Drones Are Flying High Among Startups

Investors Are Drawn to Drones

Skydio, a Redwood City, Calif.-based autonomous drone-maker, raised $230 million in Series E funding at a $2.2 billion valuation. Linse Capital led and was joined by Hercules Capital, Axon, and insiders Andreessen Horowitz, Next47, IVP, DoCoMo, NVIDIA, the Walton Family Foundation, and UP Partners.

Zeitview (formerly known as DroneBase), an LA-based aerial data analytics company, raised $55 million. Valor Equity Partners led and was joined by USV, Upfront Ventures, Euclidean Capital, Energy Transition Ventures, and Hearst Ventures.

Dronamics, a London-based developer of autonomous cargo drones, raised $40 million from Founders Factory, Speedinvest, Eleven Capital, Strategic Development Fund, and the Tawazun Strategic Development Fund.

Flock, a British drone insurance startup, raised $38 million in Series B funding. Octopus Ventures led and was joined by CommerzVentures and insiders Social Capital, Dig Ventures, and Foresight Ventures.

Hidden Level, a Syracuse, N.Y.-based drone sensing technology company, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Booz Allen Ventures.

Initial Public Offerings

Nextracker of Fremont, Calif., raised $638 million in its IPO.

Germany’s Ionos Group raised €389 million (nearly $418 million) in its Frankfurt IPO.

Enlight Renewable Energy raised $252 million in its IPO.

Mineralys Therapeutics of Radnor, Pa., raised $192 million in its IPO.

China’s Hesai Group raised $190 million in its IPO.

SilverBox III raised $120 million in its IPO.

Japan’s Pono Capital Three raised $100 million in its IPO.

Distoken Acquisition raised $60 million in its IPO.

Mars Acquisition raised $60 million in its IPO.

PishPosh raised $9 million in its IPO.

BullFrog AI Holdings raised $8 million in its IPO.

SolarJuice raised $7 million in its IPO.

Mega-Rounds

There were less than 20 mega-rounds in February, compared with about 47 in January.

Agtech/Foodtech

FreshToHome, an Indian online fresh meat retailer, raised $104 million in Series D funding led by Amazon through its India-focused Smbhav Venture Fund.

Loam Bio, an Australian developer of seed coating to enable plants to capture more carbon, raised A$105 million (about US$72 million) in Series B funding co-led by Lowercarbon Capital and Wollemi Capital, per AgFunder News.

Paleo, a Belgian plant-based meat alternative startup, raised €12 million ($12.7 million) in Series A funding led by DSM Venturing and Planet A Ventures, with Gimv, SFPIM Relaunch, Beyond Impact, and Siddhi Capital also participating.

Future Fields, a Canadian synthetic biology startup, raised US$11.2 million in additional seed funding from Bee Partners, Toyota Ventures, Builders VC, AgFunder, Amplify Capital, BoxOne Ventures, Green Circle Foodtech, Siddhi Capital, and Climate Capital.

Seattle-based Rebellyous Food raised $9.5 million in equity funding.

Croptimistec Technology of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, raised US$9.1 million in Series B funding led by Forage Capital Partners. The startup acquired Croppro Consulting.

Australia’s Fable Food Co. raised US$8.5 million in Series A funding led by K3 Ventures, with participation from Blackbird, AgFunder, Aera VC, Osher Günsberg, his wife Audrey Griffen, Greg Creed, Professor Peter Singer, Frantz Braha, and Adrien Desbaillets.

San Francisco-based Planetarians raised $6 million in seed II funding, led by Mindrock Capital with participation from Traction Fund, Techstars, SOSV, and ZX Ventures.

IngredientWerks, a Woburn, Mass.-based agtech ingredient company, raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding. The round was led by Open Prairie and ARCH Venture Partners.

Elo Life Systems, a Durham, N.C.-based ingredient company, closed an undisclosed amount in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total to $24.5 million, was led by AccelR8, Novo Holdings, and DCVC Bio.

Robigo of Cambridge, Mass., raised $6.85 million in seed funding led by Congruent Ventures, with participation from Good Growth Capital and First Star Ventures.

