Jeffrey Katzenberg’s VC Firm Is Raising a New $450M Fund

This week in “Raises”: A tech company that creates exclusive travel experiences featuring the likes of Justin Bieber and Duran Duran landed a big Series C round. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s venture capital firm is raising $450 million for its second fund.

Venture Capital

Pollen, a startup that curates travel experiences featuring entertainers like Justin Bieber and Duran Duran, raised $150 million in Series C funding. The startup’s investors include Kindred, Lansdowne Partners, Northzone, Sienna Capital, Backed and Molton Ventures.

Carlsmed, a medical tech company specializing in spinal surgery, raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by B Capital Group.

Climate tech startup Enervee raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by Kerogen Capital and JPMorgan.

Energy drink startup A SHOC Energy raised a $29 million Series B funding round led by prominent athletes including Aaron Judge, Michael Strahan, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, among others.

Playable Worlds, an online game developer, raised $25 million in Series B funding led by Kakao Games Corp.

Advertising platform tvScientific raised a $20 million Series A funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners.

Music tech startup Stem raised $20 million in new funding led by QED Investors. Block, the Jack Dorsey-led fintech company formerly known as Square, also participated.

Trust, a digital adtech startup founded by Snap alums, raised $5 million in funding from Sapphire Sport and former Venmo executive Michael Vaughan.

Web3 banking startup MetaLend raised $5 million in seed funding led by Pantera Capital.

Vyng, an Android app that lets users earn Bitcoin when making phone calls, raised $5 million in funding from March Capital Partners, Newbound Venture Capital, Alpha Edison and Omidyar Network.

NFT startup Afterparty raised a $4 million funding round from investors including Paris Hilton, Jason Calacanis, Blockchange, Acrew Capital and TenOneTen Ventures.

Soundful, an AI-powered music creation platform, raised $3.8 million in seed funding from individual investors affiliated with Microsoft, Disney and Universal Music Group, among other companies.

Creator economy startup Superjoi raised a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round from investors including Ascension Ventures, QED Investors, Systema VC, Tomahawk and Modern Venture Partners.

Music NFT platform SoundMint raised a $1.7 million seed round led by Animoca Brands.

Digital content monetization startup Ink raised a $1.5 million pre-seed funding round from investors including Mark Cuban and Sound Ventures.

Direct-to-consumer golf club company Robin Golf raised a $1.5 million seed round led by Pentland Brands.

Funds

WndrCo, the venture capital firm founded by former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, is looking to raise $450 million for its second fund, according to an SEC filing.

Cultivate Next, a new venture fund launched by fast food chain Chipotle, raised $50 million to fund early-stage food tech startups.

Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).