--- url: 'https://qubit.capital/blog/us-series-b-plus-weekly-funding-roundup-mar-7-14-2026' title: 'US Series B+ Weekly Funding Roundup (Mar 7-14, 2026): $1.27B Raised Across 4 Deals' author: name: Sagar Agrawal url: 'https://qubit.capital/blog/author/sagar' date: '2026-03-14T16:20:02+05:30' modified: '2026-03-17T17:34:35+05:30' type: post summary: 'This week 4 US growth-stage rounds raised $1.27B total, spanning AI networking, D2C e-commerce, household robotics, and AI procurement. Full deal analysis inside.' categories: - Weekly Funding Roundup image: 'https://qubit.capital/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/US-series-b-funding-weekly-roundup-march-week-2.webp' published: true --- # US Series B+ Weekly Funding Roundup (Mar 7-14, 2026): $1.27B Raised Across 4 Deals Growth-stage US startups raised $1.27B across four deals this week, spanning AI infrastructure, consumer commerce, household robotics, and enterprise procurement. Nexthop AI and Quince each commanded $500M rounds, the former for AI data center networking switches, the latter for its manufacturer-to-consumer e-commerce platform that has now crossed $1B in revenue and a $10.1B valuation. Two themes stand out. First, AI infrastructure investment continues spreading beyond compute into adjacent layers , networking, orchestration, and procurement, as the buildout matures. Second, the definition of “AI company” is broadening: Quince uses AI for demand forecasting and inventory optimization, not as its core product, yet attracted the week’s joint-largest round. Investors are rewarding AI-enabled efficiency across all categories, not just pure-play AI startups. Weekly Funding Roundup MAR 7-14, 2026 $1.3B TOTAL RAISED 4 DEALS CLOSED Mixed STAGE $316M AVG DEAL SIZE US TOP REGION BY STAGE Series B $665M 53% Series E $500M 40% Series C $100M 8% BY SECTOR Nexthop AI AI Infrastructure / Networking $500M Quince E-commerce / Consumer $500M Sunday Deep Tech / Household Robotics $165M ORO Labs SaaS / AI Procurement $100M Table of Contents - [1. Nexthop AI Raises $500M Series B at $4.2B Valuation for AI Data Center Networking](#1-nexthop-ai-raises-$500m-series-b-at-$4-2b-valuation-for-ai-data-center-networking) [Deal Overview](#deal-overview) - [Investor Profile](#investor-profile) - [Company and Leadership](#company-and-leadership) - [Problem and Opportunity](#problem-and-opportunity) - [Product and Technology](#product-and-technology) - [Use of Proceeds and Vision](#use-of-proceeds-and-vision) - [Market Context](#market-context) - [2. Quince Hits $10.1B Valuation with $500M Series E for Direct-to-Consumer Commerce](#2-quince-hits-$10-1b-valuation-with-$500m-series-e-for-direct-to-consumer-commerce) [Deal Overview](#deal-overview-1) - [Investor Profile](#investor-profile-1) - [Company and Leadership](#company-and-leadership-1) - [Problem and Opportunity](#problem-and-opportunity-1) - [Product and Technology](#product-and-technology-1) - [Use of Proceeds and Vision](#use-of-proceeds-and-vision-1) - [Market Context](#market-context-1) - [3. Household Robotics Maker Sunday Reaches $1.15B Valuation with $165M Series B](#3-household-robotics-maker-sunday-reaches-$1-15b-valuation-with-$165m-series-b) [Deal Overview](#deal-overview-2) - [Investor Profile](#investor-profile-2) - [Company and Leadership](#company-and-leadership-2) - [Problem and Opportunity](#problem-and-opportunity-2) - [Product and Technology](#product-and-technology-2) - [Use of Proceeds and Vision](#use-of-proceeds-and-vision-2) - [Market Context](#market-context-2) - [4. ORO Labs Raises $100M Series C for AI Procurement Orchestration](#4-oro-labs-raises-$100m-series-c-for-ai-procurement-orchestration) [Deal Overview](#deal-overview-3) - [Investor Profile](#investor-profile-3) - [Company and Leadership](#company-and-leadership-3) - [Problem and Opportunity](#problem-and-opportunity-3) - [Product and Technology](#product-and-technology-3) - [Use of Proceeds and Vision](#use-of-proceeds-and-vision-3) - [Market Context](#market-context-3) - [Lessons For Founders](#lessons-for-founders) ## 1. Nexthop AI Raises $500M Series B at $4.2B Valuation for AI Data Center Networking ### Deal Overview - Stage: Series B - Sector: AI Infrastructure / Networking - Geography: United States - Round size: $500M (oversubscribed) - Valuation: $4.2B ### Investor Profile - Co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Altimeter - Three of the most active AI infrastructure investors co-leading signals extremely high conviction - Lightspeed has backed Nutanix and Rubrik in infrastructure; a16z has deployed heavily across AI stack layers - Round was oversubscribed, indicating more investor demand than the company could accommodate ### Company and Leadership - [Nexthop AI](https://nexthop.ai/) is led by CEO Anshul Sadana, who previously held senior roles in the networking industry and appeared at Davos 2026 - Premier governing board member of the SONiC Linux Foundation project, giving influence over the open networking standard - Built as “a new company built for SONiC”, purpose-designed for the open networking movement ### Problem and Opportunity - AI data centers require fundamentally different networking than traditional enterprise, the “hyperscaler paradox” demands new