Weekly top-tier VC May 31

1 Sequoia invests 11 startups 2 Psychology-based digital health platform raises $540m 3 Digital closing platform for mortgages raises $150m 19 in total

SEQUOIA CAPITAL

①Taos Data　/　China's IoT big data platform B2B IoT

$47 million Series B

The company aims to build a big data platform for IoT. Its flagship product, TDengine, outperforms other time series databases by 10x in insertion/query performance.

https://www.taosdata.com/en/

Highlights: With the rapid increase in the number of devices in recent years, there has been an increasing demand for data collection and analysis, and Taos Data has established itself as a platform by lowering the hurdles to adoption through open source and compatibility with all environments and applications.

②Noom　/　Psychology-based digital health platform B2C Healthcare

$540 million Series F

Helps people achieve their health goals, including weight management, diabetes prevention, and stress reduction. In addition, the platform will be used to provide virtual treatments for hypertension, diabetes, stress, and sleep.

https://www.noom.com/

Highlights: In recent years, the prevalence of obesity and diabetes among middle-aged and older adults has been on the rise, and moreover, the adult population over 60 years old is increasing worldwide. Therefore, the demand for prevention platforms is increasing, and Noom is solving this need.

③Lemonilo　/　Indonesian health food brand B2C food

Not disclosed amount Series B

Manufactures more than 40 types of products, including instant noodles, snacks, and seasonings. The products are sold in over 100,000 stores in Indonesia.

https://www.lemonilo.com/

Highlights: The market, Indonesia, ranked second worst in APAC in a survey on health conditions conducted by the AIA, and dietary issues are becoming increasingly recognized. In this context, Lemonilo is trying to solve this issue by providing affordable healthy food.

④Salt Security　/　API Security Platform B2B Software

$70 million Series C

The founders developed Salt Security when they were in the Israeli cyber security unit and realized that APIs could be easily hacked and that existing security technologies could not identify attacks on APIs.

https://salt.security/

Highlights: By 2022, APIs are expected to become the most frequent target of attacks, leading to data leakage in enterprise web applications. In this context, Salt is using big data and AI to solve API security problems that cannot be solved by traditional security tools.

⑤Atlan　/　Data Collaboration Workspace B2B Software in Singapore

$16 million Series A

Provides data collaboration workspaces to 200+ teams in 50+ countries.

https://atlan.com/

Highlights: The pandemic has once again increased the demand for collaboration tools such as Figma. In this context, Atlan is trying to take the lead in data collaboration in the Southeast Asian market.

⑥Canvas　/　Diversity recruitment platform B2B HR tech

$20 million Series B

Makes the diversity of applicants in the hiring process transparent.

https://www.canvas.com/

Highlights: Customer enterprises are being held more accountable for their commitment to fairness and hiring a diverse workforce, in part due to Black Lives Matter. In this context, Atlan is leading this market by creating an accurate data set that identifies a diverse candidate pool.

⑦Skiff　/　Document with a focus on privacy protection B2C software

$3.7 million Series Seed

Raised less than a year after establishment. Thousands of users, including journalists, researchers, and human rights lawyers, use Skiff daily, with another 8,000 users on a waiting list.

https://www.canvas.com/

Highlights: In recent years, due to Facebook's information leaks, many startups have been developing privacy-conscious tools. In this context, Skiff has succeeded in gaining the trust of users by releasing a white paper on its technology and making part of its code open source.

⑧Phanes Therapeutics　/　Immuno-oncology pharmaceutical company B2B pharmaceutical

$40 million Series B

Develops innovative biologics in oncology and ocular diseases, primarily in the US and China.

https://www.phanesthera.com/

Highlights: In the pharmaceutical industry, Sequoia is investing in the US and China. Especially in China, dMed, a clinical CRO, D3Bio, an oncology and immunology company, RecBio, a genetically engineered vaccine company, and Transcenta, an antibody therapeutics company, have raised over $100 million.

⑨ Tessian　/　B2B software that provides machine learning-based security for enterprises in the UK

$65 million Series C

It uses machine learning to visualize human security risks and automatically prevent security threats. In addition, security training continuously encourages employees to engage in safe email behavior.

https://www.tessian.com/

Highlights: With the shift to remote work, attention is turning to startups that specialize in employee security management; in March, Israel's Axis raised 50 million from Sequoia.

