Mega-Deal Vector Points To AI, As Activity Picks Back Up

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Countering macroeconomic slowdown trends highlighted by the Commerce Department and jitters around First Republic Bank, venture deals continued to flow at a steady pace last week.

Let’s unpack which sectors VCs expect to remain resilient.

John

📈Last Week’s Most Popular Link📈

🖥️ Quantum Source, a Rehovot, Israel-based photonic quantum computing startup, raised $12 million in a Seed extension funding round led by Dell Technologies Capital, with participation from Eclipse VC, Grove Ventures and Pitango First. (More in VentureBeat)

🤝 M&A 🤝

💵 Kakao Pay, a Seoul, South Korea-based online payment service of messaging and internet giant Kakao, acquired a 19.9% stake in Siebert Financial, a New York, NY-based brokerage firm, for $17 million. (More in TechCrunch)

🚚 Descartes Systems Group, a Waterloo, ON-based publicly traded SaaS company for logistics-intensive businesses, acquired the assets of Localz, a Melbourne, Australia-based customer experience platform for last-mile delivery that had raised VC funding from Triple Point, Notion and Kreos Capital, for $6.2 million in cash. (More in Supply Chain Dive)

🏥 Axonics, an Irvine, CA-based medical equipment manufacturer focused on bladder and bowel dysfunction, acquired the assets of Radian, a medtech startup, comprising hardware and software of a system aimed at improving the process of placing temporary neurostimulation (SNM) leads in the correct location near the sacral nerve, that had been backed by Intermed Labs, for an undisclosed amount. (More in Fierce Biotech)

🏇 Yahoo, a Sunnyvale, CA-based global media and tech company, acquired Wagr, a Nashville, TN-based social sports betting operator that had raised $16 million from Greycroft, Seven Seven Six, Kraft Group and individual investors, at undisclosed terms. (More in TechCrunch)

🔎 Sourcing Ideas 🔎

(Companies that had raises reported ~1 year ago, on or around Apr 29, 2022)

🧑 💼 Wisq, a Redwood City, CA-based employee experience and communication software, raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from True Ventures and Shasta Ventures, bringing total amount raised over $40 million. (More in PR Newswire)

🧠 Synthesis AI, a San Francisco, CA-based AI modeling startup, raised $17 million in a Series A funding round led by 468 Capital, with participation from Sorenson Ventures, Strawberry Creek Ventures, Bee Partners, PJC, iRobot Boom Capital and Kubera Venture Capital. (More in TechCrunch)

🏥 CytoTronics, a Boston, MA-based biotech company for drug screening at semiconductor scale, raised $9.25 million in a Seed funding round led by Anzu Partners, with participation from BoxOne Ventures and other investors. (More in FinSMEs)

💰 VC Deals 💰

☢️ Avalanche Energy, a Seattle, WA-based nuclear fusion startup, raised $40 million in a Series A funding round led by Lowercarbon Capital, with participation from Founders Fund and Toyota Ventures. (More in FinSMEs)

🫘 Dori, an Atlanta, GA-based automation platform for private market transactions, raised $2 million in a Seed funding round from Counterpart Ventures, Correlation Ventures and Service Provider Capital. (More in FinSMEs)

🏥 Pattern Bioscience, an Austin, TX-based provider of rapid diagnosis and antibiotic susceptibility testing for bacterial infections, raised $28.7 million in a Series C funding round co-led by Illumina Ventures and Omnimed Capital, with participation from AMR Action Fund and Daleshaw Ltd. (More in LabPulse.com)

📹 DeepHow, a Detroit, MI-based AI company that turns technical know-how into how-to training videos, raised $14 million in a Series A funding round led by Owl Ventures, with participation from LG Technology Ventures, as well as existing investors Sierra Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Osage Venture Partners and Foothill Ventures. (More in FinSMEs)

🏥 Foresight Diagnostics, an Aurora, CO-based developer of cancer detection tests, raised $59 million in a Series B funding round led by Foresite Capital, with participation from Civilization Ventures, Bluebird Ventures, Pear Ventures, Agent Capital, Stanford University and The University of Colorado Healthcare Innovation Fund. (More in FinSMEs)

