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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Rossum offers an end-to-end AI document processing solution that combines its cognitive data capture platform with a full suite of integration capabilities to automate document-based communications between diverse businesses. The startup announced this week its $100 million Series A raise from General Catalyst with participation by existing investors including LocalGlobe, Seedcamp, Miton and Elad Gil.
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Venture Capital: Mexican Used-Car Platform Kavak Scoops $700M At $8.7B
Mexican used-car platform Kavak said it had raised a $700 million Series E round at a valuation of $ 8.7 billion which more than doubled from its previous funding. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm General Catalyst, while SoftBank Group Corp, billionaire Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Singapore-based gaming and e-commerce company Sea Ltd, Tiger Global, Spruce House, hedge fund D1, and Ribbit Capital also participated.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin Miner Genesis Digital Lands $431M To Expand Operations
Genesis Digital Assets, which runs 2.4% of the bitcoin mining network, has announced a $431 million raise led by Paradigm. Claimed to be the largest ever achieved by a bitcoin mining company, the round also won participation from NYDIG, Stoneridge, FTX, Ribbit, Electric Capital, Skybridge, and Kingsway Capital.
Venture Capital: Gates-Founded Breakthrough Energy Raises Over $1B From Top US Companies
Breakthrough Energy, the non-profit founded in 2015 by Bill Gates to advance the cause of net-zero emissions, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. firms for its Breakthrough Energy Catalyst project to support innovation in the field.
Venture Capital: Indian Used Cars Platform Cars24 Nabs $450M
Indian used car platform Cars24 has raised $450 million comprising a $340M Series F equity round and $110M of debt. The capital funding valued the startup, founded in 2015, at $1.84 billion, nearly twice from the end of last year. The equity round was led by SoftBank, DST Global, and Falcon Edge Capital and included participation by existing investors as well as Tencent holdings.
Venture Capital: Commodity Trading Platform Open Mineral Scores $33M Funding
With most of the global $200 billion metal raw commodities business still conducted in archaic paper mode, Switzerland-based Open Mineral is aiming to become the eBay for physical commodity producers by digitizing metal raw material trading. The firm announced Thursday its Series C raise of $33 million led by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company.
Venture Capital: SpaceX Launches 4-Person Civilian Crew In Historic Orbital Mission
On Wednesday night, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket hoisted into orbit a Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying a 4-person, all-civilian crew on a mission titled Inspiration4. Commanded by billionaire Isaacman, who conceived the flight ten months ago as a means to raise funds and awareness of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the flight also carried another male and two female civilians.
Venture Capital: Graphic Design Platform Canva Nabs $200M At Massive $40B Valuation
Canva is now the fifth-most valuable startup in the world. Australian graphic design platform Canva raised $200 million in a round led by global investment firm T.Rowe Price and included participation by Franklin Templeton, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Dragoneer Investments, Blackbird, Felicis, and AirTree Ventures. The startup doubled its valuation…
Venture Capital: Immi Lands $3.8M Seed Round For Plant-based Instant Ramen
Ex-roommates, ex-co workers, San Francisco-based Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan co-founded immi after they saw the impact that unhealthy foods and diets had on their families as they suffered through chronic health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and stomach cancer. immi’s objective: to add low-carb, high-protein, keto-friendly, and plant-based nutritional benefits to everyday instant ramen. The startup announced Tuesday its raise of $3.8 million of seed capital.
Venture Capital: Crowberry Capital’s Trio Of Women Leaders Raises $90M Nordic Fund
Female-founded, Icelandic venture fund Crowberry Capital announced its raise of a €76 million (US$ 90 million) seed and early-stage fund for investing in startups located in the Nordic region. The fund, Crowberry II, has the distinction of being the largest VC raise ever for Iceland.
Venture Capital: Massive $500M+ Rounds From Snyk And Varo Bank
Lately chartered U.S. neobank Varo Bank announced Thursday its raise of a $510 million Series E at a valuation of $2.5 billion. Today, Israeli cloud security startup Snyk said it collected $530 million comprising $300 million in new money and $230 million in secondary funding. Snyk’s valuation was a solid $8.5 billion – up sharply from $4.7 billion in March when it raised $300 million.
Digital Assets: Private Equity Firm 10T Closes On $750M For Investing In Crypto Companies
Dan Tapiero led 10T Holdings, the Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity fund which focuses on crypto-asset companies, has closed $750 million in a fundraising round that commenced at the end of last year. 10T’s three funds, the 10T Fund, LP and 10T DAE Expansion Fund mopped up $389 million between them. Co-investment and sub-advised vehicles accounted for the balance.