⑩Forter　/　B2B software that provides fraud prevention for eCommerce

$300 million Series F

Annual online transaction value exceeds $250 billion and is used by over 1 billion people worldwide.

https://www.forter.com/

Highlights: Until now, fraud prevention has been a costly part of starting an eCommerce business; Forter enables growth by accurately blocking fraud while ensuring a better customer experience, allowing businesses to focus on more value-added strategies. Forter enables growth by accurately blocking fraudulent activity while ensuring a better customer experience, allowing businesses to focus on higher value-added strategies.

⑪Snapdocs　/　Digital closing platform for mortgages B2B Real Estate

$150 million Series D

Enables financial institutions to connect with all parties and technologies involved in a mortgage transaction and complete the entire closing process online. Involved in about 20% of all real estate transactions in the US.

https://snapdocs.com/

Highlights: Snapdocs has partnered with these financial institutions to provide a fully online closing experience.

FOUNDERS FUND

①Snapdocs　/　Digital closing platform for mortgages B2B real estate

See above on Sequoia.

②Clearing　/　Digital healthcare platform for chronic pain patients B2C healthcare

$20 million Series Seed

Connects patients with medical professionals who review the patient's background, medical history, and symptoms to create a customized treatment plan. They are moving what they do in the clinic online and adding to their affordable physical therapy and dispensary programs.

https://www.clearing.com/

Highlights: It is estimated that 50 million people are not getting proper medical care due to a shortage of doctors; Clearing is trying to solve this problem.

ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ

①SpotOn　/ 　One-stop platform for SMEs B2B software

$125 million Series D

Provides a personalized one-stop platform, including payment, for more than 8,000 restaurants and retailers at a reasonable price.

https://www.spoton.com/

Highlights: With the pandemic putting pressure on small and medium-sized businesses, paying numerous vendors had become a heavy burden; SpotOn provided a one-stop shop, enabling customers to save thousands of dollars.

②Beacons　/ 　Online website platform for creators B2B platform

$6 million Series Seed

Easy-to-use and customizable mobile website builder. Provides support for content creation, e-commerce, community building, affiliate marketing, etc.

https://beacons.ai/

Highlights: Creators, as users, needed a creative platform that was more than just a template for conventional social networking sites as they complete their engagement and experiences online. Beacons is trying to solve that problem.

③Talos　/ 　Institutional Crypto Asset Technology Provider B2B Crypto Assets

$40 million Series A

Customers span the entire digital asset ecosystem, from buy-side to financial service providers, and Talos allows stakeholders to interact seamlessly through a single API.

https://talos.com/

Highlights: Talos is growing as the rise in the value of Bitcoin accelerates the adoption of crypto assets by institutional investors.

④Pyn　/ 　Australia's enterprise communication platform B2B HR tech

$10.4 million Series Seed

Utilizes the information that companies have about their employees to communicate more effectively.

https://www.pynhq.com/

Highlights: Until now, it has been rare for Australian startups to receive investment from top-tier VCs in Silicon Valley. However, with Pandemic creating an opportunity to introduce products from Australia to the US market, an investment offer was made from the a16z side.

⑤Turntable·fm　/ 　Social music platform B2C social

$7.5 million Series Seed

Users can create their own playlists and battle it out in the DJ booth.

https://turntable.fm/

Highlights: The service was once shut down in 2013, but was rebuilt in response to the increase in online communication due to the pandemic.

⑥Whatnot　/ 　Sports trading card marketplace B2C marketplace

$50 million Series B

YC Alum. Originally focused on Pokémon cards, etc., but has seen a surge in transaction volume in the five months since launching sports trekking cards.

https://www.whatnot.com/

Highlights: a16z also invested in Startstok, a marketplace for sports trading cards, in April.

⑦Material Security　/ 　 Provides email security for enterprises B2B software

$40 million Series B

Provides tighter security than conventional firewalls by using zero-knowledge proof.

https://material.security/

Highlights: Until now, email has been one of the most confidential and vulnerable parts of the enterprise, exposing it to hackers Material Security seeks to solve this challenge with a completely different approach.