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May 22, 2020
Hope you have a terrific weekend, everyone. For analysis about some of the week's big industry stories, tune in to this week's StrictlyVC Download, with featured guest Julie Bornstein, cofounder and CEO of The Yes. It's an interesting new shopping platform that could well find itself competing with Bornstein's previous employer, the subscription-based styling service Stitch Fix. Alex and I dive into the possibility, as well explore a host of implications related to the remote work trend that's gaining traction at hyper speed.
We'll be offline on Monday, observing Memorial Day; more Tuesday.:)
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Top News
Hertz Global Holdings, the car-rental company founded more than a century ago, filed for bankruptcy late today, after the global economic collapse destroyed demand for its vehicles. (Wow.)
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Massive Fundings
HotSpot Therapeutics, a three-year-old, Boston, Ma.-based biotech focused on allosteric therapies, has raised $65 million in Series B funding. S.R. One led the round, joined by funds managed by Tekla Capital Management, MRL Ventures Fund, Solasta Ventures, Brace Pharma, Atlas Venture and Sofinnova Partners. More here.
Mindstrong Health, an eight-month-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based digital therapeutic platform for serious mental health conditions that was founded by former Uber and Twitter exec Daniel Graf, has raised $100 million in Series C funding. Optum Ventures, Foresite Capital Management, and Arch Venture Partners participated in the round, as did earlier backers General Catalyst, What If Ventures, 8VC, and Bezos Expedition. TechCrunch has more here.
Missfresh, a nearly six-year-old, Beijing, China-based grocery delivery company, is reportedly in talks to raise $500 million in new funding. Earlier backers include Tencent, Goldman Sachs, and Tiger Global Management. Bloomberg has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Attest Technologies, a five-year-old, London-based market research platform, has raised $15 million from New Enterprise Associates, along with an undisclosed investor who led the round, says the company. More here.
Chief, a two-year-old, New York-based social network for professional women in senior leadership positions, has raised $15 million from earlier backers General Catalyst, Inspired Capital, GGV Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Flybridge Capital, and BoxGroup. TechCrunch has more here.
Clara Analytics, a four-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based predictive analytics company for workers’ compensation claims, has raised $25 million in Series B funding. Aspen Capital Group led the round, joined by earlier backer Oak HC/FT Partners. VentureBeat has more here.
Evervault, a two-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based internet infrastructure company, has raised $16 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round, joined by earlier investors Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Frontline Ventures. CNBC has more here.
MakeSpace, a seven-year-old, New York-based on-demand physical storage company, has raised $45 million in Series E equity funding and $10 million in debt. Iron Mountain led the round, joined by 8VC, Upfront Ventures, Maywic Select Investments, Provenio Capital, Ten Eighty, and CX Collective. TechCrunch has more here.
Spruce, a four-year-old, New York-based title and escrow platform, has raised $29 million in Series B funding. Scale Venture Partners led the round, joined by Zigg Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. Real Estate Weekly has more here.
Statespace, a three-year-old, New York-based company that combines gaming with cognitive science and artificial intelligence, has today raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures. Earlier investors FirstMark Capital, Lux Capital and Expa also joined the round, along with newcomer June Fund. TechCrunch has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Company Six, a new, Boulder, Co.-based spinout of Sphero, the decade-old company best known for its programmable robots, has raised $3 million in seed funding. The startup will focus on commercializing intelligence robots and AI-based apps for military, EMT, and fire personnel and others who work in dangerous situations. Spider Capital led the round, joined by Foundry Group and Techstars. VentureBeat has more here.
Humu, a three-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based HR management startup founded by Google's former HR guru Lazlo Bock, has added $9 million in funding to a previously closed $30 million Series B round that was announced in May 2018, shows a new SEC filing. The capital looks to be from earlier backers Index Ventures and IVP. More here.
PathSpot, a three-year-old, New York-based company selling a commercial scanner that mounts on a bathroom wall to ensure someone's hand are clean, has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding. Valor Siren Ventures led, joined by Fika Ventures and Walden VC. TechCrunch has more here.
TeamSnap, an 11-year-old, Boulder, Co.-based platform used primarily by parents and coaches to coordinate sports other activities, is raising $10 million in equity and debt, shows a new SEC filing. According to Crunchbase, the company had previously raised $47.6 million from investors, including Foundry Group and Northgate Capital. More here.
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New Funds
Artis Ventures, the 18-year-old, San Francisco-based venture firm founded by partner Stuart Peterson, has raised at least $90 million for its third fund, which is targeting $200 million, according to SEC filings. Artis is best known for investing early in both YouTube and, more recently, in Stemcentrx, which sold to AbbVie for $10.2 million in 2016. More here.
Chicago Ventures, an eight-year-old, seed-stage venture firm, is raising upwards of $75 million for its third fund and has secured at least $58 million in capital commitments toward that end, shows a new SEC filing. The firm closed its second fund with $66 million in 2016. It began raising its newest vehicle roughly one year ago, according to a Crain's Chicago Business report. More here.
Iron Pillar, a three-year-old, Bengaluru, India-based venture firm founded by former Morgan Creek director Anand Prasanna, former Citigroup India investment banking head Sameer Nath, and former DFJ India head Mohanjit Jolly, has added $45 million in capital commitments to a maiden fund that initially closed in 2018 with $90 million in commitments. LiveMint has more here.
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People
Alexis Ohanian of Reddit and Initialized Capital says a new "crypto spring" is afoot. "I try not to track prices," Ohanian tells Yahoo Finance. "I can’t predict any of that stuff. What I can say is we really do see a crypto spring right now in terms of top-tier engineers, product developers, designers, building real solutions on top of the blockchain. And that to me is the most interesting part . . .We’re seeing really top-tier talent building on the infrastructure.”
An eighth Amazon warehouse employee has died from COVID-19.
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Data
There's been a lot of bad news, but according to a new CBRE report, the tech industry has accounted for just 137,000 of 21.4 million jobs lost since the COVID-19 shutdown began in March, making it one of the U.S. economy’s most resilient employment sectors. The WSJ separately takes a look at why even a pandemic can't slow down the biggest tech giants.
In related news: U.S. billionaires saw their fortunes soar by $434 billion during the nation’s lockdown between mid-March and mid-May, according to a new report. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg had the biggest gains. Bezos added $34.6 billion to his wealth and Zuckerberg picked up $25 billion. CNBC has more here.
Unrelated (but interesting!): Employees planning to leave their jobs are involved in 60% of insider cybersecurity incidents and data leaks, new research suggests. More in ZDNet.
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Essential Reads
Facebook, which expects much of its workforce to work remotely within 5 to 10 years, has dramatically revised plans to create a new village near its headquarters in Silicon Valley. Its new proposal for Willow Village calls for 1.25 million square feet of office space, down about 29% from the 1.75 million that was envisioned previously. The reduced office square footage also means that 2,550 fewer office workers than previously anticipated would be working at Willow Village when it is completed. The San Jose Mercury News has more here.
Another tech company is joining the list of those planning on going remote for the long haul: Box. TechCrunch has more here.
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