The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report takes us on a trip across various ecosystems in the US, highlighting some of the notable funding activity in the various markets that we track. The notable startup funding rounds for the week ending 8/14/21 featuring funding details for Gusto, FalconX, and twenty-five other rounds that you need to know about.
80 Acres Farms — $160.0M – Series B
Cincinnati-based 80 Acres Farms is a Cincinnati, OH-based indoor farming company. Founded by Mike Zelkind and Tisha Livingston in 2015, 80 Acres Farms has now raised a total of $200.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Barclays, Beyond Net Zero, General Atlantic, PG Impact Investments, Siemens Financial Services, and Taurus Capital.
Ambri — $144.0M – Venture – Series Unknown
Marlborough-based Ambri is an early-stage company focused on developing a transformative technology. Founded by David Bradwell, Donald Sadoway, and Luis Ortiz in 2010, Ambri has now raised a total of $211.3M in total equity funding and is backed by Bill Gates, Fortistar, Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates, Paulson & Co., and Reliance Industries.
Carta — $500.0M – Series G
San Francisco-based Carta is building a global ownership management platform to help companies, investors, and employees manage their equity. Founded by Henry Ward and Manu Kumar in 2012, Carta has now raised a total of $1.1B in total equity funding and is backed by Silver Lake.
Cart.com — $98.0M – Series B
Houston-based Cart.com is an e-commerce-as-a-service platform designed to help brands accelerate online growth. Founded by Jim Jacobsen and Omair Tariq in 2020, Cart.com has now raised a total of $143.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Arsenal, Clearco, G9 Ventures, Mercury Fund, Oak HC/FT, PayPal Ventures, Philip Krim, Raven Venture Partners, Sebastian Rymarz, and Valedor Partners.
Doxel — $40.0M – Series B
Redwood City-based Doxel delivers an AI-powered project controls platform that predicts costly delays and cost overruns on construction projects. Founded by Robin Singh and Saurabh Ladha in 2016, Doxel has now raised a total of $56.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Amplo, Andreessen Horowitz, and Insight Partners.
FalconX — $210.0M – Series C
San Mateo-based FalconX is a blockchain, cryptocurrency, and fintech-focused cryptocurrency brokerage and digital asset trading platform. Founded by Prabhakar Reddy and Raghu Yarlagadda in 2018, FalconX has now raised a total of $277.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Altimeter Capital, American Express Ventures, B Capital Group, Mirae Asset Global Investments, Sapphire Ventures, and Tiger Global Management.
FireHydrant — $23.0M – Series B
New York-based FireHydrant is an incident management tool that helps companies recover from IT disasters more quickly. Founded by Robert Ross in 2018, FireHydrant has now raised a total of $32.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Harmony Partners, Menlo Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Work-Bench.
Gusto — $175.0M – Series E
San Francisco-based Gusto provides a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and human resource management solution for businesses. Founded by Edward Kim, Josh Reeves, Joshua Reeves, and Tomer London in 2011, Gusto has now raised a total of $691.1M in total equity funding and is backed by 137 Ventures, Acrew Capital, Cross Creek, Dragoneer Investment Group, Durable Capital Partners, Emergence Capital, Emerson Collective, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Franklin Templeton, Friends & Family Capital, General Catalyst, Generation Investment Management, Glynn Capital Management, Sands Capital Ventures, and T. Rowe Price.
Hologram — $65.0M – Series B
Chicago-based Hologram provides a platform to connect devices to any network with cellular connectivity, and offers software for monitoring an IoT fleet. Founded by Benjamin Forgan and Patrick Wilbur in 2014, Hologram has now raised a total of $79.4M in total equity funding and is backed by Bullpen Capital, Mucker Capital, NextView Ventures, and Tiger Global Management.
HopSkipDrive — $25.0M – Series C
Los Angeles-based HopSkipDrive is a vehicle for hire company focused on shuttling kids to school. Founded by Carolyn Yashari Becher, Janelle McGlothlin, and Joanna McFarland in 2014, HopSkipDrive has now raised a total of $86.8M in total equity funding and is backed by 1776 Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, FirstMark, and Keyframe Capital Partners.
Kronologic — $12.5M – Seed
Austin-based Kronologic develops a calendar monetization platform that converts sales leads into meetings. Founded by Aaron Bollinger, Ben Parker, Christopher Lee, and Trey Allison in 2018, Kronologic has now raised a total of $20.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Geekdom Fund, Next Coast Ventures, Signal Peak Ventures, and Silverton Partners.
Latent AI — $19.0M – Series A
Menlo Park-based Latent AI accelerates AI implementation and workflows for the enterprise cost-effectively anywhere on the edge continuum with Adaptive AI. Founded by Jags Kandasamy and Sek Chai in 2018, Latent AI has now raised a total of $22.5M in total equity funding and is backed by 40 North Ventures, Autotech Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures, Booz Allen Hamilton, Future Ventures, and Lockheed Martin.
LaunchDarkly — $200.0M – Series D
Oakland-based LaunchDarkly is a feature management platform that allows software development teams to deliver to their customers. Founded by Edith Harbaugh and John Kodumal in 2014, LaunchDarkly has now raised a total of $330.3M in total equity funding and is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Bloomberg Beta, Insight Partners, Lead Edge Capital, Redpoint, Threshold, Top Tier Capital Partners, and Uncork Capital.
Lockstep — $2.5M – Series A
Seattle-based Lockstep connects accounting teams to help them work better together. Founded by Matthew Shanahan and Peter Horadan in 2019, Lockstep has now raised a total of $12.5M in total equity funding and is backed by American Express Ventures.
