Venture Capital

Marqo: Multimodal Vector Search Company Secures $5.2 Million

By Noah Long ● Aug 20, 2023

Marqo - a startup enabling AI-powered search and discovery - announced it had closed US $ 5.2 million in seed investment. And the funding round - led by Blackbird Ventures - also includes the support of Creator Fund, January Capital, and Cohere's co-founders, Ivan Zhang and Aidan Gomez. This funding round will be used to develop a new form of vector search technology that continuously improves based on user engagement, differentiating it from existing vector databases.

ShipCalm: E-Commerce Fulfillment And Third-Party Logistics Provider Company Closes $2 Million

By Noah Long ● Aug 20, 2023

ShipCalm - an e-Commerce fulfillment and third-party logistics provider, has announced it will use a recent $2 million financing round to help small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) further solve these operational challenges.

Mitra Chem: Lithium-Ion Battery Materials Company Secures $60 Million

By Annie Baker ● Aug 20, 2023

Mitra Future Technologies - a leading innovator in North American production of lithium-ion battery materials - recently announced the completion of a $40 million first close of $60 million Series B funding round led by GM. This funding round will fuel Mitra Chem's mission to develop, deploy and commercialize U.S.-made iron-based cathode materials to enable mass-market electrification for electric vehicles, energy storage solutions, and beyond.

D’Amelio Brands: $5 Million Raised To Expand Into Food And Beverage Sector

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 20, 2023

D'Amelio Brands - a new venture and cross-platform company created by entrepreneurs Marc and Heidi and social media stars Dixie and Charli - recently announced a $5 million strategic investment from the consumer-focused media and tech firm Fifth Growth Fund (FGF). This funding round will drive the company's expansion into the Food & Beverage sector, with the imminent launch of D'Amelio Foods.

Assembly Ventures: $76 Million Inaugural Mobility Fund Announced

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 20, 2023

Assembly Ventures - the first early-stage transatlantic venture capital platform investing in technologies across the mobility sector - recently announced the successful closing of their inaugural $76 million Assembly Ventures Fund I (Assembly I). Focused on series seed, A, and B investments, Assembly strategically supports outstanding entrepreneurs driving transformative innovations across land, air, sea, and space.

Northleaf Invests $200 Million In Tillman FiberCo

By Noah Long ● Aug 20, 2023

Tillman FiberCo, LLC (a leading developer and owner of symmetrical gigabit broadband) and Northleaf Capital Partners (a leading global private markets investment firm) recently announced a strategic partnership. The funds managed by Northleaf have made an initial investment of $200 million, with the potential to invest up to $300 million more as Tillman FiberCo scales its operations.

Mixlab: Pet Prescription And Wellness Solutions Company Raises $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2023

Mixlab - a veterinarian-partnered pharmacy and leader in pet prescription and wellness solutions company - recently announced a $10 million funding round led by Vanterra Ventures, with participation from Lakehouse Ventures and others. And The investment will fuel Mixlab’s ambitious growth plans, enabling the company to expand its operations and product offering further, enhance its technology platform, and reach profitability.

Georgiamune: Clinical-Stage Biotechnology Company Closes $75 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2023

Georgiamune - a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company - recently announced the clearance of its Investigational New Drug (IND) application by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for GIM-122, a dual-functioning monoclonal antibody. And the company completed a $75 million Series A financing, positioning Georgiamune as a promising new biotechnology company in the fields of oncology and autoimmune diseases.

VBA: $156 Million Secured To Advance Benefits Software Platform For Healthcare Payers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2023

VBA - a leader in cloud-based benefits software for healthcare payers - recently announced that the company has closed a $156 million majority growth equity transaction led by Spectrum Equity, the leading growth equity firm behind healthcare information technology companies Definitive Healthcare and GoodRx. Existing investor Arthur Ventures also participated in the round. The company improves the healthcare experience by eliminating data fragmentation and enabling interoperability through its tightly integrated suite of solutions.

BitGo: Regulated Custodian Company Raises $100 Million At $1.75 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2023

BitGo recently announced $100 million in Series C financing from new, outside strategic investors with a valuation of $1.75 billion. This funding round will be used to make strategic acquisitions and expand its secure and regulated custody, wallet, and infrastructure solutions globally.

