Billions Flow to Startups in May
Nine-figure funding was common during the month.
The month of May, which wasn’t very merry with the United States achieving the sad distinction of losing more than 100,000 Americans to COVID-19, was a generally good time to be a startup.
A wide range of established startups raked in funding rounds of nine figures ($100 million and up) and a lucky few took in ten-figure rounds ($1 billion and up).
The funding champion of the month had to be Jio Platforms (also known as Reliance Jio Investment), the telecommunications subsidiary of Reliance Industries, a conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Over two months, the Indian company has raised more than $10 billion, and more investments may be on the way.
In April, Facebook invested $5.7 billion for an equity stake of 9.9% in Jio Platforms. That was followed by Silver Lake Partners ($750 million) and Vista Equity Partners ($1.5 billion). During May, Jio Platforms raised $870 million from General Atlantic and $1.5 billion from KKR. There were reports that Microsoft was negotiating an investment of $2 billion in the Indian telecom operator, for a stake of more than 2.5%.
Meanwhile, Google is reportedly negotiating to acquire an equity stake of 5% in Vodafone Idea, another telecom operator in India.
Other companies with big funding rounds or negotiating capital increases in May included SenseTime (more than $1 billion), Waymo ($750 million), Didi Chuxing’s autonomous driving unit (more than $500 million), MissFresh ($500 million), Pacific International Lines ($400 million), Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners ($400 million), Samsara Networks ($400 million), Grail ($390 million), Magic Leap ($350 million), Dingdong Macai ($300 million), Ninja Van ($279 million), Apeel Sciences ($279 million), Tonal ($250 million); Shimao Property Holdings ($244 million), Devoted Health ($200 million), Amwell ($194 million), Content Square ($190 million), ASAPP ($185 million), Carta $175 million), Lime ($170 million), Brex ($150 million), China Auto Rental ($145 million), DispatchTrack ($144 million), insitro ($143 million), RWDC Industries ($133 million), Black Market ($120 million), CarTrawler (€100 million), Bolt (€100 million), Wolt (€100 million), and Couchbase ($105 million).
For the first four months of this year, worldwide funding has declined by 11% compared with the first four months of 2019, Crunchbase reports. While lockdowns accelerated in March, funding in March and April actually rose compared with funding in January and February, it notes.
With the American economy mired in a recession that threatens to deepen into a depression, these days actually may be a good time to establish a startup, financiers say. Entrepreneurs are creating new companies during the coronavirus pandemic.
On the other hand, the venture capital scene in Ireland is bleak.
Meanwhile, Intel Capital announced investing a total of $132 million in 11 startups, located in the U.S., China, and Israel. That’s an average of $12 million per each startup. Not a lot of money, to be sure, yet it could be a godsend for a young startup. The recepients included MemVerge of Milpitas, Calif., which raised $19 million. Hypersonix of San Jose, Calif., received $11.5 million in Series A funding led by Intel Capital. San Francisco-based Lilt raised $25 million in Series B funding.
Digital health startups are rapidly becoming a significant segment in startup funding. They join the legions of cybersecurity, self-driving technology, semiconductors, and other startups getting funding.
Cybersecurity
San Francisco-based Coalition raised $90 million in Series C funding led by Valor Equity Partners and joined by Greyhound Capital, Felicis Ventures, and existing investors. The cybersecurity insurance startup has raised a total of $125 million in private funding and is now valued at $890 million.
Cyberbit of Ra’Anana, Israel, received $70 million in new funding led by Charlesbank Capital Partners with participation by return backer Claridge Israel. Part of those funds went to buying shares from Elbit Systems. Founded in 2015, Cyberbit provides cybersecurity training and simulation platforms.
Expel of Herndon, Va., raised $50 million in Series D funding led by CapitalG and joined by Battery Ventures, Greycroft, Index Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, and Scale Venture Partners. The startup offers a managed cybersecurity platform, allowing enterprises to partly outsource their security resources, through a security operations center-as-a-service.
New York-based Semperis received $40 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners, bringing its total private funding to $54 million. The startup provides cybersecurity for Microsoft’s Active Directory service for Windows networks, enabling recovery before, during, and after a cyberattack.
