Another big month of big rounds. A startup needed to raise $200 million or more to break into this list for the April edition. April also saw a half-dozen rounds of a quarter-billion dollars or more, including a $1 billion round for an AI-enhanced biotech. Let’s take a look.

1. Xaira Therapeutics, $1B, biotech: The biggest round in April was really big. Xaira Therapeutics came out of stealth and announced it had secured more than $1 billion of committed capital from lead investors Arch Venture Partners and Foresite Capital — both of which jointly incubated the company — as well as several other big-name investors including Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The San Francisco-based biotech firm is led by founding CEO Marc Tessier-Lavigne, who previously served as president of Stanford University but resigned last year after questions arose concerning his scientific research. Xaira is the latest — although likely best-funded — startup to try to use AI models to find new drugs.

2. Pine Gate Renewables, $650M, energy: Pine Gate Renewables locked up a $650 million investment from Generate Capital, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and HESTA. The Asheville, North Carolina-based solar and energy storage product developer plans to use the new cash to help finance the creation of three gigawatts of clean energy infrastructure in communities across the United States by next year. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $1.7 billion, per Crunchbase.

3. PsiQuantum, $620M, quantum computing: PsiQuantum landed the biggest founding round thus far this year for any quantum startup, beating out Quantinuum’s $300 million equity fundraise at a pre-money valuation of $5 billion in January. The Palo Alto, California-based company landed a financial package of $620 million from the Australian Commonwealth and Queensland governments to build a quantum computer at a strategically located site near Brisbane Airport in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 2016, the company has raised more than $1.3 billion, per Crunchbase.

4. Cyera, $300M, cybersecurity: While it is true cybersecurity funding has significantly slowed, it certainly has not dried up. Data security startup Cyera raised a $300 million Series C led by Coatue at a $1.4 billion valuation. The round nearly triples the New York-based startup’s valuation from its $100 million Series B last June that valued it at $500 million. Founded in 2021, Cyera has raised $460 million to date, per the company. Cyera offers a platform that helps security teams at companies understand what data they have and how it’s used, as well as how to secure it — all of which has become more important with companies relying on data to drive AI initiatives. The startup also uses AI in its platform to assess risks a company’s data represents regarding security, privacy and regulatory compliance.

5. Metsera, $290M, biotech: New York-based Metsera, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup emerged from stealth last month with $290 million in funding led by Arch Venture Partners. The company is exploring medicines for obesity and metabolic diseases with a collection of oral and injectable incretin, nonincretin and combination therapies.

6. Rivos, $250M, semiconductor: Semiconductor startups are seeing big money, in part thanks to the explosion in generative AI. Santa Clara, California-based chip startup Rivos raised more than $250 million in April in a Series A-3 funding led by Matrix Capital Management. The company develops power-optimized chips targeting the data analytics and generative AI markets. Of course, chip startups have seen increasing interest recently. Late last month, Santa Clara-based optical interconnectivity startup Celestial AI raised a massive $175 million Series C led by Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund. Also last month, Astera Labs — a Santa Clara-based developer of data center connectivity technology with use cases in generative AI — soared after its initial public offering on the Nasdaq.

7. Augment, $227M, artificial intelligence: AI coding startups are making a big splash. AI coding assistance startup Augment emerged from stealth last month and locked up a $227 million Series B round at a $977 million post-money valuation. The round included cash from the likes of Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The Palo Alto, California-based company helps developers and software teams by giving them AI coding assistance. Founded in 2022, Augment’s total funding now stands at $252 million, per the company, following its $25 million Series A led by Sutter Hill Ventures in January.

8. Monad Labs, $225M, blockchain: New York-based Monad Labs locked up the biggest Web3 funding round of the year thus far, collecting a $225 million funding round led by Paradigm. Monad is a layer-1 blockchain that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine but can process transactions using the same set of rules faster. The round is reminiscent of the 2021-22 era when layer-1 protocols like Aptos Labs raised big. Founded in 2022, the company has raised $244 million, per Crunchbase.

9. (tied) Blackrock Neurotech, $200M, neuroscience: Stablecoin issuer Tether invested $200 million in Blackrock Neurotech to take a majority stake in the brain-to-computer interface startup. The Salt Lake City-based company creates brain-to-computer interfaces and implants that allow people to control computers and neuroprosthetics. The company had only raised $10 million before the new round from Tether, according to Crunchbase. The round values Blackrock Neurotech at about $350 million, per Reuters. The deal is also the latest headline concerning brain-computer interface technology, which has been pushed by Elon Musk’s Neuralink. That company recently live-streamed a quadriplegic man playing video games using its implant and has raised nearly $700 million, per Crunchbase.

9. (tied) Rippling, $200M, human resources: HR startup Rippling wrapped up a huge $200 million round that valued the San Francisco-based startup at $13.5 billion. The deal also included a $590 million secondary offering for employees to sell their private shares to investors. The new equity round was led by Coatue. The company offers a workforce management platform that combines HR, information technology and finance to help customers streamline operations. The new round represents about a 20% uptick in valuation for Rippling, which was last valued at $11.3 billion in March 2023.

Big global deals

Xiara was the biggest raise of the month, but the runner-up came from China.

• Hozon, an electric-vehicle startup, locked up a $690 million venture funding round.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the month of April 2024. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the month.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

After a slowdown in big rounds last week, investors were back at it again dishing out nine-figure rounds. This week’s theme was definitely AI, as many of the largest rounds went to startups using AI in coding or biotech.

1. Xaira Therapeutics, $1B, biotech: The biggest round this week was really big. Xaira Therapeutics came out of stealth and announced it had secured more than $1 billion of committed capital from lead investors Arch Venture Partners and Foresite Capital — both of which jointly incubated the company — as well as several other big-name investors including Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The San Francisco-based biotech firm is led by founding CEO Marc Tessier-Lavigne, who previously served as president of Stanford University but resigned last year after questions arose concerning his scientific research. Xaira is the latest — although likely best-funded — startup to try to use AI models to find new drugs.

2. Augment, $227M, artificial intelligence: AI coding startups made a big splash this week. The biggest round went to another startup emerging from stealth — AI coding assistance startup Augment. The Palo Alto, California-based company locked up a $227 million Series B round at a $977 million post-money valuation. The round included cash from the likes of Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Augment helps developers and software teams by giving them AI coding assistance. Founded in 2022, Augment’s total funding now stands at $252 million, per the company, following its $25 million Series A led by Sutter Hill Ventures in January.

3. Rippling, $200M, human resources: HR startup Rippling wrapped up a huge $200 million round that valued the San Francisco-based startup at $13.5 billion. The deal also included a $590 million secondary offering for employees to sell their private shares to investors. The  new equity round was led by Coatue. The company offers a workforce management platform that combines HR, information technology and finance to help customers streamline operations. The new round represents about a 20% uptick in valuation for Rippling, which was last valued at $11.3 billion in March 2023.

4. Cognition, $175M, artificial intelligence: Another nine-figure round for an AI coding startup. This one went to San Francisco-based Cognition, which reportedly locked up a $175 million investment led by Founders Fund at a $2 billion valuation. The six-month-old startup has developed an artificial intelligence–powered coding assistant called Devin. Just last month the startup raised a $21 million Series A at a $350 million valuation.

5. Endeavor BioMedicines, $133M, biotech: Yet another big biotech raise this week. San Diego-based Endeavor BioMedicines locked up a $132.5 million Series C led by AyurMaya. The company, which focuses on medicines for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, last raised more than two years ago — a $101 million Series B co-led by Ally Bridge Group and Avidity Partners. Founded in 2018, the company has raised nearly $296 million, per Crunchbase.

6. ThreatLocker, $115M, cybersecurity: Cyber funding has shown some signs of life recently, and this week we have another example. ThreatLocker, a cybersecurity startup offering zero trust endpoint security solutions, raised a $115 million Series D led by existing investor General Atlantic. In the past year, ThreatLocker has doubled its revenue and added 50% to its workforce. Founded in 2017, the company has raised nearly $240 million, per Crunchbase.

7. Lumeris, $100M, healthcare: St. Louis-based Lumeris, a developer of a healthcare spending platform, raised a $100 million investment  led by Deerfield Management and Endeavor Health. Founded in 2000, the company has raised $325 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Perplexity AI, $63M, artificial intelligence: It was a busy week for Perplexity AI. The company announced a $62.7 million round on the same day it was reported the AI startup was looking to raise another $250 million-plus at a valuation between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. The newly announced round was first reported last month and was led by Daniel Gross. It also included investors such as  Nvidia, IVP, NEA, Jeff Bezos and Garry Tan among others. The new round reportedly values the company at more than $1 billion. However, per the report in TechCrunch, the AI search engine startup is far from done, engaging investors in talks of a megaround that would increase that valuation by at least 150%. IVP and NEA were said to be looking at participating in the new round. It was just in January the company raised a $73.6 million Series B led by IVP that valued it at $520 million.

9. Midi Health, $60M, healthcare: Los Altos, California-based Midi Health, a virtual care clinic for women, closed a $60 million Series B led by Emerson Collective. Founded in 2021, Midi Health has raised $100 million to date, per the company.

10. Givebutter, $50M, CRM: Austin, Texas-based Givebutter, a platform for nonprofit fundraising and CRM, announced it has closed a $50 million strategic growth investment led by BVP Forge. Founded in 2016, the company has raised $57 million, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

There were not really any large rounds outside the U.S. this week. The biggest came from the Emerald Isle.

• Dublin-based SynOx Therapeutics, a biotechnology research company focused on developing the treatment of giant cell tumors, raised a $75 million Series B.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of April 20 to 26. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

After a slow week last week, there was a slight pickup in top-dollar rounds, with three hitting nine figures. Health care — or health care-adjacent — companies saw big money, taking three of the four top spots this week, with the second place round minting a new mining unicorn. That’s out of the ordinary, but the venture market has a way of being unpredictable.

