
Verkada valued at $4.5 billion after General Catalyst-led fundraise
Feb 19 (Reuters) - Security systems maker Verkada said on Wednesday it has raised $200 million in its latest funding round led by venture capital firm General Catalyst, bringing its valuation to $4.5 billion.
Verkada, which makes video security cameras, environmental sensors and alarms, has recently taken steps to imbibe artificial intelligence into its safety and security products.
AI startups have significantly contributed to the recovery of U.S. venture capital funding from market lows, with the total capital raised in 2024 nearly 30% higher than a year earlier, according to Pitchbook data released in January.
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Such firms have continued to drive venture capital funding in 2025, with companies such as enterprise automation platform Tines and healthcare startup Abridge having already secured financing from some of the big names in the industry.
The latest funding round will allow Verkada to enhance its AI capabilities and expand its cloud-based physical security platform, the company said.
At Verkada's previous funding round in 2022, which was led by venture capital giant Sequoia Capital and MSD Partners, an investment firm tied to Michael Dell, the company had raised $205 million at a valuation of $3.2 billion.
The company's customer base has more than doubled since its last fundraise and more than 91 Fortune 500 companies now use Verkada's products, it said.
"Verkada's ability to integrate AI into real-world applications like video security, predictive maintenance, and environmental monitoring, has allowed their customers to interact with their security systems in intuitive, transformative ways," said Deep Nishar, managing director at General Catalyst.
The latest round, where Eclipse Ventures also made a significant contribution along with other new and existing investors, brings Verkada's total amount raised in funding to $700 million.

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Sterling drops to six-week low against euro
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Reuters
34 minutes ago
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Morning Bid: Oil pops, dollar drops
LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - What matters in U.S. and global markets today I'm excited to announce that I'm now part of Reuters Open Interest (ROI), opens new tab, an essential new source for data-driven, expert commentary on market and economic trends. You can find ROI on the Reuters website, opens new tab, and you can follow us on LinkedIn, opens new tab and X., opens new tab Intro Not for the first time this year, markets are being hit by multiple crosscurrents. Today it's an oil price surge driven by Middle East tensions alongside surprisingly benign U.S. inflation readings. I discuss this and the rest of today's market news below. In today's column, I explore a surprising twist in the global dollar debate that could reshape how investors think about currency risk. I'll be off tomorrow so Morning Bid will take a day's holiday, but back to regular programming on Monday. Today's Market Minute * U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday U.S. personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because "it could be a dangerous place", adding that the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. * U.S. consumer prices increased less than expected in May as cheaper gasoline partially offset higher rents, but inflation is expected to accelerate in the coming months on the back of the Trump administration's import tariffs. *An Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India's western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, the airline and police said, and India's federal health minister said that "many people" were killed. * U.S. trade negotiations have transitioned from their tumultuous opening act into a new chapter: the Slow Grind. It may be less turbulent than this past spring's drama, but no less worrying for investors. * A proposed U.S. tax targeting foreign investors could hurt European energy giants that operate in America's booming oil and gas sector, undermining President Donald Trump's energy dominance agenda. Read the latest from ROI columnist Ron Bousso. Oil pops, dollar drops With investors trying to read the runes of this week's 'framework' trade agreement between the U.S. and China on Wednesday, worries surfaced about the state of play in the Middle East after the U.S. announced that it was moving personnel out of the region ahead of talks with Iran over the latter's nuclear-related activity. Crude oil prices promptly jumped 4% and hit their highest in two months before giving up some of those gains earlier today. European travel stocks and auto makers fell more than 2% on Thursday on the jitters. Gold , however, was only marginally higher, and the dollar (.DXY), opens new tab fell. While no specific reason was given for the U.S. personnel orders, the U.N. nuclear watchdog passed a resolution on Thursday formally declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Concern about Israeli threats to Iran's nuclear facilities inevitably ramped up. The prospect of higher energy prices at a time of tariff-related inflation concerns will certainly rankle. But so far at least, the Trump administration's import levies aren't putting much upward pressure on U.S. consumer prices, as May CPI came in below forecasts on Wednesday. Core annual producer price readings due out later today are expected to be steady. Despite this week's crude gains, year-on-year oil prices are still down more than 10%. And two-year U.S. 