Biotech Leads The Way As Emalex And HI-Bio See Large Rounds

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.

Even as venture capital funding has declined this year, biotech companies have been able to raise some big rounds — this week was no exception. Two of the top three rounds were raised by biotech startups, and other very traditional sectors including data integration and cyber saw big raises as investors turned to some old favorites.

1. Emalex Biosciences, $250M, biotech: Biotech was big this week, and no bigger than the $250 million Series D raise biotech startup Emalex Biosciences locked up. Emalex was started in 2018 by life science incubator Paragon Biosciences to create treatments for the central nervous system. Chicago-based Emalex has since focused on Tourette syndrome and Willis-Ekbom disease. The startup has a drug in a Phase 3 clinical trial for Tourette syndrome — the last stretch before it can be commercialized and marketed to the public. The new round was led by Bain Capital. In total Emalex has raised $285 million, according to Crunchbase.

2. Alation, $123M, data integration: Data is king, and Redwood City, California-based Alation raised big this week to prove it. The enterprise data intelligence startup raised a $123 million Series E led by Thoma Bravo, Sanabil Investments and Costanoa Ventures at a valuation of more than $1.7 billion. Alation offers everything from data search to analytics, and recently surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Founded in 2012, Alation says it has raised $340 million.

3. Human Immunology Biosciences,$120M, biotech: San Francisco-based Human Immunology Biosciences (HI-Bio) emerged from stealth this week and announced it closed a $120 million round. The clinical-stage biotech company was developed by Monograph Capital and ARCH Venture Partners, and is looking to fight autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The startup is looking to target cells such as plasma and mast cells that make up the immune system. Per Crunchbase data, more than $2 billion has been pumped into drug startups tackling the immune system in 2022 alone. The majority of these companies, including Rheos Medicines and Mast Therapeutics, are creating targeted therapies.

4. ColdQuanta, $110M, quantum: Everybody is excited about quantum computing. That includes Boulder, Colorado-based ColdQuanta, which closed a $110 million Series B led by LCP Quantum. Founded in 2007, the company is looking to commercialize its product portfolio which includes quantum algorithms and applications, atomic clocks, sensors and components. Quantum technology and computing is a level of computation much faster and at a level superior to modern computers since it can perform many calculations simultaniously. ColdQuanta has raised nearly $185 million, according to Crunchbase data.

5. Apiiro, $100M, cybersecurity: It’s been an interesting few weeks for Apiiro. In September, Globes reported that Palo Alto Networks was interested in buying the company for around $550 million. Then two weeks ago, the Jewish Business News reported the company would look for funding after talks broke down. Well, Apiiro got that funding. The New York-based application security provider raised a $100 million Series B led by General Catalyst.  Apiiro now will look to double down on its approach to cloud-native application security. The startup provides developers and security engineers complete visibility into code bases. Founded in 2019, the company has raised $135 million, per Crunchbase.

6. Project44, $80M, logistics: Chicago-based project44 closed an $80 million round led by Generation Investment Management and A.P. Moller Holding that values the company at $2.7 billion. The company has raised $897.5 million in total since it was started in 2014, per Crunchbase data.

7. AMP Robotics, $91M, robotics: Denver-based AMP Robotics raised a $91 million Series C financing led by Congruent Ventures and Wellington Management. Founded in 2014, the company, which develops robotics solutions for the recycling industry, has raised nearly $170 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Arta Finance, $90M, finance: Mountain View, California-based Arta Finance locked up $90 million while in stealth mode from the likes of Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, Coatue and more than 140 tech and finance entrepreneurs. The company will offer access to the alternative asset markets for accredited investors.

9. Amagi Media Labs, $82M, media: New York-based media tech company Amagi Media Labs raised $82 million from General Atlantic. Founded in 2008, the developer of cloud-based solutions for broadcast and connected TV, has raised $350 million, according to Crunchbase.

10. Icertis, $75M, SaaS: Bellevue, Washington-based contract management software Icertis locked up $150 million in financing — an even split of a revolving credit facility and convertible financing from Silicon Valley Bank. Founded in 2009, Icertis has raised more than $520 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

Big global deals

Emalex had the biggest raise of the week globally, but two startups outside the U.S. had the next two largest rounds.

• China-based Beijing Weilan New Energy Technology, a developer of next-generation all-solid-state batteries, closed a Series D worth approximately $209 million.
• Germany-based Volocopter, an air taxi company, locked up a $182 million Series E.

Methodology

We tracked the largest rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of Oct. 29 to Nov. 4. 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