29 new unicorns in May...

Good morning, founderscrowd enthusiasts. 

We're Jose, Alberto, and the Founderscrowd team.

Thursday is deep dive day, where we take the week's hottest stories and show you what actually matters to your portfolio.

In today’s tech rundown:

• Who wrote the most and biggest checks in May?

• Semiconductors

• 29 new unicorns

• Vertical AI companies (AI built for specific industries) are abandoning the "product-led growth" playbook that dominated SaaS.

The SpaceX IPO Trade Wall Street Is Quietly Making

Before SpaceX files, institutional money is already moving into the suppliers, contractors, and tech plays with direct exposure to the listing. We've mapped the cap table to publicly traded proxies — names retail can buy today in any brokerage account. Get the breakdown free.

LATEST NEWS

🔥 SEMICONDUCTORS ARE THE NEW GOLD RUSH

The deal: $10 billion raised for semiconductor startups in 2026 alone. We're on pace to crush 2025 levels. Half-billion-dollar rounds are becoming normal.

Why? AI needs chips. Lots of them. And the established players (Intel, TSMC, Samsung) can't move fast enough.

So capital is flooding into:

• Optics technology (next-gen data center architecture)

• Custom chip design (Nvidia competitors, but focused)

• AI superintelligence chips (specialized hardware for frontier models)

• Cerebras IPO (proof that AI chip startups can go public at massive valuations)

What this means: If you're building chip infrastructure, you're sitting on a goldmine. The TAM is literally unlimited (every AI company needs more chips, forever).

The play: Watch for which chip startups partner with major cloud providers or governments. Those are your acquisition targets. Exit multiples are 50x+ revenue for strategic semiconductor companies.

🚀 TWENTY-NINE NEW UNICORNS IN MAY ALONE

The deal: May was the largest unicorn influx of 2026. Twenty-nine companies crossed the $1B valuation mark, dominated by:

AI Services & Robotics (the clear winners)

• OpenAI's deployment venture just joined

• Anthropic's applied AI joint venture just joined

• Exa (AI search) joined

• Blitzy (autonomous software) joined

• Plus robotics companies in China and elsewhere

What this tells us:

1. Unicorns are being created faster than ever. The velocity of wealth creation is accelerating

2. AI is dominating. Not just the funding, but the new company creation itself

3. Robotics is the sleeper hit. Everyone's focused on LLMs. Robotics is quietly becoming the next trillion-dollar category

4. The $1B threshold is now table stakes. It's not an exit anymore. It's just the start

The play: If a company hits unicorn status in 2026, the odds of it becoming a decacorn ($10B+) or centacorn ($100B+) have jumped dramatically. Why? Because capital is now flowing to winners at scale, creating a power law where unicorns are just the entry point.

Watch for robotics companies. They're going to be the next mega-exits.

📱 VERTICAL AI IS KILLING PRODUCT-LED GROWTH

The deal: Vertical AI companies (AI built for specific industries) are abandoning the "product-led growth" playbook that dominated SaaS.

Why? Because the contract sizes got too big.

The shift:

• Before (2024-2025): Build AI → Release it → Let users discover it → Grow virally → Charge small ACV

• Now (2026): Build AI → Target specific industry → Close deals through relationships → Charge massive ACV

What changed: Average Contract Value (ACV) exploded from $5K-50K to $500K-5M+.

At those price points, product-led growth dies. You need:

• Private equity networks

• Industry conferences

• Direct relationships with C-suites

• Sales teams that understand the business problem

What this means: Companies like Databricks, Anthropic, and niche AI startups are now using VC networks and industry events as distribution channels. They're not waiting for product virality.

The play: If you're a founder building vertical AI, stop building "viral features." Start building "enterprise-grade solutions" and hire relationship-driven sales teams.

If you're an investor, bet on founders with industry experience. They already have the relationships. That's your moat.

💰 THE INVESTOR PECKING ORDER JUST CLARIFIED

The deal: Crunchbase data shows who wrote the most and biggest checks in May.

The regulars:

• Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) — everywhere

• General Catalyst — everywhere

• Y Combinator — everywhere

The mega-checks:

• Investors backing Anthropic's Series H ($10B+)

• Lead backers on the IPOs we've discussed

• Strategic corporate VCs from Microsoft, Google, etc.

What this means:

The power law applies to VCs too. The top 5-10 funds are now raising and deploying capital 50x faster than the rest. They're:

• First to see deals

• Fastest to commit

• Most likely to reserve capital for follow-on rounds

• Most likely to get allocation in mega-rounds

If you're fundraising, you want a tier-one VC. Not because of their brand (though that matters). Because they can reserve capital for future rounds, introduce you to customers, and provide strategic guidance.

If you're a tier-two VC, the margin is getting crushed. Top-tier deals are locked up before you see them.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Data center developer Switch is in talks to raise billions of dollars in new funding at a valuation of at least $50B, The Information reports. 

Google has reportedly been laying off staff across its Cloud division, including key cybersecurity teams such as the Threat Intelligence Group and parts of Mandiant.

Netflix is rolling out generative AI and voice-based tools to help viewers cut through content overload with more tailored recommendations.

Waymo will send its retired robotaxi batteries to B2U to reuse them as grid storage for renewable-heavy power in California and Texas.

AI research startup Lila Sciences is reportedly in talks to raise about $2B in a Series B round that would value the company at $8.5B pre-money.

Apple will start requiring App Store users in Texas to verify their age to comply with the state’s new app store law.

Amazon is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit in Seattle alleging that Ring’s facial-recognition feature unlawfully captures images of people passing by doorbell cameras.

Revolut began a limited beta rollout of its India app, onboarding thousands of users from a 450K-strong waitlist for UPI-enabled wallets and cards.

🎯 JOSE, ALBERTO, & TEAM'S TAKE

This week proved three things:

1. The game has completely changed. Semiconductors → Unicorns → Vertical AI → Investor concentration. These aren't separate trends. They're one story: Capital is consolidating around winners and moving faster than ever.

2. Speed is the new moat. If you're building semiconductors, fundraise before competitors do. If you're founding in vertical AI, lock up tier-one investors before your competitors see the opportunity. The 30-day gap between first-mover and second-mover is now a 10x valuation difference.

3. The middle is disappearing. There's no more "Series A to Series C and figure it out." It's now:

• Pre-seed: Get into Y Combinator or a top accelerator

• Seed: Get a tier-one VC

• Series A+: Reserve capital from the same tier-one VC or you're blocked from Series B

If you're not tier-one backed by Series A, you're fighting for Series B while tier-one companies skip straight to unicorn.

Our advice:

• If you're founding: Raise from tier-one VCs early. Speed > valuation.

• If you're investing: Stop looking at Series B opportunities. They're priced like Series C. Get in at seed rounds with tier-one founders.

• If you're thinking about private markets, Semiconductors and robotics are the next 10-100x opportunities. Everything else is fighting for scraps.

The system is changing. We're watching it in real-time.

Hunt accordingly. ☕

Jose, Alberto, and the Founderscrowd Team

P.S. The unicorn influx is creating a massive secondary market opportunity. Companies that hit $1B in May are now trading on Forge, EquityZen, and Linqto. We're tracking which ones are priced below their new valuations. If you're a Premium member, you'll see our picks next week.

P.P.S. Semiconductor startups are the new acquisition targets. If you want to understand which ones will be bought by TSMC, Samsung, or the U.S. government, that's exactly what our Premium research team is tracking.