⌨️ Replit, a San Francisco, CA-based collaborative software development environment, raised $97.4 million at a $1.2 billion valuation in a Series B extension round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Coatue, SV Angel, Y Combinator, Bloomberg Beta, ARK Ventures and individual investors. (More in TechCrunch)

💸 Axoni, a New York, NY-based provider of data synchronization and financial market infrastructure, raised $20 million in an equity financing round led by EJF Ventures, with participation from Laurion Capital Management and Communitas Capital, bringing the total raised since inception to $110 million. (More in FinTech Global)

⛓️ Amboss Technologies, a Portland, OR-based data analytics firm focused on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, raised $4 million in a Seed funding round from Stillmark, with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Draper Associates, Fulgur Ventures and Ride Wave Ventures. (More in Bitcoin Magazine)

🔒 AaDya Security, a Detroit, MI-based provider of cybersecurity solutions for SMBs, raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from current investors 645 Ventures, Firebrand Ventures, Gaingels and Invest Detroit. (More in SecurityWeek)

🤝 Levitate, a Raleigh, NC-based CRM software startup, raised $14 million in a Series C funding round from Bull City Venture Partners, Tippet Partners, Protagonist and The Tweener Fund. (More in FinSMEs)

🏹 Pinecone, a New York, NY-based vector database company creating long-term memory applications for AI, raised $100 million at a $750 million valuation in a Series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Iconiq Growth, as well as insiders Menlo Ventures and Wing VC. (More in VentureBeat)

🏥 Practice Better, a Toronto-based practice management software platform for health and wellness professionals, raised $27 million in a growth funding round led by Five Elms Capital. (More in FinSMEs)

💊 Antiva Biosciences, a South San Francisco, CA-based biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the treatment of diseases caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, raised $53 million in a Series E funding round led by MPM-BioImpact Capital, and joined by existing investors Canaan Partners, Sofinnova Investments, Adjuvant Capital, GV and Lumira Ventures. (More in Fierce Biotech)

⛓️ Cata Labs, a New York, NY-based startup building an open-source protocol for modular blockchains, raised $4.2 million in a funding round led by Spartan Group, with participation from Robot Ventures, Maven11, Alchemy Ventures, HashKey Capital, Circle Ventures, Superscrypt and a number of angel investors. (More in FinSMEs)

📲 Fireside, a San Francisco, CA-based interactive entertainment app, raised $25 million at a $138 million post-money valuation in a Series A funding round from a number of individual investors. (More in TechCrunch)

♻️ CarbonChain, a London, U.K.-based carbon accounting platform, raised $10 million in a Series A funding round co-led by USV and Voyager Ventures. (More in TechCrunch)

♻️ Ohmium, an Incline Village, NV-based green hydrogen company, raised $250 million in a Series C funding round led by TPG Rise Climate, with participation from Hanover Technology Investment Management, as well as insiders Energy Transition Ventures and Fenice Investment Group. (More in Reuters)

🏥 Orbital Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of RNA medicines, raised $270 million in a Series A funding round led by Arch Venture Partners, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Newpath Partners, Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, Redmile Group, Exor, Invus, Moore Strategic Ventures, iGlobe Platinum Fund Group, Casdin Capital, Agent Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Rellim Capital Management and Heritage Medical Systems. (More in Fierce Biotech)

🛵 Luup, a Tokyo, Japan-based shared micromobility startup, raised ~$30 million in a Series D equity and debt funding round led by Spiral Capital. (More in TechCrunch)

💊 Adcentrx Therapeutics, a San Diego, CA and Shanghai, China-based biotech advancing antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapeutics for cancer and other life-threatening diseases, closed a $38 million Series A+ financing led by Eight Roads Ventures, with participation from F-Prime Capital, ABio-X, Delta Capital, Trinity Innovation Fund and other investors. (More in FinSMEs)

