Although the Big Apple is never short on tech investment, this last month was chock-full of some pretty hefty funding rounds — even by New York standards. From cryptocurrency, to greentech, to artificial intelligence, these local standouts are at the forefront of some of today’s buzziest industries, and have big plans with their latest scores. Keep on reading to find out more.
#5. $300 million, January 4
OpenSea considers itself to be the first and largest “peer-to-peer marketplace” for crypto assets like NFTs, gaming items and other virtual goods backed by blockchain, likening itself to a eBay. Now valued at $13.3 billion, the startup has cemented itself as one of the most valuable private firms in the crypto space in light of this recent funding round, and will use the money to invest in product development and grow its team. The round was led by Coatue and Paradigm, and caps off a year of massive growth for both OpenSea and the burgeoning industry it’s a part of.
#4. $360 million, January 5
Fractal is a longtime leader in the artificial intelligence and analytics space, having spent the last 20 years providing giants like Google and Wells Fargo with its various AI-powered design and engineering solutions. This investment from TPG, which is expected to close this quarter, will be used to help the company scale as it reportedly prepares for an IPO. Until then, Fractal appears to be in the midst of a hiring spree, and has dozens of open tech positions at its 16 offices around the world.
#3. $510 million, January 11
Hot on the heels of its $335 million Series D, this fresh capital nearly doubled Back Market’s valuation to a whopping $5.7 billion. In just a few short years, the startup has garnered attention among consumers and prominent investors alike for its mission to reduce e-waste, selling refurbished electronic devices that are as good as new ones for a fraction of the price. Now, it’s just a matter of keeping up the momentum, and Back Market’s head of U.S. consumer and global support operations Lauren Benton says there is a lot of “legroom” for Back Market to take its business — and the larger circular economy — even further, adding that the company has “barely started.”
#2. $550 million, January 27
Fireblocks is the latest of many companies in the cryptocurrency space to hit new heights, and is now worth $8 billion in light of this recent funding, reportedly making it the highest-valued digital asset infrastructure provider in the world. The startup came out of stealth mode less than three years ago and has raised some $1 billion in venture capital since then — the most recent round of which before this one was a $310 million Series D in July that valued it at more than $2.2 billion. Now, flush with cash, Fireblocks is poised to dominate the industry even more as a wave of new companies across the financial and commercial sectors adopt cryptocurrency.
#1. $1 billion, January 12
This massive Series D came courtesy of more than half a dozen prominent investors, including Tiger Global, Dragoneer and Insight Partners, and values the global payments giant at an eye-watering $40 billion — making it just one of only a few tech startups to hit the coveted “dragon” valuation of $12 billion or more. This huge round and valuation also seem to be validation of the white-hot digital payments space Checkout.com is at the forefront of, providing a way to digitally move money between shoppers and retailers around the world. The fresh capital will allow the London-based startup to “double down” on its U.S. operations, and it plans to grow its headcount in NYC and elsewhere in the states by 200 percent this year.
