Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: Cofounder and CEO Bob Moore
Most recent valuation: $120 million as of August 2020
Startup veteran Bob Moore cofounded Crossbeam after selling his first startups, RJ Metrics and spinout Stitch. Crossbeam is a software-as-a-service platform that facilitates communication and information sharing between companies for B2B partnerships. The startup raised $25 million in August 2020 and has raised $40.8 million to date.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: Cofounders Susan Dillon and Karyn O-Neil
Most recent valuation: $126 million as of Jan 5
Philadelphia biotechnology startup Aro Biotherapeutics raised $88 million in its first venture capital round back in January to double its employee count. The company has a proprietary centyrin technology platform, which delivers RNA drugs to intracellular gene targets. Aro Biotherapeutics previously had lab space in the Cambridge Innovation Center in University City, but it has since moved to The Curtis at 6th and Walnut streets in Philadelphia.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: CEO Dr. Phil Johnson
Most recent valuation: $126 million as of May 18
One of several high-value University of Pennsylvania spinouts, Interius Biotherapeutics raised $76 million in a private stock sale in May. Co-founded by biotechnology veteran Bruce Peacock and Penn Medicine oncologist and hematologist Dr. Saar Gill, the gene therapy startup focuses on cancer immunotherapies. Gill had his hands in founding Carisma Therapeutics as well. Interius’ investors include Boston-based Cormorant Asset Management and Fairmount Funds in Philadelphia. Other investors included Bain Capital Life Sciences, Pfizer Ventures, RA Capital Management, Longwood Fund, Logos Capital, Osage University Partners and Quan Capital.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: CEO Martin Koch
Most recent valuation: $126.2 million as of April 6
Tech startup Sapient Industries develops a plug load management and analytics system that uses machine learning to modernize a building’s electrical infrastructure. The startup optimizes floor space, identifies unused equipment and automates energy consumption to reduce environmental impact. Sapient raised a $20 million Series A in March.
Headquarters: King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Leadership: Co-CEOs Dr. David Krause and Cynthia Kilroy
Most recent valuation: $126.4 million as of April 22
Personalized mental health company Genomind has secured a number of investments since its founding in 2009. Its most recent Series D round raised $4.9 million from investors including Claritas Capital and the Dozoretz Trust. Genomind offers a product called “Mental Health Map,” a genetic test for consumers to give better insight to the biology of their mental health, such as genetic traits and predispositions. The startup recently teamed up with NBA All-Star Kevin Love to promote Mental Health Map. Its flagship product, Genomind PGx, is a pharmacogenetic testing service that helps physicians with patients’ mental health treatment.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: President and CEO Steven Kelly
Most recent valuation: $200 million as of March 1
Another University of Pennsylvania spinout, Carisma Therapeutics, closed a $59 million investment round in March, and it has raised just under $121 million to date. The startup dosed its first patient with its CT-0508 experimental cancer immunotherapy in March, and two other therapies are in the discovery and preclinical phases. Carisma has taken lab space in the Cambridge Innovation Center in University City.
Headquarters: Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
Leadership: CEO Melissa Sherman
Most recent valuation: $210 million as of July 13
Mobilion snagged $60 million in a private stock sale in July from investors aMoon, Agilent Technologies, IP Group, Hostplus and Cultivation Capital. The company develops instruments that improve biomarker — molecules found in the body that can help doctors identify diseases — discovery and accelerate drug development. Mobilion’s product, Mobie, commercially launched earlier this year.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: CEO David McCullough
Most recent valuation: $214.2 million as of September 2020
Philadelphia-based Enterin has been consistently raising money over the last several years. In early October, Enterin raised $5.7 million to continue growing the company. Enterin has raised about $50 million so far. The startup is the first company to develop a drug that fixes the dysfunctional gut-brain axis in patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: CEO Rick Nucci
Most recent valuation: $230 million as of April 2020
Guru raised a $30 million Series C in April 2020 from a slate of investors including Bay Area-based firm Accel, Slack’s VC fund, Emergence Capital, Thrive Capital, FirstMark Capital and Michael Dell’s MSD Capital. The startup runs an AI-based knowledge management software platform that integrates into apps like Slack and the Microsoft suite to help companies keep internal information up-to-date. The startup has raised about $68 million since its launch in 2013.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: CEO John Furey
Most recent valuation: $237 million as of July 2020
Imvax was among the Philadelphia health care companies to receive big venture capital dollars in 2020. The startup, which raised $112 million in July 2020, develops therapies for rare cancers. Imvax in February also received a $2 million grant from the state to support the construction of a cell processing center at its headquarters in The Curtis at 6th and Walnut streets in Philadelphia.
