Exits Abound, Fundraising Remains Strong As Environment Heats Up
John Gannon
Founder (Venture5 Media & V5 Summit, GoingVC) + Investor (Angel, LP, Syndicate Lead)
Greetings, dear reader!
The shorter last week in the U.S. didn't affect dealmaking volumes, as VC financings sustained and exits of venture-backed companies - both to strategics and to sponsors - ticked up. Plenty of deals to unpack from the week that was.
Let's get to it.
John
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⭐FEATURED DEAL⭐
🔢 Rows, a Berlin, Germany-based AI-powered cloud spreadsheet app, raised $8.7 million in a funding round led by Indico Capital Partners, with participation from Cherry Ventures, Accel, Lakestar and Armilar Venture Partners.
We also interviewed Torben Schulz (Co-Founder and COO) about the fundraise, and learned:
Let us know if we should do more interviews of founders who have just raised. Just comment below and tell us what you think.
📈LAST WEEK IN REVIEW📈
Here's how U.S. investors backed companies by geographic location this week (vs last week):
The pie chart below displays the distribution of investment across different funding stages for the 28 of 46 U.S. deals where such details were provided.
🔎 SOURCING IDEAS 🔎
Companies which had raises reported ~1 year ago, on or around June 2, 2023
🧫 Modulo Bio, a San Diego, CA-based biotech focused on neurodegenerative diseases, raised $8 million in a funding round from Initialized Capital, Cantos, Bioverge, Spacecadet, Builders VC, Refactor Capital and Hawktail.
🦷 Wellplaece, a San Francisco, CA-based marketplace for dentistry products, raised $5.5 million in a pre-Seed and Seed funding rounds co-led by Eniac Ventures and Bee Partners, with participation from individual investors.
🏥 Dock Health, a Boston, MA-based administrative hub for healthcare professionals, raised $5 million in a funding round led by MassMutual, with participation from DaVita Venture Group and August Capital.
📈LAST WEEK’S MOST POPULAR LINK📈
🛒 Remark, a New York, NY-based shopping guidance platform, raised $10.3 million in a Seed funding round from Spero Ventures, Stripe, Shine Capital, Neo, Sugar Capital and Visible Ventures.
🤝 M&A 🤝
📝 KKR, a New York, NY-based global investment firm, acquired Agiloft, a Redwood City, CA-based contract lifecycle management platform which had raised $140 million from FTV Capital and other investors, for an undisclosed amount.
🔬 Precision for Medicine, a Bethesda, MD-based precision medicine CRO backed by Blackstone, acquired Algorics, a biometrics services provider which had raised $2.5 million from venture investors, for an undisclosed amount.
🌎 Tennaxia, a Pays de la Loire, France-based corporate and environmental responsibility platform backed by Marlin Equity Partners, acquired Traace, a Paris, France-based enterprise carbon & ESG management SaaS platform which had raised $2.6 million from Orange Ventures, for an undisclosed amount.
⛓️ Talos, a New York, NY-based crypto trading software provider which has raised $105 million from General Atlantic, Stripes, BNY Mellon, Citi, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, DRW Venture Capital, SCB 10x, Matrix Capital Management, Fin VC and Voyager Digital, acquired Skolem, a New York, NY-based decentralized finance access platform which had raised over $20 million from Galaxy Digital, Point72 Ventures, Jump Crypto and Dragonfly Capital, for an undisclosed amount.
🔢 Redpanda, a San Francisco, CA-based streaming data platform which has raised over $160 million, most recently at >$500 million valuation, from Lightspeed, GV, Haystack VC and other investors, acquired Benthos, a Dublin, Ireland-based low-code interface for building data pipelines and transformations, for an undisclosed amount.
⌨️ Harness, a San Francisco, CA-based software delivery platform which has raised over $570 million from Menlo Ventures, ServiceNow Ventures, Unusual Ventures and other investors, most recently at a $3.7 billion valuation, acquired Split, a Redwood City, CA-based feature delivery company which had raised ~$110 million from Accel, Comcast Ventures, Owl Rock Capital Group, M12, Atlassian, ServiceNow, 01 Advisors and other investors, for an undisclosed amount.
