Trends in Growth Capital Financings – May 2020

May 2020, despite the continuing virus crisis, saw considerable venture and growth capital funding events. Comparable to April, we tracked over $5 billion in new funding events during the month. GRAIL, the biotech company developing a pan-cancer screening test designed to detect cancer early, led May financings with a $390 million Series D funding. Other $100 million+ funding events in May included the following:

• Robinhood ($280 million) a provider of online/mobile stock brokerage services.
• Apeel Sciences ($250 million) a provider of edible products from natural plant extracts designed to eliminate food spoilage and reduce reliance on chemicals.
• Amwell ($194 million) a developer of a telehealth platform designed to improve patient outcomes.
• Contentsquare ($190 million) a developer of a digital experience insights optimization platform designed to help businesses understand how users are interacting.
• ASAPP ($185 million) a builder of AI-native products to solve large, complex, data-rich problems, by automating and augmenting human workflows, radically improving efficiency and effectiveness to empower people to be their best.
• Lime ($170 million) a scooter rental company.
• Marqeta ($150 million) an operator of an API payment platform designed to offer card issuing and payment processing services.
• Brex ($150 million) a provider of a corporate credit card designed to simplify the process for startups applying for credit cards.
• Rallybio ($145 million) a provider of biotechnological research and development services intended to transform the lives of patients with a devastating disease.
• Dispatch ($144 million) a developer of a web-based delivery and logistics management platform intended to optimize delivery operations and customer communication.
• Couchbase ($105 million) a developer of a cloud-based data platform designed to simplify mainframe and relational databases.
• Homeward ($105 million) a developer of a real estate management platform designed to simplify the process of purchasing homes online.
• Mindstrong ($100 million) a developer of a digital therapeutic platform intended to address personal, societal, and economic problems.
• Praxis Precision Medicines ($100 million) a developer of therapies intended for patients and families affected by complex and debilitating brain disorders.

  The hottest sectors for funding during the month were BioTech, HealthTech, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, EdTech, FinTech and Productivity Software. Key funding events in each these sectors for the month are below:

1. BioTech deals included GRAIL ($390 million), Rallybio ($145 million), Praxis Precision, Medicines ($100 million), Nautilus Biotechnology ($76 million), SQZ Biotechnologies ($65 million), HotSpot Therapeutics ($65 million), Immunomic Therapeutics ($61 million), Day One Biopharmaceuticals ($60 million), Amplyx Pharmaceuticals ($53 million), QurAlis ($42 million), Monte Rosa Therapeutics ($32 million), Octant ($30 million), GreenLight Biosciences ($17 million), Travecta Therapeutics ($15 million), Fountain Therapeutics ($6 million), Seraphina Therapeutics ($5 million).
2. HealthTech deals included Oncology Analytics ($28 million), ChromaCode ($10 million), Stellar Health ($10 million), Genetesis ($9 million), Limbix ($9 million), Braid Health ($9 million), TimeDoc ($6 million), PathologyWatch ($5 million).
3. Artificial Intelligence deals included Contentsquare ($190 million), ASAPP ($185 million), DefinedCrowd ($50 million), Covariant ($40 million), Nanit ($21 million), Deep Labs ($16 million), ThoughtTrace ($10 million), VergeSense ($9 million).
4. Cybersecurity deals included Coalition ($90 million), Synack ($52 million), Confluera ($20 million), Source Defense ($10 million), Skyflow ($7 million), Clear Skye ($5 million), Finite State ($12 million).
5. EdTech deals included GO1 ($40 million), Quizlet ($30 million), PresenceLearning ($27 million), Mos ($13 million), Emtrain ($8 million).
6. FinTech deals included Robinhood ($280 million), Brex ($150 million), Stackin’ ($12 million), Splash Financial ($12 million), Treasury Prime ($9 million), Vise ($14 million).
7. Productivity Software deals included UpKeep ($36 million), Lilt ($25 million), Bevy ($15 million), Jellyfish ($12 million), Brainbase ($8 million).