💰🏗️ $16B: AI Goes Fully Physical

Dear {{First_Name|Friend}},

As we enter the first full week of April, physical AI and defense robotics surge as Saronic closes a $1.75 billion Series D at a $9.25 billion valuation to accelerate autonomous warships for the U.S. Navy, while Alcatraz locks in a $50 million Series B to bring AI facial authentication to data center perimeters. Data center innfrastructure capital reaches new heights, with CoreWeave closing the first investment-grade $8.5 billion GPU-backed loan and Related Digital finalizing $16 billion in project debt for the Oracle and OpenAI Stargate campus in Michigan.

Mobility bets grow bolder as Uber acquires premium chauffeur platform Blacklane for approximately $1.1 billion and Rivian spinout Also raises $200 million at a $1 billion valuation to build autonomous delivery vehicles for DoorDash. On the energy front, Valar Atomics raises $450 million to bring factory-built micro-reactors to AI data centers, while EnerVenue closes a $300 million extension to scale space-proven grid batteries globally.

Stay sharp,

Saronic Closes $1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation
Austin's autonomous warship maker more than doubled its valuation in a single round — Kleiner Perkins led the raise as Saronic races to put self-sailing vessels in U.S. Navy hands. (Read more)

Cedarobo Closes Second Round (~$14.5M) in 90 Days
The Shenzhen-based consumer humanoid startup can't stop raising — backed by Shenzhen Capital Group and Lightspeed China, it's targeting the everyday home robot market at a sprint. (Read more)

Alcatraz Closes $50M Series B for AI Physical Security
Facial-recognition hardware is going enterprise — Alcatraz raised from an unlikely trio of Bulgarian, Taiwanese, and multilateral-bank investors to lock down AI data centers. (Read more)

Anvil Robotics Raises $5.5M for Open-Source Robot Hardware
Think Arduino, but for robots — Anvil wants to ship configurable robot kits in two days for under $10,000, bringing an open-source model to commercial robotics for the first time. (Read more)

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Digital Realty Closes $3.25B US Hyperscale Fund
Sovereign wealth funds, pensions, and endowments are now writing checks for data centers — Digital Realty's inaugural hyperscale fund hit a $3.25 billion final close with DLR retaining a 20% stake. (Read more)

Nebius Announces $10B AI Factory in Finland
Anchored by a $27 billion Meta compute contract, Nebius is breaking ground on a 310 MW GPU campus in Lappeenranta built around Nvidia's next-gen Vera Rubin platform. (Read more)

Related Digital Finalizes $16B Oracle Michigan Campus Financing
The largest AI infrastructure debt deal yet: Related Digital closed project financing for a 1+ GW Oracle/OpenAI data center campus in Michigan as part of the Stargate initiative. (Read more)

CoreWeave Closes First Investment-Grade $8.5B GPU Loan
CoreWeave just turned Nvidia GPUs into investment-grade collateral — its $8.5 billion term loan is the first GPU-backed facility ever rated investment-grade by Moody's and DBRS. (Read more)

Voltify Raises $30M Seed to Electrify Freight Rail
Aleph and Fortescue are betting on a smarter way to electrify trains — Voltify's in-motion battery charging system could make a $1 trillion overhead-wire overhaul unnecessary. (Read more)

Also (Rivian Spinout) Raises $200M Series C With DoorDash
Rivian's EV spinout hit a $1 billion valuation and signed a multi-year deal with DoorDash — making Also the first dedicated autonomous delivery vehicle supplier for a major last-mile platform. (Read more)

Nomadic Raises $8.4M Seed for AV Video Data Infrastructure
Backed by Jeff Dean and OpenAI's Scott Wu, Nomadic turns the 95% of autonomous vehicle camera footage that goes unused into structured training data — picks-and-shovels for the AV era. (Read more)

Uber Acquires Blacklane for ~$1.1 Billion
Uber is going upmarket — its acquisition of the Berlin-based premium chauffeur platform adds 500+ cities across 60+ countries to its roster, weeks after launching Uber Elite. (Read more)

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EnerVenue Raises $300M for Space-Proven Grid Batteries
A Hong Kong billionaire's family office is backing the battery technology NASA uses in space — EnerVenue closed a $300 million Series B extension to scale nickel-hydrogen grid storage manufacturing in China. (Read more)

Emerald AI Raises $25M to Turn Data Centers Into Grid Assets
What if data centers could power the grid instead of just draining it? Emerald AI closed a $25 million round backed by GE Vernova, Siemens, Eaton, Nvidia, and Samsung to make that a reality. (Read more)

Valar Atomics Raises $450M for Small Modular Reactors
Factory-built micro-reactors for AI data centers: Valar Atomics reached a $2 billion valuation after closing $340 million in equity and $110 million in debt for its high-temperature gas-cooled reactor program. (Read more)

Helix Earth Closes $12M Seed for Energy-Efficient HVAC Tech
A NASA and Rice University spinout tripled its lead investor's commitment — Helix Earth closed a $12 million oversubscribed seed round to bring space-grade HVAC efficiency to commercial buildings. (Read more)