The Briefing: Rapyd Lands $300M, Affirm Raises $1.2B In IPO, And More

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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Rapyd raises $300M for payment tech

Payments platform Rapyd has announced that it raised $300 million in Series D financing to fund its expansion.

Coatue led the financing for the London- and Silicon Valley-based company, bringing total known funding to date to around $470 million, per Crunchbase data.

Founded in 2016, Rapyd offers a platform that it says can embed fintech services into any application and simplify the complexity of offering local payment methods.

Blend brings in $300M for lending

Digital lender Blend closed on a $300 million round of Series G funding, led by Coatue and Tiger Global, nearly doubling its valuation to $3.3 billion in just five months, the company said in a written statement.

The new funding gives the San Francisco-based company a total known funding to date of approximately $665 million, according to Crunchbase data. It will support Blend’s next phase of growth and investment in products and services.

Founded in 2012, Blend’s technology platform supports banking capabilities for mortgages, consumer loans and deposit accounts, as well as enabling consumers to complete the finance process in one place.

Public offerings

Affirm raises $1.2B in IPO: Point-of-sale installment loan provider Affirm raised $1.2 billion in its initial public offering, after pricing shares above the projected range.

Funding rounds

Iziwork lands $43M for temporary employment: Iziwork, a French startup offering a platform to improve temporary employment, raised $43 million in fresh funding from Cathay Innovation and Bpifrance.Bryte tucks in with $24M for sleep technology: Bryte, a Los Altos-based company focused on AI-powered restorative sleep technology, announced $24 million in Series A funding led by ARCHina Capital.CookUnity serves up $15.5M for meal subscription: CookUnity, a Brooklyn-based food-tech company, closed on $15.5 million in Series A funding led by Fuel Venture Capital. The company touts itself as the “first direct chef-to-consumer meal subscription platform.”

M&A

Central Logic acquires Acuity Link: St. Paul, Minnesota-based health care access company Central Logic acquired Acuity Link, a provider of transportation communications and logistics management software. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal taps into Acuity Link’s technology for Central Logic’s new Intelligent Transport capability, which was announced along with a new real-time bed visibility platform. This acquisition comes two months after Central acquired Ensocare, which provides customer services and care coordination facilities to health care organizations.

Illustration: Dom Guzman