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.
Top Story
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.
Get Daily Updates
Subscribe to DailyAlts Today to get Alternative Investment news, insight, and commentary delivered straight to your inbox every day.
More Stories on Venture Capital
Venture Capital: Brazilian Fintech Neon Nabs $300M In Series C
Neon Pagamentos, a leading Brazilian fintech, has received a Series C investment of $300 million led by General Atlantic. New investors participated in the round, too. These included funds and accounts managed by BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), as well as Vulcan Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst. Existing investors Monashees and Flourish Ventures also took part in the funding, while BBVA participated through existing shareholder Propel Venture Partners.
Artificial Intelligence: Got Procrastination? Get Help From These AI-Powered Glasses
Startup Auctify has developed Specs, special glasses that are fitted with a camera in their frame. The camera is unique because it can figure out what is occupying your attention currently – a laptop, book, or a person. It does this using machine learning. What’s more, the device also records this information and relays it to a connected app. At the end of the day, or anytime, the user can figure out where their time went.
Venture Capital: Owl Ventures Raises $585M For Investments in Global Edtech
Owl Ventures, the venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, announced Tuesday the close of two funds raising an aggregate of $585 million. The firm’s fourth fund raised $415 million, while its first Opportunity Fund collected $170 million. The new funds will add further muscle to the firm’s already expansive portfolio in global edtech, spanning China, Europe, India and the U.S.
Venture Capital: Cancer Drugs Creator Erasca Expands Series B To $236M
Erasca, whose mission it is to Erase Cancer, announced Monday the completion of a $36 million extension of its Series B round, originally targeted for $200 million. The new investors this time around were Partner Fund Management and OrbiMed. The original $200 million Series B round was led by ARCH Venture Partners and Cormorant Asset Management. New investors at that time included EDBI, Terra Magnum Capital Partners, and Invus.
Venture Capital: BITKRAFT Closes Gaming Fund At $165M
BITKRAFT Ventures is a venture capital company that invests in companies and start-ups in the fields of games, media, and esports. BITKRAFT is led by Jens Hilgers, the former ESL CEO and G2 Esports chairman. It announced a raise of $ 165 million for its new fund, exceeding the originally targeted amount of $ 125 million.
FinTech: StartEngine Helped Everyday People Invest $200M in Startups
StartEngine, a securities crowdfunding platform, has helped raise $200 million for entrepreneurs and companies on its platform. The amount covered funding across 53 industries to 439 companies.
Venture Capital: Early Cancer Detection Company Freenome Lands $270M
Freenome’s multiomics platform detects key biological signals that portend early cancer. The company trained the platform on thousands of cancer-positive blood samples so that it learnt which biomarker patterns signify a cancer’s stage, type and most effective treatment pathways. Early cancer detection is now possible with a routine blood draw. The biotechnology company announced an oversubscribed series C funding round of $ 270 million.
Alternative Investments: SEC Revamps Definition of “Accredited Investor” For Private Capital Markets
The SEC on Wednesday amended its definition of “accredited investor,” a term that drew a line between high-earning, deep-pocketed investors and retail investors for access to often lucrative opportunities in the private capital markets. Also known as “alternative investments,” these markets include, for example, venture capital, hedge funds, private equity, and real estate.
Venture Capital: VCs And Startups Rejoice – The NYSE Has An Alternative To IPOs
In a ruling Wednesday, the SEC gave the New York Stock Exchange the green light to let companies raise capital through a “Primary Direct Floor Listing” process. Before this decision, private companies could use the direct method to list their shares on the stock exchange but did not themselves receive any of the proceeds from the IPO. That’s because this route allowed existing investors in those companies to sell their shares on the market (“Selling Shareholder Direct Floor Listing”), with no new capital being raised by the company itself.
Artificial Intelligence: Verta Pioneers AI/ML Model Management System
Verta, a startup founded by MIT CSAIL graduate Manasi Vartak, develops software to help data science teams manage their Machine Learning (ML) models.
“Between the difficulty of managing model versions, rewriting research models for production, and streamlining data ingest, the development and deployment of production-ready models is a frustrating struggle for small and large companies alike,” Verta says on its website. Verta announced Tuesday its Series A funding of $10 million led by Intel Capital with participation from General Catalyst who led the seed round.
