The new round was led by Kleiner Perkins, Meritech Capital and existing investor Sapphire Ventures.

The startup focuses on security services for small business to small enterprise customers — an often overlooked sector in cyber as many companies chase Fortune 500 companies.

“Everyone deserves the ability to protect themselves and their employees’ livelihoods. This is the ‘why’ that supercharges my team to work around the clock and democratize access to the tools and talent typically built for the enterprise,” said co-founder and CEO Kyle Hanslovan in a release.

Huntress currently is realizing more than 70% year-to-year revenue growth for the past two years as it continues to “approach $100 million in annual recurring revenue.”

Founded in 2015, Huntress has raised nearly $310 million, per Crunchbase.

Cyber funding

Huntress’ fresh round is just the latest big cybersecurity round in a Q2 where funding has taken off.

With a couple of weeks still remaining in the quarter, cyber startups have raised $4.1 billion in 141 deals, per Crunchbase data. That far outpaces Q1’s numbers, when such startups raised $2.7 billion in 140 deals and smashes last year’s Q2 totals of $1.8 billion in 192 deals.

Of course, this year’s Q2 numbers are helped out immensely by cloud security startup Wiz’s big announcement in May that it had raised $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation. That round is still the biggest in cybersecurity this year.

Overall funding for the year is currently well ahead of this same point last year.

Related Crunchbase Pro query:

• Cybersecurity Funding

Related reading:

• Huntress Tracks Down $40M Series B To Secure SMBs
• Cloud Security Firm Wiz Raises $1B At $12B Valuation

Illustration: Dom Guzman

However, it seemed like what most of the folks who invest big-money in those same cybersecurity startups really wanted was some quiet from all the noise that surrounds AI.

“There’s a lot of noise out there,” said one investor. “It’s getting harder and harder to cut through much of it.”

The general consensus among VCs at the conference was that while they are listening to a lot of pitches from startups that use AI or help secure its development — such as data protection, identity and third-party risk — many are taking their time to invest.

“It’s not that we aren’t listening,” said another VC. “We just haven’t pulled the trigger yet. We haven’t seen one that really moved us.”

Some investors seem hesitant to enter a market they don’t fully understand the size of yet and are skeptical of startups that claim they have an AI story when in reality they actually may or may not.

That said, funding numbers for AI-related cybersecurity startups actually seems to have made a comeback this year after a slight pullback in Q4. In the first quarter of the year, investors poured $263 million into such startups, compared to only $103 million in Q4 of last year, per Crunchbase data.

The biggest deal of Q1 was a $60 million Series E raise by New York-based BigID.

Already in the second quarter, investors have agreed to $410 million in deals with startups.

So, while many are preaching patience, it seems others are writing checks.

Other news and notes from RSA:

• The conference opened with news of cloud security startup Wiz locking up the biggest cybersecurity round of the year thus far  — a $1 billion round at a $12 billion valuation. The round caught some by surprise, but the general feeling was the overall funding levels in cyber were healthy and sustainable. While some downrounds and flatrounds still persist, there has been a noticeable uptick in both investors’ interest and actual money spent this year (which we have covered).
• One part of cybersecurity receiving interest are startups doing things around disinformation. Brands care about their reputation more than ever and a record 60-plus democratic countries are having national elections this year. “It’s on the top of everyone’s mind,” said an investor. Startups that can analyze texts, images and other data on multiple platforms such as the dark web and social media are something investors are looking at. Although, with some elections already behind us, one has to wonder if maybe this interest should have happened earlier.
• The other thing on the top of investors minds is the slow but strengthening M&A market. Deal-making for cyber startups and startups in general has slowly picked up and many expect that to continue as there has been significantly more “chatter” about potential deals. “I think you’ll see Q4 be really busy,” said one investor. “It’s not hard to look back and see when some of these companies last raised, so they may be looking for an exit. Expect PE to be involved.” Private equity already has been active this year. Late last month, Thoma Bravo — which had a nice shindig on top of the San Francisco MOMA during RSA — bought Darktrace for a cool $5.32 billion in cash.

Related Crunchbase Pro query

• Funding To VC-Backed AI Cybersecurity Startups

Related reading:

• Cloud Security Firm Wiz Raises $1B At $12B Valuation
• Cybersecurity Funding Shows Resilience In Q1

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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

To break it down further, let’s look at 11 charts based on recent Crunchbase data that show the state of the startup world in early 2024.

Startup investors globally remain cautious

First-quarter startup investment globally had its second-worst quarter since 2018, Crunchbase data shows. Although investment totals improved since Q4 2023, that’s only because that quarter was the worst in six years.

