VC Pulse- Top Deals of the Week Mar 1–7, 2026

Posted on March 07, 2026 at 05:11 PM

🚀 VC Pulse: Top Deals of the Week (Mar 1–7, 2026)

AI Infrastructure, Space Tech & Digital Health Lead a $1.5B+ Deal Week


Startup Sector Round Key Investors Valuation Notes
Ayar Labs 🇺🇸 AI Infrastructure / Photonics Series E — $500M Neuberger Berman (lead), NVIDIA, AMD, Sequoia Global Equities, ARK Invest, Insight Partners, QIA $3.75B MIT spinout replacing copper datacenter interconnects with optical (silicon photonic) co-packaged optics; claims 4–20× better throughput-per-watt vs. copper. IPO signals emerging. Total raised: $870M.
Sierra Space 🇺🇸 Space & Defense Tech Equity — $550M LuminArx Capital Management (lead) $8B Designs and manufactures satellites, spacecraft, and space subsystems; 5 years old, Colorado-based. Largest deal of the week by valuation.
Vast 🇺🇸 Commercial Space / Orbital Series A — $500M ($300M equity + $200M debt) Balerion Space Ventures (lead), QIA, Mitsui, MUFG, Nikon, In-Q-Tel N/D Building Haven commercial space stations for LEO research and manufacturing; CEO cited the LEO economy at “a pivotal inflection point.”
Science Corp. 🇺🇸 Neurotech / BCI Series C — $230M Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, In-Q-Tel N/D Neuralink alums building PRIMA, a rice-grain–sized brain-computer interface implant to restore sight; launching first in Europe; $490M total raised.
Grow Therapy 🇺🇸 Digital Mental Health Series D — $150M TCV & Goldman Sachs Growth Equity (co-leads), Menlo Ventures, BCI, Sequoia, SignalFire N/D NY-based platform connecting patients with in-network therapists; backed by 125+ insurers covering 220M people. Total raised: $328M. Approaching $1B revenue.
Findhelp 🇺🇸 Healthcare / Care Coordination Growth — $250M TPG Rise Fund N/D Platform coordinating care across health systems, governments, and benefits providers; Austin-based, founded 2010. Mission-driven social determinants of health play.
Rowspace 🇺🇸 Fintech / AI Analytics Seed + Series A — $50M Sequoia Capital (lead), Emergence Capital, Stripe N/D AI platform aggregating deal docs, CRM, and accounting data for private equity firms managing hundreds of billions in assets; acting as a “nervous system” for investment data.
Nominal 🇺🇸 Engineering / Defense Tech Growth — $80M Founders Fund (lead), Sequoia, General Catalyst, Lightspeed, Lux Capital $1B Provides hardware testing tools for defense, automotive, and robotics; now a “manufacturing unicorn” with $155M total raised.
Ease Health 🇺🇸 Digital Health / BehHealth AI Series A — $41M Andreessen Horowitz (a16z, lead) N/D AI-native operating system for mental health providers, unifying CRM, EHR, and billing into one platform. Launched out of stealth.
PLD Space 🇪🇸 Space / Reusable Rockets Series C — €180M (~$209M) Mitsubishi Electric (lead, €50M), Spanish Gov., COFIDES, Nazca Capital N/D First private Spanish rocket company, developing Miura 5 reusable orbital launch vehicle; Miura 1 debuted 2023. European space sovereignty theme.
14.ai 🇺🇸 AI / Customer Support Seed — $3M Y Combinator (lead), General Catalyst, SV Angel N/D AI-native customer support agency automating tickets across email, phone, chat, and social; founded by two ex-YC founders.

📊 Trend Commentary & Actionable Insights

1. AI Infrastructure is the New Semiconductor Race. Ayar Labs’ $500M raise underscores a growing consensus that copper interconnect limits are AI’s next hard bottleneck, with NVIDIA and AMD placing direct bets on photonic solutions. This is a picks-and-shovels play — investors should watch the CPO (co-packaged optics) supply chain closely.

2. Commercial Space is Having a Moment. Three separate space deals this week (Sierra Space, Vast, PLD Space) totaling ~$1.26B signal that LEO infrastructure and launch vehicles are graduating from speculative to strategic. Wayve’s $1.2B autonomous vehicle raise and space mega-deals reflect rising investor appetite for deep-tech partnerships with industrials and sovereigns.

3. Mental Health Tech is Consolidating Around Winners. Grow Therapy has become one of the few behavioral health companies to sustain large funding rounds as the market rationalized from COVID-era enthusiasm, now nearing $1B revenue — a sign the sector is entering a high-growth, winner-takes-most phase. Ease Health’s a16z-backed stealth launch signals continued institutional conviction.

4. Sequoia + a16z Domination Continues. Both firms appear in multiple deals this week across fintech (Rowspace), health (Grow Therapy, Ease Health), and deep tech (Nominal, Science Corp.), reinforcing their position as the most active post-seed investors, each participating in 100+ rounds in 2025.

