This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

It was a huge week for startups raising big. A company had to raise nine figures to make the list this week and five raised $200 million or more. It’s unlikely the short week next week will see these kinds of rounds, so don’t expect the same type of dollar figures in the next seven days.

1. Sila Nanotechnologies, $375M battery: A next-generation battery materials company led the way this week with a huge round. Alameda, California-based Sila, a next-generation battery materials company, announced it raised a $375 million Series G led by existing investors Sutter Hill Ventures and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates. The new cash will help the  company finish construction of its Moses Lake, Washington, plant — scheduled for the first quarter of next year — for the production of its Titan Silicon anode material. Founded in 2011, the company has raised $1.4 billion, per Crunchbase.

2. Formation Bio, $372M, biotech: Every week there is a big biotech raise and this week’s is really big. Formation Bio, an AI-enhanced pharma company, raised a $372 million Series D led by a16z. The New York-based startup, launched in 2016 as TrialSpark, has built AI-enabled platforms and processes to accelerate drug development and clinical trials — integrating large language models, AI models and applications throughout its platform. More and more biotech startups are using AI to help with their drug processes and investors are clearly taking note. Founded in 2013, the company has raised $528 million, per Crunchbase.

3. CData Software, $350M, data integration: A round that likely skipped under most folks’ radar was data connectivity company CData Software’s massive $350 million growth round from two big-named firms. The round was led by Warburg Pincus, with participation from Accel. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based company develops data products and connectivity solutions that provide access to live data from hundreds of on-premises and cloud applications. Founded in 2016, the company has raised $510 million, per Crunchbase.

4. (tied) Creatio, $200M, customer relationship management: Low-code and no-code startups are not seeing the funding they did a couple of years ago, but it clearly has not dried up completely. Creatio achieved unicorn status after landing a $200 million round led by Sapphire Ventures. The new cash, a minority investment, values the startup at $1.2 billion and will be used to help the company expand globally as it continues to grow revenue 50% year to year. The Boston-based startup is a developer of a no-code platform to automate customer relationship management and enterprise workflows. Not surprisingly, the company has an AI angle — creating a new generative AI copilot to help automate different marketing and sales tasks. Founded in 2014, Creatio previously raised $68 million in 2021 in a round led by Volition Capital, per Crunchbase.

4. (tied) Foodsmart, $200M, healthcare: Foodsmart locked down a massive $200 million round led by TPG’s global impact investing platform, The Rise Fund. The San Francisco-based company has developed a telenutrition and food benefits management platform. Founded in 2010, Foodsmart helps those facing chronic disease and food insecurity by partnering with health plans and providers to give patients access to affordable healthy eating options, virtual nutrition counseling and meal plans. Foodsmart has raised nearly $315 million, per Crunchbase.

6. Sidecar Health, $165M, healthcare: Healthcare is a mess — nearly everyone can agree on that. Sidecar Health, a health insurance company providing major medical coverage to businesses, closed a $165 million Series D led by Koch Disruptive Technologies to try to untangle it at least a little bit. The El Segundo, California-based startup offers plans that eliminate the need for prior authorizations, referrals and networks for doctors — allowing patients to go where they want. Sidecar Health believes a free-market approach will ensure healthcare is more accessible and affordable. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $328 million, per Crunchbase.

7. EvolutionaryScale, $142M, biotech: It was a big week for biotech. New York-based EvolutionaryScale, which has developed a large language model for creating novel proteins, raised a $142 million seed funding, led by Daniel Gross, Lux Capital and Nat Friedman. Amazon Web Services and NVentures, the venture capital arm of Nvidia, also took part in the round. While the company’s AI can be used for accelerating drug discovery, it also believes it can be used for other other applications such as breaking down plastics.

8. Etched.ai, $120M, semiconductor: Etched.ai became the latest startup to ride the wave of investor enthusiasm for AI chips. The San Francisco-based startup locked up a $120 million round led by Positive Sum and Primary Venture Partners. The startup is the creator of the transformer-specialized AI chip Sohu, used to train and deploy large language models that are the underpinning of generative AI. Etched has announced a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to produce the chip, which will be a direct competitor to chip giant Nvidia — which dominates the market in AI. However, the large energy consumption of AI remains a concern, and Etched believes it can provide a more cost-effective and energy-efficient chip that is faster.

9. Bright Machines, $106M, manufacturing: San Francisco-based Bright Machines, a developer of software-defined manufacturing, raised $126 million in a Series C funding — with $106 million in equity led by investment from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. Founded in 2018, Bright Machines has raised more than $400 million, per the company.

