Enterprise Startups Venture

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: AI Research Firm Anthropic Closes $580M Round, iSpot.tv Nabs $325M

Illustration of gardener holding a rake. Venture

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.

Investors again spread their money all over the place this week—from health care to 3D printing of automotive parts. Although that isn’t rare most weeks, it is unusual that no crypto, blockchain or Web3 company made the list—although crypto played a role in the largest round of the week.

1. Anthropic, $580M, artificial intelligence: While use of AI has been growing through the years, advances in compute and memory have started to unveil its potential. But how safe and reliable are some of the AI systems being built? San Francisco-based Anthropic raised the biggest round of the week in an effort to find out. The AI research company closed a $580 million Series B led by Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of crypto exchange FTX. Anthropic will use the new cash to expand its team and further explore the safety and reliability of computationally intensive AI models. The new round follows the company’s $124 million Series A last May.

2. iSpot.tv, $325M, advertising: It’s always hard to break the stranglehold a long-dominant player may have in an industry. Television advertising is a good example of that, where the name Nielsen is synonymous with ad measurement and ratings. However, Goldman Sachs seems to be placing its bets on another company. Bellevue, Washington-based iSpot.tv received a $325 million investment from funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. While exact details of the deal were not released, the company said the investment is for a “significant minority stake,” and it was reported the raise values the company at more than $1 billion. Founded in 2012, the company generates more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue, and had only previously raised $58 million.

3. Biofourmis, $300M, health care: Virtual care and digital medicine were gaining traction for years, but the pandemic certainly accelerated that adoption. Investors are taking note, as General Atlantic led a $300 million Series D for Boston-based Biofourmis that values the company at more than $1 billion. Biofourmis uses artificial intelligence to help monitor biomarkers of patients remotely—such as heart rate and temperature. From that data, the company can help predict disease. The new round,  which includes an investment from CVS Health, brings the company’s total amount raised to $445 million since being founded in 2015.

Search less. Close more.

Grow your revenue with all-in-one prospecting solutions powered by the leader in private-company data.

4. Sun King, $260M, renewable energy: Chicago-based Sun King—formerly Greenlight Planet—raised a $260 million Series D led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic. With about 1.8 billion people across Africa and Asia still lacking access to a reliable electrical grid, the company’s solar home systems power things such as lights, mobile phones and home appliances. The company already has reached more than 82 million people across 40 countries, it said in a release. Founded in 2007, Sun King has raised nearly $500 million to date, according to Crunchbase data.

5. Harness, $175, software development: Nearly every large enterprise develops its own software and applications in this day and age. Releasing those applications into production without flaws and defections, though, can be difficult for overstressed development teams. San Francisco-based software delivery platform Harness tries to help with that. Its platform uses machine learning to allow developers to release applications faster by detecting the quality of deployments. That platform and the current need for developer tools helped the company raise a $230 million Series D led by Norwest Venture Partners at a valuation of $3.7 billion—more than doubling its valuation from January 2021. The round was made up of $175 million in equity and $55 million in debt financing. Founded in 2016, the company has raised $425 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

6. Divergent Technologies, $160M, 3D printing: With the automotive supply chain currently being rankled by disruptions, wouldn’t it be great if automakers could simply print the parts they need? Los Angeles-based Divergent Technologies agrees. The company raised a $160 million Series C to further its efforts of creating automotive parts through its 3D printing technology and software. The company did not announce investors, but named former Goldman Sachs President John Thornton to its board. Founded in 2014, the company previously raised $200 million from investors including Horizons Ventures and Altran Technologies.

7. Mavrck, $135M, marketing: Boston-based influence marketing platform Mavrck received a $135 million strategic investment from Summit Partners to acquire social media marketing and commerce platform Later. Founded in 2014, the company has raised more than $275 million, according to Crunchbase data.

8. (tied) Ayar Labs, $130M, semiconductors: Santa Clara, California-based Ayar Labs secured $130 million in additional financing led by Boardman Bay Capital Management. The round also included investments from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NVIDIA. Founded in 2015, Ayar, a developer of chip-to-chip optical connectivity, has raised nearly $200 million, according to Crunchbase.

8. (tied) Cavnue, $130M, autonomous vehicles: Washington D.C.-based Cavnue closed a $130 million Series A led by SIP and Ford Motor Co. Founded last year, the company is building a physical, digital, coordination and operational road infrastructure for autonomous vehicles.

10. FreeWire Technologies, $125M, electric vehicle charging: Oakland, California-based electric vehicle charging company FreeWire Technologies raised $125 million in new capital. The financing consists of a senior convertible note provided by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and an equity raise with institutional and strategic investors.

Big global deals

Although U.S. startups saw some big rounds this week, two large rounds happened outside the U.S.—specifically in Berlin.

  • Football media platform OneFootball closed a $300 million Series D.
  • Taxfix, an app for tax filing, closed a $200 million Series D.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of April 23-29. 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

This story has been updated.

Tags

Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily.

Copy link