1. Aledade, $260M, health care: Health care companies hit it big this week and none bigger than Aledade. The Bethesda, Maryland-based company raised a $260 million Series F led by new investor Lightspeed Venture Partners. The round comes just about a year after it locked up a $123 million Series E. The startup provides doctors’ offices with data analytics software so they can better manage their patients and identify those most at risk. The company plans to use the new cash to beef up its services and technology, possibly with acquisitions. The new funding deal values the company at $3.5 billion, Bloomberg reported. Founded in 2014, the company has raised nearly $678 million, per Crunchbase.

2. KoBold Metals, $195M, mining: What happens when you combine AI with the material needed for lithium-ion batteries and AI? You get big money. Berkeley, California-based KoBold Metals raised a $195 million round this week led by T. Rowe Price, and included a number of big-name investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, and Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The new cash values the climate-tech startup at $1.15 billion. KoBold Metals uses artificial intelligence to mine for valuable metals such as cobalt, copper, nickel and lithium used in the production of batteries for a variety of sectors, including electric vehicles. The startup has built a database about the Earth’s layers and uses algorithms to make predictions about where mineral deposits are around the world. KoBold Metals isn’t new to big rounds. In February 2022, the startup closed a $192.5 million Series B, which included investment from Apollo Projects, Bond Capital, BHP Group and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Founded in 2018, the company has now raised more than $400 million, per Crunchbase.

3. HighFive Healthcare, $100M, dental: Dental health startups don’t usually make this list, but then again they don’t usually raise $100 million. However, HighFive did just that, closing a $100 million growth investment led by Norwest. The Birmingham, Alabama-based company enables a network of dental offices to centralize their operations — saving money and letting doctors focus on patients and not office operations. The company saw tremendous growth last year, doubling its practice size through acquisitions and organic growth. Founded in 2018, the company has now raised more than $102 million, per Crunchbase.

4. DexCare, $75M, health care: Yes, another health care startup high on the list. Seattle-based DexCare closed a $75 million Series C led by Iconiq Growth. The company’s software helps health systems manage their capacity and appointment booking while getting patients to the care they need. Its platform allows health providers to serve patients faster, and to manage the supply and demand of digital-care access. Founded in 2021, DexCare has raised $146 million, per the company.

5. Attovia Therapeutics, $60M, biotech: Only one biotech in the top five this week — which has become rare, as the space has witnessed some large raises of late. Fremont, California-based Attovia Therapeutics, which is developing biotherapeutics for immune-mediated disease and cancer, raised a $60 million Series A led by Frazier Life Sciences. The company plans to use the new cash to further advance its drug and platform development focusing on immunology and oncology. This is the company’s first outside raise, per Crunchbase.

6. Limble CMMS, $58M, information technology: Lehi, Utah-based Limble, which develops computerized maintenance management software, raised a $58 million Series B led by the growth equity business within Goldman Sachs. Founded in 2015, the company has now raised nearly $77 million, per Crunchbase data.

7. AltPep, $53M, biotech: Seattle-based AltPep, which is developing early disease-modifying treatments and detection tools for amyloid diseases, closed a $52.9 million Series B led by Senator Investment Group. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $76 million, per Crunchbase data.

8. (tied) Empress Therapeutics, $50M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based oral medicine developer Empress Therapeutics closed a $50 million round from Flagship Pioneering. This is the company’s first outside funding, per Crunchbase.

8. (tied) PM Pediatric Care, $50M, health care: Long Island, New York-based PM Pediatric Care, a pediatric urgent care network, locked up a $50 million Series E led by Scopia Capital. Founded in 2005, the company has raised $64 million, per Crunchbase.

8. (tied) Render, $50M, cloud infrastructure: San Francisco-based Render, a cloud provider for application developers, closed a $50 million Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded in 2018, the company has now raised nearly $77 million, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

Despite the big rounds in the U.S. this week, Asia and Europe both had bigger.

• China-based Langlai Technology, a clinical-stage innovative drug research and development company, raised a $500 million round.
• Sweden-based Northvolt, a battery manufacturer for electric vehicles, industrial systems and energy storage systems, raised a $400 million private equity round.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of June 17 to June 23. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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The company is looking to raise its Series A to fund the trial, an expensive endeavor that will likely take years to prove to the Food and Drug Administration it’s superior to other drugs currently on the market. Only around 25% of drugs make it past phase 3. 

“I think the hardest part of this is being a small company,” said Randy Berholtz, CEO of RSF Bio, as the company is also known. “Doing a phase 3 really makes you a bigger company just with the amount of money you have to raise. It is what it is.”

Pharma companies usually partner with startups to drive them through clinical trials, but large pharmaceutical organizations have been laying low since the funding downturn. In 2022, merger and acquisition activity in the space was the lowest it had been since 2013, according to Clarivate Analytics. Partnerships, through which pharmaceutical companies fund the development of drugs and commercialize them themselves, was the lowest it had been since 2018. Per Crunchbase data, funding in 2022 was as low as it was in 2020.

“In the downturn, we have a situation where a lot of people would be happy to partner around whatever assets or platforms they have,” said Thomas Barnes, CEO of Orna Therapeutics. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

The lack of activity has only strengthened Big Pharma’s place in the biotech ecosystem, and is creating waves across the delicate innovation pipeline. Without being able to scrounge up venture funding or develop strong partnerships, startups are stagnant.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, these are testing times for nurturing and fast-tracking innovation in the sector,” said Joe Young from consulting firm Vault Bioventures. 

