Sourcery (3/27-3/31)
YC ~ EigenLayer, P97 Networks, Orb, Playbook, Polytrade, Inato, Wellth, Florence, Mantra, Nodal, Character.AI, Coursedog, Venti, Perplexity AI, LeapXpert, Smalls, Fixie, Hathora
Happy April!
Light opening this week. Good mix of deals below, but slower than usual.
YC madness comes this Wednesday. This batch of startups have only 60 seconds to raise millions of dollars. Do we think they can do it? Yes. And they probably already have. Most companies have been talking to investors weeks before demo day, and some even before getting in. Grab your popcorn.
Reads
Rabbit hole: 40 Mind-Expanding Concepts (The Prism)
The Change in Burn Multiple for Startups in 2023, Tomasz Tonguz
AI changes everything. We need new guardrails to survive it. And soon. Hemant Teneja
The CQ: The Crumbling Infrastructure of the Web, The companies that disrupted Yahoo are now starting to look a lot like Yahoo, Brian O’Malley
The letter everyone is talking about: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
Yeah so, as I wrote last week, people do believe AI has the capability to end the world
. . .
Last Week (3/27-3/31):
Relevant deals include the 60+ deals across stages below.
I've categorized the deals below into four categories, Fintech, Care, Enterprise & Consumer, and Sustainability, and ordered from later-stage rounds to early-stage rounds. Highlighted deals include EigenLayer, P97 Networks, Paytrix, StellarFi, Orb, Playbook, Polytrade, Inato, Wellth, Florence, Mantra, Nodal, Character.AI, Coursedog, Venti, Perplexity AI, LeapXpert, Smalls, env0, Fixie, Dragonfly, Hathora, Jigso, Dylibso, Anvil; Twilio, Loftware, Pismo; REAL Messenger
Final numbers on YTD Performance of Select Tech Stocks at the bottom.
Deals
Fintech:
- EigenLayer, an ethereum restaking protocol, raised $50m in Series A funding. Blockchain Capital led, and was joined by Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Hack VC and Electric Capital. https://axios.link/3JRRak0
- P97 Networks, a Houston, TX-based mobile commerce and payments provider, raised $40 million in a round of equity financing led by Portage. PR Newswire
- Spiral, a New York-based financial services company focusing on ESG, raised $28 million in Series A funding. Team8 led the round and was joined by Euclidean Capital, Intuition Fund, Communitas Capital, Phoenix, and Nidoco AB.
- Paytrix, a London-based embedded payments company for vertical software platforms, raised $18.3 million in Series A funding co-led by Unusual Ventures, Motive Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures.
- StellarFi, an Austin-based credit-building platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Acrew Capital led the round and was joined by ATX Venture Partners, Trust Ventures, Dream Ventures, Interplay, Accomplice Ventures, Vera Equity, FJ Labs, and others.
- Orb, a San Francisco-based pricing platform, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Menlo Ventures led the round and was joined by base case capital, The Cannon Project, Data Community Fund, Essence VC, FOG Ventures, Scribble Ventures, South Park Commons, SV Angel, and other angels.
- Conduit, a San Francisco-based crypto-native platform, raised $7 million in seed funding from Paradigm.
- Playbook, a San Francisco-based personal finance app, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Telstra Ventures led the round and was joined by Atomic.
- Polytrade, a web3 protocol focused on global trade, raised $3.8m in seed funding from Alpha Wave, Matrix Partners, Polygon Ventures, Singularity Ventures and GTM Ventures, per TechCrunch. https://axios.link/3lV8vAu
- Presta, a remote-based digital lending platform, raised $3.3 million in pre-seed funding. Distributed Ventures led the round and was joined by Zeal Capital Partners, Matchstick Ventures, The Fund, Tech Stars, and Jumpstart Ventures.
. . .
Care:
- Inato, a Guildford, Conn.- and Paris-based clinical trial platform, raised $20 million in Series A2 funding. Cathay Innovation led the round and was joined by Obvious Ventures, La Maison, and Top Harvest Capital.