10. (tied) Hebbia, $100M, artificial intelligence: New York-based Hebbia, a startup using generative AI to search large documents and find answers, raised nearly $100 million in a Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz. Founded in 2020, the company has raised more than $130 million, per Crunchbase.

10. (tied) LanzaJet, $100M, fuel: Chicago-based LanzaJet, a sustainable fuels technology company, announced a $100 million growth equity round. Investors included Mitsubishi UFG Financial.

Big global deals

There were a few big rounds outside the U.S. this week. The largest was:

• Turkey-based Getir, which provides on-demand delivery services, raised a $250 million venture round.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of June 22 to June 28. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

It may be the big funding rounds that grab the headlines when it comes to the startup world, but for investors it’s the exit that actually matters.

For the past few years the M&A market for startups has been slow — and the IPO pipeline nonexistent.

However, just as AI is taking over venture, perhaps it is doing that for the M&A and IPO markets.

OpenAI — which reportedly has doubled annualized revenue to $3.4 billion — opened up its wallet the past few days to make two deals happen. The creator of ChatGPT first bought search and analytics startup Rockset last week. The San Mateo, California-based company had raised nearly $118 million in capital, per Crunchbase. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Then just this week, the AI giant bought video collaboration startup Multi, previously Remotion, in what was reportedly an acqui-hire. The San Francisco-based company had raised $13 million to date, per Crunchbase.

Overall, M&A has picked up slightly involving startups, per Crunchbase data. The current quarter already has witnessed more activity than Q1, with more than 430 deals. However, those numbers are still relatively low compared to quarters in previous years.

While those two deals will not set fire to the M&A market, it doubled the amount of deals OpenAI had previously done according to Crunchbase. It may show a new willingness for inorganic growth, a desire nearly all Big Tech companies must gain as they get larger. With OpenAI’s ever-expanding revenue numbers and the value of the company ever increasing, it certainly has the wherewithal to easily become a Goliath among suitors.

However, M&A is not the only way to exit, and AI may be looking to help there too. Last week, artificial intelligence chips startup Cerebras Systems reportedly filed confidentially for an initial public offering.

It’s a good time to be an AI chip developer. Nvidia has become one of the most — if not the most — valuable companies in the world and funding is currently gaining traction in the sector. Astera Labs — which provides data and memory connectivity solutions for some of the biggest chipmakers in the world — had a successful IPO even though its shares have tailed off its highs.

Other companies that went public this year had strong AI ties — like biotech Tempus AI — or played up their AI connections strongly — like Reddit.

Public investors are clearly intrigued by the AI tech play and where it may lead.

Investors have waited a couple years for the IPO and M&A markets to open back up, and it would not be surprising for AI to lead that charge — just as it seems to be leading everything else.

If big AI companies like OpenAI and perhaps Nvidia — which is showing interest in taking on the cloud services providers — start to get acquisitive and more startups think the time is right to test the public market, investors may start to see those long-awaited returns rolling in.

Things that caught our eye and other stuff:

• The soap opera at Stability AI took another turn this week, as investors that included ex-Facebook President Sean Parker committed $80 million to take over the artificial intelligence-driven visual art startup. Per a story in The Wall Street Journal, the new investors made a deal with suppliers to forgive some $100 million owed by Stability and also negotiated for the startup to be released from $300 million in future obligations. It’s the latest twist for Stability, which locked up a $101 million raise led by Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners and O’Shaughnessy Ventures in 2022. The company did not release a valuation at the time, but Bloomberg reported the new cash infusion valued the company at around $1 billion. However, in spring of last year Forbes reported Stability AI’s founder Emad Mostaque made exaggerated statements about both his own background and his generative AI startup. At the time, some AI researchers disputed the startup’s claims that it created the image generator Stable Diffusion, an open-source project developed by researchers. It also was reported the London-based startup was looking to raise an additional $1 billion of capital at a multibillion-dollar valuation, but talks had stalled. In March, reports surfaced that Mostaque left the company after an investor revolt. The company said in an internal memo it was trying to “right-size” the business after a period of unsustainable growth, per the report. Finally, in April the startup laid off 10% — estimated to be about 20 people — of its workforce, per a report by CNBC. That’s quite the whirlwind — even for an AI startup.
• Another round that caught our attention this week was raised by a Palo Alto, California-based startup. MEandMine, a developer of AI-flagging to identify psychological risks in young children, raised $4.5 million in funding led by K5 Global. The startup offers AI-powered screening to identify students’ psychological risks in real time by playing games with data points that are used for AI-flagging, allowing teachers, counselors and others to screen early and make informed decisions. Initial results from its California school pilots show a 91% accuracy, the company says. MEandMine’s algorithm launches games based on individual students’ makeup, and can help them center themselves.

