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.

Although venture funding has hit a dip in North America鈥攁苍诲 globally鈥攕everal big-name firms stayed active in the U.S. market in March.

Seven firms took part in a dozen or more funding deals to U.S.-based startups in March, including big names such as , and . While that seems like a significant number, it is off from 13 firms participating in a dozen or more deals in March 2021.

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

Gaingels, 21 deals

New York-based has been as busy as any firm when it comes to investing in domestic startups. For the third straight month it led the way while investing in more than 20 companies. The firm鈥攚hich invests in companies with diverse and inclusive leadership teams鈥攁lso spreads out its investments into a variety of sectors, ranging from no-code platforms () to fintech () to foodtech ().

One of the smaller rounds Gaingels participated in last month was an $800,000 pre-seed round for Newport Beach, California-based . The company鈥檚 app helps users track their mood, find better relaxation and improve their mental health through music therapy. It can even incorporate emergency contacts a user may want notified if they are dealing with issues.

Mental health has become something everyone pays more attention to these days, and new ways to tackle it certainly attracts investors.

Andreessen Horowitz, 17 deals

We鈥檝e kind of been taken by the money pouring into Web3 developers and all aspects of the decentralized web鈥攅specially after India-based closed a $450 million round at a reported $13 billion valuation, and San Francisco-based raised a $200 million 鈥淪eries C-1鈥� that valued the company at $10.2 billion earlier this year.

Andreessen Horowitz also must have been noticing. The firm led a $200 million 鈥渟trategic鈥� investment in Palo Alto, California-based valuing it at $1 billion. The company was founded by ex- employees, and the round included other notable investors Tiger Global, and , according to . The company is creating a Layer 1 system blockchain, meaning it will not sit on Ethereum or another network, but be its own decentralized network.

Tiger Global, 17 deals

While much has been made about a potential Tiger pull back in the market, its numbers remain on par with last year.

One of the places it invested in last month was a platform that helps with, well, investments. Tiger led a $100 million round at a $4 billion pre-money valuation for startup, investment and employment site . While the 12-year-old site helps others find investment, it traditionally has not taken in a lot of engagement itself. It now has raised just more than $125 million, according to 附近上门 data. However, the company had an eventful 2021, saying in a that almost 200 unicorns raised capital from GPs on AngelList, and 19 companies went public.

Alumni Ventures, 15

had a busy March, making 15 investments in U.S.-based startups. While that number is down from last March when it participated in 24 rounds, it also is still on a similar pace overall鈥攈aving taken part in 51 U.S.-based deals in the first quarter compared to 58 in the first quarter last year.

One of its more interesting deals is part of a larger overall trend going on鈥攊ncreased investment in artificial intelligence. Although the promise of AI has been around for a long time, the ability to execute on the idea has been difficult due modern-day limitations concerning compute and memory.

Mountain View, California-based is looking to push past those boundaries. The company closed a $105 million Series A鈥攚hich included an investment from co-founder . Luminous is building a supercomputer capable of more easily running sophisticated AI applications.

The AI space seems to be heating up, as others also have attracted interest. Sunnyvale, California-based AI computer system developer raised a $250 million Series F last November, and in February, San Jose, California-based closed a $56 million Series A.

Insight Partners, 14 deals

While Insight Partners concentrated its investing last month on tried-and-true enterprise software and other technologies, it also dabbled in NFTs () and even bees ().

However, the deal that caught our attention didn鈥檛 involve an emerging market or odd sector. Instead it was all about speed.

Insight led a $115 million Series B in Dallas-based , which offers an enterprise browser that the company says enhances both security and productivity of workers. What鈥檚 unusual about that? The round valued Island at $1.3 billion鈥攋ust seven weeks after it came out of stealth and announced a $100 million Series A.

While the venture market seems to be showing signs of slowing and valuations declining, there are moments when you question reality.

Sequoia Capital, 14 deals

Although may be no stranger to this list, investing in a company such as Chicago-based is not exactly how the firm has made its name.

Sequoia led an $8.5 million seed round into the platform鈥攚hich offers access to a community of experts to help people get discovered. The idea behind Protege is to level out the opportunity for anyone to get 鈥渇ound鈥� and get personal one-on-one advice from those in the know. Sequoia was not the only noticeable name in the round, as , NBA star and also participated in the round.

Y Combinator, 12 deals

takes part in a lot of seed rounds every month, but one caught our eye鈥攅specially in this exploding housing market.

The startup accelerator participated in a $2 million seed round for Kansas City-based . The company has a simple business mode鈥攊t lets you become the landlord for rental properties. HomeRoom sources properties in cities that are attractive to young people, arranges capital and construction, vets tenants and even collects rents. It renovates the properties it buys in just about 20 days before finding renters.

With rents rising on inflation, others may soon be attracted to similar models.

Also notable

• Rounding out the top 10 investors by deal count is with 11, and both and with nine.
• Insight finished first in rounds led or co-led in March with a dozen, while both Tiger and Andreessen Horowitz came in second with nine rounds led or co-led for the month.
• In one of the more odd developments last month, led or co-led rounds worth the most鈥攚ith one round totaling $1.4 billion. The round was for San Francisco-based autonomous car developer . Of course, GM only came through with the money after decided to exit its stake in the company and its commitment to pay $1.4 billion once the company started operating fully driverless cars.
• Andreessen Horowitz came in just behind GM, with the firm leading or co-leading rounds last month worth a total of $1.2 billion.

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