Summer Slumber Nearly Over
Startup Funding May Revive After Labor Day
The lower amount of private funding rounds during August was dramatic. Mega-rounds, $100 million and up, were occasional, and yet there were some enormous investments.
PitchBook commentary:
Several months after just about every venture firm told their portfolio companies to prepare for a funding drought, some investors are saying the health of the startup ecosystem may not be as dire as it once seemed.
“Deals where we would consider leading a Series C or D — that was dead six months ago. That’s starting to pick up again,” said Mitchell Green, founding partner of growth equity firm Lead Edge.
Investors are expressing renewed, albeit cautious, optimism thanks to strength in some tech earnings, particularly of cloud companies, which has helped stabilize public markets recently. Other positive factors include a sense that inflation may have peaked, receding fears of a deep recession and VC’s record levels of dry powder.
“There’s a feeling that stocks hit bottom in June,” said Greg Martin, managing director at Rainmaker Securities, a brokerage specializing in sales of stakes in late-stage technology companies. After many months of tepid secondaries activity, trading has jump-started over the last two weeks.
Diversity Efforts
Eight years ago, Black founders received less than 1 percent of private funding from venture capitalists. In 2021, that number increased to just 1.4 percent, writes Porter Braswell, a Black founder and an entrepreneur. BLCK VC reports only 3 percent of the VC industry are Black investors.
Oui Capital, an Africa-focused VC firm based in Lagos and Massachusetts, announced that it has completed the first closing of its $30 million second fund, Oui Capital Mentors Fund II, as it seeks to strengthen its presence on the continent.
TeamApt of Nigeria raised more than $50 million in new funding led by QED Investors.
Pezeha of Kenya raised $11 million in equity and debt funding led by Women’s World Banking Capital Partners and joined by Verdant Frontiers Fintech Fund, cFund, and the Cardano Foundation.
Lami, a Kenyan digital insurer, raised $3.7 million in new seed funding led by Harlem Capital.
Pastel, a Nigerian SMB bookkeeping startup, raised $5.5 million in seed funding led by TLcom Capital, with Global Founders Capital, Golden Palm Investments, DFS Labs, Ulu Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, and Soma Cap also participating.
Stackwell Capital, a Boston-based digital investment platform focused on closing the racial wealth gap, raised $3.5 million in seed funding co-led by Michael Gordon (Fenway Sports Group) and Jeremy Sclar (Kraft Group).
Nigeria’s Grey raised $2 million in seed funding. Investors include Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Heirloom Fund, and True Culture Fund, along with angels like Alan Rutledge, Samvit Ramadurgam, and Karthik Ramakrishnan.
Anchor of Nigeria raised more than $1 million in pre-seed funding. Investors include Byld Ventures, Y Combinator, Luno Expeditions, Niche Capital, Mountain Peak Capital, and angel investors, such as SeamlessHR CEO Emmanuel Okeleji.
Youverify, an identity verification startup for African banks, raised $1 million in new seed funding from Orange Ventures and LoftyInc Capital.
Koolbooks, a French maker of solar-powered freezers and cold storage products for Africa, raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by Aruwa Capital Management.
Latú Seguros, a Brazilian cyber insurer, raised $6.7 million in seed funding. CRV and Monashees co-led and were joined by ONEVC, Latitude, and SVAngel.
Nigeria’s Duplo raised $4.3 million in seed funding led by Liquid2 Ventures, Soma Capital, Tribe Capital, Commerce Ventures, Basecamp Fund, Y Combinator, and Oui Capital.
PriceOye of Islamabad, Pakistan, received seed funding led by JAM Fund, a venture capital firm by Tinder founder Justin Mateen. The institutional funding round also included participation of Beenext, DG Daiwa, Mantis VC, HOF Capital, Jet.com investor Palm Drive Capital and Atlas Ventures, among others. Angels including Peter Thiel, Immad Akhud of Mercury Bank, and Asif Keshodia of Souq also participated in the round — alongside previous investors Fatima Gobi Ventures, SOSV, and Artistic Ventures. This is Thiel’s maiden investment in Pakistan.
Microtraction raised $15 million in a first close for its pre-seed venture fund focused on African startups.
Initial Public Offerings
China Tourism Group Duty Free raised about $2.1 billion in its IPO.
Hygon Information Technology raised more than $1.6 billion in its IPO.
Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare raised $1.6 billion in its IPO.
Pono Capital Two raised $100 million in its IPO.
Mobiv Acquisition raised $87 million in its IPO.
Socar raised $78.1 million in its South Korean IPO.
GigaCloud Technology raised $36 million in its IPO.
Starbox Group raised $21.5 million in its IPO.
Magic Empire Global raised $20 million in its IPO.
Bruush Oral Care raised $15.5 million in its IPO.
Forza X1 raised $15 million in its IPO.
Onfolio Holdings raised about $13.7 million in its IPO.
CorpHousing Group raised $13.5 million in its IPO.
Mobilicom raised about $13.3 million in its IPO.
Graphex Group raised $12 million in its IPO.
PaxMedica raised about $8.1 million in its IPO.
Treasure Global raised $8 million in its IPO.
Innovative Eyewear raised $7 million in its IPO.
Reborn Coffee raised $7 million in its IPO.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Altice is seeking a buyer for its Suddenlink subsidiary, which could be worth $20 billion, including debt.
AppLovin made an unsolicited takeover bid of $17.54 billion for Unity Software, which is being opposed by the gaming engine company. Unity wants to complete its proposed $4.4 billion purchase of ironSource.
Elliott Management and Vista Equity Partners are aiming to take Citrix Systems private in a $15 billion transaction.
Vista Equity Partners agreed to acquire Avalara for $8.4 billion in cash.
Thoma Bravo completed its $6.9 billion acquisition of SailPoint Technologies.
Open Text agreed to acquire Micro Focus International for $6 billion in cash, including debt.
Apollo Global Management acquired Atlas Air Worldwide for about $5.2 billion in cash. J.F. Lehman and Hill City Capital were also involved in the deal.
Global Payments agreed to acquire EVO Payments for $4 billion. In addition, Silver Lake is making a $1.5 billion convertible note investment in Global Payments. Meanwhile, Global Payments agreed to sell its Netspend consumer business for $1 billion to Rêv Worldwide and Searchlight Capital Partners.
Signify Health is considering strategic alternatives that may include a sale, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Dallas-based company has a market capitalization of more than $6 billion. CVS Health first bid to buy the healthcare firm. Amazon and other companies have joined the bidding for Signify. The forthcoming auction may value the company at $8 billion, per the WSJ.
Roper Technologies agreed to acquire Frontline Education from Thoma Bravo for about $3.725 billion in cash.
Amgen agreed to acquire ChemoCentryx for approximately $3.7 billion in cash.
HP Inc. completed its $3.3 billion acquisition of Poly (formerly known as Plantronics).
Chesapeake Energy hired Evercore to find a buyer for its Eagle Ford share assets in South Texas, which could be worth up to $3.25 billion, per Bloomberg.
Whirlpool agreed to acquire InSinkErator for about $3 billion in cash.
