The Month of May Was Mostly Merry

Massive Funding Rounds for Some Startups

Wall Street had some bad days this month. The initial public offering market was generally robust, with a few worries. Some funding rounds were quite large, as investors wanted to get in on the next hot tech companies of the future. The private equity and venture capital firms loaded up more money to spread around.

It was a month when Boston-based Perch, an Amazon rollup marketplace platform, raised $775 million in Series A funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and joined by Spark Capital and Victory Park Capital. Yes, a monumental Series A round. And that wasn’t the biggest funding round in May.

SoftBank led an investment of £710 million (more than $1 billion) in The Hut Group, specifically the publicly held company’s Ingenuity logistics and warehousing software business. The Japanese investment company plans to provide £500 million (more than $709 million) to the nascent THG unit.

Meanwhile, SoftBank and Temasek Holdings led a round of $1.1 billion for Sweden’s Sinch, a cloud communications company that competes with Twilio. Berlin-based Trade Republic, which offers a stock trading application, raised $900 million in Series C funding led by Sequoia Capital and joined by TCV, Thrive Capital, and existing investors Accel, Founders Fund, Creandum Advisor, and Project A Ventures. The German fintech startup, now valued at $5.3 billion, competes with the popular Robinhood trading app.

Caris Life Sciences of Irving, Texas, a developer of precision medicines, received $830 million in growth equity funding led by Sixth Street and joined by T. Rowe Price, Silver Lake, Fidelity Management & Research, Coatue Management, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Millennium Management, Neuberger Berman, Highland Capital Management, Rock Springs Capital, OrbiMed, ClearBridge Investments, Tudor Investment, Eaton Vance, Pura Vida Investments, and First Light Asset Management. The new round brings with it a post-money valuation of $7.83 billion.

Diversity Efforts

For all the hullabaloo about tech stocks getting a beating one day or soaring in price on another day, there are many efforts being made to bring more diversity in founding startups and investing in such companies.

Collab Capital, a venture capital firm focused on Black founders, raised $50 million for its debut fund.

Fave, a social platform for connecting creators and fans, raised $2.2 million in seed funding from Female Founders Fund, HYBE, Sony Music, Warner Music, Concord Music, Quality Control, Right Hand Management, Techstars Music, and Betaworks.

Goldman Sachs plans to invest $10 billion over a decade for projects that will affect 1 million Black women.

Los Angeles-based Repeat has two female founders who are also a couple. Kim Stiefel and Sarah Wissel both worked at Vytmn, an LA startup, and now they are offering a software-as-a-service platform for consumer packaged goods brands.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild, founder of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, wants to pair hedge-fund billionaires with Pope Francis, using her experience as an attorney, entrepreneur, and investor.

Sabina Wizander and Gemma Bloemen are this summer joining Creandum as partner and principal, respectively. Wizander will be based in Stockholm, Sweden, while Bloemen will work in the United Kingdom.

Maya Horgan Famodu is the founder of Ingressive Capital, a $10 million fund based in Lagos, Nigeria. The young venture capitalist has worked at JPMorgan Chase and in private equity research.

Mono Technologies Nigeria Ltd., a fintech startup based in Lagos, this year was admitted to the Y Combinator program and has raised $2.5 million in pre-seed and seed funding, while also receiving $125,000 from YC.

Venture capital investments in African startups have been on the rise since 2015, this analysis notes. Those funds are meager compared with what’s going in Europe and the United States, yet the continent is opening to a wider number of investors.

OPay, an Africa-focused fintech platform, is in talks to raise up to $400 million in new funding, The Information reports, building on the $170 million the company raised in two rounds during 2019. The proposed new funding may value the startup at more than $1.5 billion.

PayPal is investing another $50 million in early-stage venture capital firms led by Black and LatinX investors. Recipients include Aperture Venture Capital, Collab Capital, Interlace Ventures, Kapor Capital, MaC Venture Capital, Noemis Ventures, Seae Ventures, SV LATAM Capital, and three additional funds. PayPal last year invested $50 million in eight early-stage venture capital funds. PayPal Ventures will be part of the company’s $535 million program to support Black-owned businesses.

Double Loop Games this month raised $8 million in Series A funding, adding to the $2.5 million previously raised by the mobile game startup. Emily Greer and Shelby Moledina are the founders in the company, which is developing games for smartphones.

New York-based Lerer Hippeau, a venture capital firm founded in 2010, promoted four women to partner: Andrea Hippeau, Caitlin Strandberg, Isabelle Phelps, and Stephanie Manning Cohen.

Monica O’Neill, the former CEO of ENSO Advisors, joined MetaProp as a partner. MetaProp is a VC firm focused on real estate-related technology.

Kia Kokalitcheva of Axios wrote about several developments in diversity.

Base10 Partners of San Francisco has established a $250 million growth fund that will benefit historically Black colleges and universities. Leading the investment program are three experienced investors from Bain Capital Ventures, McKinsey & Co., and Code2040.

Los Angeles-based Valence has established Building Our New Definition of Success (BONDS), a mentorship program aimed at Black executives and professionals.

Initial Public Offerings

A quick digest of the IPOs in May, including SPACs.

Oatly Group raised $1.4 billion in its IPO.

Alphawave IP Group raised £856 million ($1.2 billion) in its London IPO.