- Wellth, a Los Angeles, CA-based digital health company, raised $20 million in a Series B funding round led by SignalFire, with participation from existing investors The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund, CD Venture, Yabeo and Partnership Fund for NYC, as well as individual investors. FinSMEs
- Florence, an ER patient intake and tracking startup, raised $20m in seed funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. Thrive Capital, GV and Salesforce Ventures co-led, and were joined by Vast Ventures, BoxGroup and Atento Capital. https://axios.link/3nvsW7E
- Zorro, a New York and Tel Aviv-based health benefits experience platform for employees, employers, and brokers, raised $11.5 million in seed funding co-led by Pitango and 10D.
- Mantra Health, a New York, NY-based digital mental health platform for young adults, raised $5 million in a Series A extension funding round led by VMG Partners, bringing total fundraise to date over $34 million. FinSMEs
- Nodal, a surrogacy startup, raised $4.7m in seed funding from such backers as Reshma Saujani (Girls Who Code), Kate Ryder (Maven Clinic) and Chelsea Hirschhorn (Frida). https://axios.link/3JZrNwq
. . .
Enterprise & Consumer:
- Character.AI, a Palo Alto-based conversational A.I. platform, raised $150 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by Nat Friedman, Elad Gil, SV Angel, and A Capital.
- Coursedog, a New York-based academic operations platform for higher education, raised $90 million in funding from JMI Equity.
- Placemakr, a Washington, D.C.-based multifamily and hospitality operator, raised $65 million in funding. Highland Capital Partners, Harbert Growth Partners, Bernstein Management Corporation, Camber Creek, Gaw Capital, and others invested in the round.
- Graphiant, a San Jose-based edge services provider, raised $62 million in Series B funding. Two Bear Capital led the round and was joined by Sequoia Capital, Atlantic Bridge, Harpoon Venture Capital Partners, and others.
- Fetch.ai, a Cambridge, U.K.-based infrastructure platform for autonomous services, raised $40 million in funding from DWF Labs..
- Venti Technologies, a Boston-based autonomous logistics company for global supply chain and industrial hubs, raised $28.8 million in Series A funding. LG Technology Ventures led the round and was joined by Safar Partners, UOB Venture Management, Alpha JWC, and LDV Partners.
- Perplexity AI, a San Francisco-based conversational A.I.-powered answer engine, raised $25.6 million in Series A funding. New Enterprise Associates led the round and was joined by Databricks Ventures, Elad Gil, Nat Friedman, and other angels.
- LeapXpert, a New York-based business communication company, raised $22 million in Series A+ funding. Rockefeller Asset Management led the round and was joined by Uncorrelated Ventures, the Partnership Fund for New York City, and others.
- Smalls, a remote-based cat food brand, raised $19 million in funding. Companion Fund led the round and was joined by Left Lane Capital, Valor Capital, 301 INC, and Ohio State University’s endowment fund.
- env0, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based infrastructure as code workflow automation and management software provider, raised an additional $18.1 million in Series A funding. Venture Guides led the round and was joined by StepStone Group, Knollwood Investment Advisory, boldstart ventures, Grove Ventures, M12, and Crescendo Venture Partners.
- Horizon Quantum Computing, a Singapore-based quantum computing hardware-focused software development company, raised $18.1 million in Series A funding. Tencent, Sequoia Capital India, SGInnovate, Pappas Capital, and Expeditions Fund invested in the round.
- Fixie, a Seattle-based automation platform for large language models, raised $17 million in seed funding. Redpoint Ventures led the round and was joined by Madrona Venture Group, Zetta Venture Partners, SignalFire, Bloomberg Beta, and Kearny Jackson.
- Dragonfly, a San Francisco- and Tel Aviv-based memory data store company, raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Quiet Capital.
- EDITED, a London-based retail analytics platform, raised $15 million in funding. Delta-v Capital led the round and was joined by Wavecrest Growth Partners, Beringea, Hermes GPE.
- TROOP, a remote-based corporate meeting technology and services developer, raised $11 million in Series B funding. Durable Capital Partners and Madrona Venture Group, co-led the round and were joined by All Iron Ventures and Conexo Ventures.
- Reeco, a Miami- and Tel Aviv-based hospitality buyers and suppliers marketplace, raised $10 million in seed funding co-led by Net Capital Ventures and Joule Ventures.
- Stratyfy, a New York-based machine learning solutions provider, raised $10 million in funding. Truist Ventures and Zeal Capital Partners co-led the round and were joined by Mendon Venture Partners, The 98, FIS, and entrepreneur Barry J. Glick.
