Scary Times for Startups — Recession Coming?

Silicon Valley and San Francisco Have Layoffs

Boo!

Good times for some firms; hard times for other companies.

For instance, San Francisco-based Brex, a fintech startup which was valued at $12.3 billion this year, this month laid off 11% of its workforce, affecting 136 employees.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), a utility headquartered in San Francisco, was once The City’s biggest employer; it had about 26,000 regular employees at the end of 2021.

Salesforce.com now is SF’s largest employer. In January of this year, the company had more than 73,000 employees, with approximately 55% of those workers based in the United States. The enterprise software vendor laid off about 90 employees during October. The company, noted for its high-rise tower in San Francisco, has reportedly imposed a hiring freeze through January 2023.

Meanwhile, Berlin-based HelloFresh is closing its production facility in Richmond, Calif., by the end of the year, laying off 611 employees.

AtoB, a San Francisco-based fintech startup, this month laid off 32 employees, 30% of its workforce. In August, the company received $155 million in private funding, valuing AtoB at $800 million. The company has raised a total of $257 million.

Loom, another startup in San Francisco, also had a workforce reduction in October. The company laid off 23 employees, more than 10% of its workforce.

Roofstock, a real-estate technology startup in the San Francisco Bay Area, is laying off 20% of its employees. The company had been valued at $2 billion.

Then again, another fintech startup, Achieve of San Mateo, Calif., raised a new debt facility totaling $225 million with participation from O’Connor Capital Solutions, the private credit unit of UBS O’Connor, and other investors, including a multi-trillion-dollar asset manager. The debt facility is fully committed.

Snap, the parent company of the Snapchat application, is closing its downtown San Francisco office building.

Diversity Efforts

Nigeria is a hotbed of startup activity.

Bumpa, a Nigerian retail automation startup, raised $4 million in seed funding led by Base10 Partners; Stears, a Nigerian business data and intelligence startup, raised $3.3m in seed funding. MaC Venture Capital led and was joined by Serena Ventures and Melo 7 Tech Ventures; Lifestores Healthcare, a Nigerian pharma supply chain startup, raised $3 million in seed funding from Health54 and Aruwa Capital Management; Spleet, a Nigerian property management tech startup, raised $2.6 million in seed funding; MaC VC led and was joined by Noemis Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Assembly Funds, Ajim Capital, and Francis Fund.

MassMutual said it would commit another $100 million to invest in first-time funds led by Black, Latinx, and Indigenous managers.

Amazon is launching a $150 million fund-of-funds for venture capital firms that back underrepresented founders.

Acko, a Bangalore-based digital insurer, is in talks to raise around $100 million at a flat $1.2 billion valuation led by existing investor General Atlantic, per TechCrunch.

Initial Public Offerings

MobilEye Global raised $861 million in its IPO.

Huaxia Eye Hospital raised $420 million in its Shenzhen IPO.

Global Digital Niaga raised about $320 million in its Jakarta IPO.

Prime Medicine raised $175 million in its IPO.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

Kroger agreed to acquire Albertsons for about $24.6 billion in cash. Kroger will also assume $4.7 billion in debt.

Elliott Associates and Vista Equity Partners completed their $16.5 billion take-private buyout of Citrix Systems.

Elliott Management and Brookfield Asset Management completed their $16 billion acquisition of Nielsen, the media measurement company.

Philip Morris International has offered unspecified concessions to EU regulators, in order to win approval for its $16 billion takeover of smokeless tobacco products maker Swedish Match.

American Tower is considering a bid for Vodafone’s €13 billion wireless towers unit, per Bloomberg. Existing suitors include EQT, KKR, and Global Infrastructure Partners.

Bio-Rad Laboratories is in talks to merge with German molecular testing firm Qiagen in what could be a $10 billion deal, per the WSJ.

Vista Equity Partners completed its $8.4 billion take-private buyout of Avalara, a Seattle-based compliance software firm.

Brookfield Renewable Partners and Cameco agreed to acquire Pennsylvania-based nuclear power company Westinghouse Electric for $7.9 billion from Brookfield Business Partners.

EQT completed its $7.5 billion acquisition of Baring Private Equity Asia.

Consolidated Edison agreed to sell its renewable energy assets to Germany’s RWE for $6.8 billion.

Baring Private Equity Asia agreed to acquire DXC Technology, an Ashburn, Va.-based IT services provider with a $6.3 billion market capitalization, per Bloomberg.

Regal Rexnord agreed to acquire Altra Industrial Motion for about $5 billion in cash.

ExxonMobil is considering a takeover offer for Denbury, a Plano, Texas-based oil and gas company with a nearly $5 billion market cap, per Bloomberg.

Prosus terminated its $4.7 billion purchase of Indian digital payments company BillDesk, which it then planned to combine with PayU.

Vista Equity Partners agreed to buy Clearwater, Fla.-based cybersecurity awareness firm KnowBe4 for $4.6 billion in cash.

BP agreed to acquire Archaea Energy, a Houston-based biogas producer, for $3.3 billion in cash (plus $800 million in net debt).

Centerbridge Partners is seeking a buyer for Kik Consumer Products, a Lawrenceville, Ga.-based maker of household and pool-cleaning products (brands include Comet and Prestone) that could be worth $4 billion, per Bloomberg.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice and TPG completed their $4 billion take-private buyout of Covetrus, a Portland, Maine-based provider of animal health technology and services to veterinarians.

Spirit Airlines shareholders approved a $3.8 billion takeover bid by JetBlue Airways.

Roper Technologies completed its $3.7 billion acquisition of Frontline Education, a Malvern, Pa.-based provider of K-12 administration software, from Thoma Bravo.

