Every Friday I send a short newsletter with the startups that raised that week.
This is the longer version for October so far. Between October 2 and October 15, Adamlead tracked 22 startups that announced a round. Together they raised $3.26 billion.
That number is a bit misleading, so let me break it down first.
The numbers
- 22 rounds in two weeks.
- $3.26B in total. Three rounds (TypeSafe AI, Modal and Oxide) make up $2.07B of it. The other 19 add up to about $1.2B.
- The median round was $51M. Half raised more, half raised less.
- Stages: 9 Series B, 5 Series A, 5 Seed, 3 Series D.
- Location: 16 of the 22 are in San Francisco or New York. The others are in Tel Aviv, Madrid, London, Toronto, Austin and Palo Alto.
Here's every one of them, grouped by what they do.
AI models and infrastructure
This is where the biggest checks went.
TypeSafe AI · Series A, $870M · San Francisco "The first (public) System One Model". Their pitch is that Jev gives AI the properties of code. Founded in 2024, 11-50 people. A Series A this size is rare.
Modal · Series D, $750M · New York "AI infrastructure that developers love." Founded in 2021, still 51-200 people, now at Series D.
Oxide Computer Company · Series D, $445M · San Francisco "The cloud you own." Oxide is for companies that want cloud-style infrastructure on their own hardware, instead of renting it.
Arena · Series B, $200M · San Francisco "Experience the frontier". Founded in 2025 and already at Series B.
Nous Research · Series B, $90M · Austin Open AI training and research. The only company on this list based in Texas.
Hone · Seed, $60M · San Francisco "AI engines that own outcomes". Founded this year. A $60M seed tells you how early investors are willing to go.
Preference Model · Seed, $16M · San Francisco A data research company building the data that trains the next models.
Ghost AI · Seed, $11M · San Francisco "Intelligence you own." 2-10 people.
Era · Seed, $11M · San Francisco Era is building intelligence that fits the objects you choose. It's also one of the few here already hiring publicly, with 4 open roles including an AI engineer and a trust and safety engineer.
Money and finance
The second biggest group, and the one I'd watch if you sell to finance teams.
North · Series B, $60M · Brooklyn A financial operating system for cloud, AI and data spend. It's the most visibly hiring company on this list: 11 open roles, from frontend engineers to account executives and customer success.
Stuut · Series B, $52.5M · New York An AI coworker that collects your cash automatically. Accounts receivable, handled.
Vesta · Series B, $30M · San Francisco A loan origination system where people and AI agents work together.
Causa Prima · Seed, $20M · Madrid "Stop managing your invoices, start controlling your cash." Founded in 2026 and already at $20M. The only Spanish company on the list.
Fragment · Series A, $12M · New York "Make money work." A small financial services team, 11-50 people, founded in 2021.
North, Stuut and Causa Prima all point at the same thing: finance teams want software that does the work, not another dashboard showing them the problem.
Security
Armadin · Series B, $255M · Palo Alto "The attacker of the future is already here." Founded in 2025, and the biggest round of the month outside AI infrastructure.
Pluto Security · Series A, $42M · Tel Aviv "Rule the AI atmosphere." Founded in 2025 and at Series A within a year.
Both were founded in 2025. Attackers are using AI, so defenders are raising to keep up.
Developer tools
Namespace · Series B, $42M · San Francisco Faster builds and CI for developer teams.
Everything else
Mecka · Series B, $60M · Toronto The data and deployment layer for physical AI. Robots need data too.
Scarlet · Series B, $50M · London Scarlet certifies AI medical devices without the usual delays. They have 10 open roles, mostly in London: auditors, account executives and business development.
Siena AI · Series A, $17M · New York An AI customer experience platform for consumer brands.
Melius · Series A, $20M · New York An AI-native operating system for creatives.
Valon · Series D, $150M · New York "Take on the impossible." The largest team on the list, 201-500 people.
What I take from this
AI is no longer a category. It's the default.
Almost every description on this list mentions AI. Stuut is an "AI coworker" for collections. Vesta is a loan system with "AI agents". Scarlet certifies "AI medical devices". The money isn't going to "AI companies". It's going to companies in finance, health and security that are built around AI from the start.
Seed rounds are getting bigger.
Hone raised $60M at seed. Causa Prima raised $20M in its first year. Two years ago these would have been Series A numbers.
Most of these teams are small.
13 of the 22 have 50 people or fewer. A Series B with 11-50 people means every new hire is a big decision, and every new tool gets picked by someone senior.
If you sell to funded startups
The weeks right after a round are when a startup buys.
New money means new hires, and new hires need laptops, software, payroll, recruiting, security reviews and somewhere to put their data. The budget exists, and the person deciding is often a founder who'll read a short, specific email.
But honestly, most of these teams aren't hiring publicly yet. Only North, Scarlet and Era have open roles listed right now. If you're waiting for the job posts, you're a few weeks late. The round is the signal.
If you do reach out, here's what has worked for me:
- Open with the round. One line. "Saw you raised your Series B last week, congrats." It shows you're not sending the same email to 5,000 people.
- Say what changes for them now. More hires, more customers, a security review from a bigger buyer. Pick the one your product helps with.
- Ask one small question. Not "can we book 30 minutes". Something they can answer in one line.
- Write to the founder or the person who owns the problem. At 11-50 people, that's usually a founder.
That's what Adamlead is for. Every round above has a company page with the funding details, the team, and contacts where we have them, so you can reach out while the money is new. The full list, updated as rounds come in, is here: Startups funded in October 2026.
If you want the weekly version, the Friday newsletter has the five rounds I found most interesting each week.
Which of these would you reach out to first?
Data as of October 18, 2026. Stage and amount are as listed on each company's Adamlead profile; descriptions are each company's own.