13 Companies Raise Over $167M, VCs Raise $950M for New Funds, & Billionaire is Investing $200M in AI
September 26, 2023's biggest news in the private markets.
Lepaya, a five-year-old Amsterdam startup whose platform that helps clients such as ING, Dell, and Maersk teach their workers new skills, raised a $38 million round led by Endeit Capital, with Educapital, Mars Growth Capital, Liquidity Capital, and previous investors Target Global and Mediahuis Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $80 million.
Nx, a seven-year-old startup based in Gilbert, Az., that is developing tooling to make it simpler for software dev teams to work within a single code repository, raised a $16 million Series A round from Nexus Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz.
Traceless Materials, a three-year-old Hamburg startup that has created a substitute for plastic that it claims is bio-based and home-compostable, raised a $38.8 million Series A round co-led by United Bankers and Swen Capital Partners, with GLS Bank and Hamburger Sparkasse as well as previous investors Planet A Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds, and b.value also contributing.
Vegrow, an Indian startup that runs a business-to-business marketplace for fruits, is reportedly in talks with GIC (the Singapore sovereign fund), about leading a $40 million Series C round. Prosus Ventures led the company's Series B round last year.
Continuum Industries, a five-year-old Edinburgh startup that uses AI to enable utilities to plan the routing of power lines, onshore and offshore cables, and pipelines for hydrogen, water, and CO2, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Singular, with additional participation from previous investors Credo, Playfair, and Techstart Ventures. The company has raised a total of $15.5 million.
Peregrine Hydrogen, a startup based in Santa Cruz, Ca., that is focused on creating climate-friendly hydrogen that is cost-competitive with dirtier fuel made from methane, spun out of Orca Sciences and raised a $7.8 million seed round led by Bidra, with additional funds provided by Gates Frontier, Builders, Presidio Ventures, RiSC Capital, and Schox.
Correcto, a two-year-old Madrid startup that is building a "Grammarly for Spanish," raised a $7 million seed round. Investors included Octopus Ventures, Carya Venture Partners, and River Park Ventures. The company has raised a total of $8 million.
Mintago, a four-year-old UK startup that allows companies to provide their employees with pension help, financial advice, and savings options, raised a $4.75 million round led by BlackLion Ventures, with Love Ventures and Cur8 Capital also joining in. The company has raised a total of $5.2 million.
Gizmo, a two-year-old London startup that uses generative AI to devise gamified quizzes to engage learners, raised a $3.5 million seed round from NFX, Ada Ventures, and Capital T.
TeachMe.To, a two-year-old startup that operates a sports coaching platform for beginner athletes in sports like pickleball, tennis, golf, surfing, and boxing, raised a $2 million seed round led by 1984 Ventures, with participation from Common Metal and Alumni Ventures as well as angel investors such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Dawn Capital, one of Europe’s biggest backers of business software companies, raised $700 million in capital commitments across two new funds: a $620 million early-stage fund and an $80 million “opportunities” fund for growth-stage firms in Dawn Capital’s existing portfolio.
Fuse, a three-year-old VC firm based in Seattle that focuses on early-stage enterprise software startups in the Pacific Northwest, raised a $250 million second fund.
Billionaire Xavier Niel is investing €200 million ($212 million) in AI, split between a future research lab to be located in Paris, cloud supercomputing capabilities powered by Nvidia hardware, and funding for startups. The effort aims to lure top French AI engineers — who left to work for big tech firms — back to their home country, where they can build AI products to rival the likes of OpenAI, Niel said in an interview with Bloomberg.