Raise Report: New Funding for FreshDirect, Tout, Home Chef
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech.
Monday, September 26: FreshDirect Gobbles Up $189 Million for Grocery Delivery
JP Morgan Asset Management led the round, which FreshDirect will use to expand its operations to new cities, CNBC reported. The grocery delivery company’s biggest current presences are in New York and Philadelphia.
Monday, September 26: Zenly Lands $22.5 Million to Help Friends Find Each Other in Real Time
Benchmark led the Series B round, TechCrunch reported. Zenly provides what may seem like a simple service for millennials and Gen Zers: an app that allows users to share their location with fellow app users. The company combines the appeal of social networks and location-oriented startups. With its new funding, the French company will continue to expand its operations, opening up an office in San Francisco.
Thursday, September 29: Home Chef Scores $40 Million for Meal-Kit Delivery
L Catterton Partners, a private equity firm, led the Series B round, the Chicago Tribune reported. Home Chef will use the funding to fuel growth as it seeks to compete with a number of other meal-kit services such as Blue Apron and Chef’d.
Thursday, September 29: Prowler.io Picks Up $2 Million to Sharpen Other Companies’ AI
As tech companies in a variety of verticals delve into AI, other companies are looking to capitalize on the primacy of the technology. Prowler.io is one such businesses. Prowler just scored $2 million AI-sharpening platform from Passion Capital, Amadeus Capital and Infocomm Investments to grow its staff and invest in its product, TechCrunch reported.
Monday, October 3: Video Streaming Network Tout Announces $26 Million Series C
The Melohn Group in New York led the round. Tout, which claims to command more online video views than any provider other than Facebook and YouTube, enables video streaming on over 2,800 websites. It will use the new capital to build new capabilities, expand its sales operations and reach new audiences, Silicon Valley Daily reported.
Tuesday, October 4: TapFwd Locks Down $3 Million for Mobile Data Marketplace
ParTech Ventures led the round, which TapFwd will use to expand its sales and engineering teams. TapFwd sells mobile data sets to advertisers, aiming “to accelerate the use of mobile as a platform for brand advertising, not just performance advertising,” AdExchanger reported.
Wednesday, October 5: Clearpath Robotics Hauls In $30 Million for Warehouse Efficiency Machine
“The venture arms of Caterpillar and [Clearpath Robotics’] customer General Electric Co.” provided the capital, Reuters reported. Clearpath Robotics makes robots that it considers the warehouse equivalent of self-driving cars; they eliminate the need for mass human labor in warehouses, moving boxes around supply rooms with precision. The company will invest its new funding in its product.
Joseph Zappa is Street Fight’s news editor.
Has your company recently raised a new round? Send press releases and other info to [email protected] and tell us all about it.