WNWN Food Labs of London, England, U.K., raised $5.6 million in funding led by PeakBridge, with participation from Geschwister Oetker Beteiligungen Group via its subsidiary Martin Braun-Gruppe, Mustard Seed Maze, PINC, Investbridge AgriTech, and HackCapital.

BlueTrace of Castine, Me., raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by York IE, Maine Venture Fund, and Coastal Enterprise Ventures, with participation from various angel investors, including SeaAhead.

P2 Science of Woodbridge, Conn., raised funding. The round was led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood, with participation from existing investors Heritage Group Ventures, Chanel, Elm Street Ventures, and SaferMade. Prior investors in P2 also include BASF Venture Capital, Connecticut Innovations, Advantage Capital, and other investors.

Berlin-based EatFirst acquired Feedr from Compass Group UK & Ireland. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning

San Francisco-based Typeface raised $65 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, M12, and Menlo Ventures.

San Francisco-based MindsDB, an open-source applied machine learning platform, raised $16.5 million in Series A funding from Benchmark.

Rezolve.ai of Dublin, Calif., raised $11 million in Series A funding led by SIG Venture Capital with participation from Exfinity Venture Partners, 9Unicorns, and Tri Valley Ventures.

BluWave-ai of Ottawa, Canada, raised US$9.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by PowerON Energy Solutions, with participation from Capital Angels Network.

San Francisco-based Axion Ray raised $7.5 million in seed funding. Amplo and Inspired Capital co-led, joined by Inspired Capital, Boeing, Tinicum Venture Partners, and industry angels.

EthonAI, an industrial tech spin-off from ETH Zurich in Switzerland, raised $6.8 million in seed funding. The round was led by Earlybird Venture Capital and La Famiglia, with participation from existing investors Wingman and Acequia Capital.

Seattle-based Vouched raised $6.3 million in funding led by BHG VC, SpringRock Ventures, Darrell Cavens, and Mark Vadon.

Boston-based Nanite raised $6 million in seed funding led by Zetta Venture Partners, with participation from Arkitekt Ventures.

San Francisco-based Regie.ai raised an additional $6 million from Khosla Ventures. This brought the Series A round to $20.8 million, led by Foundation Capital and Scale Venture Partners.

Humanising Autonomy of London, England, U.K., raised debt funding from Silicon Valley Bank UK.

Automotive/Autonomy/Mobility

EO Charging of London, England, U.K., raised $80 million in equity funding. The round was led by Vortex Energy and Zouk Capital.

Chicago-based NanoGraf raised $65 million in Series B funding co-led by Volta Energy Technologies and CC Industries, joined by Emerald Technology Ventures, Material Impact, Arosa Capital, Nabtesco Technology Ventures, TechNexus Venture Collaborative, and insiders Hyde Park Angels, Evergreen Climate Innovations, and Goose Capital.

Cirba Solutions, a Charlotte-based lithium-ion battery recycling startup, raised $50 million from Marubeni, the Japanese trading group.

Spiffy, a Durham, N.C.-based mobile car-care company, raised $30 million in Series C funding. Edison Partners led and was joined by Tribeca Venture Partners, Bull City Venture Partners, IDEA Fund Partners, Trog Hawley Capital, Attinger, and Private Access Network.

Electra Vehicles, a Boston-based battery management software company, raised $21 million in new funding, led by United Ventures, with Stellantis Ventures, LIFTT, Club degli Investitori, and BlackBerry Limited also participating.

ZEVX of Gilbert, Ariz., a developer of an EV power system, raised more than $20 million in in the first tranche of a funding round. The round was led by Reynolds Capital.

OpenEyes, an Austin, Texas-based insurtech startup focused on commercial automotive fleets, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Insight Partners and Pitango First co-led the round and were joined by MoreVC.

Los Angeles-based ChargerHelp raised $17.5 million in Series A funding. Blue Bear Capital led and was joined by Aligned Climate Capital, Exelon, and insiders Energy Impact Partners, and non sibi ventures.

