💸 Reshma Sohoni's Seedcamp Closes $180M Fund
FemWealth Issue #111
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
In the Spotlight 💸
Co-founded and led by Reshma Sohoni - one of Europe’s first early-stage investors - London-based Seedcamp launched its oversubscribed Seedcamp Fund VI with $180 million (€165M) in capital commitments.
“When we started out 15 years ago, we said Europe needed access to capital, basic knowledge on company building, and role models. Today, Europe’s needs have matured significantly, and it’s now all about speed, coverage, and quality, something we pride ourselves on at Seedcamp and that we know resonates with both our Founders and LPs.” - Reshma Sohoni, Seedcamp Founding Partner
Sector-agnostic in its approach, Seedcamp’s investment team aims to back the next 100 most ambitious European companies, building foundational technologies spanning sectors, including Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, open source software, health tech, fintech, and more. It will lead investment and write first cheques of up to $1 million, from Angel to Seed rounds.
The new fund is backed by over 200 institutions, Angels, and members of the Seedcamp community, including Vintage IP, TIFF, Ref Cap, Harbourvest, LGT, Legal & General, Will Neale (Grabyo), Ilkka Paananen (Supercell), Shakil Khan (Prima Materia), and Kärt Siilats (GoBeyondCapital).
The firm’s leadership team, which includes Directors Natasha Lytton and Antonia Whitecourt, is 50% female.
Seedcamp’s portfolio includes publically listed UIPath (NYSE: PATH) and Wise (LON: WISE), a total of 9 unicorns, and several fast-growing female-led or -focused companies, such as Peppy Health (women’s health), Gaia Family (IVF insurance), a.o.
You can see the deck Seedcamp used to raise Seedcamp Fund VI here.
P.S. Today’s “In the Spotlight” is extra special for me, as I have the pleasure of working with Reshma and the Seedcamp team in my day job.
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Moon Surgical raises $55.4M to support surgical robot platform - Led by Anne Osdoit, the French-American company develops its medical robotics system to help surgeons in soft tissue surgical procedures. It raised $55.4 million in an extended Series A from Sofinnova and NVIDIA.
Prime Roots Raises $30M in Series B Funding to Roll Out the First-of-its-Kind Plant-Based Deli Meats Nationwide - Founded and led by Kimberlie Le, California, US-based Prime Roots produces plant-based meats from koji mycelium. It raised a $30 million Series B round led by True Ventures, with Pangaea Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Solasta Ventures, and Top Tier Capital also participating.
African B2B e-commerce startup Sabi tops $300M valuation in new funding. Co-founded and led by Anu Adedoyin Adasolum, the Lagos-based B2B e-commerce startup providing digital commerce infrastructure to Africa’s informal economy raised $38 million in Series B funding. Investors include CommerzVentures, Norrsken22, Fluent Ventures, Proof VC, CRE Ventures, and Jaango.
Laguna Health lands $15 million Series A for AI-powered contextual care platform - The Israeli startup, co-founded by Yael Peled Adam (CPO), integrates medical care plans with social, emotional, and cultural factors to help care managers better support patients’ recovery and ongoing care. The company announced the initial close of its Series A funding round of $15 million, co-led by SemperVirens and HC9 Ventures.
Revolut and Ledger alumni quietly raise €12m for new crypto startup Deblock - Co-founded by Revolut’s former COO Adriana Restrepo, the London-based company is building a non-custodial crypto wallet and off-ramping banking service, which enables users to access, store, deposit, exchange, and cash out cryptocurrencies. It announced a €12m seed round raised in October 2022 from 20VC, Headline, Hoxton Ventures, Kima Ventures, and Kraken Ventures.
Tiger Global-backed Axis launches digital payments platform for Egyptian SMEs months after its $8.25M seed - The Egyptian fintech, co-founded by Nada Abdelnour (Chief Growth Officer), offers a digital banking alternative for small businesses and their employees. The launch of its digital payments platform comes almost 18 months after Axis received $8.25 million in a seed round co-led by Tiger Global, Sawari Ventures, and Raba, with participation from Firstminute Capital, RaliCap, and angel investors.
Neura Health, Supporting People Living With Chronic Neurological Conditions, Secures $8 Million In Funding. The New York-based virtual neurology clinic, co-founded and led by Elizabeth Burstein, provides telemedicine services for conditions such as migraines, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis. It raised an $8 million seed round co-led by Koch Disruptive Technologies and Norwest Venture Partners and joined by Pear VC, Next Play Ventures, Correlation Ventures, and Plug and Play Ventures.
