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Here in California, we're watching election night like a pro, so getting this out a little early today. . .
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You kind of knew that the cryptocurrency exchange FTX would receive a comeuppance at some point (it seemed a little too immune to the crypto market collapse), but this was almost a Trojan horse scenario. The three-year-old outfit, after aggressively positioning itself as a buyer of beleaguered digital asset outfits, has itself suddenly collapsed into the arms of exchange Binance, an early investor in FTX that -- surprise! -- just signed a letter of
intent to acquire FTX Trading.
The deal comes after a growing rivalry between the two fast-growing firms came to a head in recent days, with Binance announcing on Sunday it was selling off its FTT holdings, the native token of FTX exchange, worth $529 million at the time, due to “recent revelations that came to light.”
As Bloomberg notes, that tweet followed a CoinDesk story revealing that Alameda Research, a trading house owned by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, had roughly
one-third of its assets in the FTT token, raising questions regarding market manipulation and in, any case, making it clear that their codependency made them highly vulnerable in a massive market drawdown . . . which is when Binance went for the jugular and launched its sell-off.
With the acquisition, Binance emerges as the unchallenged leader among crypto exchanges, while subjecting FTX founder Bankman-Fried to a painful comedown, notes the WSJ. (How painful? He just underwent the biggest one-day collapse in wealth ever among billionaires, observes Business Insider.)
Indeed, Bloomberg's Matt Levine speculates that Binance probably didn't pay a whole lot, and certainly nothing close to the $32 billion that FTX was presumably worth last week. That's very bad
news for the many firms that invested in FTX, including major shareholders Sequoia Capital and Paradigm, along with SoftBank, NEA, Blackstone, and Insight Partners (among others).
The acquisition impacts only the non-U.S. businesses for FTX. However, notes CNBC, according to a 2021 audit, the U.S. part of FTX accounted for just 5% of total revenue.
In the meantime there are lots of questions about everything FTX touches. FTX Ventures, for example, has been an active participant in the market. Does it go away? How tightly bound is the fate of the blockchain Solana to that of FTX? What does it all mean for Anthony Scaramucci's Skybridge Capital, which sold a 30% stake to FTX Ventures in September, or Robinhood, which is partly owned by Bankman-Fried.
Importantly, too, how long will it be before FTX Arena is renamed? And does this mean FTX is not buying Goldman Sachs, a prospect
that Bankman-Fried said last year was "not out of the question at all"? (He was a little bit asking for trouble with that one.)
For this week's podcast, we'll be talking about these implications and others with longtime crypto investor David Pakman, long of Venrock and, since last year, a managing director at the crypto-native investment firm CoinFund. (CoinFund is also an investor in FTX.)
For now, says Pakman: "I think we all need a few days to process and gather facts." 🤯
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Venture capital firms and their investors have realized that a fund administrator without best-in-class technology is no longer acceptable. But experienced firms also know that when it’s crunch time and that capital call needs to go out now, no technology can replace the need for an expert, highly responsive fund accountant working with you. Meet Juniper Square: the first technology-driven fund admin built for sophisticated venture capital firms.
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Agriconomie, an eight-year-old, Paris-based e-commerce company focused on agricultural supplies for farmers, has raised €60 million in funding co-led by Treïs Group, Temasek, and Aliment Capital (formerly Pontifax AgTech), with participation from Eurazeo. More here.
Amber Group, a five-year-old Singapore crypto startup that provides liquidity and market-making services to clients throughout Asia, raised a $200 million round at a $3 billion valuation. Temasek was the deal lead. CoinDesk has more here.
Aspen Power Partners, a two-year-old Dallas startup that develops, constructs, and operates community, multifamily, and commercial and industrial solar and storage installations, raised a $350 million round from Carlyle. The company has raised a total of $470 million. More here.
AutoLeadStar, a six-year-old Jerusalem startup that has developed marketing automation technology for auto-dealerships and manufacturers, raised a $40 million round led by Riverwood Capital. The company has raised a total of $57 million. Calcalist has more here.
Eliyan, a one-year-old Santa Clara, Ca., startup that is building chiplet interconnects, which result in what the company claims to be faster-performing and more energy-efficient chips, raised a $40 million Series A round led by Tracker Capital, with Celestra, Intel, and Micron also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.
Hopper, a 15-year-old Montreal startup that operate a travel booking app, raised a $96 million follow-on investment from Capital One. The company has raised a total of $740 million. More here.
Laika, a New York-based compliance platform, says it just closed $50 million in Series C funding led by Fin Capital, with participation from new investor Centana Growth Partners along with earlier backers, including J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, Canapi, and ThirdPrime. TechCrunch has more here.
Ostara, a 17-year-old Vancouver startup that is developing sustainable fertilizers, raised a $70 million Series C round. Investors included Carica Sustainable Investments, Forage Capital Partners, Cibus Funds, and Grosvenor. The company has raised a total of $146.7 million. More here.
Vivrelle, a four-year-old New York startup that allows consumers to rent fashion accessories such as handbags and jewelry, raised a $35 million Series B round led by 3L Capital and including Origin Ventures, Chapford Capital Group, Plus Capital, and actresses Lily Collins and Nina Dobrev and TV personality Morgan Stewart McGraw. The company has raised a total of $69 million. Retail Bum has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Archy, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose dental practice management platform includes patient engagement, payroll, practice management software, imaging, analytics, and payment processing, raised a $10 million round. Bessemer Venture Partners and CRV were the co-leads; additional investors included Alven, Nurzhas Makishev, Adapt Ventures, 2.12 Angels, and Diagram Collective. The company has raised a total of $14 million. More here.
