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Fund Focused on Bootstrapped Founders Raises $950 Million

There’s certainly a frenzy among venture capitalists to back the hottest startups before they’ve made a dime of revenue, but one fund is sticking to a proven strategy of investing in startups that have generated at least millions in revenueβ€”often without raising any institutional money.

Focusing on these boot-strapped founders has again resonated with Volition Capital’s limited partners. The Boston-based growth equity firm, which cut its teeth investing in consumer startups like Chewy and enterprise software companies, raised $950 million for its sixth fund, co-founder Larry Cheng told The Information exclusively. The fundraise, Volition’s largest, brings the 16-year-old firm’s assets under management to $2.6 billion.

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Applied Compute in Talks to Double Valuation to $3 Billion on Open-Source Demand

Applied Compute, a year-old startup that helps companies run and customize open-source models with their own data, is discussing a new funding round that would value it at around $3 billion, more than double its valuation from a round announced four months ago, according to a person with knowledge of the funding.

The financing follows strong revenue growth in recent months. Applied Compute is currently generating around $50 million in annualized revenue, the person said, up nearly four times from what its CEO Yash Patil has said it was generating last November.

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Harvey in Talks to Raise Funding at $15.5 Billion Valuation

Legal AI startup Harvey is in talks to raise at least $500 million at a $15.5 billion valuation including the investment, a 40% premium to its last valuation five months ago. The fundraising follows a revenue surge at the legal AI startup, according to a person with knowledge of the fundraise.

Four-year-old Harvey is currently generating more than $350 million in annualized revenue, up more than 80% from the $190 million in annualized revenue it was generating in January, according to the person. Lightspeed Venture Partners has been interested in leading the round, the person said.

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Missile Interceptor Startup Furientis Attracts Blue-Chip Investors

Over the last year, we’ve seen more generalist venture capital firms make forays into defense tech, a niche once relegated to specialized investors comfortable with revenue based on uneven government contracts and who weren’t restricted from investing in weapons makers by their limited partners.Β 

Furientis, a startup founded last year that builds missiles for intercepting attacks, is close to raising $25 million in a funding round that would value it more than $125 million including the money invested, two people familiar with the investment tell us. And we’re hearing Benchmark, known for backing Uber and Snap in their early days, has been in talks to lead, the people said.

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