💲 Salesforce, a San Francisco, CA-based publicly traded CRM software company, disclosed that earlier this year it acquired Spiff, a Sandy, UT-based sales commission management automation platform which had raised over $115 million from Album VC, Lightspeed, Norwest Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures and other investors, for $419 million.
🖧 Bridgepoint, a London, U.K.-based private asset growth investor, acquired a majority stake in LumApps, a Tassin, France-based social intranet for the enterprise which had raised just over $100 million from Goldman Sachs, Bpifrance, Idinvest Partners, Iris Capital and Famille C, for $650 million.
🧫 Johnson & Johnson, a New Brunswick, NJ-based publicly traded innovative medicine and MedTech company, acquired the rights to an atopic dermatitis antibody from Numab Therapeutics, a Horgen, Switzerland-based company developing multi-specific antibody-based immunotherapies for inflammation and cancer which had raised $132 million from Forbion, Cormorant, BVF Partners, RTW Investments, BlackRock, Novo Holdings, HBM Partners and Octagon Capital Advisors, for $1.25 billion in cash.
💊 Merck, a Rahway, NJ-based global pharmaceutical company, acquired EyeBio, a London, U.K.-based eye disease drug developer which had raised ~$130 million from SV Health Investors, MRL Ventures Fund, Gershon Capital, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Jeito, Samsara BioCapital, Vertex Ventures HC and Omega Funds, for up to $3 billion, including $1.3 billion in cash upfront.
💰 VC DEALS 💰
💊 Plenful, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI workflow automation platform streamlining pharmacy and healthcare operations, raised $17 million in a Series A funding round led by TQ Ventures, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Susa Ventures and other investors, bringing the total amount raised to date to $25 million.
💳 Forward, an Austin, TX-based embedded payments startup, raised $16 million in a Seed funding round from Commerce Ventures, Elefund and Fiserv.
🏭 Reibus, an Atlanta, GA-based industrial metals marketplace, raised $30 million in equity and debt from Canaan, Nosara and HSBC.
⛓️ Babylon, a Palo Alto, CA-based Bitcoin staking protocol, raised $70 million in a funding round led by Paradigm, with participation from Bullish Capital, Polychain Capital and other investors.
🧪 Valar Labs, a Palo Alto, CA-based developer of cancer care prediction tools, raised $22 million in a Series A funding round co-led by DCVC and a16z Bio + Health, with participation from Pear VC.
🏥 Kalogon, a Melbourne, FL-based company which delivers medically-validated seated health through customized, connected, dynamic seating experiences, raised $1.2 million in a funding round from Sawmill Angels, M7, SeedFundersOrlando and AARP.
👕 (Re)vive, a New York, NY-based provider of a solution addressing the challenges of un-stockable and returned inventory for brands, raised $3.5 million in a Seed funding round led by Equal Ventures, with participation from Hustle Fund, Banter Capital, Coalition Operators, Mute VC, Charge VC, Everywhere VC, Hyphen Capital and individual investors.
🚢 Denim, a Jersey City, NJ-based technology factoring partner for freight brokers, raised $63 million in a warehouse facility provided by SVB and Trinity Capital.
☁️ Mavenir, a Richardson, TX-based cloud-native network infrastructure provider, raised up to $75 million in a funding round from undisclosed existing investors.
🛩️ Portside, a Cary, NC-based provider of software solutions for the business aviation industry, raised an undisclosed amount in a strategic growth funding round led by Vista Equity Partners, with participation from Insight Partners.
💊 Radiomer Therapeutics, a Houston, TX-based company developing targeted radiopharmaceuticals / radioligand therapies for theranostic applications, raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Seed funding round from Fannin Partners.
✍️ RealReviews.io, a New York, NY-based provider of an AI-powered review platform, raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round from undisclosed investors.
🌬️ WindBorne Systems, a Palo Alto, CA-based smart weather balloon maker, raised $15 million in a funding round led by Khosla Ventures.
🧫 Rhea, a Singapore- and New York, NY-based IVF startup, raised $10 million in a funding round led by Thiel Capital, with participation from LifeX Ventures, Blue Lion Global and FJ Labs.
🧫 Weave Bio, a New Haven, CT-based life sciences regulatory automation startup, raised $10 million in a Seed funding round co-led by Innovation Endeavors and Magnetic Ventures.
