Quick One

Embracing the brevity of announcements from last week (and jet lag)…

Straight to deals this week :)

Follow us on Twitter Linkedin for just the top deals recap

@MollySOShea @MarissaCohen

. . .

Last Week (5/31-6/3):

Relevant deals include the 60+ deals across stages below.

I've categorized the deals below into four categories, Fintech, Care, Enterprise & Consumer, and Sustainability, and ordered from later-stage rounds to early-stage rounds. Highlighted deals include InfStones, Foxen, Mondu, Kryptomon, Tandım, Santo, Merge, Size, CloseFactor, Souq, Edge, Debbie, Jetty, Hint, Solv, Florence, Air Doctor, Kickoff, Culina Health, Two Front, Innerwell, MoEngage, Super, JupiterOne, Chainguard, Yummy, Ordr, Laminar, Vendia, Penny AI, Railway, Coterie, Felux, Incognia, LaunchNotes, Felt, Journa, CloseFactor, Mintlify, Digiphy, Vestaron, FarmWise, SolarCycle, Salient Predictions; Cerner, Twitter

Final numbers on Tech M&A Activity at the bottom.

Deals

Sources: TS, Pro Rata, FinSMEs, Pitchbook, StrictlyVC

Fintech:

- InfStones, a Palo Alto-based web3 infrastructure startup, raised $66m. SoftBank and GGV Capital co-led, and were joined by INCE Capital, 10T Fund, SNZ Holding and A&T Capital. http://axios.link/5WBA

- Foxen, a Columbus, Ohio-based financial solutions provider for the real estate industry, raised $44 million in Series A funding. Summit Partners led the round and was joined by Level Equity.

- Mondu, a Berlin-based B2B payments startup, raised $43 million in Series A funding. Valar Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Cherry Ventures, FinTech Collective, and other angels.

- Onramp Funds, an Austin, Texas-based provider of financing solutions to ecommerce sellers, raised $42m in equity and debt funding led by Luther King Capital Headwater Investments. http://axios.link/X4On

- Hourly.io, a Palo Alto-based payroll and comp app for hourly workers, raised $27m. Glilot Capital Partners led, and was joined by S Capital, Vintage Investment Partners and J-Ventures. http://axios.link/sPDU

- Kryptomon, a play-and-earn NFT gaming project, raised $10m in Series A funding. NFX led, and was joined by PlayStudios, Fininvest and Vikram Pandit. www.kryptomon.com

- Tandym, a Chicago-based private-label credit card company, raised $10m in equity funding led by Gradient Ventures with Obvious Ventures also participating. The company also secured $50m in debt led by Rivonia Road. www.bytandym.com

- Sanlo, a San Francisco-based financial operating system and platform for gaming and app creators, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Konvoy led the round and was joined by investors including Initial Capital, Portage Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, London Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Fin Capital, GFR Fund, and other angels.

- Merge, a London-based crypto payments startup, raised $9.5m in seed funding. Octopus Ventures led, and was joined by Hashed, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research and Ethereal Ventures. http://axios.link/XwNf

- Size, a crypto startup for sealed-bid auctions of vested or unvested tokens, raised $6m in seed funding from Three Arrows Capital, Wintermute, Mgnr, Alameda Research, D1 Ventures and Genblock Capital. http://axios.link/D5G7

- CloseFactor, a Palo Alto-based B2B sales acceleration startup, raised $4.5m in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital. www.closefactor.com

- Souq G-Commerce, a New York-based crypto gaming asset tracker, raised $3.3m from Kickstart, IVC, Operate, Moon Holdings, Ellipti Ventures, Perpetual Value Partners, Himanshu Sahay & Partners, Sterling VC, Evernew Capital and BBQ Capital. www.souq.gg

- Edge, a payments API startup for companies labeled as high-risk, raised $2.4m led by Long Journey Ventures. http://axios.link/qIpZ

- Debbie, a Miami-based behavioral savings startup, raised $1.2m from One Way Ventures, BDMI, TA Ventures, Village Global, Green Egg Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures and If Then Ventures. http://axios.link/7IFK

- Jetty, a New York-based real estate insurance startup, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Wilshire Lane Capital, PayPal Ventures, Experian Ventures and Morgan Properties. www.jetty.com

. . .

