The Week’s Biggest Funding Rounds: Anthropic Leads Slow, Slow Week
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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 the biggest funding rounds of last week here.
After a frenetic first couple of weeks as far as big rounds go, this week was quieter than a library. Only one round of more than $100 million was reported — although it was actually $1 billion — as everything came to a crawl. The goings on in Washington, D.C., likely had something to do with that, as many companies may have decided to hold their news until a slower week.
1. Anthropic, $1B, artificial intelligence: Anthropic, a ChatGPT rival with its AI assistant Claude, is reportedly taking in a fresh $1 billion investment from previous investor Google. In October 2023, Google invested $2 billion in the OpenAI rival. The new funding also comes just a couple of weeks after it was reported the startup was in advanced talks to raise $2 billion in a deal led by Lightspeed Venture Partners that would value it at $60 billion. Anthropic was last valued at $18.5 billion in February 2024. This deal also comes just two months after Amazon agreed to invest another $4 billion in an AI startup. That deal followed Amazon’s 2023 announcement to invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic — a deal that gave the Seattle-based e-commerce and cloud titan a minority stake in the startup.
2. Highnote, $90M, fintech: San Francisco-based Highnote, a fintech startup whose platform enables companies to embed virtual and physical card payments into their products, closed a $90 million in Series B led by Adams Street Partners that reportedly values the company at $750 million. While known mainly as a card issuer, the company is creating a platform that allows companies to receive card payments. Founded in 2020, Highnote has raised more than $145 million, according to the company.
3. Render, $80M, cloud infrastructure: Render, a cloud application platform, raised an $80 million Series C funding led by Georgian. The San Francisco-based startup’s cloud platform looks to simplify things for developers — eliminating the need for them to set up infrastructure configurations and settings. Founded in 2018, the company has raised nearly $157 million, per Crunchbase.
4. ShopMy, $77.5M, marketing: It’s not enough to have a great brand anymore — you also need to have relationships with influential creators. That’s where New York-based ShopMy comes in. This week, the startup — which helps creators manage product recommendations and eventually form relationships with big brands — raised a $77.5 million Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $97 million, per Crunchbase.
5. Fundraise Up, $70M, nonprofit: Even fundraising is getting into AI. Brooklyn-based Fundraise Up, a fundraising platform for nonprofits globally, raised a $70 million financing round led by Summit Partners. The startup uses AI in its platform to boost donations in a variety of ways, including tailoring donation suggestions to individual donors. Founded in 2017, the company has raised $82 million, per Crunchbase.
6. Clutch, $65M, fintech: San Francisco-based Clutch, a fintech that partners with credit unions to enhance their offerings, completed a $65 million Series B led by Alkeon Capital Management. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $106 million, per Crunchbase.
7. Eleos Health, $60M, mental health: Boston-based Eleos, a startup using artificial intelligence to help with behavioral health, raised a $60 million Series C led by Greenfield Partners. Founded in 2019, Eleos says it has raised more than $120 million.
8. Lindus Health, $55M, biotech: New York-based Lindus Health, which helps clients run faster clinical trials, locked up a $55 million Series B led by new investor Balderton Capital. Founded in 2021, the company has raised almost $80 million, per Crunchbase.
9. Rhino.ai, $50M, artificial intelligence: Washington, D.C.-based Rhino.ai, an AI-driven development platform that enables enterprise application design, raised a $50 million Series A led by Koch Disruptive Technologies. Founded in 2023, this is the company’s first announced round, per Crunchbase.
10. Method Financial, $42M, fintech: Austin, Texas-based Method, a financial connectivity API for consumer liability data and payments, locked up a $42 million Series B led by Emergence Capital. Founded in 2021, the company has raised nearly $61 million, per Crunchbase.
Big global deals
Anthropic’s raise was easily the biggest of the week. The next largest came from Europe.
- Sweden-based Neko Health, a health-tech startup, locked up a $260 million Series B.
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 Jan. 18 to Jan. 24. 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
