Startups Raise Over $392M, Investors Raise $465M for New Funds, and $36B in M&A
October 27, 2023's biggest news in the private markets.
Triveni Bio, a six-year-old startup based in Waltham, Ma., that is developing drugs targeting targeting eczema and asthma, raised a $92 million Series A round co-led by Atlas Venture and Cormorant Asset Management, with additional participation from OrbiMed, Viking Global, Invus, Polaris Partners, and Alexandria Venture Investments.
Arteria AI, a three-year-old Toronto startup that uses AI to extract data from financial documents, raised a $30 million Series B round led by GGV Capital U.S., with previous investors Illuminate Financial, Information Venture Partners, BDC Capital, and Citi also taking part. The company has raised a total of $50 million.
CentML, a one-year-old Toronto startup that develops tools to decrease the cost and improve the performance of machine learning models, raised a $27 million seed round extension from Gradient Ventures, TR Ventures, and Nvidia. The company has raised a total of $30.5 million.
Cranium, a startup based in Short Hills, NJ, that specializes in securing AI applications and deployments, raised a $25 million Series A round led by Telstra Ventures, with previous investors KPMG and SYN Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $32 million.
Eve, a four-year-old startup based in Palo Alto, Ca., whose AI platform is designed to handle legal tasks like document review, case analysis, client intake, and research, raised a $14 million seed round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures.
FounderSix, a three-year-old Los Angeles startup that is incubating celebrity beauty brands, raised a $12 million round. KD Capital was the deal lead.
LegalMation, a seven-year-old Los Angeles startup that uses generative AI to enable legal professionals to respond to legal matters such as lawsuits and discovery requests based on the client's historical responses, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Aquiline Technology Growth, with additional capital provided by previous investors Motley Fool Ventures, REV Venture Partners, Key Venture Partners, Quick Set, and Brentwood Investments.
Neon Machine, a two-year-old Seattle startup that is developing an RPG shooter video game called Shrapnel, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Polychain Capital, with Griffin Gaming Partners, Brevan Howard Digital, Franklin Templeton, IOSG Ventures, and Tess Ventures also anteing up.
Oxide Computer Company, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that is building hardware and software designed for on-premise cloud computing, raised a $44 million Series A round led by Eclipse, with Intel Capital, Riot Ventures, Counterpart Ventures, and Rally Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $78 million.
QuoteWell, a two-year-old Austin startup that operates a wholesale brokerage focused on the distribution of commercial insurance, raised a $15+ million Series A round led by NEA, with Goldcrest and Floating Point also contributing.
Siro, a three-year-old New York startup whose platform uses AI to train sales reps, raised a $14 million Series A round led by previous investor CRV, with prior backers Fika Ventures and Index Ventures also investing.
Threedium, a six-year-old London startup that offers 3D developer tools and related services to help brands create 3D and AR experiences, raised an $11 million Series A round co-led by Interpublic Group and Olma Partners, with Mesh Consensys, Reflexive Capital, Nirvana Family Office, and Lyra Ventures also stepping up.
1337 (pronounced "Leet"), a New York startup founded this year that says it is leveraging generative AI to build a community of AI-driven micro-influencers, raised a $4 million pre-seed round from Credo Ventures, GFR Fund, Treble VC, and Roosh Ventures.
Chkk, a one-year-old startup based in Sunnyvale, Ca., that helps companies maintain complex Kubernetes environments, raised a $5.2 million seed round led by Sequoia Capital.
CipherStash, a three-year-old Sydney startup whose queryable encryption technology keeps data encrypted even when in use, raised a $3 million "Seed-2" round led by Skip Capital, with SixThirty Ventures also pitching in.
Drovo, an eight-year-old London startup that claims to run the UK’s largest programmatic transit advertising platform, raised a $3.6 million Series A round led by Maven Capital Partners, with Change Ventures, Caygan Capital, Venturian, Growthdeck, and existing investor SEL Capital also taking part.