Procore Technologies raised $634 million in its IPO.

FIGS raised $580 million in its IPO.

The Honest Company raised $413 million in its IPO.

Global-E Online raised $375 million in its IPO.

Waterdrop raised $360 million in its IPO.

Catalyst Partners Acquisition raised $300 million in its IPO.

Flywire raised $251 million in its IPO.

Angel Pond Holdings raised $250 million in its IPO.

Fifth Wall Acquisition III raised $250 million in its IPO.

Osiris Acquisition raised $230 million in its IPO.

Singular Genomics Systems raised $224 million in its IPO.

Paymentus raised $210 million in its IPO.

GigInternational1 raised $200 million in its IPO.

Orion Biotech Opportunities raised $200 million in its IPO.

Valor Latitude Acquisition raised $200 million in its IPO.

SimilarWeb raised $176 million in its IPO.

Day One Biopharma raised $160 million in its IPO.

Graf Acquisition IV raised $150 million in its IPO.

Talaris Therapeutics raised $150 million in its IPO.

Aries I Acquisition raised $125 million in its IPO.

Five Star Bancorp raised $105 million in its IPO.

Valneva raised $94 million in its IPO.

Bowman Consulting Group raised $52 million in its IPO.

Mountain Crest Acquisition III raised $50 million in its IPO.

Vera Therapeutics raised $48 million in its IPO.

Digital Brands Group raised about $10 million in its IPO.

Squarespace completed a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Sinch completed a direct listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm AB exchange.

While those 30 companies realized their IPO dreams, four others postponed their planned IPOs — Gyroscope Therapeutics, Enact Holdings, Hear.com, and Zenvia.

Catalyst Partners Acquisition, an enterprise software SPAC sponsored by General Catalyst, cut its proposed IPO size from $400 million to $300 million. AltC Acquisition, a tech SPAC formed by Michael Klein and Sam Altman, cut its proposed IPO size to $400 million from $1 billion.

Reverse Mergers

While IPOs by special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) were down this month compared with the first quarter of 2021, with about a dozen offerings in May, SPAC filings picked up this month, at nearly 30 filings. Reverse mergers, where a SPAC will merge with a privately held company and will make that company into a publicly held enterprise, is still a popular choice in going public. Those participating in such combinations this month included Roviant Sciences, a drug development company; Benson Hill, a crop design company; Better, a home mortgage company; Gingko Bioworks, a developer of micro-organisms for flavoring and other uses; Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts; Bird, the electric scooter company; Arqit, a developer of quantum encryption technology; San Francisco-based Bright Machines, a developer of software-defined manufacturing technology; Redbox, the home entertainment company owned by Apollo Global Management; and Acorns, a savings and investing application. Other enterprises lining up for a reverse merger are Science 37, Wejo, WayRay, Manscaped, Jasper Therapeutics, Jam City, BigBear.ai, and Equinox, the owner of SoulCycle.

Mega-Rounds

There were about 100 mega-rounds announced in May, down slightly from April. In addition to Perch, Sinch, Caris Life Sciences, and Trade Republic, they included Wealthsimple, Kajabi, Noom, Contentsquare, DailyPay, Razor Group, Redwood Software, BETA Technologies, Back Market, Klaviyo, Vinted, Bowery Farming, Forter, Gojek, QuintoAndar, Vena, Workrise (formerly known as RigUp), CivicPlus, Pine Labs, and Collective Health.

Mergers & Acquisitions

A “club” of private equity firms may form to make a bid for Medline Industries, a privately held manufacturer and distributor of health-care supplies. The bidding may go up to around $30 billion. Medline announced this month that it has invested $1.5 billion in new distribution centers, expanding manufacturing capabilities, and upgrading information technology to improve e-commerce over three years. Under the Medline Healthcare Resilience Initiative, the company has already opened eight new distribution centers. It will spend another $500 million this year on expanded capabilities and facilities.

Gojek of Indonesia is merging with Tokopedia. The merged company will be called GoTo Group and plans a dual listing in New York and Jakarta for later this year. Gojek has raised around $5.3 billion from such investors as Sequoia Capital India, Visa, Tencent Holdings, and Warburg Pincus, while Tokopedia has raised $2.8 billion from investors such as SoftBank Vision Fund, Alibaba Group, and Sequoia Capital India, per Crunchbase.

Kansas City Southern canceled its planned $29 billion merger with Canadian Pacific Railway, opting for a $33.6 billion deal with Canadian National Railway.

Vonovia agreed to acquire Deutsche Wohnen for about €18 billion (around $22 billion).

Royal KPN turned down a takeover offer from EQT and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners. The proposed bid was said to be in the vicinity of $15 billion.

Mitsui & Co. is said to be considering a bid for IHH Healthcare of Malaysia with a market capitalization of about $12 billion, Bloomberg News reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Quantum Group and Centricus Asset Management reportedly made an offer to Volkswagen Group to buy the Lamborghini supercar brand for €7.5 million (more than $9 billion), the Autocar website says. VW rejected the takeover bid and added that Lamborghini was not for sale.

Amazon agreed to acquire MGM Holdings, the classic Hollywood studio, for $8.45 billion, including debt.

Cabot Oil & Gas agreed to an all-stock merger with Cimarex Energy Co., valued at $7.4 billion.