Funding was similarly subdued in North America, the largest startup investment market in the world with about half of all venture capital going to the region.

Still, investors made big investments in some AI and healthcare startups, pushing those two sectors to lead in global investment totals in Q1.

Early-stage funding actually grew

Investment in early-stage startups globally in the first-quarter actually grew, despite the overall funding dip, Crunchbase data shows.

Funding at this stage totaled around $29.5 billion, up 6% year over year, led by large Series B fundings in AI, electric vehicles and green energy.

And seed and angel investment also held up better than late stage, offering hope that as the recovery continues there will be a robust class of funded younger companies ready to grow.

A16z emerges as the leader in new funding environment

In late 2023, venture capitalist Marc Andreesseen penned “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto,” a long, impassioned and somewhat rambling defense of the tech sector.

Based on investment activity, anyway, his firm does seem to be quite bullish on the current moment: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) participated in 27 post-seed funding rounds in the first quarter of 2024 — more than any other venture investor — Crunchbase data shows.

Runners-up for the title of most-active investor in Q1 include the accelerator Y Combinator, which backed 18 known post-seed deals (in addition to many more seed rounds) and General Catalyst, with 15 rounds.

Notably, A16z was also the most active startup investor in 2023.

Cybersecurity: not recession proof, but resilient

Cybersecurity is sometimes described as virtually recession-proof. After all, hackers don’t take a break just because the economy is struggling.

While that’s not exactly true — investment in cyber startups in 2023 was just a third of what it was in the VC boom of 2021 — funding to the sector has proven resilient relative to other industries.

Venture investors spent $2.7 billion in 154 deals backing cybersecurity startups in Q1, Crunchbase data shows, marking the industry’s best funding quarter in three quarters.

Investors who spoke with Crunchbase News said there is still lots of interest in the sector, especially around new technologies like AI.

“The widespread adoption of generative AI technologies, coupled with recent geopolitical conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars, has escalated the frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks,” Gili Raanan, founder and partner at Cyberstarts, said in an earlier interview.

Asia funding stays tepid despite China’s gains

Despite the small uptick in global venture investment, venture funding to Asia-based startups again fell in Q1.

Total venture funding in the region fell to $17.3 billion in Q1, a drop of 4% from Q4 2023 and an 8% decline year to year. The total represents the lowest amount of funding in the Asia region in a single quarter since Q4 2016.

But investment in Chinese startups actually increased in Q1, helped by several huge rounds. Chinese startups raised $1.1 billion in Q1, up 9% from the previous quarter and 14% from Q1 2023, Crunchbase data shows. The country remains the Asia region’s largest startup market by far.

As U.S.-Sino relations remain testy, investment in Chinese startups in recent years has been led by the Asian nation’s own investors, rather than American VC firms.

Large rounds to China-based companies in Q1 went to: electric vehicle maker Zhiji Automobile, which raised a $1.1 billion Series B; artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI, which raised more than $1 billion in a funding round led by Alibaba Group and HongShan (formerly Sequoia Capital China); and low-orbit broadband satellite network company Yuanxin Satellite, which raised a $943 million Series A led by China Development Bank.

LatAm funding scene struggles — with a big exception

Funding to Latin American startups also hit the lowest level in years last quarter. Both dollar investment across stages and deal counts declined.

Overall, investors put just $579 million into seed- through growth-stage rounds in Latin America in the first quarter of 2024, according to Crunchbase data. That’s a decline of 17% from year-ago levels and a drop of 39% from the prior quarter.

The past quarter was a particularly precipitous comedown from the region’s funding peak nearly three years ago. At the high point, investors poured over $7 billion into Latin American companies in a single quarter in 2021.

One Latin American country bucked the trend, however. Investment in Colombian startups more than tripled from the prior quarter to hit $188 million, largely due to big rounds for Bogotá-based fintechs Simetrik and Bold.

Europe holds (mostly) steady

Over in Europe, meanwhile, startup funding didn’t markedly increase — but it didn’t fall significantly, either.

Venture investment in the continent reached $11.8 billion in the first quarter of 2024, up marginally from Q4 2023 and down less than 10% from Q1 2023, per Crunchbase data.

Overall, around 18% of global venture capital in Q1 was allocated to European startups.

Leading sectors for funding in Europe were financial services, healthcare and energy. AI companies raised $1.4 billion, or around 12% of European venture capital. That was about $1 billion less than was raised by financial services companies.

