Morning VC Brief丨2025.01.17

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00. TL;DR

1/ B2B GenAI Video Platform Synthesia raises $180M at $2.1B

2/ Biotech Startup Colossal Biosciences raises $200M at $10.2B

3/ Reusable Medium-lift Rocket Startup Stoke Space raises $260M

4/ Space Tech Startup Loft Orbital raises $170M Series C

5/ Crypto Wallet Startup Phantom raises $150M at $3B

6/ Automated Architectural Solutions qbiq raises $16M Series A

7/ AI Platform for Plaintiff Law Firms Eve raises $47M Series A

8/ AI Treasury Management Platform Nilus raises $18M

9/ AI Fashion Startup Raspberry AI raises $24M Series A

01. Venture News

1/ B2B GenAI Video Platform Synthesia raises $180M at $2.1B

Synthesia creates studio-quality videos with AI avatars and voiceovers in 140+ languages. Synthesia has 60,000 businesses as customers now. This round was led by NEA with participation from World Innovation Lab, Atlassian Ventures, GV and more. Link

2/ Biotech Startup Colossal Biosciences raises $200M at $10.2B

Colossal Biosciences is on a mission to bring back the woolly mammoth and two other extinct species. Colossal’s approach to bringing back extinct animals involves mapping the entire genome of the species and then comparing it to their closest living relative. This round was backed by TWG Global and Thomas Tull. Link

3/ Reusable Medium-lift Rocket Startup Stoke Space raises $260M

Stoke Space is one of only two entities globally to successfully develop and test a full-flow staged combustion engine, the type of rocket engine with the highest possible efficiency. This round was backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Seven Seven Six, and more. Link

4/ Space Tech Startup Loft Orbital raises $170M Series C

Loft Orbital leases space on satellites for any organization to collect information about the Earth, from space. Loft sold out over 30 satellites, representing $500M in lifetime bookings with customers such as NASA, Microsoft, BAE Systems, the US Space Force. This round was led by Tikehau Capital and Axial Partners with participation from Bpifrance, Foundation Capital, Temasek, and more. Link

5/ Crypto Wallet Startup Phantom raises $150M at $3B

Phantom has become the most dominant crypto wallet in the world with 15 million monthly active users. In November and December, their active traders, trading revenue, and trading volume were multiples higher than MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet—combined. This round was led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm with participation from a16z crypto and Variant. Link 

6/ Automated Architectural Solutions qbiq raises $16M Series A

qbiq enables non-architects and architect users alike to immediately plan, visualize and optimize any given space. This round was led by Insight Partners with participation from M-Fund Club, 10D and more. Link

7/ AI Platform for Plaintiff Law Firms Eve raises $47M Series A

Eve handles the heavy lifting of legal cases—from intake to resolution. In the last eight months, Eve has achieved 5x revenue growth and partnered with more than 80 new law firms, leading to an 800 percent increase in its customer base within a year. This round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures. Link

8/ AI Treasury Management Platform Nilus raises $18M

Nilus is an AI-powered cash management platform designed to help fast-growing companies. This round was led by Felicis and Vesey Ventures with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Better Tomorrow Ventures, and more. Link 

9/ AI Fashion Startup Raspberry AI raises $24M Series A

Raspberry AI provides an AI image-generation platform designed to help retail brands increase revenue and speed to market by understanding consumer demand and creating highly sought-after designs and marketing assets. This round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Greycroft, Correlation Ventures, MVP Ventures, and more. Link