Crown Resorts turned down a A$8.36 billion (about $6.5 billion) takeover offer from The Blackstone Group. The company is waiting on more information from Star Entertainment, which is offering A$9 billion (nearly $7 billion) in stock.

DCP Capital and Ocean Link revised their takeover proposal for 51job, a recruitment website in China. The new offer is for about $5.3 billion.

Clarivate has agreed to acquire ProQuest for $5.3 billion — $4 billion in cash and $1.3 billion in equity.

Verizon Communications agreed to sell its digital media unit, which includes Yahoo and AOL, to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. Verizon gets $4.25 billion in cash, $750 million in preferred interests, and a 10% equity stake in Verizon Media.

FirstGroup secured shareholder approval for the $4.6 billion sale of its U.S. school bus business to EQT Infrastructure.

Francisco Partners and TPG agreed to acquire Boomi from Dell Technologies for $4 billion in cash.

Leonard Green & Partners is seeking a buyer for Atlanta-based ExamWorks, which could be worth $4 billion.

Aphria completed its $3.9 billion acquisition of Tilray.

American National Group of Galveston, Texas, is seeking a buyer, Reuters reports. The insurer’s market cap rose to $3.8 billion on the news.

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice agreed to acquire UDG Healthcare for £2.61 billion (nearly $3.7 billion).

Equity Commonwealth agreed to acquire Monmouth Real Estate Investment for about $3.4 billion, including debt, in stock.

Apollo Global Management agreed to acquire Tabcorp’s gambling, gaming, and media businesses for A$4 billion (more than $3 billion).

AEA Investors is seeking a buyer for Springs Window Fashions, which could be worth more than $3 billion.

Moneta Money Bank agreed to acquire Air Bank and other assets of PPF, in a deal worth more than $3 billion.

Paper Excellence agreed to acquire Domtar for about $3 billion in cash.

EQT Corp. will purchase Alta Resources for $2.93 billion in cash and stock. The sellers are The Blackstone Group and Denham Capital Management.

KKR agreed to acquire John Laing Group for about $2.8 billion.

Hellman & Friedman was negotiating to purchase At Home Group for about $2.8 billion in cash. CAS Investment Partners, which holds a 17% equity stake in At Home Group, is opposing the sale.

InVivo agreed to acquire Soufflet for €2.3 billion (about $2.8 billion).

KKR is negotiating to purchase John Laing Group, which has a market cap of about £1.9 billion (around $2.7 billion).

Bill.com is negotiating to purchase Divvy for about $2.5 billion.

Heineken is in talks to buy Distell Group, which is valued at about $2.4 billion.

Bonanza Creek Energy agreed to merge with Extraction Oil & Gas for $2.3 billion in stock. The combined company will be called Civitas Resources.

HeidelbergCement of Germany agreed to sell its California and Arizona assets for $2.3 billion to Martin Marietta Materials.

Trulieve agreed to acquire Harvest Health and Recreation for $2.1 billion in a stock-swap transaction.

Permira may begin a sale process for Hong Kong-based Tricor Group, which may be worth $2 billion.

Advent International selected several private equity firms to bid for King Koil China, a mattress manufacturer. The business could be worth about $2 billion.

Reckitt Benckiser received multiple first-round bids for its baby nutrition business in China, which could be worth $2 billion, according to Bloomberg. Suitors include Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, KKR, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, and New Hope Dairy.

Berkshire Partners is seeking a buyer for Affordable Care, a Morrisville, N.C.-based dental support organization that could be worth $2 billion, according to PE Hub.

Butterfly Equity hired Goldman Sachs and Bank of America to explore strategic options for Orgain, an Irvine, Calif.-based protein powder maker, including a sale or IPO, per Bloomberg. It’s expected to be worth about $2 billion.

Bain Capital hired Bank of America to find a buyer for its 44.4% equity stake in Hugel, which could be worth $2 billion or more, per Bloomberg.

CDPQ agreed to buy a 30% stake in the European business unit of American Tower for more than €1.6 billion (about $1.95 billion and up).

Sanne Group rejected a £1.35 billion (around $1.9 billion) buyout offer from Cinven.

Centroid Investment Partners of Seoul agreed to acquire TaylorMade, the golf equipment maker, from KPS Capital Partners. The purchase price is rumored to be $1.7 billion.

E2open acquired BluJay Solutions for about $1.7 billion in stock and cash.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board bought Mitratech, an Austin, Texas-based provider of enterprise legal and risk management software, for $1.55 billion from TA Associates.

Brookfield Asset Management and IFM Investors are prepping bids for Singapore Telecom’s portfolio of Australian mobile phone towers, according to Bloomberg. A sale could be worth A$2 billion (about $1.55 billion).

KKR completed its $1.5 billion buyout of Therapy Brands. The sellers were Lightyear Capital, Oak HC/FT, and Greater Sum Ventures.

The Blackstone Group offered to buy British real estate developer St. Modwen Properties for €1.21 billion (about $1.475 billion).

CVC Capital Partners agreed to sell AR Packaging, a Swedish producer of fiber-based consumer packaging, to Atlanta-based Graphic Packaging for $1.45 billion in cash.