This UK startup plans to radically shake up the antiquated world of COPD measurement - Co-founded and led by Dr. Ameera Patel, TidalSense developed a medical device (N-Tidal) that detects changes in lung function sensitively and enables quicker, more accurate, and automated diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The UK-based health tech company closed a £7.5 million ($9.3 million) fundraising round led by BGF and Downing Ventures.
Jia, a blockchain-based lender of small businesses in emerging markets, raises $4.3 million seed - Co-founded by Cheng Cheng, the blockchain-based fintech provides loans to micro and small businesses in emerging markets. Jia is currently operating in Kenya and the Philippines and exploring new markets in West Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It raised $4.3 million in seed funding, and an additional $1 million commitment for on-chain liquidity, in a round led by TCG Crypto, with participation from BlockTower, Hashed Emergent, Saison Capital, Global Coin Research, and angel investors.
London’s Deployed sees $4 million deployed in its direction - Co-founded by Emma Rees (CEO) and Kayleigh Kuptz (COO), Deployed is a scoping platform that makes it simple to write, edit, and publish Statements of Works for projects. Its $4 million seed round was co-led by Amrock Ventures and M12 Microsoft Ventures, with participation from Portfolio Ventures, Mayfield Fund, HERmesa, and Angel Academe.
Tangible wants to scale up construction decarbonization - Co-founded by Anneli Tostar (CEO) and Nicole Granath, Tangible is developing a tool for finding, managing, and reporting on lower-carbon, more sustainable building materials. It raised $3 million in a seed round led by early-stage construction tech investor Foundamental and Fifty Years, alongside co-investors Redstone Built World Fund, Pi Labs, Asymmetric, and Deco Ventures.
Pale Blue Dot backs Amini, an African climate tech startup solving environmental data scarcity - Founded and led by Kate Kallot, Amini is a Nairobi, Kenya-based climate tech startup focused on solving Africa’s environmental data gap through artificial intelligence and satellite technology. It raised $2 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round led by Pale Blue Dot, including Superorganism, RaliCap, W3i, Emurgo Kepple Ventures, and a network of angel investors.
Seattle startup raises $2M to make healthcare pricing data more transparent - Co-founded by Ana-Maria Constantin, Cascade Health is developing an AI-powered software that aims to increase healthcare pricing transparency for enterprises and consumers by using data recently made public by hospitals and insurance companies. It raised a $2 million pre-seed round.
FemTherapeutics Raises $1.8 Million To Advance Women’s Health With Its Patient-Specific Gynecological Prosthetics - FemTherapeutics, a Montréal, Canada-based startup, co-founded by Negin Ashouri (CTO) and Inara Lalani, is building a customisable gynecological prosthetic to address pelvic health conditions. It raised a $1.85 million round led by 2048 Ventures, with participation from Investissement Quebec, The51 Ventures, and Sheboot.
HR DataHub raises £1.4 million for HR teams to give themselves a performance review by benchmarking themselves against competitors - The UK-based startup, co-founded by Alexa Grellet (COO), shares insights and industry-specific data in HR performance to enable companies to benchmark themselves with the performance levels of their competitors.
VC: Genoa Ventures raising $100M for third biotech fund (Axios $) - San Francisco-based VC firm Genoa Ventures is founded and led by Managing Partner Jenny Rooke, PhD.
“Women are 80% of the health care workforce, make 80% of household health care decisions, and spend 29% more per-capita on health care than men. They live longer, are more likely to have chronic health care conditions, and see health care providers more regularly than men.
They are also more likely than men to experience adverse drug effects, Alzheimer’s, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis, among others. Other conditions — such as endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome and pre-eclampsia — affect them exclusively.” - Linda Greub, co-founder and managing partner of Avestria
VC funding of women climate tech founders is abysmal. Here’s how it could improve (TechCrunch+ $)
SpaceTech: Ahead of next Starship launch, SpaceX hires key NASA human spaceflight head - NASA’s former head of human spaceflight Kathy Lueders joined SpaceX.
ConsummerTech: How powerful is your favorite brand? A new tool from the VC firm behind Warby Parker can tell you - Kirsten Green’s Forerunner Ventures launched the Brand Power Score to help companies assess how impactful their brands are.
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
Women’s health research lacks funding – these charts show how
Ninety years since the first Tampax, why aren’t there better menstrual products?
“Young girls are conditioned to view their periods as dirty and shameful, the theory goes, so they grow into adults who believe that menstruation should be a private, silent experience. Essentially, people take what they can get and shut up about it.”
Thank you for reading FemWealth! 🥰 If you enjoyed this issue, please share it with a friend.
Until next Sunday,
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth