💸 Kerry Baldwin's IQ Capital Launches New Deep Tech Funds
FeemWealth Issue #114
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
In the Spotlight 💸
Led by co-founder and Managing Partner Kerry Baldwin, IQ Capital, a London and Cambridge, UK-based VC firm, closed its fourth flagship fund with $200 million in capital commitments. The new fund brings its assets under management to more than $1 billion.
The firm will invest in deep tech startups at Seed and Series A stages across sectors, including generative AI, advanced engineering and novel materials, space tech, quantum hardware and algorithms, cyber and data security, and synthetic biology.
“Deep tech will play a pivotal role as both the UK and Europe continue to lead the way in developing technology that will have a lasting global impact. IQ Capital backs IP-rich technologies with the potential to dominate massive global markets, at a time when deep tech investment is at the forefront of investor's minds, topping $17 billion in 2022.” - Kerry Baldwin, co-founder and Managing Partner, IQ Capital
IQ Capital also launched its second $200 million Growth Fund to provide follow-on funding to the most promising startups within its portfolio.
British Patient Capital (one of the UK’s largest limited partners), global institutions, funds-of-funds, and family offices, are among the firm’s backers.
Since its founding in 2007, IQ Capital’s portfolio includes over 100 deep tech startups, such as banking startup Thought Machine, ultra-fast battery charging startup Nyobolt, and speech recognition platform Speechmatics.
Read more here, here and here.
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Startups: Upstream Bio Announces $200M Series B Financing to Advance UPB-101 for Allergic and Inflammatory Diseases - Led by CEO Samantha Truex, the US-based biotech company secured a Series B funding round from investors, including Enavate Sciences, Venrock, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Wellington Management, OrbiMed, Access Biotechnology, Decheng Capital, Altshuler Shaham Provident Funds, TCG X, HBM Healthcare Investments, Omega Funds, and Samsara BioCapital.
Trusted by Klarna, Miro, Airtable, Figma, and more, French business planning platform Pigment picks up $88 million - The Parisian business forecasting platform is co-founded and co-led by Eléonore Crespo, a former data analyst at Google and investor at Index Ventures. It raised $88 million in a Series C round led by ICONIQ Growth, with the participation of Felix Capital and previous investors Meritech, IVP, and FirstMark. Read more here.
GetHarley, a skincare telehealth and consultation platform, raises $52M - Founded by CEO Charmaine Chow, the British personalized end-to-end skincare telehealth and consultation platform GetHarley secured $52M in a funding round led by Index Ventures with participation from Headline, Visionaries Club, and Village Global.
SustainCERT raises $37 million to take climate impact verification platform global - The Luxembourg-based climate impact verification company, led by Marion Verles, announced its Series B round and the launch of its platform to enable companies to bring credibility to their climate impact claims. Partech, Hartree Partners, Citizen Capital, Innovacom, and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund are among the company’s backers.
EliseAI Raises $35 Million in Series C Funding to Continue Revolutionizing the Real Estate Industry Through AI-Powered Automation - The New York-based conversational AI platform for real estate is co-founded and led by Minna Song. The company raised $35 million in Series C funding led by Point72 Private Investments, and joined by Koch Real Estate Investments, Golden Seeds, Navitas Capital, JLL Spark, and DivcoWest.
Value-based pregnancy care provider Pomelo launches from stealth with $33M in funding - Founded and led by Marta Bralic Kerns, Pomelo Care, a New York-based startup that provides virtual medical care for newborns and expectant mothers, raised a $33 million Seed and Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the latest round, with additional participation from previous investor First Round Capital, alongside SV Angel Operator Partners, Allen & Co., and BoxGroup.
Revelle Aesthetics Receives $30M in Growth Funding - Led by President and CEO Caroline Van Hove, the Mountain View, California-based company provides clinically supported solutions to reduce cellulite. It received $30 million in growth capital from Trinity Capital Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIN).
Steering into the industry skid, this cultivated meat startup raises an Uncommon $30 million - Founded by CEO Benjamina Bollag, the Cambridge, UK-based company secured $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital and Lowercarbon, with participation from Red Alpine, East Alpha, and previous investors.
“As the only cultivated meat leveraging RNA technologies, we believe we have a competitive advantage that could help us become the largest protein company in the world. I’m delighted with the progress we’ve made so far as a company and look forward to working closely with our new and existing investors to continue to build on this progress and make a difference to global health.” - Benjamina Bollag, founder and CEO of Uncommon
Carta Healthcare Secures $25 Million in Series B Funding with Additional Investments from Memorial Hermann Health System and UnityPoint Health - Co-founded by Anna Brody, MS, MBA (Chief Innovation Officer), the SF-based clinical data company raised $25m in Series B funding from Memorial Hermann Health System and UnityPoint Health.
Mozart Therapeutics Raises $25M in Expanded Series A Financing - Led by President and CEO Katie Fanning, Mozart Therapeutics focuses on the development of disease-modifying therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The biotech startup raised $25M in Series A extension funding from Pfizer Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Sofinnova Partners, a.o. Marie-Claire Peakman, PhD, Partner of Pfizer Ventures, and Jasmina Marjanovic, PhD, Director AbbVie Ventures, will join Mozart’s Board of Directors.
Oxccu takes flight with $22.7 million to fuel sustainable aviation fuel operation - Co-founded by Dr Jane Jin (COO), the UK-based carbon-to-value company converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen into industrial and consumer products, specifically sustainable aviation fuel. Clean Energy Ventures led the company’s Series A round with Aramco Ventures, Eni Next, United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, and Braavos Capital also participating.