Global Infrastructure Partners is considering a sale of Edinburgh Airport in Scotland, which could be worth up to £3 billion ($3.35 billion), per Bloomberg.

Viatris, a Pennsylvania-based drugmaker, is considering a sale of its European consumer health assets, which could be worth more than €3 billion, per Bloomberg.

Thoma Bravo completed its $2.8 billion take-private acquisition of Ping Identity.

American Electric Power cut the price for the sale of its Kentucky operations to Algonquin Power & Utilities, by 7% to $2.65 billion.

Prosus agreed to sell its Avito Russian classifieds business for $2.4 billion to an affiliate of Russian businessman Ivan Tavrin.

Thoma Bravo agreed to buy ForgeRock, San Francisco-based digital identity firm, for $2.3 billion in cash.

TPG closed its $2.2 billion acquisition of ClaimsXten, the claims editing business of Change Healthcare.

Shell may acquire Nature Energy for about $2 billion, per Reuters.

L3Harris Technologies agreed to acquire the tactical data links unit of Viasat for around $1.96 billion.

Diamondback Energy agreed to acquire FireBird Energy, a Texas oil and gas firm focused on the Western Midland Basin, for $1.6 billion in cash and stock from RedBird Capital Partners and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Warburg Pincus is seeking a buyer for Wencor Group, a Peachtree City, Ga.-based maker of aftermarket replacement parts for airplanes, per Bloomberg. A deal could be worth around $1.5 billion.

GTCR said it won’t bid for British identity management firm GB Group, which could have been worth around £1.3 billion (about $1.45 billion).

Thoma Bravo and Sunstone Partners agreed to acquire UserTesting for $1.3 billion in cash.

Naver agreed to acquire Poshmark for about $1.2 billion in cash.

Darling Ingredients agreed to acquire Gelnex for $1.2 billion in cash.

Nuveen Investments agreed to acquire Arcmont Asset Management for around $1 billion.

Mega-Rounds

There were more than 65 mega-rounds during October, an uptick from previous months. Among the biggest deals of the month: Brookfield Asset Management is leading a $2 billion investment for a minority stake in New York-based music publisher Primary Wave, which recently bought Joey Ramone’s publishing catalog. Also participating is Creative Artists Agency, backed by Oaktree Capital Management and TPG; APG Asset Management, a Dutch pension fund manager, invested $1.2 billion for a 49% stake in the Gemini solar power project in Nevada, from Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners; and LanzaTech, a Skokie, Ill.-based waste carbon recycling company, secured an initial $500 million investment from Brookfield Renewable (which says it may later invest another $500 million).

Reverse Mergers

Reverse mergers were popular in October. Nearly 20 companies engaged in reverse mergers this month. They included AUM Biosciences, Super Apps, Quality Gold, Complete Solaria, Estrella Biopharma, YishengBio, Movella, American Oncology Network, Alternus, Zoomcar, DiaCarta, Oculis, 20Cube Logistics, Enteractive Media, European Lithium, ChiJet Motor, and NaturalShrimp.

Agtech/Foodtech

Soli Organic of Harrisonburg, Va., raised $125 million in Series D funding led by CDPQ and joined by Movendo Capital and existing investors S2G Ventures, Cascade Asset Management, and XPV Water Partners.

Inari of Cambridge, Mass., raised $124 million in Series E funding led by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Flagship Pioneering with participation from Hanwha Impact Partners, NGS Super, Banque Pictet, and Sage Hill Investors.

Amsterdam-based Crisp raised €75 million in funding led by Target Global and Keen Venture Partners, with participation from Adriaan Mol, Sander van der Laan, and Joes Daemen.

Los Angeles-based Liquid Death raised $70 million in Series D funding led by Science Ventures. Other investors include PowerPlant Partners, Convivialité Ventures, Hinge Capital, Access Capital, Live Nation, and individuals like Whitney Cummings, Tom Segura, and members of Swedish House Mafia.

Viome Life Sciences of Bellevue, Wash., raised $67 million in new Series C funding led by Bold Capital Group.

Singapore-based Vetreska Future Pet Food, the Singapore-based subsidiary of Chinese pet lifestyle brand Vetreska, received US$50 million in funding from Quest FoF.

France’s Gourmey raised €48 million in Series A funding led by Earlybird VC Management and joined by Keen Venture Partners, Omnes Capital, Discovery, Thia Ventures, Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, Heartcore Capital, Point Nine Capital, Air Street Capital, Partech Partners, and Beyond Investing.

Egypt’s MaxAB raised $40 million from ADQ, British International Investment, and Silver Lake.

Australia’s Nourish Ingredients raised $28.6 million in Series A funding led by Horizon Ventures and joined by Hostplus and Main Sequence.

AgroSpheres of Charlottesville, Va., raised $22 million in Series B funding co-led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Ospraie Ag Science, joined by Bidra Innovation Ventures and existing investor Cavallo Ventures.

London-based Hoxton Farms raised $22 million in Series A funding led by Collaborative Fund and joined by Fine Structure Ventures.

Barcelona-based Heura Foods raised more than €20 million from Unovis Capital and individuals like Ricky Rubio and David Broncano.

Typhur Technology, a San Jose, Calif.-based maker of a sous vide device, raised $20 million in seed funding co-led by Jiupai Capital and Bright Future Technology Holdings.

New York-based Partake Foods raised $11.5 million in Series B funding from Cleveland Avenue, Fearless Fund, Supply Change Capital, and Kaya Ventures, Marcy Venture Partners, CircleUp Growth Partners, Black Star Fund, FF2032, and Black Capital.

Brazil’s Tilabras Aquaculture raised more than €10 million from Ocean 14 Capital.

New York-based Chip City Cookies raised $10 million from Enlightened Hospitality Investments.

