Top 5 VC Deals of the Week in AI (1/16/26)

By
Christopher Robbins
-
95

This week we continue our series on the top 5 VC-funded deals in AI.

AI venture capital funding roared to life in the second full week of 2026, with all five of our announcements coming in above the $100 million threshold.

The top reported deal, per FinSMEs, came from Elon Musk’s xAI, which raised $20 billion in its Series E. xAI will use the funds to “continue to accelerate infrastructure buildout, enable the rapid development and deployment of AI products reaching billions of users, and fuel research advancing xAI’s core mission to understand the universe,” according to its announcement. Our second announcement is from New York-based Cyera, which raised $400 million to “accelerate growth, doubling down on product innovation, global expansion, ecosystem partnerships, and bringing on talent,” according to its announcement. The top five also included companies in the defense, security and embodied AI spaces.

Smaller funding raises that did not quite make our top 5 this week included announcements from the voice AI, biotechnology and AI infrastructure sectors.

Below, we highlight the top five venture capital deals, ranked from the highest to the lowest funding amounts, showcasing the companies at the forefront of the AI revolution…

Top 5 Venture Capital Deals from Jan. 8 – Jan. 14

1. xAI

  • Location: United States (founded by Elon Musk)

  • Description: xAI is Elon Musk’s AI company, focused on building artificial general intelligence (AGI) aligned with humanity’s interests, with close integration into Musk’s other ventures like Tesla and X.

  • Funding Amount: $20 billion

  • Funding Round: Series E

2. Cyera

  • Location: New York City, NY

  • Description: Cyera is an AI-powered data security company that helps enterprises identify, classify, and protect sensitive data across cloud environments.

  • Funding Amount: $400 million

  • Funding Round: Series F

3. Harmattan AI

  • Location: Paris, France

  • Description: Harmattan AI develops AI-driven defense technologies designed to enhance national and international security infrastructures.

  • Funding Amount: $200 million

  • Funding Round: Series B

4. Torq

  • Location: New York City, NY

  • Description: Torq provides agentic AI-driven security operations solutions, automating threat detection, response, and mitigation for enterprises.

  • Funding Amount: $140 million

  • Funding Round: Series D

  • Valuation: $1.2 billion

5. X Square Robot

  • Location: Shenzhen, China

  • Description: X Square Robot specializes in general-purpose embodied AI and robotic platforms designed for industrial and consumer applications.

  • Funding Amount: $140 million

  • Funding Round: Series A++

Make sure to check out our Top 5 VC Deals of the Week in AI right here!

Written & Researched by DWN Staff
VC Deals Synopsized by ChatGPT
Research Source: FinSMEs

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR