Founded in 2014, Chemnitz, Germany-based Staffbase says its software is currently in use at over 2,000 enterprises worldwide, reaching over 13 million employees. The company pitches its mobile-compatible platform as a way for employers to securely reach their employees everywhere鈥攚hether in the office, at home, on the factory floor, or on the road.

The latest financing follows the company鈥檚 $145 million (122 million euros) Series D a year ago, which was also led by General Atlantic. To date, the company has raised around $306 million, per SA国际传媒 data.

Staffbase currently has nearly 600 employees across 14 global offices. The company says it plans to use the new funds in part to complete its integration with 365, as well as further accelerate growth.

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Today, one of the larger early-stage investors in the space signaled that activity won鈥檛 be slowing down either. , a mostly early-stage investor in the interactive gaming space, reportedly raised $500 million in a third fund that will write checks in the $500,000 to $40 million range.听

It鈥檚 the largest fund to date for Makers, which raised its first fund, a $200 million vehicle, in 2018. Since then the firm has backed at least 72 known funding rounds across the globe, per SA国际传媒 data. Deals this year include rounds for India-based trivia game show app , Miami-based user-generated content gaming upstart and London-based esports betting company .听

The new fundraise follows a period of stepped-up dealmaking and ballooning valuations for the gaming space. This year started on a peppy note with in January announcing plans to acquire for $70 billion, its largest acquisition ever. A week earlier, announced it will acquire mobile social gaming company for $12.4 billion.听

Consolidation in the gaming industry also boomed in 2021. According to SA国际传媒 data, last year was the busiest year for acquisitions of gaming companies globally in at least a decade, with about 180 companies related to online games and video games acquired.

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The 10-year-old, Irvine, California-based company just closed on $300 million in a Series F round led by private equity firm . The fundraise comes nearly two months after Acorns plans for a public offering via a SPAC merger.听

The new round reportedly sets a valuation of $1.9 billion for Acorns. The SPAC deal, which Acorns announced last May and included a PIPE component, would reportedly have the company at roughly $2.2 billion,

Acorn鈥檚 big private fundraise comes amid an increasingly sluggish exit environment for wanna-be public companies. The largest public offering by a neobank to date鈥擝razil鈥檚 鈥�has been a disappointing performer. And so far this year, the U.S. IPO window looks mostly shuttered, with venture-backed tech and fintech companies largely putting plans for public offerings on hold.

Yet, by venture-backed startup standards, Acorns certainly looks ripe for exit. The company raised its Series A back in 2013 and had raised over $200 million in venture funding before this latest TPG-led round.听

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Today, we saw the latest mega-sized acquisition in the space as announced it will pay $5.4 billion to buy , a publicly traded provider of threat intelligence. The offer price represents a 57 percent premium to the average share price over roughly the prior two weeks.听

Founded in 2004, Reston, Virginia-based Mandiant operates a SaaS platform that combines threat intelligence and defense tools. Post-acquisition, the company plans to integrate its offerings into the Google Cloud security portfolio.

The planned purchase comes as investment into cybersecurity continues to scale new heights. So far this year, companies in the security space have raised more than $5 billion in seed through growth-stage funding, per SA国际传媒 . Some of the largest funding recipients include:

• , an Addison, Texas-based security analytics platform provider, raised $1 billion in growth funding in February.
• , a Toronto-based provider of password management tools, raised $620 million in a January Series C round.
• , a New York-based provider of a cyber defense platform for enterprises, raised a $250 million Series D in February.听

The strong start in 2022 indicates that cybersecurity investment is not slowing down from last year鈥檚 levels. And that鈥檚 saying something, given that 2021 was a record-setting year, with an unprecedented $21.8 billion in venture capital poured into cybersecurity companies globally.

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M13 was founded in 2016 by brothers and , who is married to businesswoman and fellow venture investor . Since the firm was founded, it鈥檚 invested in high-profile companies including , and .

