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The $183 Billion Brain Trust: AI Valuations Meet Robot Revolution

Field AI, Anthropic, VC trends, and much more!

Deep Dive

FieldAI's $405M Robot Brain: When Bezos and Gates Fund the Universal Autopilot

The robotics revolution isn't coming—it's already here, and it just got a massive financial boost.

The Big Picture

FieldAI just raised $405 million across two consecutive rounds, hitting a $2 billion valuation, to build what they call "universal robot brains." While most robotics companies focus on specific use cases, FieldAI is betting on something far more ambitious: an "embodiment-agnostic autonomy brain" that works across different robot types without maps, GPS, or predefined paths.

The Universal Brain Thesis

What They're Building: FieldAI builds "Field Foundation Models"—general-purpose embodied AI models rooted in physics. Think ChatGPT, but instead of generating text, it generates robot behavior in the real world.

The Physics-First Approach: These AI models handle uncertainty, risk, and physical constraints. While other companies adapt existing AI for robots, FieldAI built theirs from scratch for the physical world—one AI brain that works whether you put it in a construction robot, warehouse bot, or humanoid.

Who's Writing the Checks

The All-Star Investor Lineup: Backers include Bezos Expeditions, NVentures (Nvidia's VC arm), Bill Gates' investment fund, Khosla Ventures, and Samsung. When both Bezos and Gates write checks for robotics, it's worth paying attention.

Led by NASA JPL, DARPA, and DeepMind veterans who combine theoretical expertise with real-world deployment experience. This isn't academic research—it's battle-tested technology.

Why Now?

Market Timing: Approximately 55% of the $3.55 billion invested in construction technology in Q1 2025 went toward robotics and AI. While competitors build specialized solutions, FieldAI is positioning itself as the "Windows for robots"—the underlying operating system that powers everything.

The Takeaway

FieldAI represents the maturation of robotics from science project to scalable business. Their $2 billion valuation suggests investors believe universal robot intelligence isn't just possible—it's inevitable.

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The Market Pulse

AI Valuations Hit Escape Velocity: When $183 Billion Becomes the New Normal

The venture landscape is witnessing a fundamental recalibration of value. Anthropic's $13 billion Series F at a $183 billion valuation signals that AI infrastructure has become the new deep tech darling, while global funding volumes tell a more sobering story. The dichotomy is stark: mega-rounds for transformational AI while global venture funding in August fell to the lowest monthly amount since 2017 at $17 billion. The message? Capital is concentrating on fewer, bigger bets with potential for category-defining outcomes.

AI Infrastructure Commands Historic Valuations

Anthropic completed a Series F fundraising of $13 billion led by ICONIQ, co-led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and Lightspeed Venture Partners, nearly tripling its valuation from March's $61.5 billion. The investor roster reads like a who's who of global capital: Altimeter, Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, Blackstone, Coatue, D1 Capital Partners, General Atlantic, and sovereign wealth funds including GIC and Qatar Investment Authority. This isn't speculative venture capital—it's institutional infrastructure investment at scale.

Global Funding Reality Check

Despite AI's headline-grabbing rounds, startup funding last month totaled $17 billion — down 12% from a year ago and a massive 44% drop month over month. The bifurcation is clear: while 33 US AI startups have raised $100M or more in 2025, the broader ecosystem faces capital constraints. Quality over quantity has become the defining investment thesis of 2025.

Cross-Border Deep Tech Alliance Emerges

Eight U.S. and Indian VC and PE giants are teaming up to fuel India's deep tech boom with a $1+ billion alliance, signaling that transformational technology investment is becoming increasingly global. This follows the pattern established by Commonwealth Fusion Systems' international backing, suggesting deep tech requires cross-border capital coordination to reach commercial scale.

Sector Diversification Beyond AI

While AI commands the headlines, deal flow spans multiple transformational sectors. Recent notable raises include CHARM Therapeutics in biotech, Kapital reaching unicorn status in fintech, and Cyted's $44 million healthtech round backed by EQT Life Sciences and HCA Healthcare. The breadth suggests investors are diversifying within high-conviction, science-backed opportunities rather than concentrating solely on AI.

