Which companies raised the most venture capital over the past three months?
The second quarter is just hours away from ending, which means it’s time for the first of what will be many lists. This one is the quarter’s largest venture capital deals.
I was fairly liberal in my interpretation of “venture capital,” but did try to exclude any money raised for the purpose of founder or early investor liquidity. I also didn’t list a $1.5 billion financing for 360buy.com from DST and Tiger Global, because there is too little information available about the transaction (and once we’re in the billions, my “that’s no longer VC” light begins blinking).
Here you go:
1(t). 55tuan.com: $200 million
A lot of this list consists of Chinese companies that look like knock-offs of American companies. In this case, 55tuan is one of many companies vying to become the Groupon of China. Investors in this massive Series A round included CDH Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Sky Blessing Investment and Zero2IPO Ventures. Upon announcing the deal, 55tuan said that it was prepping for a U.S. IPO — but no paperwork has yet been filed with the SEC.
1(t). LivingSocial: $200 million
LivingSocial is the Washington, D.C.-based Groupon rival (notice a theme yet?) That in early April announced that it had raised $400 million. A subsequent regulatory filing, however, showed that about half the money was being used for existing shareholder liquidity. Not surprising, but also why LivingSocial doesn’t get to sit alone atop our list. Shareholders include Grotech Ventures, Steve Case, U.S. Venture Partners, Amazon.com, Lightspeed Venture Partners, T. Rowe Price and Institutional Venture Partners.
3. BrightSource Energy: $168 million
BrightSource is an Oakland-based thermal power plant developer that is currently in registration for a $250 million IPO. This particular round came from Google (GOOG), to help complete construction on a solar power tower plant in the Mojave Desert. Some reports suggest that Brightsource also raised a $201 million VC round in Q2, but regulatory filings show that deal technically closed in Q1.
4. CSNStores: $165 million
Boston-based CSN Stores is a nine-year old online retailer of home goods, but had never raised outside funding until earlier this month. The round came from Battery Ventures, Great Hill Partners, HarbourVest Partners and Spark Capital.
5. Gilt Groupe: $138 million
Gilt is a New York-based “flash deal” retailer of luxury goods, and reportedly raised this round at a valuation in excess of $1 billion. Softbank Group led the deal with a $62.5 million commitment, and also agreed to back a 50/50 joint venture for Gilt Group Japan. Other new investors included Goldman Sachs, New Enterprise Associates, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Growth, Pinnacle Ventures, TriplePoint Capital and Eastward Capital. Return backers included General Atlantic and Matrix Partners.
6. Fisker Automotive: $115 million
Fisker is an Irvine, Calif.-based electric car maker that doesn’t always announce its financing events. Luckily, it does dutifully file with the SEC. This represents a Series C-1 round, which held a first close in May and a second one earlier this month. It previously raised around $540 million, plus a $528 million low-cost loan from the Department of Energy. Shareholders include New Enterprise Associates, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Palo Alto Investors.
7. Lashou.com: $111 million
The other Chinese company on our list, Lashou.com has been described as a combination of Groupon and Foursquare (or, perhaps, GrouponLive). Milestone Capital Partners and Richemont SA co-led this round. Lashou previously raised $55 million from Tenaya Capital, Norwest Venture, the Rebate Network and GSR Partners.
8. Tabula Inc.: $108 million
Tabula is a a Santa Clara, Calif.-based fabless semiconductor company focused on 3D programmable logic devices. This was a Series B round, following up on an equally-outsized $105 million Series A round. Crosslink Capital and DAG Ventures co-led the new infusion, and were joined by return backers Balderton Capital, Benchmark Capital, Greylock Partners, Integral Capital and New Enterprise Associates.
9. Cameron Health: $107 million
The first life sciences company on our list, Cameron Health is a San Clemente, Calif.-based maker of implantable defibrillators. Alloy Ventures and Delphi Ventures co-led this Series F round. No word on which existing shareholders also participated, but past investments came from such firms as Boston Scientific Corp., CDIB BioVentures, Investor Growth Capital, Pinnacle Ventures, PTV Sciences, Three Arch Partners and Versant Ventures.
10(t) Intrexon Corp.: $100 million
This is a Series E round for the Blacksburg, Va.-based synthetic biology company. New investors were not identified, but return backers included Third Security LLC and CEO Randal Kirk.
10(t) Square: $100 millio n
The San Francisco-based provider of mobile payment solutions reportedly raised this Series C funding at a pre-money valuation of $1 billion. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the round, and was joined by Tiger Global Management and return backers like Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures.