Venture Capital: ReliaQuest Reels In Over $300M In Funding Round Led by KKR
ReliaQuest, a global leader in cybersecurity, protects enterprises from security breaches. It announced Tuesday its fundraising of over $300 million in growth financing in a round led by global investment firm KKR. Ten Eleven Ventures and ReliaQuest founder and CEO Brian Murphy also participated in the round.
Venture Capital: AI Platform Dataiku Raises $100M In A Series D Round
Dataiku announced Monday its Series D raise of $100 million led by Stripes with Tiger Global Management joining existing investors Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Dawn Capital, FirstMark Capital, and ICONIQ.
Venture Capital: Goldman Sachs To Raise A $2B Tech Venture and Growth Fund
Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) is mulling the flotation of a technology-focused venture and growth fund worth $ 2 billion.
Venture Capital: Chinese Insurtech Waterdrop Lands $230M in Pre-IPO Funding
Waterdrop Inc raised $ 230 million in funding led by Swiss Re (SWX: SREN) and Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings (HKG: 0700). Existing investors including IDG Capital and Wisdom Choice Global Fund also participated.
Venture Capital: Travel Platform Omio Raises $100M To Expand and Acquire
Formerly known as GoEuro, Berlin-based travel booking platform Omio announced Wednesday its successful raise of $100 million from existing and new investors. These included Temasek, Kinnevik, Goldman Sachs Asset Management L.P., NEA, and Kleiner Perkins.
Venture Capital: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Breaks Funding and Launch Records
A filing dated Tuesday from billionaire Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (aka SpaceX) showed the giant space start-up raised $ 1.9 billion out of an equity offering of $ 2.07 billion, its largest funding round ever. The funding round comes as Elon Musk becomes the fourth richest person in the world.
Venture Capital: Brazilian Games Maker Wildlife Studios Raises $120M
Wildlife Studios, a Sao Paolo-based games maker, garnered a valuation of $3 billion. That’s fast going. In December, Wildlife raised $60 million at a valuation of $1.3 billion. With the current $120 million round, the company doubled its fundraise and nearly tripled its valuation, all in a matter of fewer than eight months.
Venture Capital: Impossible Foods Raises $200M; Vegan Pork On The Way
Impossible Foods, the plant-based meat startup, announced Thursday its Series G round raise of $200 million. The investment round was led by new investor Coatue Management LLC. It saw participation by another new investor XN Capital, as well as existing investors Mirae Asset Global Investments and Temasek. While Coatue and XN are both hedge funds, Coatue is renowned for its affinity for tech investments.
Venture Capital: Gong Secures Unicorn Status With $200M Series D
Gong, the startup which helps businesses glean “revenue intelligence” from customer interactions, achieved unicorn status when it raised $200 million at a valuation of $2.2 billion. Coatue led the Series D round, with participation from Index Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. Existing investors NextWorld Capital, Battery Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Wing Venture Capital also invested.
Venture Capital: Nokia-Branded Device Maker HMD Global Raises $230M
HMD Global, the maker of Nokia phones, announced Tuesday the closure of a $230 million fundraising. The company said investors included some of its top global strategic partners. These were unnamed in the company’s press release. However, according to a Reuters report, these strategic investors included Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Nokia (HEL: NOKIA).
Venture Capital/Real Estate: MetaProp Launches Fourth Fund Targeting $200M
MetaProp, the NYC-based VC firm that backs startups in the field of real estate technology, is back in the market with a $200 million fund. Titled MetaProp Growth Select I, the fund will target more mature startups in the field. MetaProp co-founder Aaron Block will manage the fund.
Venture Capital: ChargePoint Recharges With $127M To Expand Its Network
ChargePoint announced Wednesday an incremental equity financing of $ 127 million from investors including American Electric Power, Chevron Technology Ventures, Clear Vision, and Quantum Energy Partners. According to TechCrunch, the company has so far raised $ 660 million.
Venture Capital: Employee Management Platform Rippling Snags $145M And Unicorn Status
Employment management software company Rippling gained the coveted unicorn status after it raised $145 million at a valuation of $1.35 billion in a Series B round. Participants in the Founders Fund-led round included Greenoaks Capital, Coatue Management, and Bedrock Capital. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Initialized Capital, and Y Combinator also participated in the funding.
Alternative Investments/Venture Capital: Now, An ETF To Capture Private Exits Via SPACs
Bill Ackman’s (pictured above) Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd, raised $4 billion in its IPO last month – the largest ever for a SPAC.
With the ongoing boom in IPOs of SPACs (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies), could an ETF be far behind?