Care:

- Hint Health, a San Francisco-based health care membership management and billing software company, raised $45 million in Series B funding. Banneker Partners and Frist Cressey Ventures led the round.

- Solv, a San Francisco-based doctor visitation booking platform, raised $45 million in Series C funding. Acrew Capital and Corner Ventures co-led the round and were joined by investors including Benchmark and Greylock.

- Florence, a London-based social care staffing company, raised $35 million in Series B funding. Axa Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Roo Capital and SEEK Investments.

- Air Doctor, a Beit Nekofa, Israel-based health care platform connecting travelers and doctors, raised $20 million in a funding round. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Vintage Investment Partners, Munich Re Ventures, The Phoenix, and Kamet Ventures.

- EnsoData, a Madison, Wis.-based sleep data healthcare company, raised $20 million in a Series A extension round. Inspire Medical Systems led the round and was joined by investors including Zetta Venture Partners, Venture Investors, Supermoon Capital, Colle Capital, HealthX Ventures, M25 Ventures, and other angels.

- SamaCare, a San Francisco-based prior authorization platform for physician-administered medications, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Vive Collective led the round and was joined by investors including NextView Ventures, South Park Commons, and Susa Capital.

- Mazen, an Ames, Iowa-based animal health company developing oral vaccines, raised $11.2 million in Series A funding. Fall Line Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Next Level Ventures, Kent Corporation, Ag Startup Engine, Ag Ventures Alliance, ISAV, Summit Ag, AgFunder, 1330 Investments, Addison Laboratories, SLO Seeds Ventures, and Cal Poly Ventures.

- TRIPP, a Los Angeles-based VR wellness company, raised $11.2 million in a funding round. BITKRAFT Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Qualcomm, Amazon Alexa Fund, HTC, Niantic, and Mayfield.

- Inne, a Berlin-based women’s healthtech startup, raised $10 million in Series A extension funding. DSM Venturing led the round and was joined by investors including Borski Fund, Calm Storm Ventures, and other angels.

- Kickoff, a New York-based wellness coaching platform, raised $7 million in seed funding. 645 Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including FJ Labs and Expa.

- Culina Health, a Hoboken, N.J.-based personalized nutrition platform, raised $4.75 million in seed funding. Healthworx and Brooklyn Bridge Ventures co-led the round and were joined by investors including Rethink Impact, Tensility Ventures, Alpine Meridian Ventures, Knightsgate Ventures, Graham & Walker, Arkitekt Ventures, and Redo Ventures.

- Two Front, a Los Angeles-based digital orthodontic platform, raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Craft Ventures.

- Innerwell, a New York-based psychedelic teletherapy platform, raised $3 million in pre-seed funding. Greycroft led the round and was joined by investors including Looking Glass, Max Ventures, and other angels.

- Vital, an SF-based maker of health data collection tools, raised $2.9m in seed funding led by Point Nine. www.tryvital.io

. . .

Enterprise & Consumer:

- Coralogix, a San Francisco-based streaming analytics platform, raised $142 million in Series D funding. Advent International and Brighton Park Capital co-led the round and were joined by investors including Revaia Ventures, Greenfield Partners, Red Dot Capital Partners, O.G. Tech, StageOne Ventures, Joule Capital Partners, and Maor Investments.

- Devo Technology, a Cambridge, Mass.-based logging and security analytics company, raised $100 million in Series F funding. Eurazeo led the round and was joined by investors including Insight Partners, Georgian, TCV, General Atlantic, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Kibo Ventures.

- MoEngage, a San Francisco-based customer engagement platform, raised $77 million in Series E funding. Goldman Sachs and B Capital led the round and were joined by investors including Steadview Capital, Multiples Alternate Asset Management, Eight Roads Ventures, and Matrix Partners India.

- Super, a Jakarta-based social commerce platform, raised $70 million in Series C funding. NEA led the round and was joined by investors including Insignia Ventures Partners, SoftBank Ventures Asia, DST Global Partners, Amasia, B Capital, TNB Aura, Bain Capital chairman Stephen Pagliuca, and other angels.

- JupiterOne, a Morrisville, N.C.-based cyber asset attack surface management platform provider, raised $70 million in Series C funding. Tribe Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Alpha Square Group, Sapphire, Bain Capital Ventures and others.

