Blippar, Graphcore, Cisco, Luxtera, Lightspeed and Egress

Blippar blows up

Augmented reality startup Blippar is shutting down. The London company, which raised over $130 million in the past six years, is now essentially bankrupt and is laying off all employees.

Graphcore raises $200M for AI chips

While one British unicorn is down, another is rising. Graphcore, a developer of semiconductors used in machine learning and AI applications, raised $200 million in a Series D round that values the U.K.-based company at $1.7 billion. Venture firms Atomico and Sofina led the financing, with participation from a long list of other backers including new strategic investors Microsoft and BMW.

Cisco buys Luxtera for $660M

Chips are hot this week. The latest acquisition target in the space is Luxtera, a startup that uses silicon photonics technology to develop chips used in data networking. Cisco announced that it is buying the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company for $660 million.

Lightspeed seeks $560M for China funds

Lightspeed China Partners, a Shanghai-headquartered VC firm affiliated with Lightspeed Venture Partners, is looking to raise $560 million across two new venture funds, according to securities filings.

Egress closes on $40M for cybersecurity

London-based security software provider Egress has raised $40 million in a Series C financing led by FTV Capital.

Get your nominations in for PagerDuty’s Inclusion for Impact awards

For the second year running, PagerDuty is partnering with Crunchbase on the Inclusion for Impact Awards. Our goal is to identify and celebrate the people who made the biggest difference around Inclusion, Diversity, Belonging and Equity in tech in 2018. Submit your nominations by Dec. 21st