CoolR Group of Chantilly, Va., raised $10 million in funding led by First Analysis with participation from Moneta Ventures and Remarkable Ventures.

XCJ of Auburn, Wash., raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Imaginary Ventures.

Seattle-based Xiao Chi Ji raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Imaginary Ventures, with participation from Simu Liu, Goldhouse Ventures, Hyphen Capital, Colin McCabe, Jason Wang, Gabi Lewis, Katrina Lake, Scott Cutler, and Shan-lyn Ma.

Los Angeles-based Pulp Culture raised $7 million in Series A funding led by The Kale Fund.

New York-based Urbanspace raised $7 million in a credit facility. Feenix Venture Partners provided the financing.

Denver-based AgriWebb added $6.7 million to its Series B funding, bringing the round total to $29.3 million.

Yummers of Agoura Hills, Calif., raised $6.3 million in seed funding from L Catterton.

Montreal-based Buddha Brands raised US$5.25 million in funding led by Fondaction.

Israel’s Forsea Foods raised $5.2 million in seed funding led by Target Global and joined by The Kitchen FoodTech Hub, PeakBridge VC, Zora Ventures, FoodHack, and Milk & Honey Ventures.

Muddy Bites of North Sioux City, S.D., raised more than $5 million from Reformation Partners and other investors.

FlyFeed of Tallinn, Estonia, raised $3 million in seed funding. The backers were not disclosed.

San Francisco-based Switch Bioworks raised $2.3 million from Emerson Collective, Acre Venture Partners, and Astanor Ventures.

Jakarta-based Jago raised $2.2 million in pre-Series A funding led by Intudo Ventures and BEENEXT, with participation from CyberAgent Capital and Arkblu Capital.

Singapore-based Klikit raised $2 million co-led by Global Founders Capital and Wavemaker Partners with participation from Gentree Fund, AfterWork Ventures, Reshape Ventures, Nordstar, Pentas Ventures, Moving Capital, Gojek co-founder Kevin Aluwi, NasDaily’s Nuseir Yassin, YouTuber Lazar Beam, and Radish Fiction founder Seung-yoon Lee.

South Korea’s TissenBio Farms raised $1.6 million in seed funding. Envisioning Partners led and was joined by FuturePlay and Stonebridge Ventures.

New York-based InVintory raised $1.5 million in funding. The round was led by JJ Redick and Josh Hart.

Ghana’s Farmerline Group raised $1.5 million from Oikocredit.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners acquired AGDATA, a Charlotte-based provider of workflow and data solutions to the agribusiness and animal health markets, from Vista Equity Partners.

Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning

Jasper of Austin, Texas, raised $125 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners and joined by Coatue Management, Bessemer Venture Partners, IVP, Foundation Capital, Founders Circle Capital, and HubSpot Ventures.

London-based Stability AI raised $101 million from Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and O’Shaughnessy Ventures.

SiMa.ai of San Jose, Calif., extended its Series B1 round to $67 million. Backers include MSD Partners and existing investors Fidelity Management & Research, Amplify Partners, Dell Technologies Capital, Wing Venture Capital, Alter Venture Partners, +ND Capital, and Lip-Bu Tan.

New York-based Navina raised $22 million in Series B funding led by ALIVE Israel HealthTech Fund, with participation from existing investors Grove Ventures, Vertex Ventures Israel, and Schusterman Family Investments.

New York-based Alkymi raised $21 million in Series A funding led by Intel Capital and joined by existing investors Canaan Partners, Work-Bench, and SimCorp.

Tel Aviv-based Reasonai raised $20 million in a Series A extension led by Meitav-Dash, Blue Square Israel, and Irani Ventures.

Insite AI of Bee Cave, Texas, raised $19 million from NewRoad Capital and M12.

Tellius of Reston, Va., raised $16 million in Series B funding led by Baird Capital with participation from Sands Capital Ventures, Grotech Ventures, and Veraz Investments.

Seattle-based Xembly raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Norwest Venture Partners and joined by Flex Capital and existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ascend, and Seven Peaks Ventures.

NumberOne AI of Newport Beach, Calif., raised $13 million in funding. Backers include Michael Capellas, Art Coviello, Aidan Kehoe, Alex Weiss, Ray Zadjmool, Drumwright Investments, B5 Capital, and Miramar Digital Ventures.

Klaus of Taillin, Estonia, raised €12 million in Series A funding led by Acton Capital with participation from Icebreaker, Creandum, and Global Founders Capital.

Switzerland’s LatticeFlow raised $12 million in Series A funding co-led by Atlantic Bridge and OpenOcean, with participation from FPV Ventures. Existing investors btov Partners and Global Founders Capital also participated in this round.

SGNL.ai of Palo Alto, Calif., raised $12 million in seed funding led by Costanoa Ventures and was joined by Fika Ventures, Moonshots Capital, and Resolute Ventures.

Impact Analytics of Linthicum Heights, Md., raised $10 million in growth funding led by Argentum Capital Partners IV, L.P. It is in addition to Argentum’s previous led investment of $11 million, secured in February 2021.

Paris-based Qantev raised €10 million in Series A funding led by Omnes Capital and RAISE Ventures, with participation from Elaia with the PSL (Paris Sciences & Lettres) Innovation Fund.

Israel’s Ask-AI raised $9 million in Series A funding in seed funding co-led by Vertex Ventures and State of Mind Ventures.

New York-based Lama AI raised $9 million in seed funding co-led by Viola Ventures, and Hetz Ventures, with participation from Foundation Capital and SixThirty, as well as senior fintech executives, including Shai Stern, CEO of Checkalt; Nathaniel Harley, co-founder and CEO of Mantl; and Elad Tsur, co-founder and CEO of Planck.

