A local gaming startup just got a big boost in funding.
Backbone Labs Inc., based in San Francisco, manufactures games and a gaming controller for Apple Inc.'s iPhones. The company raised $40 million in Series A funding on Wednesday. Its investors include big-name celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Kevin Hart and Amy Schumer, according to a company blog post.
"Backbone unifies all the game streaming services and core gaming experiences on mobile devices," said Backbone CEO and founder Maneet Khaira via the post. "This funding will be central to scaling the business, including recruiting new talent to fully realize Backbone’s potential."
Here's some more Series A funding news from this week:
Backbone Labs Inc., San Francisco, $40 million: Index Ventures led the funding of this mobile gaming controller startup. Sound Ventures and Adjacent also participated.
Skael Inc., San Francisco, $38 million: RTP Global led the funding of this enterprise software startup. Dell Technologies Capital and Bonfire Ventures also invested.
RIOS Intelligent Machines Inc., Menlo Park, $28 million: Main Sequence led the debt financing and equity funding of this developer of dexterous AI-powered robots for automating assembly lines. Yamaha Motor Ventures, Orbit Venture Partners and Hypertherm Ventures also participated.
Stackwatch Inc. (dba Kubecost), San Francisco, $25 million: Coatue Management led the round for this provider of a cost monitoring service for cloud-based app developers. Afore Capital and First Round Capital also participated.
CoProcure Inc., San Francisco, $22 million: Forerunner Ventures led the funding for this provider of a marketplace for government contracts. Leadout Capital, Neo, Marco Zappacosta, Katrina Lake and Dan Lewis also invested.
Nirvana Tech Inc. (dba Nirvana Insurance), San Francisco, $22 million: Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round for this developer of insurance software for commercial fleets. General Catalyst, Elad Gil, Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, Vouch CEO Sam Hodges and Newfront CEO Spike Lipkin also invested.
Alloy Automation Inc., San Francisco, $20 million: Andreessen Horowitz led the funding of this e-commerce software company.
Decodable Inc., San Francisco, $20 million: Venrock and Bain Capital Ventures led the funding of this data engineering company. DJ Patil, Data Dog CEO Olivier Pomel, Cockroach Labs CEO Spencer Kimball and Redis president and CRO Jason Forget also invested.
OpenComp LLC, San Francisco, $20 million: K5 Global and J.P. Morgan (legally JPMP Capital LLC) co-led the funding for this developer of a planning tool to help organizations adopt better compensation practices. TIME Ventures, 8VC, Circle Ventures and Mantis Ventures also invested.
Subskribe Inc., Danville, $18.4 million: 8VC and Slow Ventures invested in this provider of a customizable subscription billing service.
Canary Technologies Co., San Francisco, $15 million: F-Prime Capital led the funding for this developer of software to help hotels manage their guests. Y Combinator, Thayer Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Acronym Capital and Gokul Rajaram also invested.
Arcion Labs Inc., San Mateo, $13 million: Bessemer Venture Partners led the round for this provider of a service that allows companies to connect their various databases and data analysis tools. Databricks Inc. also participated.
Workforce as a Service Inc. (dba WorkWhile), San Francisco, $13 million: Reach Capital led the funding for this developer of a contract labor recruitment platform. Khosla Ventures, F7 Ventures, Chamaeleon, Position Ventures and Gaingels also participated.
Emi Labs Inc., Oakland, $11 million: Merus Capital and Khosla Ventures co-led the funding for this developer of artificial intelligence-based recruitment software. Flexport Ventures also invested.