Estée Lauder Cos. is in talks to buy fashion label Tom Ford for at least $3 billion, per The Wall Street Journal.
Thoma Bravo agreed to acquire Ping Identity for about $2.8 billion.
Valvoline agreed to sell its lubricants business to Saudi Aramco for $2.65 billion in cash.
Bain Capital agreed to acquire the microscope business of Olympus for $3.1 billion. Bain outbid The Carlyle Group and KKR in the deal.
Montauk Renewables, a Pittsburgh-based bio-gas firm with a $2 billion market capitalization, is exploring a sale, per Bloomberg.
Vodafone agreed to sell its Hungarian business at a €1.78 billion valuation ($1.78 billion) to 4iG Public Ltd. and state holding company Corvinus Zrt.
Amazon agreed to acquire iRobot for $1.7 billion in cash.
Centerbridge Partners and Bridgeport Partners agreed to acquire Computer Services for about $1.6 billion in cash.
Prosus agreed to acquire the remaining 33.3 percent stake in iFood, a Brazilian food delivery company, from minority shareholder Just Eat, for at least €1.5 billion ($1.5 billion) in cash.
An investor group agreed to purchase a 35 percent equity stake in Dallas-based DataBank for $1.5 billion.
Toronto Dominion Bank agreed to acquire Cowen for $1.3 billion in cash.
Atlanta-based Terra Worldwide Logistics is seeking a buyer at around a $1 billion valuation, per Bloomberg.
Mega-Rounds
There were about 55 mega-rounds in August, reflecting the downturn in private funding for startups and other companies. That compares with about 65 mega-rounds in July and more than 95 mega-rounds in June.
Intel and Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management are funding the $30 billion development of two new wafer fabrication facilities in Chandler, Arizona. The companies are splitting the money in half, with the Canadian investment firm providing nearly $15 billion to the chipmaker. Intel will own 51 percent of the new fabs, while Brookfield’s infrastructure affiliate will own 49 percent.
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and other properties, raised $10 billion in post-IPO debt financing.
Celonis raised $1 billion in new funding. This $1 billion in liquidity is anchored by a $400 million equity raise at a post-money valuation of nearly $13 billion. The Series D extension is led by the Qatar Investment Authority and includes new blue-chip investors Activant Capital, a fund advised by Neuberger Berman, Alta Park Capital, and Commonfund Capital. Existing investors including Arena Holdings, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Franklin Templeton, Durable Capital Partners, TCV, 83North, Accel Partners, and Sator Grove also joined the round extension. In addition, Celonis expanded its revolving credit facility to obtain access to as much as $600 million led by KeyBanc Capital Markets, with Goldman Sachs, HSBC Ventures, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Citibank, and Deutsche Bank acting as joint lead arrangers. Lenders in the syndicate also included RBC Capital Markets, Silicon Valley Bank, SMBC, Citizens, MUFG, and Bank of America.
Virgin Media O2, a British fiber-building venture formed by Telefónica and Liberty Global, secured £700 million ($814 million) in new equity commitments from its parent firms and InfraVia Capital Partners, plus £3.3 billion ($3.84 billion) in new debt financing.
Adam Neumann, the founder and former CEO of WeWork, whose spectacular rise and fall has been chronicled in books, documentaries, and a scripted television series, has a new venture — and a surprising backer. Neumann is starting a new company called Flow. Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly investing about $350 million in Flow, The New York Times reports.
Cera Care, a British in-home long-term care startup, raised £260m (more than $302 million) in equity and debt funding (50/50 split). Kairos HQ led the equity tranche, alongside Vanderbilt University, Schroders Capital, Jane Street Capital, Yabeo Capital, Squarepoint Capital, Guinness Asset Management, Oltre Impact, 8090 Partners, and Robin Klein.
Taibang Biologic Group, a Chinese plasma products maker, raised $300 million in growth funding co-led by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and GIC.
DriveNets, an Israeli cloud-based networking startup, raised $262 million in Series C funding led by D2 Investments, with Bessemer Venture Partners, Pitango, D1 Capital, Atreides Management, and Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services also participating.
Orna Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based circular RNA biotech company, raised $221 million in Series B funding from Merck, MPM Capital, and BioImpact Capital.
Sironax, a Chinese biotech focused on age-related degenerative diseases, raised $200 million in Series B funding from Gaorong Capital, Yunfeng Capital, Temasek, Invus, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads Ventures, ArchVenture Partners, K2 Venture Partners, MSA Capital, CBC Group, Long River Investments, LSV Capital, Superstring Capital, Future Innovation Fund, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
NTX, a Singapore-based textile tech solutions provider to brands like Adidas, raised nearly $200 million. Centurium Capital led and was joined by NRL Capital.
Guesty, a Walnut, Calif.-based short-term rental management company, raised $170 million in Series E funding led by Apax Digital Funds, MSD Partners, and Sixth Street Growth, with Viola Growth and Flashpoint also participating.
AtoB, a San Francisco-based trucking payments startup, raised $75 million in equity funding at an $800 million valuation led by Elad Gil and General Catalyst. It also raised $80 million in debt financing for a total of $155 million.
HiBob, a New York and Tel Aviv-based human-resources software company, raised $150 million in Series D funding at a $2.45 billion valuation led by General Atlantic.
Tabby, a Dubai-based buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) startup, secured a $150 million credit facility from Atalaya Capital Management and existing lender Partners for Growth.
Reverse Mergers
Marti, a Turkish e-bike and scooter rental platform, agreed to go public at an implied $532 million enterprise value via Galata Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: GLTA), a SPAC formed by Callaway Capital. The company has raised more than $25 million from firms like BECO Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, and Autotech Ventures.
W3BCLOUD, an Irish storage and compute infrastructure provider for Web3 technology, agreed to go public at an implied $1.25 billion valuation via Social Leverage Acquisition Corp I (NYSE: SLAC), a SPAC co-led by Howard Lindzon.
Bridger Aerospace, a Montana-based provider of aerial firefighting and wildfire surveillance services, agreed to go public via Jack Creek Investment Corp. (Nasdaq: JCIC), a SPAC formed by KSH Capital. The deal values Bridger at an implied $869 million.
Graphjet, a Malaysian provider of manufacturing tech for graphene and graphite, agreed to go public at an implied $1.48 billion enterprise value via a SPAC called Energem (Nasdaq: ENCP).
Seamless, a fintech focused on underserved and unbanked users in Southeast Asia, agreed to go public at an implied $400 million valuation via INFINT Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: IFIN).
Tomorrow Crypto, a mining infrastructure firm, agreed to go public at an implied $310 million valuation via Globalink Investment (Nasdaq: GLLI).
Biolog-id, a French digital health company focused on value-chain optimization, agreed to go public at an implied $312 million equity value via Genesis Growth Tech Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: GGAA), a consumer Internet SPAC led by Eyal Perez (Genesis Advisors).
Bitcoin Depot, an Atlanta-based bitcoin ATM operator, agreed to go public at an implied $885 million valuation via GSR II Meteora Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: GSRM).
