DeepSeek Leads 10 AI Labs Into Unicorn Board, With $50B Valuation

In June, the Crunchbase Unicorn Board saw significant turnover as 34 companies reached the $1 billion（約1600億円） valuation milestone, collectively adding more than $110 billion（約18兆円） in value. AI labs dominated, with ten new members and a combined valuation of $65 billion（約10兆円）.

DeepSeek, a Beijing-based open source model developer founded two years ago, led the cohort at $50 billion（約8兆円） valuation after raising a $7.4 billion（約1.2兆円） Series A — notably, the company's first external financing. CEO Liang Wenfeng led the round. The company is said to be planning to list in Shanghai as early as Q2 2027. Other prominent AI labs included Flourish, a less-than-one-year-old New York firm building a neuroscience-inspired architecture called Cortex AI that promises lower power use, valued at $2.5 billion（約4000億円） after raising $500 million（約800億円） from Jeff Bezos, Lux Capital, GV, and Catalio Capital Management. London-based PhysicsX, an AI for physical product design in aerospace, defense, energy, automotive, and semiconductors, raised $300 million（約480億円） in a Series C led by Temasek and was valued at $2.4 billion（約3800億円）. General Intuition, a one-year-old New York robotics model developer trained on gaming videos from its sister company Medal, raised $320 million（約510億円） led by Khosla Ventures and was valued at $2.3 billion（約3700億円）.

Beyond AI labs, robotics and AI infrastructure each contributed four new unicorns. Neura Robotics, a Germany-based physical AI company, raised $1.4 billion（約2200億円） in a Series C led by stablecoin issuer Tether and was valued at $7 billion（約1.1兆円）, with $1 billion（約1600億円） in its order pipeline. Ionic Digital, which pivoted from crypto mining to data center build-out for AI, raised $400 million（約640億円） led by Attestor, Oaktree Capital, and Sachem Head, and was valued at $2.4 billion（約3800億円） after filing for a direct listing on Nasdaq.

Geographically, 16 of the 34 new unicorns are U.S.-based, while eight are from China. Two new unicorns joined from each of India, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and one each from the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. Bengaluru-based Sarvam AI, an Indian sovereign AI developer, raised $234 million（約370億円） and was valued at $1.5 billion（約2400億円）, reflecting growing interest in locally governed AI models.

Despite this influx, the Crunchbase Unicorn Board's total value dropped by more than $1 trillion（約160兆円） in June due to major exits. SpaceX, the board's most valuable company, went public. Anysphere, the maker of AI coding tool Cursor, was acquired by SpaceX for $60 billion（約9.6兆円） after last being valued at $29.3 billion（約4.7兆円）. Modular, an AI infrastructure company operating as a layer on top of GPUs, was acquired by Qualcomm, and customer experience agent Fin was purchased by Salesforce, both for well above their last private valuations.

June's influx of unicorns reflects a broadening of AI investment beyond the large language model race. While DeepSeek dominates headlines at $50 billion（約8兆円）, the ten AI labs collectively valued at $65 billion（約10兆円） span diverse architectures: Flourish is building neuroscience-inspired models, PhysicsX focuses on physics-informed design for aerospace and defense, and General Intuition develops robotics models trained on gaming videos. This specialization suggests the market is moving past general-purpose AI toward task-specific and embodied intelligence.

Geographically, the board continues to show strength in both the U.S. and China (16 and 8 companies respectively), though India, Germany, and other regions are gaining ground. India-based Sarvam AI joined as a sovereign AI developer, reflecting emerging demand for locally governed models outside Western tech hubs.

The apparent contradiction — a record influx of $110 billion（約18兆円） in new value, yet a $1 trillion（約160兆円） net drop in the board's total — illustrates the scale of recent exits. SpaceX's public offering, Anysphere's $60 billion（約9.6兆円） acquisition by SpaceX, and purchases of Modular and Fin by Qualcomm and Salesforce removed enormous valuations from the private market, offsetting the newcomers' combined value.

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