Zethos (doing business as Truework) of San Francisco raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Activant Capital and joined by Sequioa Capital and Khosla Ventures, existing investors in the startup, which offers a consumer identity platform. Established in 2017, Truework has nearly $45 million in total private funding.
Orca Security of Tel Aviv, Israel, received $20.5 million in Series A funding led by GGV Capital and joined by YL Ventures and Silicon Valley CISO Investments. The cybersecurity startup got $6.5 million in seed funding a year ago. Orca targets vulnerabilities in cloud-based services.
Confluera of Palo Alto, Calif., raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Icon Ventures, with participation by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Harpoon Ventures, John W. Thompson, and Lane Bess. Its total private funding now is $29 million. The startup provides automated cyberattack response capabilities, sniffing out attackers on a network.
San Jose-based Dtex Systems received $17.5 million in Series D funding led by Northgate Capital, with participation by Norwest Venture Partners and Four Rivers Group, existing investors. The startup, which has a total of $60 million in private funding, provides endpoint security software.
Evervault of Dublin, Ireland, raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Index Ventures and joined by existing investors Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Frontline Ventures, and angel investors. The Internet infrastructure company provides data privacy tools. It has raised more than $18 million in private funding.
Finite State of Columbus, Ohio, received $12.5 million in Series A funding led by Energy Impact Partners, with participation by Zetta Venture Partners, Niloofar Razi Howe, and other investors. The specialist in supply chain security and risk management for Internet of Things and embedded devices was founded in 2017 and got seed funding of $7 million.
Singapore-based Dathena Science raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Jungle Ventures and joined by Seeds Capital and return backers Cerracap Ventures and MS&AD Ventures, along with CapHorn Invest and SEEDS Capital, the latter an investment arm of the Enterprise Singapore government agency. Established in 2016, Dathena provides data protection and privacy software with artificial intelligence capabilities.
Tugboat Logic of Burlingame, Calif., received $8 million in Series A funding led by Inovia Capital, with participation by Westwave Capital, Tom Noonan, and Terry Dolce. Tugboat’s Security Assurance Platform, a cloud-based subscription service, automates the creation and management of an information security program. The startup previously received seed funding of $3.6 million.
Tel Aviv-based Hub Security raised $5 million in Series A funding led by AXA Ventures and joined by OurCrowd. The startup was founded in 2017, with many members of the founding team coming from Unit 8200 of the Israeli Defense Forces. Hub offers a software and hardware platform for cryptographic operations.
PXL Vision of Zurich, Switzerland, received about $4.7 million in seed funding led by SIX Fintech Ventures with participation by ZKB, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Arab Bank, and angel investors Beat Schillig and David Studer. The Swiss startup provides identity fraud protection software.
Regulus Cyber of Haifa, Israel, raised $4 million in Series B funding led by SPDG Ventures and joined by Sierra Ventures, Canaan Partners Israel, F2 Capital, and Technion. Its total private funding is $10.3 million. Established in 2016, Regulus offers anti-virus software for satellite navigation. It specializes in sensor cybersecurity for positioning, navigation, and timing.
BlackCloak of Lake Mary, Florida, received $1.9 million in seed funding from DataTribe. The startup has developed the Concierge Cybersecurity & Privacy Protection Platform for high-net-worth families and C-suite executives.
Digital Health
Grail of Menlo Park, Calif., raised $390 million in Series D funding led by PSP Investments and CPP Investments, with participation by Illumina, an existing investor, and other investors. Grail is developing a blood test that will help reveal cancers at their early stages. The startup has taken in nearly $2 billion in private funding.
Boston-based American Well (doing busines as Amwell) received $194 million in Series C funding from Allianz X, Takeda, and other investors. The developer of a telehealth platform, established in 2006, has taken in a total of $711 million in private funding, per Crunchbase.
PrivaPath Diagnostics (doing business as LetsGetChecked) of Dublin and New York City raised $71 million in Series C funding led by Illumina Ventures and HLM Venture Partners, joined by Deerfield Management, Commonfund Capital, Angeles Investment Advisors, and return backers Transformation Capital, Optum Ventures, and Qiming Venture Partners USA. Founded in 2014, the startup’s total private funding is now $113 million. LetsGetChecked offers an at-home health testing platform that connects customers to regulated laboratory testing. The latest funding will help the company increase its manufacturing, supply, and testing capabilities for COVID-19, the infection caused by the novel coronavirus.
Chicago-based SH llc (doing business as Higi) received $30 million in Series B funding led by Babylon Health with participation by return backers 7Wire Ventures, Flare Capital Partners, Jumpstart Capital, Rush University Medical Center for Health, and William Wrigley Jr. The operator of health kiosks is eight years old and has raised a total of $61.3 million in private funding. The company’s kiosks enable users to check on their biometrics and to share the data with a health-care professional.
New York-based Owkin raised $25 million in new funding from Bpifrance, Cathay Innovation, MACSF, and return backers GV, F-Prime Capital, and Eight Roads. The startup specializes in machine learning for medical research, offering a collaboration platform for health-care research and development. Owkin has taken in a total of $56.1 million in private funding.
San Francisco-based Siren received $11.8 million in Series B funding led by Anathem Ventures, joined by DCM, Khosla Ventures, 500 Startups, and Founders Fund. Established in 2015, Siren crafts neurofabrics that go into “smart socks” that can detect whether the feet of diabetics are developing ulcers. The startup has raised about $34 million in private funding.
Helium Health of Lagos, Nigeria, raised $10.2 million in Series A funding led by Global Ventures and Africa Healthcare Masterfund, with participation by Tencent Holdings, Ohara Pharmaceutical, HOF Capital, Y Combinator, VentureSouq Shorooq Partners, Chrysalis Capital, Kairos Angels, and Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment. The startup’s product suite digitizes data, handles monetization, and enables telehealth technology for health-care systems in Nigeria, Liberia, and Ghana. The company was established in 2015.
The Stellar Health Group of New York received $10 million in Series A funding led by Point72 Ventures, joined by Primary Venture Partners, an existing investor. Established in 2018, the company has taken in $15 million in total private funding. Stellar Health helps health-care professionals improve their value-based care goals.
London-based Thriva raised about $4.9 million in an extension of its Series A funding, bringing its total private funding to around $14 .2 million. Tiger Global Management led the latest funding, with participation from existing investors Guinness Asset Management and Pembroke VCT. Founded in 2015, the company touts itself as a proactive health venture.
Self-Driving Technology
Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving vehicle unit headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., received approximately $750 million in new funding, increasing its first external funding to $3 billion. The startup comes out of Google’s self-driving technology unit, created in 2009. Its vehicles are often seen around Silicon Valley, testing Waymo’s technology. The startup is resuming its testing in Phoenix, Arizona. New investors are T. Rowe Price Associates, Perry Creek Capital, and Fidelity Management and Research.
Beijing-based Didi Chuxing raised more than $500 million in new funding led by the SoftBank Vision Fund 2 for its autonomous driving subsidiary. The ride-hailing service company spun off the self-driving unit last August.
IRP Systems of Ness Ziona, Israel, received $17 million in Series B funding led by Fosun RZ Capital and joined by JAL and existing investors Entrée Capital, Tal Capital, Union Tech Ventures, Cendana Capital, and Allied Group. The startup was established in 2008 and has a total of $20 million in private funding. IRP provides electric powertrain products for e-mobility.
Semiconductors
Beijing-based SenseTime Group is seeking $1 billion in new funding, The Wall Street Journal reports, which would value the facial recognition sensor developer at $9.5 billion or more. SenseTime declined to comment on the report. Founded in 2014, the artificial intelligence startup has previously pulled in $3.3 billion in private funding, according to Crunchbase.
San Francisco-based Samsara Networks raised $400 million in Series F funding, valuing the IoT startup at $5.4 billion, Bloomberg reports. AllianceBernstein, Franklin Templeton, General Atlantic, Sands Capital Management, and Warburg Pincus were joined by return backers Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Dragoneer, and Tiger Global Management. Founded in 2015, Samsara offers an IoT platform with hardware, software, and related cloud services.