Avanseus, a Singapore-based provider of predictive maintenance software, agreed to go public at an implied $136 million equity value via Fat Projects Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: FATPU).
Abacus, a Florida-based buyer of life insurance policies and insurance-focused alternative asset manager, agreed to go public at an implied $618 million valuation via East Resources Acquisition (Nasdaq: ERES).
Convalt Energy, a Watertown, N.Y.-based renewable energy generation company, agreed to go public via Giginternational1 (Nasdaq: G1W), a SPAC led by semiconductor vet Avi Katz.
Newsight, an Israeli chipmaker, agreed to go public at an implied $380 million enterprise value via Vision Sensing (Nasdaq: VSAC), a SPAC led by George Sobek (ex-Citadel). Newsight raised a $7 million Series A round in 2020 led by Infinity Group.
Ocean Biomedical, a Providence, R.I.-based biopharma firm, agreed to go public at an implied $345 million valuation via Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: AEHA). Aesther previously terminated a deal to buy United Gear & Assembly, a Wisconsin maker of precision gears for EVs.
Agtech/Foodtech
Oakland-based Afresh Technologies raised $115 million in Series B funding from Spark Capital, Insight Partners, VMG Partners, and Walter Robb.
Boston-based Bevi raised $70 million in Series D funding from Cowen Sustainable Investments.
Los Angeles-based Everytable raised $55 million in Series C funding led by Creadev, Desert Bloom Food Ventures, and Gullspång Re:food with participation from Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Kimbal Musk, The Beacon Fund, Brener International Group, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and The Libra Foundation.
Aleph Farms, an Israeli cultivated meat startup, raised $40 million from L Catterton Management, Strauss Group, VisVires New Protein, CPT Capital, Synthesis Capital, Food Tank, and Christensen Global.
Tridge of South Korea raised $37 million in Series D funding led by DS Asset Management.
Pattern Ag of Emeryville, Calif., raised $35 million in funding led by Conti Ventures, with participation from Bidra Innovations, The Production Board, Valor Capital Group, Founders Fund, iSelect, LAUNCH, and Ospraie Ag Sciences.
Toronto-based Vive Crop Protection raised US$26 million in Series C funding led by Emmertech with participation from the Cibus Funds, and existing investors Business Development Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, and Urbana Corporation. Vive has also secured debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank.
San Francisco-based Eat Just raised $25 million from C2 Capital Partners.
New York-based PreciTaste raised $25 million in Series A funding. The round was led by existing investor Melitas Ventures and Cleveland Avenue, with participation from Enlightened Hospitality Investments and Monogram Capital Partners.
San Francisco-based Forage raised $22 million in Series A funding led by Nyca Ventures, joined by Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta and PayPal Ventures. The fintech startup will use the new funds to hire more people and to further develop its product.
Lumachain raised $19.5 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from existing investor Main Sequence.
Milan-based xFarm Technologies raised €17 million ($17 million) in Series B funding led by Swisscom Ventures with participation from Neva SGR (Intesa Sanpaolo), Emerald Technology Ventures, NovaCapital e Grey Silo Ventures, and United Ventures.
Chicago-based Sabanto raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Fulcrum Global Capital, with participation from DCVC Bio, Hico Capital, Yara Growth Ventures, Cavallo Ventures, Johnsonville Ventures, and Trimble Ventures.
New York-based Boisson raised $12 million in seed funding co-led by Connect Ventures and Blue Scorpion Investments.
Memphis-based Bite Ninja raised $11.3 million in bridge funding led by Manta Ray Ventures, Owl Ventures, Agfunder, Pioneer Fund, and TRAC Unicorn fund.
ConverseNow of Austin, Texas, a provider of a voice AI technology platform for restaurants, raised $10 million in funding. The round was led by Enlightened Hospitality Investments.
Vestaron of Research Triangle Park, N.C., raised $10 million in Series C funding led by Grosvenor Food & AgTech, which joined Ordway Selections, Cavallo Ventures, Argonautic Ventures, Fortistar, Endeavor8, Novo Holdings, Northpond Ventures, CGC Ventures, iSelect, and Syngenta Ventures.
Vori of East Palo Alto, Calif., raised $10 million in Series A funding led by The Factory, with participation from Greylock, E2JDJ, MKT1, and Vori flagship customer, Mollie Stone’s Markets — a San Francisco Bay Area family-owned grocery store chain.
Los Angeles-based Chamberlain Coffee raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Blazar Capital, with Ole Kristoffersen and Steen Skallebaek, Brandon Brown, Nik Sharma, and Ken Sadowsky also participating.
Los Angeles-based Positive Food raised $7 million in funding from BlueYard Capital, Western Tech, Y Combinator, Gaingels Management, and other investors.
Aquaticode of Stavanger, Norway, raised $6 million in its first external round of financing.
Byte Kitchen of San Mateo, Calif., raised $6 million in funding led by Crosslink Capital, Emergent Ventures, and Kevin Mahaffey, with Correlation Ventures, Wndrco, Soma Capital, Y Combinator, Shawn Tsao, Bruce Dean, and Edna Morris also participating.
Harvesting Farmer Network of Chandigarh, India, raised $4 million in funding led by Social Capital.
Loopworm of India raised $3.4 million in seed funding co-led by Omnivore and WaterBridge Ventures.
Jerusalem-based Mermade Seafoods raised $3.3 million in seed funding led by OurCrowd, Fall Line, and Sake Bosch.
Bakkal of Pleasanton, Calif., raised $3 million in seed funding from existing and new investors. The startup is now valued at $20 million.
Tel Aviv-based Deliverider raised $2 million in seed funding led by Millennium Group and NC Capital.
New York-based Happy Viking raised $2 million from co-founder Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Kevin Durant, Thirty Five Ventures, Michelle Wie West, Megan Rapinoe, Mates, Talent Resources Ventures, and Parallel Brands.
Frolick of Reston, Va., raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding. Participants in the round included gategroup as strategic investors and several angels including current and former executives for Delivery Hero and Gopuff.
Concert Bio raised $1.7 million in pre-seed funding led by The Venture Collective with strategic investments by Nucleus Capital, Ponderosa Ventures, TET Ventures, Day One Ventures, Possible Ventures, and angel investors.
Fuel Hub, a Warrington, England, U.K.-based healthy meal delivery company, raised £1.2 million (about $1.4 million) in funding. Backers include Andy Bell, founder of AJ Bell, and Fergus Lyons, former director at AJ Bell.
DrinkWell raised £1 million ($1.16 million) in funding. The investors were not disclosed.
Butterfly Equity, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused on the food sector, raised $1 billion for its second fund.
San Francisco-based GrubMarket completed the acquisitions of New York-based Frantoni Corporation and Kansas-based Granite State Software, two enterprise software providers that specialize in building advanced food supply chain software solutions, with a focus on the Eastern and Midwest regions of the U.S.
Thrive Foods of American Fork, Utah, acquired Freeze Dry Foods from Cumming Capital.
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
New York-based Insilico Medicine has raised a total of $95 million in private funding. The Series D2 round was led by Prosperity7, the diversified growth fund of Aramco Ventures, which is an investment subsidiary of Aramco.