Startups’ relationship with Big Pharma

It is, in a sense, somewhat surprising that partnership and acquisition activity has been so low. Without large research and development arms themselves, large pharma companies rely on smaller startups to discover and develop new drugs, which they later buy to commercialize, market and patent.

“The biotech companies are bringing innovative assets, which pharmaceutical companies need,” said Mike Ward, an analyst at Clarivate. “For pharmaceutical companies, it’s important that the biotech companies are robust and are going to be around.”

As drug patents expire to make way for generics, pharma companies are constantly on the hunt for new assets to make them money. But funding pharmaceuticals is an expensive and risky business. 

Pharma companies often partner with startups early to develop drugs created out of an already-tested platform, but that comes with regulatory and development risks. They might otherwise acquire those de-risked drugs late in the process at a higher cost.

Last year, Orna Therapeutics announced a partnership with Merck. Merck paid the company $150 million upfront and could pay up to an additional $3.5 billion if Orna successfully develops a handful of vaccines and therapeutics. Xanax, the EpiPen and Concerta have all been developed through a web of partnerships and Big Pharma acquisitions.

Berholtz has talked to large pharma companies before. But by entering phase 3, the company’s drug is more valuable than it has ever been, because it’s less risky and more likely to get the stamp of approval from the FDA. 

“We have had some Big Pharma saying, ‘Well, why don’t you de-risk it a little more? And then we know there’s going to be a New Drug Application, then come and talk to us,’” Berholtz said. “Because Big Pharma has the commercialization, sales and marketing teams.”

Who gets Big Pharma partnerships?

RSF Bio is in what Young calls “no man’s land” in biotech — that phase in a drug’s lifecycle where the startup often has to front the cost of developing the drug and pushing it through regulatory approval at little risk to the pharma company that acquires it. 

“[Pharma companies] have bifurcated, either very early or incredibly, incredibly late,” Young said. “And that’s kind of created this gulf in the middle. …This is where a lot of promising assets, with their associated risks, go to die.”

It’s not easy to scrounge up a partnership deal with Big Pharma. Many of these companies are struggling in the public markets, so they’re focused on very specific, bread-and-butter pipeline drugs that leave a lot of innovative companies out of their scope. 

“When the deals get done, it’s more of a window into what the pharma is thinking,” said Barnes. “It’s less of a marker for how persuasive the biotech has been in persuading them to do something.”

Midsize to small pharma companies are also suffering on the public markets, and their lower market capitalizations make it harder to fund biotech innovation through partnerships.

“The public markets are closed and the private markets are tough,” Berholtz said. “I would think that the dynamic in that collaborative process has shifted in favor of the pharma companies.”

Related Crunchbase Pro query

• Biotech Funding

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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This new unicorn count took place in a funding environment where the most active unicorn investor, Tiger Global, is looking to sell its stakes in private companies, and investors continue to downgrade unicorn portfolio values.

The 10 companies hailed across nine different industries, and AI topped the list with two companies. Other sectors with a single new unicorn ranged from energy, biotech, robotics, enterprise SaaS and transportation among others.

Five of the new unicorns are U.S.-based and two are from China. Canada, Indonesia and Japan each counted one new unicorn this past month.

Around $5 billion of the $22 billion in global venture funding raised in May 2023 went to unicorn companies.  That’s less than half of the $11 billion that unicorns raised in May 2022. The largest funding last month went to fast-fashion e-commerce platform Shein, which raised $2 billion in a single round at a reduced valuation of $66 billion.

Here are the new unicorns:

AI

• Toronto-based Cohere, a generative AI large language model developer for enterprises, raised $270 million in its Series C funding. The funding was led by Inovia Capital  valuing the 4-year-old company at $2.2 billion. 
• Generative video AI company Runway, based out of New York, raised a $100 million Series D led by Google. The funding valued the 5-year-old company at $1.5 billion.

Energy

• China-based Ryefield Energy, a battery energy storage company, raised $140 million led by Sparkedge Capital. The company was valued at $1.4 billion.

Agtech

• Indonesia-based eFishery, developer of an IoT feeding device for shrimp and fish, and an e-commerce platform for aquafarmers, raised a $108 million Series D led by Abu Dhabi PE fund G42 Expansion Fund. The company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Cleantech

• Massachusetts-based Gradiant helps enterprises dependent on water reduce and treat wastewater. It raised a $225 million Series D led by BoltRock Holdings and Centaurus Capital in a round which valued the company at $1 billion.

Enterprise SaaS

• Restaurant management software company Restaurant365 based in Irvine, California, raised a $135 million round which valued the company at $1 billion. The funding was led by private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and L Catterton.

Proptech

• Proptech company Avenue One provides a platform of services from brokers, contractors and property managers for buyers of rental properties. The company based in New York raised $100 million led by WestCap valuing the company at $1 billion.

