Top 10 U.S. funding rounds: Electric vehicles and biotech lead with $650M for Slate Auto

Transportation and biotech startups dominated the largest U.S. funding rounds this week, led by a $650 million investment in electric vehicle maker Slate Auto. The electric pickup truck manufacturer raised the capital in a Series C round led by TWG Global. The Jeff Bezos-backed company plans to deliver its first vehicles to customers later this year, according to Crunchbase data. Biotech was another major theme, with Beeline Medicines emerging from stealth with $300 million in Series A funding led by Bain Capital. The Boston-based company develops precision therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and has licensed five programs from Bristol Myers Squibb. Other notable rounds included $170 million for autonomous transportation startup Glydways, which is developing personal autonomous pods for dedicated lanes. The Series C funding was led by Suzuki Motor, ACS Group and Khosla Ventures, with the company launching operational pilots in three cities this year. Factory, a startup focused on autonomous software engineering, secured $150 million in a Series C round led by Khosla Ventures, achieving a $1.5 billion valuation for the three-year-old company. Additional significant funding went to Terremoto Biosciences ($108 million), Zum ($100 million for student transportation), Neomorph ($100 million for cancer therapeutics), Slash ($100 million fintech round valuing the company at $1.4 billion), nEye ($80 million for optical interconnects), and Turion Space ($75 million for orbital intelligence). The funding activity reflects continued investor interest in transportation electrification, biotech innovation, and artificial intelligence applications across various sectors.