Digital Diagnostics (formerly known as IDx) raised $75 million in Series B funding led by KKR with participation from Cedar Pine, Kinderhook, 8VC, Optum Ventures, OSF Ventures, Gundersen Health System, Edward — Elmhurst Health Venture Capital, and the University of Iowa.
San Francisco-based Inworld AI, a platform for developing virtual characters, raised $50 million in Series A funding. Section 32 and Intel Capital co-led, joined by Founders Fund, Accelerator Investments, First Spark Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, BITKRAFT Ventures, CRV, M12, Micron Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, SK Telecom VC, NTT Docomo Ventures, and The Venture Reality Fund.
San Francisco-based Nightfall AI raised $40 million in Series B funding led by WestBridge Capital, with participation from Next Play Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Venrock, Pear VC, Paul Rudd, Drew Brees, and Josh Childress.
New York-based Arena AI raised $32 million in funding co-led by Initialized Capital and Goldcrest Capital and joined by Founders Fund, Flexport, Peter Thiel, David Petraeus, and Michael Siebel.
Stockholm-based Mavenoid raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Smedvig Capital and joined by Creandum, Mosaic, Point Nine Capital, NordicNinja VC, and ABB Technology Ventures.
Japan’s Ubie raised $26.2 million in Series C funding. Backers include Norinchukin Capital, Venture Capital Limited, Dai-chi Life Insurance Company, Egg FORWARD, and SUZUKEN CO.
Lily AI of Mountain View, Calif., raised $25 million in Series B funding led by Canaan Partners, Conductive Ventures, Sorenson Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates (NEA).
Evidence Partners of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, raised US$20 million in growth funding led by Thomvest Ventures with participation from Pender Ventures and Export Development Canada.
Toronto-based Lil Durk raised US$20 million in private equity funding. The round was led by Alexander Elder, the interim CEO of the company.
Los Angeles-based MarqVision raised $20 million in Series A funding. DST Global Partners and Atinum Investments joined previous investors SoftBank Ventures, Bass Investment, and Y Combinator.
San Francisco-based Northbeam raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Silversmith Capital Partners.
New York-based Qloo raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Eldridge and AXA Venture Partners.
San Francisco-based Vetted (formerly known as Lustre) raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners with participation from existing investors Index Ventures, Bling Capital, and Golden Ventures, as well as angels including Shiva Rajaraman, the former vice president of commerce at Meta.
Toronto-based Canvass Analytics Inc. (Canvass AI) raised $14.23 million in Series A extension funding. The round includes an extension of US$7.73 million, led by Yamaha Motors Ventures, and a C$5.7 million (US$4.34 million) repayable loan from the Government of Canada, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
Pittsburgh-based Abridge AI raised $12.5 million in Series A-1 funding led by Wittington Ventures, with participation from all existing investors, including Union Square Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Pillar Venture Capital, and UPMC Enterprises, and new investors, including Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio and Whistler Capital.
PeakData of Zug, Switzerland, raised $12 million in Series A funding led by AlbionVC with participation from Octopus Ventures and Heal Capital.
MatrixSpace of Burlington, Mass., raised $10.1 million in funding from private investors.
Avenda Health of Culver City, Calif., raised $10 million in Series B funding led by VCapital with participation from Plug and Play Ventures and Wealthing VC Club.
ConverseNow of Austin, Texas, raised $10 million from Enlightened Hospitality Investments.
Covu of Redwood City, Calif., raised $10 million in seed funding led by ManchesterStory Group and supported by angel and venture capital investors across the insurance and technology industry.
San Francisco-based Headroom raised $9 million in funding led by Equal Opportunity Ventures and joined by Gradient Ventures, LDV Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, and Morado Ventures.
San Francisco-based OpenSpace raised $9 million in additional strategic capital for its Series D round, bringing the total raised to $111 million. Backers include existing investors Taronga Ventures and GreenPoint Partners.
Peech of Israel raised more than $8 million in a strategic funding round. Backers include Amex Ventures, Mirabaud Lifestyle Impact, and Innovation Fund, Snow Hill Ventures, Sangha Capital, Chain Link Crypto Fund and others. Existing investors include Actai Unicorn Fund, Galaxy Digital, Nima Capital, Sangha Capital, Recharge Capital, Andromeda Capital, Sanctor Capital, Tezos Foundation, and other investors.
Bearing of Palo Alto, Calif., raised $7 million in additional seed funding from Mitsui & Co. and the AI Fund.
San Francisco-based Compliance.ai raised $6 million in funding. Backers include Cota Capital and Jam Fintop.
San Francisco-based CompScience raised $6 million in seed funding. Backers include Working Capital Fund, Preface Ventures, Hustle Fund, Pathbreaker Ventures, and other investors.
Seattle-based Yoodli raised $6 million in seed funding, co-led by Madrona Venture Group and Cercano Management (formerly Vulcan Capital), with participation from J4 Ventures, Ascend.vc, Jeff Richards of GGV Capital, Dave Rosenberg (founder of Mulesoft), and communication experts Renn Vara and Maureen Taylor.
Drover AI of Big Sky, Mont., raised $5.4 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Vektor Partners with follow-on participation from seed investors Avesta Fund, Masik Enterprises, and Kurt Jaggers, who joined existing investor 500 Global.
Cornerstone AI of San Mateo, Calif., raised $5 million in seed funding led by Healthy Ventures and joined by Initiate Ventures.
San Francisco-based Tazi.AI raised $4.6 million in seed funding led by Illuminate Ventures, with the additional participation from Diffusion Capital Partners, Foothill Ventures, Handshake Ventures, and angel investors.
Philadelphia-based Regression Games raised $4.2 million in seed funding led by NEA with participation from Andreesen Horowitz (a16z), BBQ Capital, Roosh Ventures, and various angel investors.
RevSure AI raised $3.5 million in seed funding, coming out of stealth mode. Innovation Endeavors led the investment with key angel investments from Katrin Ribant, Rick Scanlon, and Sharath Keshava Narayana.
Qventus of Mountain View, Calif., raised $3 million in growth funding from ThedaCare, a health system.
Uplift Labs of Palo Alto, Calif., raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by Seth Curry, Callie Rivers Curry, David DeCastro, Atma Capital, LAUNCH Fund, The Syndicate, and Ethos Fund. They joined initial seed backers RCVC, DEEPCORE, Stadia Ventures, Oregon Sports Angels, Gaingels, Marc Gasol, and Renee Montgomery.
BalkanID of Austin, Texas, raised an additional $2.36 million in seed financing, bringing the total of its seed round to $8.1 million. The round was led by K2G Tech Fund, GIT1K Club, Firsthand Ventures, MGV, NKM Capital, and others, along with some existing investors.
Germany’s Cyanite raised €800,000 ($800,000) in seed funding led by former finetunes founders Oke Göttlich and Henning Thieß with participation by other individual investors.
San Francisco-based Connectly.ai raised $350,000 in funding. Members of Italian Angels for Growth made the investment.
