Verily Raises $1B; Web3’s Mysten Labs Locks Up Huge Round

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

August was slow, but if the first full week of September is a harbinger, things may be picking up. Several U.S.-based startups saw large rounds this week, with the top nine companies on the list raising $100 million or more.

1. Verily, $1B, health care: Google and its parent, Alphabet, have been active health care investors—especially recently. This week continued that trend as Alphabet led a $1 billion investment in its former life sciences unit, Verily. Alphabet spun out what would become Verily as its own independent subsidiary in 2015. The South San Francisco-based firm—which introduced a Covid-19 testing program in 2020—has now raised more than $3.5 billion in capital, according to Crunchbase.

2. Mysten Labs, $300M, blockchain: In July, Palo Alto, California-based Web3 Layer 1 startup Aptos Labs closed a $150 million Series A led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto at a $2 billion valuation and made this list. Fast-forward to this week, and Palo Alto-based Web3 Layer 1 startup Mysten Labs closed a $300 million Series B at a more than $2 billion valuation led by FTX Ventures with Jump Crypto participating. Looks like it pays to be a Palo Alto, California-based Web3 Layer 1 company. Layer 1 system blockchain build their own blockchain—meaning it will not sit on Ethereum or another network, but be its own decentralized network. Mysten Labs has now raised $336 million, per Crunchbase data.

3. ArsenalBio, $220M, biotech: Battling cancer is big business. San Francisco-based ArsenalBio helped illustrate that with its $220 million Series B. The biotech startup specializes in cell therapy—where healthy, engineered human cells are transplanted into a patient whose body is too weak to fight disease—and is using the technique to battle a variety of cancers. The new round—the second-largest funding among cell therapy startups in 2022, per Crunchbase data—included investments by pharmaceutical company Bristol Meyers Squibb, along with biotech-focused Westlake Village BioPartners and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Founded in 2019, ArsenalBio has raised $305 million, according to Crunchbase.

4. Muck Rack, $180M, public relations: I never knew my information was worth so much. Miami-based Muck Rack, which has put together a large database of info on journalists, closed a $180 million funding round—the company’s first since being founded in 2009. With the new round, Susquehanna Growth Equity is taking a minority stake in the company. In addition to distributing media information to marketers and public relations, Muck Rack  offers other tools around media monitoring and reporting for PR pros.

5. Battle Motors, $150M, electric vehicles: New Philadelphia, Ohio-based commercial vehicle electrification startup Battle Motors raised a $150 million Series B from an unnamed “cornerstone global institutional investor.” The company, formerly Crane Carrier Co., provides electrified and natural gas trucks for the refuse and recycling markets. Battle Motors now has 750 municipal customers across the United States and Canada. Founded in 2021, the company previously closed a $120 million Series A last December.

6. VTS, $125M, real estate: New York-based real estate tech firm VTS closed a Series E of more than $125 million led by commercial real estate giant CBRE Group. The company, which started out as a leasing agent, now has a platform to help clients manage return-to-work operations after the pandemic. Founded in 2012, VTS has raised $462 million—per Crunchbase—including $150 million in debt financing in March.

7. (tied) Bitwarden, $100M, cybersecurity: Santa Barbara, California-based password manager Bitwarden announced a new $100 million growth round led by PSG. Founded in 2015, it’s the company’s first outside funding, per Crunchbase.

7. (tied) Cap Hill Brands, $100M, e-commerce: Seattle-based e-commerce aggregator Cap Hill Brands raised more than $100 million in a Series B round led by BlackRock. Founded in 2020, this is the company’s first disclosed amount of funding, according to Crunchbase.

7. (tied) True Food Kitchen, $100M, restaurant: Phoenix-based restaurant brand True Food Kitchen closed a funding round of more than $100 million, which included an investment from HumanCo.

10. Photys Therapeutics, $75M, biotech: Boston-based biotech firm Photys Therapeutics closed a $75 million Series A led by MPM Capital. It was the company’s first outside raise, per Crunchbase.

Big global deals

U.S. startups saw some big rounds, but the largest of the week went to a China-based space startup.

• Satellite internet startup GalaxySpace raised approximately $1.59 billion in a huge Series D.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of Sept. 3 to 9. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: Dom Guzman