The Crunchbase News Briefing: Tue., Sept. 29

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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Seismic valued at $1.6B following $92M Series F

Seismic, a sales enablement and marketing orchestration platform provider, announced a $92 million Series F round led by Permira. New strategic investors in the round included Ameriprise Financial and EDBI, while existing investors included Jackson Square Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price.

This round brings the total raised by San Diego-based Seismic to approximately $270 million to date and values the company at approximately $1.6 billion. Lightspeed and T. Rowe Price led the company’s $100 million Series E round in 2018, according to Crunchbase data.

In addition to the cash infusion, Permira made a second investment in Seismic and will be the company’s single-largest shareholder when the deal closes, Seismic said. The new funds will be used for innovation, international growth and M&A activity.

Funding rounds

• Alkami raises $140M: Alkami Technology, a cloud-based digital banking solutions provider for banks and credit unions, announced a $140 million funding round led by D1 Capital Partners along with Fidelity Management & Research Company, Franklin Templeton and Stockbridge Investors.
• Exotec lands $90M for industrial robots: Exotec, a French startup that develops industrial robots for use in warehouses, has raised $90 million in a Series C round led by 83North.
• Meatless Farm bites into $31M for expansion: U.K-based meat alternative brand Meatless Farm secured $31 million, from an undisclosed group of new and existing private and family office investors, to grow in the U.K., Europe, U.S. and Asia and expand its product lines.
• Facet Wealth inks $25M for financial wellness: Direct-to-consumer fintech company Facet Wealth raised $25 million in Series B funding and launched its new “financial wellness” product for employers. The round was led by existing investor Warburg Pincus with participation from other investors including Slow Ventures.
• Cardiac Dimensions raises $17.5M: Medical device company Cardiac Dimensions announced a $17.5 million Series C round of funding toward the development of minimally invasive treatments for functional mitral regurgitation in patients with heart failure. Existing shareholders participated in the round including Aperture Venture Partners, Arboretum Ventures, Hostplus, Life Sciences Partners, Lumira Ventures and M. H. Carnegie & Co.
• Rally raises $17M for investment platform: Alternative investing platform Rally raised $17 million in an oversubscribed financing round that included existing investor Upfront Ventures, as well as new investors Porsche Ventures, Jim Pallotta’s Raptor Group, Global Brain, Relay Ventures and Alexis Ohanian. The company, which enables anyone to invest in rare and one-of-a-kind collectibles, has raised $27 million in equity capital to date.
• LARQ secures $10M Series A for hydration brand: LARQ, a health and wellness hydration brand, closed $10 million in Series A funding led by Seventure with participation from DCM, NBA champion athlete and Michigan-native, Draymond Green, Capricorn Investment Group, Heuristic Capital, Idea Farm Ventures and Augment Ventures. The company will use the new funding to expand internationally through 2021 and further develop as a 360-degree hydration brand.
• Aegle Therapeutics lands $6.5M: Biotechnology company Aegle Therapeutics raised $6.5 million in Series A funding to develop treatments for dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare pediatric skin blistering disorder. Investors in the round include Tellus BioVentures, New World Angels, DEFTA Healthcare Technologies and DeepWork Capital.
• Cube Dev raises $6.2M seed for developer tools: Cube Dev, an open-source company that helps developers building internal business intelligence tools or adding customer-facing analytics to existing applications, raised $6.2 million in seed funding led by new investor Bain Capital Ventures. Returning investors Eniac Ventures, Betaworks, Innovation Endeavors and Slack Fund also participated in the round, as well as new investors Uncorrelated Ventures and Overtime.vc.
• SISU grabs $5.5M for U.S. expansion: SISU, an Irish startup focused on digital-first prevention and rejuvenation technologies, closed a $5.5 million Series A funding led by Greycroft and Bullpen Capital. Mana Ventures and the Gaingels Syndicate also participated in the round, alongside angel investors, including Liam Casey and Dan and Linda Kiely. The funds will be used to expand into the U.S. with its e-commerce aesthetics platform and 20 medical-retail clinics planned for the East Coast.
• Secberus closes on $3.2 million: Cloud security and compliance company Secberus secures a $3.2 million seed round to bring its total funding to $6.3 million. Major investors include Monitor Capital, Florida Funders and TA Ventures.
• DeepSurface inks $1M seed for cybersecurity: DeepSurface Security announced a $1 million seed round to launch its predictive vulnerability management suite of tools that enable cybersecurity teams to automate the process of analyzing and prioritizing vulnerabilities on enterprise networks. The round was led by Cascade Seed Fund and joined by SeaChange Fund and Voyager Capital.

IPOs

• McAfee to go public again: Online security provider McAfee is the latest technology company to file for a U.S. initial public offering. [Read more here.]
• AppHarvest to go public by SPAC:  Indoor farm operator AppHarvest said it was going public via an agreement with publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company Novus Capital Corp. [Read more here.]

Illustration: Dom Guzman