Abcuro: $155 Million Raised For Advancing Autoimmune Pipeline

By Annie Baker ● Aug 18, 2023

Abcuro - a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer through precise modulation of cytotoxic T and NK cells - recently announced the successful close of an oversubscribed $155 million Series B financing co-led by Redmile Group and Bain Capital Life Sciences.

Anthropic: AI Safety And Research Company Raises $100 Million From SKT

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 18, 2023

SKT recently announced investing an additional USD 100 million in Anthropic, an AI safety and research company based in San Francisco. This funding follows a previous investment from SK Telecom Venture Capital (SKTVC) - SKT's Silicon Valley-based venture capital arm. And SKT has partnered with Anthropic to build a large language model (LLM) customized for telcos.

BrokerTech Ventures Names Emily Schultz as Managing Director

By Annie Baker ● Aug 18, 2023

BrokerTech Ventures (BTV) - which is the industry's first broker-led convening platform and accelerator program - announced the hiring of Emily Schultz as its new Managing Director. Within this role, Schultz will be responsible for setting and executing on the strategic direction of BTV to help advance innovation within the broker technology industry.

P6 Technologies: $3.25 Million Secured To Build Enterprise Software For Transportation Fuel And Petrochemical Sectors

By Noah Long ● Aug 17, 2023

P6 Technologies - an emerging leader in enterprise software for transportation fuel and petrochemical companies to perform Product Life Cycle Assessments that measure product-level carbon intensity and GHG emissions - recently announced it had secured $3.25 million in seed funding led by Goose Capital and supported by Tupper Lake Partners, Veritec Ventures, and Artemis Energy Partners. This is the first external funding P6 Technologies has accepted, positioning the company for accelerated growth.

Croissant: Fintech Platform Company Secures $24 Million To Empower Intentional Commerce

By Noah Long ● Aug 17, 2023

Croissant - a fintech platform with a mission to empower intentional commerce - recently launched with $24 million in seed funding from renowned investors, including Portage and KKR co-founders George Roberts and Henry Kravis. The initial funding was used to accelerate Croissant’s MVP launch via a best-in-class founding team led by Co-Founder and CEO John Howard (formerly of KKR), Co-Founder and CTO John Klose (Amazon, PayPal), and Head of Product Vrishti Mongia (Meta, Moda Operandi).

Amber Bio: $26 Million Raised To Build Gene Editing Platform To Reach Undruggable Diseases

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 17, 2023

Amber Bio - a biotechnology company pioneering multi-kilobase gene editing platforms to reach previously undruggable diseases - recently launched with an oversubscribed $26 million seed financing round co-led by Playground Global and Andreessen Horowitz Bio + Health. And Eli Lilly, RDF (Retinal Degeneration Fund), Hummingbird Ventures, and Pillar VC also participated in the round.

Helm.ai: $55 Million Secured For Developing AI Software For Autonomous Driving And Robotics Automation

By Annie Baker ● Aug 17, 2023

Helm.ai - a provider of next-generation AI software for autonomous driving and automation of robotics - recently announced it raised $55 million in its Series C financing. Freeman Group led the round, including investments from venture capital firms ACVC Partners and Amplo, along with strategic investments from Honda Motor, Goodyear Ventures, and Sungwoo Hitech. This financing brings the total amount raised by Helm.ai to $102M. Helm.ai will use the funds for R&D, the productization of its self-driving technologies, and to further execute commercial engagements with customers and partners in the automotive and robotics sectors.

Aether: $49 Million Closed For Extracting Critical Minerals And Creating New Materials

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 17, 2023

Aether recently announced a $49 million Series A led by Jay Zaveri at Natural Capital and Trevor Zimmerman at Unless to power the next industrial revolution by helping extract rare metals and create new materials, leading to a more resource-efficient and sustainable future. This funding round will be used to scale its platform and grow the company’s engineering, machine learning, and hardware teams.

Rondo Energy: Zero-Carbon Industrial Heat And Power Company Raises $60 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2023

Rondo Energy - a leading provider of zero-carbon industrial heat and power - recently announced it has raised $60 million in a new financing plan to speed the rollout of Rondo Heat Batteries (RHBs) worldwide and to transform the global energy storage market.

Fizz: $25 Million Raised To Give Gen Z What They Are Looking For In Social Media

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2023

Fizz - a Gen Z-founded social media platform exclusively available for college students - recently announced the raise of its $25 million series B funding round led by Owl Ventures with participation from NEA. And Fizz rose above what Crunchbase considers the lowest funding quarter for Series B rounds in 3 years and does so on the heels of raising a $12 million Series A in November 2022.

