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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.
This week was a story of the haves and have-nots. Of course there were more big AI-related rounds (the haves) but also a couple of big raises from some sectors that had been eschewed by investors not that long ago — autonomous vehicles and industrial security (the have-nots).
All in all, it was another strong week for big rounds. The top 10 list also includes three new unicorns.
1. Applied Intuition, $250M, autonomous vehicles: Autonomous vehicle software developer Applied Intuition locked up a $250 million Series E valuing the company at $6 billion — a 67% uptick in value from its previous round. The new round was led by Lux Capital, Elad Gil and strategic investor Porsche Investments Management. The Mountain View, California-based startup develops software for the automotive, trucking, construction, mining and other industries. The company leverages generative AI in developing software to help customers create driver-assistance systems and automated driving solutions. The up round comes despite venture funding in the autonomous vehicle sector continuing to be in decline. Last year, autonomous driving startups raised less than $5 billion — the sector’s lowest funding total since 2017, per Crunchbase data. The drop has come amid numerous setbacks for the industry. Just last month, Apple unceremoniously shuttered its autonomous electric car initiative after a decade of work. Founded in 2017, Applied Intuition has raised more than $600 million, per Crunchbase.
2. Luminary Cloud, $115M, software: Engineers make a lot of cool things nowadays. To do that, they need to simulate how things will react under certain conditions. Luminary Cloud, a computer-aided engineering SaaS platform, came out of stealth this week to help them do just that. The San Mateo, California-based startup also announced a $115 million raise led by Sutter Hill Ventures. The company has customers in the aerospace and defense, automotive, industrial equipment and other industries, looking to solve challenges such as increasing the range of electric vehicles and achieving energy efficiency goals.
3. Zephyr AI, $111M, biotech: Mclean, Virginia-based healthcare startup Zephyr AI closed a $111 million Series A from investors that included Revolution Growth and Eli Lilly & Company. Like many biotech startups raising big money currently, Zephyr is bringing AI to the sector. The company pairs its healthcare dataset with artificial intelligence algorithms to create insights in the areas of oncology and cardiometabolic disease. Founded in 2020, the company has raised nearly $130 million, per Crunchbase data.
4. Together, $106M, artificial intelligence: It was less than four months ago that AI startup Together made this list with a $102.5 million Series A funding round led by Kleiner Perkins. Well, the Menlo Park, California-based startup is back with a $106 million round led by Salesforce Ventures 1. The new round doubles the company’s valuation to $1.25 billion. The Nvidia-backed company has developed a cloud platform to allow developers to build on open and custom AI models — allowing customers to fine-tune open source foundation models. Founded in 2020, the company has raised nearly $230 million, per Crunchbase.
5. Nozomi Networks, $100M, cybersecurity: Things are looking up for industrial cybersecurity startups. A week after Claroty made this list, startup Nozomi Networks locked up a $100 million Series E from investors including Mitsubishi Electric and Schneider Electric. The San Francisco-based company offers industrial security — also called operational technology (OT) security — and IoT security platforms. While the sector is not threatening generative AI’s hold on investors, it does show once again investors — especially strategics — are eyeing the industry as attacks and threats mount. New OT security platforms have long been thought to hold potential, but securing older industrial control systems that were designed decades ago — long before cyberattacks were a reality — has proven difficult to build. Founded in 2013, Nozomi has raised $266 million, per Crunchbase.
6. CarbonCapture, $80M, climate: Los Angeles-based CarbonCapture, a direct air capture company, completed a $80 million Series A led by Prime Movers Lab. Founded in 2019, the company has raised $115 million, per Crunchbase.
7. Liquid Death, $67M, beverage: Trendy beverage startup Liquid Death hit unicorn status after closing a $67 million financing at a $1.4 billion valuation. No lead investor was named, but the round included investment from the likes of SuRo Capital, strategics and several folks in the entertainment and sports world. The Los Angeles-based healthy beverage startup, founded in 2017, has raised nearly $268 million, per Crunchbase.
8. Bear Robotics, $60M, robotics: Redwood City, California-based Bear Robotics, a robot waiter startup, raised a $60 million from LG Electronics. Founded in 2017, the company has raised nearly $176 million, per Crunchbase data.
9. Serenity Kids, $52M, food: Austin, Texas-based Serenity Kids, a maker of shelf-stable pouched baby food, closed a $52 million minority investment and partnership with Stride Consumer Partners. Founded in 2016, the company has raised nearly $64 million, per Crunchbase.
10. Berachain, $69M, blockchain: Minnesota-based blockchain platform Berachain reportedly raised more than $69 million in a funding round co-led by Brevan Howard Digital and Framework Ventures that values the company at $1.5 billion. Founded in 2021, the company has raised $111 million, per Crunchbase.
Big global deals
Applied was the biggest round of the week globally, but the second largest of the week came from Europe.
- Germany-based Tubulis, a chemotherapeutic medication developer, raised a more than $139 million Series B.
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 9 to 15. 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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