The 10 Biggest Rounds Of February: Epic Games Leads The List Thanks To House Of Mouse Investment

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

February was a big month for big rounds. Companies needed to raise $170 million or more just to make the tailend of our list of largest U.S. venture funding deals. Of course, the biggest deal was really big — $1.5 billion. But there were a slew of other good size deals too, so let’s get into them.

1. Epic Games, $1.5B, gaming: Epic Games is no stranger to this list. The gaming giant raised big in 2022 when it nabbed $2 billion from Sony and KIRKBI — the family-owned holding and investment company behind The LEGO Group — at a $31.5 billion valuation. It’s back after the North Carolina-based company raised another $1.5 billion last month through a new partnership with Disney to help give more exposure to the company’s characters and properties — including Marvel Comics characters. However, the round was a drastic drop in valuation, as it was reported Disney invested at a $22.5 billion valuation. Founded in 1991, the Fortnite creator has raised nearly $8 billion to date, according to Crunchbase data.

2. Radiology Partners, $720M, healthcare: El Segundo, California-based Radiology Partners, which offers radiology services, was busy last month with a laundry list of transactions involving existing notes and outstanding credit facilities. As part of those moves, however, it also closed a growth equity investment of approximately $720 million from existing and new investors — who were not named. Founded in 2012, the company has raised $1.9 billion, per Crunchbase.

3. Figure, $675M, artificial intelligence: Sunnyvale, California-based Figure last week confirmed earlier reports that it had raised a huge $675 million round at a $2.6 billion valuation. Big-name investors in the round include Jeff Bezos’ Explore Investments and Nvidia, among others. The company is developing AI-enhanced robots that it hopes will be able to perform dangerous jobs and alleviate labor shortages. Founded in 2022, the company has raised $754 million, per Crunchbase.

4. Lambda, $320M, artificial intelligence: 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. The round was led by Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund. The San Jose, California-based startup’s customer list includes Microsoft and Amazon. The round marks the largest by an AI startup this year, per Crunchbase data. In general, the sector seems to be picking up after a slow start to the year with AI startups now raking in more than $3 billion for the current calendar year.

5. Freenome, $254M, biotech: This is just one of many big biotech raises this month. Blood-test developer Freenome raised a $254 million round led by drugmaker Roche. The South San Francisco-based startup is developing tests that can potentially detect multiple early-stage cancers — currently focused on colorectal and lung cancers. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $1.4 billion, per Crunchbase.

6. Cinq Music, $250M, music: It’s weird to say a $250 million funding round may have slipped through the cracks, but this one may have. Los Angeles-based Cinq Music, an independent record label and subsidiary of GoDigital Media Group, locked up $250 million in funding to acquire music rights. The company plans to use the cash to grow its diverse catalog, including in the genres of reggaeton, Música Mexicana, Afrobeat and country. Cinq previously raised  $160 million since 2017, per the company.

7. Koloma, $246M, energy: Hydrogen and its potential as a clean-energy source is hitting it big with investors. Last month, Koloma, which extracts naturally occurring hydrogen from underground deposits, landed a massive $245.7 million round led by Khosla Ventures. The Denver-based firm had previously been backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Founded in 2014, the company has raised more than $336 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Fervo Energy, $244M, energy: It’s not surprising a big energy round comes from Texas. Houston-based Fervo Energy, a geothermal developer, locked up a big $244 million round led by shale oil and gas firm Devon Energy Corp. The new cash will support Fervo’s new drilling operations in Utah — which will begin delivering clean electricity to the grid in 2026. Founded in 2017, the company has raised $431 million, per Crunchbase.

9. NinjaOne, $232M, security: NinjaOne, which provides endpoint management, security and monitoring, raised a $231.5 million Series C led by Iconiq Growth. The minority investment values the Austin, Texas-based firm at $1.9 billion. Monitoring and securing endpoints has been a main pillar of cybersecurity since the industry started. However, the need may be even bigger today, as many people work outside an office and with a variety of networks and devices. NinjaOne says it automates endpoint management for more than 17,000 customers in over 80 countries and witnessed 70%-plus ARR growth last year. Founded in 2013, the company has raised $261.5 million, per Crunchbase.

10. Glean, $200M, artificial intelligence: Despite some predictions about a slowdown in AI investing, investors are showing the same insatiable appetite for the sector they showed last year. AI-enhanced work assistant and enterprise search startup Glean became the latest to hit it big, locking up a more than $200 million Series D at a $2.2 billion valuation in a round led by Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The Palo Alto, California-based startup hit unicorn status last May after raising a $100 million Series C led by Sequoia Capital. Glean’s generative AI search tool connects with enterprise companies’ applications and databases, while also offering conversational AI assistants to help employees work. The startup has nearly quadrupled its annual recurring revenue in the past year. Founded in 2019, Glean has raised $360 million, per the company.

Big global deals

While Epic led all rounds worldwide, there was another big round abroad.

• China’s artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI raised more than $1 billion in a funding round led by Alibaba Group and HongShan, formerly Sequoia Capital China.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the month of February. 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