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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Astera Labs announced a $150 million Series D funding round led by Fidelity Management and Research that valued the company at $3.15 billion. Other existing investors, including Atreides Management, Intel Capital, and Sutter Hill Ventures also participated in the round. Astera also said it had expanded both its board of directors as well as its product lineup.
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More Stories on Venture Capital
Venture Capital/ESG: Plant-Based Meat Startup Planted Lands CHF 70M (US$72M) Series B Round
Planted, the Swiss startup making vegan meat from plant proteins, announced its $72 million Series B round to fund the launch of its new whole-cut line of products including chicken breast, increase production capacity and expand internationally.
Venture Capital: Seven Seven Six, A VC Founded By Reddit Co-Founder Ohanian, To Invest $177.6 M In Web3, Crypto
Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, has floated Seven Seven Six, a venture capital firm focusing on investments in Web 3 and crypto currencies. A new fund from 776, titled Kryptos, is mobilising as much as $177.6 million and is expected its operations in October.
Venture Capital: Digital Asset And Metaverse Giant Animoca In $100M Extension Raise Led By Temasek
Temasek, the Singapore state investor, is leading a $100 million investment round in Animoca Brands, a global leader in gamification and blockchain with a large portfolio of over 340 investments, and with a goal to advance digital property rights and contribute to building the open metaverse. Animoca intends to take advantage of the massive bear market in digital assets to scoop up assets, including tokens and other industry participants, on the cheap.
Venture Capital: Korean Agtech Tridge Nabs $37M Series D
Tridge, a Korean agtech which functions as a ‘transaction-bridge’ between parties in the food and agricultural sectors in the global marketplace, has raised $37 million in a Series D funding round which valued the company at $2.7 billion. The round was led by prominent South Korean investor DS Asset Management.
Venture Capital: Lunar Energy Raises $300M To “Remove The Use Of Fossil Fuels From Every Home”
Lunar Energy, a startup aiming to transform how we power our homes by building an ecosystem of all-electric products starting with a next-generation home battery system, announced its raise of $ 300 million over two rounds by Sunrun (NASDAQ: RUN), the leading American residential solar and battery storage provider, and South Korea’s SK Group (KRX: 034730).
Venture Capital: Landing, A Network Of Furnished Apartments For Rent, Raises $125M
Landing has successfully closed a $125 million series C raise comprising both equity and debt funding. Delta-v Capital led the round which also received participation from new and existing investors,including Greycroft and Foundry.
Venture Capital: Independent Mental Health Providers’ Network Alma Lands $130M
Alma, a membership-based network of independent mental health care providers, has closed a $130 million series D funding led by Thoma Bravo, a leading software investment firm, with participation from Cigna Ventures. Existing investors Insight Partners, Optum Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Primary Venture Partners, and Sound Ventures also participated.
Venture Capital: Celonis, Which Makes Software To Fix Processes, Raises $1B
Celonis, a software startup located in Munich and New York, raised an additional $1 billion in funding. A raise of $400 million, which was an extension of the Series D round, was led by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and includes new blue-chip investors Activant Capital, a fund advised by Neuberger Berman, Alta Park Capital and Commonfund Capital.
Venture Capital: Indian Venture Debt Firm Alteria Capital To Raise $438M For Third Debt Fund
Internal documents reviewed by Reuters have revealed that Alteria Capital Advisors is in discussions with investors to raise up to 35 billion rupees ($438 million) for its third debt fund. The funding, according to a pitch deck, will have a dual structure comprising a primary debt fund and a secondary pool that will be deployed as working capital finance for startups.
Artificial Intelligence: Developer AI Platform Inworld Raises $50M For AI Driven Virtual Characters
Inworld is a developer platform for creating AI-driven virtual characters for gaming, metaverse, and business applications. It was founded by conversational AI pioneers Ilya Gelfenbeyn, Michael Ermolenko, and Kylan Gibbs to enhance the social interactions in the immersive worlds of gaming, metaverses, entertainment, and brand experiences.
FinTech: Saudi-Based BNPL Firm Tamara Scores $100M Round
A report by Reuters says Tamara, a Saudi-based BNPL fintech, raised $100 million in a Series B round. Investors included Sanabil Investments, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF. “We believe the region has a different situation today than globally. The region is thriving with high oil prices,” Chief Executive Abdulmajeed Alsukhan told Reuters. “We want to make sure our customers find the right products that suit them and find amazing deals.”
FinTech: Indian Savings App Jar Lands $22.6M Series B At A $300M Valuation
Jar, an Indian fintech app that wants to “reintroduce this generation to the concept of piggy banks by helping them save in digital gold,” has raised $22.6 million in its Series B round, led by existing investor Tiger Global. Existing investors Arkam Ventures, Eximius Ventures, Force Ventures, LetsVenture, Rocketship Venture Capital and WEH Ventures also participated in the funding. New investors included 1Finance, Capier Investments, Cloud Capital, Folius Ventures, Panthera Capital, Prophetic Ventures and others.
