AI Funding Tracker: 18 Deals Led by Fireworks AI's $1.5B Round
The AI funding tracker for this week rounds up 18 funding and investment stories, with [Fireworks AI's $1.5B Series D](https://bytevyte.com/open-weight-inference-is-the-next-ai-value-layer/) at a $17.5B valuation the largest private round in the batch. The biggest single-day move belonged to [Unitree Robotics](https://bytevyte.com/unitree-robotics-ipo-50-billion-first-day-on-star-market-update/), whose STAR Market debut closed up 460% at ¥845 for a ¥341.8 billion market value.
The AI Funding Tracker: IPO Wave Builds
The listing queue shaped the period. [Anthropic's Q2 revenue](https://bytevyte.com/anthropic-q2-revenue-tops-11-5b-as-first-operating-profit-reshapes-the-ipo-math/) topped $11.5 billion with its first positive adjusted operating income, resetting the $2 trillion IPO debate ahead of an October listing, and [OpenAI committed to a hard 2027 IPO window](https://bytevyte.com/openai-2027-ipo-a-hard-timeline-lands-as-the-race-with-anthropic-heats-up/) with an earlier debut possible. Pre-IPO churn continued: an [exit after eight months](https://bytevyte.com/openai-cro-exit-after-eight-months-deepens-a-pre-ipo-exodus-of-a-dozen-update/) by the CRO took OpenAI's 2026 departures to a dozen, with Dali Rajic stepping in and Greg Brockman consolidating control, while [ChatGPT Ads](https://bytevyte.com/openais-chatgpt-ads-europe-expansion-reaches-31-markets-ahead-of-ipo/) expands to 31 European markets from August 24 with consent-based targeting. SK Hynix is weighing a [Solidigm IPO](https://bytevyte.com/the-solidigm-ipo-calculus-sk-hynixs-plan-to-fund-american-factories/) to fund US factories and recoup the $9B Intel deal.
Capital Heads Down the Stack
Infrastructure money in the AI funding tracker centered on Nvidia's Ohio project. [SB Energy investment talks](https://bytevyte.com/nvidia-sb-energy-investment-talks-target-3b-stake-in-ohio-data-center-update/) target a $3 billion stake as the chipmaker weighs roughly $100 billion in credit support for OpenAI's campus, while the [project backstop](https://bytevyte.com/nvidia-openai-backstop-for-ohio-drops-below-120b/) dropped from $250B to under $120B, capped at phase one as investors curb vendor-financing risk.
Inference and chip economics drew fresh capital. [Together AI's $800M round](https://bytevyte.com/open-weight-inference-is-the-next-ai-value-layer/) sits close behind Fireworks AI's round, and [Stripe's OpenRouter acquisition](https://bytevyte.com/stripe-openrouter-acquisition-prices-ais-toll-booth-at-7b/), priced above $7 billion at 140x revenue, values the routing layer in front of those models. [Groq raised $350M at a $3.5B valuation](https://bytevyte.com/groq-neocloud-pivot-ai-chip-pioneer-raises-350m-at-3-5b/), half its 2025 peak, with Nvidia expected to join the round, and [Velaura's $110M round](https://bytevyte.com/why-the-velaura-ai-licensing-model-is-reshaping-ai-chip-economics/) lifted it past a $1B valuation on a licensing model tied to measured power savings.
Agent startups clustered in the middle of the tracker. [Wispr's $280M Series B](https://bytevyte.com/wispr-series-b-hits-2b-as-menlo-ventures-bets-on-voice/) at a $2B valuation has Menlo Ventures betting voice replaces the keyboard, [EliseAI is negotiating $300M at a $3.7B valuation](https://bytevyte.com/eliseai-funding-round-ai-agents-push-property-management/) for property-management agents, and [Temporal's $12B valuation talks](https://bytevyte.com/temporals-12b-valuation-puts-durable-execution-at-ai-core/) put durable execution at the core of agent infrastructure. [Smack's $61M Series B](https://bytevyte.com/smacks-61m-series-b-shows-pentagon-ai-vendor-diversification-is-paying-off/) shows Pentagon vendor diversification paying off after the Anthropic supply-chain ruling, [Higgsfield's valuation quadrupled to $5.4B](https://bytevyte.com/higgsfield-series-b-valuation-quadruples-to-5-4b-as-enterprise-marketing-takes-over/) on $700M in annualized enterprise-marketing revenue, and [Physical Intelligence](https://bytevyte.com/physical-intelligence-acquisition-rumors-draw-a-denial-as-a-1b-series-c-looms/) is seeking a $1B Series C at an $11B valuation with OpenAI holding a stake.
What to watch in the next AI funding tracker: whether Nvidia closes Groq's round, how the Ohio backstop settles, and the first filings ahead of Anthropic's October listing.
Related Articles
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- Fireworks AI Series D Funding: $1.5B Raised at $17.5B Valuation as ARR Hits $1B
- AI Funding Tracker: Intel's $20B Raise Leads a Busy Week
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Researched and cross-referenced against primary sources by the Bytevyte editorial team. This article was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the Bytevyte editorial team.