The Garage is a venture capital fund backed by Bank Leumi and BRM Group that invests in and builds early-stage startups operating in the fintech, AI and cyber sectors.

The Princeton firm led an initial, $22 million financing round in the energy-as-a-service company in June 2017. Now, its clients include Dunkin, Subway, Wendy’s, YMCA and IHOP, among others.

Financing in Handspring, which offers omnichannel options to better serve children and families, was led by Newark Venture Partners and NextView Ventures with additional participation.

The funds were spread across 219 separate deals and mark a nearly 224% increase from the $1.7 billion of venture capital dispersed in 2020.

According to Prepaid Technologies, approximately $120 trillion in business payments are still check-based, with service providers fragmented across multiple vendors for payroll, rewards, purchasing and disbursement--representing $80 billion in addressable markets, growing at more than 10% annually and accelerating with the proliferation of smartphones, e-commerce and digitized payments since the onset of the pandemic.

The portfolio company, which has expanded 700% since the growth equity investment firm's initial financing in 2013, will become Verritone's marquee offering for human capital management.

The energy efficiency as a service provider plans to accelerate sales and marketing, working toward its goal of managing more than $3 billion in customer energy spending by 2027.