Artificial Intelligence: World’s Largest Miner To Deploy KoBold’s AI Technology For Exploration
KoBold Metals, a startup specializing in exploration for the minerals essential for EVs and green energy transition, has inked an agreement with BHP (ASX: BHP), the world’s largest mining company, to explore for metals such as cobalt, nickel and copper, starting in Western Australia.
Venture Capital: Bill Gates And Bezos-Backed MIT Startup Edges Closer To Energy’s Holy Grail
CFS and MIT’s PSFC announced Wednesday their successful test of a powerful magnet constructed from high temperature superconductors (HTS); the magnet can later be used in a “tokamak,” a fusion machine that could be scientists’ Holy Grail because it produces more energy than it consumes.
Venture Capital: Quantum Machines Nabs $50M Series B
Quantum Machines, a startup based in Israel, has developed a Quantum Orchestration Platform (QOP) that allows users to implement computing via the revolutionary quantum processors. The platform makes it easier to build and operate quantum computers using the company’s standard universal language developed for the purpose. The company announced Monday its raise of $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Red Dot Capital Partners.
FinTech: African Fintech Wave Scores $200M Series A Raise At $1.7B
African fintech Wave, which aims to make Africa the first cashless continent, has raised $200 million from Sequoia Heritage, Founders Fund, pStripe and Ribbit Capital, who jointly led the company’s Series A round. The amount was a record for a Series A raising in Africa, and propelled Wave into the unicorn club with a valuation of $1.7 billion.
Venture Capital: OLIO, Which Enables Food To Be Shared, Raises $43M
OLIO, the food sharing app which encourages community sustainability, announced its Series B raise of $43 million led by Swedish investment firm VNV Global and New York-based hedge fund Lugard Road Capital. Existing investors Accel, Octopus Ventures, Rubio, tech entrepreneur Jason Stockwood, and politician and media businessman Lord Waheed Alli also participated.
Venture Capital: Volvo’s Venture Arm Invests In Autonomous Driving Verifier Foretellix
Volvo Group Venture Capital AB has announced its investment in Foretellix Ltd, a platform provider automating the testing, verification and validation for automated driving systems. Israel-based Foretellix simultaneously announced the close of its $32 million Series B funding round led by MoreTech Ventures, with participation from several strategic investors, including Volvo Group Venture Capital, Nationwide, NI and Japan-Israel High Tech Ventures.
FinTech: Indian Payments Fintech Razorpay To Raise $200-250M
Razorpay, the Indian payments fintech founded in 2014 by Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur, is looking to raise $200-250 million from global investors at a valuation of around $4 billion, two people familiar with the development told Mint.
Venture Capital: Proptech Platform HomeLight Scores $100M Round
HomeLight, a real estate technology platform that makes it easy to buy or sell a home by partnering with the right agent, raised a $100 million Series D capital round and $263 million in debt financing. The equity round valued the proptech at $1.6 billion, was led by existing investor Zeev Ventures and included participation from Group 11, Stereo Capital, Menlo Ventures and Lydia Jett of the SoftBank Vision Fund.
Venture Capital: Data Analytics Provider Databricks Snaps Up $1.6B Funding
Data and AI company Databricks announced Tuesday (August 31, 2021) its Series H raise of $1.6 billion in a round led by led by new investor Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley). Databricks previously raised $1 billion in February at a valuation of $28 billion.
Venture Capital: A New $620M Innovation Fund Wants Britain To Become The “Silicon Valley Of Energy”
In a move aimed to decarbonize the UK’s energy networks, Ofgem, the country’s energy system regulator, and Innovate UK are inviting applications for a £450 million (US$620 million) energy innovation fund in the areas of heating, transport, digitalization, and system integration.
Venture Capital: Form Energy Scores $240M For Its Revolutionary Iron-Air Battery
Secretive but high profile battery technology startup Form Energy has collected a $240 million Series D funding round that included Breakthrough Energy Ventures as an investor. Breakthrough is backed by investors such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Form Energy’s first commercial product is a rechargeable iron-air battery capable of storing electricity for 100 hours.
Venture Capital: NZ-Based Dawn Aerospace Tests Suborbital Spaceplane
Dawn Aerospace is developing suborbital and orbital planes powered by rocket engines that take off and land, horizontally, from conventional airfields. The startup announced today the completion of five successful flights of its Mk-II Aurora suborbital spaceplane from the Glentanner Aerodrome in New Zealand’s South Island.
Venture Capital: Indian Agtech Agnext Lands $21M Series ‘A’
AgNext has developed an integrated platform that can undertake objective portable quality assessments, analysing food in 30 secs, instant and on-Edge. Agnext, a deep-tech, Indian agtech startup has raised $21 million to advance its solutions for food quality assessment, monitoring, and management. It was the largest ever Series A round for an Indian agtech and…