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.
Fundraising has been nuts this year and this week is a perfect illustration—with two gigantic $1 billion-plus rounds. Those weren’t the only large rounds, as the week saw 10 U.S.-based companies raise more than $200 million. Clearly, investors are not winding down even as the year does.
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1., $1.4B, space travel: Space tech already has seen a strong year, and Louisville, Colorado-based Sierra Space just added to it. The commercial space company closed a $1.4 billion “Series A”—which is sure to skew Series A median numbers this year—led by , and . Founded this year, it is the company’s first capital raise. The company plans to use the new cash to develop its Dream Chaser Spaceplane, an orbital commercial spaceplane.
2., $1.3B, cybersecurity: All the way back in January, San Jose-based Lacework became a unicorn when it closed a $525 million growth round. Clearly, the cloud security provider thought it could do more with more cash as it just closed a $1.3 billion Series D round led by , , and . The new investment sets a valuation of $8.3 billion for the 7-year-old company. Lacework is riding the tailwinds of the pandemic, which helped accelerate the rate at which companies move to the cloud and the need to secure workloads there.
3., $555M, consumer goods: The Amazon aggregator space has been white hot this year. In just the last three weeks, Boston-based announced the initial closing of a $1 billion Series D and Berlin-based closed a $125 million Series B with a valuation of more than $1 billion. Not to be outdone, San Francisco-based Heyday this week raked in a $555 million Series C at a valuation of more than $1 billion—just six months after the marketplace brand-building platform closed a $70 million Series B. The round was co-led by and . The company has now raised a total of $800 million since being founded in 2020.
4., $425M, productivity tools: Workplace productivity tools have been popular with investors all year, as the pandemic changed the way many work. Indiana-based Formstack was able to ride that wave to a $425 million growth investment led by and . The company helps users build forms and documents, and collect e-signatures—all without code.
5., $400M, wholesale marketplace: San Francisco-based Faire, an online wholesale marketplace that connects local retailers with brands, closed a $400 million Series G round led by , and at a valuation of $12.4 billion. The company, which sold over 125 million products in the past year, has now raised more than $1 billion since being founded in 2017.
6., $370M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Generate Biomedicines, which has developed a machine-learning-powered platform to rapidly invent new drugs, raised a $370 million Series B. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $420 million to date, according to Ƶ data.
7., $300M, agtech: Farmers Business Network, a farmer-to-farmer network and agtech company, closed a $300 million Series G led by The network, with headquarters in San Carlos, California, and Chicago, has raised more than $870 million to date, according to Ƶ data.
8., $280M, fintech: San Francisco-based fintech developer Upgrade raised a $280 million Series F at a $6 billion pre-money valuation. The round was led by and .
9., $250M, biopharma: Los Angeles-based ACELYRIN, a clinical-stage biopharma company, closed a $250 million Series B financing led by AyurMaya, an affiliated fund of .
10., $201M, communication: Lehi, Utah-based Podium, developer of a communications platform for businesses to interact with local customers, raised $201 million led by , reportedly setting a valuation around $3 billion. Founded in 2014, Podium has raised nearly $420 million, per Ƶ data.
Big global deals
With the huge rounds raised this week in the U.S., only one company outside the country broke into the top 10 global deals.
- Sao Paulo-based , a social commerce marketplace, closed a $250M Series D.
Methodology
We tracked the largest rounds in the Ƶ database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of Nov. 13 to 19. 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.
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