Startup Monday: Latest tech trends & news happening in the global startup ecosystem (Issue 132- June 9)

Welcome to Startup Monday, my weekly newsletter that recaps the week in the global startup ecosystem. To have this newsletter emailed to you, you can sign up here.

Top startup news to follow this week:

1. Brandon Capital raises $180M fund to support Australia, New Zealand biotechs

Money from the Brandon Capital Fund VI is being earmarked for life sciences start-ups in the region, particularly early-stage companies, according to a Tuesday press release. The funds will help propel companies through the early growth stages.

The VC firm has raised A$1 billion ($611 million) so far through five funds, which has helped support 60 investments in therapeutics, medical devices and healthtech. Portfolio companies include Allay Therapeutics, AstronauTx, Aravex and Certa Therapeutics.

AstronauTx raised $61 million in October 2023 in a series A that was also backed by Novartis Venture Fund, MPM Capital, EQT Life Sciences, Bristol Myers Squibb and the Dementia Discovery Fund. The fundraising round was set to help the London-based biotech develop new drugs that correct the disrupted physiology of the brain for several diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

Brandon Capital’s contribution was part of its last fund that was used to bolster multiple European biotechs. The firm has been working to boost its global reach and this latest Australasia fund is the next move.

2. Regeneron Launches $500M Venture Capital Fund Skewed Toward Biotech

New York-based pharma Monday that it is launching a that will invest in promising biotechnology innovation amid a renewed wave of investment activity in the biotech market. $500 million venture capital fund

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will serve as the exclusive limited partner to the VC fund-called Regeneron Ventures-and commit $100 million annually over the next five years, according to Monday’s announcement. While the fund has an investment mandate that includes healthcare broadly, it will lean towards biotechnology, devices, tools and enabling technologies.

Regeneron Ventures will be independently managed by former Regeneron executives Jay Markowitz and Michael Aberman, who will also direct the fund’s investment strategy. Before joining Regeneron Ventures, Aberman held CEO positions at XenImmune Therapeutics and Quentis Therapeutics. Prior to that, Aberman spent seven years at Regeneron, with his most recent position at the pharma being vice president of investor relations and strategy. Markowitz most recently served as senior partner at VC firm ARCH Venture Partners. He also worked at Regeneron from 2017 to 2020 as senior vice president.

Markowitz said that the fund will support “long-term” investments and will be “agnostic to therapeutic area, technology and stage of development.”

“Our goal is to cultivate an ecosystem where the next generation of biotech companies can thrive, drawing on the lessons learned and successes achieved at Regeneron and throughout our careers,” Aberman said in a statement. “Together, we will strive to identify and support groundbreaking advancements that push the boundaries of what’s possible in science and medicine.”

Coming off a in biopharma VC activity in 2023, there has been a recent in the investment space. In February 2024, ORI Capital announced its second fund had raised surge of activity , with the intention of investing in early stage biotechs that are working on unmet medical needs in cancer, metabolic disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, among other targets. Also, New York City-based Scion Life Sciences launched an $260 million fund that same month with the goal of forming companies that are developing curative treatments for life-threatening diseases. oversubscribed $310 million

3. Biotech’s road to recovery with 46% increase in Q1 venture funding

However, in 2024 investor optimism has increased due to the expected lowering of interest rates as inflation slows, which in turn would reduce the cost of capital. Therefore, an increase in venture capital investment in private biotech companies is expected to continue.

Private biotech venture financing deals in Q1 2024 were marked with an increase in larger funding rounds compared to Q4 2023. This reflects the improved venture capital sentiment away from previously being more selective in favouring smaller funding rounds to investing more in larger funding rounds.

In addition, there was a notable increase of 109% in venture financing for Phase II and Phase III deals in Q1 2024 compared to Q4 2023, as shown by GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center Deals Database. This suggests that investor interest is shifting more towards late-stage clinical developments in efforts to reduce risk, as was previously seen with early-stage biotechs in 2021.

