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This is a weekly feature highlighting the top 10 funding rounds announced in the U.S. for the week. See last week’s largest funding rounds here.
After a few sluggish weeks, things have improved a bit when it comes to big funding deals. Most surprising is the fact that autonomous driving startups, an industry that some people thought was dead, led the week. We also saw sizable funding in AI, biotech, space tech, and cybersecurity. Things may be heating up as we head into the summer.
1. cruise$850 million, Self-Driving Cars: For every penny you throw in, you get a pound. General Motors What do you think about Cruise? The auto giant agreed to pump another $850 million into the San Francisco-based startup. The Cruise story is well known: In 2021, Cruise raised the largest funding round of any venture-backed U.S. startup, increasing the round to $2.75 billion and valuing the company at more than $30 billion. But the tides began to turn in early 2022. SoftBank General Motors did not pay Cruise the $1.35 billion it promised as part of a contract that was agreed upon once the self-driving car maker completed commercial deployment of its vehicles. Acquired shares in SoftBank Cruise suspended its self-driving taxi operations nationwide late last year after its license in San Francisco was revoked following a pedestrian accident. The announcement comes as another self-driving car startup, Ford Motor Company-backup Argo AI — closed after raising $3.6 billion from investors including Ford Motor Co. Volkswagen Group and liftCruise has now restarted its driving programs in Phoenix, Dallas and Houston. Clearly, GM is betting big on a resurgence in the self-driving and robotaxi markets.
2. Alpha Sense$650 million, Artificial Intelligence: AI-driven market intelligence platform AlphaSense raises $650 million in co-led funding. Viking Global Investors and BDT and MSD Partner The valuation is $4 billion, up 75% from just nine months ago. As part of the deal, AlphaSense acquired a specialty research startup. Fishing line The company raised $150 million in Series E funding last September. Bond Capital The company is valued at $2.5 billion after a $100 million funding round in April last year that got it a valuation of $1.8 billion. The New York-based startup offers a market intelligence and search platform that uses AI and natural language processing to help clients shape corporate and investment strategies. The company has raised a total of $1.4 billion since its inception. From Crunchbase.
3. Santa Ana Bio$125 million, biotechnology: Biotechs have made a comeback this week with two nine-figure funding rounds, starting with Alameda, Calif.-based Santa Ana Bio, an immunology company developing treatments for patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, which emerged from stealth with a $125 million Series B round. Global VFounded in 2021, the company has raised $168 million. From Crunchbase.
Four. Algeon$100 million, biotechnology: Algeon is the next biotech company to raise a large amount of funding this week. The startup is Allerce Medical Technology PartnersThe Framingham, Massachusetts-based company is developing drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Founded in 2013, the company has raised $237 million in funding. From Crunchbase.
Five. vertex$95 million, Space: Apex, a spacecraft manufacturer, XYZ Venture Capital and CR-V With the capacity to mass-produce satellite buses (the bodies and structural components of the satellites), a Los Angeles-based space tech startup is meeting the growing demand for spacecraft buses by streamlining approaches to satellites and scaling up spacecraft bus production. U.S. Department of DefenseThe new funding will enable Apex to ramp up production to meet customer demand after the launch of its first bus in March. Funding for venture-backed space tech startups has been on the rise this year, according to Crunchbase. dataLast year, space tech startups raised $5.8 billion. But this year is not even halfway through and these startups have already raised $3.3 billion. The company, which was founded in 2022, has raised $122 million. From Crunchbase.
6. Cyber Haven$88 million, Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity investment has been booming recently, and this week provided further evidence of that trend. Cyberhaven, a San Jose, Calif.-based data detection and response platform, said: Adams Street Partners and Khosla VenturesThe round comes during a year in which the company has seen 200% growth in new bookings. Founded in 2016, the company has raised around $137 million in funding. From Crunchbase.
7. Indupro$85 million, biotechnology: Seattle-based InduPro, developing drugs to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases, has closed an $85 million co-led Series A round of funding. Column Group and Vida VenturesFounded in 2022, this is the company’s first announced round. From Crunchbase.
8th place (tie) Embeda Biosciences$50 million, biotechnology: Embeda Biosciences, a Boulder, Colorado-based biotech company using AI to synthesize medicines from plants, has announced a new funding round of $55 million. Lead investors were not disclosed. Microsoft Enveda, which was founded in 2019, said it has raised $230 million in funding.
8th place (tie) Canary Technologies$50 million, Hospitality: Canary Technologies, a San Francisco-based hotel management platform, Insight PartnersFounded in 2017, Canary has raised about $100 million to date, according to the company.
Ten. Posh AI$45 million, Artificial Intelligence: Posh AI, a Boston-based conversational AI platform for the banking industry, Spin and spinFounded in 2018, the company has raised approximately $73 million. From Crunchbase.
Large Global Trade
Another big AI round has happened in Europe.
methodology
In our Crunchbase database, we tracked the largest announced funding rounds raised by U.S.-based companies over a seven-day period from June 8 to June 14. Most announced rounds are reflected in our database, but there may be a slight lag as some rounds are reported later in the week.
figure: Dom Guzman
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