- Hathora, a New York, NY-based start-up building a cloud optimized for multiplayer games, raised $7.6 million from Upfront Ventures, Founders Fund and Lunar Ventures. VentureBeat
- Jigso, a Tel Aviv-based A.I. observability platform for businesses, raised $7.5 million in seed funding co-led by General Catalyst, Entree Capital, and Jibe Ventures.
- Markerr, a New York-based analytics platform for institutional owners and real estate operators, raised $6.6 million in Series B funding. RET Ventures led the round and was joined by Pretium.
- Dylibso, a Boulder, Colo.-, Los Angeles-, and New Orleans-based WebAssembly innovation company, raised $6.6 million in seed funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by boldstart ventures, Pebblebed, and Crew Capital.
- Dashbot, a San Francisco-based conversational A.I. analytics company, raised $6 million in Series A funding from Florida Funders and Bessemer Venture Partners.
- Autio, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based storytelling app co-founded by Kevin Costner, raised $5.9m from iHeart Media Ventures. https://axios.link/3TV8dpI
- Giadzy, a New York-based lifestyle brand and marketplace launched by chef Giada De Laurentiis, raised $5m led by Defy.vc. https://axios.link/42I0tLN
- Anvil, an SF-based webform and e-signature software startup, raised $5m in new Series A funding led by Craft Ventures, per Axios Pro. https://axios.link/3nxhh8n
- Higharc, a Durham, N.C.-based homebuilding platform, raised $4.5 million in funding from Ferguson Ventures and Starwood Capital Group.
- Two Boxes, a Denver-based return processing and data capturing company for brands and third-party logistic companies, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Vinyl Capital led the round and was joined by Matchstick Ventures and Range Ventures.
- FedML, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based collaborative A.I. platform, raised $4 million in seed funding led by Camford Capital.
- Flowla, a London-based buyer experience platform, raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding. Antler, Fuel Ventures, ScaleX Ventures, and Logo Ventures invested in the round.
. . .
Sustainability:
- Gen Phoenix, a Peterborough, England-based sustainable recycled leather company, raised $18 million in funding. Material Impact led the round and was joined by Dr. Martens, InMotion Ventures, and Tapestry.
- Irrigreen, an Edina, Minn.-based robotic irrigation systems company, raised $15 million in seed funding. Ulu Ventures led the round and was joined by Sage Hill Investors, Burnt Island Ventures, MFV Partners, Anorak Ventures, Echo River Capital, Tamiami, Catalyst Innovation Lab, and Sum Ventures.
- Cowboy Clean Fuels, a Denver-based carbon-negative, renewable natural gas production company, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Machan Investments.
Acquisitions & PE:
- KORE Group Holdings agreed to acquire the San Francisco-based Internet of Things business unit of Twilio. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Accel-KKR acquired a majority stake in Loftware, a Portsmouth, N.H.-based barcode labeling software provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- DoseSpot, a PSG portfolio company, acquired the TreatRX unit of Bravado Health, a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based health care provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Vista Equity Partners acquired Duck Creek Technologies, a Boston-based property and casualty insurance company, for approximately $2.6 billion.
- Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and Visa (NYSE: V) are circling Brazilian banking and payments startup Pismo, which could top $1b, per Bloomberg. Pismo has raised over $100m from backers like Accel, Amazon and SoftBank. https://axios.link/3Kgq8E0
. . .
IPOs:
Nothing to see here…
. . .
SPACs:
- REAL Messenger, a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based real estate content-focused social platform, agreed to go public via a merger with Nova Vision Acquisition Corp., a SPAC. The deal values the company at $150 million.
Funds:
- Accel-KKR, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based private equity firm, raised $5.3 billion across two funds. $4.4 billion will be dedicated to majority buyout investments in the lower-middle market and middle-market software and IT-enabled services companies. $920 million will be dedicated to small-cap software and tech-enabled services companies.
- OpenView, a Boston-based expansion-stage VC firm, raised over $570m for its seventh fund. www.openviewpartners.com
- Torch Capital, a New York-based consumer tech VC firm, raised over $200m for its latest fund. www.torchcapital.vc
Final Numbers
Data: FactSet; Chart: Axios Visuals
Big Tech's comeuppance has come to its end, at least in terms of stock market performance, Axios' Matt Phillips writes.
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.