R136 Ventures Growth Digest #10: Discipline Returns, OpenAI's Conditional $110B, IPOs Stay Quiet
Your monthly snapshot of late-stage venture: top rounds, valuations, exits, and market insights
The Operator’s Lens
Hey folks, welcome to March’s newsletter, where we track what matters in late-stage venture.
March was the month the market started asking for receipts. OpenAI closed the largest private round in history but look at the structure: compute credits, conditional tranches, milestones tied to an IPO.
Even at $840B, investors aren’t writing blank checks anymore.
After months of repricing and mega-rounds, March was a pause not a pullback, but a market catching its breath.
IPOs stayed narrow, the window is open, but only for the obvious winners.
Late-stage capital is getting disciplined. The days of “growth at any price” are behind us. Now it’s about structure, milestones, and proof—not just promise.
Top 5 Tweets
The smartest takes on tech and venture capital this month, pulled from X chaos.
Top 5 Growth-Stage Rounds
Here's a snapshot of where the late-stage VC money went the past month:
Series B
$500M for Nexthop AI, a Santa Clara, CA-based artificial intelligence company, with funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Altimeter.
$385M for Genspark.ai, a Palo Alto, CA-based AI workspace platform, with funding from Emergence Capital, SBI, and Mirae Asset.
$165M for Sunday, a Mountain View, CA-based household robot maker, with funding from Coatue, Tiger Global, and Benchmark.
$155M for Nominal, Los Angeles based data platform with funding from Founders Fund, Sequoia, and General Catalyst.
$80M for Juicebox, a San Francisco-based AI-native recruiting platform, with funding from DST Global, Sequoia Capital, and Coatue.
Series C
$230M for Science Corporation, Alameda based with funding from Lightspeed Venture partners, Khosl Ventures, Y Combinator and others.
$100M for ORO Labs, a Palo Alto, CA-based procurement orchestration platform, with funding from Brighton Park Capital, Goldman Sachs, Norwest Venture Partners, and others,
$100M for Cape, an Arlington, VA-based privacy-first mobile carrier, with funding from Bain Capital Ventures, Goldman Sachs, 01 Advisors, 137 Ventures, Definition, and others.
$65M for Sage, a New York-based AI platform for aging care, with funding from Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, IVP, and Goldcrest Capital,
$40M for Turquoise Health, a San Diego-based healthcare pricing and payments platform, with funding from Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, and Adams Street Partners.
Series D
$400M for Replit, San Franscisco based AI coding platform with funding from Georgian Partners, Andressen Horowitz, Accenture Ventures, Prysm Capital and others.
$300M for Verily, TX based healthcare data platform with funding from Series X Capital, Alphabet, UCHealth and others.
$250M for Findhelp, Texas based social care platform with funding from The Rise Fund.
$150M for Grow Therapy, a New York-based mental health therapy platform, with funding from TCV, Goldman Sachs, and Sequoia Capital.
$143M for Frore Systems, a San Jose-based cooling for AI chips company, with funding from MVP Ventures, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Top Tier, and others.
Top-10 Market Makers
The 10 companies whose valuations dictate what everyone else thinks they're worth
Our Take
OpenAI’s latest $110B round looks massive until you realize most of it is compute credits and conditional tranches, not cash. At $840B, they’re priced for perfection while burning $35B+ annually. Stripe quietly launching AI agent payment rails is the sleeper: if machines start moving money, they just became the tollbooth.
How to Play It
OpenAI at $840B valuation is priced for perfection, any stumble and you're holding the bag. Databricks ($134B, $5.4B revenue, flat valuation) is the only clean entry. Stripe's AI payments play is underpriced. SpaceX IPO whispers at $1.75T make $800B look like a floor.
Top 5 M&A Deals
Here’s five of the M&A deals from the past month that we think matter:
Promptfoo — acquired by OpenAI for an undisclosed amount
Forethought — acquired by Zendesk for an undisclosed amount
RIVR — acquired by Amazon for an undisclosed amount
Cal AI — acquired by MyFitnessPal for an undisclosed amount
Moltbook — acquired by Meta for an undisclosed amount
Top Venture-Backed IPOs
The US IPO market in March saw minimal activity with only a handful of small deals, signaling that the IPO window remains selective. Large-cap names are still waiting for clearer macro signals before testing public markets.
Swarmer (SWMR) | Austin-based AI-powered autonomous drone defense systems company. Raised $15M in IPO.
This Month at R136 Ventures
Ventures from the Valley Episode #25: The Platform Behind $1B in Startup Raises with Stephane Nasser
He's helped 25,000 founders raise $1B+ without taking a dime of equity. This month, Victor sits down with Stephane Nasser of OpenVC to unpack what actually moves investors (and it's not your slides).
That’s all for this month. See you in April!