The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Alumis Leads Big Biotech Week

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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

Another week with more big rounds. However, this week it was clearly biotech leading the way, with three startups from the sector nabbing spots in the top five. March seems to be picking up where February left off as far as investors being more willing to write big checks for even bigger rounds.

1. Alumis, $259M, biotech: This week saw the biggest biotech raise of the year thus far. South San Francisco-based Alumis raised a $259 million Series C led by Foresite Capital, Samsara BioCapital and VenBio Partners. The startup is developing oral therapies for patients with immune-mediated diseases. Founded in 2021, the company has raised $529 million, per Crunchbase. While this was the biggest biotech raise of the week, it is by no means the only one on this list.

2. Axonius, $200M, asset management: The week also saw a big extension of a round. New York-based Axonius, a cybersecurity and SaaS asset management startup, secured a $200 million Series E extension led by Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company had originally raised another $200 million in the Series E in 2022 at an announced $2.6 billion valuation. Asset management is big for companies that want visibility into what they have so they can find security gaps, risks, misconfigurations and cost inefficiencies. That need is obvious as Axonius just surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Founded in 2017, the company has raised $865 million, per Crunchbase.

3. Sionna Therapeutics, $182M, biotech: Yet another big biotech raise as Boston-based Sionna Therapeutics locked up a $182 million Series C. The startup, which is developing treatments for cystic fibrosis, raised the new cash for the clinical development of small molecules designed to fully restore the function of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator protein. The round was led by Enavate Sciences. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $292 million, per Crunchbase.

4. Rakuten Medical, $119M, biotech: Rakuten Medical is the third biotech firm on this list. The San Diego-based startup raised a $119 million Series E — which included $45 million in new capital and the conversion of $74 million of convertible notes. Lead investors were not named, but the company did say both Hikma Pharmaceuticals and the Rakuten Group were “major investors.” Rakuten Medical will use the cash to further develop its proprietary Alluminox cell targeting therapies platform. Founded in 2010, the company has raised nearly $738 million, per Crunchbase.

5. Claroty, $100M, security: Not long ago, industrial cybersecurity — the promise of securing older industrial control systems that were designed decades ago, long before cyberattacks were a reality — was one of the next big areas of security. Funding in that space has died down somewhat, but New York-based Claroty secured $100 million in strategic financing this week. Delta-v Capital was the lead equity investor in the round, which also included debt/credit. Founded in 2015, Claroty has raised a whopping $735 million, per the company.

6. RapidSOS, $75M, public safety: The public safety sector usually doesn’t see big raises, but when you mix in AI that changes everything. New York-based RapidSOS, an “intelligent” safety company, closed another $75 million for its latest raise led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. The new cash brings the round’s total to $150 million. The company uses AI to help emergency response teams through its platform that’s able to collect data from connected devices to help them get to locations quicker. Founded in 2012, the company has raised nearly $356 million, per Crunchbase.

7. Nocion Therapeutics, $62M, biotech: Watertown, Massachusetts-based Nocion Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, raised a $62 million Series B led by Arkin Bio Capital and Monograph Capital. The firm is developing sodium channel blockers that selectively silence activated nociceptors for the treatment of serious conditions involving cough, itch and other pain. Founded in 2018, Nocion has raised $122 million, per the company.

8. Overjet, $53M, artificial intelligence: Boston-based Overjet locked up a $53.2 million Series C led by March Capital at a $550 million valuation. The startup uses AI to help interpret X-rays and review dental insurance claims. Its platform can be used to detect, outline and quantify instances of oral disease — with millimeter-level precision. Founded in 2018, Overjet has now raised  approximately $133 million, per the company.

9. Dtex Systems, $50M, cybersecurity: San Jose, California-based Dtex Systems, a cybersecurity company that focuses on insider threat detection and workforce monitoring, closed a $50 million Series E led by CapitalG. Founded in 2000, the company says it has so far raised $138 million.

10. Argonaut Manufacturing Services, $45M, manufacturing: Carlsbad, California-based Argonaut Manufacturing Services, a manufacturing firm serving the biopharma and life sciences industries, raised a $45 million round led by NewVale Capital. Founded in 2016, the company has raised $67 million, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

Once again the biggest round of the week came from a Chinese startup.

• AI startup MiniMax raised a $600 million round led by Alibaba Group Holding.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of March 2 to 8. 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