'breakeven' inflation rates in the inflation-protected Treasury market fell to their lowest of the year at 2.44%. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury yields fell on a mix of soft inflation and robust demand at the 10-year auction on Wednesday. Some $22 billion of 30-year bonds are up for grabs later today, testing the recently shaky demand for long-duration debt. Federal Reserve expectations haven't shifted greatly, with two quarter-point interest rate cuts still priced by yearend. No move is expected before September, even though President Donald Trump once again called for an immediate full percentage point rate cut after the CPI report. The dollar remains under pressure however, raising more concern about the absence of its traditional 'safe haven' role at a time of rising geopolitical tensions. The dollar index (.DXY), opens new tab fell to its lowest level since April, with the euro surging above $1.15 to within a whisker of its best levels since 2021. Sterling was a standout loser against the euro, falling to its weakest against the single currency in a month after a surprisingly sharp drop in April UK GDP. Stocks were slightly shaken by the whole picture, with the S&P500 (.SPX), opens new tab ending in the red on the Middle East news on Wednesday and futures down almost half a percentage point ahead of Thursday's open. Chinese, Japanese and European bourses were all in the red on Thursday. Only South Korea's Kospi bucked the trend. The wider trade war picture remained uncertain despite the U.S.-China progress, with details still patchy as the negotiated deal in London awaited final approval. Trump on Wednesday said he was very happy with the trade deal, as it restored a fragile truce between the two biggest economies, claiming China agreed to free up rare earth supplies in exchange for the U.S. allowing Chinese students to attend U.S. colleges. But he also insisted: "We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%." White House officials said the 55% represents the sum of a baseline 10% "reciprocal" tariff Trump has imposed on goods imported from nearly all U.S. trading partners, the 20% fentanyl-related tariffs, and pre-existing 25% levies on imports from China that were put in place during Trump's first term. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the 55% rate on Chinese imports is fixed and unalterable. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the deal would not reduce U.S. export restrictions on high-end artificial intelligence chips. China on Thursday affirmed the trade deal, and a foreign ministry spokesperson said: "Now that a consensus has been reached, both sides should abide by it." But with less than four weeks to go before the expiration of the 90-day pause on U.S. tariffs worldwide, markets remain concerned about what will happen next month. Trump said on Wednesday he would be willing to extend a July 8 deadline for completing trade talks, but also said he did not believe that would be necessary, noting: "At a certain point, we're just going to send letters out ... saying, 'This is the deal. You can take it, or you can leave it.'" European Union talks, in particular, look unlikely to be concluded by then. Elsewhere, Boeing shares fell 6% pre-market after news that an Air India plane headed to London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India's western city of Ahmedabad. Be sure to check out today's column, which looks at the weakening dollar and the debate about whether its decline is being driven by flight from U.S. assets at large or simply foreign investors hedging their dollar exposure. Chart of the day The UK may be seeing the downsides of publishing noisy monthly GDP readouts as opposed to quarterly updates. The April GDP report threw cold water on a relatively robust start to the year for the UK economy, showing a surprising 0.3% contraction during the month. However, it remains very unclear how much of the April loss will be durable through the second quarter. Either way, the data will put pressure on the Bank of England to step up monetary easing. Consequently, both sterling and UK government bond yields fell back after the GDP release. Today's events to watch * U.S. May producer price report (8:30 AM EDT), weekly jobless claims (8:30 AM EDT) * Federal Reserve issues Quarterly Financial Accounts of the United States (11:00 AM EDT) * U.S. Treasury auctions $22 billion of 30-year bonds * European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos and ECB board member Isabel Schnabel both speak in Brussels * U.S. corporate earnings: Adobe Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. Want to receive the Morning Bid in your inbox every weekday morning? Sign up for the newsletter here.


