Most-Active US Investors In November: a16z, General Catalyst And Sequoia Lead Quiet Month

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This is a monthly feature that runs down some of the most-active investors in U.S.-based companies, looks at some of their most interesting investments, and includes some odds and ends of who spent what. See October’s most-active startup investors here.

November turned cold across most of the U.S., and it apparently affected VC firms.

Three firms led the way as the busiest U.S. startup investors — Andreessen Horowitz (again), General Catalyst and Sequoia Capital — but with only eight deals each. The previous month, a16z led the way with 14, so the drop was significant.

After those three, all other firms made six or fewer investment deals involving U.S.-based startups.

Pretty chilly indeed.

Andreessen Horowitz, 8 deals

Andreessen Horowitz seems to be at or near the top of this list every month.

Last month was no exception, as the Menlo Park, California-based giant made eight deals involving U.S.-based startups — its lowest number, however, since April.

While Andreessen didn’t lead or co-lead any big U.S. deals, it certainly took part in some. That includes xAI’s huge $5 billion funding round that valued it at $50 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.

However, a16z was far from done with big-money deals. It also participated in several huge funding rounds:

Cloud API technology developer Kong’s $175 million in an up-round Series E led by Tiger Global and Balderton Capital that valued the company at $2 billion;
Palo Alto, California-based contact center startup Cresta’s $125 million Series D led by new investors Qatar Investment Authority and World Innovation Lab; and
A $100 million Series C funding round led by DCVC for Radiant Industries, which develops portable nuclear microreactors.

General Catalyst, 8 deals

General Catalyst also saw a big dip from October to November — but its eight investments involving U.S.-based startups has it tied at the top of the list.

The firm didn’t take part in a ton of big rounds either last month, although it did lead a $40 million seed round for Zarminali Health, a Chicago-based hybrid care startup that integrates specialists, tech and services to provide coordinated outpatient pediatric primary and specialty care.

General Catalyst also participated in a $19 million Series B for San Francisco-based luggage storage startup Bounce.

Sequoia Capital, 8 deals

Sequoia matched a16z and General Catalyst with eight deals.

While that may seem like a small total for the investment giant, it is pretty consistent with what it has done all year.

The smallish total does not mean Sequoia didn’t take part in some massive deals, however. It participated in the $400 million round for Physical Intelligence, a startup developing brains for a wide array of robots, which valued the company at $2 billion, per The New York Times. Sequoia also took part in cybersecurity startup Cyera’s $300 million Series D led by Accel and Sapphire Ventures that valued that startup at $3 billion.

8VC and BoxGroup, 6 deals each

8VC [footnote]8VC is an investor in Crunchbase. They have no say in our editorial process. For more, head here.[/footnote] and BoxGroup each made a half-dozen investments in U.S.-based startups.

8VC took part in the biggest deal of either firm, participating in a $42 million Series C for Sirona Medical, a San Francisco-based healthcare software developer.

New York-based BoxGroup focuses on early-stage investments, so its deals are mainly seed and Series A. However, it still took part in some interesting rounds, co-leading a $4 million seed for San Francisco-based Anthrogen, a biotech research firm using bacteria and enzymes to reduce carbon by transforming it into chemicals.

Also notable:

Accel, Google Ventures and Spark Capital all came in next on the list with five deals each.
Spark Capital also led the way in most led or co-led deals in November with three.
Amazon led the list for number of rounds led or co-led with the highest dollar amounts — thanks to its massive $4 billion investment in AI startup Anthropic, a ChatGPT rival with its AI assistant Claude.
Y Combinator once again was the top investing incubator and accelerator with 14 deals in November.

Methodology

This is a list of investors which took part in the most rounds involving U.S.-based startups. It does not include incubators or accelerators due to the fluctuations their investment numbers can have.