FlyGuys, a nine-year-old startup based in Lafayette, La., that has built a network of drone pilots to provide aerial data for clients, raised a $10 million Series A round. Backers included Mitchell Capital and Advantage Capital.Heidi Health, a four-year-old Melbourne startup that is attempting to alleviate the administrative load on doctors by using AI to turn consultation transcripts into case histories, referral letters, financial forms, and other documents, raised a $6.3 million Series A round led by Blackbird Ventures and joined by Hostplus, Vesta, Wormhole Capital, Archangel Ventures, Possible Ventures, and Daniel Ventures. The company has raised a total of $10 million.
Inlyte Energy, a two-year-old Berkeley, Ca., startup that is making grid batteries using sodium metal halide technology, raised an $8 million seed round led by At One Ventures, with additional funds supplied by First Spark Ventures, Valo Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, Climate Capital, and Anglo American.
Klu, a London startup that helps companies integrate AI into their apps and workflows, raised a $1.7 million pre-seed round led by Firstminute Capital, with participation from a16z, Sequoia Capital, Craft Ventures, and Atomico.
Kota, a one-year-old Dublin startup that is building a platform for companies to manage employee benefits, raised a $5.3 million seed round led by EQT Ventures, with previous investors Northzone and Frontline Ventures also investing.
Nocturne, a crypto startup that is combining blockchain technologies like zero-knowledge proofs, account abstractions, and stealth addresses to bring private accounts to public blockchain, raised a $6 million seed round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital, with additional support from Bankless Ventures, HackVC, Robot Ventures, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Rymedi, a five-year-old startup based in Greenville, S.C., that enables the transfer of medical records and data via blockchain, raised a $9 million Series A round co-led by RW3 Ventures and White Star Capital, with Blockchange Ventures and Avalanche's Blizzard Fund also opting in.
Triple-A, a Singapore startup that enables clients to accept crypto payments and receive fiat money in their bank accounts the next day, raised a $10 million Series A round. Peak XV and Shorooq Partners invested in the deal.
Upfort, a six-year-old San Francisco startup whose cybersecurity technology is designed to streamline the cyber insurance purchase and underwriting process for brokers, insurers, and their clients, raised an $8 million Series A round. SYN Ventures was the deal lead, with participation from previous investors Eniac Ventures and Fika Ventures.
Flourish Ventures, a four-year-old early-stage venture firm that was spun out of Omidyar Network in 2019 and invests exclusively in fintech companies, has secured $350 million in fresh capital from its sole LP, Pierre Omidyar. The outfit now has $850 million.
The House Fund, a pre-seed and early-stage venture capital fund focused on UC Berkeley startups, specifically AI startups, today announced that it has closed its third fund with $115 million in capital commitments. It also says that Ken Goldberg, the UC Berkeley professor and prolific roboticist, is joining The House Fund as a part-time partner.
ConocoPhillips is weighing an offer for privately held Permain Basin energy producer CrownRock, which is valued at $10B-$15B, after Exxon and Chevron expressed interest in participating in the sale process for CrownRock.
Western Digital and Japan's Kioxia Holdings broke off talks to create one of the world's biggest chipmakers; Japan’s top banks were set to commit $12.6B financing to support the merger.
Stellantis will invest $1.6B to acquire a 21% stake in Chinese EV maker Zhejiang Leapmotor Technologies.
SolarWinds, a $1.5B market cap software company controlled by PE firms Silver Lake Management and Thoma Bravo, is exploring options, including a potential sale.
Marcolin, an eyewear maker for brands including Tom Ford, is considering a sale; a deal could the company at $1.4B.
Air France-KLM announced a new $1.4B financing agreement with Apollo Global.
PE firm Hg is weighing options, including a potential sale, for F24 next year; the German software business could be valued at up to $1.1B.
The Restaurant Group received a request for information from PizzaExpress Group owner Wheel Topco to evaluate a possible offer weeks after it agreed to a $611M acquisition offer from Apollo Global.
Alternative asset manager Fortress Investment Group approached $459M retail landlord Whitestone REIT about a takeover.
Shareholders of Hipgnosis voted against the music royalties fund’s $440M deal to sell 29 catalogues to a private Blackstone vehicle.
Financial services technology firm Wex agreed to acquire contractor software company Payzer for ~$250M.
Canaccord Genuity explored a potential acquisition of Close Brothers Group's wealth management operations.
UPS will acquire logistics company Happy Returns from PayPal for an undisclosed sum.