2022 has been an exciting year for venture capital, still riding the near-record funding amounts that powered 2020 and 2021, and further cementing some of the most attractive startups' place in history of getting to unicorn and decacorn levels, despite the bumpy economy post-covid. See below for some of our favorite startups-turned-serious enterprises still receiving later stage investments from some of the top venture capital investors in the world.
Changpeng Zhao and Yi He initially created Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, in 2017. The firm is headquartered in the country of Malta and has operations in numerous other countries worldwide. Binance is well-known for its quick transaction processing and inexpensive trading costs, which have helped it become one of the world's largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. Binance, in addition to allowing the purchase and sale of various cryptocurrencies, provides a variety of other services, such as margin trading, spot trading, and futures trading. Binance Coin (BNB), the company's own cryptocurrency, is also available for trading on the exchange and is used to pay platform fees.
Binance has previously raised a considerable amount of capital—a total of $454 million in investment so far, according to publicly accessible statistics—including a $60 million Series A fundraising round in 2017 and a $40 million Series B funding round in 2018. The company is historically secretive with their funding and financials; however, they hold $76 billion in purchasing power from deposits and have also raised another nine-figure round in 2022, continuing their unicorn status despite the cryptocurrency downturn. The company also made money by selling Binance Coin (BNB), which was first released in 2017 through an initial coin offering (ICO). Binance is one of the biggest and most successful cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It has used its money to grow its business and create new products and services.
Tecton is an artificial intelligence (AI) platform for developing and deploying machine learning (ML) models. The goal of the platform is to make it easier to build, deploy, and manage machine learning models, so that data scientists and developers can focus on making high-quality models instead of worrying about the infrastructure. The Tecton platform has tools for data preparation, feature engineering, model training, and model deployment, as well as interfaces with popular machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch. The company wants to make it easier for businesses to use ML and make money from it by giving them a platform that makes building and deploying ML models easier.
Kleiner Perkins led a Series C round that brought $100 million in investor capital to Tecton. This brings the total amount of money the company has raised to $160 million. The funds will be utilized to expand Tecton's technical and sales staff. Tecton's technology automates feature construction using real-time data sources, monitors data pipelines, and saves feature values across AI system training and deployment contexts. It also hosts Feast, an open-source feature-shop platform.
A Ycombinator firm dubbed "the Stripe of transportation,” AtoB is a transportation firm that offers airport transfers as well as private automobile hiring. The firm has a global presence, with offices in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain. AtoB offers airport transfer services to and from a number of airports. They also rent out sedans, minivans, and minibuses, among other vehicles. In addition to transportation, AtoB offers a number of other travel-related services, such as booking hotels and going on tours. The company's goal is to help its customers get where they need to go in a quick and reliable way, by offering a fintech solution to its providers.
AtoB has secured $155 million in Series B fundraising, which includes both equity and debt, and CAC financing to help small fleet firms grow their operations. The Series B investment was led by Elad Gil and General Catalyst, with current investors Collaborative Fund, Contrary Capital, XYZ Venture Capital, and Leadout Capital also participating. The total debt and equity raised by AtoB now stands at $230 million. The funds will be utilized to assist with new product development, small business working capital, and international expansion.
Muck Rack is a media intelligence platform that provides journalists, public relations professionals, and marketers with tools and services. A searchable database of journalists and media outlets is available, as are tools for tracking media coverage, assessing media performance, and discovering trends and patterns in media coverage. Muck Rack also provides a job board, a directory of public relations firms, and a newsroom management tool for journalists. The company's goal is to help its users get in touch with the media, build relationships with journalists, track and analyze media coverage, and connect with each other. Muck Rack, based in New York City, was started in 2010.
Susquehanna Growth Equity has made a $180 million Series A minority investment in Muck Rack (SGE). This is MuckRack’s first institutional capital investment since its inception in 2009. Muck Rack has had a profitable development in recent years, with a 75% year-over-year sales increase in 2021 and more than 300% revenue growth between 2018 and 2021. Muck Rack will remain founder-controlled and has doubled its employment over the last three years, presently employing more than 200 people.
