Deep Dives: When Infrastructure Eats Software

Two mega-rounds this week prove that the smartest money is backing the pipes, not just the products.

Fal.ai’s $250M Video AI Blitz: Tripling Valuation in 90 Days

The Big Picture

The multimodal AI infrastructure race just got a turbocharger. Fal.ai raised approximately $250 million led by Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital, launching its valuation to over $4 billion—nearly tripling from its $1.5 billion valuation just three months ago. The Redwood City startup provides cloud infrastructure for image, video, and audio AI models, and the explosive growth tells you everything about where AI is heading next.

Why It Matters

The Multimodal Moment: Fal’s revenue skyrocketed from $10 million to over $95 million ARR in just one year, while its developer base grew from 500,000 to over 2 million. The timing is perfect: as video AI tools like OpenAI’s Sora explode in popularity, Fal is the infrastructure powering the content generation boom.

Blue-Chip Customers: Adobe, Canva, Perplexity, and Shopify rely on Fal for creative media generation, from ad visuals to e-commerce content. When the world’s leading creative tools outsource their AI infrastructure to you, you’re doing something right.

The Takeaway

Fal’s platform hosts over 600 AI models with thousands of Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs optimized for lightning-fast inference. While everyone chases the next ChatGPT, Fal is building the infrastructure that powers the entire multimodal AI economy. That’s the bet Kleiner and Sequoia are making—and at this growth rate, it’s hard to argue.

Deel’s $300M Profitability Play: When Payroll Becomes a $17B Business

The Big Picture

Deel raised $300 million at a $17.3 billion valuation, co-led by Ribbit Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. But here’s what matters: Deel surpassed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue this year, hit its first $100 million revenue month in September, and has been profitable for three consecutive years.

The Scale Story

Real Business Metrics: Deel processes $22 billion in payroll annually, serves 35,000+ customers and 1.5 million workers across 150+ countries. This isn’t venture-subsidized growth—it’s infrastructure that companies depend on to operate globally.

Infrastructure Ambition: Deel plans to expand its native payroll infrastructure to over 100 countries by 2029, while investing heavily in AI-powered automation. The goal: make global hiring as frictionless as domestic hiring.

Why Investors Don’t Care About the Drama

Despite ongoing lawsuits with rival Rippling over alleged corporate espionage, top-tier VCs like Ribbit Capital and a16z doubled down. When you’re generating $100 million monthly revenue with three years of profitability, legal drama becomes background noise.

The Takeaway

In an era of compressed SaaS multiples and AI hype cycles, Deel represents something rare: a massive, profitable, essential infrastructure business. The company reached $1 billion revenue faster than many high-growth tech peers by solving a fundamental problem—global payroll complexity—that isn’t going away. Sometimes the least sexy infrastructure wins it all.

Sources: TechCrunch - Fal.ai Funding, TechFundingNews - Fal.ai, Deel Press Release, TechCrunch - Deel Funding, SiliconANGLE - Deel

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The Market Pulse

Enterprise AI and Healthcare Drive $1+ Billion Weekly Deployment

The venture market delivered sustained momentum this week, with over $1 billion deployed across AI infrastructure, healthcare platforms, and enterprise automation. Uniphore's $260 million Series F led by NVIDIA, AMD, Snowflake, and Databricks headlines a week where tech giants doubled down on AI infrastructure investments while healthcare AI commanded premium valuations. The pattern reinforces 2025's defining thesis: capital flows to proven AI applications with immediate enterprise value and clear paths to infrastructure-scale impact.

Tech Giants Converge on Enterprise AI

Uniphore closed a $260 million Series F at a $2.5 billion valuation, with strategic investment from NVIDIA, AMD, Snowflake, and Databricks—a rare alignment signaling that AI infrastructure providers are betting on enterprise conversational AI platforms. Fal.ai raised approximately $250 million at a $4 billion valuation (led by Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital) for its multimodal AI infrastructure and GPU cloud services. These deals demonstrate that AI infrastructure players are moving beyond pure compute into platform layers that enable enterprise deployment.

Healthcare AI Reaches Infrastructure Scale

OpenEvidence secured $200 million in Series C funding at a $6 billion valuation, led by Google Ventures with participation from Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Blackstone, and Thrive Capital. The clinical decision support platform, now used in over 15 million monthly consultations across 10,000+ U.S. healthcare centers, exemplifies AI's evolution from experimental tool to mission-critical medical infrastructure. This follows the broader trend of healthcare AI commanding infrastructure-level valuations as proven adoption replaces speculative potential.

African Fintech Commands Mega-Round

Moniepoint closed an oversubscribed $200 million+ Series C led by Development Partners International, with backing from LeapFrog Investments, Google Africa Investment Fund, Visa, and IFC. The Nigerian fintech unicorn's raise underscores continued institutional appetite for emerging market fintech infrastructure, particularly platforms driving financial inclusion at scale. This marks one of Africa's largest fintech rounds of 2025, signaling that proven models in high-growth markets continue attracting significant institutional capital.

