| Date | Title | Description |
| 16.10.2025 | Vertical Semiconductor: MIT Spin-Off Closes $11 Million In Seed Funding For Advancing Next-Gen AI Chips And Data Centers | Vertical Semiconductor, a deep-tech startup spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has raised $11 million in seed funding to commercialize its breakthrough vertical gallium nitride (GaN) transistor technology. The fund... |
| 15.10.2025 | MIT spinoff Vertical Semiconductor gets $11M to build more power-efficient AI chips
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Cookies | Vertical Semiconductor Inc. is hoping to crack the power delivery bottleneck in artificial intelligence data centers after closing on an $11 million seed funding round today.
The round was led by Playground Global, and saw participation fro... |
| 15.10.2025 | Vertical Semiconductor Raises $11M in Seed Funding | Vertical Semiconductor, a Boston, MA-based semiconductor company spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), raised $11m in seed funding.
The round was led by Playground Global with participation from JIMCO Technology Ventu... |
| 15.10.2025 | MIT spinout Vertical Semiconductor raises $11 million for AI power chip tech | Synopsis
Vertical Semiconductor, a startup spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on Wednesday said it raised $11 million in funding to commercialise chip technology.
Vertical Semiconductor, a startup spun out of the Massach... |
| 07.10.2025 | GAIM.FUN Raises Seed Funding | GAIM.FUN, a Santa Cruz, CA-based provider of an AI-powered platform supporting how virtual worlds and games are built, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding.
Backers included Griffin Gaming Partners, Bitkraft Ventures, Benchmark, 1Up... |
| 03.09.2025 | Phasecraft Secures $34M: Quantum Computing Nears Real-World Impact | Quantum algorithms leader Phasecraft secured $34 million in Series B funding on September 2, 2025. This significant investment rapidly advances quantum computing from theoretical concepts to practical, real-world applications. Phasecraft ex... |
| 02.09.2025 | Phasecraft: $34 Million Series B Raised For Quantum Algorithms Platform | Phasecraft, a force in the field of quantum algorithms, has recently announced the successful completion of a significant $34 million Series B funding round. This remarkable achievement is poised to accelerate the company’s transformative w... |
| 02.09.2025 | Phasecraft secures $34M to accelerate practical quantum computing solutions
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Cookies | Quantum algorithm company Phasecraft Ltd. announced today that it has raised $34 million in new funding to accelerate its work to transform quantum computing’s theoretical promise into practical applications.
Founded in 2019, Phasecraft foc... |
| 02.09.2025 | Phasecraft Raises $34M in Series B Funding | Phasecraft, a London, UK-based quantum algorithms company, raised $34M in Series B funding.
The round was led by Plural, Playground Global, and Novo Holdings with participation from existing investors LocalGlobe, AlbionVC, and Parkwalk Advi... |
| 26.08.2025 | Roadrunner Venture Studios: $25 Million Quantum Initiative For New Mexico | Roadrunner Venture Studios has been chosen by the New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) to lead a significant $25 million initiative aimed at advancing quantum technology in New Mexico. The project focuses on establishing a quant... |
| 07.08.2025 | Strand Therapeutics Raises $153M in Series B Financing | Strand Therapeutics, a Boston, MA-based company which specializes in new mRNA-based therapeutics, raised $153M in Series B funding.
The round was led by Kinnevik, with new investors Regeneron Ventures, ICONIQ, Amgen Ventures, Alderline Grou... |
| 27.07.2025 | US Tech Offensive: xLight's $40M Powers Chip Laser Race | US startup xLight has secured $40 million in funding. This capital aims to build a prototype for a new class of laser. This laser is critical for Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines. These machines create smaller, faster chips. T... |
| 26.07.2025 | US startup xLight raises $40 million in race against China for key chip-making laser | US startup xLight raises $40 million in race against China for key chip-making laser
By Stephen NellisJuly 25, 20259:45 PM UTCUpdated ago
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| 25.07.2025 | xLight: $40 Million Series B Raised For Transforming Semiconductor Manufacturing | xLight, an American company specializing in advanced laser technology, has secured $40 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round, led by Playground Global with support from Boardman Bay Capital Management and Morpheus Ventures.
Th... |
| 22.07.2025 | US startup xLight raises $40 million in race against China for key chipmaking laser | Synopsis
XLight's laser - based on the same technologies as massive particle accelerators used by US national labs in cutting-edge physics research - will sit at the heart of what are known as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines.... |
| 22.07.2025 | xLight Raises $40M in Series B Funding | xLight, a Palo Alto, CA-based company building lasers for the semiconductor industry, raised $40M in Series B funding.