Galaxy Digital, the crypto-focused firm led by Mike Novogratz, agreed to acquire BitGo, a Palo Alto-based cryptocurrency custodian, for $1.2 billion in cash and stock. BitGo, which was previously wooed by PayPal, had raised more than $70 million in private funding from Valor Equity Partners, Craft Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Inventures, and Radar Partners.

Kloosterboer, a cold storage operator in the Netherlands, is seeking a buyer for €1 billion (about $1.22 billion) in a sale, per Bloomberg.

Tyson Foods agreed to sell its pet treats business to General Mills for $1.2 billion in cash.

Mundipharma International, a British drug manufacturer owned by the Sackler family, is seeking a buyer for its China business unit, which could be worth more than $1 billion, Reuters reports.

GTCR is seeking a buyer for TerSera Therapeutics, a Deerfield, Ill.-based drug manufacturer that could be worth more than $1 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Advent International is seeking a buyer for its stake in ASK Group, an Indian investment and wealth management firm that could be valued at more than $1 billion, per Bloomberg.

Providence Strategic Growth hired William Blair & Company to find a buyer for Government Brands, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based provider of government software and integrated payments that could be worth more than $1 billion, according to PE Hub.

Edison, an Italian energy group owned by EDF, hired Lazard and Société Générale to find a buyer for up to a 40% stake in its renewables business unit, which could be valued north of €1 billion, Reuter reports.

Agtech/Foodtech

Agricultural technology startups are considering mergers with SPACs in order to go public, this analysis notes. AeroFarms decided against a traditional IPO in favor of merging with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SV) in a deal valuing AeroFarms at $1.2 billion. Sanjeev Krishnan, managing director of Chicago-based S2G Ventures, expects four to seven agtech companies will be going public this year in merging with SPACs.

Benson Hill, a plant technology startup that employs genetics, machine learning technology, and simulations, agreed to go public through a merger with Star Peak Corp. II (NYSE: STPC), a SPAC, valuing Benson Hill at $2 billion. The deal will provide cash proceeds of about $625 million to the merged company.

New York-based Bowery Farming, a vertical farming company, raised $300 million in Series C funding led by Fidelity and joined by Amplo, Gaingels, and existing investors GV, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, Temasek, and Groupe Artémis. The new round values the company at $2.3 billion. The agtech startup was established in 2014 and has raised a total of $467.5 million in private funding, according to Crunchbase. Indoor vertical farming can be easily adapted to cities, not requiring acres of land to produce plants for human consumption.

Inari Agriculture of Cambridge, Mass., a plant breeding startup, received $208 million in Series D funding at a $1.2 billion valuation from founding investor Flagship Pioneering, G Squared, Alexandria Venture Investments, Investment Corp. of Dubai, Rivas Capital, Banque Pictet, and Pavilion Capital. The agtech startup was founded in 2016 and has raised a total of $382 million in private funding.

San Francisco-based Eat Just raised $170 million in new funding for its Good Meat division, which develops cultured meat. Investors include UBS O’Connor, K3 Ventures, and Graphene Ventures. Eat Just was established in 2011 and has raised a total of $440 million in private funding.

Goldbelly of New York received $100 million in Series C funding led by Spectrum Equity with participation by Intel Capital. The provider of a food delivery platform was founded in 2012 and has raised a total of more than $133 million in private funding.

Other funding rounds in May: Invaio Sciences raised $88.9 million in Series C funding; TerViva raised $78 million in Series E funding; TaniHub Group raised $65.5 million in Series B funding; Zoe added $20 million to its Series B funding, now at $53 million; ProducePay raised $43 million in Series C funding; Daring Foods raised $40 million in Series B funding; SevenFifty raised $23 million in Series B funding; Sharebite raised $15 million in Series A funding; Hangry raised $13 million in Series A funding; Salted raised $9 million in seed funding; VF Nutrition, doing business as VlyFoods, raised €6.1 million (about $7.4 million) in seed funding; Applied LifeSciences & Systems raised $7 million in Series B funding; Forager raised $4 million in new funding; Kitch raised $4 million in seed funding; and Minnow Technologies raised $3 million in seed funding.

In other news: InVivo is buying Soufflet for $2.76 billion; Cultured Decadence raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding; Secai Marche raised about $1.4 million in seed funding; and Granite Creek Capital Partners and Clover Capital Partners invested in Big Easy Blends of New Orleans.

Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning

Paris-based Shift Technology raised $220 million in Series D funding led by Advent International and joined by Avenir and existing investors Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and Iris Capital. The French startup uses artificial intelligence technology to detect fraudulent insurance claims. Shift was established in 2013 and has raised a total of $320 million in private funding, per Crunchbase.

PathAI received $165 million in Series C funding co-led by D1 Capital Partners and Kaiser Permanente and joined by existing investors General Atlantic, LabCorp, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Merck. The Boston-based pathology technology startup was founded in 2016 and has raised a total of more than $255 million in private funding.

Axtria of Berkeley Heights, N.J., raised $150 million in private equity funding from Bain Capital, valuing the provider of life sciences data analytics software at almost $1 billion. Axtria was established in 2010 and has raised a total of more than $206 million in private funding.

Dayton, Ohio-based Oculii received $55 million in Series B funding co-led by Catapult Ventures and Conductive Ventures, with participation by Taiwania Capital, Susquehanna Investment Group, HELLA Ventures, PHI-Zoyi Capital, R7 Partners, VectoIQ, ACVC Partners, Mesh Ventures, SV Tech Ventures, Schox Ventures, and Signature Bank. The developer of AI software for radar perception was founded in 2015 and has raised a total of more than $76 million in private funding.

