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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.
After a slow week last week, big rounds saw a good rebound with seven startups raising $100 million or more. While food delivery led the way, it also was a good week for aerospace, AI, biotech and defense.
1. Wonder, $250M, food delivery: Marc Lore’s food delivery startup Wonder can’t stay off this list. It was here in March, last November and in June 2022. It’s back this week as part of its $650 million acquisition of Grubhub, raising an additional $250 million in capital exclusively from new investors — which were not named. The deal price was a significant drop for Grubhub, which was bought by Just Eat Takeaway for $7.3 billion in 2021. Founded in 2018, Wonder has raised nearly $1.9 billion, per Crunchbase.
2. Metsera, $215M, biotech: It didn’t take Metsera long to get back on this list. It was just in April when the New York-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup emerged from stealth with $290 million in funding led by Arch Venture Partners. This week the company is back after a $215 million Series B led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners and Wellington Management. The company is exploring medicines for obesity and metabolic diseases with a collection of oral and injectable incretin, nonincretin and combination therapies.
3. Writer, $200M, artificial intelligence: San Francisco-based Writer locked up a $200 million Series C that values the enterprise-focused generative AI platform at $1.9 billion. The new valuation is a nice uptick from the $500 million the company was valued at after a $100 million round led by Iconiq Growth last year. The new Series C was co-led by Iconiq, Premji Invest and Radical Ventures. Writer’s platform is designed to help businesses use large language models to improve workflows and offers AI solutions that can execute complex enterprise operations across systems and teams. The new cash will be used for the company’s quick-start AI applications and agents for workflows in healthcare, retail and financial services. Writer continues to grow its customer base, which includes names like Accenture, L’Oreal and Uber.
4. Firefly Aerospace, $175M, aerospace: Last year, Firefly Aerospace raised a $300 million Series C. The new cash values the company at $1.5 billion pre-money. The Cedar Park, Texas-based space transportation startup is back this week after closing a $175 million Series D led by RPM Ventures at a valuation of more than $2 billion. Firefly is getting set for its inaugural Blue Ghost mission to the moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Service initiative. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $747 million, per Crunchbase.
5. Chaos Industries, $145M, defense: Defense and critical infrastructure tech startup Chaos Industries raised $145 million in a Series B led by Accel, becoming just the latest defense tech firm to see big cash from investors. The Los Angeles-based startup had previously raised a $70 million Series A led by 8VC 1 last year. Chaos specializes in advanced detection, monitoring and communication solutions for the defense and commercial sectors. The company’s Vanquish radar provides early warning and tracking capabilities against unmanned aerial systems, missiles and aircraft. Chaos is not alone in raising a large round among funding to other defense tech startups. Just in the past three months, several defense tech startups have seen significant cash roll into their coffers. In late August, defense tech startup Parry Labs, which creates digital systems for the defense industry that include mission-critical software and advanced AI, completed an $80 million round led by Capitol Meridian Partners. In mid-September, self-driving technology company Forterra closed a $75 million Series B led by Hedosophia, Moore Strategic Ventures and XYZ Venture Capital.
6. Trace Neuroscience, $101M, biotech: South San Francisco, California-based Trace Neuroscience, which is developing treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, launched with a $101 million Series A led by Third Rock Ventures.
7. Radiant Industries, $100M, energy: Radiant Industries, which develops portable nuclear microreactors, raised a $100 million Series C funding round led by DCVC. Founded in 2019, El Sungundo, California-based Radiant has raised $160 million, per the company.
8. TRex Bio, $84M, biotech: South San Francisco, California-based TRex Bio, a biotechnology company looking to decode human tissue immune biology, locked up an $84 million Series B led by Delos Capital. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $169 million, per Crunchbase.
9. Beta Bionics, $60M, biotech: Beta Bionics, a biotech developing diabetes management solutions, closed a $60 million Series E led by new investor Wellington Management. Founded in 2015, the Irvine, California-based company has raised nearly $354 million, per Crunchbase.
10. ScaleOps, $58M, cloud: New York-based ScaleOps, a cloud resource management startup, locked up a $58 million Series B led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Founded in 2022, ScaleOps says it has raised $80 million.
Big global deals
The biggest round of the week came from South America.
- Argentina-based fintech company Ualá, which provides digital banking, raised a $300 million Series E at a valuation of $2.75 billion.
Methodology
We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of Nov. 9 to Nov. 15. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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