The round was led by Playground Global, and joined by Boardman Bay Capital Management. Morpheus Ventures and others also ... |
| 26.06.2025 | Snowcap Compute's $23 Million Leap into Superconducting AI Chips | In the fast-paced world of technology, innovation is the lifeblood. Snowcap Compute, a fledgling startup, has just secured a hefty $23 million in funding. This investment is not just a number; it’s a signal. A signal that the future of arti... |
| 23.06.2025 | Snowcap Compute raises $23 million for superconducting AI chips | (Corrects spelling of Imec in paragraph 8)
By Stephen Nellis
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Despite the long development timeline, Pat Gelsinger, Intel's former CEO who led the investment for venture firm Playground Global and is joining Snowcap's board, sa... |
| 11.06.2025 | Confidential Computing Poised for Explosive Growth as Anjuna Secures Three of the World’s Top 10 Banks | Total number of people employed by Anjuna customers now exceeds one million
PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 11, 2025–
Anjuna, a leader in Confidential Computing and AI Data Fusion Clean Rooms, today announced the addition of a new to... |
| 28.03.2025 | Pat Gelsinger's Leap into Venture Capital: A New Chapter in Tech Innovation | Pat Gelsinger, the former CEO of Intel, is making waves again. After a rocky tenure at the chip giant, he’s diving into the world of venture capital. He’s joined Playground Global, a firm that invests in deep technology. This move signals a... |
| 27.03.2025 | Ex-Intel CEO Gelsinger joins venture capital firm Playground Global | SAN FRANCISCO : Pat Gelsinger, the former CEO of Intel, on Wednesday joined venture capital firm Playground Global as a general partner and also joined the board of a startup working to improve a key chip manufacturing tool.
Founded in 2015... |
| 26.03.2025 | Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger jumps to venture capital, joins Playground Global | After a tumultuous four-year run as Intel's CEO, Pat Gelsinger is becoming a general partner at early-stage Playground Global, which focuses on deep tech.
Gelsinger will join the board of Playground Global portfolio company xLight, which is... |
| 21.03.2025 | Why startups and tech giants are racing to build a practical quantum computer | Technology giants Amazon, IBM, Google, Intel and Microsoft are all working on quantum technology, as are various other companies like Rigetti, IonQ, Quantum Computing Inc. and D-Wave Quantum Inc.
The latest entrant into the space is Nvidia,... |
| 27.02.2025 | Amazon touts its first quantum-computing chip a week after Microsoft’s unveiling | Amazon revealed its first chip for quantum computing, and said its design will help the online retailer build highly efficient hardware systems.
The company is showing off Ocelot a week after Microsoft announced its inaugural quantum chip
A... |
| 27.02.2025 | Nvidia bounces back from post-earnings slide, climbing above $3 trillion market cap | Nvidia shares gained 3.9% Friday, pushing the tech giant back into the $3 trillion club with Apple.
Nvidia shares slumped more than 8% on Thursday, a day after the company reported earnings.
It’s still the second most valuable U.S. tech com... |
| 23.12.2024 | Ayar Labs: Optical Interconnect Company Raises $155 Million (Series D) | Ayar Labs, a leader in optical interconnect solutions for large-scale AI workloads, announced it has raised $155 million in financing led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital to address the AI bottleneck of data movement ... |
| 12.12.2024 | The Rise and Fall of Tech Titans: Ayar Labs and Intel's Diverging Paths | In the tech world, fortunes can shift like sand. One moment, a company is riding high, and the next, it’s grappling with uncertainty. This is the tale of two companies: Ayar Labs and Intel. One is basking in the glow of new funding, while t... |
| 12.12.2024 | Ayar Labs: $155 Million Secured At $1+ Billion Valuation To Address Needs For Cost-Effective AI Infrastructure | Ayar Labs, a leader in optical interconnect solutions for large-scale AI workloads, announced it has secured $155 million in funding led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital to break down the AI bottleneck of data movemen... |
| 11.12.2024 | Ayar Labs Raises $155M in Series D Funding | Ayar Labs, a San Jose, CA-based company which specializes in optical interconnect solutions for large-scale AI workloads, raised $155M in Series D funding.
The round was led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital with parti... |
| 18.11.2024 | Robust AI представила складского робота Carter Pro с системой безопасного взаимодействия с людьми | Компания Robust AI представила робота Carter, предназначенного для работы на складе. Сообщается, что он разработан с акцентом на безопасное взаимодействие между людьми и роботами.
