The Funding Warrior is a weekly news feature that runs down this week’s leading funding stories. Here’s a list of top startup funding stories (December 9-12) :
USA December 11
Starchive, a Charlottesville, Virginia-based company that provides a digital-asset-management platform for creators, raised $4 million in seed financing. The funding round, which brought the total amount raised to date to $5.7 million, was led by The Felton Group, LLC, the family office of the hedge fund manager, Jaffray Woodriff, who founded Quantitative Investment Management (QIM). Investors also include Lexa Pope, who worked with Google and led the team behind Google AdWords.
USA December 11
Wonder Dynamics, a Los Angeles, California-based startup that develops and provides an AI-powered cloud-based content creation platform, raises $9 million in Series A funding. The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $11.5 million, was led by Horizons Ventures, with participation from Epic Games and Samsung Next. Existing investors Founders Fund and MaC Venture Capital also joined the funding round.
Hong Kong December 11
Finblox, a Hong Kong-based global crypto investment platform that allows users to earn a yield on their idle crypto holdings such as Bitcoin and USDC stablecoin, raised a seven-digit funding round of an undisclosed amount. Finblox’s investors included Sequoia Capital India, MSA Capital, Venturra Discovery, Coinfund, Saison Capital, Ratio Ventures, and First Check Ventures. The funding round also included 13 other investors and notable angels like Ron Hose (Founder of Coins.ph), Xinshu Dong (Co-Founder of Zilliqa), Quentin Vanoekel (Co-Founder of Helicap), James Simpson (Founder and CEO of mStable), Eddie Thai (early investor in Axie Infinity and Partner at Ascend Vietnam Ventures), and Binh Tran (Co-founder of Klout and Partner at Ascend Vietnam Ventures).
USA December 11
Robotic Research, a Clarksburg, Maryland-based market-leading provider of autonomous mobility and robotics solutions, raised $228 million in a Series A funding round. Investors included Luminar Technologies, Inc., SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Henry Crown and Company, Enlightenment Capital, and Crescent Cove Advisors.
USA December 11
Rainmaker Games, an Austin, Texas-based global platform that provides a home for the Play-to-Earn (P2E) blockchain gaming ecosystem, raised 6.5 million in seed funding. Investors included Skyvision Capital, CoinFund, Alameda Research, Polygon Studios, Animoca Brands, Merit Circle, and Republic Realm.
EquityNet enables entrepreneurs to raise capital for any type of business. Create your profile. Connect directly with accredited investors. Use patented tools to maximize your success as an entrepreneur.
USA December 10
Logical Buildings, a New York City-based company that provides sustainability, smart building and virtual power plant software and grid-interactive efficient building solutions for the built world, secured a $10 million funding round. Keyframe Capital led this funding round.
USA December 10
NextVivo, a Palo Alto, California-based biotech company that develops an immune organoid technology platform, emerged from stealth with $7.9 million in financing. Khosla Ventures led this funding round, with participation from Alexandria Venture Investments, Wilson Sonsini, and individual investors.
USA December 10
Posh Technologies, a Boston, Massachusetts-based provides an AI platform that enables financial institutions to offer conversational banking experiences to their customers, raised $27.5 million in Series A funding. Canapi Ventures led this funding round, with participation from new investors Curql Collective, Piedmont Capital, Human Capital, CMFG Ventures, and JAM FINTOP.
Canada December 10
Kudos, a Calgary, Canada-based employee engagement platform, secured a $10 million minority equity investment from the Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF). This brings the total funding raised to $15.8 million, according to Betakit.
USA December 10
Resolve, a San Francisco, California-based fintech company that provides B2B companies with solutions, raised an additional $25 million in strategic equity funding. New York-based global venture capital firm Insight Partners led this funding, with participation from existing investors KSD Capital, Initialized Capital, Clocktower Ventures, Haystack VC, and Commerce Ventures.
USA December 10
Expedera Inc., a Santa Clara, California-based provider of scalable neural engine semiconductor IP that enables major performance in AI-inference applications, raised $18 million in a Series A funding round. The Series A funding round, which brought the total capital raised to over $27 million, was led by Dr. Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai (founders of Marvell Technology Group) and other semiconductor industry investors.
New Zealand December 9
Auror, an Auckland, New Zealand-based crime intelligence software startup, raised NZ$30 million (A$28.5 million). Movac, New Zealand’s largest VC firm, led this funding round, with support from Silicon Valley-based Shasta Ventures, GD1, and Sydney-based Folklore Ventures, according to Startup Daily.
USA December 9
Luz, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based company that provides competitor intelligence solutions to companies to help them track key metrics from potential clients and market competitors, has completed a $5 million Seed round. The round was led by Utah-based Album VC, Peterson Partners, and strategic Angels. The strategic Angels include Vivien Bohme (CEO of Bohme), Davis Smith (CEO of Cotopaxi), and other prominent e-commerce entrepreneurs.
8 best practices for finding the right investors.
Targeting investors is not only paramount to building a successful IR program but is the hallmark of good IR. Download this Best Practices Guide for in-depth insights on how to find the “right” institutional investors, at the right time.
Learn about the following and more in this FREE guide:
- How to combine quantitative and qualitative approaches
- Leverage technology such as artificial intelligence and alternative data
- Set realistic expectations and establish ways to measure your interactions
The CODE Warrior 