Venture Capital
It’s been 50 years since Venrock established itself to expose investors to venture capital opportunities. Today, the global venture capital industry tracks just south of $200 billion and continues to grow as new entrepreneurs, engineers, financiers, and thought leaders create the economy of tomorrow. The DailyAlts VC channel tracks the trends, opportunities, key thought leaders, and next-generation industries that will generate billions in returns.
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Revaia, Europe’s largest female-founded venture capital firm, has successfully raised €150 million ($160 million) for its second fund, Revaia Growth II. The funding was secured from sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and institutional investors across Europe, with support from existing partners like Bpifrance and new backers such as mutual insurer Carac and the European Investment Fund.
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More Stories on Venture Capital
Venture Capital: Hardware Wallet Company Ledger Reportedly Looking To Raise $100M
A Bloomberg report says Ledger, the French crypto wallet maker, is in talks to raise a minimum of $100 million from strategic investors. The company previously raised a $380 million Series C in June 2021 at a valuation exceeding $1.5 billion, and this may not be the best of times to raise financing given the dire state of the digital assets market.
Artificial Intelligence: Tampa General Hospital Uses An AI Platform For Patient Transport
At the 1,041-bed Tampa General Hospital the complex task of managing its operational flow, including the processes of admitting, moving and discharging patients, has been made more efficient through the use of Enroute, an AI platform. The new system is a marked improvement over the earlier, manual process where a dispatcher scheduled all of the runs throughout the hospital.
Venture Capital: Enko, Which Uses AI To Discover Crop Protection Molecules, Raises $70M
Enko announced its $70 million Series C funding round led by agrochem company Nufarm with participation by Anterra Capital, Taher Gozal, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Eight Roads Ventures, Finistere Ventures, Novalis LifeSciences, Germin8 Ventures, TO Ventures Food, Endeavor8, Alumni Ventures Group and Rabo Food & Agri Innovation Fund.
Venture Capital: Fifth Wall VC Raises $500M To Decarbonize Real Estate
Venture capital firm Fifth Wall has raised $500 million for its inaugural Climate Fund that seeks to help decarbonize global real estate through investments in software, hardware, renewable energy, energy storage, smart buildings, and carbon sequestration technologies. Investors included American Homes 4 Rent, BBVA, British Land, Camden Property Trust, CBRE, Cosan, The Durst Organization, Equity Residential, Hilton, Host Hotels & Resorts, Hudson Pacific Properties, Invitation Homes, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Kimco Realty Corporation, Lineage Ventures, MGM Resorts, NZ Super Fund, Osgoode Properties, and UDR, among others.
Venture Capital: FTX Ventures And Jump Crypto Lead $150M Series A Round In Aptos
Aptos Labs announced its $150 million Series A round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto. New investors coming aboard included Apollo, Griffin Gaming Partners, Franklin Templeton, Circle Ventures, and Superscrypt founded by Temasek. Existing investors a16z crypto and Multicoin also participated. The valuation of the firm in this round was double that of its March valuation of $1 billion.
Venture Capital/ESG: Sustainable Lithium Extraction Startup EnergyX Lands IPO-Linked Funding Commitment Of $450M
Global Emerging Markets (GEM) has committed an investment of $450 million in lithium and battery technology startup Energy Exploration Technologies (EnergyX). The funds will be used to commercialize the latter’s direct lithium extraction and refining technologies. EnergyX’s LiTAS technology has been tested in the Lithium Triangle in South America and increases lithium production from 30% to 94% of what is normally recovered.
Venture Capital: IQM, European Maker Of Quantum Computers, Lands €128 million ($128m) In Series A2 Funding
IQM Quantum Computers, which is based in Espoo, Finland, and makes world-beating quantum computers for the benefit of mankind, announced its €128 million Series A2 funding round led by World Fund with the participation of Bayern Kapital, EIC Fund, OurCrowd, QCI SPV, Tofino and Varma along with its existing investors Maki.vc, Matadero QED, MIG Fonds, OpenOcean, Salvia GmbH, Santo Venture Capital GmbH, Tencent, Tesi, and Vsquared. Quantum computing is expected to improve drug discovery, transform encryption and data protection, and predict financial systems. For example, a problem that could take a supercomputer 10,000 years to solve would take a quantum computer only four minutes.
Venture Capital: Thai Bank To Invest Up To $100M In Tech-Focused VC Arm
According to Thanapong Na Ranong, Managing Director of Thailand’s Kasikornbank, the company’s corporate venture capital arm, Beacon VC, is planning to raise $50 million to $100 million from its parent for tech investments this year.
Venture Capital/ESG: Meati, Which Makes Alt Meats From Mushroom Roots, Raises $150M
Meati Foods, which makes plant-based meats using mushroom roots as a major ingredient, announced its successful closing of a $150 million Series C round led by Revolution Growth, with participation from existing and new investors, including Grosvenor Food & AgTech, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Wellington Management, and Cultivate Next, Chipotle Mexican Grill’s new venture fund which includes Meati Foods in its first cohort of investments.
Venture Capital: Meals Provider FreshRealm Raises $200M
FreshRealm announced its raise of $200 million led by a premier global cornerstone institutional investor. The funds will enable the company to further drive its growth in the meal industry, which it estimates as a $30 billion market opportunity with retail partners.
Venture Capital: Contentsquare Lands $600M Series F, Doubles Valuation To $5.6B
Contentsquare announced the close of its $600 million round comprising a $400 million Series F round and $200 million in debt financing. Sixth Street Growth led the round alongside Bpifrance, Canaan, Eurazeo, Highland Europe, KKR, LionTree, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Société Générale participated in the debt facility.