Система основана на «принципе сотрудничества человека и маши... |
| 31.10.2024 | 1910 Genetics Receives Investment from Accenture Ventures | 1910 Genetics, a Boston, MA-based biotechnology company advancing small and large molecule drug discovery with a multimodal AI platform empowered by laboratory automation, received an investment from Accenture Ventures.
The amount of the de... |
| 17.08.2024 | Anjuna's $25 Million Boost: A Leap into the Future of Confidential Computing | In the fast-paced world of technology, securing data is akin to fortifying a castle. Anjuna, a rising star in the realm of Confidential Computing, has just raised $25 million in a Series B2 funding round. This financial infusion aims to exp... |
| 16.08.2024 | Anjuna: Universal Confidential Computing Platform Company Raises $25 Million (Series B2) | Anjuna – which is the creator of Anjuna Seaglass (a Universal Confidential Computing Platform) announced that it has closed a $25 million Series B2 financing round to propel and expand its AI-enabling enterprise offerings. The round was led... |
| 18.12.2023 | Playground Global: $410 Million Raised, Bringing AUM To Over $1.2 Billion | Playground Global recently announced that it has raised $410 million in new capital, bringing the firm’s assets under management to more than $1.2 billion. And Playground Global is an early-stage and deep-tech venture firm investing in tran... |
| 14.12.2023 | Playground Global Raises $410M for Fund III | Playground Global, a Palo Alto, CA-based early-stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs who have developed breakthroughs in frontier technologies, raised $410m in new capital for Fund III.
This brings the firm’s assets under ma... |
| 14.12.2023 | Playground Global closes Fund III with $410M for early-stage deep tech investments | - |
| 03.08.2023 | Playground Global Expands Portfolio Support with New Operating Partners Nate Chang in Life Sciences and Katja Gagen in Strategy, Marketing & Communications | Their expertise complements the 40+-person team at Playground dedicated to investing in breakthrough technologies and providing comprehensive support to founders and their companies.
PALO ALTO, Calif. (PRWEB) August 03, 2023
Playground Glob... |
| 03.08.2023 | Playground Global, a16z back $26M seed for RNA editing startup aiming to address multiple mutations with single shot | - |
| 01.06.2022 | BREAKING: FarmWise’s weeding robots haul in $45m Series B funding from Taylor Farms, others | US ag automation startup FarmWise Labs, which builds weeding robot Titan, has raised $45 million in Series B funding, it announced today.
Fall Line Capital and Middleland Capital co-led the round.
Taylor Farms, one of the top producers of l... |
| 23.04.2022 | Agility Robotics Raises $150 Million Series B Led By DCVC and Playground Global to Accelerate Blended Human-Robot Workplaces | Company Prepares To Introduce Flagship Robot To Logistics and Warehouse Environments
Agility Robotics, a creator and manufacturer of robots designed to work alongside people in logistics and warehouse environments, announced that it has rai... |
| 22.04.2022 | Agility Robotics Raises $150 Million Series B Led by DCVC and Playground Global to Accelerate Blended Human-Robot Workplaces | Company Prepares To Introduce Flagship Robot To Logistics and Warehouse Environments
Agility Robotics, a creator and manufacturer of robots designed to work alongside people in logistics and warehouse environments, announced that it has rai... |
| 22.07.2021 | Why Uber’s new deal comes as a surprise | The post-pandemic Uber is certainly not the same business it came in as.
Paid Content The art of swapping cars—for art From Polestar
Throughout the pandemic, as its core ride-hailing business flagged, the company focused on the parts of its... |
| 22.07.2021 | Why Uber’s new deal comes as a surprise | This is the web version of Term Sheet, a daily newsletter on the biggest deals and dealmakers. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
Paid Content Why the Electricity 4.0 moment is here From Schneider Electric
The post-pandemic Ube... |
| 23.06.2021 | Strand Therapeutics Inc. announced that it has received $52 million in funding from BeiGene, Ltd., Camford Capital, Redmile Group, LLC, ANRI, Playground Global, LLC | Strand Therapeutics Inc. announced that it has received over-subscribed round of funding for gross proceeds of $52 million co-led by new investors BeiGene, Ltd., Camford Capital, and Redmile Group, LLC on June 23, 2021. The transaction also... |
| 13.04.2021 | Serbian cloud-based AI chip factory Anari AI raises $2 million in seed funding | Novi Sad, Serbia-based Anari AI has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Earlybird, with participation from Acequia Capital, Serbian Entrepreneurs, and angel investor and “The Lean Startup” author Eric Ries.