Transportation

• Tokyo-based GO, the leading ride hailing app in Japan, raised a $72 million Series D led by Goldman Sachs which valued the company at $1 billion. The company is also developing software to monitor safe driving practices.

Robotics

• Humanoid robot developer Zhiyuan Robotics based in Shanghai, raised its third funding led by Baidu Capital, valuing the company at $1 billion. The amount raised was not disclosed.

Biotech

• VectorBuilder, a gene delivery technology company headquartered in Chicago, raised a funding which valued the company at $1 billion.

Unicorn queries

• Unicorn leaderboard (1,460)
• Unicorns in the U.S. (721)
• Unicorns in Asia (458)
• European unicorns (197)
• Emerging unicorn leaderboard (376)
• Exited unicorns (426)

Methodology

The Crunchbase Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are added to the Unicorn Board as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to The Exited Unicorn Board.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Correction: The funding round for Cohere was updated to $270 million and its valuation to $2.2 billion based on an updated funding announcement.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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After a bumpy first quarter for venture capital, the second quarter is in full swing.

Let’s look at a handful of rounds that may have been overlooked but have tech that deserves a second read-through.

Upcycling chopsticks

We all snag the takeout chopsticks on our way out of our favorite Chinese or sushi place when getting takeout.

But after using them, how many of us toss them in the trash?

Canada-based ChopValue is here to help with some of our environmentally unfriendly eating habits. The startup raised $7.7 million in new funding to support its network of waste-to-resource microfactories.

ChopValue already has saved more than 100 million chopsticks from the landfill — turning what we usually use to shovel lo mein into our mouths into sustainably made decor, kitchen accessories and other products.

The company plans to use the new cash to get into new markets in Asia Pacific and Europe. It already is piloting its microfactories in U.S. cities such as Las Vegas and Boston.

While ChopValue has started with chopsticks, the company’s model can be used for other types of reuse.

A cyber brain

It kind of sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, but isn’t that where all great ideas come from?

Australia-based Cortical Labs, a “biological computing startup” combining lab-grown human brain cells with computer chips, just raised $10 million in a funding round led by Horizons Ventures.

Cortical Labs plans to use the money to commercialize its biological computer chips — referred to as DishBrain — which has already learned to play basic video games like Pong.

Some think such a development could be the next advancement of AI, since human neurons have some advantages over their digital counterparts.

If all that is not terrifying enough, In-Q-Tel — the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, is an investor.

Think about that.

More AI

A list like this is legally mandated to include at least one startup using generative AI, so let’s look at legal AI startup Harvey.

The company raised an undisclosed round at a $150 million valuation this month led by Sequoia Capital, according to a report by Insider.

While not much has been reported about that round, Harvey did announce a $5 million seed round led by OpenAI Startup Fund last November — when AI was just starting to take off — so it did not take long to raise another round from a big-name investor, even in a down market.

Instead of using AI for sales or marketing purposes, the San Francisco-based startup is putting it to work for lawyers, giving them an interface to use AI in editing legal documents or performing legal research.

Now the only question is: What is Harvey’s hourly rate?

A new way to compost

Many of us shovel food scraps down our sink’s garbage disposal with most thinking it just disappears into the ether.

Well, the sad fact is that it doesn’t. Actually, food waste now tops more than 3 billion tons globally each year, and some cities in North America have imposed garbage disposal bans and made organic waste separation mandatory.

Canada-based Sepura Home raised a $3.7 million seed round led by sink-maker Blanco to help with the growing problem while not making your after-dinner cleanup any more difficult.

The startup has developed a “smart” composter that connects to the plumbing right under the sink and can effectively separate 99.9% of solid waste that goes down the drain, while allowing liquids to flow through. The waste is stored in a sealed and odorless container there until removed.

The unit will cost about $700 when it starts shipping in a few months.

Can’t you make it go faster?

While everyone wants to figure out ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, there are natural methods for storing it in places like the ocean.

However, once absorbed and stored, it takes millions of years to convert it into bicarbonate, so the process is a little slow.

San Carlos, California-based Ebb Carbon is trying to make that process a little faster. The  ocean-based carbon dioxide removal startup raised a $20 million Series A across two closings led by Prelude Ventures and Evok Innovations, respectively

Ebb’s proprietary solution speeds up the natural process of alkalinization, reducing acidity in the ocean and restoring its natural chemistry, and allowing it to once again draw down more carbon dioxide.

The new cash will allow Ebb to deploy its first systems — one with the capacity to remove 100 tons of CO2 later this year, and a 1,000-ton capacity system shortly after that.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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Companies in the life sciences and health care space relied heavily on SVB, with about 12% of the bank’s $173 billion in deposits belonging to companies in that sector. 

That’s because Silicon Valley Bank didn’t operate like traditional banks — it matched the fast-paced startup network by being fast and nimble itself. It swiftly supplied startups with loans during periods of high growth. It took on companies that were so novel and innovative they didn’t have traditional product market fit. Traditional banks were more risk-averse and didn’t understand emerging tech the way SVB did. 

With the loss of SVB, investors worry the startup innovation system may have to slow down to meet its new, slower lenders. 

