This week saw various companies all across the globe raising funds for various purposes. Many of the well-known companies participated in the fundraising process and some also led the funding rounds. Funding, these days, has become a very important part of business and especially in case of startups.
Let’s talk about the funding activities that took place this week. This week was quite active in terms of funding activities and the company that secured the largest amount of funds was Once Upon a Farm which is a US based startup that sells organic, cold-pressed baby food. The company raised $20 million from CAVU Venture Partners.
Let us know more about the funding rounds and have a look at the top 5 funding activities of the week.
1. ONCE UPON A FARM
Berkeley-based startup Once Upon a Farm has reportedly raised funds amounting to $20 million in Series B financing round. The funding round was led by CAVU Venture Partners.
The company plans to use the funds to expand its direct to consumer business, partner with more U.S. grocers and build out a wider assortment of baby products.
Following the deal, CAVU’s co-founder and managing partner Brett Thomas, along with CAVU investor Jared Jacobs, will join the company’s board.
Founded in 2015, the startup sells organic, cold-pressed baby food in 8,500 grocery stores in the U.S. It was founded by serial entrepreneurs Cassandra Curtis and Ari Raz. The company also mentions actress Jennifer Garner and former General Mills president John Foraker as its co-founders.
2. MACHINIFY
Artificial intelligence company Machinify has reportedly raised funds amounting to $10 million in Series A funding round. The round was led by Battery Ventures with participation from GV and Matrix Partners.
Through Machinify, the companies feed the system raw data, specify what they’re trying to optimize for. Based on past decisions, the machine can figure out the right thing to do.
Machinify is laser-focused on the critical operational issues created by the deployment of what we often call Software 2.0 within enterprises.
3. GOGOPRINT
Bangkok-based online printing startup Gogoprint has reportedly secured funds amounting to $7.7 million in Series A funding round. The round has been led by existing backer OPG (Online Printing Group), an investment firm from Kai Hagenbuch.
With these funds, the company is planning to expand its business in Asia Pacific. It is looking to go beyond Southeast Asia and enter Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and other markets over the coming 12 months.
The company makes use of the internet to reach a wider number of customers which, using technology to batch jobs, means that it can handle more orders with fewer printer runs.
4. LAVELLE
Indian enterprise networking company called Lavelle Networks Pvt. Ltd, has raised around Rs 2 crore ($270,000) in a financing round. This round was led by infotech consulting and software services company ASM Technologies Ltd.
Following this funding round, the valuation of the company is expected to reach around $5.2 million (Rs 38.4 crore). This financing round has come eighteen months after Ideaspring Capital invested $600,000 (Rs 4 crore) in Lavelle.
Lavelle offers a software-defined networking (SDN) platform for wide area network (WAN) management.
5. BETTERHALF
An artificial intelligence-powered matchmaking platform called Betterhalf.ai has reportedly secured funds amounting to $500,000 (around Rs 3.7 crore) from angel investors including former Google India managing director Shailesh Rao and Flipkart’s former investment director Vinay Subramanian.
The company is planning to use these fresh funds in the further enhancing of its AI capabilities while continuing to invest in technology and talent.
With this funding round, the company so far has raised about $750,000. It competes with other players in the market such as Tinder and Woo. The other backers that participated in the round included early-stage investor FirstPenguin Capital’s Rehan A Khan and senior executives from Google, Uber and Amazon.