The Briefing: Scale Raises $600M Fund, States Said To Prep Facebook Antitrust Suit, And More

Here’s what you need to know today in startup and venture news, updated by the Crunchbase News staff throughout the day to keep you in the know.

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Scale Venture Partners closes $600M fund

Silicon Valley-based venture firm Scale Venture Partners announced it has closed the $600 million Scale Venture Partners Fund VII.

The fund will be used to invest in cloud and SaaS enterprise software companies. Scale’s previous fund—the $400 million Fund VI—closed in July 2018.

The fundraise follows a string of exits for Scale portfolio companies, including recent IPOs for Root Insurance, JFrog and Bill.com.

States said to prep antitrust suit against Facebook

A group of U.S. states led by New York is investigating Facebook for possible antitrust violations and plans to file a lawsuit against the company next week, according to a Reuters report citing unnamed sources.

More than 40 state attorneys general plan to sign on to the suit, according to one source, who did not specify them. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission may also file a complaint.

If a suit does get filed, it would be the second major antitrust action against a tech giant in recent months, following the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit charging Google with monopolist practices in the search and search-based advertising spaces.

Funding rounds

• Everlywell closes $175M for virtual care offerings: Everlywell, an Austin-based digital health company, secured $175 million in an oversubscribed Series D round to expand its consumer testing and virtual care offerings. The round included new investors such as BlackRock. [Read more]
• Ultimate.ai lands $20M for customer service: Ultimate.ai, a virtual customer service agent builder, has closed a $20 million Series A round of funding led by Omers Ventures.
• NUBURU raises $20M for blue laser tech: NUBURU closed on a $20 million in Series B funding co-led by Anzu Partners and Thomas Wilson. The Centennial, Colorado-based company will use the funds to accelerate development of its industrial blue laser product line and to expand its footprint in vertical markets.
• Pave secures $16M for compensation decisions: Pave, formerly Trove, announced a $16 million Series A round of funding led by a16z to enable customers to make smarter compensation decisions via benchmarking data.
• Rubedo Life Sciences raises $12M for age-related disease: Rubedo Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for age-related diseases, announced a $12 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures.
• Yardline banks $10M to fund Amazon sellers: Fintech startup Yardline Capital, focused on providing funds to Amazon sellers, announced a raise of $10 million in venture capital and debt from Thrasio and a network of angel investors.
• MedArrive secures $4.5M for telehealth platform: MedArrive launched its care management platform Thursday with a $4.5 million seed round co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Define Ventures. The San Francisco-based startup connects a workforce of EMS professionals to patients from their homes and within their existing health systems.

M&A

• FedEx to acquire ShopRunner:  FedEx announced that it has agreed to acquire ShopRunner, an e-commerce platform that connects online shoppers with their favorite merchants and brands. Founded in 2010, Chicago-based ShopRunner previously raised $115 million in venture funding.

Illustration: Dom Guzman