TSOLife of Tampa Bay, Fla., raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Formation Capital and Generator Ventures, with participation from Omega Healthcare Investors and Ziegler Link-age Fund III.

New York-based Continue AI raised $5.7 million in seed funding led by Grove Ventures and Maple Capital, with participation from Ride Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Kindergarten Ventures.

Tensorleap, an Israeli neural networks analysis platform, raised $5.2 million in seed funding from Angular Ventures, Sozo Ventures, and Industry Ventures.

India’s 5C Network raised $4.6 million in Series A funding led by Celesta Capital and joined by Unitus Ventures and Axilor Ventures.

BlueSkeye AI of Nottingham, England, U.K., raised £3.4 million ($3.8 million) in funding led by XTX Ventures, with participation from Foresight Group, Praetura Ventures, and the University of Nottingham, as well as a consortium of high-net-worth individuals.

Solvemed Group raised $3.5 million from Atmos Ventures, APEX Ventures, Tensor Ventures, Preface Ventures, and Techni Ventures.

Milan-based Faire.ai raised $3 million in seed funding led by Francesco Beraldi and Lorenzo Lamberti Sagliano, with participation from CII3 Advisors, Fabrick, Cristiano Esclapon, Matteo de Brabant, Marco di Dio Roccazzella, Paolo Barberis, Paolo Griffa, Francesco Marini, Gianandrea Streklej, Massimo Ferro, Jan Sprengnetter, Guido Polesello, Edi Polesello, Davide Marmondi, Enrico Angella, and Tommaso Mascetti.

Hume AI raised $3 million from the investment arm of Northwell Health.

SecondSight of Bloomington, Ind., raised $3 million in seed funding led by Tim Crown with participation from Indiana Ventures, Cook Ventures, and Flywheel Fund.

Jua of Zurich, Switzerland, raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Promus Ventures, with participation from Mehdi Ghissassi, Siraj Khaliq, and Session.vc.

Nashville-based Spiny.ai raised $2.5 million in funding led by Nashville Capital Network.

Dallas-based Notably.AI raised $1.5 million in funding led by Sentiero Ventures.

WhizAI of Somerset, N.J., raised an undisclosed amount in funding bringing total funding since launching in 2017 to $21 million, led by Shanda Group and AmerisourceBergen’s AB Health Ventures, with participation from Vertical Venture Partners and Healthy Ventures.

Automotive/Autonomy/Mobility

Form Energy raised $450 million in Series E funding led by TPG Rise. Other investors include GIC, CPP Investments, ArcelorMittal, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

San Francisco-based Swift Navigation raised $100 million in Series D funding led by SK and Potentum Partners with participation from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Eclipse Ventures, EPIQ Capital Group, FM Capital, OVN Capital, TELUS Ventures, TWM Venture Co., Buckley Ventures, and Schox Venture Capital.

Koito Manufacturing is investing $100 million in Cepton.

Delta Airlines is investing $60 million in Joby Aviation.

Loop Global, an EV charging station startup, raised $40 million in Series A funding (plus $20 million in debt). Fifth Wall and Agility Ventures co-led the equity tranche.

AM Batteries of Chelmsford, Mass., raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Anzu Partners and joined by TDK Ventures, Toyota Ventures, and Foothill Ventures.

OneD Battery Sciences raised $25 million in Series C funding. Backers include GM Ventures and Volta Energy Technologies.

Carvolution of Bannwil, Switzerland, raised CHF16.2 million in Series D funding. The round was led by Redalpine. Investors included all major existing institutional investors, as well as new ones. Previous financiers include Mobiliar, Redalpine, Armada Ventures, and Ringier Digital Ventures.

Freebee, a Miami-based owner and operator of a public transit EV fleet, raised $8 million in Series A funding led by BP Ventures.

Anthro Energy of San Jose, Calif., raised $7.2 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by Union Square Ventures and Energy Revolution Ventures, with participation from Voyager Ventures, Emerson Collective, Nor’Easter Ventures, Ultratech Capital Partners, and the Stanford President’s Venture Fund.

India’s Vecmocon raised $5.2 million in seed funding co-led by Tiger Global and Blume Ventures.

Las Vegas-based Halo.Car, an EV-share startup, raised $5 million in seed funding. At One Ventures led and was joined by T-Mobile Ventures, Earthshot Ventures, and Boost VC.

CitySwift of Galway, Ireland, raised €5 million in Series A funding led by Act Venture Capital, with participation from Mike McGearty and Enterprise Ireland.

Solvento, a Mexico City-based payments and credit startup for truckers, raised $5 million in seed funding. Ironspring Ventures led and was joined by Quona Capital, Proeza Ventures, Dynamo Ventures, Zenda Capital, Susa Ventures, 9Yards Capital, and Supply Chain Collective.

Cleveland-based Drive My Way raised $4.4 million in Series A funding led by First Analysis, with participation from existing investors JumpStart Ventures and JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund, in addition to M7 Holdings.

Cincinnati-based Lucky Truck raised $2.4 million in seed extension funding led by Candid Insurance Investors.

London-based Smart Kiwi raised £250,000 ($280,000) in pre-seed funding led by SFC Capital, with participation from Plug & Play and Startup Wise Guys.

Biotech

Treeline Biosciences raised more than $260 million in Series A funding led by KKR and joined by Rock Springs Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, GV, OrbiMed Advisors, Access Industries, T. Rowe Price, Ajax Health/Zeus, Casdin Capital and Aisling Capital. Treeline’s co-founders are Josh Bilenker (founder of Loxo Oncology, sold for $8 billion to Eli Lilly) and Jeffrey Engelman (previously Novartis’ top cancer researcher).