Automotive/Autonomy/Mobility
SK On of South Korea raised about $1.51 billion from EastBridge Partners, Korea Investment Partners, and Stella Investment.
China’s SAIC Mobility Robotaxi raised $148 million in Series B funding led by SAIC Group, with Momenta, Gaoheng Management Consulting, and other institutions also participating.
StradVision of Seoul, South Korea, raised $88 million in Series C funding led by ZF and Aptiv.
San Francisco-based Aero Technologies raised $65 million in Series B funding led by Albacore Capital Group, with Expa, Keyframe Capital, and Capital One Ventures also participating.
WiTricity of Watertown, Mass., raised $63 million in new funding. The round was anchored by a $25 million investment from Siemens, with participation from Japan Energy Fund, Mirae Asset Capital, and returning investors Stage One, Airwaves Wireless Electricity, and Delta Electronics, among other investors.
Las Vegas-based Jet Token raised $40 million from GEM Global Yield.
Germany’s VoltStorage raised $24 million in funding from Cummins.
Oakland-based Zitara raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Energy Impact Ventures and joined by NextView Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Trucks Venture Capital.
San Francisco-based Populus raised $11 million in Series A funding co-led by Zero Infinity Partners and Climactic with participation from Comcast Ventures and Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition Ventures.
Zap-Map, a Bristol, England, U.K.-based provider of an electric vehicle charging application, raised £9 million (about $10.5 million) in Series A funding led by Good Energy and Fleetcor Technologies.
Carmigo of Tupelo, Miss., raised $7 million in new funding led by Southern Bancorp with participation from Advantage Capital.
Li Industries of Blacksburg, Va., raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Xerox Ventures and Shell Ventures.
SparkCharge raised $7 million in Series A funding from Cleveland Avenue.
ZeroAvia, a Hollister, Calif.-based developer of hydrogen-fueled planes, raised new funding from American Airlines. Existing investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Amazon, and Royal Dutch Shell.
Canyon Bicycles of Koblenz, Germany, received a strategic equity investment of an undisclosed amount.
ApniBus raised pre-seed funding led by Antler India. This round also saw participation from GoodWater Capital and angels like Niraj Singh and Asish Mohapatra.
In other news: Barcelona-based Wallbox acquired Coil, Inc.
Biotech
Sanofi invested €300 million ($300 million) in Innovent Biologics of San Francisco and Suzhou.
Orna Therapeutics of Cambridge, Mass., raised $221 million in Series B funding from Merck, MPM Capital, and BioImpact Capital.
Beijing-based Sironax raised $200 million in Series B funding led by Gaorong Capital and Yunfeng Capital, with participation from existing investors including Temasek, Invus, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads, ARCH Venture Partners, K2 Venture Partners and lead investors from previous financings. In addition to the co-leads, new investors include MSA Capital, CBC Group, Long River Investments, LSV Capital, Superstring Capital, and Future Innovation Fund, as well as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
Senda Biosciences of Cambridge, Mass., raised $123 million in Series C funding led by Flagship Pioneering, with Samsung Life Science Fund, Qatar Investment Authority, Bluwave Capital, Stage 1 Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Longevity Vision Fund, Mayo Clinic, Partners Investment, and the State of Michigan Retirement System also participating.
Shanghai-based OriCell Therapeutics raised more than $120 million in Series B financing led by Qiming Venture Partners and Quan Capital, along with existing investor C&D Emerging Capital.
Greenlight Biosciences raised about $109 million in a private placement.
Aktis Oncology of Cambridge, Mass., raised $84 million in new Series A funding from Merck, Cowen Healthcare Investments, ArrowMark Partners, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Timefolio Capital, Pappas Capital, and existing investors MPM Capital, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novartis.
San Diego-based Poseida Therapeutics raised $70 million in post-IPO equity funding.
Seattle-based Vilya raised $50 million in Series A funding led by ARCH Venture Partners.
Pittsburgh-based Novasenta raised $40 million in Series A funding. The round was led by UPMC Enterprises.
eTheRNA, a Belgian developer of mRNA therapeutics, raised €39 million ($39 million) in Series B2 funding from Kenneth Chien (Moderna co-founder), Marijn Dekkers (ex-Bayer and Thermo Fisher CEO) and existing investors LSP, PWV, Grand Pharma, Fund+, and Omega Fund.
San Francisco-based Prellis Biologics raised $35 million in Series C funding led by Celesta Capital and Avidity Partners with participation from Khosla Ventures, SOSV, True Ventures, and Lucas Venture Group.
Seattle-based Monod Bio raised $25 million in seed funding led by Matrix Capital, with participation from Global Health Investment Corporation, Cercano Management, The Washington Research Foundation, Boom Capital Ventures, Sahsen Ventures, and Pack Ventures.
GluBio Therapeutics of San Diego and Shanghai raised $22 million in Series A+ funding led by Qiming Venture Partners with participation from Lilly Asia Ventures and Kaitai Capital.
Eleven Therapeutics of Tel Aviv, Israel, and Cambridge, England, U.K., raised $22 million in seed funding. Backers include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Additional funding sources include Kindred Capital, NFX Bio (formerly TechBio), Harel Technology Investments, Entrée Capital, and the Innovate UK Smart Grant.
Materna Medical raised $22 million.
Shanghai-based Epigenic raised $20 million in new funding. Backers include Morningside Venture Capital, Kingray Capital, Trinity Innovation Fund, TigerYeah Capital, and FountainBridge Capital.
Think Bioscience of Boulder, Colo., raised $17 million in seed funding led by Innovation Endeavors and Xora Innovation, with participation from AV8 Ventures, Buff Gold Ventures, and LiquidMetal Ventures, as well as returning pre-seed investors Xora, Wireframe Ventures, and Axial VC.
San Antonio-based Emtora Biosciences was awarded a $16.9 million non-dilutive grant from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas.
Constructive Bio of Cambridge, England, U.K., raised $15 million in seed funding led by Ahren Innovation Capital alongside Amadeus Capital Partners, General Inception, and OMX Ventures.
San Francisco-based Freedom Biosciences raised $10.5 million in seed funding led by MBX Capital with participation from PsyMed Ventures, Village Global, and The Yale Startup.
Avelos Therapeutics of Seoul, South Korea, raised $8 million in Series A funding led by SV Investment, UTC Investment, Quad Investment Management, Timepolio Asset Management, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, and Mirae Asset Capital.
Bactolife of Copenhagen, Denmark, raised $5 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Differentiated Therapeutics of Cambridge, Mass., and San Diego raised $5 million in seed funding. Curie.Bio financed the round.
New York-based Ordaōs Bio raised $5 million in seed funding led by Middleland Capital’s VTC Ventures with participation from Route 66 Ventures, Banyan Pacific Capital, IAG Capital Partners, and Citta Capital.
Boston-based Remedium Bio raised $2.3 million expanded seed funding led by Sherwood Ventures with participation from LongevityTech.Fund, Primo Medical Group, Angel Star Ventures, Apis Health Angels, MicroVentures, and Guindy Alumni Angels.
San Antonio-based Hera Biotech raised $1.9 million in seed funding led by Coyote Ventures, Stella Angels, Althea Group Ventures, and the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute.