Related Crunchbase Pro list:

• Global Venture-Backed M&A

Related reading:

• Deal-Making Involving VC-Backed Startups Picks Up Slightly, But Still Slow
• Accounting Startup Klarity Books $70M Series B — Report
• AI Chip Startup Etched Captures $120M In Hot Market
• Stability AI Newest Addition To Unicorn Stable
• Stability AI’s Founder Made Misleading Claims — Report
• Stability AI Lays Off 10% Of Staff — Report

Illustration: Dom Guzman

So, when Bessemer calls its latest annual State of the Cloud report “a eulogy for the legacy cloud,” it warrants attention.

In its latest report, published Thursday, the firm makes the case that startups are moving out of what it describes as legacy SaaS business models and embracing a new paradigm: vertical AI. While this isn’t a death knell for the enterprise software companies that have been its bread-and-butter for years, it does mean they’ll have to evolve with the times.

“It is a big deal, particularly coming from Bessemer. I think it is reflective of just how big of a movement and paradigm shift this is,” said firm partner Sameer Dholakia, referring to the rise of large language models and AI-enabled tools that are reshaping the enterprise software landscape. “This is an extinction event for companies that are not on the early side of adoption.”

All about vertical AI

If cloud was the perennial buzzword of years’ past, this time Bessemer is pushing to popularize the concept of vertical AI as the next big thing. It defines this as applications that “target the high cost repetitive language-based tasks that dominate numerous verticals and large sectors of the economy.”

Bessemer, which cites over a dozen of its own portfolio companies as vertical AI exemplars, isn’t the only one highlighting the trend. Late last year, for instance Cowboy Ventures 1 published a Vertical AI Market Map, and Greylock listed standout startups in the space for healthcare, finance and professional services.

Per Dholakia, some of the most promising startups in vertical AI use cases are well beyond seed stage by now. Many secured initial funding well before the late 2022 launch of ChatGPT established the power of large language models for the masses.

While we’re probably at least a couple years away from seeing vertical AI IPOs at scale, Dholakia is already seeing early entrants shake up prevailing business models in the enterprise software space. One shift that AI is enabling, he said, is the propensity to charge customers based on work rather than number of users engaging the software.

“You’re seeing people price the delivery of their capability differently,” he said. “They’re solving a piece of work, and charging per work product.”

Dholakia cites legal tech AI portfolio company EvenUp as an example, with the firm currently able to charge personal injury lawyers for demand letters created with its offering.

Exits and valuations

While Bessemer is enthused about the promise of vertical AI offerings, the firm is also cognizant of the reality that startups in the space are mostly a ways from exit. Meanwhile, there remains a vast swathe of still-private, later-stage enterprise software companies formed before the all-about-AI era.

The backlog of not-yet-exited unicorns, in particular, is amassing amid a sluggish period for IPOs and large M&A deals involving private, venture-backed software companies. And with the traditionally languid summer IPO season upon us, the slow streak looks set to continue.

Dholakia, for his part, said he’s optimistic the offering pace will pick up, likely by next year. For the past couple years, he said, the software startups have held off going public, given the post-2021 market contraction, several quarters of subsequent belt-tightening, and pressure to update with AI capabilities.

As a result, there’s now a “once in a generation, maybe once in a lifetime backlog of companies” that are worthy of going public but are still private, he said.

Hopefully, soon we’ll see them making their way to market.

Related reading:

• The 49-Year Unicorn Backlog

Illustration: Dom Guzman

May was a big month to raise, well, really big. Four rounds hit $1 billion or more and companies needed to raise at least $200 million to make this list. Not surprisingly AI led the way — as it always seems to do — with a trio of a billion-or-more rounds.

1. xAI, $6B, artificial intelligence: Elon Musk’s generative AI startup, xAI, officially announced its long-awaited fundraise — making it the second-most-valuable generative AI company in the world behind only competitor OpenAI. The $6 billion round included investment from the likes of Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management & Research, among others. The new funding values the company at $24 billion post-money, well behind OpenAI’s $86 billion valuation but well ahead of the $18 billion that fellow generative AI rival Anthropic is now valued at after its last raise. The xAI round had been rumored for months. Musk’s company was announced just last July and released its ChatGPT competitor, Grok, last November. It introduced its latest AI model, called Grok-1.5,  earlier this year. Grok is trained off data from another one of Musk’s companies, X, formerly Twitter.

