Seed round inflation, Series A crunch, and large vertical AI rounds

Median seed $3M, Series A graduation 24%. Notable rounds: Simile $200M, EquiLibre €438M, Etched $10.3B, Standard Bots $200M, Cyera $300M, Horizon3 $250M Series E at $2B+, Base Power $1B Series D at $13B, Balance Theory $19M Series A, Align Ventures $125M fund, Menlo Ventures $3B fund, June $20M pre-seed, Foundational Industries $25M seed, Actualyze AI $7M seed. Also: $1B+ rounds 60% of funding. Cautionary: Hailo/StreamElements discounts, TouchBistro collapse, Wix Base44 $76.4M loss. New: Shein targets $30-40B Hong Kong IPO (down from $98B); Polymarket seeks $20B+ valuation; CAIS $170M Series D at $2B+; PalmPay targets Hong Kong IPO at $1B; Bending Spoons acquires Airtable for $1.28B (down from $11.7B); Kily Rs 30 Cr; GetVantage ₹63 Cr. Seed clustering in cybersecurity/robotics/AI-biotech. New: European AI startups grabbed record 55% of VC capital in H1 2026 ($23B), concentrated in UK/Germany/France. Scaleup Europe Fund launches with €5bn target to back European scaleups, signaling capital availability. Bloom Security $20M seed adds to cybersecurity seed cluster.