Top 5 VC Deals | AI
Top 5 VC Deals of the Week in AI (11/11/26)
By Christopher Robbins · Nov 12, 2026 Views: 4,179
This week we continue our series on the top 5 VC-funded deals in AI.
This week our overall AI venture capital activity lost some of its momentum from last week, with all five of our listed announcements coming in over $300 million and 11 announcements total coming in over $100 million.
The biggest announcement, per FinSMEs, came from San Francisco-based Zipline, an autonomous drone delivery platform, which raised $1.5 billion in a Series F to "expand its U.S. manufacturing facilities and ramp up hiring as it builds a nationwide drone delivery network," according to its announcement. Our second-place announcement was from another Bay Area drone company, San Mateo, Calif.'s Skydio, which raised $1.2 billion to "accelerate its technology roadmap, scale its impact in public safety, expand its product portfolio, and continue advancing autonomous flight," according to its announcement. Rounding out the top 5 are announcements from the AI infrastructure, physical AI and AI training spaces.
Smaller funding raises that did not quite make our top 5 this week included announcements from the autonomous electric vehicle, AI infrastructure, and medical imaging 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 Nov. 5 - Nov. 11
1. Zipline
- Company Location: South San Francisco, CA
- Description: Provider of an autonomous drone delivery platform that uses artificial intelligence, robotics and automated flight technologies to transport medical supplies, consumer products and other goods directly to customers and businesses.
- Funding Amount: $1.5 billion
- Funding Round: Funding round; specific series not disclosed
- Valuation: $21.5 billion
2. Skydio
- Company Location: San Mateo, CA
- Description: Provider of AI-powered autonomous drones and flying robots designed for defense, public safety, infrastructure inspection and other commercial and government applications. The company's technology uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to enable autonomous navigation and complex flight operations.
- Funding Amount: $1.2 billion
- Funding Round: Strategic investment from Axon (Nasdaq: AXON)
3. Mercor
- Company Location: San Francisco, CA
- Description: Artificial intelligence data company that helps organizations train and evaluate AI models using human expertise, connecting AI developers with specialized professionals who can contribute to model development, evaluation and improvement.
- Funding Amount: $750 million
- Funding Round: Series D
- Valuation: $20 billion
4. Torus
- Company Location: Salt Lake City, UT
- Description: Manufacturer of distributed power and computing infrastructure, developing technologies that support energy management and the growing electricity and computing requirements of artificial intelligence and other advanced digital systems.
- Funding Amount: $500 million
- Funding Round: Funding round; specific series not disclosed
5. Path Robotics
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- Company Location: Columbus, OH
- Description: Provider of physical AI technology for autonomous manufacturing, developing intelligent robotic systems that use artificial intelligence, computer vision and automation to perform industrial manufacturing tasks.
- Funding Amount: $300 million
- Funding Round: Series E
- Valuation: $2.45 billion