The 10 Biggest Rounds Of November: Juul And Firefly Aerospace Raise Big As Year Winds Down

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

Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2023 with our new curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The Crunchbase Megadeals Tracker.

Sometimes November is a slow month for startup deals, as the beginning of the holiday season can shut off the venture funding valve. However, this year the 11th month was strong, with some huge raises. In fact, several $100 million-plus rounds couldn’t even crack the list.

1. Juul, $1.3B, consumer goods: E-cigarette maker Juul leads the way this month. The San Francisco-based company raised about $1.3 billion in funding, according to a regulatory filing reported on by Reuters. Earlier this year, Juul laid off about 250 people to reduce operating costs and agreed to pay $462 million to settle claims by six U.S. states that it unlawfully marketed to minors. Investors were not disclosed for the new round. The company also raised cash in November 2022, after cutting jobs and costs.

2. Firefly Aerospace, $300M, aerospace: Space tech funding isn’t what it used to be, but that didn’t stop Firefly Aerospace from snatching up a $300 million Series C. To be fair, it’s unclear exactly how much the Cedar Park, Texas-based space transportation startup raised last month, but it said it closed the third tranche of what was now a $300 million Series C. The new cash values the company at $1.5 billion pre-money. The round was led by existing investors including AE Industrial Partners, as well as new investors including Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $572 million, per Crunchbase.

3. Next Insurance, $265M, insurtech: Next Insurance raised a $265 million strategic round from insurance giants Allstate and Allianz’s investment arm, Allianz X. The Palo Alto, California-based startup, which specializes in small business insurance products, says it has now raised more than $1.1 billion since being founded in 2016. The deal forms a new strategic partnership with Allstate and deepens an existing reinsurance relationship with Allianz. Interestingly, Next did not offer a valuation with the new round. The company was valued at $4 billion in April 2021 when it raised a $250 million Series E led by FinTLV and Battery Ventures. Many valuations of startups, however, have dropped since then. Next, which uses AI and machine learning to help with the purchasing process and provide coverages, serves more than 500,000 business owners. The round is one of the largest raised this year in the insurtech industry.

4. Divergent Technologies, $230M, manufacturing: Divergent Technologies raised a massive $230 million Series D to accelerate the commercialization of its digital manufacturing system that uses generative AI and 3D printing. The round was led by Hexagon AB, which invested $100 million of the $230 million total. New and existing institutional and family office investors also participated in the round. The Los Angeles-based firm has developed a software-hardware production system for industrial digital manufacturing that replaces traditional design, manufacturing and assembly solutions. Divergent’s system uses in-house-developed AI-driven generative design software and 3D printing to create the products and structures used in a variety of industries, including the automotive, aerospace and defense sectors. Divergent already works with automotive customers such as Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG. In the aerospace and defense industry, the company is actively working with six U.S. government contractors. Just last month, another 3D printing startup raised significant cash. 3D metal-printing startup Seurat Technologies locked up a $99 million Series C led by NVentures — Nvidia’s venture capital arm — and Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund.

5. DataBank, $188M, information technology: Consulting and tech services firm DataBank announced a big raise that most folks likely missed. The Dallas-based firm raised $533 million in a combination of debt and equity to fund the construction of new data centers. The deal consisted of $188 million from existing and new investors, and a $345 million loan to construct a new data center being developed in the Atlanta market. Equity investors were not disclosed. The new financing comes after the company announced a $350 million credit facility in March, and $715 million in secured notes in April. A year ago, Swiss Life Asset Management led a $2.2 billion recapitalization of the company.

6. Infinitum Electric, $185M, industrial automation: This was a big round that may have gone unnoticed by some. Infinitum, which creates light air-core motors, raised a $185 million Series E led by Just Climate. The raise brings the Austin, Texas-based startup’s total funding to date to a whopping $350 million, according to the company. The new cash will be used to expand business and increase production of its motors to help meet decarbonization demand in the industrial sector. New motor tech is important, as the implementation of such in the U.S. industrial and commercial sectors has the potential to save 127 terawatt-hours per year — a cost savings of $14.7 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Another way to think about that; the equivalent of the annual electricity use of all households in California and North Carolina combined.

7. Terremoto Biosciences, $175M, biotech: South San Francisco, California-based biotech firm Terremoto Biosciences closed a big $175 million Series B. No lead investor was announced, but those taking part in the round include Novo Holdings and OrbiMed. The startup is developing targeted, small molecule medicines for a wide variety of severe diseases. The new round brings Terremoto’s total amount raised to $250 million, per the company.

8. BlueVoyant, $140M, cybersecurity: Managed detection and response startup BlueVoyant announced last month it had closed a $140 million-plus Series E led by Liberty Strategic Capital. The round was used to facilitate the acquisition of Herndon, Virginia-based Conquest Cyber, which protects the nation’s defense industrial base and critical infrastructure sectors. The acquisition is BlueVoyant’s fifth since 2020, and seems to be further evidence of the growing interest in the defense tech industry. Founded in 2017, the company has raised nearly $666 million, per Crunchbase.

9. Enable, $120M, finance: We don’t write about many rebate management platforms on this list, but when you raise $120 million that changes. San Francisco-based Enable raised a $120 million Series D led by Lightspeed Venture Partners that values the company at $1.2 billion. The startup platform helps manufacturers, distributors and retailers manage their rebate offerings to help push growth and optimize sales with automated real-time data and forecasting. Everybody loves a rebate, but companies need to manage what they offer. Founded in 2016, Enable has raised $276 million, per the company.

10 (tied). May Mobility, $105M, autonomous vehicles: Just a couple weeks after Cruise’s announcement it will suspend its self-driving taxi program rocked the autonomous vehicle industry, another AV startup raised big money from some big-name investors. Ann Arbor, Michigan-based May Mobility closed a $105 million Series D led by NTT Group. The new cash brings May Mobility’s total funding to approximately $300 million since being founded in 2017. The company last raised a $111 million round in July 2022. May Mobility develops AV technology and deploys fleets of vehicles to municipal and business customers. Funding to autonomous vehicle startups have been having a rough year to date, raising less than $4.6 billion — which puts the sector on pace for its lowest funding total since 2020, per Crunchbase data. The sector saw a high for funding in 2021 when the industry received $12.5 billion. Last year, that number dropped to $5.9 billion.

10 (tied). RefleXion Medical, $105M, biotech: Biotech was hot last month — especially for companies trying to figure out ways to fight cancer. Hayward, California-based RefleXion Medical announced the initial close of a $105 million equity raise led by The Rise Fund, TPG’s multisector global impact investing strategy. The fresh cash will be used by the company to extend commercialization of its therapy for treating all stages of indicated solid tumor cancers, including metastatic disease. Founded in 2009, the company has raised $675 million, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

Not surprisingly the largest round abroad went to an AI startup.

• Germany-based Aleph Alpha raised a $500 million Series B. Aleph Alpha allows companies to develop and deploy large language and multimodal models.

Methodology

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

Illustration: Dom Guzman