Two blank check company mergers and five funding deals — including one for a San Francisco robotics startup — top the Bay Area's startup and venture news at week's end.Mountain View, $14.1 million: Mouro Capital and QED Investors led the seed round for this provider of a service that helps companies hire and compensate remote workers. Counterpart Ventures also invested.Alameda, $8.
. The Redwood City company, which offers ordering software and devices for restaurants, raised $120 million in the deal. Its stock dropped 1.5% in its first day of trading.public through a merger valued at about $3.5 billion. Avalon is a SPAC led by Donald Putnam and Craig Cognetti, top executives of San Francisco merchant bank Grail Partners. Beneficient is a Dallas-based financial services company.as a managing director.