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Hello from London
Quiet on the VC deals front last week, but pretty hot in acquisitions.. & definitely plenty of tech drama..
Musings
Macro
Peter Thiel: Capitalism Isn’t Working for Young People | TFP
Founder of 8 separate $1B+ billion companies: Brad Jacobs, QXO, XPO, United Rentals & United Waste
Bending Spoons Acquisition Spree: The Playbook on Buying and Running Companies Forever
Apollo + 8VC intend to deploy several billion dollars to support the work of technology companies in advanced manufacturing, aerospace, energy, life sciences, logistics and natural resources.
Elon Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla pay plan wins shareholder approval
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Last Week (11/3-11/7):
Relevant deals include the 70+ deals across stages below. I’ve categorized the deals below into seven categories, Fintech, Care, Enterprise / Consumer, HardTech, Sustainability, Acquisition/PE, and Fund Announcements, and ordered from later-stage rounds to early-stage rounds.
VC Deals
Fintech:
- Ripple, the cryptocurrency company behind XRP, raised $500m led at a $40b valuation. Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities led, joined by Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace.
- Reevo, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based AI-powered revenue operating system, raised $80 million in funding. Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins led the round.
- MoEngage, a customer engagement platform for consumer brands, raised around $60m in Series F primary funding (as part of a $100m round, including secondaries) led by A91 Partners and insider Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
- Fintary, a San Francisco-based AI-powered revenue growth platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Infinity Ventures led the round and was joined by Sierra Ventures and others.
- Liquid, a New York-based financial trading mobile app, raised a $7.6 million seed round. Paradigm led the round, joined by General Catalyst.
- Harmonic, a Solana block-building aggregation layer, raised $6m in seed funding led by Paradigm
- Avallon, a New York City-based developer of agentic AI technology designed to automate insurance claims tasks, raised $4.6 million in seed funding. Frontline Ventures led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, 1984, and others.
Care:
- Synchron, a non-surgical brain-computer interface startup, raised $200m in Series D funding. Double Point Ventures led, joined by Arch Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, NTI, METIS, Australian National Reconstruction Fund, T.Rx Capital, QIA, K5 Global, Protocol Labs, and IQT.
- Tala Health, developer of an agentic platform for health care, raised $100m in seed funding led by Sofreh Capital.
Enterprise/Consumer:
- Armis, an SF-based cyber exposure management, raised $435m at a $6.1b post-money valuation. Goldman Sachs Alternatives led, joined by Evolution Equity Partners and insiders like CapitalG.
- Beacon Software, a Toronto-based company that acquires software businesses, has raised a $250 million Series B. General Catalyst, Lightspeed, and D1 Capital led the round.
- Inception, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based platform for developing AI models, raised $50 million in funding. Menlo Ventures led the round and was joined by Mayfield, Innovation Endeavors, NVentures, and others.
- DeepJudge, a Zurich, Switzerland-based company developing search engines for law firms, raised $41.2 million in Series A funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by Coatue.
- AirOps raises $40 million Series B at $225 million valuation to rethink marketing in the age of AI
- Fastbreak AI, a Charlotte, N.C.-based AI-powered sports operations software company, raised $40 million in Series A funding from Greycroft, GTMfund, and others.
- Daylight, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based agentic AI-powered managed security services company, raised $33 million in Series A funding. Craft Ventures led the round and was joined by Bain Capital Ventures, Maple VC, and others.
- Procurement Sciences, a Washington, D.C.-based AI-powered platform designed to automate the processes for businesses to secure and fulfill government contracts, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Catalyst Investors led the round and was joined by others.
- Truffle Security, an SF-based enterprise credentialing startup, raised $25m in Series B funding. Intel Capital and a16z led, joined by Abstract Ventures and Lytical Ventures.
- DualBird, a Westborough, Mass.-based data infrastructure company, raised $25 million in combined seed and Series A funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Angular Ventures, and Uncork Capital.
- Octonomy, a Cologne, Germany-based agentic AI company focused on complex enterprises, raised $20 million in seed funding. Macquarie Capital Venture Capital led the round, with participation from Capnamic, NRW.Bank, and the TechVision Fund.
- Parable, a New York-based AI impact measurement startup, has raised $16.5 million in seed funding. HOF Capital led the round, joined by Story Ventures, InMotion Ventures, Lasagna, Panache, Supercharge, and Tripe Impact Capital.
