The New Unicorn Count Reached A 4-Year High In March, Led By Robotics, Frontier Labs And AI Infrastructure

0 Shares Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn A total of 37 companies joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board in March, the highest monthly count in close to four years, Crunchbase data shows. The robotics sector led unicorn creation last month, with six new billion-dollar startups, including three from China. Frontier labs added four new unicorns, including two that are building models for robotics. AI infrastructure also added four new unicorn companies focused on data center technology and provisioning. Fintech, including startups in wealth management, payment and digital assets, added four companies, while developer tools and defense each added three. Twenty of March’s new unicorns are U.S.-based, including 11 from the San Francisco Bay Area. China added six companies in sectors ranging from robotics to AI and quantum computing. From Europe, four new March unicorns are U.K.-based, while France, the Netherlands and Belgium each minted one. The UAE, Seychelles, India and Australia also each added one new unicorn to the board. The most valuable unicorn newcomer last month was Seychelles-based crypto exchange OKX, valued at $25 billion. The largest funding was a $1 billion round raised by AI pioneer Yann LeCun’s new frontier lab startup, Paris-based Advanced Machine Intelligence. The board also saw a sizable cohort of very young companies earning their unicorn horns: 18 of the companies that joined the board last month were less than 3 years old. Five were not even a year old. March’s new unicorns AI-centric sectors by far led unicorn creation in March, with 14 of the 36 newcomers hailing from the robotics, foundational AI or AI infrastructure industries: Robotics Mind Robotics, a robotics for manufacturing company spun out by Rivian, raised a $500 million Series A led by Accel and Andreessen Horowitz. The 1-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $2 billion. Shenzhen-based PaXini Tech, an intelligent sensor technology for robotics, raised a $145 million Series B led by Huangpu River Capital, Kaitai Capital and Xin’an Capital. The 4-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion. Beijing-based Robot Era, a humanoid robotics company, raised $145 million in funding. The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion. Sunday, a humanoid robotics company for household tasks, raised a $165 million Series B led by Coatue. The 2-year-old Mountain View, California-based company was valued at $1.2 billion. The company plans to deploy robots to homes this year. Pudong, China-based Elite Robots, an intelligent layer for robotics in manufacturing, raised an $87 million Series D round. The 9-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion. Lightwheel, a provider of simulated data for robotic intelligence, raised a $146 million Series A. The 3-year-old Santa Clara, California-based company was valued at $1 billion. Foundational AI Paris-based Advanced Machine Intelligence raised a $1 billion seed round led by Bezos Expeditions, Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, Hiro Capital and HV Capital. The less than 1-year-old company was founded by LeCun, Meta’s former AI lead, and is working to develop models for physical AI. It was valued at $4.5 billion in the round, which is Europe’s largest seed round on record. Rhoda AI, a robot foundation model developer trained on internet scale video, raised a $450 million Series A led by Premji Invest. The 2-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $1.7 billion. Axiom, a math foundation model developer for verified AI useful for coding and other applications, raised a $200 million Series A led by Menlo Ventures. The 1-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $1.6 billion. Beijing-based AIsphere, a text-to-video startup with its own AI model, raised a $300 million Series C led by CDH Investments. The 2-year-old company was valued at $1 billion. AI infrastructure Nexthop AI, a provider of networking hardware and software for data centers, raised a $500 million Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The 2-year-old Santa Clara, California-based company was valued at $4.2 billion. Frore Systems, a chip cooling technology, raised a $143 million Series D led by MVP Ventures. The 8-year-old San Jose, California-based company was valued at $1.6 billion. Andromeda, which offers GPU rentals for startups, raised a Series A funding led by Paradigm. The 2-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion. Redmond, Washington-based Starcloud, a company building data centers in space, raised a $170 million Series A led by Benchmark and EQT. The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.1 billion. It launched its first satellite with a Nvidia H100 in November 2025. Financial services London-based 9fin, an AI-native platform for debt providers including banks, asset managers and advisory firms, raised a $170 million Series C led by HarbourVest Partners. The 9-year-old company was valued at $1.3 billion. Mumbai-based Neo Group, a wealth asset advisory firm for high-net-worth individuals and family offices, raised a $53 million private equity funding led by TVS Capital Funds. The 4-year old, venture-backed asset manager was valued at $1.1 billion. Brussels-based Keyrock, an investment group for digital assets, raised a Series C led by SC Ventures. The 8-year-old company was valued at $1.1 billion. Abu Dhabi-based Advanced Digital Gaming Technology, a payments infrastructure provider