Shuttle Pharmaceuticals of Rockville, Md., plans to raise $10 million in an initial public offering.
Becton, Dickinson and Company acquired MedKeeper for $93 million.
Climate Change
TerraPower of Bellevue, Wash., raised $750 million in new funding co-led by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and SK, one of the largest energy providers in South Korea.
Ori Solutions of Lahti, Finland, raised €250 million ($250 million) in pre-seed funding. The financial backers were not revealed.
London-based Gridserve secured an initial £200 million (more than $232 million) investment from Infracapital, the infrastructure equity investment arm of M&G Plc.
Houston-based Fervo Energy raised $138 million in Series C funding. DCVC led and was joined by CPPIB, Liberty Energy, Macquarie, Grantham Foundation, Impact Science Ventures, Prelude Ventures, and existing investors Capricorn, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Congruent Ventures, Helmerich & Payne, 3x5 Partners, and Elemental Excelerator.
Atom Power of Huntersville, N.C., raised $100 million from SK Inc. and SK Energy.
New York-based Carbon Direct raised $60 million in funding led by Decarbonization Partners and Quantum Energy Partners.
Terabase Energy of Berkeley, Calif., raised $44 million in Series B funding co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Prelude Ventures. SJF Ventures also participated.
Houston-based Utility Global raised $25 million in Series B funding led by Ara Partners with participation from Samsung Ventures, NOVA, and Aramco.
Project Solar of Lehi, Utah, raised $23 million in Series A funding led by Left Lane Capital.
Recurve Analytics of Mill Valley, Calif., a data software startup for utilities, raised $18 million in Series B funding. Calpine Energy Solutions led and was joined by Quantum Energy Partners, Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions, and existing investor Energy Foundry.
Beijing-based Carbon Stop raised 100 million yuan ($14.82 million) in Series B funding led by Sequoia China, GL Ventures, and Matrix Partners.
Econic Technologies of Macclesfield, England, U.K., raised £10.4 million ($12 million) in the second close of its current Series D funding round. This round follows the first close in April of this year, which was led by OGCI Climate Investments and Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund. Joining them in this Series D second tranche were CM Venture Capital, GC Ventures, and ING Sustainable Investments for a total raise of £10.4 million (US$12 million).
Berlin-based Dryad raised €10.5 million ($10.5 million) in Series A funding led by eCAPITAL with participation from Toba Capital, Semtech, and Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures.
Aurora Hydrogen of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, raised US$10 million in Series A funding led by Energy Innovation Capital with participation from Williams, Shell Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, and the George Kaiser Family Foundation. This round adds to funding by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada that the team received earlier this year.
Clarity Movement of Berkeley, Calif., raised $9.6 million in Series A+ funding co-led by Amasia and the Active Fund, joined by Spero Ventures, SOSV Investments, Launch Fund, and The Climate Syndicate.
node.energy of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, raised €7 million ($7 million) in Series A funding led by BitStone Capital, with participation from 10x Founders, BonVenture, Helen Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds, and business angel investors.
San Diego-based Serenity EHS raised $5 million in seed funding led by Base 10 Partners.
Berkeley-based Vespene Energy raised $4.3 million in funding led by Polychain Capital, joined by a number of climate-focused funds.
Boston-based Mantel raised $2 million led by The Engine and joined by New Climate Ventures.
Creast, an entertainment-industry sustainability company founded in late 2019 by Eduardo Vieitez, a Spanish film and advertising director, advises industry award shows on how to operate a sustainable ceremony. Vietiz bootstrapped the startup with €300,000 from family, friends, and his own funds.
Arevia Power of Glendale, Calif., received a structured investment led by KKR. The amount of the deal, which saw participation from GCM Grosvenor, was not disclosed.
Blue World Technologies of Aalborg, Denmark, raised funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
Contrarian Ventures is raising $100 million for its second seed-stage fund aimed at climate technology. The venture capital firm debuted in 2017 with a $13.6 million investment fund.
E.ON’s current venturing team, Future Energy Ventures, has established a new, independent Luxembourg-domiciled venture capital fund, Future Energy Ventures Fund I SCA SICAV-RAIF.
Cybersecurity
Talon Cyber Security raised $100 million in Series A funding. Evolution Equity Partners led and joined by Ballistic Ventures, CrowdStrike, Merlin Ventures, SYN Ventures, George Kurtz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sorenson Ventures, and Team8.
TXOne Networks of Irving, Texas, and Taipei, Taiwan, raised $70 million in Series B funding led by TGVest Capital with participation from KAiA Capital, CDIB Capital Group, CDIB-Innolux, MediaTek, Ta Ya Electric Wire & Cable, Ta Ya Venture Capital, Simplo Technology Group, CHT Security Corporation, Ash Tower Limited, Steven Pan, Silks Hotel Group Chair, and Chun-I Wu.
Munich-based IDnow raised €60 million ($60 million) in debt financing.
Boston-based ThreatX raised $30 million in Series B funding co-led by Harbert Growth Partners and Vistara Growth. Existing investors .406 Ventures, Grotech Ventures, and Access Venture Partners also participated.
Cybrary of College Park, Md., raised $25 million in Series C funding co-led by existing investors BuildGroup and Gula Tech Adventures.
Spin Technology of Palo Alto, Calif., raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Blueprint Equity with participation from Santa Barbara Venture Partners and Blu Venture Investors.
Keyavi Data of Durango, Colo., raised $13 million in Series A funding.
SanSaber of Chandler, Ariz., raised $13 million in Series A funding led by SYN Ventures with participation from Rally Ventures and Cyber Mentor Fund.
Tel Aviv-based Flow Security raised $10 million in seed funding. Amiti led the round, with participation from GFC, Amdocs Ventures, and industry leaders such as CyberArk CEO Udi Mokady and Demisto CEO and co-founder Slavik Markovich.
Tel Aviv-based dWallet Labs raised $5 million in pre-seed funding led by Node Capital and Digital Currency Group, and joined by Amplify Partners, Lightshift Capital, Liquid2 Ventures, Collider Ventures, Lemnsicap, Heroic Ventures, Impatient Ventures, Zero Knowledge, Dispersion Capital, Token Bay Capital, Tykhe Block Ventures, Cerulean Ventures and Earl Grey Capital, alongside founders and angel investors from Coinbase, Ethereum, Celo, AngelList, Alt, Spearhead, and other investors.
Tel Aviv-based Mesh Security raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Booster Ventures with the participation of additional investors.
Defendify of Portland, Maine, raised $3.35 million in funding led by Maine Venture Fund, with 3dot6 Ventures, York Investments , Maine Technology Institute, FreshTracks Capital, Wasabi Ventures, Coastal Ventures, and Opus Ventures also participating.
Youverify raised $1 million in new seed funding from Orange Ventures and LoftyInc Capital.
In other news: Netskope acquired Infiot.
