The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Enable And Autonomous Vehicle Startup May Mobility See Big Bucks
No huge rounds last week, but we did see a handful of $100 million-plus ones and a smattering of mid-sized financings. If any theme dominated the week, it was health and biotech, as those related startups make up half the list.
1. Enable, $120M, finance: We don’t write about many rebate management platforms on this list, but when you raise $120 million that changes. San Francisco-based Enable raised a $120 million Series D led by Lightspeed Venture Partners that values the company at $1.2 billion. The startup platform helps manufacturers, distributors and retailers manage their rebate offerings to help push growth and optimize sales with automated real-time data and forecasting. Everybody loves a rebate, but companies need to manage what they offer. Founded in 2016, Enable has raised $276 million, per the company.
2. May Mobility, $105M, autonomous vehicles: Just a couple weeks after Cruise’s announcement it will suspend its self-driving taxi program rocked the autonomous vehicle industry, another AV startup has raised big money from some big-name investors. Ann Arbor, Michigan-based May Mobility closed a $105 million Series D led by the NTT Group. The new cash brings May Mobility’s total funding to approximately $300 million since being founded in 2017. The company last raised a $111 million round in July 2022. May Mobility develops AV technology and deploys fleets of vehicles to municipal and business customers. Funding to autonomous vehicle startups have been having a rough year to date. Such startups have raised less than $4.6 billion — which puts the sector on pace for its lowest funding total since 2020, per Crunchbase data. The sector saw a high for funding in 2021 when the industry received $12.5 billion. Last year, that number dropped to $5.9 billion.
3. Wonder, $100M, food delivery: Marc Lore’s food delivery startup Wonder made this list way back in June 2022, after The Wall Street Journal reported the New York-based startup raised a $350 million round led by Bain Capital Ventures at a $3.5 billion valuation. This week it’s back with a smaller round — a $100 million investment from Nestlé. The company has been pretty busy of late. In September, Wonder acquired meal-kit company Blue Apron for $103 million. Lore previously was CEO of retail giant Walmart‘s e-commerce division. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $950 million, per Crunchbase.
4. Elucid, $80M, biotech: Every week an AI-related biotech company makes this list it seems. This week it’s Boston-based Elucid, which creates AI-powered imaging analysis software to assess cardiovascular disease, raising an $80 million Series C led by Elevage Medical Technologies. The startup plans to use the fresh cash to expand the commercialization of its software for physicians. Founded in 2013, Elucid has raised $121 million, per the company.
5. Volante Technologies, $66M, fintech: New York-based Volante Technologies locked up a $66 million debt and equity financing led by Sixth Street Growth. The fintech startup offers a cloud-native payments platform to financial businesses and institutions. Founded in 2001, Volante has raised $116 million to date, per the company.
6. (tied) Black Ore Technologies, $60M, fintech: Austin, Texas-based Black Ore Technologies, an AI-driven financial services company, emerged from stealth with a $60 million seed round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Oak HC/FT.
6. (tied) OrsoBio, $60M, biotech: Menlo Park, California-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company OrsoBio raised a $60 million Series A co-led by Enavate Sciences and Longitude Capital. Founded in 2021, OrsoBio has raised $97 million, per the company.
8. Forward Therapeutics, $50M, biotech: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida-based Forward Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule therapies for chronic immunological and inflammatory disorders, announced a $50 million Series A led by BVF Partners LP. Founded in 2022, the round is the company’s first outside funding, per Crunchbase.
9. L-Nutra, $47M, nutrition: Los Angeles-based nutrition company L-Nutra closed a $47 million Series D led by a personal investment from Stephane Bancel, CEO at Moderna. Founded in 2009, this is the company’s first funding with a disclosed amount.
10. (tied) Ascidian Therapeutics, $40M, biotech: Boston-based Ascidian Therapeutics, a biotech startup focused on treating human diseases by rewriting RNA, announced a $40 million Series A extension from Apple Tree Partners. Founded in 2020, the company has raised a total of $90 million, per Crunchbase.
10. (tied) Eleos Health, $40M, health: Boston-based Eleos Health, a behavioral health startup, raised a $40M Series B led by Menlo Ventures. Founded in 2019, Eleos has raised a total of $68 million, per the company.
Big global deals
The biggest round outside the U.S. went to yet another AI startup
- Germany-based Aleph Alpha raised a $500 million Series B. Aleph Alpha allows companies to develop and deploy large language and multimodal models.