|
Top News
Even after relinquishing a quarter of his stake in Amazon in a divorce settlement last year, Jeff Bezos became richer than ever today with gains -- $56.7 billion this year alone -- that underscore the widening wealth gap in the U.S. during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
|
|
Sponsored By ...
Built for VCs, Anduin digitizes PDF subscription documents for funds and SPVs. Our paperless solution allows VCs to close faster, monitor the progress of LPs in real-time, and save thousands in legal fees. Arrange a demo today!
|
|
Massive Fundings
Annexon, a nine-year-old, South San Francisco, Ca.-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of therapies for patients with classical complement-mediated disorders of the body, brain and eye, has raised $100 million in funding led by Redmile Group. Other participants in the round include BlackRock, Deerfield Management Company, Eventide Asset Management, Farallon Capital Management, Janus Henderson Investors and Logos Capital, which were joined by existing investors. More here.
Bolt Biotherapeutics, a five-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based clinical-stage biotechnology company working on a new category of immunotherapies that use antibody targeting with the power of the innate immune system, has raised $93.5 million in Series C funding. Sofinnova Investments led the round, joined by RA Capital Management, Rock Springs Capital and Samsara BioCapital. BioSpace has more here.
Goldfinch Bio, a five-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based precision medicine company focused on kidney disease, has raised $100 million in Series B funding led by Eventide Asset Management. Other participants in the round include Wellington Management, Ally Bridge Fund, BlackRock, Casdin Capital, Irving Investors and earlier backers Gilead, Yonjin Capital, and Schroeder Adveq. FierceBiotech has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
4D ShoeTech, a three-year-old, Dongguan, China-based footwear design-as-a-service startup, raised $14 million in Series A+ funding. CMC Capital led the round, joined by Sequoia Capital China and earlier backer Linear Ventures. China Money Network has more here.
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, a seven-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based biotech startup whose leading drug candidate aims to slow down amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), has raised $30 million in funding from Morningside Ventures, among other unnamed investors. FierceBiotech has more here.
Curv, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based company that provides security infrastructure for digital assets, has raised $23 million in an early-stage funding round from CommerzVentures, Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Team8 and Digital Garage Lab Fund. Reuters has more here.
Evidation Health, an eight-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based medical research platform that uses real life patient data from a variety of sources to assess care or specific interventions for payer, pharma, systems and device-maker customers, has raised $45 million in Series D funding. Earlier backer B Capital Group led the round, joined by McKesson Ventures, Section 32, and other earlier investors, including Revelation Partners, Rethink Impact, and SV Health Investors. Vator has more here.
Fauna, an-year-old, San Francisco-based adaptive database platform that was founded by early Twitter engineers, has raised $27 million in new Series A funding led by Madrona Venture Group, with participation from Addition, GV, CRV, and Quest Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Kitu Life, five-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based startup behind a beverage brand called Super Coffees, has raised $25 million in funding led by Skyview Capital. Bloomberg has more here.
The Mom Project, a five-year-old, Chicago-based online talent marketplace for women, raised $25 million in Series B funding led by 7CG. Other participants in the round include Citi Ventures, Synchrony Financial, SVB, High Alpha, and earlier backers Initialized Capital, Grotech Ventures, OCA, Aspect Ventures, Wintrust Financial, Irish Angels, and Engage VC. The. company has now raised $36 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Pudu Technology, a four-year-old, Shenzhen, China-based robotics R&D startup that sells a number of low-speed, autonomous, self-charging robots designed to ferry goods and interact with customers in hospitality and service settings, has raised $15 million in funding. The Beijing-based e-commerce company Meituan-Dianping was the sole backer in the round. VentureBeat has more here.
Beckley Psytech, a two-year-old, Oxford, England-based company that's developing psychedelic drugs for treating psychiatric and neurological disease, has raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Investors include Canadian businessman Greg Bailey and British entrepreneur Jim Mellon. More here.
Bluedot, a 7.5-year-old, San Francisco-based geofencing and location data startup used by companies like Dunkin’, KFC and McDonald’s, has raised $9.1 million in Series B funding. Autotech Ventures led the round, joined by Forefront Ventures, IAG Firemark Ventures, Mighty Capital and previous backer Transurban. TechCrunch has more here.
Intento, a four-year-old, Berkeley, Ca.-based startup that helps enterprises integrate with third-party AI services, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Flint Capital, with participation from Berkeley SkyDeck and SmartHub. Crunchbase News has more here.
Neo.tax, a 10-month-old, San Jose, Ca.-based company that helps startups secure R&D research credits from the federal government, has raised $3 million in seed funding from Uncork Capital and Floodgate, with participation from Liquid 2 Ventures and Lux Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Outstanding Foods, a five-year-old, L.A.-based brand that makes plant-based "pork" rinds, raised $5 million led by SternAegis Ventures. The Spoon has more here.
