The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Anthropic Generates Another Huge Round, Biotech Has Big 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.

The week can be summed up pretty succinctly by just saying AI and biotech. Another AI startup — one we’ve seen before — had another huge raise, and biotech had three huge rounds and a lot of good-sized ones. In general, it does seem like venture investing has been creeping up the past few weeks — at least when analyzing big rounds — but we’ll see what the summer holds.

1. Anthropic, $450M, artificial intelligence: If Anthropic looks familiar to you on this list, there’s a reason. In February there were reports that Google had invested between $300 million and $400 million into the San Francisco-based startup. That was followed in March by reports that Anthropic was raising another $300 million round at a pre-investment valuation of $4.1 billion. Then this week, Anthropic — a ChatGPT rival with its AI assistant Claude — announced it had raised $450 million in Series C funding led by Spark Capital with participation from Google, Salesforce Ventures1, Sound Ventures, Zoom Ventures and others. Anthropic itself previously announced a $124 million Series A in 2021 and a $580 million Series B in 2022 — led by none other than disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Of course, nothing has been hotter than AI this year. The raise was only topped by the $10 billion investment into OpenAI reportedly by Microsoft in January.

2. ElevateBio, $401M, biotech: We say this every week, but we really mean it this time — it was a huge week for biotech as three rounds brought in more than $850 million. First up is Massachusetts-based gene therapy startup ElevateBio, which raised a $401 million Series D led by the AyurMaya Capital Management Fund, a VC fund managed by Matrix Capital Management. The startup has multiple platforms for things such as drug development and manufacturing which interconnect with one another — making it an end-to-end biopharma company. The company has multiple drug development pipelines as demand grows for gene therapies that help the immune system fight its way through disease. Founded in 2017, the company has now raised $1.2 billion, per Crunchbase.

3. ReNAgade Therapeutics, $300M, biotech: This brings us to our second big biotech raise. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based ReNAgade Therapeutics locked up a $300 million Series A led by MPM BioImpact and F2 Ventures. That money would be big for any round, but a $300 million Series A in this venture market borders on the amazing (yes, it can be difficult to figure out how long a round took to raise, but still). ReNAgade is developing RNA therapeutics (hence the name) to fight disease. The company already has established a joint venture with Orna Therapeutics. Founded in 2021, this is the company’s first outside funding, per Crunchbase.

4. Carmot Therapeutics, $150M, biotech: Not to be forgotten, Berkeley, California-based biotech firm Carmot Therapeutics closed a $150 million Series E led by Deep Track Capital. The startup is developing therapies for metabolic diseases including obesity and diabetes. The company  has several therapeutics in its pipeline and the new cash infusion to add to its portfolio. Founded in 2008, the company has raised nearly $385 million, per Crunchbase.

5. Tools For Humanity, $115M, crypto: It’s Sam Altman’s world, we’re just living in it. Worldcoin developer Tools For Humanity — co-founded by Altman — raised a $115 million Series C led by Blockchain Capital. The San Francisco-based startup is building tools in support of Worldcoin, an Ethereum-based token currently in beta. Its World ID platform is attempting to create unique digital identities — based on blockchain technology — for people by scanning their eyes with a small orb. The startup has raised many questions surrounding AI, data and privacy. While such an identity platform could be useful as AI makes it more difficult to know who or what one is dealing with over the internet, the scanning of people’s eyes to create a digital identity and how that information could be used has raised privacy and data concerns.The company did not reveal a valuation, but an earlier report said it is looking to raise money at a $3 billion valuation.

6. Nymbus, $70M, fintech: Jacksonville, Florida-based fintech startup Nymbus raised a $70 million Series D led by Insight Partners. Founded in 2015, the company has raised nearly $200 million.

7. OnKure Therapeutics, $54M, biotech: Boulder, Colorado-based precision oncology startup OnKure closed a $54 million Series C led by Surveyor Capital. Founded in 2011, the company has raised $121.5 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Quanta Therapeutics, $51M, biotech: San Francisco-based biotech Quanta Therapeutics locked up a $50.7 million Series D led by Avidity Partners. Founded in 2018, Quanta has raised more than $142 million, according to Crunchbase.

9. Episode Six, $48M, fintech: Austin, Texas-based payment processing startup Episode Six raised a $48 million Series C financing led by Avenir. Founded in 2015, the company has raised $90 million, per Crunchbase.

10. Larkspur Biosciences, $36M, biotech: Watertown, Massachusetts-based biotech firm Larkspur Biosciences launched with $35.5 million in a combined seed and Series A round co-led by Polaris Partners, 3E Bioventures Capital and Takeda Ventures.

Big global deals

Not surprisingly, the biggest non-U.S. round of the week also involved AI.

• London-based Builder.ai raised a Series D of more than $250 million led by Qatar Investment Authority. The company uses AI in its software development platform.

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 May 20 to 26. 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.

Further reading

• AI Craze Hits New Level As Anthropic Locks Up $450M, Builder.ai Closes $250M Round
• Microsoft Agrees To Multibillion-Dollar Deal With OpenAI
• How Did ElevateBio Manage To Nab $401M In This Economy?
• Sam Altman’s Crypto Startup Tools For Humanity Locks Up $115M

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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