“I think lenders will be more conservative in their banking approach with clients, especially ones that are in emerging tech, biotech and life sciences,” said David Crean, a biotech investor and managing general partner at Cardiff Advisory.

When COVID hit, SVB moved fast

In 2020, when California issued a stay-at-home order to everyone except essential workers as a result of the pandemic, the private sector took action.

Medtech companies quickly pivoted to meet the surge in demand for testing. Some popped up testing sites on city curbs while others developed easy-to-use scheduling apps. Other companies helped physicians bring their practice into the telehealth age.

Companies in the life sciences moved in to fill gaps in creating therapeutics, vaccine support products and real-time diagnostics. 

“Those companies expanded,” said Matt Ocko, co-managing partner at DCVC. “In the middle of the pandemic, SVB moved to support these companies at lightning speed in a way that larger institutions simply could not.”

By contrast, traditional banks moved more slowly, taking longer to approve loans for startups. They turned away young founders who didn’t have a robust credit history. U.S. immigrants, who weren’t citizens, would have a much harder time banking their company at the larger firms.  

“I think it’s difficult for people to remember how unbelievably conservative mainstream banking was,” Ocko said. 

Biggest losers: emerging technologies

SVB was also a safe haven for startups that were so novel, they didn’t meet traditional risk assessments that bigger banks used. 

Big banks have a fiduciary responsibility to be conservative about their investments. Many nascent companies, especially in their infancy, don’t have product market fit as a result of being so new. This was especially crucial for companies in niche and risky industries like biotech, which often take 10 years or more before ever turning a profit. 

“They were good at lending in one form or another to two startups pursuing what, to the rest of the world including big banks, would be very arcane, difficult to understand technology,” Ocko said of SVB. 

This is how SVB became the bank of choice for the startup world. With decades of expertise in the tech industry, SVB was better able to understand the risks of these companies. When Naveen Jain founded the gut microbiome and at-home diagnostics startup Viome in 2016, he chose SVB as his sole bank at the behest of his investors.

“In the early days of SVB, they were willing to grant the startup companies that were not profitable,” Jain said. “Most traditional banks would only give you a loan when you had assets, or you had profit, whereas SVB was willing to give loans to companies that they thought [were viable].”

Without it, it may become harder for startups in emerging markets to grow.

“I think there may be an impact on innovation as many companies will have a harder time getting financing, and as a result [may] have to declare insolvency due to a lack of capital,” said Crean. “Overall, investors will be even more cautious about the sector.”

A drag on innovation

Without SVB, many companies are migrating towards traditional banks.

It’s hard to tell, materially, how this will impact innovation in the tech sector. SVB quickly provided loans to startups that won defense contracts, or startups that signed partnerships with other companies. SVB quickly allowed companies to open research and development labs, start a manufacturing facility for a new product, or start new projects.

Since other banks move more slowly, companies may have to forgo contract offers if they can’t get a loan. That will quickly impact when a company will be able to raise its next round of funding, and how much it will get. 

Overall, SVB’s demise could force Silicon Valley to adjust to a new normal — one that is slower-paced, matched with that of most banks.

“One of the knock-on effects of SVB not being around as an institution is all of that accumulated expertise lived in the people of SVB,” Ocko said. “There aren’t binders that a giant bank inherits that tell you step-by-step how to support a radical lifesaving biotech company.”

Related reading:

• Silicon Valley Bank Stock Plunge Sends Jitters Through The Startup World
• Silicon Valley Bank Fails, Is Taken Over By Banking Regulators
• Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Leaves Tech Industry Scrambling For Answers
• Silicon Valley Bank Bet Big On Biotech. And Now It’s Gone.
• Regulators Announce Plan To Ensure SVB Depositors
• Guaranteeing SVB’s Deposits Was The Right Thing To Do
• SVB Puts Subsidiaries Up For Sale As HSBC Buys UK Unit
• Silicon Valley Bank’s Collapse Will Leave A Big Hole In the Startup World
• SVB’s Demise Cools An Already Chilly Climate For Startup Funding
• SVB, Signature Shutdowns Not Chilling Crypto
• In Their Own Words: What Silicon Valley Bank Meant To The Valley 

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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The main concern is whether or not early-stage biotech companies that banked with SVB will be able to access their cash. With no cash flow, nascent pharmaceutical startups rely on their cash reserves to fund drug development. 

SVB was an active pillar in the biotech community — a regulation-laden industry where companies often spend years and billions of dollars before ever seeing profitability. Per its Q4 2022 earnings report, 12% of the bank’s $173 billion in deposits belong to the health care and biotech sector. 

The bank’s failure could have wide-reaching impacts in biotech. Life sciences is already a risky industry to fund — a drug company can easily spend around a decade and billions of dollars to develop a single product, and many drugs fail. 

Still, as recently as January, SVB was interested in expanding its life sciences business. The bank pointed out in its Q4 earnings presentation that the life sciences and health care space was a robust market and worth digging into further.

Biotech spending spree

The bank, in large part thanks to biotech, had already enjoyed a boom in 2020 and 2021 when funding to health care-related sectors flourished. Not only did it provide financial services to nearly half of all tech and life sciences companies in 2022, it boasted large clients that invested in the health care space such as Bain Capital and Polaris Partners. 

