Extra Crunch Friday: Top cybersecurity VCs share how COVID-19 has changed investing

Welcome to Extra Crunch Friday

Earlier this week, Zack Whittaker polled a dozen top cybersecurity investors about where they are (and are not) putting their time and energy these days.

In a follow-up, he asked them how COVID-19 has transformed the investment landscape now that remote work is booming, companies are speeding up their shift to the cloud and threat vectors have expanded:

• Ariel Tseitlin, Scale Venture Partners
• Shardul Shah, Index Ventures
• Theresia Gouw and Mark Kraynak, Acrew Capital
• Niloofar Razi Howe, Energy Impact Partners
• Matt Bigge, Crosslink Capital
• Sarah Guo, Greylock Partners
• Deepak Jeevankumar, Dell Technologies Capital
• Umesh Padval, Thomvest Ventures
• Saam Motamedi, Greylock Partners
• Alex Doll, Ten Eleven Ventures
• Dharmesh Thakker, Battery Ventures

Their answers address topics ranging from increased IT budgets to fake coronavirus tests, but as one VC noted, “many of these trends were already underway, but COVID-19 is an accelerant.”

Best wishes for a a safe, relaxing weekend.

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

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The IPO window is open (again)

In today’s column, Senior Editor Alex Wilhelm turns to yesterday’s ZoomInfo IPO to see what it signals for other SaaS players that are looking to go public.

“Whether or not you feel that this SaaS player was worth the revenue multiple its original, $8 billion valuation dictated — let alone that same multiple times 1.6x — the message from the offering was clear: the IPO window is open,” he writes.

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Join Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz for a live Q&A: June 11 at 3 p.m. EST/Noon PDT/7 p.m. GMT

Sponsored by TechCrunch

COVID-19 is reshaping the events industry before our eyes; Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz will share her perspective and take your questions.

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Every startup that aspires to go public must first create a bulletproof roadshow deck that communicates the value of their product, vision and team, but most of us are not great storytellers.

Enterprise reporter Ron Miller spoke to Atlassian president Jay Simons to learn about the process the company’s co-founders used to develop their deck and why the process was so integral to their success.

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Ahead of its 2015 debut, Atlassian’s IPO deck detailed a financial rocketship

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Alex focuses on three elements: “the company’s history of efficient growth, its customer loyalty and its intriguing cost structure.”

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DocSend uses three metrics to uncover real-time fundraising trends and “track the supply and demand in the marketplace, as well as the quality of pitch deck interactions.”

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Unpacking ZoomInfo's IPO as the firm starts to trade

ZoomInfo, a company with “a somewhat complicated history,” is worth around $8 billion after its public offering, so Alex Wilhelm pored through its latest S-1A to better understand the company’s valuation and recent earnings results.

The fundamentals: “if you bought shares of ZoomInfo, you’re buying into a company that could pay for itself — if it didn’t carry so very much debt.”

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SaaS earnings rise as pandemic pushes companies more rapidly to the cloud

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“If you are in a hurry, the short answer is that the risk-on move toward SaaS stocks doesn’t look like its about to abate. For those bullish on software companies, it’s a good week.”

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Robotics startup lets machines get closer as humans keep their distance

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Researchers believe microlocation robotics can facilitate physical distancing between humans, allow multiple trains to run on the same track, or allow let humans and robots work in close proximity.

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A COVID-19 resilience test for B2B companies

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“With that in mind, we have put together a COVID resilience test that startups can use as a north star to grow their business in this new world,” write TX Zhuo and Colton Pace of Fika Ventures.

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How to get the most from your corporate VC after you get the check

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What grocery startup Weee! learned from China’s tech giants

Larry Liu moved to the Bay Area from China to work with a microcontroller company, but when he realized he couldn’t find many of the same foods that were familiar from home, he founded an online market.

Five years later, Weee! has seen its revenue increase 700% year-over-year in the era of COVID-19; Rita Liao interviewed Liu about what he learned from WeChat and Pinduoduo about user acquisition and product strategy.

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