2. CoreWeave, $1.1B, artificial intelligence: Another big AI-related funding round. AI cloud infrastructure startup CoreWeave locked up a $1.1 billion round led by Coatue that values the company at $19 billion, per The Wall Street Journal. The valuation represents an almost threefold increase from the company’s valuation just five months ago, when it was valued at $7 billion following a secondary sale, and a huge jump from its $2 billion valuation in a Series B extension last May. With the latest funding, the company has now raised some $4.6 billion, per Crunchbase data.

3. (tied) Scale AI, $1B, artificial intelligence: Are you sensing a trend this month with big AI rounds? Scale AI raised $1 billion in a round led by Accel that values the data labeling and evaluation startup at a stunning $13.8 billion. The valuation is nearly double the $7.3 billion the San Francisco-based startup hit after a $325 million raise in April 2021. The new financing included some of the biggest names in tech, with Nvidia, Meta and Amazon all investing. Scale AI plays a key role in creating large language models and accurately labeling text, images, video and voice data. The startup also creates and fine-tunes data sets.

3. (tied) Wiz, $1B, cybersecurity: Finally, something that is not AI. Cloud security startup Wiz locked up the biggest cybersecurity round of the year thus far as it raised $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation. The round — announced just as the industry’s RSA Conference was getting underway in San Francisco early last month — could be another sign of investors coming back to the cybersecurity space. Cyber startups are coming off their best funding quarter in three quarters, and in late April Microsoft-backed data security firm Rubrik had a successful IPO. Wiz’s latest round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Thrive Capital. Founded in 2020, Wiz says it has raised $1.9 billion so far. Originally founded in Israel, Wiz has been busy of late. In April, it acquired New York-based cloud detection and response startup Gem Security. The company says the new cash infusion could be used for more deal-making. Also based in New York, the startup says it achieved $350 million in annual recurring revenue last year. It has talked openly about hitting $1 billion in ARR as it heads to an IPO.

5. Motional, $475M, autonomous vehicles: Hyundai showed it is willing to spend big on Boston-based self-driving startup Motional. In May, the carmaker agreed to invest $475 million directly into the startup while also buying 11% of joint venture partner Aptiv’s equity stake in the company for another $448 million. Motional, formerly nuTonomy, was in the news just a couple of months ago for reportedly securing a bridge loan to extend its runway until another funding round. It seems like this situation bears watching.

6. Uniquity Bio, $300M, biotech: While AI dominated, biotech also saw some big rounds in May. The biggest in May was from a brand-new company launched by Blackstone Life Sciences — a unit of private equity giant Blackstone Group — along with a sizable $300 million investment. The new startup is a clinical-stage drug development company focused on immunology and inflammation. Uniquity already has FDA acceptance of its Phase 2 investigational new drug application for one of its medicines.

7. Vercel, $250M, developer platform: Vercel, a platform that allows companies to develop web applications in the cloud, locked up a $250 million Series E at a valuation of $3.25 billion. The round was led by Accel, with participation from other existing investors including CRV, GV, Notable Capital (previously GGV Capital), Bedrock, Geodesic Capital, Tiger Global, 8VC and SV Angel 1. The new round is an upround from Vercel’s 2021 raise, when it secured $150 million in a Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation led by GGV Capital. The San Francisco-based company allows developers to use an open-source framework to create web applications, and tries to simplify the process to migrate websites to cloud infrastructure to help with accessibility. Vercel has a number of big-name customers such as Under Armour, Unity and Nintendo. The company says it recently surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue and more than 1 million monthly active developers. Founded in 2015, the company has raised $568 million, per Crunchbase.

8. AltruBio, $225M, biotech: AltruBio secured a $225 million Series B led by BVF Partners. The San Francisco-based startup is developing therapeutics for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and other immunological diseases. The new cash will be used to support ongoing and planned Phase 2 clinical trials in ulcerative colitis. Founded in 2000, AltruBio has raised nearly $328 million, per Crunchbase.

9. (tied) BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics, $200M, biotech: Biotech saw a big spinoff in May, as BridgeBio Pharma launched subsidiary BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics as its own company with $200 million of new funding. The Palo Alto, California-based spinoff aims to grow its oncology portfolio. The financing was co-led by Cormorant Asset Management and Omega Funds.

