Flapping Airplanes

About

Flapping Airplanes is an AI research lab. Its site says it is working on ways to make AI more data efficient, including a megakernel framework for GPUs. The site does not name a city. Index Ventures' post, published Oct. 21, 2026, says the team works in person in San Francisco. TechCrunch does not name a city. Nothing read here names a different city, so this page stores San Francisco, California.

TechCrunch, timestamped 1:57 PM PDT on October 21, 2026, is the earliest report read here, so the round date is 2026-10-21. It says the company announced a $1 billion Series A co-led by Index and Lux. Index's post says Index is leading the Series A and does not name Lux. The company site says the company has raised a $1 billion Series A and lists both Index and Lux among its backers, and it does not say who led. The Raise Track Update says Index Ventures and Lux Capital led. This page follows the issue and TechCrunch and marks both as leads.

TechCrunch names Sequoia, GV, and Kleiner Perkins as participants in the new round. The issue names Sequoia Capital, Alphabet's GV, Kleiner Perkins, and Nvidia. The company site says Google Ventures and lists NVIDIA among additional supporters. Alphabet's GV and Google Ventures are the existing GV page. Nvidia is the existing NVIDIA page. TechCrunch's sentence about Nvidia calls Nvidia an investor in the company and sits apart from the sentence about new-round participants. The issue names Nvidia on this round, and the company site lists NVIDIA, so this page includes Nvidia as a participant.

TechCrunch says the valuation is reported at $6 billion. The issue says $6 billion post-money. Index's post and the company site do not state a valuation. The figure is not stored. TechCrunch and the company site also describe a $180 million seed. That round is not a page here, and it is not added to a total.

The company site names other backers, including Nova Global, Valor, and Atreides, and it names people. TechCrunch also names Valor, Atreides, and A*. Those names are not in the issue. They do not have pages.

Funding history

Investors

• Index Ventures lead
• Lux Capital lead
• Sequoia Capital participant
• GV participant
• Kleiner Perkins participant
• Nvidia participant

Sources

Last verified: 2026-10-27

1. https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/21/year-old-ai-lab-flapping-airplanes-raises-1b-at-a-6b-valuation/
   Type: reputable publication. Accessed 2026-10-27.
   TechCrunch, Julie Bort, 1:57 PM PDT on October 21, 2026 (20:57 UTC). Reports a $1 billion Series A co-led by Index and Lux. Says the valuation is reported at $6 billion. Names Sequoia, GV, and Kleiner Perkins as participants in the new round. Says Valor, Atreides, Kleiner Perkins, A*, and Nvidia are also investors in the company, in a sentence separate from the new-round participants. Does not name a city. A $180 million seed from GV, Sequoia, and Index is described and is not a page here. The $6 billion figure is not stored.
2. https://www.indexventures.com/perspectives/toward-more-efficient-ai-leading-flapping-airplanes-1b-series-a/
   Type: official investor website. Accessed 2026-10-27.
   Index Ventures post by Mark Xu and Shardul Shah, published Oct. 21, 2026. Says Index is leading Flapping Airplanes' $1B million Series A. The post uses that wording. It does not name Lux Capital, does not state a valuation, and says the team works in person in San Francisco. Mark Xu joining the board is stated. This is a lead investor post.
3. https://flappingairplanes.com/
   Type: official company website. Accessed 2026-10-27.
   Flapping Airplanes home page, read 2026-10-27. Says the company has raised a $180 million seed round and a $1 billion Series A. Lists Index, Google Ventures, Sequoia, Lux Capital, and Nova Global, with additional support from other firms including Kleiner Perkins and NVIDIA. Does not say who led the Series A, does not state a valuation, and does not name a city. People named on the page do not have pages here. Firms that are not in the issue do not have pages.
4. https://buttondown.com/raisetrack/archive/raise-track-update-2026-10-26/
   Type: other verified public source. Accessed 2026-10-27.
   Raise Track Update for 2026-10-26, Section 1. Amount line $1B (Series A). Says a San Francisco, CA-based company raised $1 billion at a $6 billion post-money valuation. Says the round was led by Index Ventures and Lux Capital, with Sequoia Capital, Alphabet's GV, Kleiner Perkins, and Nvidia. The $6 billion figure is not stored. Alphabet's GV is the existing GV page. Nvidia is the existing NVIDIA page.