Bessemer’s list of the top 100 ‘deep tech’ companies commercializing scientific research

To observers in Silicon Valley, sometimes founder promises can verge into the world of make-believe, and the more advanced technology gets, the more a highly-valued company can sound like something out of science fiction. 

That’s part of what inspired Bessemer partner David Cowan and his colleagues Tess Hatch, Chris Wan, and Bhavik Nagda along with nonprofit XPRIZE to create the XB100 list, which came out today. The list ranks a hundred private “deep tech” companies, which means they are companies that are commercializing scientific research. They divided the list into nine categories, with the largest being climate, agriculture, biotech, and robotics. “The public at large does care very much about the future of tech and what is coming down the road in terms of how our lives are going to change,” explained Cowan.

As excitement about generative A.I. makes companies like OpenAI household names, experts still emphasize we are in the early innings of A.I. and deep tech applications. The top of the list includes some familiar names: Elon Musk’s Space X is number one, followed by OpenAI, and Jeff Bezos’s rocket manufacturing company Blue Origin. The list is not divided by stage, and while there are no seed companies, there are companies with a range of ages on the list. 

To evaluate and rank these companies, the team created a formula based on four factors: valuation, commercial traction, impact on humanity, and scientific difficulty. Seven judges including CEO of XPRIZE Anousheh Ansari and former deputy administrator of NASA Lori Garver helped determine the company’s “impact on humanity.” Scientific difficulty was measured by the number of Ph.D.s and patents, while commercial traction was measured using NASA’s tech readiness level framework. 

Cowan emphasized that the process for creating the list was independent from Bessemer’s investment portfolio. Five companies on the list are Bessemer portfolio companies, which are Sila Nanotechnologies, Xanadu, Boom, Forever Oceans, and DroneDeploy.

Cowan explained that the list is meant to help people understand the “black box” period between when academic findings are published in journals and when these deep tech companies go public and start reporting information about the company. “That middle area of company formation is a black box to almost everybody [from the outside],” he explained. He also noted the list should be helpful for investors looking to know who has Bessemer Venture Partners and XPRIZE’s stamp of approval.

The road for many of these companies has certainly not been smooth, even with proprietary research advancements at the core of their business model. The A.I. chip producer Graphcore (No. 26), for example, lost its deal with Microsoft last year and saw some investors write down their stakes. Impossible Foods (No. 5) employees have seen their shares nosedive since 2021 as sales across the plant-based meat sector have fallen in past years. A spokesperson said that the ranking did take operating challenges into account.

What could be the best bet for the next household name? Cowan pointed to Boom, the Bessemer portfolio company that aims to cut air travel time in half. He also noted that the climate tech companies featured on the list were in the overall sector he was most excited about given the existential necessity for climate tech solutions.

“People at large want to understand, ‘Is it true that we could go to Mars? Is it true that we build personalized drugs? Is it true that A.I. can do my job?…We want to educate and inform the public about the future of technology,” said Cowan. 

ICYMI: There’s been a flurry of news in the venture and dealmaking space over the past few days, so in case you missed it, here’s a quick roundup. —Anne Sraders

– Calpers plans multibillion-dollar push into venture capital—Financial Times

– US judge temporarily blocks Microsoft acquisition of Activision—Reuters

– TCV Raised 50% to 75% Less Than Planned For New Venture Fund—The Information

– Senate Opens Inquiry Into PGA Tour Deal with Saudi-Funded LIV Golf—New York Times

– Exclusive: SoftBank prepares new round of layoffs at Vision Fund—Reuters

– Bidders circle the remains of Goldman’s Main Street ambitions—Semafor

See you tomorrow,

Lucy Brewster
Twitter: @lucyrbrewster
Email: Lucille.brewster@fortune.com
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Jackson Fordyce curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

- ​​Mistral AI, a Paris-based generative A.I. company, raised $113 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Xavier Niel, JCDecaux Holding, Rodolphe Saadé, Motier Ventures, La Famiglia, Headline, and others. 

- Kodem, a Tel Aviv-based software composition analysis platform, raised $25 million in funding from Greylock and TPY Capital. 

- Thinksurance, a Frankfurt, Germany-based digital commercial insurance solutions provider in Europe, raised $24 million in funding. Viewpoint Ventures, M-Tech Capital, Venture Capital Fonds Segenia Capital co-led the round and were joined by Eight Roads Ventures and Columbia Lake Partners. 