- Chainguard, a Kirkland, Wash.-based supply chain software security company, raised $50 million in Series A funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Amplify, Mantis VC, LiveOak Venture Partners, Banana Capital, K5/JPMC, and CISOs.

- Yummy, a San Francisco-based, on-demand delivery and transportation services provider in Latin America, raised $47 million in funding. Anthos Capital led the round and was joined by investors including JAM Fund, Soma Capital, WIND Ventures, Ethos Capital, and YC Continuity.

- Ordr, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based software security developer for devices, raised $40 million in Series C funding. Battery Ventures and Ten Eleven Ventures co-led the round and were joined by investors including Northgate Capital, Wing Venture Capital, Unusual Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Mayo Clinic, and other angels.

- Laminar, a Tel Aviv-based public cloud data security provider, raised an additional $30 million in funding from Tiger Global Management and Salesforce Ventures.

- Vendia, a San Francisco-based data and code sharing platform, raised $30 million in Series B funding. NewView Capital led the round and was joined by investors including the Neythri Futures Fund, Operator Partners, Lux Capital, Neotribe Ventures, Aspenwood Ventures, Sorenson Capital, Canvas Ventures, and BMW iVentures.

- Penny AI, a Vancouver-based sales enablement platform, raised $27 million in Series B funding. PSG led the round and was joined by investors including Acronym Venture Capital and ScaleUP Ventures.

- Seemplicity, a Tel Aviv-based risk reduction and productivity platform for security teams, raised $26 million in Series A funding. Glilot Capital Partners led the round and was joined by investors including NTTVC, Atlantic Bridge, S Capital, and Rain Capital.

- Railway, a remote-based cloud development software platform for engineers, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Redpoint Ventures led the round and was joined by other angels.

- Coterie, a New York-based babycare brand, raised $23.8 million in Series A funding. Align Ventures’ Ben Bryce led the round and was joined by investors including Beliade, Willow Growth, RiverPark Ventures, and others.

- Felux, a Cleveland-based online B2B steel marketplace and supply chain platform, raised $19.5 million in Series A funding. EquipmentShare led and was joined by investors including Signia Venture Partners, Suffolk Construction, Expa, Lightbank, 8VC, JumpStart Ventures, and others.

- Incognia, a Palo Alto-based mobile fraud detection platform, raised $15.5 million in Series A funding led by Point72 Ventures.

- LaunchNotes, a San Francisco-based product change communication software platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Atlassian Ventures, The New Normal Fund, Essence VC, Cowboy Ventures, and Bull City Venture Partners.

- Felt, a Walnut, Calif.-based collaborative mapping tool, raised $15m in Series A funding led by Footwork. www.felt.com

- Vibenomics, an Indianapolis-based retail audio advertising startup, raised $12.3m in Series B funding led by Panoramic Ventures, per Axios Pro. http://axios.link/Oi7C

- Code Intelligence, a German automated security testing platform, raised $12m in Series A funding. Tola Capital led, and was joined by insicers LBBW, Occident, Verve Ventures and HTGF. www.code-intelligence.com

- Clubbi, a Rio de Janeiro-based online commerce platform for small grocers, raised $12 million in Series A funding. NFX and ALLVP co-led the round and were joined by investors including Valor Capital Group, ONEVC, and Better Tomorrow Ventures.

- Journera, Chicago-based travel technology platform, raised $10 million in Series B-1 funding. B Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Andreessen Horowitz, BCG, and PAR Capital.

- Faddom, a Tel Aviv-based IT cloud operations startup, raised $6 million in seed funding led by NFX.

- CloseFactor, a Palo Alto-based automated sales research platform, raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital.

- Mintlify, a New York-based documentation automation company, raised $2.8 million in seed funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including TwentyTwo Ventures and Sourcegraph co-founder Quinn Slack.

- Digiphy, a Los Angeles-based QR marketing and commerce platform, raised $1.5 million in funding from investors including Gaingels, M13, Builders & Backers, EYRIR Ventures, Sify Ventures, and others.

. . .