Mahana Therapeutics — $61.0M – Series B
San Francisco-based Mahana Therapeutics is a developer of digital treatments for people living with gastrointestinal conditions. Founded by Robert Paull and Simon Levy in 2018, Mahana Therapeutics has now raised a total of $81.6M in total equity funding and is backed by Gurnet Point Capital, Jazz Venture Partners, KKCG, Lux Capital, and Main Street Advisors.
Breeze — $10.0M – Series A
Omaha-based Breeze is an InsurTech providing an online platform for consumers to quote & apply for income protection products, like disability insurance. Founded by Cody Leach and Colin Nabity in 2019, Breeze has now raised a total of $10.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Invest Nebraska, Link Ventures, M25, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank.
Nirmata — $4.0M – Seed
San Jose-based Nirmata is a unified management plane for Kubernetes clusters and workloads. Founded by Damien Toledo, Jim Bugwadia, and Ritesh Patel in 2013, Nirmata has now raised a total of $4.0M in total equity funding and is backed by B. V. Jagadeesh, Benhamou Global Ventures, Samsung NEXT, Saqib Syed, Uncorrelated Ventures, and Z5 Capital.
Pave — $46.0M – Series B
San Francisco-based Pave leverages real-time HR and equity integrations to help companies plan, communicate, and benchmark compensation. Founded by Matt Schulman in 2019, Pave has now raised a total of $63.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Y Combinator Continuity Fund.
People.ai — $100.0M – Series D
San Francisco-based People is an AI platform for enterprise sales, marketing, and customer success that uncovers revenue opportunities. Founded by Oleg Rogynskyy in 2016, People.ai has now raised a total of $200.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Akkadian Ventures, ICONIQ Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Mubadala Capital | Ventures US.
Reddit — $410.0M – Series F
San Francisco-based Reddit is an online platform that enables users to submit links, create content, and have discussions about the topics of their interest. Founded by Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman in 2005, Reddit has now raised a total of $1.3B in total equity funding and is backed by Fidelity Management and Research Company.
Rootine — $3.0M – Seed
Nashville-based Rootine is optimizing health and human performance with precision nutrition. Founded by Bianca Gfrei, Daniel Wallerstorfer, and Rachel Soper Sanders in 2018, Rootine has now raised a total of $3.1M in total equity funding and is backed by Alexandra Zatarain, Cleo Capital, DSM Venturing, Duro Ventures, Launch TN Impact Fund, Libby Leffler, and Novogenia.
Snorkel AI — $85.0M – Series C
Palo Alto-based Snorkel AI provides a platform to build AI applications quickly. Founded by Alexander Ratner, Braden Hancock, Chris Re, Henry Ehrenberg, and Paroma Varma in 2019, Snorkel AI has now raised a total of $135.3M in total equity funding and is backed by Addition, BlackRock, Greylock, GV, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nepenthe Capital, Stonebridge Ventures, and Walden International.
WoodSpoon — $14.0M – Series A
New York-based WoodSpoon is a food delivery service that offers on-demand, crafted foods made by home chefs and delivered to the diner. Founded by Lee Reshef, Merav Kalish Rozengarten, and Oren Saar in 2019, WoodSpoon has now raised a total of $16.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Restaurant Brands International, Victor Lazarte, and World Trade Ventures (WTV). AlleyWatch broke the news of this round in an exclusive full feature – Woodspoon Raises $14M for its Delivery Platform that Features Home Cooked Meals
Talkdesk — $230.0M – Series D
San Francisco-based Talkdesk offers an enterprise contact center platform that allows companies to make the customer experience a competitive advantage. Founded by Cristina Fonseca and Tiago Paiva in 2011, Talkdesk has now raised a total of $497.5M in total equity funding and is backed by Alpha Square Group, Amity Ventures, Franklin Templeton Investments, TI Platform Management, Top Tier Capital Partners, Viking Global Investors, Whale Rock Capital Management, and Willoughby Capital.
TaxBit — $130.0M – Series B
Draper-based TaxBit is a cryptocurrency tax and accounting software that automates tax calculations and reporting on cryptocurrency transactions. Founded by Austin Woodward, Bobby Clayson, Brandon Woodward, and Justin Woodward in 2018, TaxBit has now raised a total of $235.8M in total equity funding and is backed by 9Yards Capital, Anthony Pompliano, Insight Partners, IVP (Institutional Venture Partners), Madrona Venture Group, Paradigm, Sapphire Ventures, and Tiger Global Management.
Jerry — $75.0M – Series C
Palo Alto-based Jerry is an AI, ML, and bot-powered car ownership app that saves customers time and money on car expenses. Founded by Art Agrawal, Lina Zhang, and Musawir Shah in 2017, Jerry has now raised a total of $112.0M in total equity funding and is backed by Bow Capital, Goodwater Capital, Highland Capital Partners, Kamerra, and Park West Asset Management.
Upgrade — $105.0M – Series E
San Francisco-based Upgrade is a neobank that offers affordable and responsible credit to mainstream consumers. Founded by Adelina Grozdanova, Jeff Bogan, Matt Wierman, Renaud Laplanche, Soul Htite, and Visar Nimani in 2016, Upgrade has now raised a total of $307.0M in total equity funding and is backed by BRV Capital, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and Ventura Capital.
XtalPi — $400.0M – Series D
Cambridge-based XtalPi is a biotech firm that uses artificial intelligence and computing to accelerate the development of new pharmaceutical drugs. Founded by Jian Ma, Lipeng Lai, and Shuhao Wen in 2014, XtalPi has now raised a total of $786.4M in total equity funding and is backed by 5Y Capital, OrbiMed, RRJ Capital, Sequoia Capital China, and Sino Biopharmaceutical.
