The Bay Area is bustling as usual with new developments on the tech scene. Read up on the latest news from funding rounds to companies planning to go public. This is the Built In SF weekly refresh.
Vivino pulled in $155M. The alcohol e-commerce industry has been buzzing since the start of the pandemic, leading Vivino to raise new funding to keep up with demand. Its mobile wine app lets users share wine recommendations and reviews. The Series C funding co-led by Kinnevik and Sprints Capital will go toward improving its platform’s recommendation feature with AI tech. [Built In SF]
Databricks raised $1B. The data analytics company’s cloud-based product works to help enterprises cut the costs of legacy data structures, enabling data teams to collaborate and make faster innovations. The Series G funding led by investor Franklin Templeton will go toward scaling its product and hiring new team members as the company continues to grow. [Built In SF]
SF Tech Quote of the Week
23andMe is going public. The DNA testing company has entered a deal with special purpose acquisition company VG Acquisition Corp. SPAC mergers have been growing in popularity as of late since companies can pull in more funding faster than when filing an IPO. With the new merger, 23andMe has reached a valuation of $3.5 billion, and it is projected that the deal will close during Q2 of this year. [Built In SF]
Good Eggs got $100M. Following a funding round led by Glade Brook Capital Partners, the online grocery delivery platform is expanding into the Southern California region. The grocer offers items ranging from meal kits to flower bouquets. As part of its expansion, it anticipates hiring up to 1,000 new team members. To date, the company has accumulated $165 million in total funding. [Built In SF]
Brightwheel raised $55M. This early education startup is working to help schools make digital transformations in teaching young students. Its software platform for institutions including preschools and the like helps administrators manage operations and teachers manage their classrooms. With the Series C funding led by Addition, Brightwheel is looking to hire new team members in San Francisco and remotely. [Built In SF]
DroneDeploy secured $50M. The Series E round was co-led by Energize Ventures and AirTree. The drones powered by its enterprise software collect and analyze visual data from job sites, operations and assets. With the fresh capital, Drone Deploy is looking to expand into Europe and make its software compatible with image-capturing ground robots. [Built In SF]
In more VC funding news: Rescale, a hybrid HPC cloud platform that supports digital R&D, pulled in a $50 million Series C from investors including Hitachi Ventures. [FinSMEs]
Weights and Biases closed on a $45 million Series B to further its platform that helps users build and collaborate on machine learning models and operations. It’s also growing its engineering, growth, sales and customer success teams. [PR Newswire]
Observability startup Honeycomb secured a $20 million Series B led by e.ventures Growth in order to accelerate its product development and innovate its customer approach. [PR Newswire]
