A new non-profit venture capital fund named America’s Frontier Fund (AFF) hopes to advance semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. According to the NY Times, the venture is seeking $1B in funding from Congress. More: - Former secretary of defense Ashton B. Carter and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster are a few prominent former government officials on AFF’s board.
- Gilman Louie, who formerly led CIA-backed venture fund In-Q-Tel and currently sits on President Biden’s Intelligence Advisory Board, will lead the AFF as its chief executive.
- In 1990, the U.S. accounted for ~40% of global semiconductor manufacturing; by 2020, that figure had dropped to 12%.
- Intel earmarked $20B in funding to build two new manufacturing units in the U.S., with another $100B pledged towards talent skilling and research initiatives.
- The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act or CHIPS, was passed by Congress in January last year; however, it remains unfunded as lawmakers debate the details of the bill.
- The Act is expected to provide over $50B in incentives to accelerate semiconductor production.
- AFF is unconcerned about congressional funding because it expects to take decisive steps toward advancing its mission regardless of funding.
- Skeptics argue about the need for an organization such as AFF, with Gaurav Gupta, an emerging tech analyst at Gartner, commenting, “I’m not sure what that organization can accomplish that the U.S. government can’t accomplish itself.”
- The White House gave AFF the responsibility of leading the Quad Investor Network late last month.
- The network aims to bring together investors and technology leaders across the U.S., Japan, India, and Australia in a bid to advance cooperation and investment toward emerging technologies and supply chain infrastructure.
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Late-stage European life sciences investor Forbion held a $500M (€470M) first close of its Fund II. The fund, called Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund II, closed higher than its initial target of ~$480M (€450M). Considering the high investor demand, the firm has set a hard cap of $642M (€600M), with the final closing expected over the summer. More: - Forbion will continue to invest in the late-stage biopharma sector across mature clinical development startups, pre-IPO companies, and under-valued public companies.
- Individual check sizes are set to average $74.9M (€70M), with the firm looking to invest in 15 companies across Europe.
- Previous fund backers Pantheon, Wealth Management Partners, and Eli Lilly and Company pitched in for the new fund along with new investors PME and PMT, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and Reggeborgh.
- Fund II's predecessor performed "extremely well," as noted by Dirk Kersten, a general partner at Forbion.
- Gyroscope, a provider of eye disease gene therapy treatments, is the firm's most successful exited investment, having been acquired by Novartis for $1.5B.
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San Diego-based AI-powered autonomous pilot defense technology company Shield AI raised $165M in Series E financing, consisting of $90M in equity and $75M in debt funding. The funding values the firm at $2.3B, almost twice its last $1.25B valuation 10 months ago. More: - Snowpoint Ventures led the funding round with participation from Riot Ventures, Disruptive, and Homebrew.
- Disruptive led Shield AI’s previous Series D round, which closed with an estimated $210M to $300M in funding.
- Andreessen Horowitz, Breyer Capital, Point72, and SVB Capital have previously invested in the company.
- The company has pioneered an AI pilot using its Hivemind software and is developing small unmanned aircraft and medium-sized VTOL aircraft called the V-BAT.
- Incoming funds will be used to ramp up production of its VTOL aircraft, accelerate product development, and expand its reach.
Zoom out: - Shield AI now joins SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril as the only multibillion-dollar defense-tech startups founded in the last 20 years.
- Anduril was looking to raise $1.2B at a $7B valuation, a round which TechCrunch reports as now being closed.
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New York-based health data platform H1 secured a $23M Series C extension financing, bringing its total Series C funding to $123M. Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Menlo Ventures, Transformation Capital, and Novartis Pharma AG provided the latest funding, with the first three also participating in the $100M initial Series C round in Nov. 2021. The company received a $773M valuation in the recent round. More: - H1 provides a unified global healthcare data repository with data sourced from clinical trials, insurance claims, healthcare organizations, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
- Over 16,000 worldwide firms across 70 nations have provided the data resulting in over 10 million profiles in its database.
- 250 clients leverage the data on H1’s platform for several use cases, including finding potential doctors and hospitals to run clinical trials.
- The company sought an extension immediately after closing its Series C funding round to provide the company with a longer runway to weather the upcoming potential downturn.
- CEO Ariel Katz told Vator that the entire amount from its previous fundraise is still in the bank.
- To date, the company has secured $170.9M in funding.
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Digital banking transformation solution provider Backbase raised $128M (€120M) in growth equity funding from a single investor, Motive Partners. The financing values the Netherlands-based firm at $2.6B (€2.5B). Backbase was bootstrapped since its founding in 2013, with its latest annual revenue topping $213M (€200M). More: - Backbase has steadily grown its revenues from $21M (€20M) in its earlier days and currently has over 150 enterprise banking clients.
- Notable clients include Banco de la Nacion Peru, Berenberg, BNP Paribas, Citizens Bank, HDFC, National Bank of Bahrain, Navy Federal Credit Union, Natwest, Standard Bank, Société Générale, TPBank, Washington State Employee Credit Union, and Wildfire Credit Union, amongst others.
- The company chose to get its first external investment in order to scale its operations and increase market share, specifically in the Middle Eastern, African, and Latin American regions.
- Because of its emphasis on cost-cutting and agile development, the company is already profitable.
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Mexican digital banking platform Klar secured $70M in equity funding and $20M in debt financing. The fundraiser increased the firm’s valuation to $500M. Existing investor and Series B lead investor General Atlantic led the current funding round, which brings the company’s total equity funding secured to date to $150M. WTI provided the debt tranche. More: - The funding round saw participation from Prosus Ventures, Quona Capital, Mouro, IFC, Acrew, and Endeavor Catalyst.
- Klar is not yet profitable since the company is focused on growth, with the Mexican firm recently reporting a seven-fold YoY increase in revenue and a four-fold jump in transaction volume.
- The company acquired 1.4 million customers over the past 12 months and disbursed $91.2M in credit offerings.
- The company’s USP is eliminating minimum balance requirements and fees for its online accounts, a feat that has helped the firm make inroads with the unbanked residents of Mexico, which the company estimates to be 50% of the population totaling 75 million adults.
- Interchange fees, interest, and float income are key sources of revenue for Klar.
- Incoming funds will help Klar expand its credit offerings, support M&A opportunities, and build out new verticals.
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- Boston-based Seae Ventures announced its inaugural fund with $107M in capital commitments. The fund intends to back women- and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-led startups. The firm has already invested in 17 startups to date.
- Insight Partners and Canapi Ventures led a $57M Series B funding round in the automated business underwriting platform Middesk. Sequoia, Accel, and Gaingels participated in the fundraiser.
- HYCU Inc, a Boston-based cloud data backup and recovery BaaS platform, received $53M from its Series B funding round. Acrew Capital led the funding with participation from Atlassian Ventures and Cisco Investments, and all Series A investors, including Bain Capital Ventures.
- New York-based employee benefits brokerage firm Nava Benefits secured $40M in a Thrive Capital-led Series B funding round. Avid Ventures, Quiet Capital, Sound Ventures, GV, K5 Global, and Homebrew participated in the funding.
- Copenhagen, Denmark-based chronic viral infection drug treatment researcher Synklino raised $31.7M (€29.8M) from its Series A fundraiser. The investment was led by the PKA pension fund, with The Danish Growth Fund and Eir Ventures participating.
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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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