附近上门

This is a monthly feature that runs down 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. Check out last month鈥檚 feature here.

Even as talk persisted of a slowdown in venture dollars going to startups and valuations being cut, the likes of , , and all announced more deals in U.S.-based startups last month than they did in January.

However, that does not mean those firms invested more dollars or at the same valuations they did in earlier periods. It also is likely many of these rounds announced were closed late last year or in January. Nevertheless, the numbers do seem to show strong deal flow was still to be had among big-name firms.

Let鈥檚 look at the 10 most active investors in U.S.-based startups last month:

Gaingels, 24 deals

New York-based again led the way in number of investments for the month with two dozen in February. The firm鈥攚hich invests in companies with diverse and inclusive leadership teams鈥攈ad a large variety of startup interest last month, ranging from San Francisco-based , an app that claims to help couples stay in love, to Los Angeles-based , a 3D animation platform that enables users to create cinema-quality animated content.

But the deal that caught our attention was the $16.2 million round it took part in for . The Redmond, Washington-based company offers 鈥渟pace-as-a-service鈥濃�攂asically offering data, sensor and satellite services to collect data from the final frontier that could be used for commercial purposes or other needed intelligence. It鈥檚 a very different kind of SaaS than we鈥檙e used to.

Tiger Global, 23 deals

There鈥檚 been a lot of talk of Tiger pulling back on some of the large growth rounds it funded and focusing more on early rounds. While that all could be true, Tiger still remains ferociously busy. Not only did the New York-based investment firm take part in nearly two dozen deals involving U.S.-based startups last month, it led or co-led 16 of those rounds鈥攁 number beat only by Insight Partners鈥� 17 deals for the month.

It鈥檚 also interesting to note Tiger took part in some huge rounds, such as Philadelphia-based聽 鈥� $222 million Series D at a $4.2 billion valuation, San Francisco-based 鈥檚聽 $200 million Series D at a $1.2 billion valuation, and San Francisco-based 鈥檚 $250 million Series D at a more than $3 billion valuation.

However, the most interesting round may be the $150 million Series E that Tiger led in Atlanta-based , which has developed a public safety operating system being used in more than 1,500 cities to fight crime. The platform uses devices in the field that capture evidence鈥攕uch as license plates鈥攁nd machine learning to create and deliver 鈥渦nbiased鈥� investigative leads to law enforcement.

Insight Partners, 20 deals

Like Tiger, Insight Partners upped its number of deals from January to February鈥攁nnouncing 20 compared to 15, and leading or co-leading 17 compared to 10.

The most eye-catching of those rounds may be the $20 million it invested into Berkeley, California-based startup . The company detects signs of clinical depression and anxiety from short clips of free-form speech. With everyone talking about mental health today鈥攁nd taking it more seriously鈥攖he idea to spot problems early, close mental health care gaps, and possibly save lives is certainly an interesting investment.

Andreessen Horowitz, 17 deals

Andreessen Horowitz took part in a few rounds already mentioned, including those for dbt Labs and Flock Safety, but the most noticeable round may be one it led.

While the VC giant led rounds in startups including San Francisco-based e-commerce tool and San Francisco-based freight forwarder , the deal that caught our eye was the $60 million Series A into metaverse land developer .

The New York-based company, formerly called Republic Realm, invests in and develops virtual land plots in -based metaverse game worlds such as The Sandbox, which is also an investor鈥攌ind of like a of the digital world.

The digital land developer also has attracted other big-name firms like , and even , someone whose family knows something about land development.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, 14 deals

Speaking of Lightspeed Venture Partners, the firm is next on the list with 14 deals announced last month, up from 10 in January and only four in February 2021.

The firm also participated in one of the most interesting rounds (to us) last month when it co-led with a new $200 million 鈥淪eries C-1鈥� round for San Francisco-based . The new round tripled the company鈥檚 valuation to $10.2 billion in less than four months.

Alchemy bills itself as the of blockchain in the sense that it provides tools and hosting for those wanting to transact on blockchain and Web3鈥攋ust as did for those who wanted hosted businesses on the cloud. Startups helping push Web3 developers are starting to see significant heat, and Lightspeed struck fast in the space last month.

Y Combinator, 13 deals

is always active, but the majority of its investments tend to lean toward software鈥攁t least according to 附近上门 data.

That鈥檚 why its investment in Long Beach, California-based was noticeable. The company is an aircraft startup that makes hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft for regional mobility. The company seeks to cut travel time in half on some of the busiest regional routes. Its website uses the example of cutting travel between Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco and Santa Monica down to less than two hours, whereas travel via a commercial flight would take more than four hours.

It鈥檚 sometimes hard to keep track of everything going on in aviation between space, VTOL and other private aviation companies. However, Odys and companies including San Francisco-based , which develops technologies for VTOL aircrafts and closed a $40 million round last year, show interest remains in the space.

SoftBank Vision Fund, 13 deals

It鈥檚 hard to pick out just one round when you look at , because the fund is not just busy鈥攊t鈥檚 busy juggling large rounds. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 last month led a $425 million Series E for Fremont, California-based e-grocer , and a $1.35 billion round for San Francisco-based . Along with that, it participated in a $935 million round for and a $450 million round for India-based .

It鈥檚 also notable that SoftBank is doubling down on its investing strategy. While the firm announced 13 deals in February鈥攃ompared to nine in January鈥攚hat is really striking is that it had only announced four deals through the first two months of last year.

Also notable

• Both and were next on the list with 12 deals last month, followed by , and with 10 each.
• Insight and Tiger finished first and second in rounds led or co-led in February. SoftBank Vision Fund was next with 10 rounds led or co-led, followed by Andreessen Horowitz with six, and with five.
• Softbank Vision Fund led or co-led rounds worth the most鈥攚ith the 10 rounds it led totaling $3 billion. Tiger Global, Andreessen Horowitz and also led or co-led rounds that in total were worth $1 billion or more last month.

Illustration: .