Daily Funding: 22.02.23 – Fund Fellow Founders

Fund Fellow Founders Daily Funding: 22.02.23

Let's have a look at the notable closed funding rounds as of 22.02.23

We are sure we did not cover many startups worth sharing, feel free to add more in the comment section below!

Biggest mentions:

Japanese trading company Sumitomo Corp. invested an undisclosed sum into Volocopter, joining the German eVTOL aircraft maker's Series E funding round. Sumitomo is also a strategic partner that will help the firm bring its aircraft into service in Japan by 2025.

Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (MassPRIM) expects to invest $2.2B to $3B in private equity investments this year. The planned allocation is lower than last year's range of $2.7B to $3.3B, despite increasing its target allocation range to 13%-19%, up one percent over its initial range of 12%-18%.

Bill Qian is soliciting investments for a $100M crypto-focused fund. Qian is planning to approach Asian businessmen for investments. He added that the recovery in Bitcoin prices made raising financing easier, despite VC investment in crypto falling to its lowest level in two years due to the fallout of crypto firms such as Celsius Network and FTX.

Bridgetown Holdings, a SPAC backed by Peter Thiel and Richard Li, is in talks to merge with target company Hyphen Group, per sources close to Bloomberg. The merger could value the entity at "several hundred million dollars." The deal includes a PIPE investment from institutional investors.

British Business Bank's (BBB) new CEO Louis Taylor urged ministers to grant autonomy, extend VC funds beyond 2028, and allow the firm to reinvest proceeds in a bid to position itself as U.K.'s sovereign growth fund. BBB invests in other venture funds through its British Patient Capital (BPC) VC division.

NxtWave has raised a $33M Growth funding round to retrain workers and help them land jobs in tech. Greater Pacific Capital was the lead investor.

Deeptech

Intangles (India), provides software that helps drivers find where the defect in their vehicle is: $10M Growth led by Baring Private Equity Partners India.
Quantum Motion (UK) a nearly six-year-old, quantum computing company, has raised £42 million in new funding led by Bosch Ventures, with participation from Porsche, and U.K. government's National Security Strategic Investment Fund, among others. TechCrunch has more here
Replicate, (Berkeley, Ca) a three-year-old startup making it easier for software teams to build AI applications, today exited stealth mode and announced that it has secured $17.8 million in funding over two rounds. It received the bulk of the funding, $12.5 million, through a Series A investment that included the participation of Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital and multiple angel investors. It earlier closed a $5.3 million seed round.
Kaito (Seattle, US) a year-old, AI-powered search engine for crypto, has raised $5.3 million in seed funding led by Dragonfly Capital. Participants in the round include Sequoia Capital, Jane Street, Mirana Ventures, Folius Ventures and Alpha Lab Capital, among others, says TechCrunch. Founder Yu Hu previously managed a long/short portfolio of European and U.S. equities for the hedge fund Citadel. More here.

Food Tech

Paleo (Belgium) has raised a $12.7M Series A funding round to make plant-based foods that look and taste like meat. Since its inception in 2020, the company has raised $15M.

Health Tech

Axena Health (Newton, Ma)medical device outfit offering a prescription digital therapeutic to address women's pelvic health, has raised $25 million in Series A funding from AXA IM Alts. More here.

3D printing

Xolo (Germany), a 3D printing tech company that produces rare materials and components that are used for optical applications, bioprinting, and the dental industry: $8.5M Growth A by HZG group, Kerstin and Frank Carsten Herzog, the DeepTech & Climate Fonds, Onsight Ventures, and SquareOne.

Climate tech

CarbonCloud (Sweden), a web-based platform that helps track the carbon footprint of the food supply chain: $8M A led by Cusp Capital and Peak.

Transport

Hypercraft (Utah), builds and sells electric drive systems: $6.5M Seed led by RevRoad Capital, with participation from individual investors.
Rekonnect (Sweden), provides surveillance software for medical technology companies: $445,000 Pre-Seed round from Curus, LOOP Capital, Fast Track Capital, Angcell Ventures, and several angel investors.

SaaS

Fabacus (U.K.), a SaaS global licensing platform: $5.4M Growth led by Wealth Club with participation from Seneca Partners and angel investors.
Chronicle (AU)a nearly two-year-old, Sydney, Australia- and San Francisco-based startup aiming to make building presentations as easy as dragging and dropping interactive, pre-designed blocks, has raised $7.5 million in funding co-led by Accel and Square Peg. TechCrunch has more here.

Workpay (Kenya), enables companies in Africa to embed payroll software solutions: $2.7M Growth led by Launch Africa, Saviu Ventures, Acadian Ventures, Proparco, Fondation Botnar, Kara Ventures, and Axian, P1 Ventures, and Norrsken.

Edtech

Strive (Singapore), holds one-on-one classes for kids who want to learn coding: $1.3M Seed led by Y Combinator with participation from Soma Capital, Goodwater Capital, and angel investors.

Fin Tech

Mintoak has raised a $20M Series A funding round from PayPal Ventures to become a one-stop shop fintech platform. The platform has 1.3 million users.
Carmoola (UK) a two-year-old, car financing platform with a novel marketing approach, raised £8.5 million in Series A funding. QED Investors led the round, joined by InMotion Ventures. More here.
Scrut Automation (Milpitas, Ca) a 19-month-old governance, risk, and compliance automation platform, has raised $7.5 million in funding. MassMutual Ventures led the round, joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Endiya Partners. The Economic Times has more here.

B2B

AeroCloud, (UK) a nearly four-year-old cloud-native airport management software startup used by dozens of airports across the world, has raised $12.6 million in a Series A round of funding. Stage 2 Capital, with participation from Triple Point Ventures, I2BF Global Ventures, Praetura Ventures, Playfair Capital and Haatch.