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Even though it’s summer, there were a lot of announcements this week. Let’s dive in.
The most interesting startup stories of the week
No two companies are the same, and that’s good news: As we saw again this week, it opens up opportunities for companies to try opposing approaches, join forces, or challenge market leaders.
To concentrate or not: In one of the recent biggest tech mergers and acquisitions in India, food delivery giant Zomato paid $244.1 million to acquire Paytm’s entertainment ticketing business, focusing on its fintech core. In contrast, Zomato is diversifying to become a one-stop destination for food and entertainment.
Firefighting: FireHydrant, a startup that helps site reliability engineers find, solve and prevent problems, has acquired competitor Blameless as a springboard to end-to-end incident management. FireHydrant did not disclose the purchase price but indicated that it also received an undisclosed amount of additional funding at the time of the acquisition.
Full schedule: Dropbox has acquired AI-powered planning tool Reclaim.ai. The startup, founded in 2019, plans to continue developing its product after the acquisition. In a video, Reclaim.ai’s founders said the entire 22-person team is moving to Dropbox; financial terms were not disclosed.
New product launches: A new generation of rocket companies is stepping up to take on SpaceX. As TechCrunch space and defense reporter Aria Alamalhodaei noted, the fact that SpaceX is the undisputed leader in rocket launches “hasn’t deterred a growing number of rivals. They say they can bring much-needed supply and competitive pressure to the market, benefiting the entire industry.”
The most interesting fundraisers this week
This week’s big funding rounds weren’t just about AI; open source, blockchain, construction technology, and defense technology were also included.
Arrows up: Grafana Labs, whose dashboards help companies visualize and analyze data from their infrastructure services, is now valued at over $6 billion after the open-source company extended its Series D funding round for 2022. The new funding comes from a $270 million primary and secondary transaction led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with proceeds going to the open-source company and some of its shareholders.
IP vs. AI: PIP Labs, the parent company behind startup Story, has raised $80 million in a Series B funding round from a16z’s crypto division and others to build an “IP blockchain” to help content owners track and monetize intellectual property in the age of artificial intelligence.
Military operations: Virginia-based startup Defcon AI has closed $44 million in seed funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners to help the U.S. Department of Defense optimize logistics. The company has received about $15 million in government contracts to date and is in the process of certifying its software to handle classified, secret information.
Building blocks: Trunk Tools, a startup that offers automation tools to organize unstructured construction documentation, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Redpoint. The company will use the money to grow its team and develop new services like its recently launched construction worker incentive program, CEO Sarah Buchner told TechCrunch.
The most interesting VC and fund news this week
Instead of cash: Fintech startup Bolt hasn’t yet closed the $450 million funding round alluded to in its surprise letter to investors. London Fund CEO Ashesh Shah explained to TechCrunch in more detail why his company might participate and how: at least in part with marketing credits.
Planetary Health: Life sciences investor BEVC is raising a $25 million fund for climate-related startups, according to an SEC filing, following in the footsteps of RA Capital and Flagship Pioneering, which have also expanded their remit beyond human health.
Not least
Acquisitions happen more often than advertised and aren’t always a bad deal, founders and investors told TechCrunch. In the current market environment, the alternative would be running out of money and going out of business. Getting snapped up by another company “is often not as bad an outcome for founders and key employees as it first seems,” TechCrunch’s Marina Temkin found. By entering under these circumstances, they typically outpace new hires in terms of salary and equity, which is an incentive to stay on board.
