This week: Bizzabo ($100M+); ShipMonk ($200M+); TuSimple ($300M+).

Startups across diverse businesses nabbed solid funding immediately after the Thanksgiving weekend. With the Presidential election a distant speck in the rearview mirror, the venture capital industry appears to have got down to business in right earnest, rising COVID numbers notwithstanding. Mega-rounds of $100M+ are par for the course, it seems.

Mega-round: Bizzabo

Israel-founded, New York-headquartered Bizzabo provides a single platform and software for launching in-person, hybrid, and virtual events.

The startup raised $138 million in a Series E round of funding led by New York-based Insight Partners. (VentureBeat)

Bizzabo, in its initial avatar, was a physical (offline, in-person) events platform that helped manage related activities such as registration and ticketing, marketing, and website building. However, the pandemic forced it to pivot to the digital mode in March, when it launched its virtual events platform.

The quick response paid off – Bizzabo reported a record quarter in June.

Fortunately, many customers would like to keep a hybrid mix of digital and in-person events, even after the passage of the pandemic. So, Bizzabo is well-positioned for the future.

Mega-round: ShipMonk

ShipMonk offers direct-to-consumer order fulfillment and tech support for e-commerce companies. These businesses can therefore focus on marketing and selling their products. ShipMonk takes care of the rest – it will sync directly with the online shopping cart to automatically import orders and thereafter pick, pack, and ship each order.

ShipMonk’s inventory management software, automation technology, and multi-channel order fulfillment solutions aim to help growing businesses scale more quickly and compete with larger, more established brands.

ShipMonk has raised a $290 million growth equity investment from Summit Partners. (Crunchbase)

“Small and medium-sized brands are working at an incredible pace to keep up with both increased demand and consumers’ service-level expectations,” said ShipMonk Founder and CEO, Jan Bednar in a statement. “Fulfillment and inventory management technology has quickly become a critical component to ensure seamless delivery.”

“Our solutions can quite literally make the difference between an item arriving on time or behind schedule, and ultimately, the difference between building brand loyalty or losing a valuable customer.”

ShipMonk has been profitable since its founding in 2014.

In 2020, the company will generate more than $140 million in revenues, representing a growth of more than 100% over the prior year.

Mega-round: TuSimple

Tusimple is a global autonomous technology startup with a focus on heavy-duty, self-driving trucks. It is building the world’s first Autonomous Freight Network (“AFN”) in partnership with shippers, carriers, fleet owners, and truck hardware partners.

The firm has closed on a $350 million funding led by VectoIQ LLC, an investment company founded by Steve Girsky. Goodyear, Union Pacific, CN Rail, freight company U.S. Xpress, and retailer Kroger also participated in the round. (Tech Crunch)

TuSimple hopes to have its long-haul, self-driving trucks operating nation-wide by 2023.

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