In August 2025 the National Science Foundation and Nvidia committed $152 million to an Ai2-led project to build open AI models for scientific research, with University of Washington researchers among the teams supported. Ali Farhadi stepped down as Ai2’s chief executive in March 2026, and Peter Clark, one of the institute’s founding members, took over on an interim basis.
Overland AI came out of the University of Washington, and the AI House incubator invested in Synthesize Bio. Other founders came from large companies: Nuance Labs was founded by former Apple researchers, and Thira’s founders previously built Apptio, a Bellevue software company that IBM bought in 2023.
Several recent Seattle deals have ended with large tech companies. Nvidia bought OctoAI, a Seattle startup that helped companies run AI models, in September 2024. In 2025, Apple hired the team behind WhyLabs, a Seattle AI monitoring startup, and licensed its technology, and in September OpenAI agreed to acquire Statsig.
Who invests in Seattle AI startups
The largest rounds above were mostly led by firms from outside Washington, including Benchmark, EQT Ventures, Manhattan West, DFJ Growth, Northzone, Altimeter, 8VC, Insight Partners, Lightspeed, Crosspoint Capital Partners and TQ Ventures.
Seattle’s Madrona announced $770 million in new capital in January 2025, split between an early-stage fund and a fund for Series B and C rounds. It led or joined rounds for Thira, Gradial, Dropzone AI, Yoodli, EdgeRunner AI and Synthesize Bio.
AI House, known until 2026 as AI2 Incubator, was founded inside Ai2 in 2014 and became independent in 2022. It closed an $80 million third fund in 2025 to back about 70 new companies over four years, and runs a 108,000-square-foot space for founders at Pier 70 on the Seattle waterfront, which opened in March 2025. More than 20,000 people attended its events in the first year.
Pioneer Square Labs combines a startup studio with a venture fund and invested in Dropzone AI. Other Seattle-area early-stage firms include FUSE, Flying Fish, Founders’ Co-op, Ascend and Trilogy Equity Partners.
Frequently asked questions
What AI companies are in Seattle?
AI companies headquartered in the Seattle area that raised money in 2025 and 2026 include Starcloud, XBOW, Overland AI, MIND, Gradial, Supio, Nuance Labs, AIM Intelligent Machines, Yoodli, Augmodo, Dropzone AI, CopilotKit and Thira. The Allen Institute for AI, a non-profit research lab, is also based in the city.
What were the largest Seattle AI rounds in this guide?
Starcloud’s $250 million Series A extension in August 2026 and its $170 million Series A in March 2026 were the largest, followed by XBOW’s $120 million Series C in March 2026 and Overland AI’s $100 million in February 2026. In 2025, the largest were XBOW’s $75 million Series B and Supio’s $60 million Series B.
Which Seattle-area companies in this guide are valued at $1 billion or more?
Starcloud was valued at $2.3 billion after its August 2026 extension, and XBOW at more than $1 billion after its March 2026 Series C. Statsig was valued at $1.1 billion in May 2025 before OpenAI agreed to buy it.
How much venture money did Seattle startups raise in the first half of 2026?
Seattle-area startups raised $2.7 billion across 163 deals in the first half of 2026, down about 40% from $4.5 billion in the first half of 2025.
Who are the most active AI investors in Seattle?
Madrona invested in more of the companies in this guide than any other firm. AI House (formerly AI2 Incubator), Pioneer Square Labs, FUSE, Flying Fish and Founders’ Co-op invest at earlier stages, while most of the largest rounds were led by firms from outside the state.
For how Seattle compares with other cities, see the full AI startup funding by city breakdown, Bot Memo’s ranking of tier 2 AI startup hubs, and the guides to AI companies in Austin, Pittsburgh and Denver.
About the author
Editorial Staff
The Editorial Staff at Bot Memo is a team of writers, analysts, and AI agents dedicated to mapping the global AI startup ecosystem. Led by Chintan Zalani, the team tracks thousands of funding rounds, classifies companies across verticals, and distills it all into actionable intelligence for investors and founders.
