The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Velocity Global Looks To Grow Fast, SpotOn Hits The Mark For Investors

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.

Even as more signs mount to a funding shortfall for startups, large rounds are still out there to be had from investors. This week saw three rounds announced in the U.S. at more than a quarter-billion dollars. Biotech and fintech both still seem to strike a chord with VCs even as the market softens.

1. Velocity Global, $400M, HR tech: Although layoff talk continues to dominate news headlines, investors are still pouring money into HR tech. This week Denver-based Velocity Global, which helps alleviate the burden of hiring remote and international workers, closed a $400 million Series B led by investment firms Norwest Venture Partners and Eldridge. The company, which expects to hit an annual net revenue run rate of $200 million by midyear, did not release an exact valuation, but did say it increased sevenfold from the same time last year. Founded in 2014, the company has now raised a total of $500 million, according to Crunchbase.

2. SpotOn, $300M, fintech: Eight months ago, San Francisco-based payment company SpotOn closed a $300 million round at a valuation of more than $3 billion. It must have enjoyed it so much the company did the exact same thing again this week. SpotOn closed a $300 Series F round led by Dragoneer at a $3.6 billion valuation—up from $3.15 billion eight months ago. Raising cash in short timeframes is not new for SpotOn, as the company has now closed six rounds in fewer than three years. That may be a tough pace to keep up in the current market conditions. Founded in 2017, Crunchbase data shows that the company has raised nearly $930 million.

3. Kriya Therapeutics, $270M, biotech: Gene therapy developer Kriya Therapeutics locked up a $270 million Series C led by Patient Square Capital. The company—headquartered in Redwood City, California, and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina—develops therapeutics for divisions in ophthalmology, oncology, rare disease and chronic disease using its own proprietary computational engine. The firm will use the new cash to scale that engine, as well as its engineering and manufacturing. Founded in 2019, the company has raised more than $450 million, Crunchbase data shows.

4. Pathlock, $200M, enterprise software: Now more than ever companies need a full view of what applications employees are using and why to make sure critical business assets are not at risk. The job is so big, enterprise software developer Pathlock didn’t just raise $200 million this week, it also merged with two other companies and bought two others. That’s a pretty full week. New York-based Pathlock, which offers access governance solutions, merged with both security providers Appsian and Security Weaver. Additionally, it acquired both Belgium-based CSI Tools and Germany-based Sast Solutions. The new round—led by Vertica Capital Partners—brings the company’s total funding to $200 million, according to Crunchbase.

5. Caribou Biosciences, $115M, biotech: Berkeley, California-based Caribou Biosciences, a genome editing biotechnology company, raised a $115 million Series C co-led by Farallon Capital Management, PFM Health Sciences and Ridgeback Capital Investments. The infusion of cash will be used to further develop the company’s proprietary CRISPR platform for genome editing and has fueled a pipeline of allogeneic cell therapies for oncology. Founded in 2011, Crunchbase data shows that the company has raised nearly $170 million.

6. GreyOrange, $110M, robotics: Atlanta-based GreyOrange, a warehouse robotics firm, closed a $110 million financing from Mithril Capital Management, funds and accounts under management by BlackRock, and others. Founded in 2011, Crunchbase numbers show the company has raised more than $293 million.

7. (tied) Glean, $100M, enterprise software: Palo Alto, California-based work assistant Glean raised a $100 million Series C led by Sequoia Capital at a valuation of $1 billion. Glean previously raised $55 million, according to Crunchbase data.

7. (tied) Imply, $100M, big data: Burlingame, California-based multicloud data platform Imply closed a $100 million Series D led by Thoma Bravo which values the company at $1.1 billion. The company has now raised $215 million to date.

9. Unit, $100M, fintech: New York-based Unit, a banking-as-a-service platform developer, raised $100 million in a Series C led by Insight Partners at a $1.2 billion valuation. Unit has now raised a total of $169.6 million, according to the company.

10. Vestaron, $82M, agtech: North Carolina-based Vestaron, which develops peptide-based insecticides, closed an $82 million Series C led by Ordway Selections and Cavallo Ventures. Founded in 2005, the company has raised more than $250 million, according to Crunchbase.

Big global deals

Fintech proved popular both in the U.S. and outside the country. The only top five rounds from outside the country for the week went to a payment infrastructure company operating in Indonesia and the Philippines.

• Jakarta-based Xendit raised a $300 million Series D led by Coatue and Insight Partners.

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 14-21. 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

Learn More