A few years earlier in 2019, SVB said it would acquire Leerink Partners, an investment bank that invested exclusively in the life sciences sector. The acquisition was a huge get for SVB, which had already been investing in the space but now was able to unlock a wealth of regulatory and advisory expertise it had not been privy to.

It was also big news for biotech and health care. Early-stage health care startups had a new avenue to raise money from an investor enthusiastic to grow its footprint in the space. And early-stage biotech companies, as they were nose deep in research and development, had a place to house their reserves. 

SVB spent its next few years leaning further into the life sciences. Per a Q4 2021 earnings report, the financial institution hired another 50 investment bankers in the life sciences space. It called health care a “robust market” with a lot of opportunity.  

One investor told me the news felt like hearing about a death in the family. “We’re all just trying to figure it out because SVB was such a great company,” the investor said in a text message. “They are a huge lender in the tech, biotech and venture community.” 

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

March did come in like a lion — at least compared to last week. Startups in cyber, defense and biotech all saw some large rounds in a week that for once was not dominated by artificial intelligence. Five VC-backed companies all saw nine-figure rounds this week, a strong start to the last month of the quarter.

1. Wiz, $300M, cybersecurity: Cybersecurity startup Wiz graduated to decacorn just this week, as the company based in the U.S. and Israel raised $300 million in fresh capital at a valuation of $10 billion. The Series D funding was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Founded in 2020, Wiz has now raised a total of $900 million, according to Crunchbase data. The funding for the cloud security startup came with other news; Wiz announced it won’t move any of that money to Israel due to ongoing unrest about proposed reforms to the country’s judicial system. Some fear the proposed judicial system reforms would undermine Israel’s democratic foundations and grant unchecked power to the government.

2. Skydio, $230M, drone: Drone startup Skydio locked up a $230 million Series E at a $2.2 billion valuation led by Linse Capital — more than double its valuation from just a couple of years ago. The new round comes almost exactly two years after the company raised a $170 million Series D at a valuation of more than $1 billion. Skydio produces drones for the consumer, enterprise and government sectors. Its drones are used by every branch of the U.S. Department of Defense, by over half of all U.S. State Departments of Transportation, and it now has more than 1,200 enterprise customers. Founded in 2014, Skydio has raised $562 million in total, according to the company.

3. Cargo Therapeutics, $200M, biotech: A couple of biotech startups rank pretty high on the list this week. The first is Cargo Therapeutics, which closed a $200 million Series A co-led by Third Rock Ventures, RTW Investments and Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund. The San Mateo, California-based company is developing CAR T-cell therapies for cancer. The startup is in phase 2 clinical trials for its treatment of large B-cell lymphoma. Founded in 2021, this is the biotech firm’s first outside funding, per Crunchbase.

4. Chroma Medicine, $135M, biotech: The second biotech firm with a nine-figure raise this week is on the opposite coast. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Chroma Medicine locked up a $135 million Series B led by GV (formerly Google Ventures). The startup’s gene editing platform does not rely on cutting or nicking DNA — which introduces risks — to regulate gene expression like most other therapeutic programs. Founded in 2021, the company has now raised $260 million, according to Crunchbase.

5. (tied) Kindbody, $100M, health care: Companies offering fertility health care benefits are becoming more commonplace in the U.S. Kindbody is one of those startups that partner with companies to offer employees family-building benefits, and this week the New York-based firm raised $100 million in capital from Perceptive Advisors. The new cash values Kindbody — founded in 2018 — at $1.8 billion. Kindbody, which owns and operates fertility clinics, has now raised more than $290 million in debt and equity, per the company.

5. (tied) Paratus Sciences, $100M, biotech: Bats have kind of been put through the ringer the past few years, what with the pandemic and all (although the new DOE report may dispute that). However, maybe they can also help human health. New York-based Paratus Sciences launched with a $100 million Series A co-led by Polaris Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, ClavystBio, EcoR1 Capital and Leaps by Bayer. The startup is looking at what bats and other animals can tell researchers about human health. Paratus is focusing on developing human therapeutics in areas like inflammation.

7. Bitwise Industries, $80M, education: Fresno, California-based Bitwise Industries, which attempts to bring coding skills to historically underrepresented minorities, closed an $80 million round led by existing investors Kapor Center and Motley Fool. Founded in 2013, the company has now raised approximately $158 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Wunderkind, $76M, marketing: New York-based marketing tech startup Wunderkind raised a $76 million Series C led by Neuberger Berman, TechCrunch reported. Founded in 2012, the company has raised nearly $152 million, per Crunchbase data.

9. Temporal, $75M, software: Seattle-based Temporal, whose platform helps in application development, raised $75 million in a Series “B-Prime.” Greenoaks joined existing investors in the round. Founded in 2019, Temporal has raised more than $200 million, per the company.

10. Shef, $67M, retail: San Francisco-based Shef, a chef-to-consumer marketplace, closed a Series B led by CRV that included $66.5 million in equity and $7 million in debt. Founded in 2019, Shef has raised more than $100 million, according to the company.