Digital Health
London-based Cera Care raised £260 million (more than $302 million) in equity and debt funding, evenly split in two. Kairos HQ led the equity tranche, alongside Vanderbilt University, Schroders Capital, Jane Street Capital, Yabeo Capital, Squarepoint Capital, Guinness Asset Management, Oltre Impact, 8090 Partners, and Robin Klein.
Theranica of Netanya, Israel, and Montclair, N.J., raised $45 million in Series C funding led by New Rhein Healthcare Investors, with participation from existing investors aMoon, Lightspeed Venture Partners, LionBird, Takoa Invest, and Corundum Open Innovation.
Annexus Health of Sewickley, Penn., raised $33 million in Series B funding led by Transformation Capital.
Oui Therapeutics of New Haven, Conn., raised $26 million in funding from First Round Capital and CVS Health Ventures.
Chicago-based KeyCare Medical raised $24 million in Series A funding from 8VC, LRVHealth, Bold Capital, and Spectrum Health Ventures.
Boston-based Biofourmis raised an additional $20 million in Series D financing from Intel Capital.
Nashville-based CareHarmony raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Maverick Ventures, with participation from Nashville Capital Network.
Los Angeles-based Maximus raised $15 million in funding led by Keith Rabois, with participation from 8VC, Abstract Ventures, 10X Capital, Unshackled Ventures, OneVC, Gaingels, Correlation Ventures, Chamaeleon VC, Rational Ventures, WhatIf Ventures, Shrug Capital, Electric Ant, Dave Asprey, Ryan Holiday, Brain Lee, Jeff Weiser, Brian Nogard, Kyle Samani, Matteo Franceschetti, and Geoffrey Wu.
Atlanta-based Motivo Health raised $14 million in Series A funding led by Cox Enterprises with participation from SteelSky Ventures and Great Oaks Venture Capital.
New York-based Caraway raised $10.5 million in seed funding led by 7wireVentures and OMERS Ventures, with participation from Hopelab Ventures.
New York-based Salvo Health raised $10.5 million in seed funding led by Threshold Ventures and joined by Torch Capital and Felicis Ventures.
New York-based Dr. B raised $8 million in funding. Backers include Lerer Hippeau, Founders Fund, and other investors.
London-based Neurofenix raised $7 million in Series A funding led by AlbionVC, with participation from HTH and InHealth Ventures.
Seattle-based Alongside raised $5.5 million in seed funding led by Trilogy Equity Partners and joined by Pack Ventures, Madrona Venture Labs, and individual investors.
San Francisco-based Urban Health raised $3.4 million in seed funding led by 3one4 Capital, with Venture Highway, Founder Bank Capital, and Ajay Arora also participating.
Healee of Tampa, Fla., raised $2 million in seed funding led by Nina Capital and joined by Calm/Storm Ventures, KAYA VC, and existing investor Eleven Ventures.
Electronics
Ji’an Mankun Technology, a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, completed an initial public offering on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Syrma SGS Technology completed an initial public offering on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company provides electronics manufacturing services, producing printed circuit boards, solid-state drives, and USB flash drives, among other products.
Robotics
Beijing-based Geek+ raised $100 million in Series E1 funding from Intel Capital, Vertex Growth, and Qingyue Capital Investment. The new round values the startup at more than $2 billion.
GrayMatter of Gardena, Calif., raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Bow Capital, with B Capital Group, Calibrate Ventures, OCA Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, Stage Venture Partners, with 3M Ventures and Swift Ventures also participating.
Brooklyn-based Ottonomy.io raised $3.3 million in new seed funding. Pi Ventures led and joined by Connetic Ventures and Branded Hospitality Ventures.
AiM Medical Robotics of Worcester, Mass., raised an undisclosed amount of funding from the Sontag Foundation Innovation Fund, a wholly-owned venture subsidiary of The Sontag Foundation.
Software
San Francisco-based Anyscale raised $99 million in new Series C funding from existing investors Addition, Intel Capital, and Foundation Capital.
China’s Zilliz raised $60 million in funding led by Prosperity7 Ventures and joined by Pavilion Capital, Hillhouse Capital, 5Y Capital, and Yunqi Capital.
Switzerland’s Xterio raised $40 million from FunPlus, Makers Fund, FTX Ventures, XPLA, HashKey, Foresight Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Matrix Partners, and Animoca Brands.
Tel Aviv-based Frontegg raised $40 million in Series B funding co-led by Stripes and Insight Partners.
New York-based Superblocks raised $37 million in funding led by Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks, Spark, and Meritech with additional investment from individual investors.
San Francisco-based Finix Payments raised $30 million in funding. Backers include The General Partnership, Franklin Templeton, American Express Ventures, Acrew Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Cap Table Coalition, Homebrew, Insight Partners, Inspired Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Precursor Ventures, PSP Growth, and Vamos Ventures.
San Francisco-based HyperTrack raised $25 million in Series A funding led by WestBridge Capital and Nexus Venture Partners.
Third Web of San Francisco raised $24 million in Series A funding led by Haun Ventures and joined by Coinbase Ventures and Shopify.
Boston-based Ambassador Labs raised $20 million in funding led by Insight Partners.
Houston-based Kurtosis raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Coatue Management and joined by Coinbase Ventures, Mantis VC, and Olivier Pomel.
Tel Aviv-based Rookout raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Fort Ross Ventures, with participation from TLV Partners, Emerge, Cisco Investments, LIAN Group, Mighty Capital, and Binder & Partners.
Sweden’s Qbtech raised €15 million ($15 million) from Verdane.
Privado raised $14 million in Series A funding co-led by Insight Partners and Sequoia Capital India with participation from existing investors Together Fund and Emergent Ventures.
Astro of Austin, Texas, raised $13 million in Series A funding led by Greycroft with participation by Obvious Ventures and other unnamed investors.
New York-based Team Mobot raised $12.5 million in Series A funding led by Cota Capital, with participation from Heavybit and Uncorrelated Ventures.
New York-based Explo raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Craft Ventures with participation from Felicis Ventures and Amplo.
Opkey of Dublin, Calif., raised $8 million in funding led by Vertica Venture Partners.
Seattle-based Sofy raised $7.75 million in seed funding led by Voyager Capital, with PSL Ventures, GTMFund, Revolution, and other investors also participating.
Boston-based GitPOAP raised $4.2 million in seed funding led by Inflection.xyz and Libertus Capital with participation from Avalanche VC, Protocol Labs, POAP, Balaji Srinivasan, Worthalter, Anthony Sassano, Superphiz, and Mariano Conti, among other investors.
San Francisco-based Violet Labs raised $4 million in seed funding led by Space Capital, joined by MaC VC, Felicis Ventures, and V1.vc.
New York-based Datawisp raised $3.6 million in seed funding led by CoinFund, with participation from Spartan Capital, Mirana Ventures, Dweb3 Capital, and Play Ventures.
W3 Storage Lab raised $3 million in pre-seed funding co-led by Draper Dragon and OKX Blockdream Ventures with major participation from Lingfeng Capital and participation from other investors.
San Francisco-based DoraHacks raised a funding round of an undisclosed amount. Backers include Emurgo Ventures, Binance Labs, FTX Ventures, Circle Ventures, Gemini Frontier Fund, Crypto.com Capital, and Sky9 Capital.