Venture Capital/Digital: Shima Capital Launches $200M Fund For Early-Stage Blockchain Startups
The debut fund, Shima Capital Fund I , received funding from investors including Dragonfly Capital, Bill Ackman, Animoca, OKex, Mirana Ventures, Republic, and Andrew Yang, among others.
Artificial Intelligence/VC: G42, The Abu Dhabi AI Firm, Forms $10B Fund For Tech Investments In Emerging Markets
G42, the Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence firm, announced the launch of the $10 billion G42 Expansion Fund to invest in late-stage growth companies with disruptive technologies and strong business fundamentals. The fund is being set up in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, an arm of the state-owned ADQ, and will be run by a G42 subsidiary. US private equity firm Silver Lake is an investor in G42.
Venture Capital: UNDP To Launch “Timbuktoo,” A $1B Investment Initiative For African Startups
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) plans to bankroll $1 billion in start-up funding for African businesses over a period of ten years and will involve both public and private capital.
The UNDP Africa aims to engage a large number of private and public sector partners to establish eight Timbuktoo hubs across Africa’s leading startup ecosystems (Accra, Nairobi, Cape Town, Lagos, Dakar, Kigali, Casablanca, and Cairo, among others) and begin operations in 2023, according to a statement.
Artificial Intelligence: Shrimps On Tap From The Shrimpbox – An AI-Powered, Temperature Controlled Cargo Container
The Shrimpbox is described as an intelligent, automated shrimp farm that is disconnected from the oceans, and located close to the consumer. It enables the production of shrimp without the ill effects of traditional shrimp farming – which pollutes oceans, destroys habitats and contributes to overfishing.
Venture Capital: Property Management Platform Guesty Lands $170M Series E
Guesty, which provides management software for the short-term rental, vacation rental, and hospitality industry, has raised a $170 million Series E round led by Apax Digital Funds, MSD Partners and Sixth Street Growth. Existing investors Viola Growth and Flashpoint also participated in the round. Guesty will use the funds to scale its operations, develop new technology and solutions, expand into now business verticals and for strategic acquisitions.
Venture Capital: Andreessen Horowitz Invests $350M In Adam Neumann’s Rental Real Estate Startup
Andreessen Horowitz, also known as “a16z,” and usually described as the storied venture capitalist firm from Silicon Valley, announced Monday its $350 million investment in Flow, a rental real estate startup founded by Adam Neumann, of WeWork fame. The investment, said to be the largest individual cheque Andreessen Horowitz has ever written in a round of funding to a company, valued Flow at $1 billion, even though it is expected to launch only in 2023.
Venture Capital: E.ON To Be Anchor Investor In Its Venture Arm’s Climate Tech Fund
Future Energy Ventures, the venture arm of Germany head-quartered electric utility E.ON SE (ETR: EOAN), has established a new, independent Luxembourg-domiciled venture capital fund, Future Energy Ventures Fund I SCA SICAV-RAIF. The new fund aims to become Europe’s leading venture capital investor focused on the energy transition and will invest Series A and B investments in ventures that aim to transform the traditional energy value chain towards net zero.
Venture Capital: Lockheed’s Venture Arm To Boost Investment In Space Startups
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and its venture finance arm Lockheed Martin Ventures plans to boost the latter’s investment outlay from $200 million to $400 million.
Venture Capital: Warehouse Robots Maker Geek+Raises $100M Series E1
Geek+, a Beijing-based maker of robotics for storage, picking, and sorting in warehouses, as well as material handling robots and unmanned forklifts for manufacturing, announced a new, $100 million series E1 funding series which included investment by Intel Capital, Vertex Growth, and Qingyue Capital Investment. (CISION PR Newswire)
Venture Capital: Softbank’s Vision Fund Posts $21.68B Quarterly Loss Amidst Tech Wreck
The meltdown in technology stocks following hardening interest rates has taken a massive toll from SoftBank (TYO: 9984) and its Softbank Vision Fund, one of the most prolific and high stakes investors in the sector. The Vision Fund’s $21.68 billion loss for the June quarter pushed Softbank into a corporate loss of $23.38 billion.
Venture Capital: Terabase Energy Raises $44M For Automating The Construction Of Utility Scale Solar
Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Prelude Ventures co-led Terabase Energy’s $44 million Series B financing round. SJF Ventures and other existing investors also participated. The funding will advance the company’s digital and robotic automation platform for the development, construction, and operation of utility-scale PV power plants.
Venture Capital: Chinese Biotech Sironax Raises $200M For Age-Related Degenerative Diseases
Sironax, a Beijing-based biotech firm focused on the treatment of patients with age-related degenerative diseases, announced a $200 million Series B funding led by Gaorong Capital and Yunfeng Capital, with participation from existing investors including Temasek, Invus, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads, ARCH Venture Partners, K2 Venture Partners and lead investors from previous financings.