Venture capital and private-equity firms invested $13B in the industry in 2021, with between $6B-$8B invested already this year. Total investments by corporates, M&A's, VC, and PE funding in the metaverse surpassed $120B in the first half of this year, more than double the previous year's $57B, per the McKinsey report. The figure also takes into account Microsoft's $69B acquisition of Activision. The report estimates that the metaverse will be a $5T opportunity by 2030, in current terms equivalent to Japan's economy. More: - McKinsey estimates the metaverse to have a $2T-$2.6T impact on e-commerce, $180B-$270B impact on virtual learning, and $108B-$125B impact on the gaming market.
- Several venture capital firms, including institutional investors, have launched dedicated funds, with Andreessen Horowitz recently announcing a $600M Games Fund One.
- Venture funding flowed heavily into the space over the last year and the first few months of 2022.
- Large funding rounds include OpenSea's $300M Paradigm- and Coatue-led Series C funding, Improbable's $150M fundraiser led by Andreessen Horowitz and SoftBank, and Niantic's $300M funding round led by Coatue.
- Earlier this year, in April, Sony and Lego Group's parent organization KIRKBI invested $2B into Fortnite game developer Epic Games to build the metaverse.
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New investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and existing investor Craft Ventures co-led a $150M Series B funding round into Vendr, cementing the firm’s unicorn status with a $1B valuation. The Boston, Massachusetts-based company intends to use the proceeds to further develop its product and scale its organization. Vendr helps centralize the software procurement in enterprises, helping businesses obtain favorable deals and reduce costs. More: - According to Vendr CEO Ryan Neu, large businesses typically overspend on software by 20%-30%.
- On a $1B worth of total software spend handled by the company last year, the business was able to save corporations $200M in software expenditures.
- Vendr was able to almost double its valuation and raise a higher round than its previous funding during the ongoing venture funding slump by demonstrating the necessity for its service in a cash-strapped market.
- The funding round was joined by Sozo Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Sound Ventures, Tiger Global, and Y Combinator.
- The current fundraiser brings the firm’s total funds raised to date to $216M.
- Its list of clients includes large organizations such as Canva, DraftKings, and the Washington Post, amongst others.
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Aidox, an AI-powered patient abnormality detection software for physicians, raised $110M in financing from its Series D funding round. TCV and Alpha Intelligence Capital (AIC) co-led the investment with participation from CDIB Capital. The Israeli firm intends to use the incoming funds to scale its AI Care PLatform, expand its reach, and cater to a wider range of hospitals and health centers. More: - Over 1,000 hospitals currently use Aidox's products and services to seek actionable insight from imaging data and digital medical records, which in turn reduces turnaround time and allows a higher number of patients to get the right treatment at the earliest.
- Atlantic Health in New Jersey leverages Aidox's platform to identify critical disorders, such as brain bleeds, spine fractures, blood clots, and others, and expedite treatment.
- Aidox's new fundraise brings the total raised to date to $250M, which includes a General Catalyst-led $66M Series C funding in July 2021.
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Texas-based Quext, a smart apartment technology solution provider, raised $63M in funding. The names of private investors were not disclosed. The funding gives the firm a $350M post-money valuation. Quext provides IoT devices, property-wide wifi, AI-driven virtual agent, and website building tools for apartment owners and property management agencies. Zoom out: - The firm will further develop its platform, increase product inventory, and grow its customer success and sales team with the incoming funding.
- Quext was founded in 2017 and is led by Dave Gilles.
- The company has patented a thermostat hub with integrated low power wide area networks and also provides other smart IoT devices such as smart door locks.
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Real estate marketplace platform and loan facilitator HomeLight secured $60M in a Series D extension funding round. The Arizona-based company also received a $55M debt financing. The recent funding valued the firm at $1.7B, slightly higher than its $1.6B valuation during the $100M Series D fundraising in September last year. More: - To date, the proptech firm has secured $645M in funding since its founding in 2012.
- Previous backer Oren Zeev provided the entity equity funding in the current round.
- CitiVentures, Menlo Ventures, GV, and other notable venture firms have participated in HomeLight's previous funding rounds.
- HomeLight also announced its acquisition of Denver-based home financing platform Accept.inc for an undisclosed sum.
- The Y-Combinator and SignalFire backed Accept.inc had raised $92.1M in total funding to date.
- The acquisition is expected to "allow even more of HomeLight's top agents and their clients to benefit from the power, speed, and certainty of contingency-free transactions," the company said in the statement.
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Document workflow automation platform AirSlate secured $51.5M in financing led by G Squared. The funding round values the startup at $1.25B. AirSlate, the platform that facilitates electronic signatures and document management, has over 900,000 customers and 100 million users across the globe. More: - The fresh funds will enable the Massachusetts-based company to expand its range of workflow and automation solutions.
- UiPath Ventures participated in the funding round and also formed a strategic partnership with AirSlate, which is expected to facilitate technical knowledge transfer between the firms.
- The round is robotics process automation firm UiPath’s venture arm’s first portfolio investment.
- The current funding, reported to be a Series C round by Crunchbase, brings AirSlate’s total funding secured to date to $181.5M.
- Morgan Stanley Capital led its $40M preceding Series B round in Jan. 2021.
- The following month, Silicon Valley Bank provided a $50M debt financing.
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- Despite the current market volatility, Sequoia Capital believes Southeast Asia's startup prospects are bright. The firm is "quite optimistic" about long-term prospects and will continue to invest in the market. Earlier this week, the firm announced $2.85B across multiple funds dedicated to back startups in India and Southeast Asia, demonstrating the company's confidence in the region.
- Founder's Point-of-View Ventures, dubbed FPV Ventures, secured $450M in capital for its early-stage-focused debut fund. The firm, formed by Felicis Ventures alumnus Wesley Chan and Morgan Stanley alumnus Pegah Ebrahimi, will invest in the consumer, enterprise, and healthcare industries.
- German investment API solution provider Upvest received $42M in funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the Series B funding round, joined by Earlybird, ABN AMRO Ventures, Notion Capital, Partech, 10x Group, and Speedinvest.
- General Catalyst led a $40M Series C funding round into Elevate K-12, a live streaming tutoring platform for K-12 students.
- New York-based open banking technology developer Narmi secured $35M in Series B funding led by Greycroft. NEA and Picus Capital supported the funding.
- Transfr VR, a virtual reality-powered skills training platform, raised $35M in funding. The Series B funding round was led by Lumos Capital Group with participation from Firework Ventures, Album VC, and Spring Tide Capital.
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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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