After a big lull to start the year, the Bay Area's venture investment scene seems to be bouncing back.
At the end of the week, nine local startups announced they'd collectively raised $365.5 million in venture funding, with one deal creating a new $1 billion valuation company.
The latest unicorn — which also happened to raise the biggest round at the end of the week — is Character Technologies Inc. The Palo Alto startup is the latest to benefit from the enthusiasm for generative artificial intelligence technology. The company has developed chatbot software that can simulate text responses from anyone from President Joe Biden to cartoon characters.
But in a sign the venture industry is still working through some of its problems, one startup that just raised new funding had to swallow a huge cut in its valuation to get new cash. That would be Good Eggs Inc.
Before a funding round in late 2020, backers of the Oakland-based grocery delivery business valued it at $270 million, according to The Information. Before giving it $7 million in a new deal this month, investors in Good Eggs, which is headed by CEO Bentley Hall, valued it at just $15 million, according to the report.
Here are the details on those deals and more:
Fundings
- Character.ai Technologies Inc. (dba Character.AI), Palo Alto, $150 million, Series A: Andreessen Horowitz led the round for this developer of a chatbot that can impersonate actual people, living and dead, giving it a $1 billion valuation. GitHub Inc. CEO Nat Friedman, Color Health Inc. co-founder Elad Gil, SV Angel and A Capital also invested.
- Artera Inc., Los Altos, $90 million: Coatue Management, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Walden Catalyst Ventures, TIME Ventures, Breyer Capital and The Factory invested in the round for this developer of a test for prostate cancer.
- Viz.ai Inc., San Francisco, $40 million: CIBC Innovation Banking invested in this developer of software that helps to diagnose strokes and other vascular diseases and coordinate care.
- Hex Technologies Inc., San Francisco, $28 million: Sequoia Capital led the round for this provider of collaborative data analysis software. Andreessen Horowitz, Amplify Partners and Snowflake Inc. also invested.
- Workera Corp., Palo Alto, $23.5 million, Series B: Jump Capital led the round for this provider of a service that helps companies assess the skills of employees and job candidates and offer them targeted training. New Enterprise Associates, Owl Ventures, AI Fund and Sozo Ventures also participated.
- Clerk Inc., San Francisco, $15 million, Series A: Madrona Venture Group led the round for this provider of user authentication software for websites. S28 Capital, Fathom Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Mango Capital also invested.
- Vast Life Sciences Inc. (dba Pragma Bio), South San Francisco, $10 million: The Venture Collective led the round for this developer of treatments for immunological disorders. Viking Global Investors, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and CJ Investments also participated.
- Good Eggs Inc., Oakland, $7 million: Glade Brook Capital Partners invested in this grocery delivery service provider, dropping its valuation more than 90% to about $22 million.
- Appbrew Inc., San Francisco, $2 million, seed: Accel led the round for this provider of app development software for e-commerce companies.
M&A
- Wealth Enhancement Group acquired Prozan Financial Services. The companies didn't disclose the financial details of the deal. Based in Minnesota, Wealth Enhancement offers wealth management services. Prozan is a Walnut Creek-based investment advisor.
- Splashtop Inc. acquired Foxpass Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Based in Cupertino, Splashtop offers software that allows people to access their computers remotely. San Francisco-based Foxpass offers remote server and network access software.
Funders in the news
- STG Partners raised $4.2 billion for its seventh flagship fund. The Palo Alto-based private equity firm focuses on software and software-enabled tech services companies.
