With a variety of developments underway on the West Coast, find out what these Bay Area tech companies are up to with new funding and more. This is the Built In SF weekly refresh.
Bay Area tech companies donate to bolster the AAPI community. Asian-American business owners took to the Wall Street Journal to speak out in support of the AAPI community in light of recent racially fueled attacks. Contributors voiced their resolve to fight violence and discrimination against Asians. Big names like Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and YouTube co-founder Steve Chen are part of a list of donors that pledged $10 million to community-based organizations aimed at taking action against harassment. [CBS SF]
Next Insurance pulled in $250M. Now a unicorn four times over, the insurtech company serves about 200,000 customers, providing small business owners with general liability, worker’s compensation and similar policies. The fresh cash led by FinTLV Ventures and Battery Ventures will help it expand its product offering and its team. Next Insurance currently has listings for dozens of roles based out of its Palo Alto office. [Built In SF]
Tonal raised $250M. Dragoneer led the home fitness company’s oversubscribed Series E. Tonal saw huge growth last year with its AI-based workout system, and now it’s looking to invest in accelerating marketing and content initiatives, expanding its manufacturing capacity, and hiring new talent across departments like engineering and operations. [Built In SF]
SF Tech Quote of the Week
Pilot adds $40M. With the latest addition to its now $100 million Series C round, the fintech company is planning to invest in its team. Pilot’s platform helps SMBs with services like billing, banking and payroll in the absence of a finance team. Whale Rock Capital led the extension round that’ll enable Pilot to hire in departments including product, sales, people and engineering. [Built In SF]
6sense got $125M. The company’s AI-powered platform works to help revenue teams better engage with their buyers by using past data to inform them of their prospects. Its Series D round was led by D1 Capital partners and will enable 6sense to invest in its platform’s predictive capabilities and build out its team. It has positions open at its San Francisco HQ in customer success, design, data and more. [Built In SF]
Substack secured $65M. Having seen success in its newsletter subscription publishing platform, Substack announced its plans to raise a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz to invest in its writers. Of said writers, singer-songwriter Patti Smith is joining the Substack family with her writing on books, movies and more. Substack is planning moves like expanding its financing program and growing its team with its new funding. [Substack]
In more VC funding news: Brighton Park Capital invested $125 million in Opswat, allowing the infrastructure protection services startup to bolster its R&D and hiring efforts as it searches for new customer acquisitions. [Venture Beat]
San Mateo-based Manticore Games closed on a $100 million Series C round led by XN to launch Core, its arcade-like selection of free games created by users later this month on the Epic Games Store. [BusinessWire]
Cresta closed on a $50 million Series B round led by Sequoia Capital to further the development of its AI-powered Cresta Expertise Engine and fuel company growth. [FinSMEs]
Based in Palo Alto, Productive secured $45 million to invest in expanding operations and business reach with its SaaS enterprise management platform. IVP led the Series C round. [FinSMEs]
With $40 million in Series C funding led by Transformation Capital, Cleo is looking to further its family benefits platform for employers. Its total funding to date totals $83 million. [BusinessWire]