Prime Medicine of Cambridge, Mass., raised $175 million in its initial public offering.

Boston-based Odyssey Therapeutics, a biotech firm focused on immunomodulators and oncology medicines, raised $168 million in Series B funding. General Catalyst led and was joined by Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, GreatPoint Ventures, Catalio Capital, Walleye Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, The Healthcare Innovation Investment Fund, and existing investors OrbiMed, SR One, Foresite Capital, Logos Capital, Woodline Partners LP, HBM Healthcare Investments, Colt Ventures, and Creacion Ventures.

Neumora Therapeutics of Watertown, Mass., raised $112 million in Series B funding from Abu Dhabi Growth Fund and existing investors Arch Venture Partners, Amgen, F-Prime Capital, and Invus.

Matchpoint Therapeutics of Cambridge, Mass., raised $100 million in seed funding and Series A funding led by Sanofi Ventures with participation from Atlas Venture, Access Biotechnology, Vertex Ventures HC, Digitalis Ventures, and Alexandria Venture Investments. The $30 million seed round was co-led by Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology.

Montreal-based Inversago Pharma raised C$95 million ($69.3 million) in Series C funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund, Amgen Ventures, Forbion Ventures, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Genesys Capital, AmorChem, JDRF T1D Fund, and adMare BioInnovations.

Boston-based Ascidian Therapeutics, a biotech startup seeking to “rewrite” RNA, raised $50 million in Series A funding from founding investor Apple Tree Partners.

Nucleome Therapeutics of Oxford, England, U.K., raised £37.5 million (about $42 million) in Series A funding led by M Ventures, with participation from JJDC, Pfizer Ventures, British PatientCapital, through its Future Fund: Breakthrough programme, and Oxford Science Enterprises.

Anokion of Lausanne, Switzerland, raised $35 million in equity funding led by Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative.

Baltimore-based Vita Therapeutics raised $31 million in Series B funding led by Cambrian BioPharma and Solve FSHD, with participation from Riptide Ventures, Cedars Sinai, and TEDCO.

Ochre Bio, a British drug developer focused on chronic liver disease, raised $30 million in Series A funding from Khosla Ventures, Hermes-Epitek, Backed VC, LifeForce Capital, Selvedge, AixThera, LifeLink, and EIT.

Surge Therapeutics of Cambridge, Mass., raised $26 million in Series A funding led by Camford Capital, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Intuitive Ventures, Pitango HealthTech, 8VC, Alumni Ventures, and the Cancer Research Institute.

Chicago-based Xentria raised $25 million in equity funding. The backers were not disclosed.

Micreous of the Netherlands and Switzerland raised €25 million in growth funding. The backers were not disclosed.

Switzerland’s Araris Biotech raised $24 million in funding co-led by 4BIO Capital and Pureos Bioventures, with participation from new investors, including Wille AG and the Institute for Follicular Lymphoma Innovation. The round also included participation from existing investors VI Partners, Schroders Capital, btov Partners, and Redalpine.

Sybella Biotech of Verona, Italy, raised €23 million in Series A funding led by V-Bio Ventures with participation from Seroba Life Sciences, 3B Future Health Fund, Claris Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, Evolution Fund, VI Partners, Indaco Venture Partners, and Vertis SGR.

Minneapolis-based Vergent Bioscience raised $21.5 million in Series B funding led by Orlando Health Ventures, with participation from Intuitive Surgical, Windham Venture Partners, Rex Health Ventures, Spring Mountain Capital, and Colle Capital.

NeuShen Therapeutics of Boston and Shanghai raised about $20 million in pre-Series A funding led by Lapam Capital.

EnPlusOne Bisciences of Watertown, Mass., raised $12 million in seed funding led by Northpond Ventures with participation from Breakout Ventures and Coatue Management.

Meliora Therapeutics of Menlo Park, Calif., raised $11.8 million in seed funding. HOF Capital and ZhenFund co-led, joined by Obvious Ventures, Village Global, the American Cancer Society, Pebblebed, Axial Capital Partners, and Olive Capital.

Austria’s CelerisTx raised €10 million in Series A funding from the European Innovation Council.

San Diego-based Toragen raised $5.4 million in seed funding led by Paul Engler.

New Orleans-based Obatala Sciences raised $3 million in Series A funding led by être Venture Capital and Ochsner Lafayette General Healthcare Innovation Fund II, with participation from Benson Capital Partners, Elevate Capital Fund, and The Hackett-Robertson-Tobe Group.

GM Ventures, the investment arm of General Motors, made an investment in San Francisco-based MycoWorks. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

Germany’s Mogling Bio received seed funding from Kizoo Technology Capital. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

Climate Change

Energy Exploration Technologies (EnergyX) of Austin, Texas, raised $450 million from Global Emerging Markets.

Stockholm-based H2 Green Steel raised €260 million in equity funding led by AMF, GIC, and Schaeffler, with participation from Altor. In addition to already communicated investments by Hitachi Energy and Kobe Steel, the close of the round adds new shareholders Swedish investment company Kinnevik and a climate-focused institutional investment fund.

Energy Spectrum Capital invested $200 million in Nightpeak Energy, an Oakland, Calif.-based developer of low-carbon, dispatchable energy projects.

CDPQ invested around $135 million in Shizen Energy, a Japanese renewable energy developer.

LineVision of Somerville, Mass., raised $33 million in Series C funding led by Climate Innovation Capital and S2G Ventures, with participation from Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and Marubeni, as well as existing investors including UP Partners, National Grid Partners, Clean Energy Ventures, and Zoma Capital.

Tokyo-based Asuene raised $20 million in Series B funding. The funding comes from 14 venture capital firms and financial institutions, including Pavilion Capital, Axiom Asia Private Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and Masayuki Mochida.