5. Crypto Cooling, AI Heating. Crypto startups raised just $883M in February — a 13% year-over-year decline — as investors shift toward revenue-generating AI and infrastructure plays. Reallocation from Web3 to AI infrastructure is now a macro theme.


VC Pulse — Mar 1–7, 2026
VC Pulse
Weekly Intelligence Digest
Mar 1–7, 2026 Issue No. 09 · 2026
Sequoia · a16z · Lightspeed
YC · Founders Fund · TCV
AYAR LABS +$500MSIERRA SPACE +$550MVAST +$500MSCIENCE CORP +$230MGROW THERAPY +$150MNOMINAL $1B UNICORNPLD SPACE €180MEASE HEALTH +$41MROWSPACE +$50MCRYPTO DEALS −13% YoY   AYAR LABS +$500MSIERRA SPACE +$550MVAST +$500MSCIENCE CORP +$230MGROW THERAPY +$150MNOMINAL $1B UNICORNPLD SPACE €180MEASE HEALTH +$41MROWSPACE +$50MCRYPTO DEALS −13% YoY
Total Deployed
$1.5B+
Across 10 tracked deals
New Unicorns
1
Nominal · $1B valuation
Largest Round
$550M
Sierra Space · $8B val.
Top Sectors
AI · Space · Health
Crypto −13% YoY
Capital Allocation by Sector
Space Tech
$1.26B across 3 deals
$1.26B
AI Infra
$500M · Ayar Labs
$500M
Digital Health
$421M combined
$421M
Neurotech / BCI
$230M · Science Corp.
$230M
Defense Tech
$80M · Nominal
$80M
Fintech / AI
$50M
$50M
Ayar Labs
🇺🇸
AI Infrastructure · Photonics
$500M
Series E
Val: $3.75B · Total raised: $870M
Neuberger Berman (lead) · NVIDIA · AMD · Sequoia · ARK · Insight · QIA
MIT spinout replacing copper with silicon photonics. 4–20× throughput-per-watt. IPO signals emerging.
Sierra Space
🇺🇸
Space & Defense
$550M
Equity Round
Val: $8B · Largest deal of the week
LuminArx Capital Management (lead)
Satellites, spacecraft & space subsystems. Colorado-based, 5 years old.
Vast
🇺🇸
Commercial Space · Orbital
$500M
Series A · $300M equity + $200M debt
Balerion Space · QIA · Mitsui · In-Q-Tel
MUFG · Nikon · Mitsui
Haven commercial space stations for LEO research & manufacturing. CEO: "pivotal inflection point."
Science Corp.
🇺🇸
Neurotech · BCI
$230M
Series C
Total raised: $490M
Lightspeed · Khosla Ventures · Y Combinator · In-Q-Tel
Neuralink alums. PRIMA — rice-grain BCI implant to restore sight. First launch in Europe.
Grow Therapy
🇺🇸
Digital Mental Health
$150M
Series D
Total raised: $328M · ~$1B revenue
TCV & Goldman Sachs Growth (co-leads) · Sequoia · Menlo · BCI · SignalFire
220M covered lives. 125+ insurer partnerships. Winner-takes-most phase emerging.
Ease Health
🇺🇸
Behavioral Health AI
$41M
Series A · Out of Stealth
Backed by a16z
Andreessen Horowitz (lead)
AI-native OS for mental health providers. Unified CRM, EHR & billing in one platform.
Nominal
🇺🇸
Engineering · Defense Tech
$80M
Growth Round · 🦄 Unicorn
Val: $1B · Total raised: $155M
Founders Fund (lead) · Sequoia · General Catalyst · Lightspeed · Lux Capital
Hardware testing tools for defense, automotive & robotics. New manufacturing unicorn.
PLD Space
🇪🇸
Space · Reusable Rockets
€180M
Series C (~$209M USD)
European space sovereignty play
Mitsubishi Electric (€50M lead) · Spanish Gov. · COFIDES · Nazca Capital
First private Spanish rocket co. Miura 5 reusable orbital vehicle. Miura 1 debuted 2023.
01
AI Infrastructure
Copper is AI's next bottleneck — photonics is the bet
Ayar Labs' $500M raise confirms silicon photonic co-packaged optics as a strategic picks-and-shovels play. NVIDIA and AMD investing directly signals this is no longer speculative. Watch CPO supply chain.
02
Space Economy
Commercial space graduates from speculative to strategic
Three space deals (~$1.26B) in a single week. Sovereign wealth funds and industrials (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, QIA) are replacing pure-play VCs as lead investors — a structural shift in the capital stack.
03
Digital Health
Mental health tech enters winner-takes-most consolidation
Grow Therapy (~$1B revenue) and Ease Health (a16z-backed, out of stealth) signal institutional conviction. The rationalization from COVID-era enthusiasm is complete — survivors are scaling fast.
AI Infrastructure Space Economy Behavioral Health Tech
For investors & analysts · Sources validated