Venture funding in the Bay Area appears to be going back into a lull, but things may pick up soon after a pair big announcements from two prominent venture firms.
Just two local companies announced new funding rounds at midweek, both of them seed-stage deals. That continues a trend seen throughout the year so far of relatively few deals and most focused on earlier stage companies.
But there may be some hope on the horizon, at least for startups in particular industries. Bessemer Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz both announced this week they are setting aside big pots of money for certain startups. Bessemer is earmarking $1 billion for companies working on artificial intelligence, while Andreessen is squirreling away $500 million for what it calls "American Dynamism;" i.e., startups working on technologies or ideas that can improve the U.S.
Here's more on those deals and funds and other Bay Area startup and venture news:
Funding rounds
- Salsa Software Inc., San Francisco, $10 million, seed: Greycroft, Better Tomorrow Ventures and Definition led the round for this provider of payroll software that can be incorporated into other human resources services. Cambrian partner Rex Salisbury and Forum Ventures also participated.
- Audioshake Inc., San Francisco, $2.7 million, Seed: Indicator Ventures led the round for this provider of music production software. Precursor Ventures, Side Door Ventures, Black Squirrel Partners, AJR, Google’s Black Angel Group, peermusic, Roneil Rumburg, Steve Greenberg, and Crush Ventures also invested.
M&A
- Ōura Health Oy announced plans to acquire Proxy Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Finland-based Ōura offers a sleep and activity tracking smart ring. Based in San Francisco, Proxy was developing a digital identity management service.
- QuestionPro Inc. acquired Patient Safety Group from Smart Patients Inc. The companies didn't disclose the financial terms. Based in Austin, Texas, QuestionPro offers survey and data analysis software. Patient Safety Group helps administer care quality surveys for health care providers. Based in San Jose, Smart Patients hosts online discussion groups focused on particular diseases.
Funders in the news
- Mayfield raised nearly $1 billion total for two funds. The Menlo Park venture firm raised $580 million for its 17th flagship fund and $375 million for its third select fund.
- Bessemer Venture Partners announced plans to allocate $1 billion from the Redwood City firm's existing funds to investing in artificial intelligence startups.
- All Raise named Paige Hendrix Buckner as its CEO. Buckner had been serving as interim CEO of the San Francisco nonprofit since February, when she replaced former head Mandela SH Dixon. All Raise tracks and promotes female representation in venture capital and startups.
- Andreessen Horowitz announced plans to invest $500 million in startups dedicated to addressing a variety of problems in the U.S. or promoting the welfare of American citizens, whether through reshoring manufacturing operations, promoting home ownership or developing clean energy. Andreessen is a venture firm based in Menlo Park.
The Business Journal's Troy Wolverton contributed to this report. If you have funding or venture capital news, please let us know at svbjnews@bizjournals.com.
