Venture capital firms have invested $7B into U.S.-based aerospace and defense startups so far this year. By the end of this year, VC funding for defense startups is expected to cross last year’s record of $7.6B. The aerospace and defense sector has defied the ongoing venture funding retrenchment trend. More: - According to Pitchbook, rising threats from nations like China and Russia are driving the investment boom.
- Defense and security are also considered recession-proof industries.
- As a result of technological advancements in satellite imaging, data analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics, and space technology, the industry is experiencing rapid growth.
- Notable funding rounds this year include AI-powered defense system manufacturer Anduril’s $1.2B Series E round in May.
- Many defense investment focussed venture funds have also cropped up in recent times, including Razor’s Edge and Shield Capital.
- The former announced a $340M third fund, while the latter debuted with a $120M fund in March.
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Westborough, Massachusetts-based battery recycling company Ascend Elements raised $300M in fresh financing. The funding consists of $200M in Series C equity financing and a $100M debt facility. The equity tranche was led by Fifth Wall Climate and SK ecoplant, with the latter contributing $50M to the equity round. More: - New investors Oman Investment Authority, Lithium Americas Corporation, Mirae Asset Capital, and others participated in the funding round.
- Existing backers InMotion Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, TDK Ventures, Orbia Ventures, and others also invested in the new round.
- The firm recently nabbed two grants totaling $480M from the Department of Energy.
- Two months ago, Ascend announced that it would invest $1B in building a battery recycling plant in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
- Ascend will use the funds to commercialize its proprietary battery recycling technology.
- Crunchbase data shows that the firm has raised $921.9M in funding to date.
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Streamlined Ventures received $140M in capital commitments from institutional investors and family offices for two new funds. $102M from the funds is earmarked for the firm’s fifth seed fund, with the remaining $36M allocated for the firm’s third opportunity fund for follow-on investments. More: - Streamlined has raised eight funds to date totaling $325M.
- The San Francisco-based firm is led by solo general partner Ullas Naik.
- Naik previously co-founded Cota Capital.
- The firm is looking to invest in 30 to 35 startups in the data science, artificial intelligence, APIs, and Web 2.5 sectors.
- Streamlined had invested in DoorDash, AppLovin, Forge, and Rappi at the seed stages.
- 16 of the firm’s portfolio companies became unicorns, and three became decacorns.
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Bloomberg learned from sources that the cryptocurrency platform Blockchain.com is in talks with investors to raise a down round. For the upcoming financing, the company may receive a valuation between $3B and $4B. More: - The expected valuation is less than a third of the firm’s peak valuation of $14B, which it received at the firm’s Series D round led by Baillie Gifford and Lightspeed Venture Partners in March earlier this year.
- The Series D lead investors, along with DST Global, LG Group, and Vy Capital, led a $300M Series C round into the firm in March 2021.
- British investment firm Kingsway Capital led a strategic financing into Blockchain.com at an undisclosed valuation earlier this month.
- The new round is still in the early stages of negotiations, the terms of which will likely change before closing.
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BlackRock led a $120M equity and debt financing into networking and cybersecurity firm Versa Networks. The round is a pre-IPO round, according to the press release. Incoming funds will be used to boost the go-to-market strategy, accelerate product development, and scale the organization. More: - Silicon Valley Bank participated in the funding round.
- The fresh financing brings the firm’s total funds raised to date to over $316M.
- The last fundraising came in the form of an $84M Series D round in June 2021 led by Princeville Capital and RPS Ventures.
- Versa develops Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platforms for cloud, on-premises, and hybrid infrastructure.
Zoom out: - Gartner predicts that the SASE market will be worth $15B by 2025.
- Venture capital funding for cybersecurity startups has reached $13.66B so far this year, roughly half of the $26.52B in 2021.
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Money View is looking to enter the unicorn club with the upcoming Series E funding round. The firm is looking to raise between $125M to $150M in financing. Apis Partners is likely to lead the funding round, according to sources close to the matter. More: - The firm is targeting a $1B valuation at the fresh financing, which would be higher than the $615M valuation nabbed by the firm in March earlier this year.
- In March, the Indian firm raised $75M in Series D financing led by Accel, Evolvence India Fund, Tiger Global Management, and Winter Capital.
- The firm has raised over $108M in total funding to date.
- The credit platform provides personal loans to underserved communities in India.
- CEO Puneet Agarwal reports that the firm is profitable and is on track to nab $80M in annualized revenue run rate.
Zoom out: - Money View’s fundraising comes amidst a retrenchment in venture capital in India, which was down 57% QoQ and 80% YoY in Q3 2022.
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- HealthJoy secured $60M in Series D funding led by Valspring Capital. CIBC Innovation Banking, Endeavor Vision, U.S. Venture Partners, and others participated in the funding.
- European VC firms Redstone and EnjoyVentures nabbed $50M for their social impact fund. The firms will invest in startups working on solving health, education, and inequality challenges.
- Web3 digital payments platform Reap raised $40M capital from Acorn Pacific Ventures, Arcadia Funds, and HashKey Capital.
- Insight Partners led a $30M Series B financing into Canary Technologies. Other participants in the round include F-Prime Capital, Y Combinator, and Thayer Ventures.
- Biotech firm Cresilon closed its Series A-4 funding round with $25M in funding.
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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 and 1972 Fords. | |
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