San Francisco-based Nitricity raised $20 million in Series A funding co-led by Khosla Ventures and Fine Structure Ventures, joined by Energy Impact Partners, Lowercarbon Capital, and MCJ Collective.

Oakland-based Joro raised $10 million in Series A funding co-led by Sequoia Capital and Amasia.

Seattle-based Lithos raised $6.3 million in seed funding from Union Square Ventures, Greylock Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Carbon Removal Partners, the Carbon Drawdown Initiative, Fall Line Capital, and Cavallo Ventures.

Germany’s Solarize raised €4.3 million in seed funding led by Point Nine Capital and joined by Picus Capital.

London-based Reneum Institute raised $4.1 million in pre-seed funding led by Ajeev Capital and joined by Outlier Ventures.

GreenPlaces of Kittery, Maine, raised $4 million in seed funding.

Universal Hydrogen of Hawthorne, Calif., a developer of a green hydrogen distribution and logistics network for aviation, raised funding from American Airlines.

Cybersecurity

Minneapolis-based NetSPI raised $410 million in growth equity funding from KKR.

Versa Networks of San Jose, Calif., raised $120 million in equity and debt funding. BlackRock led the equity, while Silicon Valley Bank provided the debt.

Securiti of Coyote, Calif., raised $75 million in Series C funding led by Owl Rock Capital and joined by existing investors Mayfield and General Catalyst.

The U.K.’s Immersive Labs raised $66 million in funding led by Ten Eleven Ventures and joined by existing investors Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Menlo Ventures, and Citi Ventures.

Dublin-based Tines raised $55 million in an extended Series B round led by Felicis Ventures.

Anonos of Beaverton, Ore., raised $50 million in funding. The round was facilitated by Aon and led by GT Investment Partners.

Stairwell of Mountain View, Calif., raised $45 million in Series B funding led by Section 32, with additional investments from Sequoia Capital, Accel, Lux Capital, Gradient Ventures, and angel investors Eric Schmidt and Michael Ovitz.

RealDefense of Pasadena, Calif., raised $30 million in funding from Sunflower Bank.

Spain’s IriusRisk raised $29 million in Series B funding led by Paladin Capital Group and joined by BrightPixel Capital, SwanLab Venture Factory, 360 Capital, and Inveready.

San Diego-based Clearspeed raised $27 million in Series C funding led by investors Ian McKinnon, founder of Sandia Holdings, and Thomas O’Malley Jr., founder of PilotRock Investments, and supported by King Philanthropies, the philanthropic endeavors of Robert and Dorothy King.

Eclypsium of Portland, Ore., a device supply chain security startup, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Ten Eleven Ventures led and was joined by Global Brain and J Ventures.

Israel’s Valence Security raised $25 million in Series A funding led by M12 and joined by YL Ventures, Porsche Ventures, Akamai Technologies, Alumni Ventures, and Michael Fey.

IronVest raised $23 million in seed funding led by Accomplice and joined by Trust Ventures, Ulysses Management, Joule Ventures, and OurCrowd.

Tel Aviv-based SecuriThings raised $21 million in Series B funding led by USVP and joined by Swisscom Ventures and existing investors Aleph, Firstime Venture Capital, and Cresson Management.

Bolster AI of Los Altos, Calif., raised $15 million from Cervin, Liberty Global, Cheyenne Ventures, and existing investors Thomvest Ventures and Crosslink Capital.

Paris-based CrowdSec raised €14 million in Series E funding led by Supernova Invest with participation from Breega Capital.

San Francisco-based Blowfish raised $11.8 million in funding led by Paradigm with participation from Dragonfly, Uniswap Labs Ventures, Hypersphere and 0x Labs, as well as Naval Ravikant, Nathan McCauley, Will Warren, Amir Bandeali, Francesco Agosti, Patryk Adas, Jeremy Welch, Steve Klebnoff, Raymond Tonsing, Jim Posen, John Johnson, and many more investors.

Boston-based Oort raised $11.5 million in Series A funding co-led by 406 Ventures and Energy Impact Ventures, joined by Cisco Investments.

Corsa Security of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, raised US$10 million in funding led by Roadmap Capital.

London-based OutThink raised $10 million in seed funding led by AlbionVC with participation from TriplePoint Capital, Forward Partners, Gapminder, and Innovate UK.

Spyderbat of Austin, Texas, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by NTTVC with participation from LiveOak Venture Partners, Benhamou Global Ventures, and John McHale.

Tel Aviv-based Velotix raised $10 million in seed funding led by Capri Ventures.

San Francisco-based Bearer has raised a total of $8 million. Alven led the $4 million second tranche round with participation from Kima Ventures, Partech, and Point Nine.

Tel Aviv-based LayerX raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Glilot Capital Partners, with participation from Int3, FinSec Innovation Lab by Mastercard, Enel X, GuideStar, Kmehin Ventures, and cybersecurity angel investors.

Atlanta-based Arnica raised $7 million in seed funding co-led by Joule Ventures and First Rays Venture Partners.

Boston-based Perygee raised $4.75 million in seed funding led by Ballistic Ventures.

Tidal Cyber of Washington, D.C., raised $4 million in funding led by Ultratech Capital Partners with participation from Access Venture Partners, TFX Capital, VIPC Virginia Venture Partners, Dreamit, Adam Vincent, and existing investors First In Ventures, BlueWing Ventures, SaaS Ventures, Riverbend Capital, Blu Venture Investors, and StoneMill Ventures.

Toronto-based Protexxa raised C$4 million (nearly $3 million) in seed funding led by BKR Capital, with participation from The Firehood Angels, Jeff Fettes, Annette Verschuren, and Leen Li.