Strategic Implications for 2025

The venture market is experiencing a "barbell effect"—massive rounds for category-defining companies while smaller deals face increasing scrutiny. The breadth of investment — spanning AI, fintech, biotech, healthtech, and mobility — underscores how global investors continue to bet big on transformational technologies, but only with proven scalability and clear paths to infrastructure-level impact.

📌 TL;DR

  • Capital: Concentrating on fewer, larger bets in transformational technology sectors

  • Strategy: AI infrastructure, cross-border deep tech, and science-backed moonshots driving deployment

  • Exits: Quality assets commanding premium prices despite lower overall volume

  • Spotlight: $183 billion AI valuations signal infrastructure-level investment thinking

Latest Fundraises from Major Firms (PE, VC, and Institutional Investors)

Venture Capital & Growth

  • Winter Street Ventures launched its inaugural fund to back innovative healthcare startups after spinning out from insurer CCA (Businesswire)

  • Atlas Venture closed its $400M third opportunity fund to continue investing in biotech breakthroughs (Businesswire)

  • Sora Ventures launched Asia's first $1B Bitcoin treasury fund, a Taiwan-based VC specializing in crypto (Yahoo)

  • 1789 Capital, a conservative-focused VC firm, is pitching a $1B fund to invest in South Florida real estate (Reuters)

  • NewView Capital, an NEA VC spinout, is raising $500M for a fourth VC secondaries fund (Secondaries Investor)

  • Menlo Ventures is seeking to raise $1.5B across its fourth inflection fund and seventeenth flagship fund (Venture Capital Journal)

  • CoreNest launched a $125M tokenized VC fund to transform El Salvador into the Silicon Valley of Latin America (Morningstar)

  • Khosla Ventures and Breakthrough Energy Ventures are backing a new collaborative climate VC growth fund targeting the 'missing middle' (Axios)

  • CoreWeave launched CoreWeave Ventures to invest in AI startups (CoreWeave)

Private Equity & Credit

  • Blackstone raised $5.5B for its fourth infrastructure secondaries fund (Pitchbook)

  • Apollo is set to launch a $5B sports fund (Yahoo)

  • Great Hill Partners raised $7B for its ninth PE fund in just five months (FinSMEs)

  • StepStone plans to raise over $7B across two secondaries funds (Dakota)

  • One Equity Partners raised $3.25B for its ninth flagship buyout fund (Mergers & Acquisitions)

  • Peak Rock Capital raised $3B across its fourth flagship PE fund and third credit fund (PRNewswire)

  • Motive Partners, a fintech investor, is seeking to raise $3.25B for its third PE fund (Buyouts)

  • TDR Capital raised a $2.7B continuation vehicle for European health club chain David Lloyd from CVC and UK hedge fund TCI (themiddlemarket)

  • Platinum Equity raised $2.3B for its second small cap fund (InforCapital)

  • Benefit Street Partners raised $2.3B for a multi-asset credit continuation fund led by Coller Capital (Coller Capital)

  • Pemberton Asset Management raised $1.7B for its debut NAV financing fund (ABFJournal)

  • Cottonwood Group raised a $1B special situations fund (Globest)

  • Legal & General raised $704M for a digital infrastructure fund (Yahoo)

  • EAAA India Alternatives raised $510M for its first private credit fund focused on special situations (DealStreetAsia)

  • Rockbridge Growth Equity raised $360M for its third fund (Crain’s)

  • Hamilton Lane launched an evergreen secondaries fund with $365M in commitments (Hamilton Lane)

  • JVP raised a $290M continuation vehicle for insurance AI firm Earnix led by TPG GP Solutions (Yahoo)

  • HRP Group plans to raise $250M for its first value-add investment fund focused on revitalizing underperforming properties (Bloomberg)

  • Hudson Ferry Capital raised over $200M for its third fund (AltAssetsPENews)

  • Chiron Sports Group raised a $150M fund to target US college sports (Vetted Sports)

  • Morphosis Capital Partners raised $150M for its latest Romania-focused growth fund (AltAssetsPENews)

Top Jobs

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Private Equity (Buyout) Roles

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