Weekly TOP Startup / VC news of February 26, 2026

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Blackstone spearheads a $1.2 billion investment in Neysa, an Indian AI cloud startup. This landmark funding, comprising $600M equity and $600M debt, will deploy over 20,000 GPUs across India. Neysa, valued at $1.4B, will accelerate the nation's AI infrastructure, supporting businesses and government. Blackstone gains a majority stake, reinforcing its global AI 'picks and shovels' strategy in a key market. This initiative boosts India's ambition for AI leadership, coinciding with the India AI Impact Summit.

Stable Money secured $25M in Pre-Series C funding, led by Peak XV Partners, reaching a $175M valuation. The India-based fixed-income platform targets 5x growth, expanding its user base and product suite including REITs. It dominates gold/silver ETF transactions on ONDC, reflecting strong investor trust. With $65M raised, Stable Money reshapes digital investing, focusing on regulated, accessible options amid market uncertainty. This capital fuels aggressive expansion and innovation in India's booming fintech sector, positioning the company for significant future impact.

eBay secures Depop from Etsy for $1.2 billion in a pivotal cash transaction. This bold move fortifies eBay's position within the booming fashion recommerce market. It strategically aims to capture the vital Gen Z and millennial demographic, significantly bolstering eBay's C2C strategy. For Etsy, the sale represents a decisive step. It divests Depop to singularly concentrate on its foundational marketplace offerings. This marks a distinct shift away from its prior "house of brands" expansion. Etsy intends to deploy the substantial proceeds for essential corporate purposes, robust share repurchases, and targeted investments in its core platform. Both eBay and Etsy experienced substantial stock rallies following the announcement. Depop, celebrated for its mobile-centric, community-driven approach to secondhand fashion, is slated to maintain its distinct brand identity and unique culture. The deal is slated to finalize by the second quarter of 2026, signaling a profound recalibration across the online retail ecosystem.

Peak XV Partners raised $1.3 billion for new India Seed, India Venture, and APAC funds. This monumental fundraise is its first since splitting from Sequoia Capital in 2023. The firm targets high-growth startups across India and the Asia-Pacific region. Strategic investments will focus heavily on artificial intelligence, financial technology, and consumer segments. Deeptech also features prominently. Capital will support companies from early-stage development to significant growth. This commitment strengthens Peak XV's position in the dynamic India startup funding landscape. It signals robust confidence from global limited partners, including major non-profit endowments. The firm aims to fuel the next generation of innovative enterprises across these critical markets, building on a decade-long track record of success.

Portkey, an LLMOps innovator, secured $15 million in Series A funding. Elevation Capital led the round; Lightspeed participated. This capital fuels expansion of its AI control plane and market operations. Portkey's in-path gateway ensures AI reliability, governance, observability, and cost efficiency for enterprises. It processes 500 billion tokens daily for 24,000 organizations. The platform manages significant AI spend. Now, its core enterprise AI gateway is free, lowering adoption barriers. This move reinforces Portkey's mission: delivering critical AI infrastructure for the future of autonomous systems.

SambaNova Systems disrupts the AI landscape. It launched its SN50 AI chip. The chip promises superior speed and lower inference costs. Over $350 million in Series E funding now fuels its growth. Vista Equity Partners and Cambium Capital led the significant round. Intel Capital also participated. Intel forged a multi-year strategic collaboration. This partnership aims to build an Intel-powered AI cloud. SoftBank will deploy the SN50 first in Japan. SambaNova targets efficient, scalable agentic AI. It positions as a potent alternative to existing GPU-centric solutions. The company sharply challenges market leaders.

AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li's World Labs secured $1 billion. Nvidia, AMD, and Autodesk are key investors. The funding propels World Labs' advanced 'world models.' These neural networks generate interactive 3D virtual environments. The capital targets robotics development, including SLAM and 3D reconstruction. A strategic partnership with Autodesk will integrate AI into design tools, impacting industrial and entertainment sectors. World Labs' Marble model creates intricate 3D worlds, streamlining tasks from robot training simulations to visual effects production. This significant investment accelerates the next generation of AI innovation.

Aalyria, a Google spin-off, just secured $100M in Series B funding, hitting a $1.3B valuation. The company pioneers advanced space and terrestrial communications. Its Spacetime software dynamically orchestrates complex satellite networks. Tightbeam, its laser communication hardware, delivers ultra-high-speed, secure links. Aalyria builds vital infrastructure for next-gen LEO constellations and critical government missions. It ensures resilient, programmable networks for a globally connected future, accelerating deployment and market expansion.

SurrealDB secures a significant $23 million in a Series A extension. This funding brings total capital raised to $44 million. The company concurrently launches SurrealDB 3.0. This new version is an AI-native, multi-model database. It unifies diverse data types like relational, document, graph, and vector within a single system. SurrealDB directly addresses critical challenges in AI agent memory and real-time context management. New investment fuels enhanced enterprise reliability, global cloud scalability, and production readiness. SurrealDB positions its platform as the foundational data layer for advanced AI applications, simplifying complex data infrastructure for the artificial intelligence era.

European regtech Copla secured €6 million in Series A funding. This investment boosts its real-time ICT compliance platform. The platform targets regulated financial services. Copla streamlines adherence to complex EU regulations. These include DORA, the EU AI Act, and the Cyber Resilience Act. It transforms abstract rules. It creates guided, auditable workflows. This replaces manual, error-prone spreadsheet compliance. Copla enhances operational resilience. It mitigates escalating cyber threats. The company helps firms avoid severe regulatory penalties. This new funding supports product development. It fuels team expansion. It drives international growth. A keen focus lies on the German market. Copla aims to be the definitive compliance execution layer. It targets Europe's financial sector and beyond.

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