The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Acrisure And Upstream Bio Raise Big In A Slow Week For Large Rounds

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.

Maybe it was the holiday week that slowed things down, or maybe it’s another sign of a weakening venture market, but big funding rounds were hard to come by this week. Only five startups in the U.S. had raises of $100 million or more. That would have been unheard of last year. Nevertheless, there were some big rounds in financial services, biotech and upskilling.

1. Acrisure, $725M, financial services: In a large round many folks likely missed, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Acrisure closed a $725 million Series B-2 at a $23 billion valuation. The round was led by a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The company offers financial, cyber, and asset and wealth management services to customers in insurance and real estate services. It grew its revenue from $38 million to $3.5 billion in the past eight years. Commercial insurance premiums have jumped as the war in the Ukraine has put upward pressure on rates. That may not have hurt Acrisure’s fundraising pitch.

2. Upstream Bio, $200M, biotech: Waltham, Massachusetts-based Upstream Bio locked up a $200 million Series A to continue its development of therapeutics for allergic and inflammatory diseases. The round was led jointly by OrbiMed and Maruho. Upstream Bio is developing an antibody that targets thymic stromal lymphopoietin and its receptors that can inflame when things like smoke or allergens are introduced into the environment. The treatment could be useful to those with asthma.

3. Guild, $175M, edtech: Upskilling has become popular as workers look to expand their skill set, and Guild used that popularity to raise an upsized round. The Denver-based online education platform with a focus on upskilling frontline employees raised $175 million in a Series F funding round led by Wellington Management that values the company at $4.4 billion. Even Oprah Winfrey invested. The upskilling space is capitalizing on workers wanting to take advantage of employer-covered e-learning. In addition to being easily accessible, upskilling firms can offer cheaper alternatives. Guild typically costs between $3,000 and $6,000 a year for its slate of courses offered through partner learning providers. Founded in 2015, the company has raised more than $553 million, according to Crunchbase data.

4. Coralogix, $142M, analytics: Data observability was big with investors  last week and that continued. San Francisco-based Coralogix closed a $142 million Series D co-led by new investors Advent International and Brighton Park Capital. Data observability has become big as data in general has exploded and companies need to know the health and state of their data. Coralogix’s platform allows for real-time insights and trend analysis of data. Founded in 2014, the company has now raised a total of nearly $240 million, according to Crunchbase data.

5. Devo, $100M, cybersecurity: Despite the slowdown in the venture market, some companies are still able to raise large up rounds just months apart. In October, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based cybersecurity firm Devo closed a $250 million Series E that valued the company at $1.5 billion. This week, the company locked up a smaller $100 million Series F led by Eurazeo at an increased valuation of $2 billion. Devo’s cloud-native logging and security analytics platform helps companies manage the hundreds of disparate security tools they may have across their networks. The platform can analyze issues and collect data to try to provide answers in real-time. Founded in 2011 in Spain, the company has now raised more than $480 million, according to Crunchbase.

6. Vizgen, $85.2M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based life science company Vizgen closed an $85.2 million Series C led by Blue Water Life Science Advisors and Arch Venture Partners. Founded in 2019, the company has raised more than $135 million, according to Crunchbase.

7. WorkOS, $80M, information technology: San Francisco-based WorkOS, which develops APIs to make applications enterprise-ready, closed an $80 million Series B led by Greenoaks. Founded in 2018, the company has now raised $95 million, according to Crunchbase.

8. MoEngage, $77M, marketing: San Francisco-based MoEngage, a customer engagement platform developer, raised $77 million in a Series E funding led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and B Capital. The company has raised three rounds in the last 12 months, and has now raised a total of $210 million, according to Crunchbase data.

9. JupiterOne, $70M, cybersecurity: Morrisville, North Carolina-based cyber asset security firm JupiterOne raised a $70 million Series C led by Tribe Capital that values the company at more than $1 billion. The company has raised more than $119 million to date.

10. InfStones, $66M, blockchain: Dallas-based blockchain infrastructure company InfStones closed a $66 million round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and GGV Capital. The company has now raised more than $100 million to date.

Big global deals

With rounds being somewhat down in the U.S. this week, three startups outside the country made the global top five.

• Croatia-based electric hypercar developer Rimac Group closed a Series D worth nearly $536 million.
• India-based social networking company ShareChat raised a $300 million venture round.
• Berlin-based stock trading platform Trade Republic closed a $233 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 28 to June 3. 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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