9. (tied) Sigma, $200M, analytics: Cloud analytics startup Sigma raised a $200 million Series D co-led by Spark Capital and Avenir Growth Capital. Similar to Vercel, it was an upround from the company’s last financing. The San Francisco-based company says the valuation was a 60% increase from its $300 million Series C led by D1 Capital Partners and XN in 2021 and it was reported the new valuation was $1.5 billion. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $581 million, per Crunchbase.

9. (tied) Zenas BioPharma, $200M, biotech: Waltham, Massachusetts-based Zenas BioPharma raised a $200 million Series C preferred stock round led by Delos Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Norwest Venture Partners and SR One. The biotech firm specializes in inflammation- and immunology-directed therapies and will use the fresh cash to support the ongoing lead product candidate, obexelimab. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $318 million, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

xAI and CoreWeave were the biggest raises of the month, but No. 3 came from the U.K.

• London-based self-driving car startup Wayve raised $1.05 billion in a SoftBank-led round.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the month of May 2024. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the month.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Although venture funding seems to be stagnating, more and more startups seem to be having an easier time securing really big funding rounds — that seemed to dry up last year — from investors.

Rounds of $100 million or more — or megadeals — have exploded this year, as U.S.-based startups have collected 115 such rounds through mid-May, per The Crunchbase Megadeals Board. That is a 58% spike compared to the 73 megadeals raised last year at this time.

Of course, that is well off the number of nine-figure rounds raised in 2021 and 2022, when nearly 280 such rounds were raised by this time each of those years.

Still, considering the overall VC market in 2024, the large number of megadeals seem out of place.

Where is the money going?

One of the things that stands out about the startups that have raised rounds of $100 million or more this year is the variety of sectors they have emerged from. From gaming (Epic Games) to food delivery (Wonder) to quantum computing (PsiQuantum), investors have continued to spread large checks around.

While most would think such a list is AI-dominated, it is not. In fact, only 11 U.S.-based startups with a main AI classification have raised such rounds this year — with AI cloud infrastructure startup CoreWeave leading the way, after locking up a $1.1 billion round led by Coatue earlier this month.

Instead it’s actually biotech and healthcare lapping the field when it comes to megadeals, with such startups rising a whopping 38 so far this year.

That includes April’s biggest round: Xaira Therapeutics coming out of stealth and announcing it had secured more than $1 billion of committed capital from lead investors Arch Venture Partners and Foresite Capital — both of which jointly incubated the company. Xaira is the latest — although likely best-funded — startup to try to use AI models to find new drugs.

Cybersecurity also has had its share of big $100 million-or-more rounds this year, as 10 such raises went to startups in the sector. The largest was cloud security startup Wiz, which recently raised $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation — the biggest cybersecurity round of the year globally thus far.

The money flows in

As one can see from the rounds above — all happening in the past 45 days — the pace of such big deals have seemingly gathered speed as the year has continued. While January was slow, February saw the start of the $100 million-plus round pickup.

The numbers do seem out of place in the current venture market, but likely can be explained.

Since overall venture numbers have remained steady, even declining slightly, investors clearly are taking money from possible other late-stage growth deals, and perhaps even some early-stage deals. It wouldn’t be possible to take enough money out of seed-stage deals to make a dent when it comes to nine-figure rounds.

Nevertheless, the influx of megadeals this year seems to show investors are again willing to bet big on companies in which they see significant potential.

By the end of last year, investors had participated in 210 rounds of $100 million or more. It seems VCs and strategics are well-ready to shoot past that number this year.

Methodology

The numbers in this story pull data from The Crunchbase Megadeals Board, including the single industry it assigns each round. The board tracks only U.S.-based startups.

Related reading:

• The Crunchbase Megadeals Board
• The Crunchbase Unicorn Board
• Global VC Funding Isn’t Slowing, But It’s Not Growing Either, April Numbers Show

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Earlier this month, CoreWeave announced it had raised a whopping $1.1 billion in a fresh funding round led by Coatue in a deal valuing the company at $19 billion, per The Wall Street Journal. That represents an almost threefold increase from the company’s valuation just five months earlier, when it was valued at $7 billion following a secondary sale, and a huge jump from its $2 billion valuation in a Series B extension last May.

Then just last week, the Nvidia-backed company announced its new European headquarters in London, in addition to a commitment to invest $1.25 billion into the continent.

Big money

CoreWeave has now raised more than $12 billion in equity and debt through the past 12 months, per the company. Just last August, CoreWeave raised another debt financing worth $2.3 billion.