Third Wave Innovations (formerly known as RCS Secure) of Frisco, Texas, raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding. The round was led by Socii Capital.

Digital Health

Viome Life Sciences of Bellevue, Wash., raised $67 million in funding led by Bold Capital Group, with participation from existing investors Khosla Ventures, West River Group, Glico, Ocgrow Ventures, and Physician Partners.

Chicago-based HealthJoy raised $60 million in Series D funding led by Valspring Capital with participation from Endeavour Vision, CIBC Innovation Banking, US Venture Partners (USVP), Brandon Cruz and Clint Jones, Health Velocity Capital, Nueterra Capital, and Epic.

Electronic Caregiver of Las Cruces, N.M., raised an additional $30 million and a warrant exercise for a total of $42.5 million. To date, the company has raised $110 million in equity and $10 million in debt, totaling $120 million. The backers were not disclosed.

Miami-based Brave Health raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Town Hall Ventures, with participation from Union Square Ventures and City Light Capital.

Los Angeles-based Eyenuk raised $26 million in Series A funding led by AXA IM Alts with participation from T&W Medical A/S, A&C Foelsgaard Alternativer ApS, Kendall Capital Partners, and KOFA Healthcare.

Philadelphia-based NeuroFlow raised $25 million in growth funding led by SEMCAP Health.

New York-based RightMove Health raised $21 million in Series A funding co-led by the Hospital for Special Surgery and Flare Capital.

San Francisco-based Midi Health raised $14 million in seed funding co-led by Felicis Ventures and SemperVirens, with participation from Emerson Collective, Icon Ventures, Operator Collective, Muse Capital, Steel Sky Ventures, and Anne and Susan Wojcicki.

London-based Feel Holdings raised £10 million ($11.3 million) in Series A funding. The round was led by Velocity Capital Advisors, with participation from Btomorrow Ventures, Fuel Ventures, TMT Investments, and ITV AdVentures.

EngagedMD of Washington, D.C., raised $11 million in funding led by MonCap Holdings.

Limber Health of Washington, D.C., raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Blue Venture Fund and Sandbox, with participation from Glenview Capital.

Hamburg-based Sympatient raised €7.5 million in Series A funding led by Verve Ventures and existing investors.

New York-based Mindful Care raised $7 million in Series B funding led by Sopris Capital, with participation from the University of Chicago, the Caruso Foundation, and Venkon Group.

Miami-based Index Health raised $6 million in seed funding co-led by LaunchHub Ventures and Inovo Venture Partners.

Elion of Menlo Park, Calif., raised $3.3 million in seed funding co-led by NEA and Max Ventures.

Sure Med Compliance of Mobile, Ala., raised $1 million in pre-Series A funding. The round was led by ProAssurance, with participation from Innovate Alabama Supplemental Grant (a $250,000 state grant).

Electronics

Toronto-based OTI Lumionics raised US$55 million in Series B funding. Backers include Technology Ventures, Samsung Venture Investment, UDC Ventures, Anzu Partners, and the family office of Lee Lau.

San Francisco-based Wispr raised $10 million in equity and debt funding as part of its seed II funding. Major investors in this round include Neo, Triple Point Capital, MVP Ventures, and Fred Ehrsam, the co-founder of Coinbase and Paradigm Ventures. Their previous investors, including New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and 8VC, also increased their ownership in the company. Wispr also brought on some new angel investors like Tom Oxley (CEO of the neurotech startup, Synchron), and Arash Ferdowsi (co-founder and CTO of Dropbox). This brings the total capital raised by Wispr to $14.6 million.

Robotics

Volkswagen Group is investing around €2.4 billion in Horizon Robotics, which is collaborating with CARIAD (VW’s automotive software business) to develop advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD) systems for the Chinese market.

Miami-based Neocis raised $40 million in funding led by CareCapital and joined by Intuitive Ventures.

Berkeley-based Ambi Robotics raised $32 million in funding co-led by Tiger Global and Bow Capital, joined by Ahren Innovation Capital and Pitney Bowes.

Kodiak Robotics of Mountain View, Calif., raised $30 million in a growth capital credit facility from Horizon Technology Finance Corporation.

Fox Robotics of Austin, Texas, raised $20 million. BMW i Ventures led the funding and was joined by Zebra Technologies, Japan Airlines, Translink Innovation Fund, Foothill Ventures, and existing investors Menlo Ventures, ENIAC Ventures, and SignalFire.

Stellar Pizza of Hawthorne, Calif., raised $16.5 million in funding led by Marcy Venture Partners.

San Francisco-based Cyberdontics raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Pacific Dental Services.

Pittsburgh-based Gather AI raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Tribeca Venture Partners, with participation from Xplorer Capital, Dundee Venture Capital, Expa, Bling Capital, XRC Labs, and 99 Tartans.

Atlanta-based Greenzie raised $8 million in funding led by Atlanta Ventures with participation from Bobcat Company.

Wilkinson Baking Company of Walla Walla, Wash., raised $3 million in seed funding led by Ken Peterson of Columbia Ventures Corporation, along with Rich Product Ventures. Several angel investors also participated.

Seattle-based Numurus raised $2 million in funding led by Tokusui Corporation of America.

Software

Paris-based Homa raised $100 million in Series B funding co-led by Quadrille Capital and Headline, joined by Northzone, Fabric Ventures, Bpifrance, Eurazeo, and Singular Capital.

San Francisco-based Merge raised $55 million in Series B funding led by Accel and joined by existing investors NEA and Addition.

Tatum of London and Miami raised $41.5 million in funding led by Evolution Equity Partners, along with Octopus Ventures, 3VC, Tensor Ventures, Depo Ventures, Leadblock Fund, Circle, and founders of Bitpanda.

