AI labs led June’s unicorn class as DeepSeek hit a $50 billion valuation

Crunchbase said 34 private companies crossed the $1 billion valuation line in June, adding more than $110 billion of private-market value. For retail investors, the list is a useful signal of where venture capital is still willing to price growth aggressively before companies reach public markets.

A unicorn is a private company valued at $1 billion or more, usually after a priced funding round. Crunchbase said 10 of June’s new unicorns were AI labs, together worth $65 billion, with China-based DeepSeek accounting for most of that total at a $50 billion valuation.

AI took the largest share

DeepSeek was the highest-valued new company added to the Crunchbase Unicorn Board so far this year, according to Crunchbase. The open source model developer raised a $7.4 billion Series A, described by Crunchbase as its first outside financing, in a deal led by CEO Liang Wenfeng. Crunchbase also said the company is planning a Shanghai listing as early as the second quarter of 2027.

The AI lab group stretched beyond chatbot-style software. Crunchbase said the new entrants are working on model architectures for robotics, physics, self-learning systems, open source development and, in the case of Bengaluru-based Sarvam AI, sovereign AI.

Other AI lab additions included New York-based Flourish, valued at $2.5 billion after a $500 million Series A from investors including Jeff Bezos, Lux Capital, GV and Catalio Capital Management. London-based PhysicsX reached a $2.4 billion valuation after a $300 million Series C led by Temasek. General Intuition, Generalist AI, Bulage, Odyssey, Sarvam AI, Mirendil and Vast also joined the board, according to Crunchbase.

Robotics and AI infrastructure followed

Crunchbase said robotics and AI infrastructure each contributed four new unicorns in June. In robotics, Germany-based Neura Robotics was the largest, valued at $7 billion after a $1.4 billion Series C led by stablecoin issuer Tether and other investors. Crunchbase said Neura has a $1 billion order pipeline and strategic deployments.

Other robotics names included Shenzhen-based Astribot and Guangdong-based DexForce, both valued at $1.5 billion, plus New York-based Standard Bots, valued at $1 billion.

AI infrastructure additions included Ionic Digital, which Crunchbase said shifted from crypto mining to building data centers for AI. The Coral Gables, Florida-based company was valued at $2.4 billion after a $400 million raise and has filed for a direct listing on Nasdaq, according to Crunchbase. TensorWave, SiliconFlow and Runpod also joined the board.

The new class was global

Crunchbase said 16 of the 34 new unicorns were based in the U.S., while eight were from China. India, Germany and the U.K. each had two new entrants. The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and Saudi Arabia each added one.

Other sectors represented in June included defense, proptech, data analytics, biotechnology, materials, cryptocurrency, image generation, financial services, semiconductors, aerospace, e-commerce, AI healthcare and transportation.

Among the larger non-AI-lab additions, Belgium-based Kpler reached a $3.7 billion valuation after a $1 billion secondary funding led by Sixth Street Partners. San Francisco-based NewLimit was valued at $3.1 billion after a $435 million Series C led by Founders Fund. Cambridge, U.K.-based CuspAI was valued at $2.6 billion after a $450 million round led by Bezos Expeditions and Silicon Valley Ventures.

Exits pulled the board’s value lower

The influx did not lift the board overall. Crunchbase said the total value of its Unicorn Board fell by more than $1 trillion in June after SpaceX, previously the board’s most valuable company, went public.

Crunchbase also cited several exits from the board. Anysphere, the maker of the AI coding tool Cursor, was acquired by SpaceX for $60 billion after last being valued at $29.3 billion, according to Crunchbase. Qualcomm acquired AI infrastructure company Modular, and Salesforce bought customer experience agent Fin, both at prices Crunchbase described as well above their most recent private valuations.

Crunchbase said its Unicorn Board tracks private companies with post-money valuations of at least $1 billion based on Crunchbase data. The board does not use internal 409a valuations for employee stock options or adjust company values for investor writedowns, according to Crunchbase.

This story draws on original reporting from Crunchbase News.