VTS is a commercial real estate technology business that provides a platform for commercial property management and leasing. The company's platform can manage portfolios, handle leases, and allow tenants to talk to each other. VTS assists its customers in streamlining their leasing procedures, improving property performance, and strengthening their tenant relationships. The firm was established in 2011 and is based in New York City.
VTS has announced a $300 million Series F fundraising round, increasing the company's worth to $3.3 billion. The financing was led by private equity company Blackstone, with previous investors Fifth Wall, Greenhill, and Brookfield participating. With the extra money, the company will improve its platform and grow its presence in the commercial real estate market. VTS has received $488 million in financing as of December 2022.
True Food Kitchen is a restaurant franchise launched in 2008 by Dr. Andrew Weil, a physician and integrative medicine advocate, and restaurateur Sam Fox. The firm runs a restaurant franchise that serves health-conscious, seasonal food influenced by integrative medicine ideas. True Food Kitchen's menu offers vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and paleo alternatives to accommodate a variety of dietary requirements. The firm prioritizes sustainability and obtains many of its components from local farmers and vendors.
True Food Kitchen reported in October 2021 that it had secured more than $100 million in a Series E fundraising round. Almanac Investments led the investment round, with participation from other investors such as PWP Growth Equity and Concept Resource Group. True Food Kitchen plans to use the extra money to grow, with a focus on expanding in areas where it already has a presence and entering new ones. Currently, the firm runs 36 locations in 13 states around the United States.
True Food Kitchen has received more than $100 million in a fundraising round headed by new investors HumanCo and Manna Tree, with current investor Centerbridge Partners joining in. This is the largest investment in the 42-unit restaurant chain since its inception in 2008 by Dr. Andrew Weil. The funds will be utilized to grow True Meals Kitchen's reach, create smaller formats, and provide food to more people around the country.
Atmosphere is a media technology business that develops and distributes interactive, immersive entertainment. The platform comprises tools for producing, distributing, and selling interactive content, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences. A variety of customers, including companies, agencies, and content creators, utilize Atmosphere's platform to develop and distribute immersive content to businesses without the use of sound, and develops and distributes ad-supported, free licensed video channels for public spaces such as pubs, restaurants, and physicians' offices.
In the first quarter of 2022, Atmosphere raised $100 million in a fundraising round. Series C capital totaled $80 million, with loan funding totaling $20 million. The investment was headed by Sageview Capital, with participation from Valor Equity Partners and S3 Ventures. Valor Equity Partners, which has invested in Elon Musk's SpaceX, previously led Atmosphere's Series B investment of $25 million in April 2021. The funds will be utilized to build Atmosphere's company and extend its operations. So far, the firm has raised a total of $125 million investment.
Galaxy Space is a corporation that is building a network of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to give worldwide broadband internet connectivity. The Chinese-based startup was launched in 2015. Galaxy Space reported in April 2021 that it had secured $7.6 billion in a Series B fundraising round, one of the largest ever for a space firm. The China Development Bank led the fundraising round, which included participation from ICBC, China Securities, and the Bank of China. Galaxy Space plans to use the extra money to speed up the building of its satellite network and expand its reach around the world. The business plans to launch its first satellites in 2024 in order to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet connections to underserved and distant places throughout the world.
In September 2022, GalaxySpace, a satellite internet company, raised about $1.59 billion in a huge Series D round. This made it one of the biggest aerospace companies in the world.
Venture Capital deals handpicked by our team to have longevity, strong fundamentals, an intelligent executive team, and growth-oriented investors. If you're looking at the future of each respective industries, these are the companies to pay attention to. If you're a functional expert looking to get involved with mature startups like the ones listed below, get in touch to see if you're a fit to join our Flywheel.
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