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Top News
The Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund Mubadala Investment is making an investment in Silver Lake and contributing $2 billion to help the technology-focused private-equity firm launch a new long-term strategy. The WSJ has more here.
The data firm Palantir and the software company Asana are both poised to launch their direct listings tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange, the biggest test yet for this still largely untested model for IPOs. The WSJ has more here.
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The Joke is On Consumers as Liquid Death Raises $23 Million More
In what began as a kind of funny, savvy marketing stunt that has since gained traction, a nearly three-year-old, Santa Monica-based startup that sells water from the Austrian Alps under the brand Liquid Death, has raised $23 million in Series B funding. Backers in the round include an unnamed family office; Convivialité Ventures, which is Pernod Ricard Group’s venture arm; the musician known as Fat Mike; and earlier backer Velvet Sea Ventures.
The company, originally incubated with the help of the L.A.-based startup studio Science, has now raised a little more than $34 million altogether.
We talked with Liquid Death founder Mike Cessario, who was formerly a West Coast agency exec, not long after he launched the company to the public, and he argued at the time that canned water could give sugary energy drinks like Rockstar, Monster and Red Bull a run for their money if it was also named like a heavy metal act.
Indeed, our favorite part of the product has long been its promise to "murder your thirst." (It's water in an aluminum can, after all, so other differentiators are hard to come by.)
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Massive Fundings
Dewpoint Therapeutics, a two-year-old, Cambridge, Mass.-based drug discovery startup focused on biomolecular condensates, raised $77 million in Series B funding. Arch Venture Partners led the round, joined by Maverick Ventures, Bellco Capital, and earlier backers Bayer, EcoR1 Capital, Polaris Partners, Samsara BioCapital, and Innovation Endeavors. FierceBiotech has more here.
InventisBio, a five-year-old, Shanghai, China-based biotech that's focused on gout and both breast and lung cancers, has raised $147 million in Series D funding. GL Ventures led the round, joined by Qiming Venture Partners, Janchor, AIHC Capital, and numerous others. EndPoints News has more here.
KKday, a six-year-old, Taipei-based travel activities platform, has raised $75 million in Series C funding. Cool Japan Fund and the National Development Fund of Taiwan co-led the round, joined by Monk’s Hill Ventures and MindWorks Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Northvolt, a four-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based maker of lithium-ion batteries, has raised $600 million in funding led by Baillie Gifford, Goldman Sachs and Volkswagen, with participation from Baron Capital Group, Bridfield Investments, and Spotify founder Daniel Ek among others. Reuters has more here.
Seismic, a 10-year-old, San Diego-based sales process automation company, has raised $92 million in Series F funding. Permira led the round; it was joined by Ameriprise Financial, EDBI and earlier backers Jackson Square Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and T. Rowe Price. VentureBeat has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Axis Security, a 2.5-year-old, Jerusalem- and San Mateo, Ca.-based startup that helps companies enable employees to safely connect to private applications, has raised $32 million in Series B funding. Canaan Partners led the round, joined by return backers Ten Eleven Ventures and Cyberstarts. Reuters has more here.
ButterflyMX, a five-year-old, New York-based smart intercom developer for building tenants, has raised $35 million in funding led by Volition Capital, with participation from Egis Capital, RiverPark Ventures and Stifel Venture Bank. The company has now raised $40 million altogether. The Real Deal has more here.
Huboo, a nearly three-year-old, London-based startup that offers an end-to-end fulfillment services for online retailers of all sizes, has raised £14 million in Series A funding led by Stride.vc, with participation from Hearst Ventures, Episode 1, Maersk Growth, Ada Ventures, and True Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Ilias Biologics, a five-year-old, Daejeon, South Korea-based biotech that's focused on inflammatory diseases, has raised $20.6 million in Series B funding. Backers include Asset One, Devsisters Ventures, and Meritz Securities, among many others. More here.
KeepMed, an eight-year-old, Israel-based developer of devices for treating obstructive sleep apnea, has raised €13 million in Series C funding from Celeste Management, Financière Arbevel, 4See Ventures, and end earlier backers, including C4 Ventures. Globes has more here.
Koneksa, a seven-year-old, New York-based developer of digital biomarkers for drug development, has raised $16 million in Series B funding. Spring Mountain Capital led the round, joined by McKesson Ventures, Novartis, MBX Capital and earlier backers Merck and Waterline Ventures. More here.
Neuron Mobility, a four-year-old, Singapore-based e-scooter rental startup, ahas added $12 million to a Series A financing that had initially closed back in December. Led by Square Peg and GSR Ventures, the added capital brings the total round to $30.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.