⛓️ Fortunafi, a Miami, FL-based real-world asset tokenization platform, raised $9.5 million in a funding round from Shima Capital, Manifold, Cobie, Evanss6 and individual investors.
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🛰️ Basalt, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of software for satellite operators, raised $3.5 million in a Seed funding round led by Initialized Capital.
⛓️ Plural Energy, a Boston, MA-based provider of on-chain investment solutions for renewable energy developers, raised $2.3 million in a funding round co-led by Necessary Ventures and Compound Ventures, with participation from Volt Capital and Maven11.
🧮 Slingshot, a Los Angeles, CA-based creator bookkeeping and payments startup, raised $2.2 million in a pre-Seed funding round from Dorm Room Fund, 1916 Enterprises, Key Partners Group and individual investors.
💸 11th Estate, a Middletown, DE-based startup targeting claim payouts from investment-related settlements and fines, raised $2 million in a Seed funding round led by Social Leverage.
🏦 Light Frame, a Providence, RI-based private banking and wealth management technology company, raised $1.7 million in a pre-Seed funding round co-led by ATX Venture Partners and New Stack Ventures.
🏥 Allez Health, a Carlsbad, CA-based provider of a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) biosensor platform, raised $60 million in a Series A extension funding round led by Osang Healthcare, with participation from existing investors.
🏥 Expressable, an Austin, TX-based virtual speech therapy provider, raised $26 million in a Series B funding round led by HarbourVest Partners, with participation from Digitalis Ventures, F-Prime Capital and Lerer Hippeau.
☎️ Maven AGI, a Boston, MA-based startup that helps enterprises to incorporate AI into their customer support, raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by M13, with participation from Lux Capital, E14 Fund and individual investors, bringing the total amount raised to date to $28 million.
🏥 Amino Health, a San Francisco, CA-based healthcare provider navigation startup, raised $10 million in a funding round led by Transformation Capital.
🏥 Posterity Health, a Parker, CO-based male reproductive health provider, raised $6 million in a funding round led by FCA Venture Partners, with participation from Distributed Ventures and WVV.
🎮 Juicy Button Games, a Limassol, Cyprus-based game development studio, raised $3 million in a Seed funding round led by The Games Fund.
🫸 Pro League Network, a New York, NY-based made-for-wagering sports and entertainment platform, raised $2.2 million from individual investors.
📩 Solutions by Text, a Dallas, TX-based startup that helps users pay bills via text, raised $110 million (including ~$16.5 million in venture debt from Stifel Venture Bank) in a funding round co-led by Edison Partners and StepStone Group.
🦉 Old Well Labs (OWL), a Charlotte, NC-based provider of a software platform for finding and monitoring investment managers and allocators, raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding round led by Nellore Capital, with participation from individual investors.
🦆 Ducky, a Nashville, TN-based provider of an AI-powered support platform, raised $2.7 million in a pre-Seed funding round led by Penny Jar Capital, with participation from Bread & Butter Ventures, NOMO Ventures, Wilson Sonsini and other investors.
🖥️ Frore Systems, a San Jose, CA-based maker of solid-state chips for active device cooling, raised $80 million in a Series C funding round led by Fidelity, with participation from Prosperity7, Mayfield, Clear Ventures, Addition, Qualcomm Ventures, MVP Ventures, Stepstone Group and Alumni Ventures.
🤰🏽 Natural Cycles, a Stockholm, Sweden-based maker of a fertility app, raised $55 million in a Series C funding round led by Lauxera Capital Partners, with participation from Point72 Private Investments, EQT Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Heartcore Capital, Headline and Bonnier Ventures, as well as a revolving debt facility from J.P. Morgan.
🏥 Wayspring, a Nashville, TN-based value-based healthcare provider of wellness for people living with substance use disorder, raised $45 million in a funding round led by CVS Health Ventures, with participation from Valtruis, HLM Venture Partners and .406 Ventures.
🔒 Transcend, a Walnut, CA-based data privacy platform, raised $40 million in a Series B funding round led by StepStone Group, with participation from HighlandX, Accel, Index Ventures, 01 Advisors, Script Capital and South Park Commons.
