Startups Raise Over $547M, Investors Raise $238M for New Funds, and $36B in M&A
November 3, 2023's biggest news in the private markets.
Animoca Brands, the nine-year-old Hong Kong startup that has developed Web3 games such as The Sandbox and invested in blockchain gaming and NFT companies such as Dapper Labs and OpenSea, raised a $50 million round from Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Company. The investment will be divided equally between the purchase of convertible notes and secondary shares. The company has raised a total of $500+ million.
Atom Bank, a nine-year-old startup based in Durham, UK, that operates an app-based bank, raised a $121.8 million round at a $412 million valuation, a 17% decrease in valuation from last year's previous round, per the Financial Times. The round was led by previous investors BBVA, Toscafund, and Infinity Investment Partners.
Infinitum, an Austin startup that develops high-efficiency, sustainable industrial motors, raised a $185 million Series E round led by Just Climate, with additional participation from Galvanize Climate Solutions and NGP as well as previous investors Alliance Resource Partners, Rockwell Automation, Riverstone Holdings, Chevron Technology Ventures, Cottonwood Technology Fund, and Ajax Strategies. The company has raised a total of $350 million.
Cowbell, a four-year-old Palo Alto startup that provides cyber threat monitoring and insurance against breaches or ransomware attacks, raised a $25 million round. Aramco Ventures' growth fund, Prosperity7 Ventures, was the deal lead.
Genome Insight, a three-year-old San Diego startup that has developed a genomic test to help doctors and patients make better decisions about cancer care, raised a $23 million Series B-2 round led by Samsung Ventures, Asan Foundation, SCL Group, and Ignite Innovation.
Kuva Space, a seven-year-old startup based in Espoo, Finland, that builds and deploys nanosatellites in order to perform hyperspectral Earth studies of crops, minerals, and gas, raised a $17.6 million Series A round co-led by previous investors Voima Ventures and Nordic Foodtech VC, with Earth VC and Springvest also participating.
Matic, a six-year-old startup based in Mountain View, Ca., that makes a robot vacuum that does not send information to the cloud, raised a $24 million Series A round. Investors included GitHub co-founder Nat Friedman, Stripe co-founders John and Patrick Collison, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, and Twitter co-founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey. The company has raised a total of $29.5 million.
Payroll Integrations, a seven-year-old San Diego startup that enables companies to help their employees plan their financial futures by connecting payroll data with retirement, health savings accounts, and other benefit plans, raised a $20 million led by Arthur Ventures.
Xage Security, a seven-year-old Palo Alto startup whose software helps clients stop network attacks, raised a $20 million Series B2 round. Piva Capital, March Capital, SCF Partners, Overture Climate Fund, Valor Equity Partners, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Science Applications International invested in the deal. The company has raised a total of $80 million.
Agentio, a New York startup founded this year that operates a programmatic platform for buying and selling sponsored creator-read ads integrated with YouTube content, raised a $4.3 million seed round co-led by Craft Ventures and AlleyCorp, with Antler, Protagonist, and Permanent Capital also joining in.
Bikmo, a 12-year-old company based in Chester, UK, that sells cycle and e-mobility insurance policies, raised a $4.1 million Series A extension led by Puma Private Equity. The company has raised a total of $6.5 million.
Dashtoon, a one-year-old startup based in San Francisco and London that uses generative AI tools to help writers turn their stories into comics, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Matrix Partners India and Stellaris Venture Partners.
EarlyBird, a four-year-old Chicago startup whose app lets families and friends gift investments to children, raised a $4.5 million seed round led by Ideo Ventures, with additional capital provided by ResilienceVC, Sweater Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Wintrust Bank, Lightspeed Scout Program, and Parallel as well as previous investors 776 Ventures, Fiat Ventures, and RareBreed Ventures. The company has raised a total of $10.9 million.
FERO Payment Science, a one-year-old Amsterdam startup that gives ecommerce retailers the ability to offer their customers customized checkout experiences, raised a $3 million round. Investors included Coatue, Volta Ventures, and Antler.
Govly, a two-year-old Denver startup whose software makes it easier for companies to spot federal contract opportunities, raised a $9.5 million Series A round at a $41 million post-money valuation. Insight Partners was the deal lead.
Jona, a startup based in Stamford, CT, that makes an at-home microbiome profiling kit that uses AI to analyze an individual's microbiome, raised a $5 million round. Breyer Capital and Meridian Street Capital were the co-leads.
Modulus Labs, a Palo Alto startup that uses zero knowledge proofs to establish that an AI model was executed correctly, raised a $6.3 million seed round co-led by Variant and 1kx, with Floodgate, Inflection, Alliance, Bankless, Stanford Blockchain Builders, and Global Coin Research also taking part.
Nu Quantum, a five-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK that is focused on creating networks of quantum computers, raised an $8.5 million pre-Series A round co-led by previous investors Amadeus Capital Partners and IQ Capital as well as new investor Expeditions Fund, with Presidio Ventures backed by Sumitomo Corporation, the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), and Deeptech Labs as well as prior backers Ahren Capital, Seraphim Capital, The University of Cambridge, and Martlet also piling on.
P0 Security, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that helps security teams manage access to cloud assets, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and SV Angel.
Stockpress, a five-year-old Boston startup that has developed a file management system encompassing disparate cloud hosting services and media types, raised a $1.8 million seed round led by Argon Ventures and including York IE, Two Lanterns VC, and The Fund XX/Everywhere Ventures as well as previous investors Stage 2 Capital and deftly.vc.
Treads, a four-year-old startup based in Park City, Ut., that offers a car maintenance subscription service, raised a $4.6 million seed round led by Mucker Capital, with Kickstart Seed Fund, Peak Ventures, Royal Street Ventures, and Convoi Ventures also pitching in.
ex/ante, new, New York-based outfit, has garnered $33 million into capital commitments to focus on “agentic tech” — or tech that relates to human agency and rights in the digital age. Spun out of Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic venture arm of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, ex/ante tells Forbes it will invest in pre-seed and seed stage startups.
Norrsken22 has raised a debut fund of $205 million to invest in Series A and B startups in Africa that are focused on fintech, edtech, medtech/health tech, and market-enabling technologies.
The finance committee of Canada's House of Commons lower chamber asked Ottawa to reject Royal Bank of Canada's $9.8B acquisition of HSBC's domestic unit due to lack of competition in the financial sector.
Theme park operators Cedar Fair and Six Flags Entertainment agreed to merge to create a combined company worth $8B, including debt.
Siemens Healthineers is weighing options for its in-vitro diagnostics operations, which could fetch up to $8B in a sale.
EQT resumed talks to acquire Global Switch Holdings in a deal that could value the data center company at ~$6.5B.
Lloyds Banking Group rebuffed the latest $1.2B offer from Barclay family to reclaim British newspaper group, the Telegraph.
TPG-backed hospital operator Columbia Asia and a consortium led by Affinity Partners emerged as the two shortlisted bidders for buying $1B Asia-focused private hospital group Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care.
Manufacturer Fox Factory Holding will acquire American sports manufacturer Marucci Sports at a $572M EV.
Zurich Insurance Group will purchase a 51% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank's general insurance arm for ~$487M.
Clean energy solutions company TransAlta will acquire power generator Heartland Generation from Energy Capital Partners in a $475M deal.
Information management company Iron Mountain will acquire IT asset disposition service provider Regency Technologies for $200M.
US investment firm RedBird Capital Partners is weighing a sale of French football club Toulouse FC.