The 10 Biggest Rounds of April proved to be quite exciting with two well-known startups, Zipline and OpenAI topping the list. Collectively, the two companies raised over $630 million on the last business day of the month. Investors across the world have noticed the ascension of these startups and many more, helping to boost venture capital investments that has been seemingly lacking in recent months.
Zipline is a drone delivery startup based out of South San Francisco that has continuously grown its valuation in the past two years, now standing at $4.2 billion. The company has received support from some big names like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, with nearly $820 million collected through investments. Similarly, OpenAI also experienced a recently rush of investments, with a group of venture capitalists, including Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz investing more than $300 million at a valuation of up to $29 billion. To date, the artificial intelligence company has raised over $11 billion.
In addition to these two startups, the remaining eight of the 10 biggest rounds in the US in April included the likes of construction tech EquipmentShare ($290 million), biotech firm Orbital Therapeutics ($270 million), fintech startup Clear Street ($270 million), green hydrogen firm Ohmium International ($250 million), cloud provider CoreWeave ($221 million), heart precision care technology startup HeartFlow ($215 million), and satellite developer Astranis ($200 million). The list was rounded off with biopharmaceutical company Torl BioTherapeutics ($158 million).
The many investments in April spoke volumes to the current climate of venture capitalism. Companies like Zipline, OpenAI, and the other innovative startups mentioned provide hope to entrepreneurs and investors alike in the current economic downturn.
The immense success of Zipline and OpenAI should not be overlooked either. Founded by Keller Rinaudo, Zipline is dedicated to providing innovative drone delivery services for medical and other vital supplies. Since 2011, Zipline has played an impressive role in supplying medical aid to several countries as well, as transporting small parts for businesses. OpenAI, on the other hand, has revolutionized the arena of AI through its natural language processing (NLP) systems, ChatGPT, and more. Founded by cYpherPunk’s Elon Musk, OpenAI has become one of the leading companies to look out for when it comes to AI technology.
