 With a total of 166 rounds, the deal count for semiconductor startups in 2021 came in just under the record of 168 set in 2018. In the same time period, the funding value grew to $6.4B last year from just $2.6B three years prior, according to Crunchbase. More: - The start of 2022 was not as hot as the past 12 months would have suggested: Only 25 rounds brought in a (comparatively) meager $175.9M.
- Some of 2021’s top deals:
- Palo Alto-based hardware and integrated systems developer SambaNova Systems closed a $676M Series D at a $5B+ valuation.
- China-based Eswin, a developer of integrated chips, closed both a $473.7M Series B and a $395.2M Series C.
- China-based Moore Threads, a provider of graphics processing unit technology, raised a $316.2M Series A.
- Despite high-profile failures, such as the $40B Nvidia-Arm deal, 54 M&A deals in the semiconductor space last year put 2021 just below 2015 (56 deals) in terms of acquisition activity.
- Of those 54 deals, 17 were VC-backed, just under the record of 18 set in 2016.
The latest: - Both Russia and Ukraine are major sources of neon gas and palladium, two essential components for semiconductors.
- The U.S. neon supply is almost entirely from the two countries, while Russia provides 33% of worldwide palladium.
- Contemplating how the war raging in Ukraine could affect an already strained semiconductor supply chain could easily make pessimists out of the most rosy-eyed of us.
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South Africa-founded Clickatell ended a 10-year funding pause with a $91M Series C round. The company, which has been around since 2000, enjoys prior backing from Sequoia. Its latest round was led by Arrowroot Capital, with Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, Endeavor Global, and Harvest participating. More: - Clickatell offers a chat-based commerce platform. Its technology enables companies to communicate with customers via text message.
- It also offers contactless payment solutions through Visa-sponsored payment links via SMS or WhatsApp to businesses’ customers.
- Since 2020, the firm has processed over 30 billion interactions and 2 billion commerce transactions.
- The company is now headquartered in California and maintains offices in Nigeria and Canada. It is planning to expand to the U.S.
- Its funding from Sequoia came in the form of a $12M Series B round in 2011.
- Despite plans to go public in 2019, Clickatell has remained in private hands.
- The delay was justified by CEO and founder Pieter de Villiers on the grounds that the sector is still being developed and requires steady capital to enable experimentation.
The wider lens: - Chat commerce has a global market value of $80B and is seen as the third big wave of digital commerce after e-commerce and app commerce markets.
- Some 4.7 billion people worldwide use text messaging, meaning that the technology has more users than the internet.
- The global contactless payment market was worth $12B in 2019 and is expected to reach $52B in the next five years.
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 VC funding for AI/ML startups trailed funding gains overall with 87.2% YoY growth from $61.4B in 2020 to $115B in 2021. PitchBook’s analysts report that the growth percentage was brought down by a muted yearly increase in Asia, only totaling 62.1% in total deal value. More: - The growth for U.S. software funding came in at 113% YoY in 2021.
- Q4 saw a total of $28B in deal value, constituting 54% YoY and 1.9% QoQ growth.
- While the growth in funding was sapped by the hype surrounding Web3 and blockchain technologies, AI/ML saw record-breaking exit activity.
- There was a total of $208.9B in exit value across 475 exits. The latter figure constituted a 79.9% increase in exit count YoY, while the former was driven by several decacorn exits.
- The $208.9B in exit value was, furthermore, more than a doubling of the previous record of $97.9B, set in 2019.
- There were 36 mega-exits ($1B+) in 2021, compared with just 13 in 2020.
- Kuaishou and UIPath brought in over $80B of this total through their IPOs.
- Public exits more than doubled from 33 to 72, of which six came from autonomous vehicle startups.
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PayHawk, a Bulgarian fintech headquartered in London, raised $100M to become the first unicorn hailing from its native country. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, with Sprints Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, HubSpot Ventures, and Jigsaw VC participating. More: - The latest cash injection is an extension of PayHawk’s $112M Series B round from three months ago. At that time, the company was valued at just $570M, making the current valuation a 75% increase.
- Competing with Spendesk, Pleo, Revolut Business, and others, PayHawk seeks to replace multiple services in the B2B payment stack with a single, unified platform.
- It offers businesses an IBAN (European bank code) and payment cards, allowing them to track and budget their payments.
- Additionally, it allows for cash payments and integrations with ERP and accounting systems.
- Targeting large SMEs, PayHawk is active in over 30 countries.
- Beyond its U.K. HQ, PayHawk has offices in Sofia, Berlin, and Barcelona. It plans to open offices in Amsterdam, Paris, and New York.
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 Today’s Funding 💸 Biotech/Health - Plexium (San Diego, Calif.), targeted protein degradation: $102M led by BVF Partners, TCG X, participation from Softbank Vision Fund 2, RA Capital Management, Surveyor Capital, et al.
- Qventus (Mountain View, Calif.), AI-powered software for care operations: $50M from led by Thomas H. Lee Partners, Premier, participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, Norwest Venture Partners.
- Biorchestra (Daejeon, South Korea), RNA therapeutics: $45M C from Daily Partners, IMM Investment, SBI Investment, LSK Investment, E&Venture Partners, Smilegate Investment, Quantum Ventures Korea, Stick Investment, Widwin investment, et al.
- Supira Medical (Los Gatos, Calif.), temporary mechanical circulatory support: $30M C led by Cormorant Asset Management, The Capital Partnership, participation from 415 CAPITAL, AMED Ventures, PA MedTech VC Fund.
- Stämm Biotech (Buenos Aires, Chile), desktop-sized bioreactor: ...
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- Spark Capital raised a new $2.1B fund targeting both early- and growth-stage startups.
- FTX, known for its crypto exchange and investment strategy, launched a $1B philanthropic fund. It will invest at least $100M this year, but that number could increase given the availability of worthy projects capable of massive scaling.
- Hiro Capital, which focuses on European early-stage gaming/metaverse startups, launched its second fund in three years with $340M (€300M).
- LinkedIn bought Oribi, an Israel-based marketing attribution tech provider, for a reported $80M-$90M.
- Rakuten Symphony, the telco-focused arm of Japan’s Rakuten Group, acquired Robin.io, provider of a Kubernetes platform optimized for storage solutions, for an undisclosed sum.
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 |  | Inside VC's writer/curator Stephen currently lives in Berlin and is pursuing a Master's degree in philosophy. He otherwise spends his time trying his hand at recipes from India and Southeast Asia, escaping it all at the kickboxing gym, and offending aural sensibilities with his band. |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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