Other funding rounds in May: Faculty raised $42.5 million in growth funding; Pecan AI raised $35 million in Series B funding; Heru raised $30 million in Series A funding; SymphonyRM raised $25 million in Series B funding; StarTree raised $24 million in Series A funding; Planck raised $20 million in growth funding; Optimal Dynamics raised $18.4 million in Series A funding; Corvus Insurance added $15 million to its Series C funding; Edge Impulse raised $15 million in Series A funding; Fireflies.ai raised $14 million in Series A funding; Outcomes4Me raised $12 million in Series A funding; CognitOps raised $11 million in Series A funding; Hyro raised $10.5 million in Series A funding; Sprout.ai raised £8 million (about $11.35 million) in Series A funding; Clinch raised $10 million in Series A funding; Elucid raised $8 million in Series A funding; Filtered.ai raised $7 million in new funding; Plunk raised $6.5 million in seed funding; Wysa raised $5.5 million in Series A funding; DeepScribe raised $5.2 million in seed funding; Hayden AI Technologies raised $4.5 million in seed funding; Visionary.ai raised $4.5 million in seed funding; Qsic raised $3.1 million in Series A funding; Superops.ai raised $3 million in seed funding; and AeroCloud Systems raised $1.7 million in seed funding.

In other news: LiveAction bought Counterflow AI.

Automotive/Mobility

BETA Technologies of South Burlington, Vt., raised $368 million in new funding led by Fidelity, with participation by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund. The developer of a fully integrated electric aviation ecosystem was established in 2017 and has raised a total of $511 million in private funding, according to Crunchbase.

Cedar Park, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace raised a total of $175 million in Series A funding led by DADA Holdings, valuing the small satellite launch startup at more than $1 billion. Firefly plans to raise another $300 million this year and completed a $100 million secondary purchase of shares from Noosphere Ventures. The startup was founded in 2014 and has raised a total of nearly $197 million in private funding.

Solid Power of Louisville, Ky., received $130 million in Series B funding co-led by Ford Motor and BMW, with participation by Volta Energy Technologies. The developer of solid-state batteries was established in 2011 and has raised a total of more than $186 million in private funding.

Einride, a Swedish developer of autonomous freight trucks, raised $110 million in Series B funding. Temasek, Soros Fund Management, Northzone, and Maersk Growth led the round and were joined by existing investors EQT Ventures, Plum Alley, Norrsken VC, Ericsson, and NordicNinja VC. The startup was founded in 2016 and has raised a total of more than $152 million in private funding.

Other funding rounds in May: DST raised $100 million in Series C funding; Virtuo raised $96 million in Series C funding; Innovusion raised $64 million in Series B funding; Infinitum Electric raised $40 million in Series C funding; Jerry Services raised $28 million in Series B funding; Twaice raised $26 million in Series B funding; Merlin Labs raised $25 million in new funding; Portside raised $17 million in new funding; WeaveGrid raised $15 million in Series A funding; Auto Mile raised $10.3 million in seed funding; Moxion Power raised $10 million in Series A funding; Scantinel Photonics raised €7.5 million (about $9.15 million) in new funding; and Cron AI raised $4 million in Series A funding.

In other news: WeRide, a developer of autonomous vehicles in China, raised a Series C round of funding from IDG Capital, Homeric Capital, CoStone Capital, Cypress Star, Sky9 Capital, K3 Ventures, and existing investors CMC Capital Partners, Qiming Venture Partners, and Alpview Capital, valuing the startup at $3.3 billion; Clarios filed confidentially for an IPO; and Wejo, a British automotive data exchange platform, is in talks to go public via Virtuoso Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: VOSO), per Bloomberg. Wejo has raised around $200 million from such investors as General Motors, DIP Capital, HELLA Ventures, Platina Partners, and the U.K. government.

Lordstown Motors is one of several startups developing electric vehicles. The company has had several setbacks, including having a prototype vehicle in Michigan catch fire and burn so long and so hot that the rubber tires melted.

President Joe Biden this month visited a Ford plant in Michigan and took an electric pickup truck out for a spin on the test track.

Biotech

Oxford Nanopore Technologies of the U.K. raised £195 million (about $276.6 million) in Series H funding at a valuation of £2.48 billion ($3.52 billion), ahead of an expected 2021 IPO. Investors include IP Group, Wellington Management, Temasek, M&G Investments, and Nikon. Oxford Nanopore was established in 2005 and has raised a total of about $1.41 billion in private funding, per Crunchbase.

Singapore-based Esco Lifesciences Group received $200 million in Series A funding co-led by Novo Holdings and Vivo Capital. The developer of cell and gene therapy tools was founded in 1978.

NiKang Therapeutics of Wilmington, Del., raised $200 million in Series C funding co-led by Cormorant Asset Management, HBM Healthcare, and Octagon Capital Advisors. Other investors include EcoR1 Capital, Perceptive Advisors, Wellington Management, Ally Bridge Group, Pavilion Capital, BlackRock, RA Capital Management, Surveyor Capital, Samsara BioCapital, PFM Health Sciences, Invus, Janus Henderson, Logos Capital and existing investors CBC Group, RTW Investments, Lilly Asia Ventures, Matrix Partners China, and Casdin Capital.The developer of small-molecule oncology medicines was established in 2017 and has raised a total of $250 million in private funding.