The latest fund will be increasingly focused on tech related to Web3, . In case you鈥檝e missed the Web3 discourse that鈥檚 been going on the past few months, Web3 is the idea of a 鈥渄ecentralized web鈥� based on the blockchain. M13鈥檚 not alone in its investment interest in the area鈥攆unding has started to pour in for companies in areas related to blockchain technology, according to SA国际传媒 data.

The firm, which focuses on consumer tech, has announced five investments so far this year, according to SA国际传媒 data. Most recently, M13 invested in carbon dioxide removal marketplace and nutritional brain supplement .听

M13, not to be confused with venture fund M12, has already seen a number of high-profile exits in the six or so years it鈥檚 been around. M13 backed , the clean-ingredient consumer goods company co-founded by , which went public through an IPO last year, and scooter company Bird, which went public through a SPAC. M13 has also backed exited companies like , and .

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The firm seems to play a unique role in helping companies find those offsets, and its model has attracted some big-name investors. The San Francisco-based company raised a $50 million dollars Series B led by energy and sustainability investor , but also included the likes of and .

The company, formerly SilviaTerra, has now raised more than $75 million since being founded in 2010, according to SA国际传媒.

NCX is using satellite images and machine-learning software to not just map forest areas, but also has created a marketplace where companies can pay the landowners of those areas to not cut down trees and then buy the resulting carbon credits.

While climate change tech may be good for the environment and has been on the rise, investors are always looking for ways to monetize such technology. SA国际传媒 News just this morning had a story on the 鈥�$475 million in known funding that has gone to companies at the intersection of climate, carbon-tracking and finance. Those companies include carbon-tracking business software, environmentally friendly online banking, and products that make it easier to value ESG (environmental, social and governance) assets.

Benioff has been known to invest in climate and environmental causes. , his wife and would invest $300 million 鈥渢o accelerate ecosystem restoration and climate justice.鈥�

In 2020, the Benioffs contributed money to establish 1t.org, a group looking to conserve, restore and grow 1 trillion trees by the end of the decade.

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Fremont, California-based , an online ethnic grocer focused on items that can be hard to find at local supermarkets, announced it secured $425 million in Series E financing led by 2. The round brings total funding to date for the 7-year-old company to more than $800 million.听

Weee鈥檚 catalog includes Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Indian and Latin offerings. Some of the best-selling items on its website are shrimp chips, , and spiced sunflower seeds.

Investors have shown a voracious appetite for the business model. Major backers include , , , , 聽and multiple others in addition to SoftBank. Its last round, a $316 million Series D, closed last March.听

The company says it plans to use the fresh capital to add new ethnic offerings, expand existing ones, scale its service to more places in North America, and invest in warehouse automation.

Weee鈥檚 massive funding follows a banner year for global venture investment in the grocery space. , investors put over $12 billion to work in seed through late-stage rounds for companies in the grocery industry in the past 12 months. Besides Weee鈥檚 financing, other huge investments over the past year went to , a Philadelphia-based speedy grocery delivery service that raised $2.15 billion in 2021, as well as and , two Berlin-based fast-delivery providers that raised $1 billion and $750 million, respectively.

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But in reality, retirement planning for most people is less about funding a luxury life of leisure and more about covering basics like grocery bills, housing expenses and even medical care, without a steady paycheck.

For a large share of American workers, 401k plans and IRA accounts play a big role in laying the groundwork for a successful retirement. And as contributions to these accounts grow, a host of startups are raising capital for tools and platforms to manage where the money is spent.

Per SA国际传媒 analysis, since last year over $900 million in venture and seed funding has gone to U.S. companies focused on retirement planning and investment tools. We lay out a list of 11 who have raised funding in the past year below:

The latest announcement comes from , formerly FeeX, which announced its name change and confirmed it raised $80 million across three funding rounds led by in the past 18 months, with the most recent, per SA国际传媒, a $45 million round in November. The 10-year-old, New York-based Pontera provides tools for financial advisers to securely and compliantly manage clients鈥� retirement accounts.

The largest recent funding recipient, meanwhile, is San Mateo, California-based , a retirement platform for small businesses that has raised $339 million to date, including a $200 million Series E last summer led by .

