The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Coursedog And Graphiant Lead In Down 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.

Last week we speculated if we were seeing the immediate effects of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse with so few large rounds. This week, it seems almost impossible to deny the bank’s failure is having at least some short-term effects on fundraising. Again, this may only be temporary — as the bank helped facilitate closing deals by providing credit facilities before VCs would actually collect money from LPs — but there certainly seems to be an effect as there were no nine-figure rounds this week in the U.S.

1. Coursedog, $90M, edtech: Ever not get into a class you really wanted to take when you were in college? Sure, everyone who went to school has confronted that problem. Cousersedog raised $90 million from JMI Equity to help solve that exact issue. The New York-based startup has created an “academic operations platform” for higher-education institutions, helping in curriculum planning, course scheduling, event management and catalog management. In total, it helps colleges schedule classes better. More than 170 institutions use the platform, including Columbia University — the alma mater of Coursedog’s founders. Founded in 2018, the company has raised nearly $113 million, per Crunchbase.

2. Graphiant, $62M, information technology: Connecting a company’s data centers, clouds and other tech services can be difficult. San Jose-based Graphiant, an edge services provider, is looking to make that simpler and faster. The startup raised a $62 million Series B led by Two Bear Capital. Its founder and CEO — Khalid Raza — knows the tech space well. He previously founded networking startup Viptela, which was bought by Cisco Systems in 2017 for $610 million. Founded in 2020, Graphiant has raised $96 million to date, per the company.

3. DataDome, $42M, cybersecurity: Bad bots are everywhere, but that doesn’t mean companies are defenseless. New York-based DataDome helps companies fight against AI-powered online fraud and bot attacks. Just last year, the startup says, it stopped more than 250 billion online fraud attempts. That track record likely helped it raise a $42 million Series C this week led by InfraVia Growth. Founded in 2015, the company has raised more than $80 million, according to Crunchbase.

4. P97 Networks, $40M, fintech: Everyone pays at the pump these days (assuming you don’t have an EV). Houston-based P97 Networks, one of the companies that makes that possible, raised a $40 million equity financing led by Portage this week. P97 provides mobile commerce and digital marketing to the convenience retail, auto industry and fuel markets. The company’s platform is used in more than 65,000 convenience stores and gas stations. It also is used at over 240,000 EV chargers — if you do have an EV. Founded in 2012, the company has raised nearly $110 million, according to Crunchbase.

5. Modern Electron, $33M, energy: Bellevue, Washington-based Modern Electron, a hydrogen heating company, raised a $32.8 million round, per a report. The cleantech startup has a solution that decarbonizes gas use by converting it to clean hydrogen onsite without CO2 emissions, and another that converts heat to power. Its investors include Bill Gates and At One Ventures. Founded in 2015, the company has raised nearly $74 million, per Crunchbase.

6. Sonoma Biotherapeutics, $30M, biotech: South San Francisco-based biotech firm Sonoma Biotherapeutics received a $30 million equity investment from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $365 million, per Crunchbase.

7. Type One Energy, $29M, energy: Madison, Wisconsin-based fusion power startup Type One Energy closed a $29 million round co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, TDK Ventures and Doral Energy-Tech Ventures. The funding is the company’s first.

8. Spiral, $28M, fintech: New York-based social impact fintech startup Spiral closed a $28 million Series A led by Team8. Founded in 2019, Spiral has raised $42 million, per the company.

9. Perplexity AI, $26M, artificial intelligence: San Francisco-based Perplexity AI, a conversational AI-powered search engine, raised a $25.6 million Series A led by New Enterprise Associates. Founded in 2022, the company has raised nearly $29 million, according to Crunchbase.

10. LeapXpert, $22M, enterprise software: New York-based business communication platform LeapXpert locked up a $22 million Series A+ round led by Rockefeller Asset Management through its Technology Ventures Group. Founded in 2017, the company has now raised $36 million, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

The top three rounds all happened outside the U.S. this week.

• Columbia-based Isar Aerospace, a satellite startup, closed a Series C worth approximately $169 million.
• China-based DeepWay, a maker and developer of electric commercial vehicles, raised a Series A of approximately $112 million.
• The France-based crypto hardware maker Ledger added another $108 million to its previously announced Series C. The firm raised its initial Series C of $380 million in June 2021.

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 25 to 31. 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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