Nuvalent received $135 million in Series B funding led by Bain Capital Life Sciences and joined by Fidelity, Wellington Management, Viking Global Investors, Janus Henderson, Avoro Capital Advisors, Boxer Capital, Venrock, Fairmount Funds, Driehaus Capital Management, Logos Capital, and founding investor Deerfield Management. The Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech focused on kinase targets in cancer was founded in 2017 and has raised a total of $185 million in private funding.

Other funding rounds in May: Hummingbird Biosciences raised $125 million in Series C funding; Affinia Therapeutics raised $110 million in Series B funding; Numab Therapeutics raised about $110 million in Series C funding; Dyno Therapeutics raised $100 million in Series A funding; HiberCell raised $97.4 million in Series B and debt funding; Interline Therapeutics raised $92 million in seed and Series A funding; Immuta raised $90 million in Series D funding; Cellares raised $82 million in Series B funding; Flare Therapeutics raised $82 million in Series A funding; Interius BioTherapeutics raised $76 million in Series A funding; Esker Therapeutics raised $70 million in Series A funding; Alebond Pharmaceuticals raised $60 million in Series B funding; Eliem Therapeutics raised $60 million in Series B funding; Oculis raised $57 million in Series C funding; Appia Bio raised $52 million in Series A funding; Laronde raised $50 million in seed funding; TwinStrand Biosciences raised $50 million in Series B funding; LifeQ raised $47 million in Series A funding; Engine Biosciences raised $43 million in growth funding; Adaptive Phage Therapeutics raised $40.75 million in Series B funding; Phanes Therapeutics raised $40 million in Series B funding; ThinkCyte raised $26 million in Series B funding; RenBio raised $24 million in Series A funding; August Bioservices added $23.6 million to its Series A funding; HAYA Therapeutics raised almost $20 million in seed funding; Therini Bio raised $17 million in seed funding; Overture Life raised $15 million in Series B funding; Giant Pharma raised $11 million in seed funding; Cumulus Neuroscience raised £6 million (about $8.5 million) in new funding; MAIA Biotechnology raised $8 million in a convertible note; miRecule raised $5.7 million in seed funding; Oisín Biotechnologies raised $5 million in seed funding; Anodyne Nanotech raised $4.2 million in seed funding; Resbiotic raised $3 million in seed funding; and HeartBeat.org raised $1.8 million in seed funding.

In other news: Allergan Aesthetics, a unit of AbbVie, will pay $550 million in cash to buy Soliton, a Houston-based maker of aesthetic medical devices for tattoo and cellulite removal.

Cybersecurity

Forter, a New York-based provider of e-commerce fraud prevention offerings, raised $300 million in Series F funding at a $3 billion valuation. Tiger Global Management led and was joined by Third Point Ventures, Adage Capital Management, and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, March Capital, NewView Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and Scale Venture Partners. The cybersecurity startup was established in 2013 and has raised a total of $525 million in private funding, according to Crunchbase.

Switzerland’s Acronis International raised more than $250 million in new funding led by CVC Capital Partners at a valuation north of $2.5 billion. It previously raised $170 million from firms like Goldman Sachs, Delta-V Capital, Insight Partners, and Almaz Capital. The cybersecurity and data protection startup was founded in 2003 and has raised a total of $420 million in private funding.

Wiz, an Israeli cloud security startup, raised $120 million in Series B funding. Salesforce Ventures and The Blackstone Group co-led and were joined by existing investors Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Advent Venture Partners. The Tel Aviv-based company was established in 2020 and has raised a total of $350 million in private funding.

Minneapolis-based NetSPI raised $90 million in private equity funding led by KKR and joined by Ten Eleven Ventures. The cybersecurity startup was founded in 2001. This is the company’s first outside funding. NetSPI provides penetration testing and other services. Its clients include Broadridge Financial Solutions, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, McKesson, Medtronic, Microsoft, and the U.S. Air Force.

Other funding rounds in May: Arkose Labs raised $70 million in Series B funding; Salt Security raised $70 million in Series C funding; Tessian raised $65 million in Series C funding; Persona raised $50 million in Series B funding; Uptycs raised $50 million in Series C funding; Vanta raised $50 million in Series A funding; Cymulate raised $45 million in Series C funding; Huntress raised $40 million in Series B funding; Material Security raised $40 million in Series B funding; Styra raised $40 million in Series B funding; Upstream Security raised $36 million in Series C funding; DataDome raised $35 million in Series B funding; Cynerio raised $30 million in Series B funding; Panaseer raised $26.5 million in Series B funding; Cyral raised $26 million in Series B funding; Cycode raised $20 million in Series A funding; SAM Seamless Network raised $20 million in Series B funding; ThreatLocker raised $20 million in Series B funding; 42Crunch raised $17 million in Series A funding; Authomize raised $16 million in Series A funding; BluBracket raised $12 million in Series A funding; Anvilogic raised $10 million in Series A funding; Britive raised $10 million in Series A funding; Dasera raised $6 million in seed funding; Syxsense raised $6 million in new funding; Query.AI raised $4.6 million in seed funding; SpecTrust raised $4.3 million in seed funding; ArmorCode raised $3 million in seed funding; Twosense raised $3 million in seed funding; and Calamu Technologies raised $2.4 million in seed funding.