Liminal, an Emeryville, Calif.-based battery manufacturing intelligence startup, raised $17.5 million in Series A2 funding from ArcTern Ventures, Northvolt, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Chrysalix VC, Good Growth Capital, UTECP, Volta Energy Technologies, Impact Science Ventures, and Helios Climate Ventures.

San Francisco-based Car IQ raised $15 million in Series B extension funding led by Forte Ventures and joined by Visa, Bridgestone, Navistar, Circle K, and insiders State Farm Ventures, TELUS Ventures, and Avanta Ventures.

India’s Turno, an EV distribution and financing platform, raised $13.8 million in Series A funding. B Capital and Quona Capital co-led, joined by Stellaris Venture Partners, Avaana Capital, Alteria Capital, and InnoVen Capital.

Dance, a German e-bike subscription service, raised €12 million ($12.8 million) in equity and debt from insiders HV Capital, Eurazeo, and BlueYard.

Germany’s Cylib raised €11.6 million ($12.4 million). World Fund led the round and was joined by Vsquared Ventures and Speedinvest.

Carmoola, a British car financing company, raised £8.5 million (more than $10 million) in Series A funding led by QED Investors, with InMotion Ventures also participating.

Viva, an urban traffic sensor and data startup, raised $8.5 million from EnBW New Ventures, Foresight Group, and Gresham House Ventures.

Vivacity of London, England, U.K., raised $7.5 million led by ENV, Foresight Group, and Gresham House Ventures.

Hypercraft of Provo, Utah, raised $6.5 million in seed funding led by RevRoad Capital, with participation from individual investors and early customer angels.

Zeekr, the EV arm of Chinese Geely Automobile Holdings, is raising $750 million from five investors at a $13 billion valuation.

Biotech

Denmark’s Hemab Therapeutics raised $135 million in Series B funding led by Access Biotechnology with Deep Track Capital, Avoro Ventures, Invus, Rock Springs Capital, Maj Invest Equity, Novo Holdings, RA Capital Management, and HealthCap also participating.

Checkerspot of Alameda, Calif., and Salt Lake City, raised $55 million in Series C funding led by ArrowMark Partners, with participation from Cox Enterprises and other new and existing investors.

Boston-based Cerevance raised $51 million in additional Series B funding from Gates Frontier, The Dementia Discovery Fund, Foresite Capital, Google Ventures, Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures, UPMC Enterprises, and Dolby Family Ventures.

New York-based Transcend Therapeutics raised $40 million in Series A funding led by Alpha Wave Global and Integrated Investment Partners with participation from Global Founders Capital and Emerald Investment Managers, among other investors.

Prokarium of London, England, U.K., raised $30 million in new funding from Flerie Invest.

Maxiom Therapeutics of Cambridge, England, U.K., raised $16 million in Series A funding led by LifeArc Ventures, Monograph Capital, and BGF.

Salt Lake City-based Peel Therapeutics raised $9 million in seed funding from the National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer funding.

Boston-based Morphoceuticals raised $8 million in seed-2 funding led by Prime Movers Lab and initial investor Juvenescence.

San Diego-based Ryne Biotechnology received a $4 million award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Climate Change

Carbonplace of London, England, U.K., raised US$45 million in funding led by BBVA, BNP Paribas, CIBC, Itaú Unibanco, National Australia Bank, NatWest, Standard Chartered, SMBC, and UBS.

Seattle-based Earth Finance raised $14 million in seed funding from undisclosed investors.

QiO Technologies, a British startup that helps energy-intensive businesses reduce carbon emissions, raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Wave Equity Partners.

Funga, an Austin, Texas, developer of carbon removal solutions, raised $4 million. Azolla Ventures led and was joined by Trailhead Capital, Better Ventures, and Shared Future Fund.

Pittsburgh-based Kloopify raised $1.5 million in seed funding led by Black Tech Nation Ventures, with participation from Innovation Works, Hypothesis, The Fund Midwest, The Unity Now Fund, and The Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Communications

Really of Austin, Texas, raised $18 million in seed funding led by Polychain, Floodgate founding partner Mike Maples Jr., and other strategic partners.

