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 March’s most-active startup investors here.
The big names came out strong with their checkbooks last month.
The top five firms investing in U.S.-based startups were a who’s who of venture: Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Lux Capital and Founders Fund. Those five firms made a combined 46 investments in U.S. startups in April.
In fact, April’s totals were a high for each firm this year.
As one would suspect, these firms didn’t just lead the pack in terms of deal volume, but also took part in some of the biggest rounds of the month. Let’s take a look at some of those deals.
General Catalyst, 10 deals
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm was one of three that made 10 investments into U.S.-based startups last month. That’s the most deals for General Catalyst in one month since last November.
The firm led Collaborative Robotics’ $100 million Series B and took part in Ramp’s $150 million round that valued the startup at $7.65 billion (actually, every firm on this list took part in that round).
General Catalyst also went heavy on the AI investing route with deals for the likes of cyber company Andesite AI and research startup Symbolica AI.
Khosla Ventures, 10 deals
Similar to General Catalyst, Khosla made the most deals last month with U.S. startups since last October when it completed 11 deals.
Also similar to General Catalyst, it took part in the rounds for Collaborative Robotics and Ramp (which it actually co-led). Khosla also participated in Varda’s $90 million Series B. The San Francisco-based startup manufactures pharmaceuticals in space in microgravity that may not be cost-effective to make on the ground.
Sequoia Capital, 10 deals
The last of the trio of firms that made 10 deals last month is Sequoia Capital. The VC giant has not done that many deals since before 2023.
Sequoia also went big. The firm participated in the Collaborative Robotics and Ramp deals. It also participated in the gigantic $1 billion raise by Xaira Therapeutics, a startup at the intersection of AI and biotech.
Finally, it co-led enterprise browser developer Island’s big $175 million Series D with Coatue that valued the company at $3 billion — doubling its last valuation from less than a year earlier.
Founders Fund, 8 deals
Founders Fund is next on the list with eight deals done last month. That’s more than it has done all year with U.S. startups, with only five investments through the first three months.
Last month’s Founders Fund deals included co-leading the Ramp deal and taking part in Rippling’s $200 million round that valued the San Francisco-based startup at $13.5 billion.
Founders Fund also led a $175 million investment for San Francisco-based Cognition, which valued the startup at $2 billion. The 6-month-old startup has developed an artificial intelligence–powered coding assistant called Devin.
Lux Capital, 8 deals
New York-based Lux rounds out our list. The eight announced deals matched its total for the first three months of the year.
It also took part in the deals for Collaborative Robotics, Ramp, Varda and Xaira, while co-leading a $32 million venture round for digitized documents startup Ripcord.
Also notable:
- FJ Labs, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV and 8VC 1 all came in next on the list with seven deals apiece.
- Khosla Ventures led the way in terms of the most led or co-led deals last month with six, followed by General Catalyst with five.
- Arch Venture Partners once again led the list for number of rounds led or co-led with the highest dollar amounts, leading or co-leading three rounds that in total were worth almost $1.4 billion. Of course, the firm’s biggest deal was co-leading Xaira Therapeutics’ massive $1 billion-plus raise with Foresite Capital.
- Y Combinator was the top investing incubator and accelerator once again last month, with an astounding 111 deals in April following its most recent demo day.
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
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