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Friday! Before we hightail it out of here, we have a new StrictlyVC Download for you, served up with some news stories you may have missed. (One in particular is not to be believed.)
This week's featured guests include Krishna Yeshwant, who graduated from Harvard’s MD/MBA program and has been a partner at Google's venture arm, GV, since it was formed in 2009 (he also leads the charge on GV's incubation program), and Alex Wiltschko, a Harvard PhD and former staff research scientist at Google AI who just became an entrepreneur-in-residence with GV with an eye toward forming an entirely new kind of company.
Giant thanks to this week's podcast sponsor: irrvrntVC, a venture firm that says it's looking for the next big thing at the intersection of digital marketing and commerce (and to dive in as early as possible). Check sizes range from $300K to $500K; 50% of its investments are in under-represented founders, says the firm. More here.
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Lordy, for September, the Dow tumbled 8.8%, while the S&P 500 fell 9.3%. The Nasdaq lost 10.5%. CNBC has more here.
In a widely watched presentation tonight, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tonight revealed a prototype of a humanoid "Optimus" robot that shares some AI software and sensors with its cars' Autopilot driver assistance features. It was almost shockingly underwhelming (though at least it was a real prototype, unlike last year when Musk hired a human in a white leotard to mimic a robot). Meanwhile, Musk reiterated that the eventual plan is for the finished Optimus to be made and sold in the millions, and at a price point that he estimated tonight would be less than $20,000. More here and here.
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Uniswap Labs, a four-year-old New York startup that operates decentralized crypto exchange, is talking to Polychain and one of Singapore’s sovereign funds about raising an equity round of $100 million to $200 million at a valuation of around $1 billion. TechCrunch has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Blowfish, a six-month-old web3 security company in Sweden that says it scans transactions for malicious intent on behalf of wallets and creates an extra layer of security for users, has raised $11.8 million in funding led by Paradigm. CoinDesk has more here.
Caraway, a four-year-old New York startup that offers virtual healthcare services for college students via its app, raised a $10.5 million seed round co-led by 7wireVentures and OMERS Ventures alongside participation from Hopelab Ventures. FierceHealthcare has more here.
Meliora Therapeutics, a one-year-old Menlo Park, Ca. startup whose computational platform allows companies to identify the mechanism of action in small molecule compounds and uncover mischaracterized compounds in the process, raised an $11 million seed round co-led by HOF Capital and ZhenFund, with Obvious Ventures, Village Global, BrightEdge, Pebblebed, Axial, and Olive Capital also taking part. AIThority has more here.
Noodle.ai, a six-year-old San Francisco startup whose software leverages AI to make recommendations on ways to speed up product shipments, raised a $25 million Series C round.The investment was led by the venture capital arms of Honeywell and ServiceNow. The company has raised a total of $97 million. The WSJ has more here.
Nova Credit, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that help lenders with loan decisions from immigrants and others lacking local credit files, raised a $10 million round from HSBC. The company has raised a total of $79.4 million. AltFi has more here.
Path Water, a seven-year-old startup based in Fremont, Ca., that sells bottled water in a refillable, recyclable aluminum container, raised a $30 million Series A round. Altos Ventures was the deal lead; Blue Investment Group, HartBeat Ventures (Kevin Hart’s venture fund), Ryan Seacrest, Guy Fieri, and Ninja also participated. More here.
Re, a crypto startup that has designed a decentralized insurance protocol for the reinsurance market, raised a $14 million seed round at a $100 million post-money valuation. Investors included Tribe Capital, Framework Ventures, Morgan Creek Digital, and SiriusPoint. The Block has more here.
Regie.ai, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that uses OpenAI’s GPT-3 text-generating system to create sales and marketing content for brands, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Scale Venture Partners, with additional capital provided by Foundation Capital and South Park Commons. The company has raised a total of $14.8 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Songfinch, a six-year-old Chicago startup that lets people create custom songs by discovering and collaborating with professional artists, raised a $17 million Series A round. Valor Siren Ventures led the transaction; previous investor Corazon Capital also participated. The company has raised a total of $21.8 million. MusicBusiness Worldwide has more here.
TeachFX, a five-year-old Menlo Park startup whose app records teachers’ lessons and gives them personalized feedback about what they do well and where they could improve, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Reach Capital. Forbes has more here.
Toqio, a three-year-old London startup that claims its white-label digital finance software can enable anyone to launch a new fintech product, raised $17.7 million Series A round led by Albion VC, with Aldea Ventures, Seaya, Speedinvest, and SIX FinTech Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $28.8 million. TechCrunch has more here.
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3AM Innovations, a seven-year-old startup based in Buffalo, N.Y., that develops software for first responders, raised a $9 million Series A round. The lead investor was Grand Oaks Capital. The Buffalo News has more here.
7Analytics, a two-year-old Norwegian startup that uses AI and machine learning techniques to calculate the risk of flooding, raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Momentum Partners, with Construct Venture, Link Capital, and Obos VC also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.
Arcade, a one-year-old New York startup that has developed a simple Chrome extension that that product people can use to build demos quickly in various settings, raised a $7.5 million seed round. Investors included Foundation Capital and Upfront Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Bizbaz, a three-year-old Singapore startup that helps fintechs assess the risks of onboarding new customers, raised a $4 million seed round led by HSBC Asset Management, with Vynn Capital and previous investor SOSV also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $4.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.
