Daily funding roundup - August 20th, 2021

Balto landed $37M; Metabase secured $30M; Gross-Wen Technologies raised $6.5M

Branch: Branch helps businesses accelerate payments to empower working Americans. Branch announced it has raised over $540 million to fuel its momentum in delivering flexible workforce payments. Addition led the closing of a $48 million Series B funding round with participation from Drive Capital, Crosscut Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, and HR Tech Investments LLC, a subsidiary of Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd., among other investors. The company has also secured $500 million in purchased assets from funds managed by Neuberger Berman. Read more

DriveWealth: DriveWealth is a Chatham, N.J.-based brokerage infrastructure startup that enables companies to embed investing services like fractional trading within their own products. DriveWealth has raised $450 million in Series D funding co-led by Accel and Insight Partners. Other investors include Greyhound Capital, SoftBank, Base 10, FlightDeck, the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and earlier backers Point72 Ventures and Fidelity. Read more  

D1 Brands: D1 Brands is a New York-based Amazon aggregator looking to capitalize on the success of third-party sellers in online marketplaces. D1 Brands has raised $123 million in Series A funding. CoVenture and Crossbeam Venture Partners co-led the round, joined by ID8 Investments. Read more  

Balto: Balto is a St. Louis, Mo.-based call center automation startup that aims to deliver visual prompts to agents with the "best things to say, live on every call. " Balto has raised $37 million in Series B funding. Stripes led the round, joined by RingCentral Ventures, Sierra Ventures, TIA Ventures, OCA Ventures, Stage Venture Partners, SaaS Venture Capital, Sandalphon Capital, Cultivation Capital and Atreides Management. Read more  

Metabase: Metabase is a Mountain View, Ca.-based open-source business intelligence startup. Metabase has raised $30 million in Series B funding. Insight Partners led the round, joined by earlier backers Expa and NEA. Read more  

Gross-Wen Technologies: Gross-Wen Technologies is a Slater, Ia.-based company whose wastewater treatment technology uses algae to clean wastewater. Gross-Wen Technologies has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding co-led by ISA Ventures and the Iowa Farm Bureau's Rural Vitality Fund. Other backers in the round include Next Level Ventures, Mid-American Angels, Ankeny Angels, Ag Startup Engine, Oman Ventures, and 1330 Investments. Read more 

Urban Sky: Urban Sky is a Denver, Co.-based  startup that aims to provide imagery from high-altitude "micro" balloons at much higher resolution than satellites. Urban Sky has raised $4.1 million in seed funding led by Catapult Ventures and Union Labs, with participation from TenOneTen Ventures, NewStack Ventures and Techstars. Read more  

Breef: Breef is a New York-based agency marketplace that connects brands with agencies for their digital and creative needs. Bree has raised $3.5 million in funding led by Greycroft. Other investors in the round include Rackhouse Ventures, The House Fund, Lance Armstrong and 640 Oxford Ventures. Read more  

Cardiomatics: Cardiomatics is a Poland-based health tech AI startup that has developed an electrocardiogram reading automation technology. Cardiomatics just announced $3.2 million in seed funding. The Central and Eastern European venture firm Kaya VC led the round, joined by Nina Capital, Nova Capital and Innovation Nest. Read more  

Earbuds: Earbuds is an Austin, Tex.-based social music app that's directly integrated with Spotify and Apple Music. Earbuds just raised $3 million in Series A funding. Ecliptic Capital led the round,  joined by the Andre Agassi Foundation and LFG Ventures. Read more  

If you are interested in being included in our funding roundup, submit your press release or blog post about your financing round to kristin@vator.tv. If you want a longer write-up, please do give us a couple of days heads up. If you'd like to be included in our Today's Entrepreneur column, please send me your Vator profile.

Image by jplenio from Pixabay