Web3 funding bounces back a little from epic lows

Perhaps no sector exemplifies the recent venture funding boom and subsequent slump like Web3.

The sector — which loosely includes blockchain, crypto and other decentralized internet technologies — was a tech-sector darling in 2021 and 2022, with investors handing out massive funding rounds and eye-watering valuations on a weekly basis.

But startups related to Web3 raised less than $1.9 billion in 346 deals in Q1, per Crunchbase data — a fraction of the roughly $10 billion invested in the first quarter of 2022.

Still, because Web3 funding has fallen so far, the most recent quarter actually represents an increase from Q4 2023, when startups in the sector raised just $1.2 billion in 263 deals. It also marks the first quarterly increase Web3 venture funding has seen since Q4 2021.

– Gené Teare, Chris Metinko and Joanna Glasner contributed.

Related reading:

• Global Venture Funding In Q1 2024 Shows Startup Investors Remain Cautious
• North American Startup Investment Perked Up A Bit In Q1
• Asia Venture Funding Continues to Struggle, Hits Lowest Level Since 2016
• Latin American Startup Investment Fell Further In Q1, Though Colombia Posted Big Gains
• European Venture Spending Settles Around $12B In Q1 As Early-Stage Investment Holds Steady
• Web3 Venture Funding Bounces Back Slightly From Last Year’s Lows

Illustration: Dom Guzman

To be sure, this is not the salad days of 2021 — cybersecurity funding was still down year to year — but the sector saw its best funding quarter in three quarters.

All told, cybersecurity startups raised nearly $2.7 billion in 154 deals in Q1, per Crunchbase data.

That dollar figure is the highest since Q1 last year, when similar startups raised just less than $2.9 billion in 228 deals. However, the Q1 2024 dollar figure represents a 69% increase from the previous quarter, when cyber startups raised just $1.6 billion in 148 deals.

The numbers seem to show quite a rebound for a sector that in the last quarter of 2023 saw its lowest amount of funding since Q3 2018, when cyber firms raised just $1.3 billion.

Big cyber deals rebound

One of the big differences between Q1 and the previous quarter was the comeback of big rounds in the cybersecurity realm — something that seems to be happening more often again in a lot of sectors.

While no round topped $140 million in Q4 2023, three big rounds were greater than that amount in Q1:

• Broomfield, Colorado-based Quantinuum locked up a $300 million fundraise at a pre-money valuation of $5 billion led by JPMorgan Chase in January. The startup was spun out of Honeywell in 2021 and merged with Cambridge Quantum Computing;
• In February, Austin, Texas-based NinjaOne, which provides endpoint management, security and monitoring, raised a $231.5 million Series C led by Iconiq Growth at a $1.9 billion valuation; and
• Finally in March, New York-based Axonius, a cybersecurity and SaaS asset management startup, secured a $200 million Series E extension led by Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company had originally raised another $200 million in the Series E in 2022 at an announced $2.6 billion valuation.

In fact, big rounds were somewhat the story of the quarter, which saw nine cybersecurity startup funding rounds of $100 million or more. That’s three times as many as there were in Q4 2023.

Not just AI

The easy thing to do is write off the jump in cyber funding solely to AI — after all, many cyber startups trumpet the use of the technology in their platform for automation or help provide guardrails for companies using it.

But a look at some of the firms that raised big in the quarter seems to tell a different story.

Two of the bigger raises in Q1 were Nozomi Networks locking up a $100 million Series E from investors including Mitsubishi Electric and Schneider Electric, and New York-based Claroty securing $100 million in strategic debt/credit financing led by Delta-v Capital.

The companies both offer industrial security — also called operational technology security — and IoT security platforms, a subsector of cybersecurity that had seen a dearth of funding in recent quarters.

Another big round went to New York-based Coro, a cybersecurity platform purpose-built for small and medium-sized enterprises. The company announced a $100 million Series D led by One Peak last month to serve what many believe is an underserved market.

That is not to say many of these companies don’t have an AI story to tell — especially to investors — but that is not the entirety of their businesses.

Better days ahead?

All of that said, this does not mean cybersecurity is headed back to the heights of 2021, when the sector raked in nearly $24 billion — an amount that seems ludicrous today.

It does mean VCs and strategics continue to see value in investing in the industry even as IT budgets are cut and competition continues to increase.

Already this month, data security startup Cyera raised a $300 million Series C led by Coatue at a $1.4 billion valuation, so the second quarter is off and running.

Most cybersecurity executives will proudly proclaim the resilience of their security offering to any malicious attack — it seems their startups may have a little of that virtue when it comes to securing funding in a tough market.