Headquarters: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Leadership: Executive Chairman Munawar Ali
Most recent valuation: $267 million as of Feb 10
Transparent Health Marketplace is quite literal with its name. The health care tech startup is focused on improving worker’s compensation transactions, connecting payors and providers on its platform. Transparent Health raised an oversubscribed $30 million Series C round in April. Transparent Health has raised about $57 million since it was founded in 2015.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: President and CEO Usman “Oz” Azam
Most recent valuation: $400 million as of October 2019
Tmunity, another University of Pennsylvania spinout, develops T-cell medicines for solid tumor patients, using therapies that sample T-cells from the blood, modify them to boost their ability to recognize and destroy tumors and return the cells to the patient. The startup last raised a $75 million Series B in October 2019. Tmunity laid off a portion of its 50-member staff when it halted clinical testing of its prostate cancer therapy candidate after two patients in the study died.
Headquarters: Wilmington, Delaware
Leadership: Co-founder and CEO Zhenhai Gao
Most recent valuation: $450 million as of May 19
Nikang Therapeutics raised one of the largest venture capital rounds so far this year. Nikang raised $200 million in May in an oversubscribed Series C round. The startup, led by Zhehai Gao, a former senior director of cancer biology at Incyte Corp., is developing small molecule oncology medicines using structure-based drug design.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: Jennifer Goldsmith and Dan Goldsmith
Most recent valuation: $550 million as of June 30
Tendo Systems is a fairly new company, having launched in 2020, but it’s already raised $70 million. The digital health startup is backed by investors like New York venture capital firm Lux Capital and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based General Catalyst. Formed by sibling tech industry veterans Jennifer Goldsmith and Dan Goldsmith along with Jefferson Health, Tendo develops software “that will seamlessly connect patients, clinicians, and caregivers throughout the care cycle,” the company wrote.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: CEO Andrew Kress
Most recent valuation: $720 million as of June 28
An IPO could be the next step for Philadelphia-based HealthVerity, which most recently raised $100 million in a Series D round this summer. HealthVerity's Identity, Privacy, Governance and Exchange, or IPGE, platform, has been in high demand since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company's cloud-based SaaS platform is used by pharmaceutical companies, insurance providers and analytics companies, specializing in providing clients with data that is “de-identified” so it won’t compromise patient privacy.
Headquarters: Paoli, Pennsylvania
Leadership: Founder and CEO Gabe Weinberg
Most recent valuation: $839 million as of June 9
Privacy-focused internet browser company DuckDuckGo keeps its cards close to its chest. The elusive tech company quietly raised more than $100 million from investors like Omers Ventures, Thrive, GP Bullhound, Impact America Fund, WhatsApp Founder Brian Acton and inventor of the World Wide Web (yes, really) Tim Berners-Lee. DuckDuckGo saw a 55% increase in search traffic last year, and it’s the No. 2 search engine on mobile in the United States, Canada, Australia and The Netherlands.
Headquarters: Ambler, Pennsylvania
Leadership: CEO Mahe Bayireddi
Most recent valuation: $1.43 billion as of April 7
Human resources tech startup Phenom raised a $100 million Series D round in April. Business grew about 40% between 2020 and the Series D, Bayireddi said, and the company planned to double its 200-person team at its Ambler headquarters by the end of 2022. Phenom, which counts about 50 Fortune 500 companies among its clients, has now raised $161 million in venture capital since it was founded in 2010.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: CEO Tristan Handy
Most recent valuation: $1.5 billion as of June 30
Dbt Labs’ valuation ballooned to $1.5 billion after the software firm raised a $150 million Series C round in June from investors Altimeter Capital, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. The firm formerly known as Fishtown Analytics previously raised a $29.5 million Series B round in November 2020 and a $12.9 million Series A in April 2020. The startup has been using its latest cash raise to build on dbt, its fast-growing open source analytics tool that lets clients input their own raw data to turn it into clean data insights.