New York-based Andrena raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Dragonfly Capital and was backed by existing investors Afore Capital, FJ Labs, Castle Island Ventures, Chaos Ventures, KohFounders, and J Ventures, as well as new investors Blockchange Ventures, Moonshot Research, and EV3.

Boston-based Starry filed for bankruptcy. Starry’s lenders have offered $43 million of new loans to continue operations as part of the bankruptcy process.

Cybersecurity

New York-based Wiz raised $300 million in funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and existing investors Greenoaks Capital Partners and Index Ventures.

Skybox Security of San Jose, Calif., raised $50 million in funding led by CVC Growth Funds, Pantheon, and J.P. Morgan.

New York-based Chaos Labs raised $20 million in seed funding led by Galaxy and PayPal Ventures, with Coinbase, Uniswap, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Hashkey, Balaji Srinivasan, Naval Ravikant, and other investors also participating.

CyberSmart, a British cybersecurity startup, raised an additional £12.75 million (more than $15 million) in Series A funding led by Oxx, with British Patient Capital, Legal & General Capital, Solano Partners, IQ Capital, Eos Venture Partners, Winton Ventures, and Seedcamp also participating.

Entitle, an Israeli cybersecurity startup, raised $15 million in seed funding led by Glilot Capital Partners, with angel investors also participating.

Riot, a New York-based cybersecurity platform for employee protection, raised $12 million. Base10 Partners led and was joined by Y Combinator, FundersClub, and Founders Future.

Tel Aviv-based Ironblocks raised $7 million in funding led by Collider Ventures and Disruptive AI, with participation from ParaF, Quantstamp, Samsung Next, Balaji Srinivasan, Calvin Liu, Alan Leung, Nimrod Lehavi, Fos Finance, and Lluis Pedragosa. San Francisco-based CommandK raised $3 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Robin Vasan, Jon Gelsey, Sundeep Peechu, Akash Saxena, Pratyus Patnaik, Abinash Tripathy, and AllIn Capital.

Beauceron Security of Fredericton raised a growth capital facility from CIBC Innovation Banking. The amount of the round was not disclosed.

Digital Health

Clearsense of Jacksonville, Fla., raised $50 million in Series D funding led by HealthQuest Capital with participation from Health Catalyst Capital and UPMC Enterprises.

NOCD, a Chicago-based telehealth startup focused on obsessive-compulsive disorder, raised $34 million in funding. Cigna Ventures and 7wireVentures co-led, joined by Kaiser Permanente Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads Capital, Health Enterprise Partners, and Longitude Capital.

San Diego-based Faro Health raised $20 million in funding led by General Catalyst with participation from Section 32, Polaris Partners, Zetta Ventures, and Northpond Ventures.

Robotics

Fulfil Solutions of Mountain View, Calif., raised $60 million in Series B funding led by Eclipse and joined by Khosla Ventures and DCVC.

Nanoflex Robotics of Zurich, Switzerland, raised initial funding of $12 million. The round was led by Ascend Capital Partners with participation from Kinled Holding Ltd. and Mountain Labs AG.

CaPow, an Israeli developer of battery-free energy systems for robotics, raised a $7.5 million seed round led by IL Ventures. Mobilion VC, Payton Planar Magnetics, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, Mobilitech Capital, and angel Ray Nissan participated.

Software

Descope of Los Altos, Calif., and Tel Aviv, raised $53 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners and GGV Capital co-led, joined by Unusual Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, Cerca Partners, Tech Aviv, J Ventures, and Silicon Valley CISO Investments.

Oligo Security, an Israeli runtime application security and observability startup, raised $28 million in seed and Series A funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ballistic Ventures, and TLV Partners.

Metomic of London, England, U.K., raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Evolution Equity Partners with participation from Resonance and Connect Ventures.

Replicate, a Berkeley, Calif.-based AI application development startup, raised $17.8 million, including $12.5 million in Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, and angel investors.

Caldera, a no-code web3 infrastructure platform, raised $9 million over two funding rounds from Sequoia Capital and Dragonfly Capital.

