A Tale of Two Banks: Silicon Valley Bank and
First Republic Bank
Both Institutions Saw a Run On Deposits
Regulators Are Preparing to Seize and Sell
First Republic Bank;
JPMorgan, PNC, Bank of America May Be Buyers
Initial Public Offerings
Rakuten Bank raised about $619 million in its Tokyo IPO.
Mega-Rounds
There were more than 30 mega-rounds during the month of April. That compared with about 50 mega-rounds in March.
San Francisco-based Tonal raised $130 million in funding from L Catterton, Cobalt, Dragoneer, Kindred Ventures, and THVC.
Quantexa, a London-based decision intelligence platform, raised $129 million in Series E funding at a $1.8 billion valuation. GIC led and was joined by Warburg Pincus, Dawn Capital, British Patient Capital, Evolution Equity Partners, HSBC, BNY Mellon, ABN AMRO, and AlbionVC.
LayerZero Labs, a protocol to connect decentralized applications across multiple blockchains, raised $120 million in Series B funding at a $3 billion valuation from backers like Andreessen Horowitz, BOND, Samsung Next, Christie’s, OpenSea, and Sequoia Capital.
Altruist, a Culver City, Calif.-based custodian and software provider to the investment adviser industry, raised $112 million in Series D funding led by insider Insight Partners.
Alphasense, a New York-based market intelligence and search platform, raised $100 million at a $1.8 billion valuation led by CapitalG, Alphabet’s late-stage venture capital arm.
Agtech/Foodtech
Tel Aviv-based CropX, a farm management startup, raised $30 million in Series C funding. Aliaxis led the round and was joined by Edaphon, Finistere Ventures, NTT Finance Corporation, OurCrowd, Reinke Irrigation, Yair Shamir, and Victrix.
AMSilk, a German developer of plant-based silk proteins, raised €25 million ($27.5 million) in Series C extension funding. Insider Anthos led and was joined by Novo Holdings, Cargill, and MIG Capital.
KoRo, a German nut butter and snacks startup, raised €20 million (about $22 million) in Series B extension funding from Associated British Foods, SevenVentures, and Haub Legacy Ventures.
Arado, a Brazilian agribusiness marketplace, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Acre Venture Partners led and was joined by Syngenta Ventures, Globo Ventures, Maya Capital, Valor Capital, and SP Ventures.
Tepbac, a Vietnamese aquaculture startup for shrimp farming, raised $2.25 million from Aqua-Spark, AgFunder, and Son-Tech Investment.
8 Myles, a McLean, Va.-based frozen foods startup, raised $1 million in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Virginia Venture Partners, The Enterprise Center, gener8tor, and Kompass Ventures.
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
Pinecone, a San Mateo, Calif.-based vector database company, raised $100 million in Series B funding at a $750 million valuation. Andreessen Horowitz led and was joined by Iconiq Growth and insiders Menlo Ventures and Wing VC.
Teton.ai raised $5.3 million in funding led by Plural.
Automotive/Autonomy/Mobility
Seoul-based 42bot, an autonomous mobility firm, raised a corporate round worth approximately $787 million from Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors.
Virta, a Finnish EV charging services platform, raised €85 million (nearly $94 million. Jolt Capital led, and was joined by Business Finland, Future Energy Ventures, Helen Ventures, Vertex Growth Fund, Finnish Industry Investment, Lahti Energy, Vantaa Energy, and Kotka Energy.
AutoLeap, a Toronto-based auto repair software startup, raised US$30 million in Series B funding. Advance Venture Partners led and was joined by insiders Bain Capital Ventures, and Threshold Ventures.
India’s Magenta Mobility raised $22 million in Series A1 funding from Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure and BP Ventures.
Robust.ai, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based robot cognition platform, raised $20 million in Series A1 funding. Prime Movers Lab led and was joined by Future Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Jazz Venture Partners, and Playground Global.
Toronto-based ChargeLab raised $10 million in Series A equity funding and $5 million in venture debt from backers like Silver Comet and Eaton.
CarmaCare raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Inspired Capital and joined by Twelve Below, Revelry, and 81 Collection.
X Shore, a Swedish electric boat maker, raised €26.5 million ($29 million) led by SEB Investment Management.
Biotech
Orbital Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of RNA medicines, raised $270 million in Series A funding. Arch Venture Partners led and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Newpath Partners, Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, Redmile Group, Exor, Invus, Moore Strategic Ventures, iGlobe Platinum Fund Group, Casdin Capital, Agent Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Rellim Capital Management, and Heritage Medical Systems.
Abdera Therapeutics of Menlo Park, Calif., raised $142 million in combined Series A and Series B funding from Amplitude Ventures, Versant Ventures, venBio Partners, adMare BioInnovations, Viking Global Investors, Qiming Venture Partners USA, RTW Investments, and AbCelleraand Northview Ventures.
Alentis Therapeutics, a Swiss developer of treatments for organ fibrosis and CLDN1 positive tumors, raised $105 million in Series C funding. Jeito Capital led and was joined by Novo Holdings, RA Capital Management and insiders BB Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance, and Schroders Capital.
South San Francisco-based Antiva Biosciences raised $53 million.
Evommune, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based biotech focused on inflammatory diseases, raised $50 million in Series B funding co-led by ArixBioscience and insiders EQT Life Sciences and SymBiosis. Other backers include Amplitude Ventures, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, and Andera Partners.
Climate Change
Ohmium, an Incline Village, Nev.-based green hydrogen company, raised $250 million in Series C funding. TPG Rise Climate led and was joined by Hanover Technology Investment Management and insiders Energy Transition Ventures and Fenice Investment Group.
