The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Commonwealth Fusion Systems Powers Up With Gigantic $1.8B-plus Raise, MoonPay Hits Unicorn Status

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

We took last week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, so let’s recap the largest 10 rounds of the past two weeks. Those weeks were busy for Tiger Global—as have most weeks this year—as the firm led the two largest rounds of the past 14 days, which includes a monster $1.8 billion-plus Series B for a nuclear-fusion startup.

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1. Commonwealth Fusion Systems, $1.8B-plus, energy: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems powered up with a huge Series B of more than $1.8 billion to commercialize fusion energy. The company said the new cash will be used to build and operate the world’s first “commercially relevant” net energy fusion machine and the first commercial fusion power plant. The round marks the largest for any nuclear fusion startup—all of which are vying to create carbon-free energy. While Tiger Global led the round, it also included investment from big names such as Bill Gates and Marc Benioff’s Time Ventures. In total, the company listed more than two dozen investors in the new round—so it seems there was significant interest.

2. MoonPay, $555M, crypto: Lately, it’s rare one of the top 10 rounds of the week does not include a crypto company and this week’s list is no different with two in the top five. Miami-based MoonPay became the latest unicorn in the space after raising a $555 million Series A—yes, a Series A—led by Tiger Global and Coatue. The round gives the crypto payments infrastructure provider a post-money valuation of $3.4 billion. MoonPay’s platform helps support more than 250 wallets, websites and applications, and has processed more than $2 billion in transactions, according to the company.

3. Impossible Foods, $500M, food tech: The plant-based meat company has proven nothing is impossible when it comes to fundraising, as it has now raised more than $2 billion since being founded in 2011. The Redwood City, California-based company raised approximately $500 million in its latest round led by existing investor Mirae Asset Global Investments. The new round will be used to continue the company’s retail growth and expand its product portfolio, technology platforms and geographical reach.

4. Fireblocks, $400M, crypto: The second crypto company in the top five is New York-based Fireblocks, which raised a $400 million Series E round that included participation from Sequoia Capital at a valuation of $8 billion, according to The Information. The new round comes just about four months after the security-focused crypto company closed a $310 million Series D at a $2 billion valuation—illustrating crypto-security still remains on fire with investors.

5. Benitago Group, $325M, e-commerce: New York-based e-commerce brand incubator Benitago Group became the latest Amazon aggregator to raise a big round. The company closed a $325 million Series A led by CoVenture. This round is just the latest in a space that has seen more than a dozen gigantic rounds this year, including San Francisco-based Heyday raising a $555 million Series C last month that reportedly valued the company at more than $1 billion, and Massachusetts-based Thrasio announcing the initial closing of a $1 billion Series D at a reported valuation of between $5 billion and $10 billion in September.

6 (tied). Armis Security, $300M, cybersecurity: Palo Alto, California-based Armis Security, one of the largest companies in IoT security, closed a $300 million private equity round—nine months after it raised $150 million—led by One Equity Partners at a $3.4 billion valuation.

6 (tied). LTK, $300M, marketing: Dallas-based LTK, an influencer marketing platform, closed a $300 million investment by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 valuing the company at $2 billion.

6 (tied). Niantic, $300M, augmented reality: San Francisco-based AR platform Niantic raised a $300 million investment from Coatue at a valuation of $9 billion.

9. JOKR, $260M, delivery: New York-based instant-delivery company JOKR raised a $260 million Series B that values the company at $1.2 billion just eight months after launching. The round comes just five months after raising a $170 million Series A led by GGV Capital, Balderton and Tiger Global—all of which participated in the new round.

10. Deliverr, $250M, delivery: San Francisco-based Deliverr, a provider of fast online order fulfillment for merchants, raised $250 million in a Series E round led by new investor Tiger Global. The funding gives Deliverr a $2 billion valuation—more than double its value after its last funding round in March.

Big global deals

Even with the large rounds in the U.S. through the past couple weeks, some companies outside the country saw rounds of a half-billion dollars or more.

• India-based Dream11, a fantasy sports platform, closed an $840 million private equity round.
• Madrid-based Jobandtalent, an online staffing marketplace for finding gig-type jobs, closed a $500 million Series E.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the 14-day period of Nov. 20 to Dec. 3. 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