Methodology

Cybersecurity is defined by the industries of network security, cloud security and cybersecurity, according to Crunchbase data. Most announced rounds are represented in the database; however, there could be a small time lag for rounds reported late in the quarter.

Related Crunchbase Pro query:

• Cybersecurity Funding

 Related reading:

• Cybersecurity Startup Funding Hits 5-Year Low, Drops 50% From 2022
• Cyera Nabs $100M To Protect Data
• Nozomi Networks Raises $100M As Investors Eye Industrial Cybersecurity Once Again
• Data Security Startup Cyera Locks Up $300M At $1.4B Valuation

Illustration: Dom Guzman

The Menlo Park-based firm — known as an early backer of such startups as Lyft, Marketo and Poshmark — announced its $580 million Mayfield XVII and the $375 million Mayfield Select III funds.

The firm last announced new funds in March 2020, when it raised $750 million across two funds. The firm now has $3 billion in total assets under management.

The Mayfield XVII fund will primarily be used for early-stage investing — mainly seed and Series A rounds. The Mayfield Select III will be for follow-on rounds, as well as investments in new companies, primarily at the Series B stage.

Some themes the firm is looking to invest in include human-centered AI, the developer-first technologies, semiconductors, cybersecurity and more.

“We are grateful for the continued support of our limited partners and for the fortitude of entrepreneurs which brings us to work every day,” said Managing Partner Navin Chaddha in a statement. “We believe that the current economic uncertainty presents an opportunity for the bold and a time to lean forward into the next era of innovation. We are excited about partnering with inception and early-stage founders looking for a people-first investor to build a bright future together.”

Recent dealmaking

While some big-name firms such as Tiger Global, Insight Partners and many more significantly slowed their investment pace last year, Mayfield continued a deliberate and consistent cadence.

According to Crunchbase data, the firm completed 26 financing deals in the salad days of 2021, and 23 last year — when the venture and investing market was substantially easing.

So far this year, Mayfield’s pace has been a little slower, with just five deals announced. That includes a $51 million Series E for San Francisco-based database developer InfluxData.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Learn More

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.

For the third week in a row, rounds were down noticeably in the U.S. Only two rounds hit nine figures — one in the health care AI sector and one to a company that has been in the news recently for layoffs and a possible sale. We wondered last week if this may have been an effect of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, but perhaps there are more forces at play.

1. HeartFlow, $215M, health care: The use of AI for health diagnostics is front and center in the largest funding this past week to a heart precision care technology startup. The Mountain View, California-based company raised a $215 million Series F led by Bain Capital Life Sciences. Its noninvasive technology provides a 3D model to analyze the risk of a heart attack. The technology has been used so far by 180,000 patients across 725 hospital systems globally. Founded in 2010, HeartFlow has raised about $793 million, according to Crunchbase data. 

2. Cybereason, $100M, cybersecurity: Times seem to have changed for Cybereason. The Boston-based startup raised a $100 million investment led by SoftBank, but also along with it announced a CEO change. Executive Vice President of SoftBank Eric Gan will now serve as the company’s CEO, with Lior Div, current CEO and co-founder, transitioning to the role of adviser. The news comes after reports in October that the company hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. to find a buyer for the company. It has been reported the company has had two rounds of layoffs, cutting 100 jobs in June and then another 200 in October. Just more than a year ago the company confidentially filed for an initial public offering that would have valued it at more than $5 billion, Reuters reported at the time. In July 2021, the startup announced it had raised $275 million in a financing led by Liberty Strategic Capital, the fund started by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. No valuation was given by the company, but reports at the time in both the Globes newspaper in Israel and The Boston Globe said the round valued the company at about $3.1 billion. Cybereason is one of the best-funded startups in cybersecurity, with more than $800 million raised, per Crunchbase data. Now the question is: What will investors get for all that money?

3. Covariant, $75M, robotics: It’s one thing to have robots, it’s another thing to know how to train them or tell them exactly what to do. Emeryville, California-based Covariant added an additional $75 million to its Series C — previously $80 million — to do just that. The round was co-led by returning investors Radical Ventures and Index Ventures. The startup’s “Covariant Brain” is a robotics platform that enables robots to interact with and learn from their environments. The platform can be used by retailers and logistics providers for warehouse work. Founded in 2017, Covariant has now raised $222 million, per the company.