Veza Receives Strategic Investments From Capital One Ventures and ServiceNow Ventures

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2023

Identity security company Veza recently announced that Capital One Ventures and ServiceNow Ventures have invested strategically in Veza, bringing the company’s total financing to $125 million. This funding will accelerate Veza’s product development, develop integrations for enterprise systems, and increase go-to-market capacity as it continues to meet the demand for its enterprise identity security platform.

Fitted: Fintech Software Company Raises $8.5 Million To Improve Retailer Connectivity

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 16, 2023

Fitted - a fintech software platform that reimagines brand and retailer connectivity - recently announced the closing of an $8.5 million series A funding round to fuel continued growth and meet customer demand. This funding round was led by Capital Eleven and included participation from Epic Ventures and Handshake Ventures.

Nature Coatings: $2.45 Million Closed To Transform Waste Materials Into Renewable Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2023

Nature Coatings - a leading biochemicals company transforming waste materials into bio-based, safe, and renewable solutions - recently announced the successful completion of an oversubscribed $2.45 million Seed funding round. The funding round was led by Regeneration.VC and The 22 Fund, with participation from actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio, Safer Made, and Portfolia.

Exponential Exchange: Financial innovation Platform Secures $7.4 Million In Seed Funding

By Annie Baker ● Aug 16, 2023

Financial innovation platform company Exponential Exchange recently announced the successful closing of an oversubscribed $7.4 million seed funding round led by MaC Venture Capital to continue building a suite of financial instruments designed to bring new risk-management solutions into the automotive ecosystem and other industries with underserved asset classes.

Advanced Ionics Secures $12.5 Million Series A Round Led By bp

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2023

Advanced Ionics - the developer of a new category of hydrogen electrolyzers useful for expanding green hydrogen production - recently closed a $12.5 million Series A funding round led by bp ventures, with additional investors including Clean Energy Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and GVP Climate.

Harvard Startup basys.ai Closes $2.4 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2023

basys.ai - a healthcare technology company co-founded by Harvard alumni Amber Nigam and Jie Sun in 2022 at Harvard University - announced the completion of its latest funding round, securing a total of $2.4 million in investments. This funding round will enable basys.ai to further its mission of empowering payers to streamline processes like prior authorization and utilization management.

Phospholutions: $10.15 Million Secured To Accelerate Commercialization Of Higher Efficiency Fertilizers

By Annie Baker ● Aug 16, 2023

Phospholutions - a pioneer in sustainable fertilizer technology - recently announced an additional $10.15 million investment from leading global fertilizer companies and investors to accelerate the commercialization of RhizoSorb in the US row crop market. And the funding round was led by Advantage Capital and included continued investment from Conti Ventures (a division of Continental Grain Company), Tekfen Ventures, Maumee Ventures, and Ben Franklin Technology Partners. Keytrade, a global fertilizer trader, also joins as a new investor.

Angeles Equity Partners: Fund II Closes Above $540 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2023

Angeles Equity Partners LLC - a private investment firm focused on value creation through operational transformation - announced the final closing of Angeles Equity Partners II, L.P. and its parallel funds with total capital commitments exceeding its target of $500 million.

ClassWallet: Digital Wallet-Based Purchasing And Reimbursement Platform Company Raises $95 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2023

ClassWallet - a leading digital wallet-based purchasing and reimbursement platform for public funds - recently announced it closed its first institutional growth capital funding round of $95 million. Guidepost Growth Equity led the funding round, which included Education Growth Partners (EGP) and Lazard Family Office Partners. This funding round builds on ClassWallet’s rapid growth and supports its continued efforts to reshape the way government agencies do business.

Zeelo: Transit Tech Company Secures $14 Million

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 16, 2023

Zeelo - a global transit-tech company powering bus operators, employers and schools to provide highly efficient, sustainable, and affordable private bus and shuttle transport programs - announced it has secured $14 million in its latest Series A extension round from three new venture capital firms, including FlatzHoffmann, the European growth equity investor; IREON Ventures, the venture capital arm of Motor Oil Hellas; and a prominent Boston-based family office with a principal that recently took their Nasdaq listing private for $6 billion.