Alastair Goldfisher

On the Bleeding Edge: Year in Review shows an onslaught of fundraising

Defy leads $16 mln funding in Securly

San Jose, California-based Securly, which focuses keeping kids safe online, has raised $16 million in Series B funding. Defy Partners led the round, which included Owl Ventures. The company has now raised $24 million in total funding.

Fika, Fathom and others back Elementary Robotics

Los Angeles-based Elementary Robotics, a robotics platform, announced it has raised $3.6 million in new seed funding. The company’s latest round was co-led by Fika Ventures and Fathom Capital and included Toyota AI Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Riot.vc, Osage University Partners and Stage Venture Partners. As part of the funding round, Eva Ho, general partner at Fika Ventures, will join the board. Also on the board are Elementary co-founder and CEO Arye Barnehama and Bill Gross of Idealab. Elementary Robotics previously raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding in October 2017.

Two execs from 500 Startups leave

Sea Machines raises $10 mln led by Accomplice

Boston-based Sea Machines Robotics, which develops autonomous control technology for marine vessels, announced that it has raised $10 million in Series A funding. Accomplice VC led the round, with participation from Toyota AI Ventures, Brunswick Corp, through its investment partner TechNexus Venture Collaborative, Eniac Ventures, NextGen VP and others. Sea Machines, founded in 2014, has now raised $12.5 million in funding.

Sapphire Ventures raises $115 mln for sports tech fund

Sapphire Ventures has raised a $115 million sports tech fund called Sapphire Sport, according to a regulatory filing. The fund was launched last year with an initial $100 million target, and the firm raised the commitments from 29 investors. Partners listed on the fund tinclude Sapphire Managing Directors Nino Marakovic, Jai Das, David Hartwig, Doug Higgins and Andreas Weiskam.

Seed-focused Pear seeks $35 mln for expansion fund

Palo Alto, California-based venture firm Pear, which raised $75 million for its second seed-stage fund in 2016, is seeking to raise $35 million for Pear Ventures I Expansion, according to a regulatory filing. The firm is led by Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson, the founding managing partners.

WhyHotel raises $10 mln led by Highland Capital

Washington, D.C.-based WhyHotel, which provides an alternative lodging service that operates pop-up hotels​ in newly, luxury apartment buildings, announced it has raised $10 million in Series A funding. Highland Capital Partners led the round, which included participation from Camber Creek, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Mendacre, MetaProp and Geolo Capital. The company, founded in 2016, previously raised $3.9 million in seed funding.

VC-backed G2 Crowd acquires Siftery

Chicago-based G2 Crowd announced it has acquired Siftery, platform that helps businesses discover new applications based on stacks used by peer companies. San Francisco-based Siftery had previously raised $4.1 million from investors, including Felicis Ventures and Venrock, among others. Siftery’s 20 employees and co-founders, CEO Vamshi Mokshagundam and CTO Ayan Baruna, will join G2 Crowd. G2 Crowd operates a marketplace for businesses to buy and manage software and services, and in October raised $55 million in a Series C round led by IVP and has now raised $100 million in total funding.

Fusion Fund launches in Ohio

Bounce Innovation Hub, Acquire Investments and JumpStart Inc announced the launch of Fusion Fund, a $20-million, for-profit venture fund aimed at growing companies in and around Ohio. The fund will make seed and early-stage investments in advanced materials, life sciences and tech companies located within a four-hour radius of Akron, Ohio.