The Bay Area's unicorn herd grew by just two in the first quarter following a dramatic slowdown in new births last year.
Both of the companies that just joined the ranks of local venture-backed startups worth $1 billion are more are developing services built around generative artificial intelligence. That's the software that can be used to create human-like text, images or software code in response to prompts or queries.
Adept AI Labs LLC became the first new Bay Area unicorn in about three months when it announced March 14 its new $350 billion Series B round, which was led by General Catalyst and Spark Capital, had given it a $1 billion valuation. The San Francisco startup is developing generative AI software that can perform a wide range of business tasks in response to commands.
About a week later, Character Technologies Inc. joined Adept in the herd, when it announced that it had raised a $150 million Series A round from Andreessen Horowitz and other investors at a $1 billion valuation. The Palo Alto company offers a chatbot that can simulate and allow users to interact with anyone from President Joe Biden to a lost relative to a fictional character.
The number of new Bay Area unicorns in the first quarter matched the low level set in the fourth quarter last year. After 36 venture-backed local companies hit the $1 billion valuation mark in last year's first quarter, the quarterly tally fell every quarter after that.
Here's more Bay Area venture and startup news at midweek:
Fundings
- Embodied Intelligence Inc. (dba Covariant), Emeryville, $75 million, Series C: Radical Ventures and Index Ventures led the round for this maker of distribution center robots. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Amplify Partners, Gates Frontier Holdings, AIX Ventures and Northgate Capital also invested.
- Mojo Vision Inc., Saratoga, $22.4 million, Series A: New Enterprise Associates and Khosla Ventures led the round for this developer of micro-LED displays. Dolby Family Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Fusion Fund, Open Field Capital and Edge also participated.
- Spendflo Inc., San Francisco, $11 million, Series A: Prosus Ventures and Accel Partners led the round for this provider of a service for purchasing and managing spending on subscription software offerings.
- Ronbow Corp., Livermore, $10.5 million, Series A: Celtic House Asia Partners led the Series A round for this maker of customized bathroom, kitchen and closet cabinets. AME Cloud Ventures and Harpers Investments also invested.
- Trustle Inc., Los Altos, $6 million, Seed: Glasswing Ventures led the round for this provider of an access management software for corporate cloud-based services. Fuse Venture Partners, Correlation Ventures and Capital Technology Ventures also participated.
- Climaverse PBC (dba Ecosapiens), San Francisco, $3.5 million, Seed: Collab+Currency led the round for this company that raises money for carbon offsets through the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
- Apptile Inc., San Francisco, $2.5 million, Seed: Mankekar Family Office and Livspace co-founder Ramakant Sharma led the round for this provider of mobile app building software.
- Narrato Inc., San Francisco, $1 million, Pre-seed: AirTree Ventures led the round for this provider of content management and collaboration software.
M&A
- Jitterbit Inc. bought Zudy for an undisclosed amount. Based in Alameda, Jitterbit is a portfolio company of Audax Private Equity that offers workflow automation softwware. Legally known as Vinyl Development LLC, Massachusetts-based Zudy offers app development software for enterprises.
Funders in the news
- Theory Ventures raised $230 million for its debut fund. The Portola Valley firm was recently launched by former Redpoint Ventures partner Tomasz Tunguz.
- Andreessen Horowitz added Jason Rosenthal as an operating partner on its cryptocurrency team. Most recently Google LLC's vice president of subscription services, Rosenthal previously worked with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz — the founders of the Menlo Park venture firm — at Opsware Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp.
- NightDragon hired Dorin Baniel as a principal. Previously the vice president for value creation at Glilot Capital Partners, Baniel will also head the San Francisco venture firms's Europe, Middle East and Africa investments.
- Birda Innovation Ventures raised $200 million in new capital. The San Francisco firm focuses on investing in sustainability in Africa and other underserved markets.