Big global deals

Very surprisingly, the top nine rounds all occurred in the U.S. this week. The only large raise this week to crack the top 10 was:

• Tokyo-based space tech startup Astroscale raised a $76 million Series G.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of Feb. 25 to March 3. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

Huge rounds were the theme of the week, as we saw six rounds of $100 million or more — including two of a half-billion dollars or more. What’s interesting is all the rounds came from different sectors — although one could argue two were in cybersecurity. While AI is dominating the headlines, investors placed bets in several other areas too this week.

1. Dreamscape, $850M, real estate: One of the difficult aspects of creating this list is trying to figure out what is debt and what is actually growth equity in many of these larger rounds. (This will come up again further down the list.) New York-based Dreamscape, a real estate development and investment firm, completed an $850 million capital raise this week. However, it’s unclear what was debt and what was equity. We do know Wells Fargo led the debt syndicate and Raymond James led the equity private placement, but that’s about it. We don’t know how much of that $850 million was equity. Regardless, it is a big raise. The firm will use the proceeds to create two new platforms: Dreamscape Entertainment Properties and Dreamscape Entertainment Integrated Resorts, both involving  gaming, hospitality and entertainment.

2. SandboxAQ, $500M, AI: Nearly a year after spinning out of tech giant Alphabet, AI and quantum computing startup SandboxAQ finally announced more funding details this week, saying it had raised a $500 million round. SandboxAQ is examining the related effects of both AI and quantum — which is where the company gets “AQ” — to develop commercial products for telecom, financial services, health care, security and other computationally intensive sectors. One aspect of security the startup is looking at is how companies and the government can replace current public-key cryptography algorithms with algorithms that are resistant to quantum computer-based attacks. Quantum computing is a level of compute much faster and at a level superior to classical computers that examines quantum states to perform computation. Investors named included Breyer Capital, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Thomas Tull, First Light Capital Group, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Guggenheim Investments, Time Ventures, Section 32, Parkway Venture Capital and other funds and investors.

3. Deepwatch, $180M, cybersecurity: Cybersecurity funding has proven resilient, even in this down market. Managed detection and response company Deepwatch is the latest in the sector to close a big round — locking in a $180 million round of “equity investments and strategic financing.” The financing comes from a handful of investors, including Vista Credit Partners — Vista Equity Partners’ “credit-investing strategy offering flexible, customized debt and structured equity financing,” per its website. However, the company declined to offer a breakdown of the round pertaining to equity investment and debt/credit. The Tampa, Florida-based startup reported 100% sales growth in 2022 while announcing the funding. Founded in 2019, the company has now raised $256 million, per Crunchbase.

4. Juniper Square, $133M, financial services: Ever wonder how GPs and LPs communicate? Well, one way is through San Francisco-based Juniper Square’s platform, which allows GPs and LPs to connect and manage their partnerships. The company announced a $133 million growth capital round this week led by Owl Rock. According to the company, more than 1,800 GPs use Juniper Square to help support more than 32,000 investment partnerships and $700 billion in LP capital. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $241 million in funding, according to Crunchbase.

5. Via, $110M, transportation: Nearly everyone has changed the way they travel and commute in the last several years. New York-based transit company Via locked up a $110 million round to help cities and agencies better traverse that changing landscape of transportation. The new round values the company at $3.5 billion and was led by 83North. The company ended 2022 with an annualized revenue run-rate of over $200 million, more than doubling since the previous financing round — a $130 million Series G in November 2021. Via plans to use the money to further expand its line of products that help cities and transit agencies improve the efficiency of their transportation systems. Founded in 2012, Via has now raised around $900 million, per Crunchbase.

6. R-Zero, $105M, biotech: Salt Lake City-based biosafety technology startup R-Zero closed a $105 million funding round led by the global investment firm CDPQ. Founded in 2020, the company has now raised more than $170 million, per Crunchbase.

7. Hexagon Bio, $77M, biotech: Menlo Park, California-based Hexagon Bio, a biopharmaceutical company focused on medicines encoded in the global metagenome, raised a $77.3 million Series B. New investors in the round include the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Founded in 2016, the company has now raised nearly $271 million, according to Crunchbase.

8. NanoGraf, $65M, batteries: Chicago-based battery materials company NanoGraf raised a $65 million Series B led by Volta Energy Technologies and CC Industries. Founded in 2012, the company has raised nearly $90 million, per Crunchbase.

9. Checkerspot, $55M, advanced materials: Alameda, California-based Checkerspot, which designs materials used for outdoor recreational products, closed a $55 million Series C led by ArrowMark Partners. Founded in 2016, the company has raised $109 million, according to Crunchbase. 

10. Descope, $53M, software: Los Altos, California-based Descope raised a $53 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and GGV Capital and emerged from stealth. The company has launched a new authentication and user management platform for developers.

Big global deals

U.S.-based startups were not the only ones to raise rounds of a half-billion dollars or more this week.

• China-based Zeekr, which develops and manufactures electric vehicles, raised a $750 million Series A.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of Feb. 11 to 17. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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