The company, which gives access to highly sought after AI chips from Nvidia, operated in 14 data centers at the end of last year and anticipates doubling its data center footprint to 28 globally by the end of 2024.

“CoreWeave is building the infrastructure to power the AI innovations that are already changing how businesses operate in the global economy,” said co-founder and CEO Michael Intrator in a statement. “The caliber of investors in this large debt financing round is a powerful testament to both the insatiable market appetite for AI infrastructure and their belief in CoreWeave’s ability to deliver cutting edge innovation for the largest AI labs and innovators at scale.”

Other firms that participated in the new debt finance include Carlyle, CDPQ, DigitalBridge Credit, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Eldridge Industries and Great Elm Capital.

Related reading:

• AI Cloud Infrastructure Startup CoreWeave Raises Huge New Round At Reported $19B Valuation

Illustration: Dom Guzman

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

It was again not a bad week for raising big. Two rounds to U.S.-based startups this week hit a quarter-billion dollars or more, and there were eight rounds of $100 million or more. Once again, biotech made up nearly a third of the list while some other sectors that don’t usually make the list — developer platform and analytics — were represented. 

1. Uniquity Bio, $300M, biotech: It has become pretty much the norm to start off these lists with a big biotech raise. This week it was a brand-new company launched by Blackstone Life Sciences — a unit of the private equity giant — along with a sizable $300 million investment. The new startup is a clinical-stage drug development company focused on immunology and inflammation. The company already has FDA acceptance of its Phase 2 investigational new drug application for one of its medicines.

2. Vercel, $250M, developer platform: Vercel, a platform that allows companies to develop web applications in the cloud, locked up a $250 million Series E at a valuation of $3.25 billion. The round was led by Accel, with participation from other existing investors including CRV, GV, Notable Capital (previously GGV Capital), Bedrock, Geodesic Capital, Tiger Global, 8VC and SV Angel 1. The new round is an upround from Vercel’s 2021 raise, when it secured $150 million in a Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation led by GGV Capital. The San Francisco-based company allows developers to use an open-source framework to create web applications, and tries to simplify the process to migrate websites to cloud infrastructure to help with accessibility. Vercel has a number of big-name customers such as Under Armour, Unity and Nintendo. The company says it recently surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue and more than 1 million monthly active developers. Founded in 2015, the company has raised $568 million, per Crunchbase.

3. Sigma, $200M, analytics: Cloud analytics startup Sigma raised a $200 million Series D co-led by Spark Capital and Avenir Growth Capital. Similar to Vercel, it was an upround from the company’s last financing. The San Francisco-based company says the valuation was a 60% increase from its $300 million Series C led by D1 Capital Partners and XN in 2021 and it was reported the new valuation was $1.5 billion. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $581 million, per Crunchbase.

4. Restaurant365, $175M, accounting: It was only about a year ago that Restaurant365 made this list, and now the startup is back with an even bigger raise. The Irvine, California-based startup raised a $175 million round led by Iconiq Growth this week, after locking up a $135 million round co-led by KKR and L Catterton at a $1 billion valuation last May. Restaurant365 offers enterprise management software for restaurants, helping them take care of accounting, payroll, supply chain and more. Founded in 2011, the company has raised more than $438 million, per Crunchbase.

5. The Bot Company, $150M, robotics: No one likes cleaning the house, and perhaps soon you won’t have to anymore. Kyle Vogt, founder and former CEO of autonomous car startup Cruise, unveiled his newest startup this week. The Bot Company aims to develop robots that do “chores” for people. Nothing else much was disclosed about the company or what exactly those chores will be. The $150 million seed funding came from the likes of Quiet Capital, Stripe’s Patrick Collison and John Collison, and others. Vogt left Cruise last year after a Cruise car hit and dragged a woman in San Francisco, causing regulators to suspend Cruise’s license to operate in California.

6. Weka, $140M, data: Weka locked up a $140 million Series E — raised in both a primary and secondary transaction — that values the data platform at $1.6 billion. The valuation is more than double what the company was last valued at after a $135 million Series D led by Generation Investment Management in late 2022. At the time, it was reported that the Campbell, California-based startup had a $750 million valuation after the raise. The new round was led by Valor Equity Partners. Weka helps companies move data between sources faster and more efficiently — something mandatory for companies building AI projects. Founded in 2013, Weka has now raised $375 million, according to Crunchbase. Its new round is just the latest big raise for an AI infrastructure company. In February, Lambda which offers cloud computing services and hardware for training artificial intelligence software, hit unicorn status after a $320 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation. And earlier this month, AI cloud infrastructure startup CoreWeave locked up a $1.1 billion round led by Coatue that values the company at $19 billion, per The Wall Street Journal. 

