Biotech Goes Big, Orbital Leads the Way

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This is a weekly magazine highlighting the top 10 funding rounds of the week announced in the US. Check out last week’s biggest funding round here.

This week was packed with big deals as US-based startups raised five nine-figure rounds, two of which went to biotech startups. In fact, it’s been a big week for him in biotech, as startups in this sector made up half the list.

1. Orbital Therapeutics, $270M, Biotech: Biotech has been booming lately, with Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Orbital Therapeutics leading the way this week. The startup has closed his $270 million Series A led by Arch Venture Partners. Orbital aims to expand RNA-based medicines, including next-generation vaccines, immunomodulation, and protein replacement across a range of diseases. According to Crunchbase, it’s the company’s first outside funding since it was founded last year. Orbital isn’t the last biotech company on this week’s list.

2. Ohmium International, $250M, Energy: Green hydrogen is definitely an investor concern. Green hydrogen company Ohmium International has raised another $250 million in Series C funding led by TPG Rise Climate. Ohmium designs and manufactures the proton exchange membrane electrolyser systems required for the production of hydrogen. This device is used to split water by electrolysis to produce hydrogen. Ohmium’s electrolysers use renewable energy to produce “green hydrogen” without emitting greenhouse gases. Ohmium has raised his $45 million Series B in April 2022, led by Fenice Investment Group.

3. Vedanta Biosciences, $107M, Biotech: Another big round for biotech companies. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Vedanta Biosciences has raised his $106.5 million jointly with new investors AXA IM Alts and AMR Action Fund. The biotech start-up aims to develop an oral treatment for his Clostridioides difficile infection, the bacterium that causes diarrhea and colitis. According to the company, CDI causes about 500,000 infections in the United States each year and is associated with up to 45,000 deaths annually. The company, founded in 2010, has raised more than $430 million from him, according to Crunchbase.

4. (Tie) Pinecone, $100 million, database: Generative AI applications have grabbed most of the funding headlines lately, but some aspects of the infrastructure underlying those applications are starting to attract investor attention. New York-based vector database startup Pinecone is the latest company, which has raised a $100 million Series B at its $750 million valuation led by Andreessen Horowitz. The company’s vector database allows engineers to work with data generated by large language models and other of his AI-related models. Vector databases are easily searchable and provide the flexibility engineers need when creating commercial AI applications. Generative AI startups such as Character.ai, Adept AI, and Anthropic are all the rage, but we also see investment in the underlying pipes needed to build these applications. Last week, New Jersey-based CoreWeave finalized his $221 million investment led by Magnetar Capital. A specialized cloud provider provides flexible cloud infrastructure with better processing needed to train his LLM for AI. Founded in 2019, Pinecone has now raised $138 million, according to Crunchbase data.

4. (Tie) Ursa Major, $100M, Aerospace: Not much is known about the round, but TechCrunch reported that Berthoud, Colorado-based Ursa Major has completed a $100 million investment. BlackRock and Space Capital participated in the funding. The company is developing next-generation rocket engines with significantly more power. Ursa Major was looking to secure funding at his $400 million pre-money valuation, according to reports. Founded in 2015, the company has raised $234 million per Crunchbase.

6. Replit, $97M, developer tools: San Francisco-based Replit, creator of generative AI for software development platform Ghostwriter, has closed a $97.4 million funding round at a $1.16 billion post-money valuation led by Andreessen Horowitz. The company was founded in 2016 and has raised over $200 million, according to Crunchbase data.

7. Super.com, $85M, Fintech: San Francisco-based Super.com, which offers consumers access to savings and credit, has raised $85 million in Series C funding led by Inovia Capital. With the new cash launched in 2016, Super.com’s total raised exceeds $150 million per company.

8. Foresight Diagnostics, $59M, Biotech: Aurora, Colorado-based cancer detection test developer Foresight Diagnostics has raised $58.8 million in Series B funding led by Foresite Capital. The 2020-founded company has raised more than $70 million from him, according to Crunchbase.

9. Antiva Biosciences, $53 million, biotech: South San Francisco-based Antiva Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for precancerous lesions caused by human papillomavirus infection, has closed a $53 million Series E led by MPM-BioImpact Capital. The company was founded in 2012 and has raised $140 million, according to Crunchbase.

Ten. Evommune, $50M, Biotech: Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Evommune, a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering new ways to treat inflammatory diseases, is backed by new investors Arix Bioscience and current investors EQT Life Sciences and Completed $50 million Series B co-led by Symbiosis. Founded in 2020, the company has raised nearly $146 million, according to Crunchbase.

big global deals

There may have been some big US rounds, but the biggest funding went to a South Korean company.

• Seoul-based autonomous mobility company 42dot has raised an enterprise round worth approximately $787 million.

methodology

We tracked the largest rounds announced in the Crunchbase database raised by US-based companies over a seven-day period from April 22nd to 28th. Most announced rounds will appear in our database, but some rounds may experience a slight lag. Will report later in the week.

Illustrated by Dom Guzman