- Flint, a startup building AI tutors for schools, raised $15m in Series A funding. Basis Set Ventures and Patron led, joined by USC Viterbi, AME Cloud Ventures, Blackboard founder Matt Pittinsky, Afore Capital, and YC
- Tsuga, a Paris, France-based AI-powered observability company, raised $10 million in seed funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Singular.
- GitLaw, an SF-based legal companion for businesses, raised $3m in pre-seed funding. Jackson Square Ventures led, joined by Flex Capital and Background Capital
HardTech:
- Metropolis, a tech-enabled parking lot network, raised $500 million in Series D funding led by LionTree at around a $5 billion valuation. It also secured a $1.1 billion syndicated term loan led by JPMorgan with participation from Eldridge Industries, Slow Ventures, DFJ, Vista Equity Partners, SoftBank, Tekne Capital, and BDT & MSD credit funds.
Sustainability:
- Terranova, a San Francisco-based developer of terraforming robotics, raised $7 million in seed funding. Outlander and Congruent Ventures led the round and was joined by GoAhead Ventures, Gothams, and Ponderosa.
Acquisitions & PE:
- Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN) is in advanced talks to buy London-based stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK for around $2b. BVNK has raised around $90m from backers like Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, Tiger Global, DRW Venture Capital, Avenir, and Scribble Ventures
- Charles Schwab (NYXSE: SCHW) agreed to buy private shares marketplace Forge Global (NYSE: FRGE) for $660m. Forge was valued at around $2b when it went public in 2021 via a SPAC sponsored by Motive Partners (which remains a major shareholder)
- Izzy Englander sold around a 15% stake in hedge fund Millennium Management to an investor group for $2b
- TriArtisan Capital Advisors agreed to lead a buyout of breakfast restaurant chain Denny’s (Nasdaq: DENN) for $322 million, or $6.25 per share
- Zscaler (Nasdaq: ZS) acquired SPLX, a AI security startup that had raised $7m from LaunchHub Ventures, Inovo VC, South Central Ventures, and Runtime Ventures.
- Arctic Wolf, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based cybersecurity company valued by VCs at $4.3b, agreed to acquire UpSight Security, a Beaverton, Ore.-based ransomware detection startup seeded by Dreamit Ventures and Oregon Venture Fund.
- Firefly Aerospace (Nasdaq: FLY) completed its acquisition of SciTec, a Princeton, N.J.-based defense tech company whose capabilities include missile warnings, for about $855m in cash ($300m) and stock.
- SpaceX agreed to buy additional spectrum from EchoStar (Nasdaq: SATS) for $2.6b in stock.
- Qatar Airways agreed to sell its entire 9.57% take in Cathay Pacific Airways (HK: 0293) back to the company for around $897m.
- Zoom (Nasdaq: ZM) signed to acquire Bonsai, an SF-based client engagement and business management platform for solopreneurs and small business owners.
IPOs:
- Beta Technologies, a South Burlington, Vt.-based maker of electric aircraft, raised $1b in its IPO. The company priced 29.9m shares at $34, versus plans to offer 25m shares at $27-$33, and will list on the NYSE (BETA). The company recently raised $300m from GE Aerospace. Other backers include TPG Rise
- Xanadu, a Canadian photonic quantum computing company, agreed to go public at an implied $3.6b valuation via Crane Harbor Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: CHAC), a SPAC led by HEPCO Capital Management execs. Xanadu has raised over $240m from firms like Bessemer Venture Partners, OMERS Ventures, Georgian, Forward Investments, BDC Capital, Alumni Ventures, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Draper Associates, Capricorn Investment Group, and Porsche
- DuPont completed the spinoff of its semiconductor materials business, renamed Qnity (NYSE: Q) with an initial $4b valuation.
- Wonder, a food hall concept valued by VCs at $7.5b, bought the Spyce robotic kitchen business of Sweetgreen (NYSE: SG) for $186m. Sweetgreen had paid around $60m in stock to buy Spyce back in 2021.
Funds:
- Apollo and 8VC Partner to Accelerate the Next Wave of American Industrial Innovation
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The material presented on Molly O’Shea’s website are my opinions only and are provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. It is not a recommendation of, or an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy, any particular security, strategy, or investment product. Any analysis or discussion of investments, sectors or the market generally are based on current information, including from public sources, that I consider reliable, but I do not represent that any research or the information provided is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied on as such. My views and opinions expressed in any website content are current at the time of publication and are subject to change. Past performance is not indicative of future results.