Here’s what you need to know today in startup and venture news, updated by the Crunchbase News staff throughout the day to keep you in the know.

Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily

Public.com gets its horn after $220M Series D

Investing social network Public.com is now valued at $1.2 billion following a $220 million Series D investment. Investors in the deal include existing backers Accel, Greycroft and Lakestar, as well as Intuition Capital, Tiger Global, Mantis VC, Dreamers VC, Inspired Capital, Vine Capital Partners, Aglaé Ventures and Phil DeFranco.

This comes two months after the New York-based company raised a $65 million Series C, bringing total funding to date to $310 million.

In addition, the company has amassed 1 million members just 18 months after launching, according to the company. On Feb. 1, Public announced its decision to eliminate Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) from its business model, moving to now collect tips from users in exchange for executing their orders.

The company intends to use the new funding on platform infrastructure, product development and new features that will include crypto, pre- and post-market trading and ways to set up recurring investments, as well as other stock market education features.

— Christine Hall

Spain’s Copado lands $96M for devops platform

Madrid-based Copado, provider of a devops platform for Salesforce users, raised $96 million in a Series B funding round led by Insight Partners and Salesforce Ventures.

The eight-year-old company offers enterprise customers tools to automate or minimize manual tasks, and to get visibility of release pipelines and data flow between environments. Previously, the company had raised around $35 million in known funding, per Crunchbase data.

— Joanna Glasner

Enterprise software

• Fictiv raises $35M for digital manufacturing: Fictiv, provider of an online platform for designing and manufacturing items, raised $35 million in a Series D round led by 40 North Ventures. The round brings total financing to date for the San Francisco-based company to around $92 million.
• Peak raises $21M for enterprise AI: Peak, a startup out of Manchester, England that provides software for enterprises to accelerate adoption of artificial intelligence technology, raised $21 million in a Series B round led by Oxx.

— Joanna Glasner

Health care

Excision, Nest Collaborative raise rounds: Excision BioTherapeutics, a San Francisco company developing potentially curative CRISPR anti-viral treatments, announced $60 million financing that will go toward clinical trial support of four candidates targeting treatment for viruses such as HIV, herpes and Hepatitis B. GreatPoint Ventures led the round and was joined by a group of existing and new investors. Meanwhile, virtual lactation consultation platform Nest Collaborative brought in $2.1 million in seed funding, led by Altitude Ventures. Other investors participating in the round included Bread and Butter Ventures and Wavemaker 360. This is the Baltimore-based company’s first institutional funding and will enable Nest to scale its team, invest in additional breastfeeding support offerings and increase marketing and partnerships.

— Christine Hall

Transportation

Super73 lands $20M: Lifestyle adventure brand Super73 closed on a $20 million investment from Volition Capital, bringing its total known funding to $29.5 million, according to Crunchbase data. The Irvine, California-based company makes two-wheeled electric vehicles and since 2016, has gained a following from celebrities like Jack Black, Will Smith and Madonna.

— Christine Hall

Energy

Dandelion lands $30M: Dandelion Energy, a home geothermal company, closed on a $30 million Series B round of funding, led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, to give the Peekskill, New York-based company total funding of $65 million since the company was spun out of Alphabet’s X lab in 2017. This includes a $12 million Series A-1 round in January 2020. Dandelion has developed a virtual sales and design process for its heating and cooling systems, which reduce a home’s carbon emissions by as much as 80 percent and eliminates the need to buy heating fuel, the company said.

— Christine Hall

Fintech and e-commerce

• Standard Cognition bags $150M: Standard Cognition, providing an autonomous checkout tool that can be installed into retailers’ existing stores, raised $150 million in a Series C round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The San Francisco-based company plans to outfit hundreds of checkout-free stores, with a goal of more than 50,000 stores in the next five years. The global pandemic is driving more contactless payment options. The global contactless payment market was valued at more than $8 billion in 2019, and is expected to grow 15 percent each year, according to Research Corridor.
• Goldin Auction raises $40M: Collectibles and trading card marketplace Goldin Auctions brought in approximately $40 million in growth financing from The Chernin Group. In addition to the investment, the Runnemede, New Jersey-based company announced Ross Huffman, former chief business officer at Headspace, joined as CEO. In addition to The Chernin Group, backers included a group of notable individuals and firms, including Mark Cuban, Kevin Durant and Chad Hurley.

— Christine Hall

Illustration: Dom Guzman