Ledge, an Israeli no-code payment “command center,” raised $9 million in seed funding. NEA led and was joined by Vertex Ventures, FJ Labs, and insider Picus Capital.

San Francisco-based Earthly Technologies raised $6.5 million in additional seed funding led by Innovation Endeavors, with 468 Capital and Uncorrelated Ventures also participating.

San Francisco-based Crstl raised $4.4 million in seed funding led by Mastry Ventures, with participation from Village Global, Alumni Ventures, SuperAngel VC, On Deck, Mensch Capital Partners, and Harizury.

Sandbox Banking of Cambridge, Mass., raised $4.3 million in additional seed funding led by Horizon Ventures, with Forum Ventures, SixThirty, and Tuesday Capital also participating.

Zurich-based Bento raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding led by Sequoia Arc along with participation from NextBlue and Gaingels Network.

Tangle raised £625,000 (more than $746,000) in funding. Blackfinch Ventures made the investment.

Semiconductors

Chain Reaction, an Israeli semiconductor and blockchain company, raised $70 million in its Series C funding led by Morgan Creek Digital, with Hanaco Ventures, Jerusalem Venture Partners, KCK Capital, Exor, Atreides Management, and BlueRun Ventures also participating.

Evonetix of Cambridge, England, U.K., raised $24 million in Series B funding led by existing investor Foresite Capital, with Molten Ventures, Morningside, DCVC, Cambridge Consultants, Civilization Ventures, and Providence also participating in the round.

Unisers, a Swiss semiconductor metrology company, raised $14 million in seed funding. Intel Capital led and was joined by M Ventures, RSBG Ventures, and Swisscom Ventures.

GEO Semiconductor of San Jose, Calif., was acquired by indie Semiconductor.

The Final Frontier

Astroscale, a Tokyo-based satellite serving company, raised more than $76 million from Mitsubishi Electric, Yusaku Maezawa, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Mitsubishi Corp., Development Bank of Japan, and FEL Corp.

Fortem Technologies of Pleasant Grove, Utah, raised $17.8 million in funding led by Lockheed Martin Ventures, Hanwha Aerospace, and AIM13|Crumpton Venture Partners, with DCVC and Signia Venture Partners also participating.

Hidden Level, a Syracuse, N.Y.-based drone sensing technology company, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Booz Allen Ventures.

Quantum Computing

Quantum Motion, a British quantum computing company, raised £42 million (nearly $51 million) in new funding led by Bosch Ventures (RBVC), with Porsche, the U.K. government’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), and other investors also participating.

Quantum Brilliance, an Australian developer of miniaturized quantum computers, raised US$18 million from Breakthrough Victoria, Main Sequence, Investible, Ultratech Capital Partners, MA Growth Ventures, Jelix Ventures, Rampersand, and CM Equity Partners.

Chicago-based Quantum Memory raised $2 million from Quantonation, Exposition Ventures, and the George Schultz Innovation Fund.

Odds and Ends

Boston-based Paratus Sciences, a drug discovery startup leveraging bat biology, raised $100 million in Series A funding; investors include Polaris Partners, Arch Venture Partners, ClavystBio, EcoR1 Capital, Leaps by Bayer, and Alexandria Venture Investments.

Zellerfeld, a New York-based 3D printing shoe company, raised $15 million in seed funding led by Founders Fund.

The Ugly Company, a Farmersville, Calif.-based snack-maker from upcycled fruit, raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Sun Valley Packing, a fruit grower and distributor.

Natural Cycles, a Swedish women’s health company, raised $7 million in funding led by Samsung Ventures, with Heartcore Capital, Headline, Bonnier Ventures, and EQT Ventures also participating.

Fundraising

The Blackstone Group is raising up to $10 billion; Oaktree Capital is raising $10 billion; Crescent Capital Group raised $8 billion; Goldman Sachs raised $5.2 billion; Bain Capital Ventures raised about $1.9 billion; Fifth Wall raised $1.5 billion; Summit Partners raised €1.4 billion (nearly $1.5 billion); Northleaf Capital Partners raised US$1.3 billion; and Kainos Capital raised more than $1 billion.