EnergyX, an Austin, Texas-based lithium extraction startup, raised $50 million in Series B funding led by GM Ventures.
Hometree, a London-based residential energy services company, raised $46 million in Series B funding. 2150 and Energy Impact Partners co-led, joined by Legal & General Capital and insider Inven Capital. The company also acquired BeWarm, a green home improvement financing platform.
Energy Dome, a Milan, Italy-based battery startup, raised €40 million (about $44 million), in Series B funding from Barclays’ Sustainable Impact Capital Fund, CDP Venture Capital, Italy’s sovereign wealth fund, Novum Capital Partners, 360 Capital, Japan Energy Fund, and Elemental Excelerator.
Seattle-based Avalanche Energy raised $40 million in Series A funding led by Lowercarbon Capital and joined by Founders Fund and Toyota Ventures.
Enter, a German home energy assessment startup, raised €19.4 million (more than $21 million) in Series A funding from Coatue Management, Foundamental, Target Global, A/O Proptech, and Partech.
Voltserver of East Greenwich, R.I., raised $17.5 million in Series B funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $40 million, was led by Marker Hill Capital and Constellation Technology Ventures, followed by the Southwire Company, RightHill Ventures, and Clean Energy Venture Group.
Abatable, a London-based carbon abatement startup, raised $13.5 million from Azora Capital
CarbonChain, a London-based carbon accounting platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding co-led by USV and Voyager Ventures.
Germany’s Magnotherm raised $6.9 million led by Extantia Capital.
Cybersecurity
Boston-based Cybereason raised $100 million from existing backer SoftBank Corp.
Tel Aviv-based Avalog raised $30 million in total funding.
Digital Health
Recuro Health, a Richardson, Texas-based digital holistic health platform, raised $47 million in Series B funding from Arch Venture Partners, Flippen Group, GPG Ventures, and 4D Capital.
Quantum Computing
Quantum Source, an Israeli photonic quantum computing startup, raised $12 million in seed extension funding. Dell Technologies Capital led and was joined by Eclipse VC, Grove Ventures, and Pitango First.
Robotics
Noah Medical of San Carlos, Calif., raised $150 million in Series B funding. SoftBank and Prosperity7 Ventures co-led the round, joined by Tiger Global and insiders Hillhouse, Sequoia China, Shangbay Capital, Uphonest Capital, Sunmed Capital, Lyfe Capital, 1955 Capital, and AME Cloud Ventures.
Covariant of Emeryville, Calif., raised $75 million in Series C extension funding co-led by insiders Radical Ventures and Index Ventures. Other backers include CPPIB, Amplify Partners, Gates Frontier Holdings, AIX Ventures, and Northgate Capital.
Carbon Robotics, a Seattle-based developer of weeding robots, raised $30 million in Series C funding. Sozo Ventures led and was joined by Anthos Capital, Fuse Venture Capital, Ignition Partners, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Voyager Capital.
Veo Robotics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based provider of robotic awareness systems, raised $29 million in Series B funding from Safar Partners and Yamaha Motor Ventures.
Software
San Francisco-based Replit raised $97.4 million from backers like Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, and Coatue Management.
Semgrip of San Francisco raised $53 million in Series C funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Felicis Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.
Singapore-based Horizon Quantum Computing raised $18.1 million in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $21.3 million, was led by Sequoia Capital India, Tencent, SGInnovate, Pappas Capital, and Expeditions Fund.
Tel Aviv-based Redefine.dev raised $8.5 million in seed funding.
AIXplain, a low-code/no-code AI application development platform, raised $8 million in seed funding co-led by Transform VC and Calibrate Ventures.
San Francisco-based Apptile raised $2.5 million in seed funding co-led by Mankekar Family Office and Ramakant Sharma.
HeadSpin of Sunnyvale, Calif., received an investment from Atlassian Ventures. The amount of the deal was undisclosed.
Semiconductors
EdgeQ of Santa Clara, Calif., raised $75 million in new funding.
3D Glass Solutions of Albuquerque, N.M., a maker of glass-ceramics radio-frequency components, raised $30 million in Series C funding.
Mojo Vision, a developer of micro-LED display technology, raised $22.4 million from NEA, Khosla Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Fusion Fund, Drew Perkins, Open Field Capital, and Edge.
Vypercore of Cambridge and Bristol, England, U.K., raised £4 million (about $5 million) in seed funding. Backers included Octopus Ventures, Foresight WAE Technology, Science Creates Ventures, British Growth Fund, and Silicon Roundabout Ventures.
The Final Frontier
Ursa Major, a Berthoud, Colo.-based rocket engine maker, raised $100 million in Series D funding from backers like BlackRock and Space Capital.
Hydrosat, a Washington, D.C.-based developer of Earth observation satellites, raised $20 million in Series A funding and grants. Statkraft Ventures led and was joined by Blue Bear Capital, Hartree Partners, OTB Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, Cultivation Capital, and Hemisphere Ventures.
Quantum Computing
Riverlane, a British quantum engineering startup, raised £15 million ($18.7 million) in Series B funding. Molten Ventures led and was joined by Altair, Cambridge Innovation Capital, and Amadeus Capital Partners.
Canada’s Agnostiq raised US$6.1 million in seed funding led by Differential Ventures and was joined by Scout Ventures, Tensility Venture Partners, and Green Egg Ventures.
Fundraising
Accel-KKR raised $5.3 billion for two funds.