RxLightning Closes $17.5M Series A to Accelerate Growth and Remove Barriers to Essential Specialty Medications - Led by CEO and founder Julia Regan, the US-based medication access and affordability platform raised $17.5 million in Series A funding. LRVHealth led the round, joined by McKesson Ventures, Novartis, Onco360, Hearst Ventures, and HealthX Ventures.
Consumer Health Tech Company AHARA Announces $10M+ Seed Round and Beta Launch - Founded by serial tech entrepreneur Julie Wainwright (founder of The RealReal) and board-certified physician nutrition specialist Dr. Melina Jampolis MD, the LA-based personalized nutrition company raised a $10.25 million funding round led by Greycroft, with participation from Headline, SHAKTI, a.o. More here.
Amsterdam’s Keen Venture Partners backs Paris-based Cleyrop in €10M round for its sovereign data management software - Co-founded by Lauren Sayag, the turnkey data platform for companies and institutions secured €10 million ($10.7 million) in Series A round led by Keen Venture Partners. Crédit Agricole, Normandie Participations, and BPI France also participated.
Canadian Fertility Care Platform Twig Fertility Raises $8M in Series A Financing - Co-founded by Medical Director Dr. Rhonda Zwingerman, Twig Fertility aims to introduce a new method of personalized, empathetic, and outcome-driven fertility care. The Toronto, Canada-based company announced its Series A financing round led by Rhino Ventures.
Bonside launches with $4.35M to provide growth capital to brick-and-mortar businesses - The New York-based financing platform, founded and led by Neha Govindraj, raised $4.35 million in new funding. Floating Point, 81 Collection, TMV, Weekend Fund, Starting Line, The Fund, and Spice Capital participated in the round. Designed for brick-and-mortar businesses, Bonside provides growth financing through revenue.
UK influence analytics company WeArisma raises £2.5 million to help brands optimise their earned media - Jenny Tsai is the founder and CEO of WeArisma, a UK-based influence analytics platform. The company raised a £2.5 million funding round, led by Adjuvo, to establish its brand discoverability and earned influence analytical tool.
OurX adds tech spin to Black hair care regimen - Led by founder Ceci Kurzman and newly appointed CEO Meghan Maupin, the US-based company creates hair regimens and education for the scalp and tightly textured hair. The company launched with a $2.5 million seed funding round led by Reign Ventures.
BOND brings inspirational-driven approach to livestream shopping, raises $2M - Co-founded and led by Maddie Raedts, BOND is an inspiration-driven shopping platform that focuses on creator influence rather than product-led. Nordstar led the startup’s $2 million pre-seed investment (closed earlier this year), joined by Day One Ventures, Nomad Capital and a group of individual investors.
“BOND connects creators, brands and consumers across more premium lifestyle categories. For the first time, there is a platform that aligns all incentives and is the missing piece of the puzzle that hasn’t been there before. Based on the amazing traction that we’ve already been getting from our creators and our brands, the hunger is there for something to happen in this space.” - Maddie Raedts, Co-founder and CEO of BOND
Gedea Biotech Secures €1.3M to Accelerate the Market Launch of Its Antibiotic-Free Vaginal Infection Treatment - Annette Säfholm is the CEO of the Swedish women’s health company. Gedea Biotech secured €1.3M (14 MSEK) to develop its antibiotic-free treatment for vaginal infections.
Kids pre-loved clothing platform Swoperz gets some love with £250,000 - Charlene Hurlock and Vicky Fuller are the co-founders of the London-based start-up enabling kids to safely swap their pre-loved clothes with other kids via a secure platform. The company raised £250,000 from Jenson Funding Partners.
This fintech CEO raised a Series B, then her company went bankrupt. Here’s what she learnt along the way - Nuri’s ex-CEO Kristina Walcker-Mayer shares her lessons learned on how to navigate crises as a startup.
VC: Positive Ventures’ new impact fund will be triple its flagship fund - Andrea Kenstenbaum is a Founding Partner and CEO of the São Paulo, Brazil- and San Francisco, US-based early-stage VC firm. Positive Ventures secured $25 million in capital commitments for its impact fund to back Latin American founders building tech-driven solutions in climate change, education, healthcare, and financial services in underserved communities.
Solo GP Sarah Drinkwater raises fund to back ‘community’ startups like Monzo and Depop - Founded by angel investor and ex-Googler Sarah Drinkwater, Common Magic, aims to back European and US startups at pre-seed and seed building “products with community at their core.” The sector-agnostic firm has raised a third of its £10 million target and aims to back 30 companies with average cheques of £100k-150k.
“My goal with this fund is really to weave the speed and style of an angel — fast decisions, blunt feedback — while at the same time being operationally useful in a particular area.” - Sarah Drinkwater, Founding GP at Common Magic
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
Female startup founders forced to give up bigger stake than men to secure funding - JP Morgan’s Top 200 Women-Powered Businesses report shows that female founders raising equity funding have their stakes reduced by 5.3 % more than their male counterparts.
“For female-founded companies, there is a significant disparity between the equity stakes of equity-backed and non-equity-backed companies. This highlights that women are more adversely impacted by the dilutive effect of financing in contrast to men.”
Global fertility has collapsed, with profound economic consequences (The Economist $)
Across much of the world the fertility rate, the average number of births per woman, is collapsing. Although the trend may be familiar, its extent and its consequences are not. Even as artificial intelligence (AI) leads to surging optimism in some quarters, the baby bust hangs over the future of the world economy.
In 2000 the world’s fertility rate was 2.7 births per woman, comfortably above the “replacement rate” of 2.1, at which a population is stable. Today it is 2.3 and falling. The largest 15 countries by GDP all have a fertility rate below the replacement rate.
Thank you for reading FemWealth! 🥰 If you enjoyed this issue, please share it with a friend or teammate. Enjoy your Sunday!
Until next week,
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth