Substack, Lovable, and More: 10 of the Newest Unicorns to Hit $1 Billion

The third quarter was an active one when it came to generating unicorns. Just shy of 30 companies closed funding rounds that saw their valuation top $1 billion. And, yes, plenty of them were in the AI space, but there were also several other types of companies catching the eyes of backers.

July saw 13 new unicorns, bringing the total list to more than 1,600 for the first time. August was a desert, with just four joining the club. But things opened up again in September, with a dozen more companies crossing the threshold. (And while it’s technically the fourth quarter, October is off to a solid start with five new unicorns, including Polymarket and Reflection AI. Year to date, CB Insights says 86 startups have joined the unicorn list. )

Here’s a look at 10 of the freshly minted unicorns from the third quarter.

Substack

Arguably one of the better-known new unicorns, San Francisco-based Substack (which currently boasts more than 5 million paid subscriptions on its publishing platform) raised $100 million in a Series C round in July. Bond and The Chernin Group led the round for the 8-year-old company, which was founded by Chris Best, Jairaj Sethi, and Hamish McKenzie. That put its valuation at $1.1 billion.

Lovable

Few companies can claim unicorn status in under two years, but vibe coding startup Lovable hit the mark in July, just 8 months after Anton Osika founded it. That came following a $200 million Series A round led by Accel, which put a $1.8 billion valuation on the Stockholm, Sweden-based company. Annual recurring revenue has already topped $100 million and the company says it has 180,000 paying subscribers.

Xpanceo

Dubai-based Xpanceo, founded by Roman Axelrod and Valentyn S. Volkov, is working on a smart contact lens, which it says will offer everything from night vision and the ability to visually zoom in to health tracking. In July, it closed a $250 million Series A round led by Hong Kong’s Opportunity Venture, which put the four-year old company’s valuation at $1.35 billion.

Decart

Decart, founded by Dean Leitersdorf, made it halfway to unicorn status last December, hitting the $500 million mark. In August, though, the San Francisco-based company, which transforms live footage into immersive digital environments in real time, raised another $100 million in a Series B round. That raised its value to $3.1 billion. Previous investors Sequoia Capital, Benchmark and Zeev Ventures along with newcomer Aleph took part in the round.

Field AI

This Mission Viejo, Calif.-based robotics company raised $314 million in August, bringing its valuation to $2 billion valuation. Founded by Ali Agha, it counts Bill Gates among its backers, and has investments from Jeff Bezos’ family office and Nvidia’s venture arm. Its staff also includes former employees of DeepMind, NASA, Tesla and SpaceX. The company creates models that control robotics, largely in industrial industries, including construction.

Kriya Therapeutics

Kriya Therapeutics, founded by Shankar Ramaswamy and based in Palo Alto, Calif, is a gene therapy biopharmaceutical company that is working to eliminate a variety of chronic diseases and expand clinical trials. In late July, it raised $313 million in Series C round, quickly following that up with a Series D round in September of $320 million. That one-two punch led to a valuation of $1.7 billion.

Etraveli

Based in Uppsala, Sweden, Etraveli is a travel technology company that operates several platforms to book flights in Europe. It also powers flight reservations for Booking.com. Founded by Mathias Hedlund and Christer Wallberg, the company closed a private equity funding in July led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), which bumped its value up to $3.1 billion.

Ambience Healthcare

Ambience Healthcare, in late July, closed a Series C round for $243 million. That increased the San Francisco-based company’s valuation to $1.3 billion. Ambience, founded in 2020 by Nikhil Buduma and Mike Ng, has created a platform that uses AI for documentation and point-of-care medical coding. It’s currently used by 40 health systems in the U.S., including Cleveland Clinic, UCSF Health, and Houston Methodist.

Also

A spinoff from EV manufacturer Rivian, Palo Alto-based Also plans to build products in the e-bike and so-called micromobility sector. The company raised $200 million in July, securing unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation. The July raise came just four months after it secured $105 million from Eclipse Ventures.

Eve

One of the newest unicorns on the list, Redmond City, Calif-based Eve offers legal AI solutions for law firms. Those can range from drafting legal documents for plaintiffs to managing the discovery process to case intake management. The goal is to help firms handle their caseloads quickly and accurately. Eve, founded by Jay Madheswaran, Matt Noe and David Zeng, currently processes more than 200,000 legal cases annually and says it has helped firms recover over $3.5 billion in settlements and judgments. Founded in 2023, the company is currently valued at $1 billion, following a $103 million Series B funding round at the end of September.