The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Commonwealth Fusion’s Giant Financing Leads Otherwise Slow Week For Big Deals
Hoping to be the first company to commercialize fusion power, Commonwealth Fusion Systems led the pack by a long shot for funding this week, pulling in $863 million for its latest round. Beyond that deal, however, it was a rather slow week for large startup funding rounds, although we did see some good-sized financings for the fintech, biotech and vertical AI sectors.
1. Commonwealth Fusion Systems, $863M, fusion energy: Devens, Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a developer of commercial fusion energy systems, announced that it raised $863 million in what it described as Series B2 financing from a long list of investors including Nvidia’s NVentures. Commonwealth said it is moving closer to being the first in the world to commercialize fusion power.
2. Wugen, $115M, oncology: St. Louis-based Wugen, a developer of CAR-T cell therapies to treat T-cell cancers, picked up $115 million in equity financing led by Fidelity. Seven-year-old Wugen plans to use the financing in part to fund clinical trials.
3. Rain, $58M, fintech: Rain, a developer of infrastructure for stablecoin payments, announced that it secured $58 million in a Series B funding round led by Sapphire Ventures. The raise comes five months after New York-based Rain’s Series A and brings total funding to $88.5 million.
4. Blue Water Autonomy, $50M, autonomous ships: Boston-based Blue Water Autonomy, a startup designing and building unmanned ships for the U.S. Navy, closed on $50 million in Series A funding led by Google’s GV. Blue Water said it plans to use the funding to build and deploy its first long-range, full-sized autonomous ship next year.
5. Assort Health, $50M, health care AI: Assort Health, a San Francisco-based provider of AI patient communication tools for specialty healthcare providers, reportedly raised about $50 million in a Series B round at a valuation of $750 million.
6. OpenLight, $34M, photonics: OpenLight, based in Goleta, California, is a developer of a silicon photonics platform for semiconductor design which landed $34 million in a Series A co-led by Xora Innovation and Capricorn Investment Group.
7. (tied) Atomic, $30M, fintech: New York-based Atomic, provider of an embedded investing platform for fintechs and financial institutions, snagged $30 million in a growth round led by Aquiline Capital Partners and Brewer Lane Ventures.
7. (tied) Aurasell, $30M, vertical AI: San Mateo, California-based Aurasell, developer of an AI-native CRM platform, locked up $20 million in seed funding backed by N47, Menlo Ventures and Unusual Ventures.
7. (tied) Leal Therapeutics, $30M, biotech: Leal Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based developer of therapeutics for patients living with neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders, announced a $30 million Series A financing led by SV Health Investors‘ Dementia Discovery Fund.
10. Copper, $28M, appliances: Copper, a developer of appliances with integrated battery storage, scored $28 million in a Series A financing consisting of equity and debt that was led by Prelude Ventures. The Berkeley, California-based startup’s first product offering is a stainless steel range and oven called “Charlie.”