Another major investment recipient is San Francisco-based , which offers tools to help employees of small and medium-sized businesses save for retirement. The 7-year-old company raised $334 million to date, including a $200 million Series D in August.

Investors are also backing platforms for workers to invest retirement savings in nontraditional assets. The most recent big round along these lines was for , a digital asset investment platform that allows clients to buy and sell cryptocurrencies through their retirement accounts. The Los Angeles company raised $125 million in a Series A round in January.

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Indoor farming changes the equation for fresh produce fans, promising year-round harvests. And to date, startups in the space have done an impressive job harvesting capital鈥攚ith billions in venture and growth investment.

This week, another player announced a sizable round. Amsterdam-based , a developer of indoor urban farms that grow salad vegetables, herbs, tomatoes and cucumbers, raised 50 million euros ($57 million) in a financing led by prior backer .

PlantLab鈥檚 technology involves using light provided by specially developed LEDs, which generate the specific wavelength needed by the plants for photosynthesis. The technology has been deployed to date in commercial production at its largest facility in Amsterdam as well as locations in Indianapolis and the Bahamas.听

The funds will be used to open more production sites outside the Netherlands, in North America and in Europe. The goal, the company says, is to produce crops in relative close proximity to large populations, thus reducing transport costs, CO2 emissions and food waste.

The PlantLab financing comes amid a bullish period for indoor farming investment. In the past year, investors put over $1.4 billion into the indoor and vertical farming spaces, per SA国际传媒 data. We list 13 of the most heavily funded companies below:

By far the largest funding recipients are , a -backed vertical farming provider headquartered in Silicon Valley with $941 million in funding to date, and聽 , which has raised over $750 million in equity financing. New York-based Bowery operates vertical farms that currently sell produce at some locations and other grocery stores, as well as restaurants.

The pool of recent investors in vertical and indoor farming upstarts indicates that companies in the sector see budget-conscious consumers as well as gourmet food shoppers among their target market. A case in point is Plenty, which counted among the investors in a $400 million Series E round closed last month.

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In recent decades, our comprehension has been exponentially on the rise. And more recently, startups have been finding ways to harness advances to provide aid and therapy for some of our most longstanding and intractable ailments.

Over the past couple years, over a billion dollars in venture and growth investment has gone to companies in the neurotherapeutics, brain sensing and related areas, per SA国际传媒 data. Focus areas include brain-computer interfaces, brain mapping, and applying AI to brain activity.

The latest large funding announcement came today from , a developer of digital neurotherapeutics that secured $105 million in a new financing round led by . The company, which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, London and Baltimore, says it plans to use the capital for R&D, clinical development and commercializing its technology.

An even bigger funding announcement came earlier this week from , a biotechnology company that focuses on the therapeutic potential of gut-brain circuits. The New York-based startup announced it raised $235 million in a Series D funding led by and .听

As MindMaze and Kallyope scale up, other neurotechnology upstarts and growth-stage companies are also pulling in large rounds. Below, we pulled together a list of companies in neurotherapy, brain sensing and related areas that have raised sizable rounds in the past two years.

Kallyope, with $479 million in funding to date, ranks as the largest investment recipient on our list. The 7-year-old company focuses on the gut-brain axis, which it describes as the communication highway between our gut and our brain.听

Using its research, Kallyope believes it can help therapeutics for diseases including obesity, diabetes, functional gastrointestinal disorders, inflammatory disorders, depression, autism and potentially Parkinson鈥檚 disease. All of these ailments, the company says, have been linked to the gut-brain axis.

MindMaze, meanwhile, provides digital assessments and therapeutics for patients suffering from neurological conditions including stroke, Parkinson鈥檚 disease and Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Founded in 2012, the company operates two divisions: A health care arm that provides therapies and a lab division that works on new projects in development.听

On the health care side, MindMaze鈥檚 offerings include an animated gaming experience called MindPod Dolphin that the company says is designed to promote the recovery of motor skill and cognitive function for stroke patients.

On the lab side, the company says its 鈥渓argest ambition鈥� is the CogniChip platform, an operating system that replicates sensory inputs the brain experiences.

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