Anari is a cloud-based AI ch... |
| 23.02.2021 | FarmWise plans to add autonomous crop dusting to its suite of robotic services | The robotics revolution in farming is set to continue as the autonomous crop cultivation company FarmWise looks to add new capabilities to its autonomous farming equipment.
The San Francisco-based company is currently testing the applicatio... |
| 19.02.2021 | 10 investors predict MaaS, on-demand delivery and EVs will dominate mobility’s post-pandemic future | The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just upend the transportation industry. It laid bare its weaknesses, and conversely, uncovered potential opportunities.
Electric bikes sales spiked as public transit ridership evaporated. The public, and investo... |
| 26.11.2019 | Leading robotics VCs talk about where they’re investing | The Valley’s affinity for robotics shows no signs of cooling. Technical enhancements through innovations like AI/ML, compute power and big data utilization continue to drive new performance milestones, efficiencies and use cases.
Despite th... |
| 08.11.2019 | Research: October Health IT M&A Activity, Public Company Performance | – Healthcare Growth Partners (HGP) summary of Health IT/digital health merger & acquisition (M&A) activity, and public company performance during the month of October 2019
During the month of October, Health IT continued its evoluti... |
| 06.06.2019 | Robust.AI launches to build an industrial-grade cognitive platform for robots | Despite the seemingly fantastical demonstration of walking and jumping robots, today’s robots are often stupid, brittle and inflexible, only capable of working in carefully engineered environments, and unable to respond dynamically and sens... |
| 26.02.2019 | An insider’s peek at TC Sessions: Robotics & AI | We are not quite ready to announce the agenda for TechCunch’s April 18 robotics and AI show at UC Berkeley, but anyone who has been watching the speaker announcements is bound to be just a bit excited. Here’s a quick sneak peek at the soon-... |
| 06.11.2018 | RapidSOS, an emergency response data provider, raises $30M as it grows from 10K users to 250M | Every day, there are around 650,000 emergency service callouts via 911 for medical, police and fire assistance in the U.S.; and by their nature these are some of the most urgent communications that we will ever make.
But ironically for the ... |
| 25.08.2018 | Learn more about the future of robotics at Disrupt SF | What’s next for robotics? At at Disrupt SF, we’ll be joined by four experts to discuss how new technologies are changing the field.
Those experts include Peter Barrett, founder and CTO and Playground, a venture fund and design studio focuse... |
| 14.04.2018 | Playground is betting big on robots | You find robotics in unexpected corners of Playground Global’s Palo Alto headquarters. They’re in the lobby and scattered amongst the cubicles. Inside the venture fund’s labs, an older Spot Mini stands next to RightHand Robotics’ pick and p... |
| 20.03.2018 | Andy Rubin and Robert Full will be speaking at TC Sessions: Robotics May 11 at UC Berkeley | We’re gearing up to bring you the second TC Sessions: Robotics on May 11 at the UC Berkeley campus. We’ve got a great show on-tap, with some of the premier names in the robotics/AI/automation world, from research to startups to big companie... |
| 16.03.2018 | Term Sheet — Friday, March 16 | FRESH FUNDING
Happy Friday, Term Sheet readers.
Paid Content You can't secure what you can't see From ExtraHop
The startup is in the process of raising $350 million in Series D funding being led by Russia’s DST Global, according to a source... |
| 22.02.2018 | Lighthouse uses AI and voice command in its home security camera | Lighthouse is launching a new home security camera powered by voice commands and artificial intelligence. It lets you ask who was jumping around in the living room after you find a broken vase on the floor. And it will tell you if there’s a... |
| 22.02.2018 | Lighthouse uses AI and voice command in its home security camera | We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!
Lighthouse is launching a new home security camer... |
| 19.12.2017 | FarmWise Raises $5.7m Seed Round for Vegetable Weeding Robot | FarmWise, an agricultural robotics and IoT startup has raised a $5.7 million seed round to commercialize the company’s automated weeding robot.