EirSystems of Chattanooga, Tenn., raised seed funding led by Solas BioVentures, with participation from Chain Reaction Boston investors led by Ken Mooney.
Semiconductors
Viiyong of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, raised about $331 million in Series B funding.
Pliops of San Jose, Calif., raised $100 million in Series D funding led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, with SK Hynix and Lip-Bu Tan also participating. The startup also has offices in China, Israel, and Japan.
Ventana Micro Systems raised $55 million in new funding.
AvicenaTech of Mountain View, Calif., raised $25 million in Series A funding from Samsung Catalyst Fund, Cerberus Capital Management, Clear Ventures, and Micron Ventures.
QLM Technology of the U.K. raised £12 million (nearly $14 million) in Series A funding led by Schlumberger and joined by Green Angel Syndicate, the Enterprise 100 Syndicate, the Development Bank of Wales, and Newable Ventures.
Lytica of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, raised more than US$13 million in Series A funding led by Resolve Growth Partners, with participation from York Investments.
Lumotive of Redmond, Wash., raised new funding led by Samsung Ventures with participation from Himax Technologies, Bill Gates, Quan Funds, and MetaVC Partners.
In other news: Semtech agreed to acquire Sierra Wireless for $1.2 billion, including debt.
Renesas Electronics agreed to acquire India-based Steradian Semiconductors in an all-cash transaction.
Israel-based semiconductor firm Newsight Imaging Ltd. has signed a definitive agreement to merge with Vision Sensing Acquisition Corp. (VSAC), a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
The Final Frontier
ATLAS Space Operations of Traverse City, Mich., raised $26 million in Series B funding led by Mitsui & Co., with participation from Beringea, Boomerang Catapult, Rise of the Rest, VCapital, Northern Michigan Angels, Harmonix, Wakestream, and Grand Ventures.
Xona Space Systems of San Mateo, Calif., raised more than $25 million in total funding led by First Spark Ventures, joined by numerous new investors, including Lockheed Martin Ventures, SRI Ventures (of SRI International), Velvet Sea Ventures, Gaingels, Airstream Venture Partners, and Space.VC. Existing investors Seraphim Space, Toyota Ventures, 1517 Fund, MaC Venture Capital, and Stellar Ventures also participated.
Berlin-based LiveEO raised €19 million ($19 million) in funding led by MMC Ventures and includes €17 million ($17 million) of venture capital, as well as funds from the European Commission and Investitionsbank Berlin. Also participating are Helen Ventures, Matterwave, and motu ventures. Segenia Capital and Hannover Digital Investments have joined the round as new investors.
Boston-based Satellite IM raised $10.5 million in seed funding led by Multicoin Venture Fund and Framework Ventures, with participation from Hashed Venture Fund, IDEO CoLab, Solana Ventures, and Pioneer Square Ventures Fund.
Outpost Technologies of Santa Monica, Calif., raised $7.1 million in seed funding led by Moonshots Capital, with participation from Draper Associates, Starlight Ventures, Kittyhawk Ventures, AIR Capital, Starburst Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and other investors.
Antaris of Los Altos, Calif., raised $4.2 million in seed funding led by Acequia Capital and Possible Ventures with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, HCVC, E2MC, and Ananth Technologies.
Quantum Computing
Chicago-based EeroQ, a microchip design startup, raised $7.25 million in seed funding led by B Capital’s Ascent Fund, with participation from V Capital, Calibrate Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Unbound Ventures, and Red Cedar Ventures.
London-based 2xN, a venture capital firm, raised $120 million to invest in quantum computing startups. Backers in the fund include the Danish Growth Fund and several family offices.
The Metaverse
Ready Player Me, an Estonian developer of metaverse avatars, raised $56 million in Series B funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.
As Fractional rebrands to Tessera, the company raised $20 million to keep pushing its mission. Tessera plans to use the fresh funding to roll out a new version of its protocol and shift to a collective ownership method for its customers.
Rocketplace raised $9 million in seed funding led by Launchpad Capital with participation by TTV, Accomplice, Menlo Ventures, and Soma Capital.
Los Angeles-based Gym Class raised $8 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Y Combinator.
New York-based Insomnia Labs (formerly known as Luna Market) raised $1.5 million in funding from Polygon, Animoca Brands, Eden Ventures, HBJ Investments, and Concept Art House.
Dimension X of Salt Lake City raised $600,000 in pre-seed funding from Startup Ignition Ventures.
Odds and Ends
New York-based Overtime raised $100 million in Series D funding led by Liberty Media Corporation and return investor Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), with participation from Winslow Capital, Bezos Expeditions, The Blackstone Group, and Sapphire Sport.
Miami-based Betr raised $50 million in Series A funding. Betr closed a $30 million Series A led by Florida Funders earlier this year. The round was oversubscribed, so the company raised an additional $20 million Series A1 led by Aliya Capital Partners and Fuel Venture Capital
Chicago-based Black Buffalo raised $30 million in Series A funding led by The Pritzker Organization and Listen Ventures, with additional participation from Watchfire Ventures, Vice Ventures, and UTC Ventures (an affiliate of United Tobacco Company).
Los Angeles-based Invisible Universe raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Seven Seven Six, co-founded by Alexis Ohanian and Katelin Holloway, with participation from Cosmic Venture Partners, Dapper Labs, Franklin Templeton, Gaingels, Initialized Capital, Schusterman Family Investments, Wheelhouse and 75 & Sunny, as well as Serena Williams and Jennifer Aniston, along with TCG, CASSIUS, and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC.
The Bacon, a Provo, Utah-based on-demand workforce application, raised $8 million in Series A funding from Grayhawk Capital, 2.0 Ventures, Elevate Capital, Hall Venture Partners, and Assure Syndicates.
Spinach.io, a Nashville-based startup focused on meetings efficiency for remote teams, raised $6 million from Y Combinator, Zoom Ventures, Maven Ventures, Tuesday Capital, and Cardumen Capital.
Houston-based Data Gumbo raised $4 million in Series C funding co-led by Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, the venture subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, and Equinor Technology Ventures, the venture subsidiary of Equinor, Norway’s leading energy operator.
Fundraising
Apollo Global Management raised $13 billion toward a goal of $25 million; Arsenal Capital Partners raised $5.4 billion for two funds; Sigular Guff raised $1.97 billion; Balbec Capital raised more than $1.5 billion; Thompson Street Capital Partners raised $1.5 billion; Ampersand Capital Partners raised $1.2 billion; J.C. Flowers & Co. raised $1.1 billion; Portage Ventures is raising up to $1 billion; and Butterfly Equity raised $1 billion.
Lockheed Martin Ventures said its investment fund has doubled in size to $400 million.
Ulta Beauty launched a $20 million corporate venture capital fund called Prisma Ventures, to back beauty and retail technology startups.
KnowBe4, a cybersecurity firm, established KnowBe4 Ventures.
Metrodora Ventures (co-led by Chelsea Clinton) is raising a second fund.
Erie Insurance established Erie Strategic Ventures, a corporate venture capital arm.