Sustainability:

- Vestaron, a Durham, N.C.-based developer of peptide-based crop protection products, raised $82m in Series C funding. Ordway Selections and Cavallo Ventures co-led, and were joined by iSelect, Northpond Ventures, Novo Holdings, Sygnenta Group Ventures and CGC Ventures. http://axios.link/ZMtq

- FarmWise, an SF-based farm automation startup, raised $45m in Series B funding. Fall Line Capital and Middleland Capital co-led, and were joined by GV, Taylor Farms, Calibrate Ventures, Playground Global and Wilbur Ellis' VC arm. www.farmwise.io

- SolarCycle, an Oakland, Calif.-based startup for recycling and reusing solar panels, raised a $6.6M seed round. Urban Innovation Fund led and was joined by investors including Closed Loop Partners, SolarCity founders Peter & Lyndon Rive, and Sunpower CTO Tom Dinwoodie.

- Salient Predictions, a Boston-based weather prediction startup, raised $5.4 million in seed funding. Wireframe Ventures led and was joined by investors including Munich Re Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures, Endeavor8, First Star Ventures, and Blindspot Ventures.

Acquisitions & PE:

- Aquiline Capital Partners invested in Planet DDS, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based provider of cloud software for dental practices. www.planetdds.com

- Frasers acquired Missguided, a Manchester-based women’s fashion retailer. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) said it's received all necessary antitrust approvals for its $28.3b acquisition of Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN), one of the largest vendors of electronic health record systems. http://axios.link/enyc

- Take Command, a Dallas-based health reimbursement administration software maker backed by VC firms like LiveOak Venture Partners and SJF Ventures, acquired certain IP assets from SF-based health insurance startup Savvy. www.takecommandhealth.com

- Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) said the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period for its takeover by Elon Musk has expired. It still needs other regulatory approvals and a favorable vote from company shareholders.

. . .

IPOs:

Nothing to see here…

. . .

SPACs:

- Forbes, a Jersey City, N.J.-based media company, withdrew its plans to go public via a merger with Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited, a SPAC.

Funds:

- StepStone Group raised $2.6b for its fifth VC secondaries fund and held a $1b first close on its fifth PE secondaries fund. http://axios.link/lJYZ

- Binance Labs, the venture arm of crypto exchange Binance, raised $500 million for a fund focused on cryptocurrency projects.

- Bonfire Ventures, an LA-based firm focused on business software startups, raised $168m for its third flagship seed fund and $63m for a second opportunity fund. http://axios.link/Bw13

Historically, market corrections like the dot-com bust and the Great Recession have led to a drop in mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity and value, at least for a while.

During the Great Recession, for example, the number of U.S. tech deals dipped by 4% and the value by 53% between 2007 and 2009, and by 4% in count and 17% in value between 2008 and 2009, per Dealogic data.
Even the onset of the pandemic two years ago led to a sharp drop-off in M&A, though it rebounded: 2021 set records.

Data: Dealogic; Chart: Baidi Wang/Axios

Between the lines: Volatile conditions can be a double-edged sword for public companies seeking to make acquisitions.

On the one hand, now could be a great time to nab some bargains as companies are looking for ways to survive. Bigger tech companies could make smaller “acqui-hires” of specialized teams, and may make strategic purchases to expand a business line or geography, or bolster its tech.
But on the other, public companies don't have expensive stock they can use as currency.
Also, they need to be judicious with the cash they have, especially as they attempt to minimize or avoid layoffs and dole out raises in the face of inflation and grumpy employees with less valuable equity packages.

Meanwhile: Some companies — the "B students," if you will — are also likely to turn to growth private equity investors for an infusion of cash in exchange for a majority stake.

They won't get the inflated valuations with sky-high multiples they expected before the downturn.
But, assuming they have a decent business that has the potential to get into better shape, it can be an attractive route for some companies, said Battery Ventures general partner Chelsea Stoner, who invests in software makers.

The bottom line: With flush VC funding drying up, it’s time to think about alternatives.

The material presented on Molly O’Shea’s website are my opinions only and are provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. It is not a recommendation of, or an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy, any particular security, strategy, or investment product. Any analysis or discussion of investments, sectors or the market generally are based on current information, including from public sources, that I consider reliable, but I do not represent that any research or the information provided is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied on as such. My views and opinions expressed in any website content are current at the time of publication and are subject to change. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Sourcery

Sourcery (5/31-6/3)