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Funding For Wildfire-Related Startups Spreads
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By Marc Vartabedian, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Could Silicon Valley offer a solution to the worsening wildfire crisis across the West? Last week, two startups that are developing technology that could do just that tapped investors for capital.
Earth Force Technologies, a San Francisco-based company that offers a workflow-management platform for forest thinning and vegetation management projects, raised an $8.6 million seed round led by Alley Robotics Ventures, with participation by Bold Capital Partners and Third Sphere.
The pre-revenue startup has about a dozen employees and has put on demonstrations of its technology for private landowners, founder and Chief Executive Justin Dawe said. He is hoping to put on demonstrations for public agencies in the future, he said.
Mr. Dawe said the capital raise is another example of how investors are eager to back wildfire-related startups despite the down market.
Another company, Buzz Solutions, said last week that it raised a $3.3 million funding round led by GoPoint Ventures with participation from MaC Venture Capital. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup’s tech analyzes drone and helicopter imagery to spot power-line damage and overgrown vegetation. Its artificial intelligence technology can alert utilities to risky grid-related failures, including high energy events and failures of components, which can lead to sparking.
The company has a revenue-generating contract with a utility in California and contracts with utilities outside of California, said Buzz Solutions co-founder and CEO Kaitlyn Albertoli.
And now on to the news...
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Avalon BioVentures managing partners, from left to right, Sergio Duron, Jay Lichter, Tighe Reardon and Sanford Madigan. PHOTO: AVALON BIOVENTURES
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Biotech venture fund. Biotechnology investors from Avalon Ventures have formed Avalon BioVentures and raised $135 million for the new firm’s first fund, WSJ Pro’s Brian Gormley reports.
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Avalon Ventures formed in 1983 and raised about $750 million through 11 funds. Over the years, Avalon Ventures has backed tech companies such as database-as-a-service provider Cloudant Inc., acquired by International Business Machines Corp. in 2014, and biotechs like Synthorx Inc., which went public in 2018 and was purchased for $2.5 billion by drugmaker Sanofi SA in 2020.
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In recent years, Avalon’s biotech investors have seen several companies go public or be acquired, as the life-sciences sector overall boomed. They include biotechs such as Calporta Therapeutics Inc., acquired by drugmaker Merck & Co. in 2019, and Janux Therapeutics Inc., which went public in 2021.
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That run prompted the biotech team to split off into a separate business, said Jay Lichter, a managing partner of La Jolla, Calif.-based Avalon BioVentures.
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The percentage-point increase Federal Reserve officials are signaling they will raise the benchmark interest rate at their meeting next week, though elevated wage pressures might lead them to continue lifting it to higher levels than investors currently expect, WSJ reports.
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Theranos Ex-President Sunny Balwani to Be Sentenced Wednesday
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Theranos Inc.’s former No. 2 executive could face an unusual white-collar criminal punishment: the possibility of being sentenced to a longer prison term than his boss, who was at the center of the fraud at her company, some criminal defense attorneys said, The Wall Street Journal reports. Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani faces sentencing in federal court Wednesday after being convicted of 12 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy. He denied all the charges, and his lawyers are asking for probation. Mr. Balwani’s former business partner and ex-girlfriend, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, was sentenced last month to 11¼ years for four counts of criminal fraud tied to her now defunct blood-testing
startup.
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Stablecoin Firm Circle Ends SPAC Deal
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Circle Internet Financial, the company that operates the USD Coin stablecoin, is ending its attempt to go public through a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, WSJ reports. Circle still plans to pursue a public stock offering, it said. Circle and Concord Acquisition, a so-called blank-check company, had a deadline of Dec. 10 to close their deal to go public through a SPAC. The investment firm Atlas Merchant Capital raised $276 million for Concord Acquisition’s December 2020 initial public offering. Circle issues and maintains USD Coin, which has become the second-largest stablecoin, with a current circulating value of $43.3 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
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Funds
One of Pennsylvania’s largest state pension systems is considering a slower private-equity commitment pace next year at the urging of certain board members, including State Treasurer Stacy Garrity. Ms. Garrity, a Republican and a member of the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System’s board of trustees, called for allocating $700 million to $800 million for new private-equity commitments next year, during a public meeting Monday of the system’s investment committee. Read the full article here.
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New York-based Runway, an applied AI research startup, has raised $50 million in a Series C funding round led by Felicis, a new investor, with participation from existing investors Amplify Partners, Coatue, Compound and Lux Capital, the company said. Runway, which counts companies like CBS, New Balance and Harbor Picture Co. as customers, develops AI models for image generation.
Vaxxas, a biotechnology company commercializing a new vaccine platform, said it has completed a $23 million financing round. The round was led by existing investors OneVentures and UniQuest Pty Ltd. New investors include members of the Vaxxas board, management team and individuals, Vaxxas said. Vaxxas said the financing will be used to advance its clinical programs, including the company’s needle-free Covid-19 vaccine candidate.
Archive, a San Francisco-based software startup developing a resale operating system for brands, raised a $15 million Series A fundraise. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Fernbrook Capital, G9 Ventures and others. The round brings Archive’s total funding to over $24 million. Alex Taussig, a partner at Lightspeed, will join the company’s board.
Carputty, an Atlanta-based fintech company modernizing both auto financing and ownership, raised a $12.3 million Series A funding round. This raise, co-led by Fontinalis Partners and TTV Capital, also included Porsche Ventures, Grand Ventures and Kickstart Fund.
Video-search startup Twelve Labs has closed a $12 million seed extension round, led by Radical Ventures, with participation from existing investors, including Index Ventures, and new investors WndrCo and Spring Ventures, the company said. As part of the deal, Radical Ventures partner Lukas Biewald will join the San Francisco-based startup’s board of directors, it said.
Operative Intelligence, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based data startup, has raised $3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Bonfire Ventures with additional participation from Wonder Ventures. The funds will be used to expand the company’s team and scale the three-year-old startup’s customer intelligence product capabilities for enterprise customers, the company said.
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PHOTO: JOSH EDELSON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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Investors cool on 'anti-sexy' esports (Axios)
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Black startups get just a third of the venture capital raised by peers (Bloomberg)
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‘Better Venture’ authors on why VC has failed to reinvent itself (TechCrunch)
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