🤰🏽 Gameto, a New York, NY-based biotechnology company focused on therapies for female reproductive health, raised $33 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Two Sigma Ventures and RA Capital, with participation from Insight Partners, Future Ventures, and BOLD Capital Partners, Ingeborg Investments and individual investors, bringing the total amount raised to date to $73 million.
💵 Relay, a Toronto, ON-based provider of cashflow management solutions to SMBs, raised $32.2 million in a Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from BTV, Garage, Industry Ventures and Tapestry.
☁️ Firefly, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based company providing “infrastructure as code” solutions for cloud asset management, raised $23 million in a Series A funding round led by Vertex, with participation from Hanaco, SoftBank, InMotion Ventures and Redseed.
💸 Félix Pago, a San Francisco, CA-based money transfer startup focused on LatAm remittances, raised $15.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Switch Ventures, HTwenty, Contour and MELI Capital.
💸 Authentic, a New York, NY-based startup which helps SaaS platforms and franchisors provide insurance to SMB customers, raised $11 million in a Series A funding round led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from Slow Ventures, Altai Ventures, MGV, Upper90 and Commerce Ventures.
⛓️ SwitchBoard, a Miami, FL-based on-chain Oracle startup, raised $7.5 million in a funding round co-led by Tribe Capital and RockawayX, with participation from Solana Foundation, Aptos Labs, Mysten Labs (Sui), Subzero Ventures, Starkware, Arche Capital, Breed VC, Ascensive Assets and other investors.
🚪 EverFence, a Newport Beach, CA-based fencing marketplace for homeowners and contractors, raised $7 million in a Series A funding round from HighPost Capital and other investors.
🏛️ Kintsugi AI, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a tax automation platform, raised $6 million at a $40 million valuation in a Series A funding round led by Link Ventures, with participation from Venture Highway, KyberKnight, Plug and Play and DeVC.
⛓️ STON.fi, a Dubai, UAE-based decentralized automated market maker, raised $3.6 million in a funding round led by CoinFund, with participation from Delphi Ventures, Karatage and TON Ventures.
✨ xAI, a San Francisco, CA-based generative AI startup, raised $6 billion at a $24 billion valuation in a Series B round from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Fidelity, Craft Ventures, Kingdom Holding and individual investors.
🔒 Averlon, a Redmond, WA-based cloud security company, raised $8 million in a Seed funding round led by Voyager Capital, with participation from Salesforce Ventures, Outpost Ventures and individual investors, bringing the total amount raised to date to $10.5 million.
🕵🏽 Orca, a Cape Town, South Africa-based AI-driven fraud orchestration platform focused on emerging markets, raised $550k in a pre-Seed funding round led by Norrsken22, with participation from First Circle Capital, Musha Ventures, Everywhere Ventures, Kara Ventures and individual investors.
🧮 Supervizor, a Paris, France-based financial anomaly detection platform for accounting teams, raised $22 million in a funding round led by Orange Ventures, with participation from Wille Finance, La Maison Partners, New Alpha Asset Management, Adelie Capital and ISAI.
⛓️ Coinflow, a Chicago, IL-based payment solution that allows web3 companies to accept card payment methods and pay out their customers, raised $2.3 million in a Seed funding round led by CMT Digital, with participation from DCG, Reciprocal Ventures, Jump Crypto and Draper Dragon.
💰 Braavo Capital, a New York, NY-based provider of non-dilutive financing for consumer subscription apps, raised $5 million in a Series B funding round led by existing investors, with participation from Headline, as well as $30 million in debt from Upper90.
🛒 Sagetap, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-driven marketplace matching SaaS buyers and sellers, raised $6.8 million in a funding round from NFX, Uncorrelated Ventures, Emergent Ventures and 15 active customers.
✨ Rain AI, a San Francisco, CA-based AI chip startup, raised $8.1 million in a Series A extension round from Epic Venture Partners.
⛓️ NodeOps, a New York, NY-based provider of a Blockchain node orchestration platform, raised $5 million in a Seed funding round led by L1D, with participation from Blockchain Founders Fund, Finality Capital and other investors.
As temperatures go up, will dealmaking activity follow suit? We’ll be in your Inbox at the same time next Sunday evening with a thorough report.
Untill then.
John
John Gannon // Venture5 Media // VC Deals
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