Dataloop, a five-year-old startup based in Herzliya, Israel, that is focused on data annotation for computer vision and video analytics, raised a $33 million Series B round co-led by NGP Capital and Alpha Wave Ventures, with additional participation from Amiti Ventures, F2 Venture Capital, Eyal Gura, and OurCrowd. The company has raised a total of $49 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Infinitum, a six-year-old, Austin-based outfit that makes what it describes as a smaller, lighter, quieter and more efficient electric motor for commercial, industrial and transportation applications, has raised $30 million in growth capital from Riverstone Holdings Latin America, Alliance Resource Partners, Caterpillar Venture Capital and Cottonwood Technology Fund. More here.
Juvena, a four-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based biotech startup building a computational platform to map the therapeutic potential of secreted proteins, has raised $41 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to $50 million. Investors in the round include Mubadala Capital, Horizons Ventures, and Bison Ventures, among others. The WSJ has more here.
Sensorium Therapeutics, a one-year-old Boston startup that is developing drugs from psychoactive plants, raised a $30 million round led by Santé Ventures, with additional capital provided by Route 66 Ventures, CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, WPSS.bio, Palo Santo, Iter Investments, Ocama Partners, and re.Mind Capital. The The Boston Business Journal has more here.
Veriti, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup whose software integrates with a company’s existing security stack and assesses potential risks by analyzing security configurations, logs, sensor telemetries, and threat intelligence feeds, raised $18.5 million in funding, a combination of $12 million from Insight Partners and a $6.5 million round led by NFX and Amiti. TechCrunch has more here.
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Circle Labs, a San Francisco startup whose technology allows users to create AI-powered chatbots that have consistent personalities across platforms like Twitter, Discord, and Instagram, raised a $4.2 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Haystack, Scott Belsky, and AI Grant Fund also pitching in. More here.
Doola, a one-year-old New York startup that is attempting to automate the process of starting a company, including incorporation documents, banking arrangements, and lines of credit, raised a $8 million led by Nexus Venture Partners, with Y Combinator, Hustle Fund, and Vibe Capital also taking part. The company has raised a total of $11 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Kodex, a three-year-old, Chicago-based, purpose-built marketplace for crypto domains and establishing persistent web3 identity, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding led by Origin Ventures, with participation from Castor Ventures and the web3-focused funds Sfermion and CMT Digital. Chicago Inno has more here.
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| None-of-Your-Damned-Business Fundings |
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Manscaped, a six-year-old San Diego startup that makes men's grooming products and had hoped to become a publicly traded company through a SPAC deal that was shelved in August,
raised an undisclosed Series B round. The co-leads were Banner Ventures and Smash Ventures. More here.
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SMB is the backbone of the US economy. 99.9% of all US business are small. With rising SaaS adoption by small business for enhancing productivity, we remain optimistic on the long term view of sector. Allied Advisers's published report covers the nuances of SMB SaaS as it continues to be a growing, compelling opportunity for investors and buyers, with notable outcomes in the sector such as the recent Freshworks $1.03B IPO, Mailchimp’s acquisition ($12B+) etc.
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Emerging markets fintech VC Quona Capital says it has closed its third fund with $332 million, bringing the firm's aggregate committed capital to more than $745 million. The Washington, DC and Bangalore, India-based firm focuses its investments on innovations that can improve financial inclusion in India and Southeast Asia, LatAm, and Africa/MENA. TechCrunch has more here.
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An 11-year-old software company called Amaze that offers e-commerce tools for creators, merchants, and brands, has acquired Spring, itself the 11-year-old merch startup formerly called Teespring. It declined to disclose financial details behind the acquisition. According to PitchBook data cited by Business Insider, Amaze has raised a total of $70.1 million to date; meanwhile Spring had raised at least $60 million from investors. More here.
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A federal judge has denied Elizabeth Holmes’s bid for a new trial. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, who oversaw Holmes’s trial which began last year, said in a ruling late yesterday that the arguments in her three motions for a new trial didn’t introduce material new evidence or establish government misconduct, adding that a new trial was unlikely to result in an acquittal. Holmes, now visibly pregnant with her second child, is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 18 and could face up to 20 years in prison
for each of the four counts of fraud. More here.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk disposed of 19.5 million Tesla shares today, which is worth about $3.95 billion, according to three filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk did not take to Twitter to explain why he sold shares, but TechCrunch notes that it's possible the money will go towards his $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform.
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Nine public tech companies that are now worth less than what VCs originally invested.
Wow, a jackpot-winning Powerball ticket that matched all six numbers in the $2.04 billion(!) drawing was sold in L.A. County, officials announced today. The winner has up to a year to come forward and claim the prize.
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TikTok’s user base and revenues have exploded over the last few years. Now the major music groups that license their music to the video-sharing app want a bigger piece of the pie, reports Bloomberg.
Twitter has said that user growth is “accelerating” and hit “all-time highs” during Elon Musk’s first week at the helm, as it attempts to reassure advertisers after a growing number paused their spending on the social media platform since his takeover. 🤨 More in the FT.
Salesforce laid off hundreds of people this week as the onslaught of tech cutbacks continued unabated. The company would not share an exact number, but said it was less than a thousand, and the people involved were informed yesterday, according to TechCrunch. More here.
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Join hundreds of military veteran entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and early-stage operators at the Military Veteran Startup Conference hosted by Context Ventures on Feb 2nd & 3rd, 2023 in San Francisco. Military veterans make fantastic founders and investors - come build your network at the densest gathering of military veteran talent in the early-stage ecosystem. The event is open to everyone: military veterans, veteran spouses, and civilians. Learn more and register here.
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