In other news: Blu Venture Investors set up a $25 million venture capital fund for cybersecurity startups; Jamf agreed to acquire Wandera for $400 million in cash — $350 million upfront followed by two payments of $25 million; Snyk agreed to acquire FossID of Sweden; Cisco Systems agreed to acquire Kenna Security; and TA Associates invested in Radiant Logic.

Digital Health

This analysis looks at the 10 biggest funding rounds in digital health so far this year.

Here are up-to-date funding rounds during the month of May.

Noom, a New York-based weight and wellness application, raised about $540 million in Series F funding. Silver Lake led and was joined by Oak HC/FT, Temasek, Novo Holdings, and existing investors Sequoia Capital, RRE, and Samsung Ventures. Noom was established in 2008 and has raised a total of more than $657 million in private funding, per Crunchbase.

Cue Health, a San Diego-based developer of portable health testing offerings, received $235 million in private equity funding from Perceptive Advisors, MSD Capital, Koch Strategic Platforms, and existing investors Johnson & Johnson Innovation — JJDC, Decheng Capital, CAVU Ventures, and ACME Capital. The startup reportedly has hired bankers for an IPO. Cue was founded in 2010.

Boston-based Akili Interactive Labs raised $160 million in equity/debt funding led by Neuberger Berman Funds with participation from new investors Polaris Partners; Mirae Assets; Shionogi & Co., Ltd.; New Leaf Venture Partners; Dave Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox Corporation; QUAD Investment Management; Ladera Venture Partners; and existing investors Temasek, Baillie Gifford, JAZZ Venture Partners, Evidity Health Capital, Omidyar Technology Ventures, Fearless Ventures, Amgen Ventures, and M Ventures. The startup was established in 2011 and has raised a total of nearly $301 million in private funding.

Huma Therapeutics, a London-based mobile digital health platform, raised $130 million in Series C funding. Bayer and Hitachi Ventures co-led and were joined by Samsung Next, Sony Innovation Fund, Unilever Ventures, HAT Technology & Innovation Fund, Nikesh Arora, and Michael Diekmann. The startup was founded in 2011 and has raised a total of $184 million in private funding.

Other funding rounds in May: Vida Health raised $110 million in Series D funding; Binx Health raised $104 million in Series E funding; Medically Home raised $100 million in a corporate round by the Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente; Oura Health raised $100 million in Series C funding; Ada Health raised $90 million in Series B funding; Headway raised $70 million in Series B funding; Emboline raised more than $55 million in Series D funding; Smile2Impress raised $50 million in Series A funding; Wheel raised $50 million in Series B funding; Unmind raised $47 million in Series B funding; Vori Health raised $45 million in Series A funding; Juno Diagnostics raised $25 million in Series A funding; Clearing raised $20 million in Series A funding; Eleanor Health raised $20 million in Series B funding; Heartbeat Health raised $20 million in Series B funding; Octave Health raised $20 million in Series B funding; Pack4U raised $20 million in new funding; BiVACOR raised $19 million in Series B funding; Neuroelectrics raised $17.5 million in Series A funding; Pawp raised $13 million in Series A funding; UltraSight raised $13 million in Series B funding; Artio Medical added $12 million to its Series A funding, now at $46 million; Memora Health raised $10.5 million in private funding; Blackrock Neurotech raised $10 million in new funding; Healios raised $9.9 million in Series A funding; AcuityMD raised $7 million in seed funding; Vella Bioscience raised $7 million in seed II funding; Laguna Health raised $6.6 million in seed funding; Emocha Health raised $6.3 million in Series A funding; Flume Health raised $6 million in seed II funding; Healthstore Holdings raised $4 million in Series A funding; Rocket Doctor raised $3.8 million in seed funding; and Zenovate raised $1 million in seed funding.

In other news: Walmart Health is buying MeMD; Ro is buying Modern Fertility; 7wire Ventures raised $150 million to invest in digital health startups; Science 37, a developer of “site-less” clinical trials, agreed to go public at an implied $1.05 billion valuation via LifeSci Acquisition II (Nasdaq: LSAQ), per Bloomberg.

Robotics

Path Robotics, the Columbus, Ohio-based developer of autonomous robotic welding systems, raised $56 million in Series B funding. Addition led and was joined by Drive Capital, Basis Set Ventures, and Lemnos Lab. The startup was established in 2014 and has raised a total of $71 million in private funding, according to Crunchbase.

TerraClear, a Bellevue, Wash.-based developer of robotic rock-pickers, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Madrona Venture Group. The robotics startup was founded in 2017 and has raised a total of more than $38 million in private funding.

Other funding rounds in May: Youibot raised $15.5 million in new funding; Chef Robotics raised $7.7 million in seed funding; ViaBot raised $6.1 million in Series A funding; MOVIA Robotics raised $5 million in seed funding; and Lydus Medical raised $2.7 million in seed funding.

In other news: Munich, Germany-based sewts, a robotics startup, completed a seven-figure financing round; Mech-Mind Robotics completed Series C funding; Memic Innovative Surgery, an Israeli developer of robot-assisted surgical solutions, is in talks to go public via MedTech Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: MTAC), per Bloomberg — Memic has raised nearly $100 million from such investors as Peregrine Ventures, Ceros, OurCrowd, and Accelmed.

