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Last Week In Venture: Doggy Drug Delivery, Digital Safe Places, Serving The Middle Mile Market, And More

Hey, how are you? Welcome! We鈥檙e so glad you鈥檙e here for Last Week In Venture, the weekly rundown of venture deals which may have flown under your radar.

But first, let鈥檚 queue up a highlight reel of the Crunchbase News team鈥檚 work this week.

We found that the birth rate of female-founded unicorns is on the rise and launched a column covering Texas venture and startup activity. We covered all manner of transactions, ranging from big M&A deals (like Google鈥檚 $2.6 billion buyout of Looker) and IPO rumblings (Peloton鈥檚 confidential filing, TheRealReal鈥檚 filing, and updates to Crowdstrike鈥檚 pricing come to mind) and too many venture rounds to list here individually. It鈥檚 been a heck of a week.

This is just a fraction of what we covered, which in turn is just a fraction of all that happened at the intersection of money and technology this week. There鈥檚 a lot going on outside the big tech and unicorn spotlight, and there are lessons and trends to be found a little closer to the entrepreneurial metal.

Let鈥檚 check out some interesting rounds from the week that was in venture-land!

Cocoon

You may be one of the people leaving massive open social platforms and . If that’s too menacing a metaphor, consider the cocoon. Founded by former Facebookers (who previously founded ) and , San Francisco-based is building “a dedicated [digital] space for the most important people in your life.”

A shared on the company’s account says that “[keeping] a single group tight-knit over time and distance is a sacred and important task that deserves specialized tools and spaces, so that’s exactly what we’re building: the digital version of home.” The very early-stage small-group social platform company has from investors including , , and , .

Mixlab

We all want what鈥檚 best for our pets. When they get sick, they need medicine. But have you ever tried to give a pooch a pill? Easier said than done. Ever need a specific, nonstandard dose of a medication? That’s when you call a compounding pharmacy, which produce customized dosages and medication blends for specific patients’ individual needs.

is a New York City-based compounding pharmacy catering specifically to furry, four-legged clientele, as well as their human caretakers. If your pet needs a specific medication or a special preparation (like adding flavoring) to make it palatable, Mixlab will mix and deliver medicines to your home, same-day or next-day. Mixlab raised this week. led the deal; include the likes of , , , , and others.

FormAssembly

Based in Bloomington, Indiana, helps companies learn more about their customers using its web form and data management tools. The company round led by New York-based investment firm , according to posted to the company blog.

FormAssembly’s round is the second-largest Series A raised by an Indiana company in the last 18 months, according to Crunchbase data. The largest, , was raised by company communications infrastructure provider .

Legacy

Guys, let’s talk about sperm. With age, the body’s ability to produce healthy sperm naturally declines, alongside basically everything else except for mortality rates. Sad times for those little swimmers in the future, for sure. Men have long had the option to bank their sperm for the future, freezing genetic material in time (and a lot of liquid nitrogen).

But the process of getting sperm into safekeeping is changing. is in the genetic banking business, and it just raised a from . Legacy offers an at-home sperm collection kit, as well as male fertility testing and secure, geographically distributed genetic material storage. In the February 1 edition of Last Week In Venture, we covered a competitor to Legacy, , which in seed funding. In other words, it’s not just female fertility that’s attracting venture backing, which is great for all involved.

Gatik

is a two-year-old venture which aims to help businesses move stuff relatively short distances using its autonomous vehicle technology. This week, the company launched out of stealth, announcing that it raised and secured a partnership with . , a venture firm co-founded by former CEO , led the deal. The company’s other financial backers include , , , and .

Two of the company’s three co-founders, (CEO) and (CTO) Narang are brothers who “have been working together in the field of robotics, AI and machine learning for 10+ years, also previously working with , Gatik’s third co-founder, to develop autonomous outdoor security robots.”

And with that we are done! Here鈥檚 to hoping your weekend is summery and bright.

Image Credits: Last Week In Venture graphic created by聽 Photo by David Clode, via Unsplash.

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