FarmWise has developed a weeding robot that uses computer vision to identify weeds and robotics ... |
| 27.07.2017 | Google Announces Launchpad Studio to Help AI and ML Startups | Google Announces Launchpad Studio to Help AI and ML Startups
Bret Kinsella on July 27, 2017 at 7:41 am
Google isn’t just saying that it is an AI-first company. It is acting on that strategy. We all know about Google Assistant, Deepmind and ... |
| 30.06.2017 | Andy Rubin’s Playground Ventures is raising another $15M | Playground Ventures — the VC fund co-founded by Android inventor and former Google exec Andy Rubin that sits alongside an eponymous incubator/startup studio and is making some big bets in areas like artificial intelligence and new generatio... |
| 31.05.2017 | Bolt Goes Bigger, Raises $80M for Third Early-Stage Hardware Fund | Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter LinkedIn Email Reprints
Bolt just raised over $80 million for its third venture fund, its largest to date. But the hardware investor and manufacturing consultant says it remains committed to backing ... |
| 11.05.2017 | Lighthouse tells you what happens in your home when you’re not there | A thief, your kids skipping school or paranormal activity? That’s the question that Lighthouse aims to answer with its new interactive assistant. By combining sophisticated sensors with computer vision technology, the Lighthouse team hopes ... |
| 09.05.2017 | Owl Labs Grabs $6M Led by Matrix, Teases Video Conferencing Device | Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter LinkedIn Email Reprints
Owl Labs, a Boston-based video conferencing startup that employs veterans of iRobot and HubSpot, announced today it has snagged a $6 million Series A funding round led by Matr... |
| 06.05.2017 | Inside Andy Rubin’s futuristic Playground hardware incubator | With titanium 3D printers, electrostatic charge tables, and a giant slide, Playground Global lives up to it’s a name. Here we take you on a tour of Android operating system inventor Andy Rubin’s hardware startup incubator that’s backed by a... |
| 10.04.2017 | Deep-linking startup Branch raised $60 million from Andy Rubin’s Playground Ventures | Branch, a startup making tools to enable developers to provide links between websites and apps, has raised a $60 million Series C round of funding from Andy Rubin’s Playground Ventures, according to sources.
Branch — formerly Branch Metrics... |
| 10.04.2017 | Deep-linking startup Branch raised $60M from Playground Ventures | - |
| 17.01.2017 | Playground Closes $40M Venture Capital Fund | Playground, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm that invests in and incubates startups building software-based hardware, closed a $40m fund.
According to a regulatory form filed with the SEC, two investors participated in the offering of Playgro... |
| 13.01.2017 | Term Sheet — Friday, January 13 | INNOVATION HYPERBOLE COMPLEX
We’re on the cusp of a three-day weekend and Fortune is closing its latest magazine issue, which means I’m letting let you all write today’s column.
Paid Content What you need to know about growing cyberattacks ... |
| 28.11.2016 | High-end audio maker Devialet nabs €100M from Foxconn, Jay Z, Rubin’s Playground and more | Make way for another startup that wants to shake up the world of music and audio technology. Devialet, the French developer of high-end speakers and the IP behind the sound systems that make them go boom, has raised €100 million ($106 milli... |
| 24.11.2016 | Playground Global Launches $500M Second Venture Capital Fund | Playground Global, a Palo Alto, CA-based venture capital firm, has launched the raise of its second fund.
According to a regulatory filing with the SEC, Playground Ventures II, L.P., targets to raise $500m. No investors have participated in... |
| 23.11.2016 | Term Sheet — Wednesday, November 23 | ET CETERA
A few brief notes before the holiday begins…
Paid Content How can you protect what you can't see? From ExtraHop
• Instagram has had an engineering office in New York City since the beginning of this year, but in recent months, the... |
| 17.08.2016 | Two iRobot Vets Have Raised $5M for Their Video Conferencing Startup, Owl Labs | This is a First Look: It's the first time any news outlet or blog has covered this startup. You can read more First Looks here. (We do this a lot.)
Two iRobot veterans, including the company's former lead roboticist, just disclosed that the... |
| 13.04.2016 | Nauto raises $12 million for driverless car technology that’s street-legal today | Even before the blockbuster acquisition of Cruise Automation by General Motors for more than $1 billion, venture firms were looking for big ideas in autonomous vehicles.
The latest company to attract a round of funding for driverless car te... |
| 07.04.2015 | Playground Global Raises $48M | Playground Global, LLC, a Los Altos, CA-based hardware startup accelerator, raised $48m in funding.
Backers included Redpoint, Google, Hewlett-Packard Co., Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., and others. In total, a filing with the S.E.C., list... |
| - | Serbian cloud-based AI chip factory Anari AI raises $2 million in seed funding | Novi Sad, Serbia-based Anari AI has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Earlybird, with participation from Acequia Capital, Serbian Entrepreneurs, and angel investor and "The Lean Startup" author Eric Ries.
Anari is a cloud-b... |
