Fundraising During Covid-19: Feb. ’21 Ed.

The past three months may have been tough on skinny jeans, but they’ve been great for VC funding. December, January, and February snagged the record for top $$ months in the past two years. Plus, 60 new unicorns have appeared in the first two months of 2021 alone.

A few deals that caught our eye in February:

Robotics: Locus Robotics, the Massachusetts-based warehouse robotics company, raised a $150 million Series E—earning it unicorn status.

• Elsewhere in robotics process automation: UiPath raised a $750 million Series F, bringing its post-money valuation north of $35 billion.

Space: Axiom Space, the Houston-based private spaceflight firm, raised a $130 million Series B. It’ll use the funds to keep ferrying private astronauts into space, like on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, and continue toward its ultimate goal: private space stations.

EVs: Svolt, the Chinese EV battery maker, raised a ~$500 million Series A. Some of the $$ is earmarked for product R&D and manufacturing, as the company recently signed an agreement with an Eastern Chinese province to build a $1+ billion battery manufacturing base.