Food Delivery, Aerospace, and AI Lead the Way in Recent Funding Rounds

The Week’s Top Venture Capital Deals: Food Delivery and More

Seven U.S.-based startups secured funding rounds of $100 million or more in the past week. The deals reflect continued investment in food delivery, aerospace, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and defense.

1. Wonder, $250M, food delivery: Marc Lore’s food delivery startup, Wonder, secured additional funding. This investment is part of a $650 million deal to acquire Grubhub, and the $250 million came exclusively from unnamed new investors. This represents a decrease in value for Grubhub, which Just Eat Takeaway previously acquired for $7.3 billion back in 2021. Since its founding in 2018, Wonder has raised nearly $1.9 billion.

2. Metsera, $215M, biotech: The New York-based biopharmaceutical firm Metsera, which focuses on medicines for obesity and metabolic diseases, received $215 million in a Series B round led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners and Wellington Management. The company researches oral and injectable treatments.

3. Writer, $200M, artificial intelligence: Writer, based in San Francisco, completed a $200 million Series C funding round, which values the enterprise-focused generative AI platform at $1.9 billion. The new valuation follows a $100 million round led by Iconiq Growth last year. This round was jointly led by Iconiq, Premji Invest, and Radical Ventures. Writer’s platform aids businesses in using sophisticated language models to enhance processes and utilizes AI solutions across diverse departments. The new funding will accelerate the development of its AI applications in healthcare, retail, and financial services. Writer’s customer base includes major names like Accenture, L’Oreal, and Uber.

4. Firefly Aerospace, $175M, aerospace: Firefly Aerospace, a space transportation startup headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas, closed a $175 million Series D, boosting its valuation to over $2 billion. Firefly is preparing for its inaugural Blue Ghost mission to the moon, as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Service initiative. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $747 million to date.

5. Chaos Industries, $145M, defense: Defense and critical infrastructure tech startup Chaos Industries secured $145 million in a Series B, led by Accel. The Los Angeles-based startup develops advanced detection, monitoring, and communication solutions, and this investment underscores the growing interest in defense tech. Its Vanquish radar provides warning and tracking capabilities against various airborne threats. In just the past three months, other defense tech startups have also received considerable funding.

6. Trace Neuroscience, $101M, biotech: South San Francisco-based Trace Neuroscience, which works on treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, launched with a $101 million Series A led by Third Rock Ventures.

7. Radiant Industries, $100M, energy: Radiant Industries, which creates portable nuclear microreactors, raised a $100 million Series C round led by DCVC. Founded in 2019, the El Segundo, California-based company has raised $160 million.

8. TRex Bio, $84M, biotech: South San Francisco-based TRex Bio, a biotechnology company decoding human tissue immune biology, received $84 million in a Series B round led by Delos Capital. The company was established in 2018 and has raised $169 million.

9. Beta Bionics, $60M, biotech: Beta Bionics, a company focused on developing diabetes management solutions, closed a $60 million Series E led by a new investor, Wellington Management. This Irvine, California-based company, founded in 2015, has raised nearly $354 million.

10. ScaleOps, $58M, cloud: New York-based ScaleOps, a cloud resource management startup, secured a $58 million Series B led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company, founded in 2022, reports having raised $80 million in total.