🧠 Ox, a Bentonville, AR-based provider of an AI-powered technology platform for frontline operations, raised $12.6 million in a Series A funding round co-led by BBG Ventures and MaC Venture Capital, with participation from existing investors Cortado Ventures, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Florida Funders, KCRise, Tech Square Labs, and Vuzix, as well as new investors Atento Capital and Agya Ventures. (More in FinSMEs)

🎟️ POSH, a New York, NY-based event management and ticketing platform democratizing access to live experiences, raised $5 million in a Seed funding round co-led by Companyon Ventures and Epic Ventures, with participation from Day One Ventures, Pareto Holdings and Joshua Browder. (More in FinSMEs)

🚗 Rinsed, a New York, NY and Lehi, UT-based car wash CRM company, raised $20 million in a Series B funding round from VMG Technology. (More in FinSMEs)

☁️ Bobsled, a Los Angeles, CA-based provider of a cross-cloud data sharing platform, raised $24 million in total, with the $17 million Series A funding round co-led by Greycroft and Madrona, following the $7 million Seed round led by .406 Ventures. (More in TechCrunch)

🕬 PreAct Technologies, a Portland, OR-based near-field software-definable flash LiDAR technology company, had a second close of the Series B funding round led by I Squared Capital, with participation from previous investors State Farm Ventures, Luminate and Traylor Capital among other new and existing investors, bringing the total raised in the round to $20 million. (More in PR Newswire)

🦾 Veo Robotics, a Waltham, MA-based startup designing responsive machines for flexible factories, raised $29 million in a Series B funding round led by Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Safar Partners and Yamaha Motor Ventures. (More in TechCrunch)

👩 🎓 Summer, a New York, NY-based certified B Corp offering student debt repayment tools, raised $6 million in a Series A extension funding round with participation from General Catalyst, QED, Flourish Ventures, Partnership Fund for NYC, Story Ventures, Gaingels, Calm VC and Avidbank, bringing Series A funding to $16 million and total funding raised to $18 million. (More in TechCrunch)

♻️ H Cycle, LLC, a Mountain View, CA-based startup producing renewable hydrogen from waste feedstocks, raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding round led by Azimuth Capital Management and ENEOS Innovation Partners. (More in PR Newswire)

📨 Community, a Seattle, WA-based SMS engagement platform, raised $25 million from Morgan Stanley Next Level, HubSpot, Pier 70 Ventures, Verizon Ventures, GSW Ventures, Backstage Capital, Wocstar Fund and insider Salesforce Ventures. (More in FinSMEs)

🕵️ IDPartner Systems, a San Francisco, CA-based identity verification startup, raised $3.1 million in a Seed funding round led by Abstract Ventures, with participation from Foundation Capital, Circle Ventures, Firsthand Alliance, Correlation Ventures, Success Venture Partners and Aleo. (More in FinSMEs)

🔌Span, a San Francisco, CA-based home electrification startup, raised $96 million in a Series B funding round led by Wellington Management, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures and insiders Congruent Ventures, Capricorn Investment Group, Munich Re Ventures, Fifth Wall, A/O PropTech, Qualcomm Ventures and Amazon’s Alexa Fund. (More in FinSMEs)

🔪 Chiefy, a New York, NY-based cloud platform for surgical team collaboration, raised $4.2 million in a Seed funding round led by LionBird, with participation from Nina Capital and Emerge Ventures. (More in FinSMEs)

🛒 Super (fka Snapcommerce), a San Francisco, CA-based commerce savings and rewards App, raised $60 million in an equity funding round led by Inovia Capital and a number of individual investors, plus a $25 million credit facility. (More in TechCrunch)

👓 Katmai, a New York, NY-based future of work platform that unlocks the benefits of the shared in-office experience through immersive, custom 3D worlds, raised $22 million in a Series A financing round led by Starr Insurance Companies, with participation from individual investors. (More in VentureBeat)

🪵Woodoo, a Paris, France-based maker of augmented wood composite materials, raised $31 million in an equity and debt funding round led by Lowercarbon Capital, with participation from One Creation and Purple. (More in TechCrunch)

We will be back same time next week to report on how the month of May opened.

Until then.

John

John Gannon // VC Careers // VC Deals

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