approaches - Hyperscalers increasingly want disaggregated, SONiC-based networking over proprietary vendor lock-in from Cisco and Arista - The shift to 800G and 1.6T Ethernet for AI back-end fabrics is creating a generational upgrade cycle - AI infrastructure capex by hyperscalers exceeded $200B in 2025, with networking a critical bottleneck ### Product and Technology - Custom-engineered networking switches: NH 4010-F (51.2 Tbps, 64x 800GbE) for scale-out applications and NH 4220-F (102.4 Tbps, 64x 1.6TbE) for next-gen AI back-end - NH 5010-F (25.6 Tbps) with line-rate encryption for data center interconnect - Three NOS options: Community SONiC (open source), Nexthop NOS (hardened turnkey), and BYoNOS (co-development) - Deep vertical integration between custom hardware and SONiC-based software stack - 1.6TbE-ready, positioning ahead of most competitors on next-generation port speeds ### Use of Proceeds and Vision - Scaling production of new product lines (4000, 4200, 5000 series) - Expanding go-to-market for hyperscaler and neocloud customers - Continued R&D on next-generation switching silicon and optics - Vision: be the networking infrastructure company built specifically for AI-era data centers ### Market Context - AI networking/data center switching market estimated at $20B+ and growing rapidly - Competitors include Arista Networks, Cisco, Broadcom, Nvidia (Spectrum/InfiniBand), and Juniper/HPE - Open networking (SONiC) adoption by hyperscalers is accelerating, creating structural tailwinds for purpose-built solutions ## 2. Quince Hits $10.1B Valuation with $500M Series E for Direct-to-Consumer Commerce ### Deal Overview - Stage: Series E - Sector: E-commerce / Consumer - Geography: San Francisco, California, United States - Round size: $500M - Valuation: $10.1B (more than doubled from $4.5B Series D in early 2025) ### Investor Profile - Led by Iconiq, the investment firm managing wealth for tech billionaires including Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey - Joined by Wellington Management, DST Global, Baillie Gifford, and Notable Capital — a mix of growth equity, crossover, and public market investors - Returning investors Basis Set Ventures and WndrCo signal continued conviction from early backers - Public market investors participating at this stage often indicates IPO readiness ### Company and Leadership - [Quince](https://www.onquince.com/) was founded in 2018 by Sid Gupta, Zunu Mittal, and Sourabh Mahajan - Launched out of beta in October 2020 and has grown revenue past $1B with triple-digit annual growth - Expanded to Canada in January 2026 as first international market - Previous funding includes seed from Founders Fund and 8VC ### Problem and Opportunity - Traditional retail applies multiple markups through wholesalers, distributors, and retailers — often 4-5x manufacturing cost - Consumers are increasingly quality-conscious and price-sensitive simultaneously, creating demand for premium goods at fair prices - Fast fashion (Shein, Temu) competes on price but sacrifices quality; premium DTC brands (Everlane, Allbirds) still carry significant markup ### Product and Technology - Manufacturer-to-consumer (M2C) platform eliminating all retail intermediaries — famous for $50 cashmere sweaters vs. $250 retail - AI-driven weekly SKU forecasting for demand prediction with inventory cycles of 2-4 weeks (vs. traditional 3-6 months) - Targeting less than 5% overproduction (industry average: 40% discounted or destroyed) - Network of 500+ specialist manufacturing partners across apparel, home goods, accessories, and beauty ### Use of Proceeds and Vision - International expansion with marketplace pilots in EU and Asia, building on January 2026 Canada launch - Category expansion beyond apparel into new product verticals - Exploring B2B licensing — white-label M2C options for other brands - Vision: the “anti-retail machine” that redefines how premium goods are produced, priced, and distributed globally ### Market Context - Global e-commerce market exceeds $6T with structural shift toward value-conscious premium consumption - Quince’s M2C model is structurally different from both DTC brands and fast fashion — not a pricing strategy but a supply chain architecture - Crossing $1B revenue while maintaining direct-from-factory approach validates the model can scale without adding intermediary costs ## 3. Household Robotics Maker Sunday Reaches $1.15B Valuation with $165M Series B ### Deal Overview - Stage: Series B - Sector: Deep Tech / Household Robotics - Geography: United States - Round size: $165M (total raised: $200M) - Valuation: $1.15B (unicorn status) ### Investor Profile - Led by Coatue with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Fidelity Management & Research, Tiger Global, Benchmark, and Conviction - Six top-tier investors co-investing is exceptional for a pre-product-launch company - Benchmark (early Uber, Snap) and Coatue (deep AI portfolio) bring both consumer hardware and AI infrastructure expertise - Fidelity and Tiger Global participation signals crossover investor conviction in the consumer robotics thesis ### Company and Leadership - [Sunday](https://www.sunday.so/) emerged from stealth in late 2025, founders not yet publicly disclosed - Over 