Amazon bought into Wi-Fi tech, Verizon bought into mobile video with DreamWorks and Hertz bought into what might be the last surviving on-demand valet startup. Here’s a rundown of this week’s tech funding news:
Capital Gains: Valet Startup Luxe Lives to Raise Another Round, So Do Chatbots
Plus, Amazon invested in a Wi-Fi device maker.
Todd Bernard
- Verizon bought a 24.5 percent stake in the DreamWorks-owned mobile video-for-tweens company AwesomenessTV, which Verizon says is worth $650 million as a whole (making Verizon’s chunk worth around $150 million to $160 million).
- Bright Health, a health insurance startup led by a former UnitedHealth exec, raised $80 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, NEA and other investors (Minneapolis Star-Tribune).
- Irish customer-management startup Intercom landed $50 million in a round led by Index Ventures, with participation from John and Patrick Collison (the co-founders of Stripe), Iconiq Capital and others (Fortune).
- On-demand valet parking startup Luxe landed a $50 million Series B investment led by Hertz at a reported $110 million valuation, confirming an earlier story in The Information. Similar startups have either pivoted or shut down completely (Business Insider).
- Artificially intelligent chatbot maker X.ai raised $23 million in a Series B round led by Two Sigma Ventures, with participation from SoftBank Capital, CrunchFund and Lerer Hippeau Ventures (The Verge).
- Sequoia Capital is investing $20 million in Series B cash in Clutter, an on-demand startup that stores your stuff. The company led its $9 million Series A round less than a year ago (Fortune).
- AirMap, which makes software to help keep the sky airplane-collision-free, raised $15 million in a Series A round led by General Catalyst (Wall Street Journal).
- Amazon and Accel Partners led a $12.5 million Series A round for Eero-like Wi-Fi device startup Luma, which included cash from 500 Startups, ex-AT&T chief David Dorman and others.
- Luka, which makes chatbots that use artificial intelligence technology, raised $4.42 million in funding led by Sherpa Capital, with money from Y Combinator and other investors (TechCrunch).
- Slice Labs, which insures independently contracted workers for startups like Uber and Postmates, raised $3.9 million from Horizon Ventures and XL Innovate (TechCrunch).
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
