🚀 Hélène Huby’s The Exploration Company Raises Record €40.5M in Series A
FemWealth Issue #97
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
In the Spotlight 🚀
Franco-German space tech company The Exploration Company co-founded and led by Hélène Huby (former Director of Innovation with Airbus Defence & Space), has raised a record €40.5 million in a Series A funding round led by EQT Ventures and Red River West, with participation from Promus Ventures, Cherry Ventures, Vsquared, Omnes Capital, July Fund, Partech, Possible Ventures, Habert Dassault Finance, Schlumberger and Sista Fund.
“Within this decade, we will see humanity expand into space and building space stations, sometimes in partnership with the private sector, around the Earth and the Moon, paving the way for humans’ sustainable settlement on the Moon and beyond. Currently, these transformational developments are led by a few players.” - Hélène Huby.
The company is developing a modular and reusable orbital vehicle named Nyx - in honour of the Greek Goddess of the cosmos creation.
Nyx will be utilised by private and public operators to fly cargo into space, resupply space stations, and in time, transport humans. The demo flight for its “Earth Orbit
And Back to Earth” mission is scheduled for 2024.
Read more: In no way boring, spacetech startup The Exploration Company lands €40.5 million
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
💸 Fairphone nabs $53M in growth capital for ‘sustainable’ consumer electronics - Led by Eva Gouwens, Fairphone, a Dutch social enterprise that makes modular consumer electronics, has raised €49 million (~$53M) growth capital investment from an international consortium of impact investors, including Invest-NL, the ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund, and existing investor Quadia via its Regenero Impact Fund.
💸 Select Star closes $15M round to add context to disparate data - Co-founded and led by Shinji Kim, the US-based startup provides data discovery, lineage, and governance tools to enterprise organizations. It raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Bowery Capital, Sozo Ventures, and Pebblebed.
💸 Meet Beek, a startup bringing audiobooks to LatAm with big-name backing - Pamela Valdes is a co-founder of Beek. The company has raised an additional $13 million in a Series A round of funding led by Mercedes Bent, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.
💸 Dimension Inx Raises $12M Series A to Accelerate Commercialization of New Generation of Regenerative Therapeutics - Led by Caralynn Nowinski Collens, Dimension Inx is a biomaterials platform company. The Chicago-based company closed a $12M Series A round led by Prime Movers Lab (PML), with participation by returning investors KdT Ventures and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund (ROTR). Solas BioVentures, Portal Innovation Ventures, and Alumni Ventures have also joined the round.
💸 Doctify, practitioner reviews you can bank on, now with another $10 million to spend - Doctify, co-founded by surgeon Stephanie Eltz, adds $10 million in a growth round led by Beringea.
💸 Teal unwraps $8.8M to build out a telehealth platform for women — starting with cervical cancer screening - Telehealth startup Teal Health, co-founded and led by Kara Egan, raised an $8.8 million seed round from investors including Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures, Chelsea Clinton’s Metrodora Ventures, and Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective. Their first product will be a service that supports women to collect their own samples for cervical cancer screening in the comfort of their homes. The San Francisco-based company is still in the process of applying for FDA clearance.
💸 Disclo aims to inspire inclusive workplaces — starting with disability accommodations - Co-founded and led by Hannah Olson, the Atlanta-based startup is building software that helps employees ask for accommodation requests at work, and it empowers employers to collect, verify, and manage health disclosures and employee accommodation requests in a HIPAA- and SOC 2–compliant way. The company raised a $5 million seed round led by General Catalyst and joined by Y Combinator, Bain Capital Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau.
💸 TBD Health Raises $4.4 Million In Seed Funding To Democratize Access To Inclusive Sexual Care - Co-founded by Daphne Chen and Stephanie Estey, the sexual health platform offering sex-positive, supportive sexual healthcare has raised a $4.4 million round from Tusk Venture Partners, with participation from Springdale Ventures, Human Ventures, Expansion VC, Starbloom Capital, Hyphen Capital, and The Community Fund. Also, read TBD Health is rolling out at-home sexual healthcare to all US states
“At a time when women’s rights are being challenged by our government, it was critical for us to build a sex-positive healthcare company that makes it easy for people to prioritize their health. As someone who has experienced firsthand the judgment that doctors and clinicians pass when it comes to sexual health, it’s our mission to create a safe space for people to seek inclusive, trauma-aware care, as well as treatment and resources on their own terms, regardless of where they live.” - Daphne Chen, co-founder and co-CEO of TBD Health
💸 Throwing a lasso around the chaos of unstructured content, Instill AI ropes in $3.6 million - Co-founded by Xiaofei Du (COO), London-based Instill AI raised $3.6 million in a seed round led by RTP Global and supported by Lunar Ventures, existing investor Hive Ventures, and angel investors.
💸 Forbes ’30 under 30′ entrepreneurs raise $3M for remote work productivity startup backed by Meta - Co-founded by Marisa Chentakul, US-based LifeAt consolidates and organizes a set of productivity tools onto a single platform, letting users create their own digital office from a browser or desktop app.
💸 German DTC Menopause Startup XbyX Closes a 7-Figure Pre-Series A Round - Founded in 2019 by Peggy Reichelt and Monique Leonhardt, the D2C platform for women in midlife offers scientifically founded, holistic solutions for menopause and healthy aging. The company has announced a 7-figure pre-series A financing round led by ECONA AG.
📆 Sie Raise Summit [March 23, London] - An event focused entirely on fundraising. Apply
VC: 💸 Woman-Owned Buoyant Closes $76 Million VC Fund to Spur Climate Tech - The Chigaco-based firm, co-founded and led by Amy Francetic and Allison Myers, closed its debut fund at $76 million. Focussing on seed to Series A investments, Buoyant backs climate tech startups, specifically those working on curbing emissions or leveraging AI and data analytics to fight climate change. It has already invested in nine startups, including Raptor Maps, StormSensor, FloodFlash, Audette, and Canopy. Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Xcel Energy, Bank of America, and the Office of the Illinois State Treasurer are among the fund’s LPs.
💸 LA-based Embedded Ventures launches inaugural fund, with focus on national security and space tech - Co-founded and co-led by general partner Jenna Bryant, Embedded Ventures launched its debut fund with a target of $100M. The firm will invest in commercial, national security, and space startups. The firm’s portfolio already includes six startups.
🌎 Lauren Singer co-founded and launched Overview, a venture capital firm investing in climate change solutions - Lauren Singer is an American environmental activist, entrepreneur, and blogger in the zero waste movement.
Women’s & Family Health: 🤰🏻10 European pregnancy startups to watch - Features Leila Thabet, founder of Naytal, the UK’s first online pregnancy and postnatal clinic; Michelle Kennedy, founder and CEO of women’s social networking app Peanut; Victoria Engelhardt, co-founder of Keley, a platform which connects women in Germany with midwives, and more.
💪 The new tech offering relief from the misery of period pain - Artemis, a wearable bodysuit developed by Alpha Femtech, helps to relieve menstrual pain. The Hungary-based startup’s co-founders are Anna Zsofia Kormos and Dora Pelczer.
Business: 🙌 New Year, New Glass Heights: Women Now Comprise 10% Of Top U.S. Corporation CEOs - After years of being stuck at the 8% mark, over 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.
Fashion: 👗 Athleisure workwear that works - Features Joanna Dai, founder of an eponymous women’s workwear brand
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
Despite the media buzz, 'Femtech' is still struggling to find equality
Thank you for reading FemWealth! 🥰 If you enjoyed this issue, please share with it a friend.
Have a great Sunday and an exciting week ahead!
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth