Startup Trends: 5 top funded startups of Q4 2024
Five firms from various industries — Form Energy, Physical Intelligence, Lightmatter, Beta Technologies and Writer — ranked among the highest in fundraising for the fourth quarter of 2024.
Form Energy, a developer of energy storage systems
Form Energy, which is developing multi-day energy storage systems, announced that it raised $405 million in Series F financing round led by T. Rowe Price. Other investors participating in the round include GE Vernova, TPG Rise Climate and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. With the Series F funding, Form Energy has raised more than $1.2 billion.
Form Energy is developing and commercializing a pioneering iron-air battery capable of storing electricity for 100 hours at costs competitive with legacy power plants. According to the Somerville, Massachusetts-based company, this multi-day battery will reform the global electricity system to run reliably and securely on low-cost, clean energy.
Form Energy’s Forge Price™ is $24.18 as of December 16, 2024, which implies a valuation of $3.42 billion.
Physical Intelligence, an AI company
Physical Intelligence, a company that is bringing AI into the physical world, raised $400 million from investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, along with Thrive Capital, Lux Capital, OpenAI, Redpoint Ventures and Bond, the New York Times reported in November. The funding values the company at $2 billion, according to the article.
Physical Intelligence is working to develop artificial physical intelligence, so that users can ask robots to perform any physical task they want, similar to making requests of large language models and chatbot assistants.
Physical Intelligence’s price per share is $134.70, based on its last funding round in November 2024.
Lightmatter, a photonic computing firm
Lightmatter, a photonic computing firm, announced in October 2024 that it raised $400 million in a Series D financing, bringing the total capital raised to $850 million and valuing the company at $4.4 billion. The round was led by new investors advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with participation from existing investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company and Google Ventures.
Photonics involves transmitting data using light rather than electric signals. Mountain View, California-based Lightmatter produces photonic chips that will enable the building of artificial general intelligence. With the funding, the company will scale its Passage technology, which leverages 3D-stacked photonic chips to move data, increasing AI cluster bandwidth and performance while reducing power consumption.
Lightmatter’s Forge Price™ is $80.23 as of December 16, 2024, a 12.8% discount to its last funding round in October 2024.
Beta Technologies, an electric aerospace company
BETA Technologies, which is working to commercialize electric aviation, announced in October 2024 that it raised $318 million in Series C financing. The company said the funding would support the continued production, certification, and commercialization of BETA’s all-electric fixed-wing and eVTOL aircraft ALIA, advanced high-performance electric propulsion systems, multimodal charging systems and growing infrastructure network. BETA’s vision is to make air transportation more reliable, greener and cheaper.
QIA led the funding round, and several of BETA’s largest investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company and TPG Rise Climate, increased their ownership in BETA. The company has now raised more than $1 billion from investors.
South Burlington, Vermont BETA Technologies’ share price is $114.47, based on its last funding round in December 2024.
Writer, a developer of AI for enterprises
Writer, which offers a full-stack generative AI platform for enterprises, announced in November 2024 that it raised $200 million in Series C funding at a $1.9 billion valuation. The funding round was co-led by Premji Invest, Radical Ventures, and existing investor ICONIQ Growth, with participation from Adobe Ventures, B Capital, Citi Ventures, IBM Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and Workday Ventures.
San Francisco-based Writer helps corporations embed AI into workflows to achieve efficiency and scale. Writer’s customers include Ally Bank, Franklin Templeton, Kenvue, Lennar, Prudential, Qualcomm, Salesforce and Uber.
Writer’s share price is $52.03, based on its last funding round in November 2024.
