January’s 10 biggest rounds, Insight’s dramatic pullback, and Tom Brady's startup ventures - February 2, 2023

February 2, 2023 [10 biggest rounds: OpenAI begins year with a bang]( Hello, 2023! U.S.-based startups saw five rounds of more than $200 million in January. While the huge ​​[OpenAI]( round grabbed the spotlight, other sectors like health care, cybersecurity and renewable energy all raised big funds as well. [Insight Partners’ dealmaking slows substantially]( This New York-based private equity and growth investor was one of the busiest firms in 2021 and early 2022. But as many large late-stage growth investors pulled back, so did [Insight Partners]( — and quite dramatically as last year wore on. [His football career over, will Tom Brady focus on startup ventures?]( After announcing his retirement (again), [Tom Brady]( has stepped onto a very different field of play. The Super Bowl champion has a small footprint in the venture and startup world with investments in crypto, retail and education, and has co-founded two VC-backed startups himself. [Who’s Hiring In Tech? Recently funded companies with open roles]( We compile a list of funded startups that are actively hiring for multiple open positions and have not conducted reported layoffs in the past year. [Our Next Energy raises $300M as U.S. revs up EV industry]( Battery production startup [Our Next Energy]( sparked a new $1.2 billion valuation with its $300 million Series B, according to Crunchbase data. The U.S. government hopes to charge up that market after the rise of electric vehicles and the subsequent need for homegrown battery tech. [5 interesting deals: genetically engineered trees and space security]( Can humans really build a better tree? Biotech [Living Carbon]( is determined to try with a $21 million Series A. Its pine trees are designed to grow faster and capture more carbon. Plus, startup [SpiderOak]( offers cybersecurity in space with its zero-trust protocol in zero gravity. Crunchbase Pro: Searches and Lists Name Type Entries [Black Men in VC (List by Aaron McClendon)]( Identifiers 154 [Seed and venture funding in Germany-based companies in the last 6 months]( Funding Rounds 396 [Companies that went public in the last year]( Companies 1543 [More Featured Searches and Lists]( [Check out our Crunchbase solutions here]( – prospecting tools made for everyone Recent Investments [Pemex]( [$2.0B]( / [Debt Financing]( Pemix is an oil and gas company specializing in the production and distribution of petroleum products. Categories: Energy • Manufacturing • Natural Resources • Oil and Gas Founders: [Lázaro Cárdenas]( [Core Scientific]( [$70M]( / [Post-IPO Debt]( Core Scientific focuses on Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence hosting, transaction processing, and application development. Categories: Artificial Intelligence • Blockchain • Software Founders: [Darin Feinstein]( [Mike Levitt]( Investors: [B. Riley Financial]( (Lead) [Fairphone]( [49M EUR]( / [Venture Round]( Fairphone is an electronics manufacturer that creates smartphones. Categories: Consumer Electronics • Hardware • Product Design Founders: [Bas van Abel]( [Miguel Ballester]( Investors: [Invest-NL]( (Lead), [ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund]( [DALHAP Investments]( [+ 3 more]( More Fundings Company Amount / Round Lead Investor [Clearsense]( $50M / [Series D]( [HealthQuest Capital]( [Moov]( $45M / [Series B]( [Commerce Ventures]( [Hnry]( $35M / [Series B]( [AirTree Ventures]( [Coverflex]( 15M EUR / [Series A]( [SCOR Ventures]( [RocketRez]( $15M / [Series B]( [Level Equity Management]( [Profit.co]( $11M / [Series A]( [Elevation Capital]( [Bud]( Unknown / [Corporate Round]( [TransUnion]( [All Recent Funding Activity]( Recent Acquisitions [Scott Dunn]( Pending acquisition by [Flight Centre Travel Group]( for 211M AUD More Acquisitions Company Acquired By Amount [Thermocable]( [Halma plc]( 22M GBP [All Recent Acquisition Activity]( #{Rails.configuration.daily.cb_url} Discover innovative companies and the people behind them. [Follow Us on Crunchbase]( [View Jobs on LinkedIn]( [Follow Us on Twitter]( [Like Us on Facebook]( 564 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94104 © 2023 Crunchbase Inc. All rights reserved. [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Service]( [Unsubscribe]( from Crunchbase Daily.