- SiMa.ai, a San Jose-based machine learning company, raised $13 million in funding from the VentureTech Alliance and Mayfield managing director Navin Chaddha. 

- AptEdge, a Redwood City, Calif.-based answer engine developer for customer service, raised $11 million in seed+ funding. Stage 2 Capital led the round and was joined by Unusual Ventures, National Grid Partners, Carya Venture Partners, Counterpart Ventures, and others.

- Magrathea, a San Francisco-based carbon-neutral metal production company, raised $10 million in seed funding. VoLo Earth and Capricorn Investment Group co-led the round and were joined by Valor Equity Partners, Exor Ventures, Counteract, Hyperguap, Necessary Ventures, Untitled, EQT Foundation, and others. 

- MAJORITY, a Miami-based mobile banking platform for migrants in the U.S., raised an additional $9.75 million in funding from Valar Ventures and Heartcore Capital. 

- Normal Computing, a New York-based generative A.I. company for enterprise applications, raised $8.5 million in seed funding. Celesta Capital and First Spark Ventures co-led the round and were joined by Micron Ventures. 

- Albert Invent, an Oakland-based research and development innovation platform, raised $7.5 million in seed funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by Homebrew, F-Prime Capital, and other angels.

- GORGIE, a New York-based energy drink brand, raised $6.5 million in pre-seed funding. Gelmart International CEO Yossi Nasser, former Under Armour board member Harvey Sanders, the managing partners of GGV Capital, and other angels invested in the round. 

- Wherobots, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based data platform for geospatial analytics and A.I., raised $5.5 million in seed funding co-led by Wing Venture Capital and Clear Ventures.

- Bryleos, a Nashville-based clinical-stage therapeutics company, raised $5 million in seed funding from television personality and former motorsport team owner Eddie Jordan and other angels.

- BoomFi, a London-based crypto payments platform, raised $3.8 million in seed funding. White Star Capital led the round and was joined by Passion Capital, Blockchain Founders Fund, Kraken Ventures, and others. 

- Omnevue, a London-based ESG accounting software company, raised $3.1 million in seed funding. Elbow Beach Capital and Pi Labs co-led the round and were joined by Zone2boost and other angels.  

- TELO, a San Carlos, Calif.-based electric vehicle company, raised $1.4 million in pre-seed funding. GoAhead Ventures led the round and was joined by Underdog Labs, WorkPlay Ventures, and other angels.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- The private equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management agreed to invest $300 million in  Madhive, a New York-based advertising software platform for TV.

- Arcline Investment Management acquired International Water-Guard, a Surrey, Canada-based drinking water systems and components provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.  

- Renovus Capital acquired a majority stake in F2 Strategy, a San Francisco-based wealth management technology services firm. Additionally, F2 Strategy acquired Oakbrook Solutions, a Winston-Salem, N.C.-based consulting and services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- SPATCO Energy Solutions, backed by Kian Capital, acquired MSCS, an Everman, Texas-based petroleum services company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

- Bunge agreed to acquire Viterra, a Rotterdam, Netherlands-based agriculture network company, for $8.2 billion. Viterra is backed by Glencore. 

- Pernod Ricard agreed to buy a 90% stake in Ace Beverage Group, a Toronto-based alcoholic beverage company. The deal values the company at $123 million.

IPOS 

- Turnstone Biologics, a La Jolla, Calif.-based immunotherapies developer for solid tumors, filed for an initial public offering.

SPAC

- LeddarTech, a Quebec-based automotive software company, agreed to go public via a merger with Prospector Capital Corp., a SPAC. The deal values the company at approximately $348 million.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

- GrowthCurve Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, raised $1.4 billion for a fund focused on private equity investments in middle market companies across technology and information services, health care, and financial services sectors.

PEOPLE

- Dimension, a New York- and San Francisco-based venture capital firm, hired Simon Barnett as a research director. Formerly, he was with Ark Investment Management. 

- TSG Consumer Partners, a Larkspur, Calif.-based private equity firm, hired David Ligon as managing director, capital markets. Formerly, he was with EastWest Bank.

Clarification, June 14, 2023: The online version of this newsletter has been updated to clarify that Madhive's funding from Goldman Sachs Asset Management was a private equity investment.