Vertical AI Gains Momentum

Sector-specific AI platforms commanded strong investor interest: FurtherAI raised $25 million from Andreessen Horowitz for insurance automation, Sensi.AI secured $45 million for senior care intelligence, and UnifyApps closed $50 million for enterprise workflow automation. The breadth demonstrates that while horizontal AI infrastructure attracts mega-rounds, vertical AI applications solving industry-specific problems are finding substantial capital and achieving rapid revenue growth.

Clean Energy and Deep Tech Show Strength

Arbor Energy raised $55 million from Lowercarbon Capital and Voyager Ventures for carbon-free turbine technology, while ChipAgents secured $21 million from Bessemer Venture Partners for AI-driven semiconductor design. These rounds reflect sustained capital deployment into climate tech and semiconductor innovation, sectors that require patient capital but promise transformational impact.

📌 TL;DR

• Capital: $1B+ weekly deployment concentrated in enterprise AI, healthcare platforms, and vertical solutions

• Strategy: Tech giants (NVIDIA, AMD, Snowflake, Databricks) making strategic AI platform investments

• Validation: Healthcare AI reaching $6B valuations on proven clinical adoption at scale

• Geography: African fintech commanding $200M+ rounds from global institutional investors

Sources: Tech Startups - October 22 Funding News, Tech Startups - October 21 Funding News, TechCrunch - Fal.ai Funding, New York Times - OpenEvidence Series C, Business Wire - ChipAgents Series A

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

Venture Capital & Growth

• Radical Ventures raised a $650M sixth fund to invest in early-stage AI (AI Insider)

• BoxGroup raised its seventh core fund and a fourth follow-on fund totaling $550M ($275M each) (Fortune)

• NFX raised its fourth fund totaling $325M to invest in roughly 50 new companies focused on AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, and crypto-fintech convergence (NFX)

• Lifeline Ventures raised $464M for its sixth fund (Bloomberg)

• Town Hall Ventures closed Fund IV at $440M to invest in healthcare innovation and underserved communities (Town Hall Ventures)

• Asymmetric Capital Partners raised $137M for its sophomore fund (Asymmetric Capital Partners)

• Robinhood filed to launch Robinhood Ventures Fund I, a closed-end fund to buy stakes in private companies and hold them through IPO and beyond (Bloomberg)

Private Equity & Credit

• Ardian raised $20B across multiple funds focused on energy, transport, and digital infrastructure companies in Europe (Pitchbook)

• Bain Capital raised $14B for its fourteenth flagship PE fund (Pitchbook)

• Elliott is raising $7B for its latest drawdown fund (GuruFocus)

• Patria Investments raised $2.9B for a LatAm infrastructure fund (GuruFocus)

• Integrum raised $2.5B for its second fund focused on services companies (USA Herald)

• Derby Lane Partners raised $1.8B for its debut credit-focused real-estate fund (SeekingAlpha)

• Greykite raised $1.4B for its debut fund (LinkedIn)

• Plexus Capital raised over $1.3B across its new flagship fund and sophomore PE vehicle (The Business Journals)

• RCP Advisors raised $1.3B for its latest secondaries fund (themiddlemarket)

• Diversis Capital raised $1.2B for its third fund (InforCapital)

• D1 Capital Partners plans to raise over $1B for a new PE fund in a private markets push (AI Invest)

• Vista Equity Partners is planning to sell $1B in bonds backed by stakes in its private capital funds (Bloomberg)

• Appian Capital announced a $1B partnership with the World Bank's private sector arm to back projects in Africa and Latin America (Mining)

• Shore Capital Partners raised $850M across its sixth healthcare fund and second search fund (BusinessWire)

• BGF plans to raise $675M in its first external fundraise (BGF)

• AEA Private Debt raised a $550M private credit continuation vehicle led by Carlyle's FOF arm (Carlyle)

• CBC Group raised $500M for its second healthcare-focused private credit fund (MarketWatch)

Hedge Funds & Alternative Investments

• Maelstrom, the family office of BitMEX-founder Arthur Hayes, is raising $250M for a new PE fund to acquire crypto firms (CoinDesk)

Top Jobs

Venture Capital roles

Associate at Cerity Partners (Los Angeles)

Associate at Ridge Ventures (SF)

Associate at BIP Ventures (Atlanta)

Associate at Pathlight Ventures (NYC)

Growth Equity Roles

Associate at Updata Partners (DC)

Analyst at JMI Equity (San Diego or DC)

Investor at Stripes (NYC)

Private Equity (Buyout) Roles

Senior Associate at Graycor (Chicago)

Associate at Ares (Los Angeles)

Associate at Access Holdings (Baltimore)

Senior Associate at StepStone (NYC)

Interesting Podcasts from the past week

Podcasts:

• Reid Hoffman on AI, Consciousness, and the Future of Labor

• Deel CEO, Alex Bouaziz on Raising $300M+ at a $17BN Valuation

• Elad Gil of Gil Capital, Gil & Co. & Enigma Global

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