The Briefing: Insilico Raises $255M, GoStudent Gets $233M, And More

Here’s what you need to know today in startup and venture news, updated by the Crunchbase News staff throughout the day to keep you in the know.

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Insilico Medicine raises $255M for AI drug discovery

Insilico Medicine, a developer of AI-enabled tools for drug discovery, raised $255 million in a Series C funding round.

Warburg Pincus led the financing for the Hong Kong-based company,  joined by a long list of new and existing investors. Insilico says the funds will be used to help progress current therapeutic programs into human clinical trials, initiate multiple new programs, and continue developing its AI and drug discovery technology.

Founded in 2014, Insilico works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to deploy its technology in their R&D efforts.

— Joanna Glasner

Edtech

Austria’s GoStudent lands $244M: Vienna-based GoStudent, an online tutoring platform, raised $244 million in a fresh funding round that pushes the company into unicorn territory. DST Global, SoftBank and Tencent backed the financing, which GoStudent plans to deploy toward broader global expansion for its K through 12 service, currently marketed in Europe. Founded in 2016, the startup previously raised just over $100 million in known funding, per Crunchbase data.

Real Estate

Blackstone buys Home Partners of America: Private equity firm Blackstone announced plans to buy Home Partners of America in a $6 billion deal. Home Partners of America buys up homes and rents them out with the chance of renters to eventually buy the property. The deal comes as housing prices have shot up in the past year across the country as low interest rates and remote work trends have increased demand for homes.

–Sophia Kunthara

Enterprise

Software marketplace G2 picks up $157M: G2, operator of a marketplace for software, announced that $157 million in Series D funding at a valuation of more than $1.1 billion. Permira‘s growth fund led the financing for the Chicago-based company, which previously raised just over $100 million in known funding, per Crunchbase data.

— Joanna Glasner

CommerceIQ locks down $60M Series C: Palo Alto, California-based CommerceIQ closed a $60 million Series C led by Insight Partners with participation from Trinity Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Madrona Venture Group. The company’s platform helps large brands use machine learning and automation to increase ecommerce sales. CommerceIQ has now raised a total of $81 million.

— Chris Metinko

New Funds

MetaProp Raises $100M Third Fund: New York-based venture capital firm MetaProp has closed $100 million for its third fund, the company said this week. MetaProp focuses on proptech and has invested in companies like Briq, Spruce, and Dongnae. Among the backers of MetaProp’s third fund are real estate giants Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE. The firm last closed a $40 million fund in 2018.

–Sophia Kunthara

Illustration: Dom Guzman