4. (tied) Everstream Analytics, $50M, logistics: Thanks to the pandemic and the snarled supply chain it caused, logistic startups saw a flood of funding in 2021, with over $21 billion invested into the space, according to Crunchbase data. That funding cooled last year, with around $11 billion invested, a 48% drop year over year. That, however, did not stop San Marcos, California-based supply chain startup Everstream Analytics from raising a $50 million Series B funding co-led by StepStone Group and Morgan Stanley Investment Management. The company, which was founded in 2012, provides risk performance insights in the world of logistics. It works with the various touchpoints of the supply chain system to improve efficiency. The startup has now raised $79 million, per Crunchbase.

4. (tied) Honeycomb, $50M, developer tools: Engineers depend more and more on observability tools to understand what goes wrong as the cloud environment gets more complex. That likely helped San Francisco-based Honeycomb lock up a $50 million Series D led by Headline this week. The startup has doubled its revenue — and headcount — in the past year, as engineering teams continuously seek data on how users are using applications in real time. Founded in 2016, Honeycomb says it has raised $150 million to date.

6. Mercy BioAnalytics, $41M, biotech: The promise of early diagnosis of cancer will always bring out investors, and this week Natick, Massachusetts-based Mercy BioAnalytics closed a $41 million Series A led by Novalis LifeSciences. The new cash will be used to further develop its Mercy Halo test for high-risk lung cancer screening. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death globally — and more than 350 Americans die from lung cancer daily, per the company’s release. The company also hopes to advance clinical programs to detect ovarian cancer. Founded in 2018, the company has raised more than $68 million, according to Crunchbase data.

7. Phlow, $35M, health care: Richmond, Virginia-based Phlow is a public benefit corporation that manufactures affordable medicines using advanced technology. It raised a Series B funding from strategic partners. The company partners with hospitals, industry and the government to provide needed medicines in the U.S. Founded in 2020, the company has raised a little over $80 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Richmond National Group, $30M, insurance: Richmond, Virginia-based Richmond National Group, a property, casualty and professional liability insurance company, raised more than $30 million from existing shareholders including HF Capital and Bonhill Capital. Founded in 2021, Richmond National has now raised  more than $100 million, per the company.

9. Oxos Medical, $23M, medical devices: Atlanta-based Oxos Medical, a developer of digital imaging devices, closed a $23 million Series A from Parkway Venture Capital and Intel Capital. Founded in 2016, Oxos has raised a total of $45 million, per the company.

10. (tied) Strivacity, $20M, cybersecurity: Herndon, Virginia-based cybersecurity startup Strivacity raised $20 million in a Series A2 led by SignalFire. Founded in 2019, the company has raised more than $30 million, according to Crunchbase.

10. (tied) Vytelle, $20M, agtech: Lenexa, Kansas-based Vytelle, a startup that helps cattle producers optimize their herds, raised a $20 million Series B led by Forage Capital Partners. Founded in 2015, the company has raised more than $33 million, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

With rounds being down in the U.S., there were several larger raises abroad, including two large deals.

• India-based DMI Finance, a nonbanking financial company that offers consumer loans, home loans and asset management, raised a $400 million venture round.
• China-based SJ Semi, a foundry that implements front-end wafer manufacturing, closed a $340 million Series C.

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 1 to 7. 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 Boston-based startup announced a $100 million investment led by SoftBank, along with a CEO change.

Executive Vice President of SoftBank Eric Gan will now serve as the company’s CEO — pending board and regulatory approvals — with Lior Div, current CEO and co-founder, transitioning to  the role of adviser.

The news comes after reports in October that the company hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. to find a buyer for the company. 

It has been reported the company has had two rounds of layoffs, cutting 100 jobs in June and then another 200 in October.

Big money

It was just more than a year ago that the company confidentially filed for an initial public offering that would have valued it at more than $5 billion, Reuters reported at the time.

It was less than two years ago that Cybereason was raising big money at an even bigger valuation. In July 2021, the startup announced it had raised $275 million in a financing led by Liberty Strategic Capital, the fund started by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

No valuation was given by the company, but reports at the time in both the Globes newspaper in Israel and The Boston Globe said the round valued the company at about $3.1 billion. 

Cybereason’s platform offers a full array for protection, including endpoint detection and response and extended detection and response. XDR platforms are highly scalable and offer companies better visibility in network and application communication. XDR solutions can read and group related alerts and build timelines concerning attacks by evaluating data found on activity logs.

Threat detection and response capabilities across endpoints and the network has become even more important with so many people working from home and expanding the attack surface available to bad actors.

Cybereason is one of the best-funded startups in cybersecurity, with more than $800 million raised, per Crunchbase data.

Now the question is: What will investors get for all that money?

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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