Pattern89, a four-year-old, Indianapolis, In.-based platform using AI to boost digital ad performance, raised $2 million in funding from Break Trail Ventures, Elevate Ventures, F&M Investments, High Alpha Capital, and Vitalize. Indiana Business Journal has more here.
Protaryx, a year-old, Baltimore, Md.-based company developing access to the left atrium for transcatheter cardiac procedures, says it has raised $3.2 million in seed funding and $5.1 million in Series A financing led by Ajax Health, with participation from the University of Maryland Ventures. Mass Device has more here.
Riders Share, a four-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based P2P motorcycle sharing platform, has raised $2 million in Series A funding led by LiveOak Venture Partners. Crunchbase News has more here.
Worky, a two-year-old, Mexico City, Mexico-based HR software and payroll platform for small and mid-size businesses, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by QED Investors. Contxto has more here.
|
|
New Funds
Accomplice, the five-year-old, Boston-based seed-stage venture firm, raised $207.5 million for its third flagship fund, shows a new SEC filing, and $100 million for separate opportunity-type fund called Accomplice Fortuity Pool, shows another filing. More here.
|
|
IPOs
DoubleDown Interactive, a 12-year-old, Seoul, South Korea- based developer and publisher of mobile- and web-based social casino games, has postponed its IPO. It had filed to raise $86 million by offering 5.5 million primary shares at between $15.60 to $15.60 after cutting back an its original plan to raise $198 million by offering 11 million ADSs (50% primary) at a price range of $17 to $19.
Jamf, an 18-year-old, Minneapolis-based company that helps companies securely deploy all of their Apple products by connecting them together and giving IT teams the tools to manage them, has filed for an IPO. Jamf, which sold a majority stake in its business to Vista Equity Partners in 2017, posted revenue of $204 million in 2019 and a loss of $32.6 million.
Lemonade, a five-year-old, New York-based online home insurance provider that's unprofitable, is set to raise $319 million in an IPO that will see it sell 11 million shares at $29 apiece, the company says in a filing. According to earlier filings, it originally planned to sell 11 million shares at between $23 and $26 apiece. At its newer, higher priced offering, Lemonade would be valued at $1.6 billion, compared with the $2.1 billion valuation it was last assigned by its private investors. The company's biggest outside shareholders include Softbank, Sequoia Capital Israel and General Catalyst. More here.
|
|
Exits
Constellation Brands said it will acquire direct-to-consumer wine company Empathy Wines, co-founded by entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk last year. The deal comes as states slow their reopening plans, potentially boost alcohol e-commerce. Empathy had garnered 2,000 subscribers, says CNBC. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed.
VMware says it's buy Datrium, an eight-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based startup that already partners with VMware to offer end-to-end disaster recovery for workloads running on VMware Cloud on AWS. Financial terms aren't being disclosed. CRN has more here.
|
|
People
Sophia Bendz, who was formerly Spotify's global director of marketing and who became a partner at Atomico in 2018, has left the venture firm to join Berlin-based Cherry Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has agreed to participate in U.S. House Judiciary Committee antitrust probe, making him the last chief executive of four big tech companies targeted in the investigation to do so. Apple Insider has more here.
Richelieu Dennis, the founder-turned-VC and the owner of the 50-year-old magazine Essence since 2018, has resigned as its CEO after being accused by employees of pay inequity and intimidation, among other things. Essence released a statement that calls the allegations unfounded attempts to discredit the brand, but it has since installed as interim CEO an executive who was recently hired as its chief growth officer. Blavity has more here.
Anu Sharma has joined Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group as a principal. Sharma previously spent eight years with Amazon, most recently spending nearly three years as a senior product manager with AWS. More here.
Actor Ryan Reynolds and investor Wendi Murdoch have joined the board of Match Group, which owns Match.com, Tinder, OKCupid, Hinge, and other dating and relationship brands. Their appointments come as Match completes its spinoff from Barry Diller’s IAC. Match began trading on the Nasdaq as a standalone company this morning. The Hollywood Reporter has more here.
|
|
Essential Reads
More than 500 advertisers have now said they will pause spending on Facebook over concerns the social network foments hate speech, but according to The Information, CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks they will be "back on the platform soon enough.” The outlet has published that remark and more from a town hall-style employee meeting that Zuckerberg led on Friday.
A look at the work style of Lee Fixel, the former Tiger Global investor who just closed his own, multi-stage venture fund, Addition, with $1.3 billion in capital commitments.
|
StrictlyVC StrictlyVC, LLC, 1 Blackfield Drive, No. 239, Tiburon, CA 94920 - |
|
|
|
|
|
