The 10 Biggest Rounds Of April: Xaira And Pine Gate Lead Huge Month Of Megadeals

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

Another big month of big rounds. A startup needed to raise $200 million or more to break into this list for the April edition. April also saw a half-dozen rounds of a quarter-billion dollars or more, including a $1 billion round for an AI-enhanced biotech. Let’s take a look.

1. Xaira Therapeutics, $1B, biotech: The biggest round in April was really big. Xaira Therapeutics came out of stealth and announced it had secured more than $1 billion of committed capital from lead investors Arch Venture Partners and Foresite Capital — both of which jointly incubated the company — as well as several other big-name investors including Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The San Francisco-based biotech firm is led by founding CEO Marc Tessier-Lavigne, who previously served as president of Stanford University but resigned last year after questions arose concerning his scientific research. Xaira is the latest — although likely best-funded — startup to try to use AI models to find new drugs.

2. Pine Gate Renewables, $650M, energy: Pine Gate Renewables locked up a $650 million investment from Generate Capital, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and HESTA. The Asheville, North Carolina-based solar and energy storage product developer plans to use the new cash to help finance the creation of three gigawatts of clean energy infrastructure in communities across the United States by next year. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $1.7 billion, per Crunchbase.

3. PsiQuantum, $620M, quantum computing: PsiQuantum landed the biggest founding round thus far this year for any quantum startup, beating out Quantinuum’s $300 million equity fundraise at a pre-money valuation of $5 billion in January. The Palo Alto, California-based company landed a financial package of $620 million from the Australian Commonwealth and Queensland governments to build a quantum computer at a strategically located site near Brisbane Airport in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 2016, the company has raised more than $1.3 billion, per Crunchbase.

4. Cyera, $300M, cybersecurity: While it is true cybersecurity funding has significantly slowed, it certainly has not dried up. Data security startup Cyera raised a $300 million Series C led by Coatue at a $1.4 billion valuation. The round nearly triples the New York-based startup’s valuation from its $100 million Series B last June that valued it at $500 million. Founded in 2021, Cyera has raised $460 million to date, per the company. Cyera offers a platform that helps security teams at companies understand what data they have and how it’s used, as well as how to secure it — all of which has become more important with companies relying on data to drive AI initiatives. The startup also uses AI in its platform to assess risks a company’s data represents regarding security, privacy and regulatory compliance.

5. Metsera, $290M, biotech: New York-based Metsera, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup emerged from stealth last month with $290 million in funding led by Arch Venture Partners. The company is exploring medicines for obesity and metabolic diseases with a collection of oral and injectable incretin, nonincretin and combination therapies.

6. Rivos, $250M, semiconductor: Semiconductor startups are seeing big money, in part thanks to the explosion in generative AI. Santa Clara, California-based chip startup Rivos raised more than $250 million in April in a Series A-3 funding led by Matrix Capital Management. The company develops power-optimized chips targeting the data analytics and generative AI markets. Of course, chip startups have seen increasing interest recently. Late last month, Santa Clara-based optical interconnectivity startup Celestial AI raised a massive $175 million Series C led by Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund. Also last month, Astera Labs — a Santa Clara-based developer of data center connectivity technology with use cases in generative AI — soared after its initial public offering on the Nasdaq.

7. Augment, $227M, artificial intelligence: AI coding startups are making a big splash. AI coding assistance startup Augment emerged from stealth last month and locked up a $227 million Series B round at a $977 million post-money valuation. The round included cash from the likes of Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The Palo Alto, California-based company helps developers and software teams by giving them AI coding assistance. Founded in 2022, Augment’s total funding now stands at $252 million, per the company, following its $25 million Series A led by Sutter Hill Ventures in January.

8. Monad Labs, $225M, blockchain: New York-based Monad Labs locked up the biggest Web3 funding round of the year thus far, collecting a $225 million funding round led by Paradigm. Monad is a layer-1 blockchain that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine but can process transactions using the same set of rules faster. The round is reminiscent of the 2021-22 era when layer-1 protocols like Aptos Labs raised big. Founded in 2022, the company has raised $244 million, per Crunchbase.

9. (tied) Blackrock Neurotech, $200M, neuroscience: Stablecoin issuer Tether invested $200 million in Blackrock Neurotech to take a majority stake in the brain-to-computer interface startup. The Salt Lake City-based company creates brain-to-computer interfaces and implants that allow people to control computers and neuroprosthetics. The company had only raised $10 million before the new round from Tether, according to Crunchbase. The round values Blackrock Neurotech at about $350 million, per Reuters. The deal is also the latest headline concerning brain-computer interface technology, which has been pushed by Elon Musk’s Neuralink. That company recently live-streamed a quadriplegic man playing video games using its implant and has raised nearly $700 million, per Crunchbase.

9. (tied) Rippling, $200M, human resources: HR startup Rippling wrapped up a huge $200 million round that valued the San Francisco-based startup at $13.5 billion. The deal also included a $590 million secondary offering for employees to sell their private shares to investors. The new equity round was led by Coatue. The company offers a workforce management platform that combines HR, information technology and finance to help customers streamline operations. The new round represents about a 20% uptick in valuation for Rippling, which was last valued at $11.3 billion in March 2023.

Big global deals

Xiara was the biggest raise of the month, but the runner-up came from China.

• Hozon, an electric-vehicle startup, locked up a $690 million venture funding round.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the month of April 2024. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the month.

Illustration: Dom Guzman