Two venture capital firms announced new capital, with a cumulative size of $500M, to invest in Texas startups. S3 ventures announced it had raised $250M for its Fund VII, its largest VC fund yet. The firm expects to invest in 25 companies in the business, digital, and healthcare technology domain. The company is looking at investments between seed to Series B stages. More: - S3 last raised $200M for its sixth fund announced in 2016.
- The company has since invested in over 50 startups, most notably Favor and Liveoak.
- The former was acquired by H-E-B, while the latter by DocuSign.
- Other investments include Alkami Technology and Levelset. Alkami went public last year while Procore Technologies acquired Levelset.
- The firm believes that Texas will be “the second-largest tech ecosystem in the U.S. by 2030.”
Newly formed Tacora announced $250M worth of commitments received so far towards its debut fund. The firm is aiming for a $300M closing for the fund. More: - The investment firm was founded in 2021 by Keri Findley, who previously led the structured credit portfolio for Third Point.
- Tacora is backed by Peter Thiel.
- The fund will focus on early-stage fintech, insurtech, proptech, logistics, and transportation startups.
Zoom out: - Large corporations including Oracle, Apple, HP, and Tesla have set up bases in Austin.
- Pitchbook reported that Austin startups secured 380 funding deals worth $4.9B in 2021.
- The funding in 2021 marked a 211% increase since the year before, per Axios.
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California-based fintech firm Acorns secured $300M Series F funding led by TPG. Acorns received a $1.9B valuation at the recent funding. BlackRock, Greycroft, Owl Rock, Senator Investment Group, Torch Capital, Industry Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Headline, Thirty Five Ventures, and others participated in the fundraiser. More: - The current valuation is less than the $2.2B valuation sought by the fintech startup during the SPAC acquisition deal announced in May 2021. The SPAC merger was later scrapped.
- The startup had shelved plans to go public in January this year, owing to the plunge in the public market, which has particularly hit SPAC-listed companies the hardest.
- Per Insider, one index estimates that the worth of companies listed via a SPAC merger route in 2021 dropped by 40% to date.
- CEO Noah Kerner announced the company would eventually pursue a “traditional IPO” without disclosing a time frame for the same.
- Acorns’ first funding was a Series A round in 2013. Since then, the company amassed over $200M worth of funding before the current round.
- The savings and investment platform claims to have over 4.6 million paid subscribers on its platform.
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Irvine, California-based Menlo Microsystems, Inc. raised $150M Series C funding. Vertical Venture Partners and Future Shape led the current funding round, which increased Menlo’s total investments received so far to over $225M. Fidelity Management & Research Company, DBL Partners, Adage Capital Management, Standard Investments, Paladin Capital Group, Piva Capital, and PeopleFund participated in the funding. More: - The startup has reportedly reinvented the electronic switch with its proprietary Ideal Switch technology.
- The ultra-low loss switch is capable of withstanding up to 1,000 Watts of power.
- Medical, aerospace, defense, telecommunications, consumer electronics, IoT, and other industries are among the use-cases for this technology.
- Incoming funds will help strengthen the regional manufacturing and supply chain for its proprietary technology.
- The company is exploring semiconductor manufacturing locations across the U.S.
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Singapore-based crypto fintech platform Cake DeFi launched a venture capital arm to invest in technology startups. Cake DeFi Ventures (CDV) is strapped with a $100M fund backed by the fintech startup. Cake DeFi’s aim is to venture into areas where it lacks expertise and exposure. More: - The fund will invest in startups across Web3, Metaverse, NFT, gaming, and fintech sectors.
- Co-founders Julian Hosp and U-Zyn Chua will lead the venture arm.
- The parent organization’s platform currently manages over $1B worth of customer assets for over 400,000 users.
Zoom out: - In recent times, several crypto-based startups have created Web3, Metaverse, NFT, and gaming-specific funds.
- GameStop and Immutable: $100M fund for gaming NFTs.
- Mechanism Capital: $100M fund for play-to-earn gaming.
- Lightspeed Venture Partners and Solana Ventures: $100M Web3 gaming fund.
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Minneapolis-based Branch closed $75M in Series C funding. Addition led the funding with backing from General Atlantic, Drive Capital, Crosscut Ventures, Indeed, and others. The company’s valuation was not disclosed. More: - The payments platform company will scale operations and increase the number of employees with the funds.
- Funds will also be diverted to expand the business into trucking, last-mile delivery, restaurant, construction, fitness, and hospitality industry.
- Branch provides workforce payment solutions with quick transaction times and inclusive financial services for W-2 and 1099 contractual workers.
- Notable clients include Uber Freight, Kelly, Walmart Spark, Flashtract, and Tippy.
- The startup has witnessed over 2,000% growth in the past three years.
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Money View, a fintech startup based in India, secured $75M Series D funding. The fundraise was backed by Tiger Global, Accel, Winter Capital, Evolvence India, and others. The startup was valued at $625M at the latest funding. More: - Money View is an online credit platform with a suite of products encompassing personal credit, buy-now-pay-later products, credit card, and personal finance management solutions.
- It has disbursed loans worth $700M on an annual basis while providing services to over 200M customers.
- The fintech startup is forecasted to have $1B in assets under management over the next 12 months.
- The company will utilize the incoming funds to scale the business, expand the workforce, and increase its product portfolio with the inclusion of new services such as digital bank accounts, insurance, and wealth management products.
- South Park Commons, Trusted Insight, and Dream Incubator also participated in the funding.
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Quick Hits - More than half of US organizations said they currently spend $1M to $50M on AI initiatives every year, while another 15% are spending $51M or more, according to LXT's new executive report.*
- Dallas, Texas-based biosciences and genetic engineering firm Colossal Bioscience secured $60M Series A funding led by Thomas Tull and At One Ventures. The funding will accelerate genetic tools, software development, and the hiring of bioscience experts.
- Argyle, a New York-based employment platform provider, closed a $55M Series B round led by SignalFire. Existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Bedrock, and Checkr also participated in the fundraise.
- Hedge fund firm Coral DeFi announced the close of a $5M commitment towards its first fund, named Coral Ventures LP Fund 1. The firm expects to raise $50M overall by May. It currently has ~$100M of assets under management.
- Enterprise architecture platform Ardoq raised $125M Series D funding. EQT Growth led the funding into the Norway-based company, with backing from One Peak.
- Miami-based fintech startup Milo raised $17M Series A to accelerate product development and hiring. M13 led the round with participation from QED Investors and MetaProp.
- Not getting what you need from your payments processing company? Maybe it's time for a new one.*
*This is sponsored content
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | 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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