Furthermore, Q1 2024 saw increased investor interest in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and radiopharmaceuticals. Venture financing for ADCs saw a more than fivefold increase, surging from $98 million to $568 million from Q4 2023 to Q1 2024. Notably, the largest venture financing deal reported in Q1 2024 was Tubulis, a biotech company headquartered in Germany, which secured $139 million in Series B2 funding to support the clinical evaluation of its next-generation ADC lead candidates, TUB-040, targeting ovarian and lung cancers, and TUB-030, targeting solid tumours. Similarly, innovative radiopharmaceuticals are positioned for sustained growth, with venture capital investment surging more than 330% in Q1 2024 compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

4. Women-Led Startups Grabbed 25 Percent of Venture Funding in 2023

Money flowing to women-led startups in the U.S. spiked to record levels last year, and it’s largely thanks to the sector of the moment: generative AI.

Of course, the rebound — and the milestone metric — is colored by the surge in funding to AI companies: Among the $34 billion amassed by women-led startups in 2023, $21 billion went to companies building AI products.

Women hold notable executive positions and are co-founders of many of AI’s biggest startups: OpenAI, which raised $10 billion in a single founding round from Microsoft in 2023, counts the Y Combinator Seed stage investor Jessica Livingston as a co-founder. Anthropic, which was founded by former OpenAI employees and siblings Daniela and Dario Amodei, netted $6.5 billion in 2023 from Amazon and other investors.

5. Qatar’s Rasmal Ventures launches $100 million debut fund, hits $30 million as first close

The fund which claims to be the first home-grown Qatari VC fund, is sector-agnostic but its areas of interest include supply chain logistics, climate-tech, fintech, B2B SaaS and AI. The Qatari investor will invest across seed to Series B stages.

“Our sweet spot is pre-series A and series A stage startups. We also invest selectively at seed and series B stages,” it notes on its website.

6. Novel battery manufacturer EnerVenue is raising $515M, per filing

So far, EnerVenue has raised $308 million of the $515 million target, the filing says. A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

The startup’s nickel-hydrogen technology is based on batteries that were originally used to store power aboard the International Space Station and in satellites, like the Hubble Space Telescope. In many ways, nickel-hydrogen is an ideal type of battery for spacecraft: The chemistry can withstand freezing cold and blistering heat, and it doesn’t lose much capacity over time, meaning it can last as long as the craft is expected to live.

7. Qargo raises $14M to digitize and decarbonize the trucking industry

Transport accounts for some 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and inland transport accounts for 72% of this total, with 69% coming from road vehicles . Given that empty or unfilled trucks produce , much of those emissions could be curtailed by greater efficiency in this industry, which is still dominated by manual processes. This partly explains why Belgium-based startup more emissions than all international flights combined has now raised round led by Balderton Capital. £11 million ($14 million) in a Series A

While the transport industry does use legacy software platforms like McLeod Software , and Rose Rocket , many of these platforms are from an earlier era.

This is where Qargo hopes its newer technologies can help it leapfrog the competition.

Founded in 2020 by Adriaan Coppens (CEO), Joeri de Turck (CTO) and Sander de Wilde (head of engineering), Qargo’s solution integrates with customers’ systems, and the company claims it can process orders up to 10 times faster than traditional tools. It can auto-import PDFs and automate address lookups, as well as combine truck loads into more optimal journeys that reduce distances, minimize empty loads, and thus reduce carbon emissions.

8. Berlin-based Quantica increases Series A to €19.7 million to fuel growth of its additive manufacturing tech, an advanced additive manufacturing technology company based in Berlin, announced the increase of its Series A funding to a total of €19.7 million. The extension was led by a new investor, British private equity and VC firm West Hill Capital, as well as participation from a family owned company in the dental industry, Quantica management, and Korean VC Big Bang Angels.

“Quantica’s innovative technology and strong growth potential make it an exciting addition to our portfolio,” commented David Hollidge, Managing Partner at West Hill Capital. “We look forward to working with the Quantica team to help drive the company’s expansion and bring its groundbreaking additive manufacturing solutions to a wider market.”

Founded in 2018, Quantica operates as an IP-driven deep technology company with offices in Barcelona (Spain) and Cambridge (UK). The company aims to advance additive manufacturing with its two landmark printing system solutions: the NovoJet™ OPEN printing system and the NovoJet™ JetPack. The NovoJet™ OPEN is designed for ultra-high viscosity, multi-material printing of 2D and 3D applications, serving as an open printer capable of using new materials for inkjet process and application development. The JetPack™ is an R&D tool empowering researchers to optimize and validate new materials for the NovoJet™ printheads.