Venture Capital/ESG: TAE Achieves 75 Million Degrees Celsius In Fusion Energy Reactor, Raises $250M From Marquee Investors
TAE Technologies, the fusion energy startup on track to commercialize its technology by the mid-2030s, has raised a $250 million Series G-2 round from investors including Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Sumitomo Corporation (TYO: 8053) of Americas, TIFF Investment Management, Reimagined Ventures, a large U.S. West coast based mutual fund manager, a big U.S. pension fund, and others. The round recognized TAE’s progress towards commercial fusion energy after Norman, the company’s fifth-generation fusion reactor, sustained stable plasma at more than 75 million degrees Celsius, 250% higher than its original goal.
Venture Capital: Christie’s, The 256-Year Old Art Auctioneer, Launches Venture Fund
The new Christie’s venture fund will support technology and fintech startups focused on the art market. Christie’s, the venerable art and luxury business and auction house with a global presence, announced Monday the launch of Christie’s Ventures, a fund that will invest in Emerging Technology and FinTech companies creating solutions to enhance the art market….
Venture Capital: Fundrise Diversifies Out Of Real Estate, Launches $1B Venture Fund For The Small Guy
Fundrise, which pioneered $10 investments by the common man in real estate, is bringing that model to venture capital. It announced today the launch of the Fundrise Innovation Fund — a first-of-its kind, $1B growth equity fund aimed at democratizing access to investments in top private technology companies.
Venture Capital: In Japan, Panasonic Corp And SBI Investment Form Corporate Venture Fund
Panasonic Corporation (TYO: 6752) and SBI Investment Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings, Inc. (TYO: 8473), announced today their joint establishment of a corporate venture capital fund titled Panasonic Kurashi Visionary Fund. The fund will invest primarily in promising startups in Japan and overseas that are particularly active in the field of Panasonic’s lifestyle updates business.
Venture Capital: BrightEdge, The Venture Arm Of American Cancer Society, Ties Up With VC Third Rock Ventures
Leading biotech and healthcare venture firm Third Rock Ventures and BrightEdge LLC, the venture arm of the American Cancer Society (ACS), will collaborate for investing in early-stage startups focused on cancer treatments. BrightEdge will therefore get to participate in the the Series A and follow-on financing rounds of such companies as are backed by Third Rock.
FinTech: Stripe Slashes Internal Company Valuation By 28% From $40 Per Share To $29
Stripe, the payments giant founded by the Collison brothers, has cut its internal valuation by 28% according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Stripe’s so-called 409A valuation is the fair market value of the common stock of a private company as valued by a third-party appraiser, and is used to grant employees stock options. According to WSJ’s sources, Stripe informed employees in an email Friday that this value was $29, compared with $40 in the most previous 409A assessment.
Venture Capital: Booz Allen Hamilton Floats $100M Venture Capital Fund For Disruptive Technology
Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) has launched a $100 million corporate venture capital arm dubbed Booz Allen Ventures to invest in its four core areas of demand: defense, artificial intelligence/machine learning, cybersecurity, and deep technology.
Venture Capital: Insurtech wefox Lands $400M Round Series D At $4.5B Valuation
Berlin-based insurtech wefox has raised $400 million in a Series D equity round led by Mubadala Investment Company with participation from EDBI, Eurazeo, LGT, Horizons Ventures, OMERS Ventures and Target Global. In the present environment rife with down rounds (e.g. Klarna), layoffs and collapsing public market values of listed fintechs, wefox said it bucked the trend currently experienced in the insurtech market and more broadly across the tech sector.
FinTech: Klarna Raises $800M At Slashed Valuation To Pursue US Expansion
It’s a monster down round (one in which the startup is forced to accept a lower valuation than that in a previous round) for Klarna, showing how risk averse venture firms have become in an environment that punishes tech companies first and asks questions later. It is also a pointer to the slowing allure of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), a fintech product that is Klarna’s bread and butter line. The fintech’s latest round received investment from existing investors including Sequoia, the founders, Bestseller, Silver Lake and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. New investors included the Mubadala Investment Company and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Venture Capital/ESG: Blackstone Invests $400M In Carbon Platform Xpansiv
Blackstone announced that funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners have invested $400 million in Xpansiv Limited, a market infrastructure platform for carbon and environmental commodities, as a strategic investment.
Venture Capital: Cyber Insurance Provider Coalition Lands $250M After Year Of Torrid Growth
Coalition, a provider of insurance against cyber risks, announced today it had closed a $250 million funding round in June. Allianz X, Valor Equity Partners, Kinetic Partners and other existing investors participated in the investment which valued Coalition at $5 billion.
Venture Capital: Fyto, Which Grows Unique Aquatic Plants For Dairy Feed, Raises $15M
Fyto, a sustainable foodtech startup headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, has developed hardware and software systems for the sustainable production of “superplants,” or highly nutritious aquatic plants that can be grown and harvested round the year. Fyto announced Thursday its $15 million Series A raise led by GV (formerly Google Ventures), with existing investors AgFunder, Refactor Capital, First Star Ventures, and Bolt also participating in the funding.
Venture Capital: BASF Invests In VC Climentum Capital To Develop CO2 Reducing Technology
BASF Venture Capital GmbH, the corporate venture arm of BASF (ETR: BAS), has invested in Climentum Capital’s first €150 million venture fund focusing on CO2 emission reductions. Other investors in the fund include Danish growth fund Vaekstfonden and Arbejdernes Landsbank, corporate investors, banks, industrial conglomerates as well as prominent family offices and successful tech entrepreneurs.