PayCargo, a 15-year-old, Coral Gables, Fl.-based company that has built a suite of cloud-based payment and financing services for the cargo industry, has raised $35 million from Insight Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Rally, a nearly four-year-old, New York-based investment platform centered around shares in collectibles like vintage cars and baseball cards, has raised $17 million and installed a new CEO. Porsche Ventures, the Raptor Group, Global Brain and investor Alexis Ohanian provided the new funding. George Leimer, formerly of Disney/ESPN, Apple and eBay, is taking on the role of CEO; Christopher Bruno, the company's founding CEO, will take on a new role as president. TechCrunch has more here.
Thinkific, an eight-year-old, Vancouver-based company that has built a platform where anyone can create their own courses, then sell them on their own websites, just raised $22 million led by earlier investor Rhino Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
UPShow, a five-year-old, Chicago-based interactive digital signage startup that offers hospitality, health venues and retailers a library of media and entertainment options to broadcast inside their locations, has raised $14 million in Series A funding. Its backers include 4490 Ventures, Jump Capital, TDF Ventures, and Signature Venture Banking Group. Crunchbase News has more here.
Collective, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that’s been quietly building back-office services like tax preparation and bookkeeping for what it dubs “business of one” owners, just closed on $8.65 million in seed funding. General Catalyst and QED Investors co-led the round, joined by a string of renowned angel investors, including Uber cofounder Garrett Camp, Figma founder Dylan Field and DoorDash executive Gokul Rajaram. We wrote up a bit more here.
Cogniac, a five-year-old, Bay Area-based startup developing technology for visual task automation, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. Autotech Ventures led the round, joined by Vanedge Capital, Wing Venture Capital, Yellowstone Ventures, the George Kaiser Family Foundation and Energy Innovation Capital. The company has now just raised a little more than $20 million altogether. VentureBeat has more here.
DeepSurface Security, a 3.5-year-old, Portland, Ore.-based maker of predictive vulnerability management software, has raised $1 million in seed funding led by the Cascade Seed Fund, with additional participation from SeaChange Fund and Voyager Capital. More here.
Greenbird, an 11-year-old, Oslo, Norway-based maker of smart meter software for the utilities market, just raised €5 million in Series B funding from EnBW New Ventures, Nysno, and ETF Partners. More here.
LARQ, a three-year-old, Bay Area-based startup that makes self-cleaning water bottles, has raised $10 million Series A lead by Seventure, with participation from DCM. The company has now raised $15.7 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Retirable, a year-old, New York-based company that's focused on simplifying the retirement process with personalized, digital plans from certified financial planners, has raised $4.7 million in seed funding. Vestigo Ventures led the round, joined by Diagram Ventures, Primetime Partners, and other angel investors. Built in NY has more here.
Snappr, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based marketplace for on-demand photography, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Basis Set Ventures led, joined by Y Combinator and Yes VC. Crunchbase News has more here.
Sisu Cosmetics, a nearly two-year-old, Ireland-based chain of cosmetic clinics that's expanding into the U.S., has raised $5.5 million in Series A funding led by Greycroft and Bullpen Capital. Mana Ventures and the Gaingels Syndicate also participated in the round, alongside angel investors, including Liam Casey. TechCrunch has more here.
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IPOs
AppHarvest, a 3.5-year-old, Morehead, Ky.-based company that makes large indoor farms and greenhouses, is going public via a reverse merger with a SPAC called Novus Capital. As part of the transaction, it's also raising $475 million from new and earlier investors such as Fidelity Management, Inclusive Capital and Novus Capital. The company is expected to have an initial market value of around $1 billion. Reuters has more here.
Palantir -- again, it's preparing for its public debut tomorrow morning on the NYSE after 17 years -- will have a reference price of $7.25 per share, which would value the company at $16 billion, the NYSE announced earlier today. As TechCrunch notes, a reference price is merely a guide for investors and doesn't constitute an actual trading price. More here.
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Exits
UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurer in the U.S., has acquired DivvyDose, a six-year-old tart-up that helps patients with chronic illness get their medicines delivered in pre-sorted packages, according to CNBC source who says the deal price was just over $300 million. Crunchbase doesn't show any outside funding for the startup. More here.
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People
Facebook's former VP of product growth and analytics, Alex Schultz, who has been with the company since 2007, is becoming the company's CMO. He fills the position left open by Antonio Lucio, who joined the company in 2018 and announced his departure last month, saying he wants to “dedicate 100% of my time to diversity, inclusion and equity.” TechCrunch has more here.
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Essential Reads
Amazon hid its safety crisis. . . but good news, it has a snazzy new biometric technology enables shoppers to pay with their palms, a technology the company hopes to use in its own stores, as well as to sell to other retailers.
The U.S. Justice Department is expected to sue Alphabet’s Google as soon as next week, and is currently urging state attorneys general to sign onto the lawsuit, according to Reuters sources. The lawsuit is expected to accuse Google of depriving rivals of the data about users and user preferences that they need to improve and to advertise to people. The Justice Department has also been investigating Google’s search advertising. More here.
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Retail Therapy
A Bel Air mansion that's now 25% off (note that it's still $78 million).
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