This is a monthly feature that runs down some of the most-active investors in U.S.-based companies, looks at some of their most interesting investments, and includes some odds and ends of who spent what. See November’s most-active startup investors here.
The new year started rather cold and meekly for big-named firms investing in U.S. startups.
Only Andreessen Horowitz reached double-digits in its deal tally last month, with everyone else trailing well behind.
While January didn’t lack for big deals, apparently those deals were spread over a wide swath of investors.
Andreessen Horowitz, 13 deals
Andreessen Horowitz, just like it has several times in the past few months, led the way with a baker’s dozen of deals in January.
The Menlo Park, California-based giant co-led voice AI startup ElevenLabs’ $180 million round — along with Iconiq Growth — at a $3.3 billion valuation. The Brooklyn-based company allows creators, enterprises and others to use AI software to replicate voices in dozens of languages.
The firm also took part in Palo Alto, California-based Hippocratic AI’s $141 million Series B valuing the company at $1.6 billion. The AI startup develops a safety-focused large language model for healthcare. Andreessen Horowitz also was part of shopping platform Whatnot’s massive $265 million Series E at a valuation of nearly $5 billion.
However, a16z didn’t just go big. It also led a $24 million Series A for New York-based Raspberry AI, whose platform turns designers’ sketches into photorealistic renderings, showing in rich detail how products will look, fit and drape in real life.
General Catalyst, 8 deals
In a slow month, General Catalyst comes in second with eight announced deals last month involving U.S.-based startups.
Those investments include co-leading the $50 million Series C for Honolulu-based Onebrief, a web-based military planning software, with Insight Partners.
While not leading, General Catalyst participated in a few good-sized rounds, including San Francisco-based recruiting startup Mercor’s $75 million round that valued the company at a $2 billion, and cloud application platform Render’s $80 million Series C.
Alumni Ventures, 7 deals
Alumni Ventures lands next on the list with a relatively small total for the firm. In January 2024, Alumni made 19 deals involving U.S.-based startups. Last month, that number was only seven.
Like many in the VC world, Alumni seems to have its eye on AI. It co-led a $5 million Series A for Springbok Analytics, which offers an AI-powered healthcare platform to transform MRIs into three-dimensional analyses of muscles, as well as a $6.9 million seed for Final Round AI. Final Round says it’s developed an AI platform to help improve how people find employment.
Sequoia and Bessemer, 6 deals each
Two big names in venture come in next with a half-dozen deals each: Sequoia Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Sequoia started the year with a big round in the world of crypto and digital assets, co-leading Phantom’s massive $150 million round with Paradigm that valued the startup at $3 billion. Phantom is a crypto wallet startup that helps buy, sell and store tokens and NFTs.
Bessemer, on the other hand, led a $20 million Series A for revenue platform HockeyStack and co-led a $77.5 million Series B for ShopMy, which connects brands with creators.
Also notable:
Related reading:
Methodology
This is a list of investors which took part in the most rounds involving U.S.-based startups. It does not include incubators or accelerators due to the fluctuations their investment numbers can have.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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