7. Lycia Therapeutics, $107M, biotech: South San Francisco-based Lycia Therapeutics, a biotech company developing therapeutics that degrade extracellular and membrane-bound proteins that drive autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, completed a $106.6 million Series C led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners. Founded in 2019, the company has raised nearly $227 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Alkira, $100M, cloud infrastructure: San Jose, California-based Alkira, which allows companies to manage hybrid cloud assets, closed a $100 million Series C led by Tiger Global Management. Founded in 2018, Alkira has raised $176 million, per the company.

9. (tied). Ajax Therapeutics, $95M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Ajax Therapeutics, which is developing a drug for the bone marrow cancer myelofibrosis, raised a $95 million Series C led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Founded in 2019, the company has raised $135 million, per Crunchbase.

9. (tied). ByHeart, $95M, nutrition: New York-based ByHeart, an infant formula brand, locked up a $95 million  financing from undisclosed investors. The company also announced two new production facilities in Oregon and Iowa — allowing ByHeart to triple its supply capacity. Founded in 2016, ByHeart has raised a total of $395 million from investors including D1 Capital Partners, Polaris Partners and others.

Big global deals

U.S.-based startups led the way when it came to big rounds this week by far, as there were no nine-figure rounds raised globally. The biggest round outside the U.S. came from down under.

• Australian-based Cover Genius, an insurance distribution platform for customers of e-commerce companies, raised an $80 million Series E.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of May 11 to May 17. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Vercel, a platform that allows companies to develop web applications in the cloud, locked up a $250 million Series E at a valuation of $3.25 billion. There have been eight rounds this week of at least $100 million to U.S.-based startups.

The round was led by Accel, with participation from other existing investors including CRV, GV, Notable Capital (previously GGV Capital), Bedrock, Geodesic Capital, Tiger Global, 8VC and SV Angel.1.

The new round is an upround from Vercel’s 2021 raise, when it secured $150 million in a Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation led by GGV Capital.

The San Francisco-based firm allows developers to use an open-source framework to create web applications, and tries to simplify the process to migrate websites to cloud infrastructure to help with accessibility.

“Vercel’s Frontend Cloud has been adopted by a growing number of enterprises globally to build more performant personalized web experiences,” said founder and CEO Guillermo Rauch in a statement. “As we enter this next stage of growth and innovation, the Vercel team remains focused on helping more companies securely deliver AI-driven, dynamic digital experiences.”

Getting big

Vercel has a number of big-name customers such as Under Armour, Unity and Nintendo, and said it recently surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue and more than 1 million monthly active developers.

The company also has an AI play. It will use the new cash to further build its v0 product which allows users to use text to describe what they want and an AI-enhanced interface will turn it into code for web application development.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

The valuation is more than double what the company was last valued at after a $135 million Series D led by Generation Investment Management in late 2022. At the time, it was reported the Campbell, California-based startup had a $750 million valuation after the raise.

The new round was led by Valor Equity Partners.

Weka helps companies move data between sources faster and more efficiently — something mandatory for companies building AI projects — and can manage a large range of data sources, types and sizes

“The recent acceleration of generative AI and enterprise cloud adoption has triggered a sharp increase in customer demand, driving an unprecedented number of eight-figure ARR deals — an impressive feat when you factor in that Weka is a software-based business,” said Weka CFO Intekhab Nazeer. “It was an opportune time to fortify our cash reserves, allowing our investors to increase their position in the company while minimizing share dilution for our employees.”

Founded in 2013, Weka has now raised $375 million, according to Crunchbase.

Building AI infrastructure

While most people like to concentrate on the newest AI tool to help generate emails or mimic their own voice, investors are looking at much of the architecture underneath generative AI that makes it work.

In February, Lambda hit unicorn status after a $320 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation. The company offers cloud computing services and hardware for training artificial intelligence software. The startup is a provider of Nvidia’s latest GPUs, which are highly sought after by AI developers.

Just earlier this month, AI cloud infrastructure startup CoreWeave locked up a $1.1 billion round led by Coatue that values the company at $19 billion, per The Wall Street Journal. The valuation represents an almost threefold increase from the company’s valuation just five months ago, when it was valued at $7 billion following a secondary sale, and a huge jump from its $2 billion valuation in a Series B extension last May.

