 Funding for fertility startups is booming, with $823.1M invested across 90 deals globally last year. PitchBook data shows those figures to have increased 273.3% and 109.3%, respectively, over five years. More: - Still, the funding is targeting very specific aspects of the sector: While there are gobs of capital available for well-known tactics such as egg-freezing and IVF improvements, newer ideas face resistance.
- For example, EndoGene.Bio, a Paris-based startup developing a test to diagnose endometriosis, has had substantial difficulties finding backers.
- In general, diagnostics and alternative treatments have a harder time finding receptive ears, leading EndoGene’s co-founder María Teresa Pérez Zaballos to claim that investors are looking for short-term, quick-fix solutions instead of taking the risk on big ideas.
- Moreover, says Tess Cosad, co-founder of Béa Fertility, inventors are more interested in financial instruments, such as infertility insurance, than actual medical advances, which require clinical trials and regulation.
The wider lens: - Infertility affects 15% of reproductive-aged couples worldwide, according to the WHO.
- While IVF has a proven track record of 55% success for women under 30, it still costs about $6,271 to $12,542 per cycle in the U.K., or up to $60,000 in the U.S.
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OneFootball, a Berlin-based soccer media platform, has raised $300M Series D at an undisclosed valuation. The capital was led by Liberty City Ventures with participation from Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs, DAH Beteiligungs, Quiet Capital, RIT Capital Partners, Senator Investment Group, and Alsara Investment Group. More: - OneFootball also claims 100 million users for its platform.
- It offered 15,000 live streams and on-demand content clips in 2021.
- The company recently acquired Dugout, another soccer digital media company, which brought many of Europe's top clubs to the company as shareholders.
- In tandem with today’s funding, OneFootball announced Labs2, an initiative enabling clubs and leagues to release digital assets and fan-centric experiences using blockchain protocols.
- The organization was formed together with inventors Animoca Brands and Liberty City Ventures and is moreover backed by blockchain venture builder Everest Ventures Group.
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Two Chinese VCs reportedly raised big new funds backed by U.S. investors despite geopolitical tensions and regulatory backlash in Beijing. Gaorong Capital recently raised about $1.8B, while Qiming Venture Partners pulled in $2B over two vehicles. More: - The news comes as Sequoia Capital China is in early talks to raise more than $8B across four new funds, cementing its status as the country’s largest investor.
- Matrix Partners China is also in the market for fresh powder and is looking for $1.5B for its new fund.
- While big funds with proven track records will be able to weather the storm unleashed by Bejing's and Washington's ongoing tension, it is likely that smaller operators will be unable to attract LPs from the U.S.
- Qiming, for example, has bets on 430 companies, including food-delivery app Meituan and video site Bilibili.
- 2014-founded Gaorong managed to snag a stake in Pinduoduo in 2016 at a valuation of $1.39B — the company later debuted on the Nasdaq and is currently valued at $45B.
The wider lens: - Chinese VC firms raised just $876M in U.S.-dollar–denominated funds last quarter, down from $1.77B in the quarter prior and $4.09B in the first quarter of last year.
- Between strict COVID-19 lockdowns, the banishment of most Chinese tech companies from U.S. stock markets, and a 50% slide over the past 12 months of the Hang Seng Tech Index, which includes Tencent and Meituan, investing in Chinese startups has become a substantially trickier game.
- Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Harvard University’s endowment is considering tapering its investments in China.
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London-based Argent Labs, a superapp for all things crypto, has raised $40M co-led by Fabric Ventures and Metaplanet. Animoca Brands Corp. and Jump Trading Group participated alongside prior investors Creandum, Index Ventures, and Paradigm. More: - Co-founder Itamar Lesuisse declined to disclose a valuation but did note that today’s round will be the company’s last with crypto-specific VC investment firms.
- Moving forward, he wants to tap traditional investors.
- Argent offers a platform for buying, storing, and transacting with more than 240 different Ethereum-based tokens.
- These include things like virtual real estate, online games, and nonfungible tokens.
- Founded in 2017, the company began with the mission to improve the security of cryptocurrencies and reduce transaction fees.
- To date, Argent can boast of 500,000 users. It plans to double its all-remote team to around 50 people this year.
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 Today’s Funding 💸 AI/ML - Exafunction, complexity reduction for using hardware to train AI systems: $25M led by Greenoaks, participation from Founders Fund.
- Synthesis AI (San Francisco, Calif.), synthetic data technologies to build advanced computer vision AI models: $17M A led by 468 Capital, participation from Sorenson Ventures, Strawberry Creek Ventures, Bee Partners, PJC, iRobot Boom Capital, Kubera Venture Capital.
Biotech/Health - Concert Health (San Diego, Calif.), collaborative care, an evidence-based model for treating depression and anxiety: $42M B led by Define Ventures, participation from Healthy Ventures, Vertical Venture Partners, Townhall Ventures, CommonSpirit Health, Advent Health.
Blockchain - Venly (Antwerp, Belgium), protocol-agnostic benefits platform to web3 users in gaming and e-commerce: $23M A led by Courtside Ventures, participation from Transcend Fund, Coinbase Ventures, Tioga Capital, HTGF, Fortino Capital, Plug and Play, LeadBlock Partners, Imec.Istart, Alpaca VC.
- CoreChain (New Haven, Conn.), B2B payments network built on blockchain: $4.2M Seed led by Ulu Ventures, participation from Connecticut Innovations, Bloccelerate VC, New Form Capital, Motivate Venture Capital, et al.
Consumer - Informed (Berlin, Germany), news platform: $5.5M Seed led by HV Capital, participation from 468 Capital.
DevOps - CommandBar (San Francisco, Calif.), code search platform: $19M A led by Insight Partners, Itai Tsiddon, participation from Thrive Capital, BoxGroup.
- Deepset (Berlin, Germany), open-source NLP framework Haystack: $14M A led by GV, participation from Harpoon Ventures, System.One, et al. The company emerged from stealth today.
Edtech - Glorang (Seoul, South Korea), online after-school classes and extracurricular activities ages 3-18: $10M A from Korea Investment Partners, Murex Partners, Pksha Capital.
Energy - Fleet (San Francisco, Calif.), track and management services for enterprise devices like laptops: $20M A led by CRV.
- SWTCH (Toronto, Canada), EV charging and energy management solutions: $13M from Aligned Climate Capital.
- Aerones (Riga, Latvia), robots to clean and maintain wind turbines: $9M Seed led by Future Positive Capital, Change Ventures.
Fintech - Ravio (London, U.K.), real-time compensation data and analytics platform: $10M Seed led by Northzone, participation from Cherry Ventures, Spark Capital.
Foodtech - Lemon Perfect (Atlanta, Ga.), lemon water brand: $31M from Beechwood Capital, Goat Rodeo Capital, Melitas Ventures, NNS Capital, Trousdale Ventures, Beyonce.
Logistics - OnePort (Lagos, Nigeria), digital freight forwarding: $5M Seed led by Mobility 54, participation from SBI Investment, Flexport, Samurai Incubate, ODX.
- Oware (Karachi, Pakistan), B2B warehousing and distribution startup: $3.3M Pre-Seed led by Flexport Fund, Ratio Ventures, participation from Seedstars International Ventures, The Osiris Group, Swiss Founders Fund, Reflect Ventures, et al.
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 |  | Inside VC's writer/curator Stephen currently lives in Berlin and is pursuing a Master's degree in philosophy. He otherwise spends his time trying his hand at recipes from India and Southeast Asia, escaping it all at the kickboxing gym, and offending aural sensibilities with his band. |  | | 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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