After a slow week last week, large rounds saw a strong rebound, with seven startups raising at least $100 million. While food deliveries led, it was also a good week for aviation, artificial intelligence, biotech and defense.
1. Wonder$250 million, food delivery: Mark LoreWonder, a food delivery startup, cannot stay off this list. It was here in March, November last 12 months and in June 2022. It’s back this week as a part of the company’s $650 million acquisition Grubhubraising an additional $250 million in capital exclusively from recent investors – who weren’t named. The transaction price dropped significantly in the case of Grubhub, which was purchased by, among others, Just eat takeout for $7.3 billion in 2021. Founded in 2018, Wonder has raised nearly $1.9 billion, via Crunchbase.
2. MeserUSD 215 million, biotechnology: It didn’t take long for Metsera to get back on this list. It wasn’t until April that a New York-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup emerged from obscurity with $290 million in funding led by Arch Venture Partners. This week, the company returns after a $215 million Series B round led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners AND Managing Wellington. The company is investigating drugs for obesity and metabolic diseases, offering oral and injectable incretin and non-incretin drugs and combination therapies.
3. Writer$200 million, artificial intelligence: Based in San Francisco Writer closed a $200 million Series C that values its enterprise generative AI platform at $1.9 billion. The recent valuation represents a significant increase from the $500 million the company was valued at following its $100 million round led by Iconiq development last 12 months. The recent Series C was co-led by Iconiq, Rewards for investing AND Radical undertakings. The Writer platform is designed to assist corporations use large language models to streamline workflows and offers AI solutions that may perform complex enterprise operations across systems and teams. The recent funding might be used to rapidly launch AI applications and agents supporting workflows in healthcare, retail and financial services. Writer continues to grow its client base, which incorporates brands resembling Accenture, L’Oreal AND Uber.
4. Aviation skylightUSD 175 million, aviation industry: Last 12 months, Firefly Aerospace raised $300 million in Series C funding. The recent money values the company at $1.5 billion pre-paid. The Cedar Park, Texas-based space transportation startup returns this week after closing a $175 million Series D led by RPM ventures price over $2 billion. Firefly is preparing for its inauguration Blue Spirit mission to the moon as a part of NASACommercial Lunar Payload Service initiative. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $747 million via Crunchbase.
5. Chaos industry$145 million, defense: Chaos Industries, a defense technology and critical infrastructure startup, raised $145 million in Series B led by Speed upbecoming the latest defense technology company to receive large amounts of money from investors. The Los Angeles-based startup previously raised $70 million in Series A funding, which he led 8VC 1 last 12 months. Chaos specializes in advanced sensing, monitoring and communication solutions for the defense and business sectors. The company’s Vanquish radar provides early warning and tracking capabilities against unmanned aerial systems, missiles and aircraft. Chaos is not alone in raising a large pool of funding for other defense technology startups. In the last three months alone, several defense technology startups have seen significant money flow into their coffers. Defense technology startup in late August Parry’s labswhich creates digital systems for the defense industry that include mission-critical software and advanced artificial intelligence, closed an $80 million round led by Capitol Meridian Partners. In mid-September, the autonomous driving technology company Forterra closed a $75 million Series B led by Hedosophy, Moore’s strategic ventures AND XYZ enterprise capital.
6. Follow neurologyUSD 101 million, biotechnology: South San Francisco, Calif.-based Trace Neuroscience, which is developing treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, has launched a $101 million Series A round led by Third rock ventures.
7. Radiant Industries$100 million, energy: Radiant Industries, which develops portable nuclear microreactors, raised a $100 million Series C funding round led by DCVC. Founded in 2019, El Sungundo, California-based Radiant raised $160 million for the company.
8. BioTRexUSD 84 million, biotechnology: South San Francisco, California-based TRex Bio, a biotechnology company in search of to decipher the immune biology of human tissues, has closed an $84 million Series B led by Delos Capital. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $169 million via Crunchbase.
9. Beta BionicsUSD 60 million, biotechnology: Beta Bionics, a biotechnology company developing solutions for the treatment of diabetes, closed a $60 million Series E led by a recent investor Managing Wellington. Founded in 2015, the Irvine, California-based company has raised nearly $354 million via Crunchbase.
10. ScaleOps$58 million, cloud: New York-based ScaleOps, a cloud resource management startup, closed a $58 million Series B led by Partners of the Lightspeed enterprise. Founded in 2022, ScaleOps says it has raised $80 million.
Great global offers
The biggest round of the week got here from South America.
- Argentinian fintech company Ualawhich provides digital banking services, raised a $300 million Series E at a valuation of $2.75 billion.
Methodology
We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were reported by US-based corporations over the seven-day period from November 9-15. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could also be a slight delay as some rounds are reported late in the week.