MemVerge of Milpitas, Calif., received $19 million in Series B funding led by Intel Capital, joined by Cisco Investments, NetApp, and SK Hynix, and existing investors Gaorong Capital, Glory Ventures, Jerusalem Venture Partners, LDV Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Northern Light Venture Capital. Established in 2017, the startup offers the Memory Machine software, providing memory-converged infrastructure, using Intel’s Optane memory technology. The company’s total private funding is $43.5 million.
New York-based GigaSpaces Technologies raised $12 million in Series E funding led by Fortissimo Capital and joined by existing investors Claridge Israel and BRM Group. Established in 2000, the startup has taken in a total of $53 million in private funding. The company provides an in-memory computing platform for fast data analytics and extreme transaction processing.
San Francisco-based VergeSense, the developer of an AI-powered sensor-as-a-service for the workplace, received $9 million in a strategic investment led by Allegion Ventures, with participation by JLL Spark, MetaProp NYC, Y Combinator, Pathbreaker Ventures, and West Ventures. The new round brings the company’s private funding total to $10.6 million. VergeSense was started in 2017.
Mosaic Microsystems of Rochester, N.Y., raised $2 million in seed funding led by BlueSky Capital, joined by Corning, which last year licensed thin-glass handling technology to the startup, which offers thin-glass substrates and through-glass vias for radio-frequency communications devices, along with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and IoT sensors. The company provides microelectronics and photonics packaging technology products and services for analog, logic, memory, and power electronics, RF, and sensors.
Odds and Ends
Beijing Missfresh E-commerce, doing business as MissFresh, a Chinese food delivery service, is raising more than $500 million, Bloomberg reports. Tencent, Goldman Sachs, and Tiger Global are existing investors in the company, which was established in 2014. MissFresh previously took in $1.4 billion.
Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, a spinout from Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs, raised $400 million in Series A funding from Alphabet and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. The company, established last year, works on developing next-generation urban infrastructure technology.
Shanghai-based Dingdong Maicai, a fresh vegetable e-commerce platform, received $300 million in Series B funding led by General Atlantic, valuing the company at $2 billion, Reuters reports. Existing investors include Sequoia Capital China and Qiming Ventures.
Singapore-based Ninja Logistics, doing business as Ninja Van, raised $279 million in Series D funding from GeoPost, B Capital Group, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Carmenta, Golden Gate Ventures Growth Fund, Intouch Holding, Grab, and two unidentified sovereign wealth funds. Founded in 2014, the company provides express delivery services for businesses in Southeast Asia.
Lime, the electric scooter company, got $170 million in new funding led by Uber Technologies. Return backers include Alphabet, Bain Capital Ventures, and GV. The deal also includes Lime’s acquisition of Uber’s JUMP e-bike rental business.
Paris-based Alice&Bob received $3.3 million from Elaia Partners and Breega to develop a fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Fundraising
A quick compendium of May’s fundraising by private equity and venture capital firms: Thoma Bravo is raising $23 billion for three funds; Hg Capital raised $11.5 billion; BDT Capital raised $9.1 billion; Ares Management is raising €9 billion for one fund and raising $3 billion for another fund; Bain Capital is raising $9 billion; MBK Partners raised $6.5 billion; Quantum Energy Partners is raising $5.5 billion; Apollo Global Management is raising $3 billion for one fund and raised $1.75 billion for another fund; KKR raised $4 billion; IK Investment Partners raised €2.85 billion; Goldman Sachs Asset Management raised $2.75 billion; Aquiline Capital Partners raised $2 billion; Pomona Capital is raising $2 billion; Sterling Group is raising $1.75 billion; One Rock Capital Partners is raising $1.5 billion; Spectrum Equity raised $1.5 billion; Falcon Investment Advisors is raising $1.38 billion; Rubicon Technology Partners raised more than $1.25 billion; Stellex Capital Management is raising $1.25 billion; EIG Global Energy Partners raised $1.1 billion; Oberland Capital raised $1.05 billion; and Ottawa Avenue Private Capital is raising about $1 billion.