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  • Mana has $2m committed and is looking for more! Syntetica has created a new material for fashion, Temasek backs semiconductor technology

Mana has $2m committed and is looking for more! Syntetica has created a new material for fashion, Temasek backs semiconductor technology

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Message from the author

Hello investors!

I’ve just flown to Malaysia to visit my parents who’ve retired here! I’ve gotten to enjoy all the food I’ve missed dearly while away in Paris & Boston.

I’ll be travelling to Singapore, Dublin and Boston soon, so if any of you are there, let me know if you want to grab coffee 🙂 

Additionally, as a Singaporean, it was a great honor to meet ex-PM and now Snr Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching, chairman of Temasek Holdings at the High Commission of Singapore in Malaysia. Here are some pics from that and delicious Malaysian food!

-Jules

News in VC this week

  • ICONIQ Growth raised $5.75 billion for its seventh fund, focusing on high-growth tech companies​ (Bloomberg)​.

  • Menlo Ventures and Anthropic created a $100 million fund to support AI startups​ (CNBC)​.

  • European VC firm Trill closed a new fund exceeding €90 million, targeting early-stage tech startups in Europe​ (Impact Investor)​.

The Graph

Source: Pitchbook, deelscoop

Fundraising Startup Spotlight

👉️ Mana (UK) has already raised $2M in pre-seed and is looking for convertibles before their next round!

⚡️ 1 liner about the startup:

“AI agents that help you to automate sales outreach, creating endless marketing content, and learn more effectively - all in seconds, on every device.”

🏆️ Early wins:

Mana has already gotten over 100,000 monthly active users since its founding. This high growth comes from an experienced team who’ve previously scaled products for Apple, Amazon, McKinsey and SoftBank.

The company was awarded the #1 spot on Product Launch.

Sifted (by Financial Times) named Mana as the top-15 ecommerce startups to watch!

💰️ What will funding be used for?

Bobby Tang, CEO & Co-Founder said funding will primarily be used for further product development and content marketing to grow its user base even more.

📲 Interested in investing? Reply to this email and we’ll connect you to the founders!

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Investments from the past week

Seed

Fortress Fire (USA) - $2.17m - Wildlife fire risk management
InsureTech & SaaS

AMP (Asses. Monitor. Protect) platform designed to protect homes and businesses from the devastation of wildfire. The company's platform leverages thermodynamic models and machine learning algorithms to assess wildfire ignition risk and continuously monitor properties throughout the year, enabling insurers and property owners to better understand and manage wildfire risk. The company raised $2.18 million from Compass Minerals, EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants, and the California Association of Realtors.

——

PairUp (USA) - $2.8m: Facilitating mentorship
EdTech & SaaS

Mentorship application intended to help clients facilitate growth conversations and learnings between mentor pairs and pods within their organizations. The company offers a research-backed mentorship pairing and onboarding process, a growth dashboard, and learning statistics to help track progress and learning, enabling mentorship and belonging within corporate or organizational communities. PairUp raised $2.8 million in funding led by Hillsven and HearstLab, with participation from Lofty Ventures, Honey Stone VC, Looking Glass Capital, Graham & Walker, Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures, and Garage Incubator.

——

Briefly Bio (UK) - $1.53m: Helping biotech scientists build their experiments
BioTech & SaaS

Experiment builder designed to help scientists design their experiments. The company offers intuitive NLP-powered tools, enabling researchers to collaborate and accelerate scientific breakthroughs in the biotech industry. The company raised £1.2 million in pre-seed funding in a deal led by Compound, with participation from NP-Hard Ventures, Tiny.VC, and other undisclosed investors. The funds will be used to further develop the platform and expand its capabilities.

——

Syntetica (France) - $4.52m: Tackling pollution in fashion
CleanTech & Fashion

Nylon recycling company intended to solve the pollution problem in the fashion industry. The company specializes in chemical depolymerization processes using green chemistry to close the loop on synthetic textiles, enabling clients to use recycled nylon textile waste. Syntetica raised €4.2 million in a deal led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Etam, Better Angle, and eight other investors. The funds will be used to enhance the team's expertise with additional technical talent and begin producing the first fully recycled nylon materials for fashion and automotive clients, aiming to reach a pre-industrial stage by mid-2026.

Series A

Arvo (USA) - $2.5m: Maximizing government tax incentives for businesses
Tax Services

Credit services intended to help businesses leverage available tax incentives offered by governments. The company assesses tax credit qualification based on specific criterion and helps in completing and filing necessary IRS forms, helping businesses maximize profitability and reduce federal tax liability. The company raised $2.5 million in funding in a deal led by Bandon Partners, with participation from other undisclosed investors. The funds will be used to expand the company's strategic partner program and continue to develop its tax credit platform.

——

Exa (USA) - $17m: The search engine for AI
AI

AI-powered search engine designed to perform web searches at a large scale. The company's search engine is trained to search through technical news articles and predict web pages in a context where someone describes them, enabling users to run queries with a model that predicts which webpage is most likely to fill in the blank of unfinished search instructions. The company raised $17 million in Series A venture funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, WndrCo, NVentures, and Y Combinator.

——

Again (Denmark) - $27.03m: Transforming CO2 into proteins and chemicals
ClimateTech & CleanTech

Emission control technology designed to convert CO2 into chemicals and proteins using bacteria. The company's technology is based on a bacterium that consumes CO2 at high temperatures by capturing carbon dioxide from industrial facilities in a bioreactor and converting it into products such as feed for chicken and fish, enabling clients to eliminate expensive emission taxes and reduce their environmental footprint. The company raised DKK 187 million from GV and HV Capital, with a pre-money valuation of DKK 480 million. The funds will be used to devote more resources to researching food and feed products that can be made from carbon dioxide.

——

Leya (Sweden) - $25m: Pocket AI for legal professionals
AI & LegalTech

AI assistant designed for legal professionals. The company's AI is adept at answering complex legal questions, optimizing workflows, and simplifying legal inquiries and workflows. It delivers well-cited, trustworthy answers by leveraging legal sources and the firm's proprietary documents, enabling lawyers to focus on higher-value tasks. Leya raised $25 million from Redpoint Ventures, Benchmark Capital Holdings, Wayfinder Ventures, Alt Capital, and Y Combinator to invest in product development and its go-to-market team.

Series B

Cardurion (USA) - $260m: Revolutionary cardiovascular therapeutics
BioTech & Healthcare

Cardiovascular therapeutics intended to treat cardiovascular diseases. The company's therapeutics offer advanced novel mechanisms to develop new treatments for heart diseases causing morbidity and mortality, enabling healthcare professionals to prevent arrhythmia disorders and heart failures. The company raised $260 million from Ascenta Capital, GV, Bain Capital, The Invus Group, Delos Capital, Digitalis Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Blue Owl Capital, Fidelity Management & Research, Millennium Management, and Farallon Capital Management.

——

OneData (Germany) - $34.47m: Data collaboration software
BigData & SaaS

Datahub software designed to help data experts collaborate across different silos. The company's software offers an interactive map that gives data experts full visibility across all relevant data sources. The company raised €32 million from VSquared Ventures, Molten Ventures, HV Capital, Dynelectro, and three other investors. The funds will be used to strengthen its leading position in data product management and expand its offering into international markets in the DACH region..

Series C 

Cart.com (USA) - $190m: One stop shop for retail
SaaS, SupplyChain Tech & E-Commerce

Unified commerce and logistics software designed to scale businesses online. The company's software offer includes business planning, merchant financing, order fulfillment, and marketing services. The company raised $190 million through a combination of equity and debt, putting the company's pre-money valuation at an estimated $1.20 billion. $85 million of Series C was raised from Snowflake Ventures, PayPal Ventures, and Prosperity7 Ventures with participation from B. Riley Venture Capital and nine other investors. $105 million of the term loan was provided by an undisclosed lender. The funds will be used to invest in the expansion of the software and AI capabilities, as well as to expand business reach among B2B and enterprise customers.

——

Nearfield Instruments (Netherlands) - $145.62m: Improving semiconductor manufacturing
NanoTech & Manufacturing

High throughput scanning probe microscopy systems designed for semiconductor metrology. The company's technology uses an atomic-scale probe to scan the surface of samples under investigation to sense the patterns on it and also helps in atomic-scale resolution analysis of chip surfaces during the fabrication process, offering a significant leap forward compared to traditional methods. The company raised €135 million in Series C venture funding from Temasek, Walden Catalyst, ING Corporate Investments, Innovation Industries, Invest-NL, and M&G. The funds will be used to ramp up production capacity, expand its product portfolio, and strengthen its position as a key player in the semiconductor equipment industry.

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