Most-Active US Investors In October: Andreessen Horowitz Takes Top Spot Again

This is a monthly feature that runs down some of the most-active investors in U.S.-based companies, looks at some of their most interesting investments, and includes some odds and ends of who spent what. See August’s most-active startup investors here.

October turned out to be a pretty busy month for many of the big names in venture and was led again by Andreessen Horowitz.

Other investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst followed closely,  all investing in 11 or more rounds involving U.S.-based companies.

Interestingly, none of those firms took part in the big round of the month — OpenAI’s massive $6.6 billion raise — but they all clearly found a lot of other deals to their liking.

Andreessen Horowitz, 14 deals

Few firms have been as busy as Andreessen Horowitz. In the three months before October, the Menlo Park, California-based giant made 32 deals involving U.S.-based startups.

A16z had its busiest month of the year in October, taking part in 14 rounds with U.S. startups. The biggest was in New York-based mortgage servicing platform Valon Technologies’ $100 million Series C led by WestCap.

The largest round the company led was a $51.5 million Series C for San Francisco-based Infinitus Systems, which has developed an AI platform specifically built to automate manual healthcare phone calls.

General Catalyst, 12 deals

General Catalyst also had one of its biggest months with a dozen deals announced, which tied with April.

While that’s impressive, what is perhaps most notable is the two huge rounds it led — or co-led — in a three-day span.

On Oct. 25, it led a $900 million Series A for Pacific Fusion, a startup attempting to create a nuclear fusion-based energy source. It quickly followed that on Oct. 28 by co-leading cybersecurity startup Armis Security’s big $200 million Series D along with Alkeon Capital.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, 11 deals

Continuing our theme, Lightspeed also invested in more rounds involving U.S.-based startups last month than in any other month so far this year. That included taking part in the big Pacific Fusion round.

It also took part in the $135 million Series D for San Francisco-based EvenUp, a legal tech startup creating artificial intelligence products for the personal injury sector.

The largest domestic round it co-led was payment processing startup Finix’s $75M Series C along with Acrew Capital and Leap Global Partners.

Sequoia Capital and Alumni Ventures, 9 deals each

Unlike the other firms on this list so far, neither Sequoia nor Alumni set year-high marks for investments last month.

However, that’s not to say they didn’t take part in some notable rounds.

Alumni participated in Impulse Space’s $150 million Series B. The Redondo Beach, California-based space startup is developing a line of orbital transfer vehicles — also called “space tugs” — which serve as a last-mile cargo delivery service once payloads get into orbit.

Sequoia helped New York-based teletherapy startup Maven Clinic lock up a $125 million Series F that values the startup at $1.7 billion. Maven partners with employers and health plans to provide clinical support concerning preconception, family building, pregnancy, parenting and menopause.

Also notable:

• BoxGroup came in next on the list with eight deals.
• Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst led the way in most led or co-led deals in October with six each.
• Thrive Capital led the list for number of rounds led or co-led with the highest dollar amounts with two at more than $6.6 billion — including OpenAI’s long-awaited raise of $6.6 billion at a post-money valuation of $157 billion.
• Y Combinator once again was the top investing incubator and accelerator with 18 deals in October.

Related reading:

• AI, Data Center And Energy Startups Get Large Capital Infusion In October
• OpenAI Raises $6.6B At $157B Valuation
• Cyber Startup Armis Security Raises $200M At $4.2B Valuation
• AI Legal Tech Startup EvenUp Raises $135M To Hit Unicorn Status

Methodology

This is a list of investors which took part in the most rounds involving U.S.-based startups. It does not include incubators or accelerators due to the fluctuations their investment numbers can have.

Illustration: Dom Guzman