Headquarters: Delanco, New Jersey
Leadership: Founder and CEO Abhi Ramesh
Most recent valuation: $2 billion as of Sept. 14
”Ugly produce” vendor Misfits Market hit a $2 billion valuation after raising a $225 million Series C-1 round in September. Founded in 2018, the startup has grown from offering produce like potatoes and apples in a subscription box to adding new options like chicken, steak and salmon to its slate of products. Ramesh said earlier this year that order volume in 2021 was more than double the order volume during the same period in 2020.
Headquarters: Philadelphia
Leadership: Co-founders Rafael Ilishayev and Yakir Gola
Most recent valuation: $15 billion as of July 30
Gopuff has been growing at a rapid pace in the last 24 months. The delivery startup raised more than $2 billion since the start of 2021 to fuel its growth, including acquisitions of Kentucky-based spirits, wine and beer chain Liquor Barn, United Kingdom-based delivery platform Fancy and European delivery platform Dija. The company has also started opening retail stores in Texas and Florida.
Greater Philadelphia startups have been raking in cash over the last two years, and they have the valuations to prove it.
Philadelphia-area companies have already raised a record amount of venture capital in 2021 with a total of $5.2 billion in funding as of Sept. 30, according to the latest Pitchbook-NVCA Venture Monitor report. Local startups snagged $1.8 billion across 91 deals in the third quarter alone.
Philadelphia delivery startup Gopuff remains a VC juggernaut, raising another $1 billion in the third quarter, and two more unicorns have emerged in the region this year: Misfits Market and dbt Labs. Massive funding rounds catapulted the valuations for both companies beyond the $1 billion threshold.
We put together a list of the 20 highest-valued startups in the Philadelphia area based on valuations within the last two years provided by venture capital analytics firm PitchBook as of Oct. 19. While consumer-facing startups have snagged the bulk of the capital from investors, most of the highest-valued startups in Greater Philadelphia are health care and life sciences companies with a few enterprise technology companies in the mix.
Multiple startups on the list are biotechnology spinouts from the University of Pennsylvania, and several were started by serial entrepreneurs. Of the 20 startups we outline here, three are helmed by women.
Scroll through the gallery above for a more detailed look at the highest-valued startups in Greater Philadelphia.
1. Gopuff - Most recent valuation: $15 billion as of July 30
2. Misfits Market - Most recent valuation: $2 billion as of Sept. 14
3. dbt Labs - Most recent valuation: $1.5 billion as of June 30
4. Phenom - Most recent valuation: $1.43 billion as of April 7
5. DuckDuckGo - Most recent valuation: $839 million as of June 9
6. HealthVerity - Most recent valuation: $720 million as of June 28
7. Tendo Systems- Most recent valuation: $550 million as of June 30
8. NiKang Therapeutics - Most recent valuation: $450 million as of May 19
9. Tmunity - Most recent valuation: $400 million as of October 2019
10. Transparent Health Marketplace - Most recent valuation: $267 million as of Feb 10
11. Imvax - Most recent valuation: $237 million as of July 2020
12. Guru - Most recent valuation: $230 million as of April 2020
13. Enterin - Most recent valuation: $214.2 million as of September 2020
14. Mobilion Systems - Most recent valuation: $210 million as of July 13
15. Carisma Therapeutics - Most recent valuation: $200 million as of March 1
16. Genomind - Most recent valuation: $126.4 million as of April 22
17. Sapient Industries - Most recent valuation: $126.2 million as of April 6
18. (tie) Interius BioTherapeutics - Most recent valuation: $126 million as of May 18
18. (tie) Aro Biotherapeutics - Most recent valuation: $126 million as of Jan 5
20. Crossbeam - Most recent valuation: $120 million as of August 2020
See something we missed? Shoot a note to krose@bizjournals.com.