1,000 people are on the waitlist for the robot - Previously raised approximately $35M before this round ### Problem and Opportunity - Household chores consume significant time, laundry, cleaning, table-clearing, and routine tasks are the most complained-about daily burdens - Most humanoid robot companies target industrial and warehouse settings, leaving the consumer household market largely unaddressed - AI breakthroughs in vision-language-action models and sim-to-real transfer are making general-purpose household robots increasingly feasible ### Product and Technology - Building Memo, an autonomous household humanoid robot designed for domestic tasks including laundry, clearing tables, and routine chores - Beta launch planned by Thanksgiving 2026, a specific consumer product with a launch date, not a research project - Household robotics requires solving manipulation, navigation, and task understanding in unstructured environments , a significant technical barrier that creates a moat - Real-world household data from beta deployments will create a learning flywheel that improves with scale ### Use of Proceeds and Vision - Funding the beta launch of Memo and scaling manufacturing capabilities - Continued R&D on household task autonomy - Building go-to-market infrastructure for consumer distribution - Vision: be the first practical household humanoid robot, targeting the massive consumer market where competitors have not yet played ### Market Context - Global service robotics market projected at $90B+ by 2030 - Competitors include Figure AI ($2.6B valuation, industrial focus), Agility Robotics (warehouse), Tesla Optimus (industrial/consumer long-term), and 1X Technologies - Household robotics is early-stage with massive TAM — the company that cracks consumer deployment first will have a commanding data advantage ## 4. ORO Labs Raises $100M Series C for AI Procurement Orchestration ### Deal Overview - Stage: Series C - Sector: SaaS / AI Procurement - Geography: United States - Round size: $100M ### Investor Profile - Led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity with participation from Brighton Park Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, B Capital, XYZ Capital, and Felicis - Goldman Sachs Growth Equity leading validates enterprise-grade financial rigor and Fortune 500 market positioning - Felicis (known for early-stage AI bets) participating at Series C suggests continued high-growth trajectory ### Company and Leadership - [ORO Labs](https://www.orolabs.ai/) serves Fortune 500 clients including Coca-Cola, Pfizer, and Novartis - Achieved 300% revenue growth in the past year - Has established itself as the procurement orchestration layer for some of the world’s largest enterprises ### Problem and Opportunity - Enterprise procurement is a multi-trillion dollar function plagued by fragmented tools, manual approvals, and compliance complexity - Fortune 500 companies spend billions annually on procurement but struggle with visibility, speed, and policy enforcement - AI orchestration can automate routing, approvals, and vendor management while maintaining compliance guardrails ### Product and Technology - AI-powered procurement orchestration platform that sits atop existing procurement systems as an intelligence and workflow layer - Serves as the connective tissue between procurement stakeholders, policies, and systems - Fortune 500 customer base provides enterprise-grade validation and creates significant switching costs - 300% revenue growth demonstrates rapid enterprise adoption ### Use of Proceeds and Vision - Expanding platform capabilities and deepening AI-driven procurement automation - Scaling enterprise customer acquisition across verticals - Vision: become the default orchestration layer for enterprise procurement globally ### Market Context - Enterprise procurement software market is valued at $10B+ and growing as AI transforms manual workflows - Competitors include Coupa, SAP Ariba, and Jaggaer, legacy platforms that are adding AI features incrementally - ORO Labs’ orchestration approach sits above these platforms rather than replacing them, creating a complementary market position ## Lessons For Founders - The AI infrastructure investment wave is now spreading beyond compute into adjacent layers, networking (Nexthop), procurement orchestration (ORO Labs), and household deployment (Sunday). Founders building in AI-adjacent infrastructure categories are attracting growth-stage capital at unprecedented scale. - Revenue velocity matters more than revenue size. Quince’s triple-digit growth past $1B and ORO Labs’ 300% growth drove outsized valuations because investors price growth rate, not absolute revenue, at the growth stage. - Consumer hardware is back. Sunday raising $165M pre-product-launch with a Thanksgiving beta target shows investors are willing to fund consumer robotics when the AI capabilities finally match the ambition, but only with top-tier syndicates sharing the risk. - AI-enabled is the new AI-native. Quince is not an “AI company” by traditional definitions, yet its AI forecasting and inventory optimization drove a $10.1B valuation. Founders in non-tech-native categories should consider how AI efficiency can unlock venture-scale economics.