“We are thrilled to welcome West Hill Capital as a new partner to our company,” said Claus Moseholm, CEO of Quantica. “This latest commitment shows how attractive our business and technology is for the larger international market. The additional funding will allow us to further expand our team and accelerate the development and production of our cutting-edge additive manufacturing solutions.”

9. Copenhagen-based early-stage VC BlackWood secures €14.7 million in 2nd closing of Fund I

A network and technology-driven venture capital fund, announced today the 2nd closing of its debut fund, BlackWood Ventures Fund I, raising a total of €14.7 million .

The fund employs a systematic approach to identify and invest in the most promising early-stage startups across Europe. Using this method, the investment team has made 12 investments, supporting visionary founders in Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the US since April 2023.

This progress demonstrates that the fund is on schedule with regards to its portfolio size and time diversification and stresses our ability to close cross-border venture deals effectively, as proclaimed to our limited partners.

“BlackWood Ventures is increasingly becoming a catalyst for revolutionary companies and founders across Europe,” said Bastian Larsen, Founder and CEO of BlackWood. “With the timing of our fund launch aligning perfectly with market conditions, we are in an exceptionally promising position to drive significant advancements in our focus sectors”

With over 1200 high-profile angel investors and top venture capital funds working together, BlackWood Ventures Fund I benefits from a robust network providing strategic support and co-investment opportunities. The team has also established more than 100 partnerships with leading accelerators, universities, and incubators across Europe to source the most promising startups.

Christian Mariager, a new investor in the fund, shared his view on why he chose to invest: “After a long career, including 25 years at McKinsey, I have rarely come across such exceptional and driven individuals. The team at BlackWood is on a mission to disrupt the European venture capital space, and I think it is important to have a Danish-based venture fund that can offer pan-European exposure to Nordic investors like myself,” said Mariager, who is a Senior Advisor at L Catterton, the largest consumer-focused private equity firm in the world.

10. Zurich-based Synthara raises €10.5 million to expand the embedded computing market

Zurich-based Synthara, a Swiss semiconductor innovator, announced the successful closing of €10.5 million in funding through investments and European and Swiss grants to bring in-memory computing to the mass market. The round is led by Vsquared Ventures, with OTB Ventures, Hermann Hauser’s Onsight Ventures, Deep Tech Labs, along with existing investors such as High-Tech Gründerfonds, DeepIE, Excellis, ZKB and first investor and early believer Sandeep Raju. Hermann Hauser also joined the company as an advisor. This funding will enable Synthara to introduce its groundbreaking patent-pending product, ComputeRAM, to embedded computing applications.

There is an explosion of AI-rich embedded applications such as robotics, sensing, and wearables, with the space worth over $200B today and growing at over 15% CAGR. The issue: these applications are too complex for conventional embedded chips. Embedded device makers are sorting through an increasingly complex ecosystem of hardware and software products, resulting in increasing costs and time to market. These problems cannot be addressed without a paradigm shift in computing technology. By enhancing conventional on-chip memories with computing capabilities, ComputeRAM enables micro-controllers that are 100x better, both in terms of energy efficiency and latency. These high-performance and flexible micro-controller chips can address a broad set of AI-rich applications, thereby lowering costs, and time to market, creating new opportunities for the chipmakers and device makers.

Founded in 2019 as a spin-off from the Institute of Neuroinformatics at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, Synthara is based on the doctoral research of Dr. Manu V. Nair and Dr. Alessandro Aimar.

Manu V Nair, Co-Founder and CEO of Synthara, said: “With ComputeRAM, we are looking to enable a new breed of feature-rich products that are only limited by the creativity of the developers. This founding round empowers us to work closely with our early adopter community as they develop game-changing chips and devices.”

Patrick Tucci, Principal at Vsquared Ventures, commented: “We are about to witness a paradigm shift in computing, with in-memory-computing leading the charge. The bottleneck of data movement is especially noticeable in edge applications. Here, smart devices need to run complex, concurrent algorithms. This problem is compounded by space limitations and low power requirements. To continue advancing and fostering innovation, we require high-performance, drop-in solutions such as Synthara’s ComputeRAM.”