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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.

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Grab to go public via SPAC in $40B deal

Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing and food delivery giant has agreed to a merger with a SPAC in a deal that would value the Singapore-based company at around $40 billion.

Grab will be merging with the U.S. SPAC Altimeter Growth Corp., backed by . The deal also includes a private investment in public equity component of more than $4 billion backed by investors including , , and .

Founded in 2012, Grab has raised at least $12.1 billion in known funding to date, per Crunchbase data.

—ÌýJoanna Glasner

Epic Games raises $1B

, the maker of popular games like Fortnite, announced Tuesday that it raised $1 billion in new funding, bringing its valuation to $28.7 billion. The funding round includes $200 million from , which has invested in Epic Games in the past. The funding comes as gaming in general has seen an uptick in interest amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Epic Games last raised $1.5 billion in August 2020, according to Crunchbase.

–Sophia Kunthara

Fintech and e-commerce

Grover lands $71M for device subscriptions: Berlin-based , a startup that offers a subscription model for consumer electronics, raised $71 million in a Series B round led by JMS Capital-Everglen. Three-fourths of the financing consists of equity, while the remaining quarter is debt funding.

— Joanna Glasner

Verix is now Wage, raises $5M: San Francisco-based  announced it has changed its name to Wage and raised $5 million in funding, led by . Wage is an infrastructure software solution that lets people seamlessly and securely share their payroll data with third parties without clunky login flows or document uploads.

SmartCommerce bags $13M: Atlanta-based , a provider of SaaS tools for the consumer packaged goods industry, closed a $13 million growth financing led by . The company’s Click2Cart platform enables consumers to save products from any digital impulse point such as ads, videos, social media, influencers’ platforms, emails, websites, magazines and product packaging, into carts of a network of over 500 global retail partners.

— Christine Hall

Health care

Papa picks up $60M for eldercare: Miami-based , a startup that connects older adults and families with providers of companionship and assistance, has raised $60 million in a Series C round led by . Founded in 2018, the company previously raised at least $31 million in known funding, per Crunchbase data.

— Joanna Glasner

Cohere Health, Vericred, Biloba raise rounds: , a Boston-based digital health company, closed a $36 million Series B round led by . The round comes less than a year after the company’s launch and three months since its  extension. Cohere Health intends to use the new funding on continued technology development, including automating prior authorization processes and care coordination.

New York data services platform completed a $23 million Series B round to continue developing its application programming interface that connects health insurance and benefits carriers with technology partners, such as human resources software, insurtechs and consumer apps. led the funding round, which will be used to expand Vericred’s teams in New York and Omaha, Nebraska.

France-based , an on-demand pediatric startup, raised $1.6 million in a seed round led by and , to continue providing medical consultations in an unlimited membership format.

— Christine Hall

Aerospace

Orbital Sidekick brings in $16M: , a San Francisco-based company, secured $16 million in Series A funding, led by , to commercialize its hyperspectral satellite. The company develops space-based infrastructure of hyperspectral sensors to provide monitoring services to the energy and defense sectors. The company will invest the new dollars in product development, new strategic partnerships and expansion into new industries. The company intends to launch its satellite on multiple Falcon 9 missions beginning in 2022.

— Christine Hall

Agriculture

Hazel Technologies lands $70M: Agricultural technology company closed on an oversubscribed $70 million Series C funding co-led by and . Hazel Technologies’ products deliver a controlled release of shelf-life enhancing vapor from packaging inserts called sachets, which are placed in boxes of bulk produce by commercial growers at the time of harvest. The company says the sachets extend the shelf-life of produce up to three times by slowing aging in produce and preventing decay.

— Christine Hall

New funds

Finistere launches New Zealand agricultural fund: Palo Alto-based VC firm , which invests in the agriculture sector, announced a $28 million Finistere Aotearoa Fund, in partnership with , to invest in New Zealand companies focused on sustainability and nutrition needs. Finistere’s new fund operations will be based at , an R&D and company incubation cluster in New Zealand.

— Christine Hall

Enterprise software

Scale AI hits $7B-plus valuation: San Francisco-based raised a $325 million Series E co-led by , and at a valuation of more than $7 billion. The company, which develops a data platform allowing companies to more effectively use AI, had raised a $155 million Series Dat a $3.5 billion valuation.

Additional new investors to the round include and , which joined existing investors , , and .

Scale has continuously realized year-to-year growth greater than 100 percent and has moved past the $100 million ARR mark.

— Chris Metinko

Insurance

Clearcover raises $200M: Car insurance startup said Tuesday that it raised $200 million in a Series D round led by . The company’s technology automates manual insurance processes to save money and offer lower insurance rates to the customers. The Series D, which brings Clearcover’s total funding to $329 million, comes after the company expanded into new states last year.

–Sophia Kunthara

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