 US venture capital funds raised Institutional firms are raising fresh capital and continue to announce new funds, despite the overall macroeconomic conditions and the global venture industry slump. TechCrunch spoke with three venture firms, each of which highlighted that the fundraising was easier than anticipated. In the first six months of the year, U.S.-based venture firms have raised $121.5B, 87% of the $138.9B raked up by venture firms in the entire last year. More: - Chalo Ventures, a venture firm backing Pakistani startups, launched a $50M second fund and has already secured $35M in commitments since its launch two months ago.
- General Partner Haris Khurshid noted that the fundraising “wasn’t as challenging as we thought it would be.”
- Lorena Suarez, managing partner at Alaya Capital, which raised $80M for its third fund, noted that limited partners are more active in funding because investors know they can make fortunes by investing in the down market.
- Major fund announcements from the past seven days include:
- Insight Partners, meanwhile, is looking to raise another $20B funds, just months after closing $20B funds in February earlier this year.
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 Half yearly investments by venture firms in Asia Tiger Global increased its investment rate in the Asian region, defying current venture capital industry trends. The firm's investments in the first half of this year outpaced those in the same period last year by 167% and the preceding period (i.e., H2 2021) by 76%. Tiger's deal participation increased by 206% from H1 2021, amounting to 52 deals in H1 of this year. More: - Tiger Global led rounds worth $2.8B this year, most notable of which include Moglix's $250M Series F round, DealShare's $210M Series E round, and Sensors Data's $200M Series D round.
- Meanwhile, Sequoia Capital China reduced its funding by 21% when compared to H2 2021 and by 14% when compared with H1 2021.
- Y Combinator invested in 37 deals this year, marking a 48% drop from H2 2021.
- The pullback by certain venture firms is in line with the overall industry trend.
- Funding in the H1 of 2022 totaled $62.7B, 16% less than the same period in 2021 and 37% less than the second half of 2021.
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Cloud infrastructure startups raked in $21.5B in funding globally last year, of which U.S.-based startups accounted for $15.2B. The pace of funding has slowed dramatically this year, with only 177 startups being funded so far compared to 455 startups in the entire last year. Globally, over 362 companies have received $5.61B in funding in the first half of the year. More: - While the total funding at the end of the year is expected to be less than last year, few institutional venture firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and Vertex Ventures are still continuing to invest significantly.
- 12 U.S.-based cloud startups received over $65M in funds so far this year.
- Prominent funding rounds include Alchemy Insights' $250M Series D at a $10.45B valuation, Harness' $230M Series D at a $3.7B valuation, Apto Labs' $200M seed round, and RapidAPI's $150M Series D at a $1B valuation.
- Mathilde Collin, the CEO and cofounder of Front – which raised $65M in Series D at a $1.7B valuation – told Business Insider that although VCs are investing, they are being very cautious about their investments and spending more time on due diligence.
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Valor Equity Partners’ venture arm Valor Siren Ventures closed its second fund with $595M in capital. The fund was oversubscribed and closed higher than its initial target of $400M. Strategic anchor investors Starbucks and Nestlé along with other prominent Fund I investors including Marriott International, Gordon Food Service, Alshaya Group, and Alsea backed the current fund. More: - The company will continue to invest in startups across the retail, food technology, and sustainability sectors.
- Fund II will invest in early-stage companies, in line with the previous Fund I’s investment strategy.
- The Fund I closed with $100M in capital in Mar. 2019.
- Valor’s recently led investments include Graphite’s $15M Series A in Aug. 2021, Joy’s $20M Series A in Sept. 2021, Trustworthy’s $15M Series A in Apr. 2022, and Sifter SP’s $5M seed round in May 2022.
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Michigan-based May Mobility secured $111M in a Series C funding round led by Mirai Creation Fund II. The driverless ride-hailing and shuttle company intends to use the fresh funds to triple its workforce and scale its technology and business as it gears up to launch "driver-out commercial operations in 2023." Automotive industry giants Toyota Ventures and Bridgestone Americas joined the funding. More: - Other participants in the funding include LG Technology Ventures, SoftBank, State Farm Ventures, Next Century Ventures, SAIC, Wanxiang, Karma, 10x Group, and others.
- The funding brings the firm's total funds secured to date to $194M.
- May Mobility's partnership with Toyota saw it add 20 modified Sienna Autono-MaaS (S-AM) vehicles to its fleet.
- Over the next year, the firm intends to launch operations in Japan, followed by other global territories.
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Snowpoint and Baillie Gifford co-led a $105M Series B funding round in autonomous flight control systems provider Merlin Labs. GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, participated in the funding. Incoming funds will help the company to accelerate its certification process, build freight capacity, and grow its team in New Zealand and the U.S. More: - To date, the firm has raised $130M in total funding, which includes a GV-led $17.5M Series A funding round in Jan. 2020.
- The Boston-based firm's systems not only control the plane using the existing autopilot systems but can also recognize the instructions provided by air traffic controllers.
- CEO Matt George reported revenue figures in "8+ figures."
- Last September, the firm received approval from FAA and New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
- The firm has since expanded into the defense sector and recently seized a C-130J Super Hercules cargo plane retrofitting deal with the U.S. Air Force.
Zoom out:
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Quick Hits: - Elon Musk gave a shout-out to Boxabl, calling it a "cool product." Invest in Boxabl today with over 15,000+ investors!*
- Private equity firm Francisco Partners raised nearly $17B in capital across two funds, with $13.5B earmarked for its flagship fund and $3.3B for its Agility III fund.
- Motive Partners, a private equity firm focusing on fintech and business service technology startups, closed its second fund with $2.54M in capital commitments.
- Online language learning marketplace Preply received $50M from its Series C funding round. Owl Ventures led the financing, joined by Diligent Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Educapital, Evli Growth Partners, Przemyslaw Gacek, Swisscom Ventures, and Orbit Capital.
- Counter-drone technology provider Dedrone closed its Series C-1 round with $30M in funding. Aqton Partners, Menlo Ventures, Felicis Ventures, and Target Partners participated in the Axon-led funding round.
- Metabolic health technology platform NutriSense held an initial close of its Series A funding round with $25M in capital led by 1315 Capital.
- Telehealth provider Moving Analytics raised $20M in Series A financing co-led by Wellington Access Ventures and Seae Ventures. Philips Ventures, SteelSky Ventures, Aphelion Capital, Nueterra Capital, and Citi Ventures participated in the funding round.
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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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