Startups Raise Over $716M, Investors Raise $61M for New Funds, and $16B in M&A

October 19, 2023's biggest news in the private markets.

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Baichuan, a Chinese startup that develops generative AI and large language models that compete with products like OpenAI's ChatGPT, raised a $300 million Series A1 round at a $1+ billion valuation. Investors included Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi, and Shunwei Capital. The company has raised a total of $350 million.

Bond Vet, a four-year-old New York startup that operates over 40 clinics across the U.S. that provide veterinary urgent and primary care services, raised a $50 million round. Investors included Warburg Pincus and Talisman Capital Partners.

SecureW2, a Seattle startup that offers a suite of passwordless technologies including a tool to issues certificates, or digital replacements for passwords, raised its first round of $80 million. Insight Partners was the deal lead.

Cionic, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that makes bionic clothing to help people with mobility impairments move more independently, raised a $12 million Series A extension round led by L Catterton, with additional funded provided by THVC.

Darwinium, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that focuses on detecting bot and protecting online users from fraudulent attacks, raised an $18 million Series A round led by USVP, with Blackbird, Airtree Ventures, and Accomplice also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $26 million.

Fingerprint, a four-year-old Chicago startup that can identify devices connecting to networks without relying on cookies or IP addresses, raised a $33 million Series C round led by Nexus Venture Partners and including Uncorrelated Ventures.

Globacap, a six-year-old London startup that automates various processes for investment banks, private equity firms, and hedge funds, such as fundraising, managing investments, and compliance, raised a $21 million Series B round. Backers included Moore Strategic Ventures, Cboe Global Markets, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, GABI Ventures, and QBN Capital.

Joor, a 13-year-old New York company whose platform enables brands and buyers to connect, present collections, build assortments, place and manage orders, and process payments, raised $25 million in equity and debt. Brightwood Capital and Tamarix Capital Partners were the co-leads, with participation from existing investors Macquarie Capital, Battery Ventures, and Canaan Partners.

Lanes & Planes, a six-year-old Munich startup whose platform helps companies manage corporate travel, raised a $35 million Series B round led by Smash Capital, with previous investors Battery Ventures, coparion, DN Capital, and Allron also chipping in.

Last Country, a startup founded this year by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to develop media programming, raised a $15 million SAFE round from 1789 Capital.

Objective, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that is building a low-code platform that allows developers to build multi-search apps that handle input and output in multiple formats, such as text, images, video, and audio, raised a $13 million round. Matrix Partners and Two Sigma Ventures were among the investors.

Salted, a nine-year-old Los Angeles startup that builds quick-serve restaurant brands, raised a $14 million Series B round led by previous investor Creadev, with Proof Ventures and B. Riley Financial also pitching in.

Statement, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup that helps companies forecast their cash flow as well as automates manual tasks such as reconciliation and balance reporting, raised a $12 million seed round led by Glilot Capital Partners, with Citi, Mensch Capital Partners, Titan Capital, and Operator Partners also opting in.

VedaBio, a San Diego startup whose platform can detect genetic code without the need for target amplification, raised a $40 million led by OMX Ventures.

Aindo, a five-year-old startup based in Trieste, Italy, that creates synthetic or artificial data for use in testing and training machine learning models, raised a $6.3 million Series A round led by United Ventures, with Vertis SGR also taking part.

Allara, a three-year-old New York startup that provides telehealth services for women with chronic hormonal conditions such as polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis, raised a $10 million Series A round led by GV, with Great Oaks Venture Capital, Humbition, Vanterra, and Gaingels also participating. The company has raised a total of $17.5 million.

Anonybit, a three-year-old New York startup that anonymizes employee biometric data by slicing it up and distributing the pieces through a peer-to-peer network, raised a $3 million round led by Jam Fintop and joined by Connecticut Innovations. The company has raised a total of $8 million.

Auquan, a five-year-old London startup that says it uses generative AI to scan through reams of financial documents and provide insights to its institutional clients, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Neotribe Ventures, with Episode 1 and Stage 2 Capital also anteing up.

Bluebirds, a one-year-old startup that says it uses AI to target sales prospects, raised a $5 million seed round from Lightspeed Venture Partners. 

Flanks, a four-year-old Barcelona startup that has built an API to automate wealth management services for financial institutions, family offices, and independent financial advisors, raised an $8 million Series A round led by Earlybird VC, with JME Ventures and 4Founders Capital also weighing in.

K2 Space, a Los Angeles startup that aims to design and build large satellite buses, raised a $7 million round from investors including Alpine Space Ventures. The company has raised a total of $16 million.

Plan Forward, a five-year-old Indianapolis startup whose platform helps companies create, manage, and analyze dental membership plans, raised a $2 million seed round led by Elevate Ventures and including IU Ventures and Revere Partners.

Zelus Analytics, a four-year-old Austin startup that helps sports teams gather analytics data, raised a $3.6 million round. Investors included RedBird Capital Partners, Gametime Capital, Teamworthy Ventures, 35V, and Billy Beane.

RevRoad Capital, the venture unit of a six-year-old venture services firm for startups in Utah, has garnered $61 million in capital commitments for a debut fund that's focused primarily on local early-stage startups.

OpenAI is in talks to sell existing employees’ shares at an $86B valuation.

Greece is preparing to sell a 20% stake in the National Bank of Greece, which has a ~$5.3B market value, next month as part of a divestment plan fo the country’s lenders.

Redwood Holdings, a family office set up by billionaire cousins and staffing industry veterans Jim Davis and Steve Bisciotti, will acquire food ingredient company Newly Weds Foods for ~$4B.

Whitehaven Coal will buy two Australian coking coal mines from BHP Group for at least $3.2B.

German national railway company Deutsche Bahn plans to announce the sale of its international transport business Arriva to Miami-based infrastructure investor I Squared Capital today; the deal is estimated to be worth ~$1.7B, including debt.

Procter & Gamble is weighing options, including a sale, for the $1B Chinese operation of its hair-care brand VS Sassoon.

Tillman Infrastructure, a builder and operator of cell towers, is in talks to raise $500M in preferred equity for growth.

Buyout firm Apax Partners agreed to buy consulting firm Kin and Carta in a $243M deal.

Former Lordstown Motors CEO Stephen Burns received bankruptcy court approval to acquire the EV company’s manufacturing assets for $10.2M.

Eli Lilly and Company will acquire pre-clinical biotechnology company Mablink Bioscience.