CoRise, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that sells expert-led programming to people who want to learn new career skills, raised an $8.5 million seed round co-led by Greylock and GSV Ventures co-led, with Cowboy Ventures also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.
Everstores, a months-old, Berlin-based startup that's looking to acquire Shopify-based businesses (like OpenStore, which announced funding last week), says that it has raised €8 million in equity funding and €10 in debt. Earlybird Venture Capital is leading the equity portion, while Viola Credit is leading the debit part. TechCrunch has more here.
General Prognostics, a two-year-old, Boston-based company that say it's developing an 'API for blood' to digitize critical blood biomarkers and improve clinical predictions, has raised $3.25 million in seed funding. Among the investors are D4V (Design for Ventures), a Tokyo-based venture capital firm in partnership with global design consultancy IDEO, as well as angel investors including Pete Moran, former longtime general partner at DCM Ventures. More here.
Kahun, a four-year-old Israeli startup whose clinical assessment chatbot asks patients questions about their symptoms and background and uses medical literature to spot rare diseases and urgent problems, raised an $8 million seed round. The deal lead was LocalGlobe; European Innovation CouncilFund and The Founders Kitchen also participated. MobiHealthNews has more here.
KOOS, an Estonian startup that offers a standardized API allowing companies to reward customers for their loyalty whenever the company meets predefined business goals, raised a $4 million seed round led by Plural Platform, with additional investment from LocalGlobe, Tiny.vc, and Matt Clifford. TechCrunch has more here.
Ripe, a six-year-old Stockholm startup that helps companies identify promising sales leads, raised a $2 million round. Earlybird VC and Alliance Ventures co-led the deal. TechCrunch has more here.
Smart Token Labs, an Australian startup that has developed a programmable smart token interface that it believes can connect web2 and web3 technologies, raised a $6 million at a $200 million valuation through a token sale agreement. Billionaire Fosun International co-founder Liang Xinjun was the deal lead, with additional participation from HashGlobal, Bodl, and Fenbushi Capital. The company has raised a total of $12 million. The Block has more here.
Solvo, a startup that is designing a mobile app to make it easier for consumers to invest in cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency-related financial products, raised a $3.5 million seed round. The lead investor was Index Ventures, while CoinFund and FJ Labs also participated. TechCrunch has more here.
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Hustle Fund, a five-year-old, San Carlos, Ca.-based seed-stage venture fund that, true to its name, helps support itself through other revenue streams, has closed its third fund with $46 million in capital commitments. TechCrunch has more here.
Town Hall Ventures, a four-year-old, New York-based firm focused on health care for underserved communities, says it has closed its third fund with $350 million in capital commitments. The outfit bills its efforts as a “healthcare innovation platform dedicated to transforming care” and has thus far written checks to the health plan startup Bright Health and to providers of medical care and behavioral health such as Cityblock Health, Signify Health and VillageMD. Forbes has more here.
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Virtualization and cloud products vendor Citrix and enterprise applications vendor Tibco Software have completed their merger, valued at $16.5 billion, with new leadership calling the combined company “a new global leader in enterprise software.” The two companies announced the deal’s completion in a statement today. Investment firms Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital Corp. – an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management – took Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Citrix off the NASDAQ to complete the deal. CRN has more here.
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Intel Corp's self-driving unit Mobileye today unveiled its filing for a U.S. IPO, testing support for a high-profile stock debut even as the market for new issues has virtually collapsed. Reuters has more here.
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YouTuber MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — said he received an offer of $1 billion to take over his content empire but turned it down.
Mamoon Hamid is killing it over at Kleiner Perkins.
Charly Mwangi has joined Eclipse Ventures in Palo Alto, Ca., as a general partner; Mwangi most was recently an executive vice president with the electric car company Rivian, but he also spent six years as a senior engineering director at Tesla, where fellow Eclipse GP Greg Reichow was formerly a vice president of production. More here.
Dave Palmer has joined the eight-year-old, cybersecurity-focused venture firm Eleven Ventures as general partner. Palmer, who is based in the U.K., cofounded and was previously the chief product officer for the cybersecurity company Darktrace.
Two Silicon Valley billionaires (and friends and former Stanford classmates) are holding dueling political fundraisers this week. Investor Reid Hoffman hosted a Democratic fundraiser in San Francisco last night with Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson and VC Ron Conway. Meanwhile, investor Peter Thiel planned a fundraiser tonight at his Los Angeles home for his former protege Blake Masters, a Republican running to represent Arizona in the Senate. CNBC has more here.
A former eBay executive was sentenced yesterday to almost five years in prison for leading a scheme to terrorize the creators of an online newsletter that included sending live spiders, cockroaches, a funeral wreath and other disturbing deliveries to their home. NPR has more here.
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Roughly 67% of 1,000 senior technology leaders at U.S. firms across industries said they have yet to see a significant return on cloud investments, KPMG said yesterday in its annual technology survey.
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Olive AI, the Tiger Global- and Drive Capital-backed, Columbus, Oh.-based healthcare software company that has long prided itself on its many "pivots," may have pivoted a little too much. According to an Axios report that we missed earlier this week, the outfit abruptly fired its chief financial officer and chief product officer last week, and the departures come on the heels of numerous other executive departures. 📉
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