Most-Active US Investors In February: General Catalyst Goes Big In Slow Month

This is a monthly feature that runs down some of the most-active investors in U.S.-based companies, looks at some of their most interesting investments, and includes some odds and ends of who spent what. See January’s most-active startup investors here.

February is a short month and this year it was very slow for some of the big-name venture firms.

In fact, only General Catalyst recorded a double-digit number of deals last month, taking part in 15 and leading or co-leading a handful. Lightspeed Venture Partners was the only other firm that took part in more than a half-dozen deals involving U.S.-based startups last month.

General Catalyst, 15 deals

It may have been a slow month for most firms, but not for General Catalyst — which had its busiest month in more than a year when it came to investing in U.S.-based startups.

And not only did General Catalyst invest in a lot of rounds — it went big. The firm co-led, along with Saudi Arabia’s Prosperity7 Ventures, the massive $305 million funding round for Together AI at a $3.3 billion valuation. The startup makes a cloud platform for developers to build on open and custom artificial intelligence models.

General Catalyst also led the $200 million Series E for Verkada, a developer of security systems for the real world, and took part in autonomous surface vessels maker Saronic’s $600 million Series C led by investor Elad Gil and Eikon Therapeutics’ $351 million Series D.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, 8 deals

Lightspeed Venture Partners had its busiest month since last October, investing in eight rounds involving U.S.-based startups.

The VC giant co-led satellite platform developer K2 Space’s $110 million Series B with Altimeter Capital.

It also participated in a slew of big rounds, including the previously mentioned Saronic round, medical document startup Abridge’s $250 million round co-led by Elad Gil and IVP, and application security startup Semgrep’s $100 million Series D funding led by Menlo Ventures.

Andreessen Horowitz, 6 deals

Unlike General Catalyst and Lightspeed, Andreessen Horowitz had an unusually slow month, consummating just a half-dozen deals — its lowest total since last April.

The firm also didn’t lead or co-lead any big rounds. It did take part in Saronic’s massive raise, as well as AI-powered fraud detection platform Sardine’s $70 million Series C led by Activant Capital, and San Francisco-based usage-based billing platform Metronome’s $50 million Series C led by New Enterprise Associates.

First Round Capital, 6 deals

Philadelphia-based First Round Capital makes this list for the first time as it doubled its investment totals from January.

The biggest round the early-stage investor took part in last month was the previously mentioned K2 Space round.

First Round also took part in the $49 million Series B for San Francisco-based Fal, a generative media platform for developers to create applications. It also led a $6.5 million round for legal tech startup And AI.

Also notable:

• z21 Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Spark Capital, Soma Capital and Bain Capital Ventures all came in next on the list with five deals each.
• Menlo Ventures and General Catalyst led the way in most-led or co-led deals in February with a three apiece.
• General Catalyst led the way in terms of number of rounds led or co-led with the highest dollar amounts — with the three rounds totaling $610 million.
• Y Combinator once again was the top investing incubator and accelerator with 24 deals in February.

Related reading:

• Together AI’s Valuation Jumps To $3.3B After New Round
• Security Systems Startup Verkada Hits $4.5B Valuation After Series E
• Biotech Startup Eikon Therapeutics Locks Up Massive $351M Series D
• Application Security Startup Semgrep Locks Down $100M Series D
• Fraud Detection Startup Sardine AI Wraps Up $70M Series C

Methodology

This is a list of investors which took part in the most rounds involving U.S.-based startups. It does not include incubators or accelerators due to the fluctuations their investment numbers can have.

Illustration: Dom Guzman