The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Faire Adds On $416M, Investors Are Warming Up To Climate Change

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

Climate change and biotech ruled the list this week, as more traditional enterprise software solutions—once a favorite of VCs—were hard to find. However, the biggest bet was an extension of a round from a marketplace for retailers, and one of three rounds of a quarter-billion dollars or more this week.

1. Faire, $416M, retail: Some startups are having trouble raising cash right now. San Francisco-based Faire is not one of them. In November, the marketplace for retailers raised a $400 million Series G co-led by Durable Capital Partners, D1 Capital Partners and Dragoneer Investment Group at a $12.4 billion valuation. This week, Faire more than doubled the size of the round, raising a $416 million extension, according to TechCrunch. The new cash infusion values the company, which allows retailers to buy wholesale from smaller independent brands, at $12.59 billion post-money. The company has now raised $1.5 billion, according to Crunchbase data.

2. Summit Carbon Solutions, $300M, fossil fuels: Fighting climate change is big—even with investors right now. Ames, Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions, which captures and stores carbon in the U.S. Midwest, raised $300 million from TPG Rise Climate. In  addition, the company said it raised another $100 million-plus in secured commitments. Summit previously had raised more than $600 million from investors that included Continental Resources and Tiger Infrastructure Partners. The company’s carbon storage project aims to annually capture and permanently store up to 20 million tons of carbon dioxide from industrial facilities.

3. Rippling, $250 million, HR tech: Although layoffs are in the news, many companies continue to search for talent and are using tech to help that cause. That has made the HR tech sector hot for investment. The latest to raise a big round is San Francisco-based startup Rippling, which raised a $250 million Series D co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Bedrock. The new cash takes Rippling’s total funding to about $700 million and increases its valuation to more than $11 billion, from around $6.5 billion after its $250 million Series C in October. The company’s platform helps automate management of employee systems—from payroll, benefits and what apps they have access to—all from one place. The company was founded by Parker Conrad, the former CEO of Zenefits.

4. Abnormal Security, $210M, cybersecurity: Few sectors mint unicorns as fast as cybersecurity. The newest is San Francisco-based AI-based email security platform Abnormal Security after its $210 million Series C led by Insight Partners that values the company at $4 billion. While often overlooked in the security sector, one of the most common ways bad actors attack companies is through email. Abnormal’s valuation makes the company the 12th unicorn to be minted this year in cybersecurity, according to Crunchbase data. The company has raised nearly $284 million, according to Crunchbase.

5. Arcadia, $200M, energy: As mentioned earlier, fighting climate change is popular with investors right now. Washington D.C.-based Arcadia closed a $200 million round led by an inaugural investment from J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Sustainable Growth Equity Team. The company’s platform gives energy companies access to data and renewable energy sources, enabling them to deliver power to their customers and decarbonize the grid. With the new money, Arcadia plans to broaden its data coverage to include commercial utility data and help assist companies to reach their sustainability goals. Founded in 2014, the company has now raised more than $370 million, according to Crunchbase.

6. Chainalysis, $170M, crypto: The combination of crypto and venture capital is amazing sometimes. Even as the crypto market continued a rocky week with bitcoin rising and falling and the so-called stablecoin TerraUSD being anything but, startups in the space continue to raise money at a break-neck pace (yes, we do realize this money was likely raised weeks ago). New York-based Chainalysis raised a $170 million Series F at an $8.6 billion valuation led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. The company detects fraud and gives analysis of blockchain data and crypto transactions to governments, banks and businesses.The new round more than doubles Chainalysis’ valuation from its $100 million Series E led by Coatue that gave it a $4.2 billion valuation last June. The company has now raised more than $536 million, according to Crunchbase numbers.

7. Moma Therapeutics, $150M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moma Therapeutics, a precision medicine company focusing on disease-causing targets, completed a $150 million Series B financing led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $236 million to date, according to Crunchbase data.

8. Aspen Neuroscience, $147.5M, biotech: San Diego-based Aspen Neuroscience, which is developing an autologous cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease, closed a $147.5 million Series B co-led by GV, Lyfe Capital and Revelation Partners. Founded in 2018, Aspen has raised more than $220 million, according to the company.

9. Stord, $120M, supply chain: Atlanta-based supply chain startup Stord announced an additional $120 million to its Series D led by Franklin Templeton. This brings the total of the round to $210 million and ups its valuation to $1.3 billion. In September, the company announced it raised a $90 million Series D funding led by Kleiner Perkins that valued the company at $1.1 billion.

10. Tifin, $109M, fintech: Boulder, Colorado-based AI-powered fintech platform Tifin closed a $109 million Series D valuing the company at $842 million. New investors include Franklin Resources and Motive Partners. Founded in 2018, the company has raised nearly $206 million, according to Crunchbase.

Big global deals

Only one of the top five rounds this week came from a startup outside the U.S., as a ghost kitchen startup saw a big raise.

• Dubai-based Kitopi, a cloud kitchen startup that provides delivery services, closed a $300 million Series C.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of May 7-13. 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

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