Software

San Francisco-based Circle Internet Services, doing business as CircleCI, provides a continuous integration and delivery platform for software development and has raised $100 million in Series F funding at a $1.7 billion post-money valuation. Greenspring Associates led the round, while existing investors include IVP and Sapphire Ventures. CircleCI also acquired Vamp, a Dutch orchestration release platform. The startup was established in 2011 and has raised a total of $315 million in private funding, per Crunchbase.

VAST Data of New York received $83 million in Series D funding led by Tiger Global with participation by Nvidia and other investors. The startup provides data-storage software. VAST Data was founded in 2016 and has raised a total of $263 million in private funding.

Other funding rounds in May: Lightrun raised $23 million in Series A funding; Sensedia raised $21 million in private equity funding; BluBracket raised $12 million in Series A funding; Educative raised $12 million in Series A funding; Pliant.io raised $10 million in Series A funding; Adalo raised $8 million in Series A funding; Sosivio raised $4 million in seed funding; Obviously AI raised $3.6 million in seed funding; Cortex Intel raised $2.5 million in seed funding; Cased raised $2.25 million in seed funding; and Agnostiq raised $2 million in seed funding.

In other news: Keysight Technologies of Santa Rosa, Calif., acquired Quantum Benchmark of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The Canadian firm offers software for error diagnostics, error suppression, and performance validation software for quantum computing. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. This is the third quantum computing-related acquisition Keysight has made in recent years.

Semiconductors

Toronto-based Tenstorrent raised more than $200 million in Series C funding led by Fidelity with participation by Eclipse Ventures, Epic CG, and Moore Capital. The Canadian startup develops graphics processing units for use in high-performance computing, taking on artificial intelligence workloads. The AI chip startup was established in 2016 and has raised a total of more than $234 million, according to Crunchbase.

Another Toronto startup, Xanadu Quantum Technologies, received $100 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners and joined by existing investors Georgian Partners, OMERS, and Tim Draper. Xanadu is developing photonic quantum computing technology. The startup was founded in 2016 and has raised a total of more than $135 million in private funding.

Other funding rounds in May: Lightmatter raised $80 million in Series B funding; SiMa.ai raised $80 million in Series B funding; Mythic raised $70 million in Series C funding; Atonarp raised $50 million in Series D funding; Exeger raised $38 million in debt/equity funding; Agile Analog raised $19 million in Series A funding; Ramon.Space raised $17.5 million in Series A funding; SiLC Technologies raised $17 million in Series A funding; MacroFab raised $15 million in Series B funding; eYs3D Microelectronics raised $7 million in Series A funding; PointGrab raised about $4.8 million in new funding; Qnami raised $4.4 million in Series A funding; QphoX raised €2 million (about $2.44 million) in venture funding; and Munich-based MetisMotion raised €1.5 million (around $1.83 million) in seed funding.

In other news: MemryX completed Series A funding; Beijing-based Moore Threads received funding for its graphics processing unit technology and services; Foxxconn Technology Group is in talks to buy a minority stake in listed Malaysian chipmaker DNeX, per Bloomberg; Alphawave IP Group raised $1.2 billion in a London IPO; Valens Semiconductor is going public through a reverse merger; Siemens acquired Fractal Technologies; and STMicroelectronics acquired Cartesiam.

Odds and Ends

David’s Bridal raised $70 million in debt funding from CPP Investments. The company develops mobile applications and sells beautiful dresses for brides and bridesmaids. David’s Bridal was established in 1950.

AnyClip, an Israeli provider of online video analytics, raised $47 million in new funding led by Jerusalem Venture Partners and joined by La Maison and Bank Mizrahi. The startup was founded in 2008 and has raised a total of $71 million in private funding, per Crunchbase.

Other funding rounds in May: Rally raised $30 million in Series B funding; Bitski raised $19 million in Series A funding; Thrilling raised $8.5 million in Series A funding; RTFKT raised $8 million in Series A funding; Greg (a plant-care application, not a dude named Greg) raised $5.4 million in seed funding; and CoinBurp raised $2 million in seed funding.

Fundraising

A quick compendium of fundraising by private equity and venture capital firms during the month of May: KKR raised $18.5 billion; Hillhouse Capital is raising around $18 for three new funds; Permira is raising more than $15 billion; Bullish Global raised $10 billion; Tiger Global Management is raising $10 billion; Quantum Energy Partners is raising $4.5 billion; West Street Global Growth Partners raised more than $3 billion; Linden Capital Partners is raising $3 billion for two funds; Park Square Capital raised €1.8 billion (about $2.2 billion); Audax raised $1.85 billion; Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) raised $1.8 billion; Veritas Capital raised $1.8 billion; Frazier Healthcare Partners raised $1.4 billion; Bain Capital Ventures raised $1.3 billion; Further Global is raising $1.25 billion; BBN Capital Partners raised more than $1.2 billion; EnCap Investments raised $1.2 billion; Asterion Industrial Partners raised €925 million (about $1.13 billion); Deerpath Capital Management raised $1.1 billion; Orion Energy Partners raised $1.08 billion; and HgCapital is raising up to $1 billion.