The Consumer VC Roundup #63
Hey friends,
Wow, well that concludes three weeks of traveling for me…it’s great being home. My parents are coming out to visit at the end of this week (I can’t wait) and staying for 10 days then I’ll be back on the road to New York for The Whalies. I used to work in the music industry and seeing a show at Terminal 5 I always thought would be pretty sweet. Little did I know my first Terminal 5 experience would be an all eCommerce summit. I’m excited for it, I heard last year’s Whalies were great.
I’m also working on planning some events that might be in a city near you at the end of April 👀. If you want to learn more and/or sponsorship opportunities, feel free to reach out. Speaking of events, if you’re a brand operator or equity investor in New York City, we have a few extra spots at our Consumer Brews on Thursday, March 28th produced by Manufactured, VHS Ventures, and Dash.fi.
You can Sign Up Here if interested.
On to our fundraising update, but first –
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💻Consumer Software💻
🛜 Airvine, the first company to develop a multi-Gigabit-speed wireless backhaul system for indoor connectivity, announced closing a Series A funding round led by Crosslink Capital as they will use the funding for ongoing product development and to expand the sales team. PR Newswire
☁️ FundGuard, the fully cloud-native, AI-powered, multi-asset class investment accounting platform for asset managers, asset owners, custodian banks and fund administrators, announced closing a $100M Series C funding round led by Key1 Capital, Euclidean Capital, and Hamilton Lane. Business wire
🔍 Ultrahuman, an India-based health monitoring company, raised $35M in Series B funding led by Blume Ventures, Steadview Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Alpha Wave and Zomato founder Deepinder Goya to build further manufacturing capacity and research in the health tracking space. Finsmes
💰 Belong, a new wealth-building platform, has launched after securing €3.4 million in pre-seed funding led by Avion Gray and Samantha Rosenberg as well as other investors including Octopus Ventures, Viola Fintech, Connect Ventures, Portage Ventures and January Ventures, along with other Fintech angel investors. EU Startups
🛍️Consumer Brands / Inventory-Based Businesses🛍️
🏎️ Lucid Motors is raising $1 billion from Ayar Third Investment, an affiliate of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, as it looks to blunt the high costs associated with building and selling its luxury electric sedan. Tech Crunch
🩸 The Flex Co., the period care brand, has received a disclosed amount from Justin Verlander and Kate Upton. Beauty Independent
🕯️ Scent Lab has brought on board Ali Kriegsman (former COO and co-founder of Bulletin) as co-founder and CMO and raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by Midnight Venture Partners, backer of Olipop and Jolie, and Palm Tree Crew, backer of Poppi and Daring Foods. Beauty Independent
🍾 Heywell, the sparkling water brand, announced Alethia Venture Partners’ lead investment in heywell’s first strategic funding round, led by serial entrepreneur Mike Warren. Bevnet
👶🏻 Lalo, a NYC-based baby product brand, closed a new equity round for an undisclosed amount with Forecast Labs, a consumer venture group that’s a division of Comcast. Finsmes
🛒eCommerce & Retail Tech🛒
💲 Goalsetter, the spending, saving, wealth building and financial education platform designed for the whole family, announced closing a $9.6 million Series A extension round led by an affiliate of Edward Jones and MassMutual through its MM Catalyst Fund. Series A investors Fiserv, Webster Bank, Seae Ventures, Astia Fund, and Partnership Fund for New York City also participated in the round along with new investors Reseda Group and InTouchCU. PR Newswire
📱 Fetch, America's rewards app, has secured $50 million in debt financing from Morgan Stanley Private Credit. This infusion of capital will prime Fetch for another year of growth as they accelerate their journey to become the first global rewards-for-everything platform. PR Newswire
📦 Ingrid, the Swedish online shopping delivery startup, has raised €21 million to fuel the growth of their business using data science and some big ideas about how delivery will evolve in the years ahead. Tech Crunch
💸M&A💸
🍹 Sazerac, which owns brands like Fireball Cinnamon Whisky and Buffalo Trace Bourbon, is buying BuzzBallz, a ready-to-drink cocktail business, for an undisclosed amount to elevate their presence in the mixed drinks category. Food Dive
💰Funds Raising Funds💰
💄 Elevate Beauty Ventures, the new platform to invest in early-stage, highly differentiated beauty and wellness brands created by L Catterton, reportedly sees the growth fund investing between $15 million to $125 million per deal. Beauty Packaging
🏪Distribution Expansion🏪
🍼 Beech-Nut Nutrition Co., the baby & toddler foods company, is launching two lines of prebiotic-focused products to its lineup of foods for babies and toddlers. Organic Fruit & Yogurt Jars with Prebiotics for babies six months or older and Smoothies with Prebiotics for babies 12 months or older. Food Business News
🪮 Nexxus, the Unilever owned beauty brand, has partnered with model and entrepreneur Sofia Richie Grainge to launch its new 11-piece haircare collection. Beauty Packaging