Reuters
35 minutes ago
- Reuters
Watch out for dollar FX fall more than 'de-dollarization'
LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - Evidence of "de-dollarization" around the world remains scant, but many major investors fear a gradual drawback from U.S. assets is now inevitable and the dollar's exchange rate may have to fall further to clear the market. The debate about the U.S. dollar's dominant role in global trade, reserves and investment portfolios has smoldered for decades, but it has reached a crescendo during the turbulent first few months of President Donald Trump's second term in the White House. European Central Bank boss Christine Lagarde, opens new tab recently put a spotlight on this shift in market thinking, noting "highly unusual cross-asset correlations" involving simultaneous drops in the dollar, Treasuries and U.S. stocks after Trump's import tariffs announcement in April. But despite all of the de-dollarization noise, there are still no clear indications of a mass withdrawal from dollar assets at large. In fact, some investors dismiss these fears altogether given the pattern of the past 10 years. Bank of America strategist Ralph Axel argues that despite all of the speculation, the world has actually been "rapidly dollarizing" over the past decade - at least in the sense that dollar liabilities have expanded enormously. In a research report on Thursday, Axel points in particular to the growth of the so-called shadow banking system, otherwise known as "Non-Bank Financial Intermediation", or NBFI, and refers to the universe of investment funds, private credit firms and even crypto funds that exist outside the regulated banking system. All dollar liabilities are effectively "money" in the sense that they can be sold for dollar cash and are thus ultimately claims on the Federal Reserve. Some of these liabilities are direct claims, such as U.S. Treasuries, but there are a blizzard of indirect claims through uninsured deposits, mortgage and corporate debt and investment fund shares. Dollar liabilities have clearly ballooned in the past decade. The U.S. federal debt has increased four-fold in less than 10 years to some $36 trillion, while bank deposits have more than doubled to $18 trillion since 2008. And, as Axel points out, the total size of "shadow banks" has also more than doubled since 2009 to roughly $63 trillion, according to S&P Global data. While much of this expansion simply reflects asset price appreciation, Axel notes that "the NBFI system can only grow because of demand for its liabilities." The point of all this number-crunching is to undermine the simplistic de-dollarization narrative. If de-dollarization were truly accelerating then fewer, not more, U.S. liabilities could be created, whether from the government, traditional lenders or shadow banks. And the trend has clearly been the other way. "A big selling wave can move prices and exchange rates temporarily but does not de-dollarize," he wrote. "As a result, we think the de-dollarization theme is less threatening, especially given what appears to be a stronger trend of global dollarization over time." In other words, the exchange rate of the dollar can fall even if dollar assets are not contracting. A weakening exchange rate simply signals that temporary demand for dollar assets is declining and a lower dollar sticker price is needed to clear the market. "We would caution investors to not miss the dollar story for the dollar trees," the Bank of America strategist concluded, in reference to the confusion between exchange rates and the ubiquity of dollars and dollar assets. Of course, the trends of the last 10 to 15 years may have crested, and that's precisely this year's concern. Questions about the dollar exchange exposure were also raised by Deutsche Bank's currency research team this week in a deep dive into the hedging behavior of the world's big pension and insurance funds with the heaviest overseas assets holdings. They showed that Nordic, Dutch and Australian institutional funds had more than 50% of their investment portfolios invested abroad, with Japan's and Switzerland's foreign holdings also high at above 30%. They concluded that most of these investments are in the U.S. and much of the currency risk is not being hedged, meaning exposure to the U.S. dollar is likely historically high. But as these funds' hedging activity is now increasing, they reckon, it should pressure the dollar exchange rate lower. All of which raises an important, albeit circular, question. To what extent was the performance of U.S. assets exaggerated in recent years by investors assumption of an ever-rising dollar and a hedge against global shocks? And was the dollar just rising because of that outsize overseas demand for U.S. stocks and bonds? And, on the flip side, to what extent could a weakening dollar now cause demand for those assets to fall? What market pricing near mid-year suggests is that even if de-dollarization fears are overblown, the dollar's exchange rate may be a necessary safety valve. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.