The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Group14 Adds To Big Series C; Dataiku And Snyk See Big Down Rounds

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

It was a weird week. Two of the top four rounds were actually large down rounds and a third came with “restructuring” and layoff news. Not exactly what you expect when startups raise large rounds, but these are strange times indeed.

1. Group14 Technologies, $214M, batteries: Back in May, Woodinville, Washington-based Group14 Technologies announced a $400 million Series C led by Porsche AG. However, it apparently was far from done with the new round. This week, the manufacturer of advanced silicon battery technology, announced it had raised another $214 million from investors that included the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund as part of the round. Group14 is dedicated to the “electrification of everything,” and has raised $650 million to date, per the company.

2. (tied) Dataiku, $200M, AI: This was a week for down rounds. New York-based Dataiku, an AI/ML platform developer for enterprises, closed a $200 million Series F led by Wellington Management at a $3.7 billion valuation. While that’s a high valuation, it represents a 20% drop from August 2021, when the startup raised a $400 million Series E at a $4.6 billion valuation. It’s fair to think Dataiku never planned on a Series F, and instead once thought their next round of funding would be an IPO. The company talked about such an event just back in March. The startup has now raised $600 million in primary funding.

2. (tied) Komodo Health, $200M, health care: It was reported this week that health data startup Komodo Health raised a “structured equity infusion” of $200 million led by Coatue Management. Along with the funding, it was also reported the company will be restructuring — laying off 9% of its workforce — and its CFO will be leaving for personal reasons at the end of the year. Similar to Dataiku’s hopes of an IPO, it was reported in March that Komodo was eyeing a summer listing. In March 2021, Komodo raised $220 million led by Tiger Global. The San Francisco-based startup has raised more than $500 million, per Crunchbase data.

4. Snyk, $196.5M, cybersecurity: As we said earlier, this was a week of downrounds. Boston-based application security developer Snyk raised a $196.5 million Series G led by Qatar Investment Authority at a $7.4 billion valuation. That’s a 13% drop from September 2021, when the company — which has now raised about $1 billion — closed a $530 million Series F co-led by Sands Capital Ventures and Tiger Global at an $8.5 billion valuation. The cyber startup — originally founded in Israel — also had long been rumored to be nearing an IPO before the public markets started falling. We will see if 2023 may be the year.

5. MasterControl, $150M, software: After 30 years, welcome to the unicorn club, MasterControl. The biotech SaaS startup closed a $150 million round led by Sixth Street at a $1.3 billion valuation — its first round since being founded nearly three decades ago. The company creates software for the life sciences industry to help companies navigate various research and development issues including supply chain and logistics problems. The company has worked with over 1,000 pharmaceutical, food and medtech companies over the past 30 years, including Pfizer, WD-40 and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

6. Nerdio, $117M, cloud computing: Chicago-based virtual desktop developer Nerdio raised a $117 million Series B from Updata Partners. Founded in 1998, the company has raised $125 million, according to Crunchbase.

7. HistoSonics, $85M, medical devices: Plymouth, Minnesota-based HistoSonics closed an $85 million round led by Johnson & Johnson for a device it says can destroy tumors in patients with liver cancer. Founded in 2009, the startup has raised nearly $227 million, according to Crunchbase.

8. Synchron, $75M, medical device: New York-based endovascular brain-computer interface startup Synchron raised a $75 million Series C led by Arch Venture Partners. Synchron says it has now raised a total of $145 million.

9. MessageGears, $62M, marketing: Atlanta-based customer engagement platform MessageGears raised a $62 million growth round led by Long Ridge Equity Partners. Founded in 2011, MessageGears has now raised $80 million, according to the company.

10. Shield AI, $60M, autonomous vehicles: San Diego-based Shield AI, a defense technology firm building AI pilots for aircraft, announced it raised an additional $40 million in equity from the US Innovative Technology Fund as part of its now $225 million Series E first announced in June. The round included $150 million in equity and $75 million in debt. Founded in 2015, the startup has raised nearly $575 million, according to Crunchbase.

Big global deals

The biggest round of the week came from a startup just north of the U.S.

• Canada-based Svante, a developer of carbon capture technology, raised a $318 million Series E.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of Dec. 10 to 16. 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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