Related Crunchbase Pro list

• Rounds Raised By Startups Using AI

Related reading:

• AI Compute Startup Lambda Hits $1.5B Valuation After Massive $320M Raise
• AI Cloud Infrastructure Startup CoreWeave Raises Huge New Round At Reported $19B Valuation

Illustration: Dom Guzman

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

The week was slower than last as far as startups raising huge mega rounds. Then again it had to be after 13 companies raised more than $100 million last week. Nevertheless, there were still some big raises, including a $1 billion round.

1. Wiz, $1B, cybersecurity: Cloud security startup Wiz locked up the biggest cybersecurity round of the year thus far as it raised $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation. The round — announced just as the industry’s RSA Conference was getting underway in San Francisco this week — could be another sign of investors coming back to the cybersecurity space. Cyber startups are coming off their best funding quarter in three quarters, and late last month Microsoft-backed data security firm Rubrik had a successful IPO. Wiz’s latest round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Thrive Capital. Founded in 2020, Wiz says it has raised $1.9 billion so far. Originally founded in Israel, Wiz has been busy of late. Just last month it acquired New York-based cloud detection and response startup Gem Security. The company says the new cash infusion could be used for more deal-making. Also based in New York, the startup said it achieved $350 million in annual recurring revenue last year. It has talked openly about hitting $1 billion in ARR as it heads to an IPO.

2. Zenas BioPharma, $200M, biotech: Zenas BioPharma continues the trend of big biotech weeks every week. The Waltham, Massachusetts-based startup raised a $200 million Series C preferred stock round led by Delos Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Norwest Venture Partners and SR One. The biotech firm specializes in inflammation- and immunology-directed therapies and will use the fresh cash to support the ongoing lead product candidate, obexelimab. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $318 million, per Crunchbase.

3. Bluejay Therapeutics, $182M, biotech: Following up on the biotech trend, Bluejay Therapeutics locked up a $182 million Series C co-led by Frazier Life Sciences and an unnamed life science-focused institutional investment firm. The San Mateo, California-based startup will use the fresh cash to advance the development of its treatment for chronic hepatitis D and treatments for chronic hepatitis B. Founded in 2019, the company has raised $223 million, per Crunchbase.

4. Zippy Shell, $180M, logistics: Privately held moving and storage firm Zippy Shell locked up a big $180 million deal from global investment firm The Carlyle Group. The new investment also included a new debt facility led by JP Morgan Chase. Zippy provides an alternative to traditional storage and moving options by delivering containers that are dropped off at a customer’s location and then moved to a storage site or destination for unloading. The new cash will be used to refinance its existing debt and fund growth initiatives, including network and fleet expansion. Founded in 2010, the company has raised $365 million, per Crunchbase.

5. Attovia Therapeutics, $105M, biotech: Fremont, California-based Attovia Therapeutics, which is developing biotherapeutics focused on immune-mediated diseases, closed a $105 million Series B led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives. The new round comes just 11 months after the company raised a $60 million Series A. Founded in 2023, Attovia has raised $165 million, per the company.

6. Meati, $100M, alternative protein: Boulder, Colorado-based Meati, which creates cutlets and steaks from mycelium, raised $100 million in a C-1 round led by Grosvenor Food & AgTech. Founded in 2016, the company has raised nearly $375 million, per Crunchbase.

7. R3 Vascular, $87M, medical device: Mountain View, California-based R3 Vascular, a developer of medical devices for treating peripheral arterial disease, closed an $87 million Series B led by affiliates of Deerfield Management. Founded in 2019, the company has raised $105 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Aardvark Therapeutics, $85M, biotech: San Diego-based Aardvark Therapeutics, which is developing therapies for metabolic diseases, inflammation and more, closed an $85 million Series C financing led by Decheng Capital. Founded in 2017, the company has raised nearly $130 million, per Crunchbase.

9. Base Power, $68M, energy: Austin, Texas-based Base Power, a developer of battery-powered home energy services, raised $68 million from the likes of Thrive Capital and Valor Equity Partners. It is the company’s first raise, per Crunchbase.

10. Privateer, $57M, space tech: Kihei, Hawaii-based satellite-tracking software developer Privateer raised a $56.5 million round led by space-focused venture capital firm Aero X Ventures and acquired the analytics firm Orbital Insight. The round is the company’s first announced raise, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

The biggest round of the week was actually one of the largest funding deals on record for a British startup ever.

• London-based self-driving car startup Wayve raised $1.05 billion in a SoftBank-led round.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of May 4 to May 10. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: Dom Guzman