Fermyon Technologies of Longmont, Colo., raised $40 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners and joined by Amplify Partners and individual angel investors.

San Francisco-based RisingWave Labs raised $36 million in Series A funding led by multiple partners, including the investment arm of a leading global gaming firm, Yunqi Partners, and several individual investors.

Endor Labs of Palo Alto, Calif., raised $25 million in seed funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Dell Technologies Capital, and Sierra Ventures.

Belgium’s SettleMint raised €16 million in Series A funding. Molten Ventures and OTB Ventures co-led, joined by Allusion, Bloccelerate VC, and Fujitsu Ventures.

NocoDB raised $10.5 million in seed funding co-led by Decibel and OSS Capital, joined by Uncorrelated Ventures and Together Fund.

Dallas-based Adyton raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Initialized Capital, Kindred Ventures, and Palumni VC.

Paris-based Axelor raised €10 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Inter Invest Capital.

Cosmonic of Arlington, Va., raised $8.5 million in seed funding led by Vertex Ventures with participation from Jeffrey Rothschild, Bob Pasker, Jeff Burkland, Tom Killalea, General Advance, and Cosmonic co-founder and CEO Liam Randall’s own Relentless VC.

Berlin-based Levity raised $8.3 million in seed funding co-led by Balderton Capital and Chalfen Ventures.

San Francisco-based bit.io raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Battery Ventures and GreatPoint Ventures, with participation from Neo, Combine, Battery Operating Partner, Max Schireson, and Ray Lane.

Kubiya of Palo Alto, Calif., raised $6 million in seed funding led by Hyperwise Ventures.

Stockholm-based Grafbase raised $5 million in seed funding led by Next47, with participation from Alven, Uncorrelated Ventures, and a group of angel investors, including Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch, Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel, GitHub ex-CEO Nat Friedman, Netlify CEO Mathias Biilmann Christensen, and Cockroach Labs CEO Spencer Kimball, among other investors.

San Diego-based ByteBrew raised $4 million in seed funding led by Konvoy Ventures with participation from Valhalla Ventures, Node Ventures, and other angel investors.

New York-based Fun raised $3.9 million in pre-seed funding led by JAM Fund, with participation from SOMA Capital, NOMO Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, and Cory Levy.

London-based Munch raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding co-led by Credo Ventures and Notion Capital.

Sacramento-based Bekonix raised $1.3 million in seed funding led by Moneta Ventures.

Semiconductors

The European Investment Bank provided a loan of €200 million to Siltronic.

San Diego-based Kneron raised $48 million in Series B funding, with new investors including Liteon Technology, Adata Technology, and an unnamed financial institution, apart from Foxconn Group injecting more funds than it did in Series A round.

Boston-based Metalenz raised $30 million in Series B funding led by NeoTribe Ventures and joined by Foothill Ventures, M Ventures, Intel Capital, Osage University Partners, TDK Ventures, 3M Ventures, Global Brains, SG Innovate, Baidu Ventures, Hegemon Capital, and Braemar Ventures.

Alexera of the Netherlands raised $27 million in Series A funding from Imec.expand and Belgium’s Federal Holding & Investment Co.

Neuchips of Taiwan and the U.S. raised $20 million in Series B2 funding. The round includes strategic investors Wistron, JAFCO Asia, Powerchip Group, and Raydium Semiconductor.

Fabric Systems raised $13 million in seed funding from investors such as bitcoin miner TeraWulf, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn’s Metaplanet fund, Blockchain.com, and 8090 Partners.

Amsterdam-based Optics 11 raised €5 million in funding led by new investor FORWARD.one and returning investor Value Creation Capital.

The Final Frontier

Orbex of the U.K. raised £40.4 million (more than $45 million) in Series C funding. Scottish National Investment Bank led and was joined by Jacobs, The Danish Green Future Fund, Verve Ventures, and insiders BGF, Heartcore Capital, and High-Tech Gründerfonds.

Solestial of Tempe, Ariz., raised $10 million in seed funding led by Airbus Ventures and joined by AEI HorizonX, GPVC, Stellar Ventures, and Industrious Ventures.

Los Angeles-based Apex Space raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.

AE Industrial Partners agreed to buy a majority stake in York Space Systems, a Denver-based provider of small satellites, satellite parts, and mission operation solutions. BlackRock Private Equity Partners also participated.

Odds and Ends

Atlanta-based GoDog raised $20 million in funding; Level 5 Capital Partners made the investment.

India’s Isthara raised $10 million in funding, led by Dubai-based Eagle Investments.

Pillow, a crypto investment platform, raised $18 million in Series A funding from Accel, Quona Capital, Elevation Capital, and Jump Capital.

Thailand’s PropertyScout raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Altara Ventures with participation from Partech and many returning investors, among them Hustle Fund, AngelCentral, Asymmetry VC, and Dr. Carsten Rahlfs (Partner, Waterland Private Equity).

Fundraising

Dyal Capital raised almost $13 billion; Veritas Capital raised $10.65 billion; BDT Capital raised $10.4 billion; Nordic Capital raised €9 billion; Ares Management raised $7.1 billion; Haveli Investments is raising $3 billion; Bregal Sagemount raised $2.5 billion; Ridgemont Equity Partners raised $2.5 billion; Bain Capital raised more than $2 billion; KKR raised almost $1.9 billion; Saudi Aramco raised $1.5 billion; CRV raised $1.5 billion for two funds; Antin Infrastructure Partners is raising €1.2 billion; GrowthCurve Capital raised $1.1 billion; and Versant Ventures is raising $1 billion for three funds.