for regulated gaming markets, raised a $250 million funding led by Blackstone Group. The less than 1-year-old company was valued at $1 billion. Developer tools WorkOS, which promises to make your app enterprise ready with authentication and other features, raised a $100 million Series C led by Meritech Capital Partners and Sapphire Ventures. The 8-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $2 billion. Dash0, an observability platform for agentic AI, raised a $110 million Series B led by Balderton Capital. The 3-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1 billion. Nominal, a software developer for hardware testing and development, raised an $80 million Series B led by Founders Fund. The 3-year-old Austin-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Defense Performance Drone Works, a drone technology company built for defense, raised a $110 million Series B led by Ondas Networks. The 7-year-old Huntsville, Alabama-based company was valued at $1.2 billion. Sydney-based Advanced Navigation, provider of advanced navigation beyond GPS for military and industrial capabilities, raised a $112 million Series C led by Airtree Ventures. The 13-year-old company was valued at $1 billion. London-based UForce, a builder of unmanned systems used in the Ukrainian war, raised a $50 million seed funding led by Lakestar and Shield Capital. The 1-year-old company was valued at $1 billion. Biotechnology Austin-based Astromech, a biological AI research company spun out of Colossal Biosciences, raised a $10 million seed extension. The less than 1-year-old company was valued at $2 billion. Science, a neurotech company focused on brain computer interfaces, raised a $230 million Series C led by Khosla Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The 5-year-old Alameda, California-based company, whose primary product, an implant to restore vision for those who suffer retinal disease, was valued at $1.5 billion. Sales and marketing Amsterdam-based Wonderful, a builder of agents for companies to deploy in customer service and business operations, raised a $150 million Series B led by Insight Partners. The 1-year-old company was valued at $2 billion. Rox, an agentic layer that monitors customers and researches prospects, raised a Series B led by General Catalyst. The 2-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.2 billion. Security Tenex.AI, native AI security with its own human triage for customers, raised a $250 million Series B led by Crosspoint Capital Partners. The 1-year-old Sarasota, Florida-based company was valued at $1 billion. XBow, which uses AI for offensive security, raised a $120 million Series C led by DFJ Growth and Northzone. The 2-year-old Seattle-based company was valued at $1 billion. Cryptocurrency Seychelles-based OKX, a global cryptocurrency exchange platform, raised a $200 million corporate round led by Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the NYSE. The 12-year-old company was valued at $25 billion. Telehealth Miami-based eMed, Tom Brady‘s telehealth provider for GLP-1 medications through employers, raised a $200 million Series A led by Aon. The 5-year-old company was valued at $2 billion. Professional services London-based Granola, an AI notetaking startup, raised a $125 million Series C led by Index Ventures. The 3-year-old company was valued at $1.5 billion. Consumer goods Eight Sleep, a company with a mattress, thermal blanket and pillow designed to monitor and improve sleep, raised a $50 million Series D led by Tether Ventures. The 11-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1.5 billion. Accelerator London-based Entrepreneurs First, an accelerator that sources founders from top schools, raised a $200 million Series D. The 11-year-old company, which hosts its latest cohorts in Silicon Valley, was valued at $1.3 billion. Quantum computing Sichuan, China-based Bose Quantum, a quantum computer and chip-production company, raised a $145 million Series B. The 5-year-old company was valued at $1 billion. Autonomous driving Hangzhou-based Zhijian Power, an intelligent driving platform, raised a Series A led by CAS Star, Gaorong Capital and HongShan. The less than 1-year-old company was valued at $1 billion. Related Crunchbase unicorn lists: The Crunchbase Private Unicorn Company List (1,739) Exited unicorns (609) New unicorns in 2026 (101) New unicorns in 2025 (188) New unicorns in 2024 (117) New unicorns in 2023 (102) Unicorns in the U.S. (896) Unicorns in Asia (510) European unicorns (236) Unicorns from LatAm (38) Emerging unicorn leaderboard (472) Related reading: This Is A Momentous Year For Early-Stage Unicorns The Rising Investors Behind The New Unicorn Class While OpenAI Shattered Records, Robotics and Semiconductor Startups Quietly Added The Most New Unicorns In February Methodology The Crunchbase Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are added to the Unicorn Board as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round. The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter. Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to The Exited Unicorn Board. Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits. Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price. Illustration: Dom Guzman TagsAI Cryptocurrency cybersecurity defense tech fintech manufacturing marketing robotics sales seed funding startups transportation unicorn venture Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily. This past quarter, funding to security- and privacy-focused startups dipped slightly on a sequential basis, but remained well above year-ago levels...