Top 5 VC Deals of the Week in AI (1/23/26)

By
Christopher Robbins
-
1417

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

2026’s AI venture capital funding is in full swing now, with all five of our announcements coming in above the $100 million threshold.

The top reported deal, per FinSMEs, came from Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Skild AI, which raised approximately $1.4 billion in its latest round. Skild AI, a robotic AI model developer, will use the funds to “continue scaling its model training and growing the future deployment of its technology across enterprise and commercial sectors,” according to its announcement. Our second announcement is from San Francisco-based data analytics and AI infrastructure provider ClickHouse, which raised $400 million in a Series D to “accelerate global expansion, invest in LLM observability following its acquisition of Langfuse, and develop a unified data stack for AI builders through its new native Postgres service,” according to its announcement. The top five also included companies in the AI ops and agentic AI spaces.

Smaller funding raises that did not quite make our top 5 this week included announcements from the video generation, software development and contract management 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. 15 – Jan. 21

1. Skild AI

  • Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Description: Developer of a scalable foundation model for robotics, designed to power general-purpose embodied AI across industries.

  • Funding Amount: ~$1.4 billion

  • Funding Round: Undisclosed

2. ClickHouse

  • Location: San Francisco, California

  • Description: Provider of real-time analytics, data warehousing, and AI infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to operate at scale.

  • Funding Amount: $400 million

  • Funding Round: Series D

3. Parloa

  • Location: Berlin, Germany

  • Description: Developer of AI agents focused on enhancing enterprise customer experiences through natural language automation.

  • Funding Amount: $350 million

  • Funding Round: Series D

  • Valuation: $3 billion

4. DC BLOX

  • Location: Atlanta, Georgia

  • Description: Provider of connected data center and fiber network infrastructure supporting digital transformation across the Southeast U.S.

  • Funding Amount: $240 million

  • Funding Round: HoldCo financing

5. Tulip

  • Location: Somerville, Massachusetts

  • Description: Creator of a no-code frontline operations platform that empowers manufacturers and logistics firms with real-time data and automation tools.

  • Funding Amount: $120 million

  • Funding Round: Series D

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

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